Uncle Ban could only stay in Dunhuang for two days, and then he was about to return to Gaochang, leaving only two days for Li Zhen to prepare, Li Zhen agreed with his eldest sister that they would go to the Central Plains with Uncle Kang's family first, and Li Zhen would go directly to Luoyang to meet after finishing his business in Gaochang.

In addition to Kang Dazhuang's companions, Li Zhen found Jiuzhi and Xiao Xi, whose father was unfortunately killed in the defense of Dunhuang, making Xiao Xi an orphan.

Xiao Xi is currently living in Jiuzhi's house, he has gradually come out of the grief of losing his father, and when he heard that Li Zhen was going to Gaochang, he did not hesitate to agree to go with him.

Jiuzhi's father, a wine butcher, had recently expanded his business and bought two more shops, hoping that his son would stay and help him, and refused to allow Jiuzhi to go to Gaochang.

Helpless, Li Zhen and the others had no choice but to say goodbye to Jiuzhi and follow Uncle Ban's caravan to Gaochang.

"Ah Zhen, the wine fat man is not going to do it this time, and there is a lot less fun!" Although Kang Dazhuang fights with Jiuzhi every time, he is also a little lost if Jiuzhi doesn't go this time.

"That's right! The fat brother was about to cry last night, and his father was too" sighed slightly, he remembered his father, if his father was still there, would he be allowed to go to Gaochang?

Although Li Zhen also had a little regret, he could understand Uncle Jiu's difficulties, so he said to the two: "Uncle Jiu has always supported Jiuzhi's travels, if he is not forced to do so, he will not refuse." ”

"Hmm!" Xiao Xiao nodded, "I hope Uncle Jiu will change his mind again and agree to the fat brother to go with us." ”

As he spoke, Xiao Xi turned his head to look at Dunhuang City, only looked at it for a moment, he pointed to the distance and shouted, "Look, is that a fat brother?"

Li Zhen and Kang Dazhuang looked back, only to see a white horse chasing this side on the official road in the distance, and a round guy on horseback was waving desperately to this side.

Li Zhen was overjoyed, wasn't that person Jiuzhi?

He immediately urged the horse to meet him, and after a while, Jiuzhi Jiuzhi chased after him, and he waved his hand excitedly and shouted: "I have finally caught up with you." ”

"Old fat, has your father changed his hexagram?" Li Zhen grabbed the reins of the white horse and asked excitedly.

"Not really!"

Jiu Zhi panted and said: "My father recruited two cheap guys, so he was very kind and allowed me to go to Gaochang with you, you are walking too fast, and you are so tired that I can take a breath." ”

Li Zhen patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "Needless to say, as long as you come, it will be the happiest thing, let's keep up with the team." ”

The two men urged their horses to speed up and chased after the caravan that was gradually moving away

In terms of administrative division, Gaochang City is not far away, and Xizhou, where it is located, is close to Shazhou, and is neighboring to each other, but the actual road is not close, and it takes more than 20 days to travel.

This is mainly due to the vast territory of Shazhou, Dunhuang is located in the east of Shazhou, while the west of Shazhou is a vast desert and Gobi, which runs more than 2,000 miles from east to west.

But the Silk Road did not actually enter the Great Desert, but instead turned northwest along the edge of the desert to the city of Gaochang, located at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

Due to the long distance, Puchanghai, which passed through the way, was a place for the caravans to camp and rest, and the caravans would generally rest here for two or three days before continuing their journey.

Puchanghai is the Lop Nur of later generations, Puchanghai of Tang Dynasty has more than a dozen rivers of all sizes such as Chihe River and Mo River to inject, the lake surface is sparkling and vast, the water and grass are abundant, there are several nomadic people living on both sides of the lake, Tuyuhun people, Shatuo people and the indigenous Puchang people.

"Uncle Ban, we haven't seen many caravans along the way!" approaching Pu Changhai, Li Zhen asked as he looked at the deserted Gobi.

"The war broke out in Dunhuang, and most of the caravans took the northern route, so the road became very deserted, if it was a few months ago, the road would encounter caravans from time to time, unlike now. ”

"Will the way of commerce be restored? I mean, will Dunhuang get rid of the effects of this war?"

"It's hard to say this, if there is only this war, I believe it will be restored soon, but who knows if the Turks will come to attack Dunhuang again, our long-distance caravans, as long as they encounter a military disaster, they will be bankrupt, and everyone dare not take risks!"

Li Zhen nodded, he understood why Uncle Kang's family moved away, they had lived in Dunhuang for ten years, if it wasn't too risky, who would be willing to leave?

At this time, someone in the distance shouted: "Pu Changhai has arrived in front!"

Li Zhen originally thought that the caravan would become excited and move forward, but the caravan barely reacted, as if they were just passing by.

Uncle Ban saw Li Zhen's confusion, so he explained to him with a smile: "Although Pu Changhai is very large, there are not many suitable places to camp, not only to get supplies, but also to avoid the raids of horse bandits, so we generally go to the north, where the Tang army is stationed, and there are nomads to supply food and fresh water, and we have to walk for two days before camping." ”

Only then did Li Zhen remember that Puchanghai was a saltwater lake, and he couldn't plunge into the lake water and drink bitterly.

After two more days, the caravan finally arrived at the camp, where a group of Shatuo people was stationed, with thousands of tents scattered along the meadow lake, and herds of cattle and sheep everywhere.

In the distance, the outline of a city can be faintly seen, where is the Puchang military city, with a garrison of 300 people.

The caravan has been walking for almost half a month, everyone is exhausted, and they have to rest here for two days before going on the road to Gaochang City.

A large tent was erected, the goods on the camels were unloaded, and many Shatuo people also rushed to hear the news, and they exchanged fresh beef and mutton and milk wine with the caravan for daily necessities, and the camp became very lively.

Li Zhen's camp tent covers an area of more than half an acre, which Kang Dazhuang rented from a Shatuo herdsman at the price of 100 yuan a day, they have no goods, the big tent seems empty, the four of them simply led their horses in, tied to the other side of the big tent.

"I kind of regret it now!"

Jiuzhi lay on the thick sheepskin, crossed his legs and said: "I knew that I should bring some goods to Gaochang to sell, at least I can make a lot of money, so I won't go empty-handed and return empty-handed." ”

Kang Dazhuang sneered and sneered: "Do you know what goods to bring? Do you think that you will definitely be able to make money by selling goods to Gaochang? Sue you, at least half of the goods will lose money, I have been to Gaochang three times, at least twice I have lost money, and the third time I have made money." ”

"If that's the case, then why did Uncle Ban still transport so many goods, aren't they afraid of losing money?"

"Who told you that Uncle Ban's goods would be sold in Gaochang, you didn't understand at all, Uncle Ban is not a businessman, but only responsible for transporting goods, there are connections between merchants, and they know what goods have a price difference in various places, so they ask Uncle Ban's freight caravan to send the goods to Gaochang, or further away, Uncle Ban They only charge freight, as for what goods the caravan transports, Uncle Ban himself doesn't know, this is a trade secret. ”

This time Jiuzhi also brought a hundred Roman gold coins, he wanted to buy something in Gaochang and sell it back to Dunhuang, although he and Kang Dazhuang quarreled all the way to raise the bar, but at this time, for the sake of making money, he decided to mend diplomatic relations with Dazhuang.

He sat up and said with a smile on his face: "I said Lao Kang, you have experience, can you tell my little brother, what can make money in Gaochang, I want to buy some and bring it back to Dunhuang." ”

"Gaochang is the most famous wine, and then there is the white cloth, which has three times the profit when it is shipped to Chang'an, but when it is shipped to Dunhuang, I estimate that it is only forty percent of the profit at most, and even the freight is not enough. ”

As he was talking, there was a commotion outside the tent, some people were shouting, and horses were neighing, Li Zhen, who was meditating in the big tent, opened his eyes, he felt strange in his heart, and immediately grabbed his long sword and walked out of the tent, and the other three people also followed.

It was still afternoon, the sky was cloudless, and the scorching sun hung in the air, baking the earth like a furnace.

At this time, the merchants were sleeping in the big tent, and the camp should be deserted, but at this time, the open space was full of people, and I saw more than a dozen black-clothed horseback riders coming out of nowhere, with a very fierce attitude, questioning Uncle Madara.

Jiuzhi's eyes were very poisonous, and he recognized one of them, so he whispered to Li Zhen, "Do you see that person wearing a red cloak?"

Li Zhen also felt that the person wearing the red cloak was a little familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it.

"Do you know that man?"

"I've seen him, the last time you fought a mosquito, that guy was standing next to the fly, and the big scar on his face was his logo. ”

Li Zhen suddenly remembered, it seemed to be this person, he also saw it at that time, he thought that this person was Suo Wen's master, and later learned that he was a relative of the Suo family, but he had already left Dunhuang before the Turkic siege, but he didn't expect to meet it here again.

"Who are they, what are they doing here, such a fierce attitude. Li Zhen thought secretly.

At this time, the knife-faced man on the horse happened to look over here, and his eyes met Li Zhen's eyes, and he was stunned for a moment, obviously he recognized Li Zhen.

However, he didn't mean to come over to say hello, and continued to interrogate a few words, and when he saw that there was nothing to gain, he waved his hand, "Let's go!"

He led more than a dozen black-clothed men to run south, but only ran a few dozen steps, and the knife-faced man looked back at Li Zhen deeply, and rode away as he rode away.

Li Zhen looked at a group of people going away, and he had a premonition in his heart, this group of people would come back, and he didn't know what they were looking for?

Next to him, Kang Dazhuang said: "I'll go and ask what's going on!"

He squeezed into the crowd and walked briskly towards Uncle Ban, and after a while, Kang Dazhuang returned to the big tent and said to Li Zhen: "Uncle Ban said that the group of people just now came to find a Tocharian monk, and he suspected that we were hiding him. ”

'Tocharian monk!' Li Zhen was puzzled, what were these people looking for the Tocharian monks?

[Note: Tocharian is the area of today's Afghanistan]

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