Ayimu Zhengse said: "Didn't you say it well last time, how can you retreat now, besides, Li Yuanhao and I have a grudge against my father, if I don't revenge, I will be the daughter of the Uighur king of Ganzhou in vain." However, the top priority is to go to Western Xia to find out the news before these two Tibetan officers. ”

Mu Hanyi said to Hu Zhenbang: "Big brother, sister is right, we have to hurry up, before these two Tubo people wake up, we will arrive in Western Xia first, as for how to act in the future, I think we can only act at the opportunity." ”

Hu Zhenbang said: "What the two sisters said is very true, without further ado, let's go back to the room first, see how the two officers react after they wake up, and it's not too late to leave in the middle of the night." ”

At that moment, the three of them quietly returned to the guest room. After more than an hour, Hu Zhenbang heard someone shouting downstairs, listening carefully to the two Tubo officers shouting, and hearing the shopkeeper laughing and saying something good.

The two Tibetan officers were relieved to see that the official documents on their bodies were safe and sound, and that they had not been touched. It's just that Officer Hu saw that the masked singer with beautiful eyes and beautiful singing voice never forgot it, and it disappeared under his eyelids, and he was really unwilling, and scolded Hu Zhenbang for not honoring his promise. It's just that he didn't want to think about it, even if Hu Zhenbang was drunk first, why didn't he know at the time? The elite officer knew that the two of them were drunk first, but he only cared about the face of his colleagues, so it was inconvenient to say more, but instead went along with the scolding.

Hu Zhenbang slept in clothes, and in the second half of the night, he got up quietly, galloped outside Qingtang City, and went straight to the direction of Xixia, which was still hundreds of miles away from Xingqing Mansion in Xixia, and had to pass through the desert area, if he didn't rush day and night, it would be difficult to arrive within three days. The three of them expected that the two officers would hurry up, so they wanted to rush ahead and rush to Xingqing Mansion first.

After a two-day journey, the three of them entered the Uighurs, and in a short time they could enter the territory of Western Xia. Hu Zhenbang and Mu Hanyi were worried that Ayimu was weak and could not bear the hardships of rushing for such days, and did not want Ayimu to not feel tired, but unusually adaptable, it turned out that she grew up in the desert since she was a child, and she did not feel uncomfortable for this kind of morning and evening temperature disparity, both dry and hot weather, but Hu Zhenbang and Mu Hanyi came to the desert arid area from the cold land, and felt quite uncomfortable.

In the desert sand, Ayimu was the only one who knew the Uighur road to Western Xia, so she led the way along the way. Seeing that people were sleepy and lacking, Hu Zhenbang asked Ayimu how far he still had to go, and Ayimu said: "Just go through a big desert, and you can go directly to Western Xia." ”

Mu Hanyi said: "Fortunately, my sister led the way, so let's hurry up, will we be able to reach Xingqing Mansion soon." ”

Ayimu said: "Sister, don't be in a hurry, before crossing this desert, you must prepare enough water sources, otherwise this man and horse will die of thirst." After we have enough water, we will be able to cross this desert in a few hours, and we will soon be able to reach Xingqing Mansion. ”

Hu Zhenbang praised: "Sure enough, the second sister is thoughtful, but now where can we find a water source?"

Mu Hanyi covered his eyes with his hands, blocking the white sun, looking around was a long yellow sand, and he didn't see any rivers and streams, so he was very curious. said: "Yes, I'm afraid there is no water in Fang Yuan for dozens of miles here, right?"

Ayimu smiled: "There should be a stream near here, I used to come with my little sisters to play in the water when I was young, I haven't been here for many years, but I don't remember it clearly, but I have a way to find it." ”

Mu Hanyi was first overjoyed, and then said strangely: "Sister, if you have any way, let's talk about it." ”

Hu Zhenbang also asked: "Yes, second sister, how can you find it?"

Ayimu smiled slightly and said, "Big brother, little sister, let go of the reins and let the horses roam on their own." ”

The two saw that she was confident, and although they didn't understand what she meant, they still did what they said. Let go of the reins and let the horses roam as they please.

The white horse and the yellow horse stopped moving forward, went around, walked and stopped less than ten zhang, and suddenly saw the white dragon raise his head, sniff a few times to the sky, vibrate and neigh, and the yellow horse ridden by Hu Zhenbang also shook his head and tail, looking very excited.

The two horses suddenly stepped forward and one after the other, spreading their hooves and galloping southward, Ayimu laughed and shouted: "Found it, quickly grab the reins!", and sure enough, when he walked for a short time, he could already hear the sound of gurgling water in his ears.

Turning a low hill, there was a stream in front of me, sparkling in the sun. The two horses went straight to the stream, and the three jumped off the horses, and saw that the stream was crystal clear, and the three of them knew Ayimu's method, which turned out to be to judge the location of the stream through the horses' sense of smell.

Hu Zhenbang stroked the backs of the white dragon and the yellow horse, and said with a smile: "Thanks to the two of you for finding this stream, let's have a good drink together!" leaned over to the side of the stream, took a sip of water and drank it, only to feel that the water was sweet and cool, and it penetrated the heart and spleen. I didn't feel like I praised it: "It's really good water." ”

Mu Hanyi and Ayimu also took water to drink, and filled the water bladder they brought with them. The two horses also bowed their heads and drank a few sips of water, neighed a few times, and stumbled on all fours, looking very happy.

The three of them drank enough water from the stream, refreshed and refreshed, and after being refreshed, they simply rolled up their trouser legs, jumped into the water, washed their heads, faces, hands and feet, and then led the horses to the water's edge to wash them too.

Hu Zhenbang looked around, and saw that there was a mountain range towering into the clouds at the south end of the desert, and it was full of snow from the mountainside, but the mountainside was full of green trees, and suddenly said: "It turns out that this stream is formed by melting the snow water from the mountain, and then flowing through the woods, and gathering to this lowland through the ditch, no wonder the water quality is extremely sweet." ”

Ayimu said: "What the eldest brother said is that this water is made by melting the snow and ice on the snow-capped mountains of Ale Peak at the other end, and we Uighurs call this water 'holy water'." ”

Mu Hanyi said with a smile: "Then we and the horses have drunk this water, won't we all become 'saints and holy horses'." Hu Zhenbang and Ayimu laughed when they said this.

The three of them rested their spirits and continued on their way. Mu Hanyi was reluctant to give up this precious water source, so he walked along the stream for a while, and when he reached the downstream, the stream was gradually sucked dry by the desert and finally disappeared.

Fortunately, when crossing the desert, everything went smoothly and did not encounter a sandstorm, because along the way, Ayimu and Hu and Mu talked about various encounters in the desert, and when it came to the danger of sandstorms, it was no less dangerous than the avalanche encountered in Tibet.

At the beginning, Mu Hanyi also said that she was alarmist, but during the walk, from time to time, she could see the white bones of human beings and the bones of camels and horses half-submerged in the sand.

Ayimu explained that most of these animals died of lack of water and thirst, some were buried by sandstorms, and some of the bones were killed by bandits in the desert.

Hu Zhenbang sighed: "'Poor bones by the river, like people in a spring boudoir dream', I also said that only soldiers who died on the battlefield have the tragic state of burying bones in the yellow sand, but I didn't expect that in this desert, there are also poor people in the same situation, but they pity their families." ”

Mu Hanyi said: "Big brother, the poem you read, but in the past, when you Han people fought with foreign races, the first sentence was the bones, and what is the latter sentence talking about?"

Hu Zhenbang said: "Xiaomei is right, this is the sentence in the Tang Dynasty poet Chen Tao's "Longxi Journey", which is about the Han people fighting with the Xiongnu, and countless dead soldiers buried their bones on the battlefield, although they have become white bones that no one knows, but in their wives' dreams day and night, they are still living people. ”

Ayimu nodded and said: "Yes, the bones buried in this long desert may not be less than the people who died in the war, these dead people all have wives and children, and they are the concern of their families, but who would have thought that their relatives have turned into a pile of white bones." With that, he sighed softly.

The three of them felt a lot of nostalgia for a while, rode their horses and hurried for dozens of miles, but they saw that the long yellow sand was gradually decreasing, the land became hard and thick, and the horses' hooves fell soundly, and the earthen houses and low loess fortresses could be seen all the way.

Ayimu said: "This place is not far from Xingqing Mansion. Sure enough, when the line was not long, a city appeared in front of them, and the three of them galloped up a small slope to see, this city was rectangular in shape, about 20 miles in circumference, and the moat was ten zhang wide.

Entering the city, the three of them first found a clothing shop, bought local clothes, changed in the hotel, and got together again, the three of you look at me, I look at you, see that each other has become a local of Western Xia, it looks very funny, and they all laugh.

Ayimu had lived in seclusion for three years in the palace of Li Yuanhao in Xingqing Mansion in Western Xia, although it was only the last year to find the opportunity to go out, but for the neighborhood roads in Xingqing, it was still familiar, so she still led the way, and walked all over Xingqing Mansion, which has two gates in the north and south, and one door in the east and west. The road is extremely wide, long and rectangular, with more than 20 neighborhoods such as Chongyi, Shangwu, Confucianism, and Jingshi.

The three of them walked around the neighborhood a few times, came to a temple, and saw that the temple walls and roofs were yellow, solemn and quiet, and the plaque in front of the temple was written with the words "Jietan Temple".

Ayimu stopped and said, "Big brother, little sister, I want to go in and burn incense, can you wait for me here for a while?" Hu Zhenbang and Mu Hanyi both knew that she escaped from Western Xia through this temple that day, and she must have wanted to pray for Zina, who helped her escape in the past, and those monks who were killed by Li Yuanhao for helping her, and they were obliged to say in unison: "I'll accompany you in!"

The Xixia people believe in Buddhism, and there are many places to visit the Buddha in the city of Xingqing Prefecture, such as Chengtian Temple, Gaotai Temple, Jietan Temple, and Buddha's Temple. When the three of them entered the temple, it was the time of Shenpai, and there were few monks in the temple, except for the three of them, there were no other pilgrims.

Ayimu looked around and saw that the things in the temple were not people. When I thought of the ill-fated fate of Zina and the monks of the Jietan Temple, I couldn't help but feel sad, and tears in my eyes were shaky. Mu Hanyi stroked her shoulders and comforted her softly, she held back her tears, lit three pillars of incense, knelt down in front of the statue of the Buddha, and prayed in her mouth: "I wish that the eight parts of the dragon and the sky, long as the protector, the world will be safe, and the people will be healthy; ”

Hu Zhenbang saw her praying for the people of the world, himself and Mu Hanyi, his heart was moved, and he also lit three pillars of incense to pray for rare soldiers in the world, thinking that if he could take the book "Wujing General" back into his hands in the future, although he and Mu Hanyi were righteous brothers and sisters, they would each be their masters at that time, and it would inevitably be a fight, and his heart couldn't help but be sad.