Li Shouyi and Li Fengyi bowed together and replied, "Yes." The child will not dare to go wrong. ”

Among the people present, only Li Daliang and Li Daozong understood why Pharmacist Li did not allow Zhang Baoxiang, Xi Junmai, and Xue Guwu to go with him during this hunt, and also demanded that Li Dejian and Li Dexue must return to Chang'an before the end of March.

The people discussed the itinerary.

At this time, it is already late February, and if you want to leave Yumen Pass from Liangzhou and return to Chang'an in less than 40 days, the time is very urgent.

This time, Li Daozong took the golden monkeys and South China tigers to the south, with the purpose of returning them to Pharmacist Li.

If you hunt with them, instead of helping, it will affect your travel speed.

So Li Daozong ordered Mali Cudo and others to send the golden monkey and the South China tiger to Chang'an first.

Li Dejian, Li Dexian, and Xuanzang originally had more than 20 people, but now with Li Daozong and his party, Li Shouyi, Li Fengyi and his party, there are 50 or 60 people in total.

They were mighty, mixed and mixed, and went out of the Liangzhou Mansion together and headed west.

These five young people of the same clan only knew that they wanted to send Xuanzang to the pass, but they didn't know that he was tasked with "counting steps and pushing mileage".

Although Xuanzang's original intention was to walk ascetic, but from Liangzhou through Ganzhou and Suzhou to Guazhou out of Yumen Pass, if it was on foot, it would take more than 20 days each way.

On the return journey, even if the horse gallops, it will take more than ten days to reach Chang'an.

And this is only on the way, and it has not yet been included in the schedule of "out of the customs hunt".

He thought that within the Yumen Pass, the mileage of various places was already well known, and he didn't need to count his steps again.

So he agreed to this group of princes and grandsons, and walked with them on horses.

A group of young people rejoiced.

Although they have an important task, this "priority" is nominally a hunting.

It's rare for a few friends to get together, how can they use this great opportunity to rush away? So after discussion, it was decided to go to the camp first.

After Huo Qubing defeated the Xiongnu in the Han Dynasty, the Hexi Corridor was included in the Chinese territory.

There are many northwest-trending and southeast-trending mountains in this area, which form long and narrow plains, like corridors, hence the name.

On the southwest side of the middle section of the Hexi Corridor, between the Qilian Mountains and the Yanzhi Mountains, the terrain is flat and the water and grass are abundant, and it is the grassland for the Qiang, Yueshi, Xiongnu and other tribes to domesticate good horses since ancient times.

It also produces safflower, which can be used to make dyes and rouge.

Therefore, the Xiongnu were defeated, lost this grassland, and sang with sorrow:

Death of my Qilian Mountain. so that my six animals will not rest

Lost my Yanzhi Mountain. so that I women have no color

After Huo Qubing obtained the Hexi Corridor, he used this grassland as the basis to create a military horse farm, which was a "big horse camp".

Later, until modern times, it is still a base for breeding and domesticating military horses, and the Shandan Military Horse Farm is currently the world's oldest and largest military horse farm.

From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, the world-famous "Longxi Iron Cavalry" can appear in this area, just because of the good horses with large horse camps.

At that time, the servant Shaoqing Zhang Wansui bred horses, and also used the horse camp as a base.

From Liangzhou to Guazhou and Shazhou, the entire Hexi Corridor is under the jurisdiction of Li Daliang.

Therefore, Li Shouyi and Li Fengyi's entourage had their own guides who were proficient in geography to lead them forward.

Everyone climbed all the way over the mountains and mountains, waded through the stream, and three days later, came to a natural stone pass.

Looking from afar, it seems that the mountains and rivers are exhausted, and there is no way, but I climbed up to the pass, and a large grassland appeared in front of me.

It is known today as the "Qilian Mountain Grassland", which is one of the "six most beautiful grasslands in China", and at that time, the other five grasslands had not yet been included in the territory of the Tang Dynasty.

After this pass, there is a slowly descending grass slope ahead.

At the end of mid-spring, the mountain is still mostly a piece of dry yellow, in which only a little tender green emerges, and there are three or five herds of cattle and sheep, stretching to the distance.

On both sides are the majestic mountains that look at the peaks on the side of the ridge, standing in the silver makeup wrapped in 10,000 years of ice.

Zhang Wanzai is already waiting here in person.

After all, Li Daozong is the governor of Lingzhou, Li Dejian and Li Dexuan are the sons of the general manager of the march of the Ministry of War, and Li Shouyi and Li Fengyi are the sons of the governors of Liangzhou.

On this trip, they must have important military affairs, not to mention, they also have the holy oracle of going out to hunt.

Zhang Wansui is a generation of figures, but he is not as clumsy as the previous imperial historian.

He received these princes and grandsons according to the courtesy, and he didn't ask much and didn't say anything.

Li Daozong expressed his intention to find a few good riding horses and pack horses.

Although the five of them had their own horses, the horses in the entourage were not good enough, and the trip was inevitably delayed.

As long as they didn't want war horses, Zhang Wansui had no suspense, and everything agreed, and they could go to the post station to change horses on the way to and from Yumen Pass.

They followed Zhang Banzai to the racecourse.

First came to the high place of the mountains, but saw the endless valley, all over the field is green, quietly wandering between the mountains on both sides, not at all as they originally expected, thinking that they can see ten thousand horses galloping majestic and magnificent and shocking the world.

Zhang Wansui saw that the eyes of these princes and grandsons were obviously full of doubts, and immediately smiled: "The so-called 'horse husbandry' must be 'transitioned' in spring and autumn every year. In mid-spring, the grass is moved from the valley to the high slopes for grazing, and in mid-autumn, it is transferred back to the valley for winter, so that the grass has a chance to grow. It was only before the end of the day, so there were no horses in the valley, and the grass began to sprout. ”

Everyone nodded.

Li Daozong asked: "This pasture, but the alfalfa brought back by Bowang Hou through the Western Regions to raise heavenly horses?" ”

"Bo Wanghou" refers to Zhang Qian.

Zhang Wanzai said with a smile: "Yes, alfalfa is really a herding product." Gao Yang Taishou said: "Changyi should feed horses, Ma You is fond of it. This thing lives forever, and the one who planted it once and for all." ”

"Gaoyang Taishou" refers to Jia Sixian, the author of "Qi Min's Technique" during the Northern Wei Dynasty.

After Zhang Wansui saw that the five of them heard this, they each thought about it, and knew that they were thinking about "Qi Min's Technique. Planting Alfalfa" said: "At the beginning of spring, it is very fragrant for the soup." ”

So he smiled: "Although it is the end of mid-spring now, if you want to pick a few leaves of tender alfalfa and soup, there are still some." ”

The five of them were overjoyed when they heard this.

Li Daozong slapped his palms and smiled: "Your Excellency is really worthy of today's Jin Riyan and Bu Shi!" ”

Zhang Wansui bowed down and smiled: "I don't dare to accept His Highness's false praise." ”

They followed Zhang Wansui for a long time before coming to Gaopo Racecourse.

Zhang Wansui has prepared alfalfa soup with simple dough cakes, so that these princes and grandsons can try it.

He has been in officialdom for a long time, and he knows that these young people from noble backgrounds are accustomed to being willing to be rich, and it is not easy to please delicacies.

Later, he came to the stables, where there were countless good horses.

Zhang Wansui knew that all five of them were familiar with "Qi Min's Technique", so he led them to browse the horses while quoting the words in the book, so that they could understand what "the head is king, and the desire is the way" from the real thing; What is "the eye is the prime minister, and the desire is to get the light"; What is "the spine is the general, the desire is strong"; What is "the abdomen is the city, and you want to get Zhang"; What is "four orders for the sake of long-term desire".