About 100 miles north from Qiuzi Town, there is the snow-capped Tianshan Mountain, which divides the Western Regions into two like a silver-white dragon, the north is called Beiting, and the south is called Anxi, each with a territory of thousands of miles.

Datang set up the capital protection mansion in Anxi and Beiting respectively, the capital protector of Anxi is Guo Xin, and the capital protector of Beiting is called Li Yuanzhong, compared to Anxi, the situation in Beiting is much more dangerous.

Although it would be extremely risky to go to Beiting, Guo Song still went north without hesitation, this is his duty, no matter how difficult and dangerous it is, he must go north.

The road across the Tianshan Mountains is extremely difficult and dangerous, hundreds of miles of distance at least half a month to cross, there are two roads to cross the Tianshan Mountains, the east is called Yanji Road, also called the Silver Mountain Road, the Silver Mountain is also a part of the Tianshan Mountains, there is a canyon in the middle, there is a steep mountain pass on it, the Tang Army has built an extremely dangerous castle in the most dangerous place, called Zhang Sancheng to guard and capture, currently controlled in the hands of the Shatuo people.

The other road is called Wusun Ancient Road, which is the most convenient road through the Tianshan Mountains, since ancient times it is a place where soldiers must fight, from Qiuzi to the north, after crossing the Tianshan Mountains to arrive at the Luzhou Governor's Mansion, which is today's Yili, the road is about two hundred miles long, mainly rivers and canyons, as long as five to eight days can pass through the Tianshan Mountains.

However, the Uighurs have laid down heavy troops to the north of the Wusun Ancient Road, which is what Guo Xin is worried about, whether they can break through the blockade of the Uighur army.

The guide who led the Tang army was called Basha, a native of Wusun in the country of Qiuzi, more than thirty years old, not tall, but dark and strong, flexible like a monkey, he followed his father to trade on the Wusun Ancient Road since he was a child, and knew this ancient road well, and could speak fluent Chinese.

"The time you chose is very good, it is a good time to cross the Wusun Ancient Road, now at the end of April, the snow and ice melt, there is not much snow, if you go a month earlier, you will be blocked by thick snow, if you go later in September, the top of the mountain will freeze and snow again, in fact, there are only five months in a year to cross the ancient road."

"Will there be a flash flood at this time?" Next to Guo Chongqing asked.

Basha smiled and said: "Yes, it is possible, but the problem is that I have walked this road for more than 20 years, and I have only encountered one flash flood, or in June, I don't think I should think too much about the problem of flash floods." ”

Li Ji whispered to Guo Song: "This guide is a bit unreliable!" Since you have encountered a flash flood, you should take precautions, how can you not consider it! ”

Guo Song smiled faintly: "Maybe it will be troublesome to consider flash floods." ”

The guide's ears were very sharp, and when he heard Guo Song's words, he hurriedly explained: "Guo Changshi is right, if you prevent mountain floods, you must pay attention to at least 20 points, and each point must climb up the mountain to explore, at least two days, so that you can't get out of the Tianshan Mountains for two months, so you generally don't deliberately take precautions. ”

Li Ji immediately replied to him: "What I said about prevention does not mean going up the mountain to check, but what preparations we should make, in case of a flash flood, we have more luck to escape." ”

"This is simple, there are three points, one is not to camp in places where there may be flash floods; Second, we must be vigilant at all times; Third, once encountering a flash flood, immediately abandon the war horse and flee to a high place. ”

The eyes of all the cavalry widened, and Liang Wu said angrily: "You want us to abandon our horses and flee for our lives? ”

Basha shrugged, spread his hands and said: "I just suggest, it is up to you whether you listen or not, and the possibility of encountering a flash flood is very small, as long as everyone knows." ”

Guo Song was a little unhappy and said to everyone: "This is someone else's experience, it is always not wrong to learn, and the guide is right, the war horse will go a little slower to a high place, the flash flood will break out, and the opportunity to escape will be fleeting in an instant, first run away from your own life, and then take care of the war horse, do you hear it!" ”

The crowd replied in unison, "Yes!" ”

.........

Everyone entered the Tianshan Mountains from the Black Rock Pass, although it was April, it was still very cold in the Tianshan Mountains, but under the sun, you could feel the warm breath, the ice and snow had melted, and the crystal clear icicles under the rocks began to melt, dripping into trickles, trickling into streams, and gurgling water.

On the hillside in the distance are patches of dark green forests, all tall and straight pine trees, like resolute soldiers who have survived the test of the bitter cold.

Below the pine trees is the alpine grassland, you can see a group of deer in the river by the stream, see the arrival of a living person, immediately run to the hillside in horror, a hundred hunting soldiers were immediately overjoyed, urged the horses to gallop up, drew their bows and arrows, and in a blink of an eye were shot down more than thirty fat deer, winning the applause of the soldiers.

Each of them carried only five days' worth of dry rations, and had to hunt all the way to replenish their meat.

After walking along the valley for more than forty miles, the sky gradually darkened, and the howl of a wild wolf was faintly heard in the distance.

Guo Song asked the guide, "Where can I camp nearby?" ”

The guide pointed to the front and said, "There is an open space by the small river in front of you, where you can camp!" ”

The crowd quickened their pace, and in a short time an open meadow appeared in front of them, which was indeed an ideal campsite, and the soldiers turned over and dismounted.

One group of soldiers went up the mountain to cut down the wood for the fire, another group of soldiers went to the river to wash and peel the prey, and Li Ji sent a dozen soldiers to guard the surroundings.

"There won't be Shatuo people here!"

The guide Basha said to Li Ji: "The main thing here is to prevent wolves, wild wolves are the biggest threat to the merchants, it is recommended that the soldiers do not disperse, and do not go far, otherwise it will be very dangerous." ”

Guo Song reminded Li Jidao: "Listen to the guide's advice!" ”

"Obey!"

Li Ji rearranged the vigilance and sent twenty soldiers, in groups of ten, to guard the north and south ends.

Soon, three bonfires were burning, and the soldiers grilled the venison on the fire, and for a time the smell of meat overflowed, and laughter was heard, perhaps because of the bonfire, and the wild wolves kept howling in the distance, but they never came to harass them.

Around a campfire, a dozen soldiers laughed and talked while eating meat.

"Donald, what are you looking at?" A soldier asked them about the fire chief.

The fire chief's name is Tang Dalang, he is the oldest soldier in the entire army, and everyone calls him Tang Dalang.

Tang Dalang was holding a piece of jade and squinting at it, he asked with a puzzled expression, "What do you say is good about this piece of jade?" ”

"How do we know, Changshi is here, ask Changshi."

At this time, Guo Song happened to come over, and when he saw a group of soldiers looking at him, he smiled and said, "Is there any problem?" ”

Tang Dalang scratched his head and said, "I'm looking at jade, but I don't understand how good it is?" ”

"I'll teach you!"

Guo Song sat down cross-legged, took the jade in his hand, looked at it by the light of the fire, and said in surprise: "Your piece of jade is mutton fat jade!" How did you get it? ”

Tang Dalang said embarrassedly: "I just see that it is whiter than other jade, it is very smooth, and there are no cracks on it, it looks very beautiful, so I chose it." ”

The soldiers gathered around one after another, and Guo Song said with a smile: "This is the principle of choosing jade, even people who don't understand it think it's good-looking, then it must be a good thing." ”

He said to the soldiers: "The first is to choose white, white and greasy like mutton fat, that is, mutton fat jade, followed by relatively complete, there are not many cracks, and then look at the sun, find that there are no impurities in it, play with it in the hand, especially delicate and mature, generally there are various skin colors on the white jade, everyone remember, red skin and white meat is the best one." ”

The soldiers took out their jade one after another to take a closer look, and Tang Dalang scratched his head embarrassedly and said, "Changshi, how much can my jade be worth?" ”

Guo Song checked it a little and said with a smile: "Your piece of jade weighs three taels, it is a piece of superb mutton fat jade, go back to Chang'an and sell it to a jewelry shop, don't sell it if it's less than five hundred yuan." ”

Everyone exclaimed, and Liang Wu couldn't help but ask: "Since it is so valuable, why do the people in Khotan Town say that it is not valuable?" ”

Guo Song glared at him, "Let me ask you, no one wants your melons and fruits in Lingzhou that rot in the ground, but they can be sold at a good price when they are transported to the capital to sell, why do you say?" ”

Liang Wu understood, and said embarrassedly: "I know, it is worth it if someone buys it." ”

"The problem is here, the road to Chang'an is blocked, the beautiful jade of Anxi can't be shipped out, and it can't be eaten as a meal, of course, it is worthless, in the future, the trade road will be smooth, and some merchants will come to Khotan to collect jade, and then this jade will be valuable, do you understand?"

That night, the soldiers began to appraise jade, and some people kept shouting excitedly that he also had mutton fat jade.

Guo Song smiled and said nothing, that is, ordinary white jade, where would there be so much mutton fat jade.

Early the next morning, the Tang army, which had rested all night, was in good spirits and began to set off for the outside of the valley.

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