"The suspect on the North Road has been exposed. The British ambushed the escort team and all the fake goods were lost..."
"Increase security forces against suspected soldiers on the middle road, ask Zuo Zongtang for help, and ask him to send troops to protect along the way..."
Orders one after another were turned into encrypted codes and transmitted rapidly through the lines of the Qing Telegraph Bureau. Thousands of people were mobilized for this secret war.
Zuo Jigao and the others have been convinced by Xiao Letian's secret letter, and they have also received Zeng Guofan's secret order. They have put down their obsession and greed.
At this moment, both parties have come together for one goal, which is to protect Dunhuang documents and completely keep Dunhuang studies in China.
There was a steady stream of soldiers added to the Western Expedition army, and many battalion heads temporarily served as the escorts for the middle escort team. Those northwest guys who went to the escort agency really didn't expect that they actually escorted such a magical escort team.
Protect the goods yourself, and the army will protect them!
The escort team on the middle route moved very slowly, and did not cross the Yellow River and enter Lanzhou City until March of spring. The horse bandits hired by the British tried to attack several times, but were frightened back by Zuo Zongtang's army.
After passing Lanzhou City and heading toward Xi'an, the population becomes denser, and the court's ability to control the place becomes stronger. At this time, it is impossible to rely on groups of bandits.
Even if there are bandits, no one dares to fight against the army!
The British changed their thinking and began to think of thieves. After countless tests and bribes, there will always be some people who become traitors, and there will always be some people who forget their ancestors and country for the sake of money.
However, the British underestimated the CIA's counter-reconnaissance capabilities. After secretly arresting two grooms who tried to peek at the goods in Lanzhou City, the escort team immediately made a decision to slow down the march as slowly as possible.
Originally, the middle escort team was a suspect, and the British kept buying thieves to get closer. This proved that they still had no idea, and they couldn't figure out where the real Dunhuang documents were.
The more this happens, the more it will make them feel itchy, and they will have to drag their attention here.
The security force continues to increase, and we will never spend the night in the wild or in too small a town along the way. We will only take action during the day when it is safest.
The dawdling continued until April before arriving in Xi'an!
The British had no idea that at this time the documents from Dunhuang had been secretly transported to Sichuan and were heading towards Chongqing along the paths in the mountains.
As for Chongqing Chaotianmen Pier, a steamship belonging to the Mi Group docked here a month ago, waiting quietly!
A secret war was taking place in the northwest and southwest, and the Chinese locals were fighting against the British. When the traitors in Xi'an finally discovered the secret of the escort team, it was already too late.
No matter how tight the protection was, it could not stop the mole who had been bribed with a lot of money. An escort in the escort agency could not resist the temptation of ten large yellow croakers and secretly pried open the wooden box while on duty.
As a result, he found that there were no ancient books at all, only Hetian jade and the night-light pearl, a specialty of the Western Regions, and other treasures!
"It's broken... Xiao Letian is so cunning, even this place is fake!"
The British wanted to find the real thing but they really had no time. The steamship of Chongqing Mi Group received the 'cargo' and immediately set sail along the river.
The steamship stopped and went cautiously until it reached Nanjing in June. In order to safely pass through the British sphere of influence in Shanghai, Zeng Guofan ordered the cargo to be separated and placed on four Hunan Army grain ships.
It was under the protection of the Hunan military system that four treasure ships left Shanghai and headed straight for Ryukyu under the eyes of British warships.
When Xiao Letian learned that all the documents were safe, others had already visited Borneo, and the excited head of state got drunk.
After sobering up the next day, he immediately ordered the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue a solemn protest to the Qing Dynasty!
"Hmm...how to write this protest? Just say that the Qing Dynasty allowed the grassland horse bandits to cause chaos, and their suppression was unsuccessful, resulting in a large loss of Dunhuang documents..."
"Yes, that's it... let's just insist that these documents were lost on the grassland, and the North Road caravan is our escort team to transport the documents..."
"Kill him in one bite, start a lawsuit with the Qing Dynasty, and use this protracted diplomatic war to shut the mouths of the British!"
"Are you asking me for the treasure again? Haha, no more... go to the Qing Dynasty to get it!"
"Remember to remind Chun Chun when I look back, isn't this a very good opportunity to seize power? Before I took charge, horse bandits were rampant on the Mongolian grasslands. This blame will not be taken away..."
"Remember, these Dunhuang documents are under top-secret protection from now on, and all research is conducted in secret... The confidentiality period is seventy years!"
The secret transport mission of Dunhuang documents became a top-secret operation that lasted for seventy years, and the Dunhuang documents secretly escorted to Ryukyu were studied in secret for the first seventy years.
Although the British knew that Xiao Letian had used his hands and feet, they were so clever that they had no choice but to grit their teeth and swallow it.
As a result, during the subsequent seventy-year confidentiality period, the world and even the mainland believed that most of these documents had been lost, and the loss was so complete that they had never been leaked into the black market!
This is a pity for the global academic community. Those experts and scholars lamented that this is a disaster and the greatest loss of human civilization.
The mystery lasted for more than half a century until 1942, when the Chinese force was able to absolutely protect China's security, and when the Chinese no longer had to look at the face of any major power in the world.
The Chinese suddenly made a big announcement, and Dunhuang documents were once again available!
At that moment, the whole world was shocked, and all the media swarmed in. Hidden in a huge air-raid bunker with constant temperature and humidity inside the Ryukyu Mountains, more than 100,000 Dunhuang documents were protected unscathed!
The treasures of the Tibetan Scripture Cave have been left in China in such a complete manner!
Together with the Dunhuang documents, seventy years of Dunhuang studies were published, the results of which have blinded the eyes of scholars and experts around the world.
The entire history of the Western Regions has undergone major revisions, and six comparative dictionaries of lost characters have been published. The Chinese Dunhuang Research Institute has spent seventy years restoring six completely lost characters and languages.
As for other aspects of research, it is even more vast. The Dunhuang studies major established in various Chinese universities actually received 100,000 applications for admission in one year.
At that moment, the whole world realized that the head of state had actually deceived the world for seventy years!
No matter how grand the scene was seventy years later, it had nothing to do with Xiao Letian. Anyway, after the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested to the Qing Dynasty, the ball was considered to be at the feet of the Manchus.
At this time, Manchuria had already fallen into internal strife, and the conflicts were so fierce that they were about to go to war!
