They wanted to go back to China, but without going back, they decided to go south to Kashgar.

Qin Beiyang rode a sweaty horse, climbed over the snow-capped mountains and the Narin River valley, and climbed the snow-capped Turgat Pass. He has lived in both the Arctic and Siberia and is accustomed to the ice and snow.

He gave the sweaty horse a name, which was not only a gift from Ah You, but also called "Phantom God" - which is not only related to Ah You, but also in line with the temperament of this black horse, a "god" word, highlighting the extraordinaryness of this thousand-mile horse.

Three days later, they crossed the Turgat Pass, which is nearly 4,000 meters above sea level. It is said that Tang Xuanzang also passed by this place and was almost engulfed by heavy snow. In ancient times, people on the Silk Road had to overcome the obstacles of nature and had to pay many lives.

Into the deep river valley, they slept in the open. The little county king of Ordos Doro lit a bonfire and looked at the clear and transparent starry sky. Wolfna was a woman, after all, and she was exhausted on horseback, so she went to sleep in the tent early.

Qin Beiyang held back a sentence for a long time, and finally asked, "How do you know that assassin?" ”

"Dehuan ......" Timur, the little king of the county, let out a white breath, "He is my cousin, and he can be regarded as growing up together. ”

"He's also a Mongol nobleman?"

"Thirty years ago, it was supposed to be my uncle who succeeded to the throne of the county. The old prince was abolished and passed on the throne to his second son, who was my father. My appearance follows my mother, more like a native of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, I have been ridiculed since I was a child, and the retainers and servants of the county king's mansion also said that I am not worthy of the big responsibility and cannot be the king of the Mongols. And the Tuohuan Niu is tall and big, and everyone says that he is more qualified to inherit the throne. I forced myself to learn horseback riding, archery, hunting, and bok—that is, wrestling, and to compete in the Naadam tournament and defeat the stout pure-blooded Mongols. I want to prove that I am also a direct descendant of Genghis Khan and a member of the Golden Family. ”

"You have proven it, Timur."

The little county king said a heart-to-heart word to Qin Beiyang, and made a gesture towards Sirius in the northwest: "Tuhuan is five years older than me, and when I was ten years old, he suddenly disappeared. Beiyang, when Yuan Shikai became emperor, we tried wrestling at the entrance of the Beijing District Court for Ayou. ”

"You won and took Ah You away, but you didn't protect her."

"As soon as the camel team returned to Ordos, there was a rebellion in the palace, and Tuhuan suddenly appeared and led the old department to capture our family. The Beiyang Army stationed in Yulin came to quell the rebellion on the orders of Yuan Shikai. Dehuan disappeared again, and Ah You also disappeared in the turmoil. ”

Qin Beiyang frowned, looked at the crackling bonfire and said, "Their target is not the Junwang Mansion, but the little maid who has just been transported from Beijing, Ah You. ”

"Well, there's some truth to that. Actually, I don't hate Joy at all. Wouldn't it be nice if he could replace me as the king of the county, let me be a broad young master in the world, and have less trouble fighting for power and profit? ”

"Timur, these are not your words. You're an ambitious person, but you're just trying to disguise it with a lot of wine and indulgence. ”

The little king coughed embarrassedly: "Oops...... You actually spied out. Beiyang, your eyes are really poisonous. ”

At dawn the next day, three horses and one beast rushed down the river valley, passed through the barren Gobi and saline-alkali land, crossed the fig-rich Artush Village, and came to the Kashgar Oasis on the edge of the Tarim Basin.

It's late autumn, the sun is still strong, and there are tall poplar and poplar forests on the roadside, which are completely different from Lake Issyk-Kul. The leaves of the aspen turn golden, like the inland ginkgo. This oasis is quite rich, full of connections and intensive farming, and the bazaar is full of white-bearded grandfathers in small flower hats and beautiful girls with countless pigtails.

Before entering the Kashgar city wall, Qin Beiyang saw a special construction site, where only girls in flower skirts went in and out.

He jumped off the sweaty horse "Phantom", only to see that the ground had been dug up, revealing the remains of rammed earth, and the girls used small shovels and brushes to clean the pots and jars in the soil. Clearly an archaeological excavation site, people are more inclined to hire female migrant workers, because they are more meticulous than men, easier to find treasures, and will not easily destroy cultural relics.

Among the girls, there was a man who raised his head, tall and thin, standing out from the crowd, and the sun shining on his fair face, like a heartthrob desert prince. He wore a Western-style overalls with a pen in his jacket pocket, and was no older than thirty.

Qin Beiyang called out his name: "Li Longsheng." ”

Kashgar, an important town on the Silk Road and the center of civilization in Central Asia, can be as famous as Samarkand and Bukhara. The Qianlong Dynasty pacified and returned to Xinjiang, that is, the "Prime Minister of the Southern Eight Cities Affair" of Kashgar Counselor, which can be called the capital of southern Xinjiang.

The doctor of the Department of Physics of Cambridge University was startled, put on his Tokin glasses, rushed to Qin Beiyang and hugged him warmly, and took two steps back in horror: "You are really Qin Beiyang?" ”

"It's like a fake."

"Then I saw a ghost in broad daylight? Or is it an illusion? I'm sorry, but scientists shouldn't say that. But in the Viking Tomb in the Arctic, I saw with my own eyes that you fell into the erupting crater. ”

"But I'm not dead, there is ......" he didn't want to say that it was the Norse beast that saved him, "someone saved me." It's hard to put into words, for more than a year, it's like the Iliad plus Odysseus! ”

"Homer's epic—you must tell me well." Li Longsheng put his arm around Qin Beiyang, and saw the king of the small county of Ordos Doro, and the white Russian woman Wolfna with a black veil covering her face, and he shouted to the archaeological site, "Professor, look who is coming." ”

Wang Jiawei, a professor of history at National Peking University, spat and wiped his glasses with his hair and dust, and only then did he see Qin Beiyang's face clearly.

"You ......"

"Professor, I'm Qin Beiyang."

Back then, Wang Jiawei brought this milky little craftsman to Peking University from Biyun Temple in Xiangshan. Two years have passed, and he has grown taller again, his shoulders are broader, and his face has more vicissitudes of wind and sun.

Professor Wang was speechless with excitement, and hugged Qin Beiyang tightly, like hugging his long-lost son.

There was also a foreigner at the archaeological site, in his fifties, with gray hair and deep eyes, like a race from northern Europe.

Li Longsheng introduced: "This is the great Swedish explorer, the world-famous Mr. Sven Heding. ”

Sven Hedin, who could only speak simple Chinese, greeted Qin Beiyang and continued to squat on the ground, using a pencil sketch to record the unearthed temple ruins.

"This is the ancient country of Shule, one of the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions, and Ban Chao has guarded Panlu City. I always left behind the theoretical physics laboratory at Cambridge University to volunteer as a translator and assistant for Sven Hedin. We set out from India, passed through the Kashmir Valley, crossed the Karakoram Mountains, and joined Professor Wang in Kashgar to form a Sino-Swiss joint archaeological team. ”

Li Longsheng showed a mesmerizing smile, and Qin Beiyang was doubly ashamed of himself.

The archaeological excavation came to an end, and he rode the sweaty horse "Phantom God" and entered Kashgar City with the tomb beast Nine Colors. Xiaojunwang, Wolfna, Li Longsheng, Wang Jiawei, and Sven Hedin rode in turn......