[Vol. 1] Section 158: Zhang Qian the Explorer 4

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is finally going back, eleven years have passed, and nostalgia will burst into Zhang Qian's heart at this moment.

In the past eleven years, he has not had such strong emotions, and he really wants to be able to stand on the street of Chang'an as soon as he opens his eyes the next moment, and as soon as he hears the shouting, he knows that it is a merchant of the Han Dynasty.

When Zhang Qian left the Great Yue Clan, he deliberately made a detour to the southeast of the Yue Clan, and heard from the locals that the current land of the Yue Clan originally belonged to the Great Xia, and the Yue people defeated the Great Xia people, and eliminated the influence of the Anxi Kingdom (ancient Rome) in Great Xia, while some of the original indigenous people of Great Xia moved to the southeast.

The Great Xia Kingdom lived in danger, although the army was weak, it could also resist the attack of the Yue Kingdom, and within a few years, the two countries could only admit that it was a facompli, and the army was called to make peace, so that the Great Xia Kingdom was saved from the destruction of the country.

Zhang Qian entered the Great Xia Kingdom and found that there are many strange things here, and the farmers and industry are also very prosperous, which are quite similar to the Han Dynasty, and if they can be used in the future, it will be good.

Walking in the market of the Great Xia Kingdom, a few pieces of cloth and bamboo canes aroused Zhang Qian's interest, these cloths have déjà vu, Zhang Qian stepped forward to ask, under careful questioning, the cloth turned out to be Shu cloth, and the bamboo is Qiong bamboo cane, think that year, when Sima Xiangru and Tang Meng opened up the southwest counties, Shu cloth and Qiongzhu have been popular all over the world.

This is strange, the Great Xia Kingdom and Shu County are thousands of miles apart, how can there be goods from the Han Dynasty, could it be that over the years, the emperor has sent envoys to the Western Regions? Could it be that the Great Xia Kingdom is very close to Sichuan and Shu? Impossible, according to common sense, his current place Zhang Qian is not far from Yueshi, but it is thousands of miles away from Dahan, and Sichuan Shu is adjacent to Hanzhong, Sichuan Shu is close to Daxia, so Chang'an is not far from Daxia.

A big map suddenly appeared in Zhang Qian's mind, but now this kind of map seems to be a little chaotic.

In order to have a clear understanding, Zhang Qian asked the traders about the origin of the cloth, and it turned out that there was a country in the east of Bactria called Shenzhi (India), and these cloths were trafficked from the Shenzhi country.

Zhang Qian felt a stirring spirit in his heart, in this way, the land of Sichuan and Shu is not far from the body poison, and from the body poison to Great Xia, it must not be far away, so that there is another way to the Western Regions.

Zhang Qian has not stayed in Daxia for a long time, although the mission is unfinished, he believes that as long as his head can return to Chang'an safely and speak normally, then it will be more meaningful than any mission.

Zhang Qian took his cousin's father and walked towards the green ridge, and a few days later, the two once again crossed the lush green ridge.

Now Zhang Qian has two choices, one is to return along the original road, that is, along the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, enter the territory of the Xiongnu, and then return to Longxi. The second is along the northern foot of Kunlun Mountain, borrowing the Qiang land, out of Qilian Mountain, and going straight to Chang'an.

Zhang Qian finally chose the second way to avoid being taken captive by the Xiongnu again. This is also the second road of the Silk Road, also known as the "South Road". By analogy, the mountain of the south road is called the South Mountain, and the road when Zhang Qian came is called the "North Road", and the mountains along the way are the North Mountain.

The north and south roads are separated by thousands of miles, and the Taklamakan Desert runs through the yellow sand in the middle, so it is difficult for the influence of the Huns to extend over.

The south road and the north road are full of small countries, Hu Mi, mud, and Wei (now and Wei County), Khotan (now Yu Tian County), Shache, for the South Road countries; Gushi (now Turpan) along the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains to the west, through Yanqi (now Yanqi County), Luntai (now Luntai County), Qiuzi (now Kuqa County), to Shule, for the northern provinces

Zhang Qian traveled all the way east, passing through Shache, Yuyao, Humi, Huni, Loulan and other countries, these countries are all small countries, they take one or several cities as their kingdoms, the folk customs are simple, and the troops are small.

What impressed Zhang Qian the most was Yu Yao, Yu Jiao produced beautiful jade (Hetian jade), the water from the west of Yu Yao flowed westward into the West Sea, and the east flowed eastward into Yanze, and finally converged into the source of the great river. Loulan, Gushi has built a solid and exquisite city, especially Loulan, it rejects the Xiongnu in the north, and borders the Qiang land (now Qinghai) in the east, although the country is small, but it is quite imposing.

After several days of trekking, Zhang Qian finally went out of Nanshan, to the Qiang realm, the Qiang realm is larger, but not far from the Han Dynasty, the Qiang people are not a unified nation, they are an independent nomadic tribe, their customs are different, even the language, clothing is not the same, they respect the strong, often attack each other, but sometimes there is a union, compared to the Xiongnu, they are more ferocious, and lack of law and constraints. The people of the Central Plains could not distinguish between them, so they could only give them a unified name, Qiang.

As soon as Zhang Qian, who had a keen sense of smell, stepped into the Qiang Realm, he smelled the smell of danger, because he vaguely found that they were being targeted, and the people who were staring at them were either in the light or in the dark.

"Drive! Drive! Zhang Qian and his cousin's father galloped all the way, in order to pass through this area as soon as possible, although they did not have much wealth on them, but the appearance of two strangers in the land of the Qiang people would inevitably attract people's attention.

A few hours later, Zhang Qian's mount let out a scream, stopped, and became agitated.

From the horse's exclamation, Zhang Qian knew that the Qiang people were about to make a move.

Sure enough, many soldiers wearing armor and strange costumes suddenly stood out from all sides.

The leader was very drunk, but Zhang Qian and Tangyi's father couldn't understand what they meant.

Seeing that the two were indifferent, the leader of the Qiang people ordered the soldiers to surround them, and Zhang Qian hurriedly said in Chinese, "We are Han merchants, passing through your land, please let us go." ”

Zhang Qian didn't know what he said, but put himself in a dangerous situation.

I don't know if they understood, but I saw a few Qiang people talking to each other, and then saw the leader of the Qiang people waving a gesture, and the Qiang soldiers pounced on them and tied Zhang Qian and the two of them to a strong knot.

Zhang Qian shouted, "Why do you want to tie us up, why do you want to tie us up?" ”

He thought that as soon as he spoke Chinese, he would be able to let the Qiang people understand that he was a Han Chinese, and they would inevitably let him go because of the prestige of the Han Dynasty, but he never expected that he was now tied up by them.

Zhang Qian and the two were pushed into a tent, there were several armor soldiers in the tent, one sat in the middle, looking like a general, and the other sat in the left seat, looking like a staff member, and saw a person sitting on the left seat asked in Chinese, "Who are you, could it be the fine work of the Han Dynasty?" ”

Zhang Qian had an idea and said, "We are not meticulous, just passing by business travelers. ”

The man snorted, "Business traveler? Why don't you see the goods? ”

He said a bunch of Qiang words to the person in the middle seat, and after receiving the nod from the person in the middle, he saw several sergeants walk up to Zhang Qian and the two and search them. Zhang Qian secretly complained because the talisman in his arms was searched by the sergeant.

The sergeant handed the talisman to the first person, and when he saw it, he shook his head and handed him to someone who could speak Chinese.

"Han Envoy Fu Festival!" The man groaned, and then he said excitedly as if he remembered something, "Are you Zhang Qian?" ”

Zhang Qian saw that this person had recognized his identity, so he had to admit it generously.

The man immediately happily reported the identities of the two prisoners to the first man, and after a grunt, they laughed.

Zhang Qian immediately asked, "What do you want to do?" ”

The staff member said with a wicked smile, "Let me tell you the truth, Zhang Qian, the arrest warrant for the Xiongnu Da Dan Yu bounty for your arrest was sent to us a year ago, and today you have thrown yourself into the net, and we are just going to ask Da Shan Yu for a reward." ”

When Zhang Qian heard this, he almost fainted.

Unexpectedly, after turning around, I was going to the Huns to be a prisoner again.

"God, why do you treat me so unfairly, I Zhang Qian still have a few decades for you to tease!" Zhang Qian was so annoyed in his heart that he even wanted to cry without tears.

Another cage, Zhang Qian was sent back to the Xiongnu, this time, he did not see the military minister Shan Yu, but saw his wife and children who had not been seen for a whole year.

At that moment, Zhang Qian and his wife couldn't help but shed tears.