Everyone was running at lightning speed, heading north. Most of the relevant clues compiled by Chang Sheng and others had seen it, and they knew that the places everyone on our side was going to were extremely remote, and most of them were not within the territory of the Tang Dynasty. This time they went north, let alone within a thousand miles. , that is, there is no place that anyone wants to go within two thousand miles.
Everyone set out at chenshi and entered Hedong Road at noon. Datou's ancestral home was Hedong Road and he was very familiar with this area. He drove Miss Bai to fly forward to lead the way and led everyone north from the official road.
What we saw along the way was that people were starving and devastated. Fortunately, the prefectures in various places had sent people to receive the relief rice grains allocated by the court. From time to time, we could see convoys full of rice grains and officers and soldiers guarding the grains as if they were facing a formidable enemy. The reason why they were like this They were facing a formidable enemy because each grain transport team was followed by a large number of hungry people in ragged clothes, ranging from a few hundred to thousands. Once the looting got out of control, the few officers and soldiers escorting the grain could not control the situation at all.
Changsheng has seen too many similar tragedies. Although he is not accustomed to it, he is cold-blooded and numb, but he is also helpless and helpless. He has tried his best and done everything he can. However, when the manpower is limited, it is himself. Try your best, you can't save everyone.
Before setting off, Batulu was in high spirits. Compared to Chen Liqiu and Li Zhongyong, he preferred to stay with Changsheng because Changsheng would never criticize him as harshly as Chen Liqiu and Li Zhongyong. In addition, in his opinion, Changsheng did not Things are very interesting. Traveling with Changsheng is much more interesting than staying in Qingyang doing nothing.
However, Batulu soon discovered that things were not as he imagined. Everyone set off at any hour and rushed northward under the scorching sun. Not to mention stopping for a moment along the way, they did not even urinate once. He kept running towards the north, and there was still no sign of stopping to rest until sunset.
Batulu was bored and wanted to get close to Da Tou to talk to him. However, the golden eagle driven by Da Tou was quite hostile to the Fire Qilin. It will bark loudly and show its claws.
There are fifteen roads in the Tang Dynasty, and the entire territory resembles a bull's head. The Longyou Road in the northwest and the Hebei Road in the northeast are two horns. This time, everyone took the Hedong Road. After crossing the Hedong Road, they reached the border of the Xiongnu.
Although there are checkpoints and sentry posts on the border between the two countries, military discipline has been weakened and is ineffective. The reason for this is that the Tang Dynasty is currently experiencing constant civil strife, and the court has no time to recover the grasslands and lands that were occupied by the Xiongnu. The same is true for the Xiongnu. , divided by internal strife a few years ago, the huge Huns have now been divided into dozens of tribes, large and small, and no longer pose any threat to the Tang Dynasty.
Batulu's ancestral home is Mobei, and he was very excited after entering the grassland. He ran back to Mobei after his brothers were separated. Later, he became worried about Changsheng and others, and walked from Mobei to the Middle Earth alone. At that time, he But I had been away for several months, and now I flew back in less than half a day.
If it were a hypocritical person, he would inevitably feel sad and emotional when he touches the scene, but Batulu is simple-minded and can't even feel sad. He just feels that he has come to his own territory. When the second watch comes, everyone stops to rest. Batulu Lu immediately looked for firewood to make a fire, and then went around digging for groundhogs, greeting Changsheng and others like a host.
The groundhog roasted by Batulu was bigger than a rabbit, and it also smelled like meat after being burned. However, Changsheng thought it was a mouse, so he refused to eat it. Yang Kai and Yu Yi didn't eat it either. Only Datou and Shi Xuanming didn't care. , grabbing the big roasted black mouse and drinking happily with Batulu.
Everyone brought a lot of drinks when they came out this time. This was the result of Datou and Shi Xuanming's secret manipulation. Earlier, while waiting for Yang Kai to come back, the two of them secretly went to the Yanbin Building and bought more than a dozen jars of liquor. They are all carried by the fire unicorn.
"Hey, little dwarf, where are we going?" Batulu asked, "Why have we been traveling all day?"
"We have to go north, to a place where no one is around." Datou said casually.
"You've been running for six or seven hours at a stretch, aren't you tired?" Batulu asked.
Datou smiled and said, "Haha, uncle, do you think we are pampered civil servants? We are military generals who fight. We often do similar things."
"How far do we have to go?" Batulu asked.
Datou didn't look at the sketch carefully last night, and when Batulu asked, he nuzzled at Changsheng.
Batulu then turned to look at Changsheng. Changsheng was concentrating on sensing the location of other talismans at this time. He didn't realize that Batulu was looking at him. Yang Kai on the side saw this and said, "The nearest one is still some distance away from here." Thousands of miles away.”
Batulu frowned when he heard the sound, "Huh? It's so far, so we have to run for most of the day tomorrow."
Datou said, "Uncle, what are you thinking about? We have to leave after a while. Do you still want to sleep here?"
Batulu was afraid that everyone would dislike him, so he waved his hands hurriedly and said, "No, no, I'm not tired, I can leave anytime."
Changsheng came back to his senses and said, "We have to go to many places this time. Time is tight and we don't dare to delay too much on the way."
"Lao Wu, how many places should we go in total?" Batulu asked.
"Ninety-six places," Changsheng said casually, "There are eighteen places located in the Great Northern Wilderness. There are a total of eighty-seven places in the Great Wilderness recorded in the Great Wilderness. It would be 23,000 miles to visit them one by one."
Seeing Batulu's astonishment, Changsheng said again, "The eighteen places we are going to next were selected by me from the eighty-seven clues in the Northern Wilderness. The twenty-three thousand miles mentioned in the Strange News are The distance covered one by one is not a straight line distance, we will only go to eighteen of them, so we don’t have to walk that far.”
Batulu didn't know what Chang Sheng said about the strange news at all, and he was confused and couldn't understand the complicated expressions. However, he did listen to Chang Sheng's words, "You don't have to go so far." "Then Okay, that’s good.”
Everyone rested for an hour, fed their mounts, and then set off overnight. When they arrived in Mobei, Batulu led the way. In fact, he didn't know the road, but he knew what kind of grass had fewer rat holes under it, and Changsheng had been exposed to rat holes before. Don't forget the experience of breaking a horse's leg. You will gain wisdom after every experience. He doesn't want the sweat-blooded BMW ridden by Yang Kai and others to make the same mistake as the Black Master. You must know that the sweat-blooded BMW does not have the powerful self-healing ability of the Black Master. Once a horse's leg is broken by a rat hole, the journey will be delayed.
Although there are few people in Mobei, you will occasionally encounter some herdsmen on the way. These herdsmen do not act alone, but bring their families and travel in groups, ranging from more than ten people to hundreds of people. Don’t think that Nomadic herding must be better than farming. Nomadic herding also depends on the weather. Little rain in summer or wind and snow in winter will often cause disaster to livestock. The lives of the herdsmen seen along the way are also not easy. There are not many cattle and sheep grazing. Long and thin.
Batulu's fire unicorn can not only fly from the sky, but also run on the ground. However, its running speed is not as fast as that of the Black Master and the sweaty horse, and it also carries a lot of things, so it still flies in the air after setting off.
Batulu was so excited to see his own people that he shouted hello to them from afar. However, the herdsmen in the distance were wary of outsiders, so they drew their swords and bows and shouted to drive them away before they could approach.
Being driven away by his tribe, Batulu didn't take it seriously, "Haha, they must have regarded me as a god when they saw me flying in the clouds."
"You can pull me down, they might think you are a monster." Datou joked.
"Don't tell me, there are real monsters in Mobei," Batulu suddenly thought up and shouted to Changsheng below, "Hey, Lao Wu, aren't you a Taoist priest? You finally came here and took care of the monsters in Mobei." Caught?"
It is true that Changsheng is a Taoist priest, but he came out this time to do business, and he is from the Tang Dynasty. He can't cry on his own grave. He has no time to go to other people's houses to catch ghosts and subjugate demons. However, it is inconvenient for him to refuse directly. He casually said, "Okay, we are heading to the monster's lair now."
At noon, everyone on our side rested again, this time for a longer rest, and slept until sunset before setting off.
After setting off this time, I no longer encountered any herdsmen along the way, and the endless grasslands were gradually replaced by mountains and mountains.
At the second watch, a tall mountain peak appeared in the north. The trees on the mountain were mostly pines and cypresses, and there were also many hazel trees and alewives used to make arrow shafts.
The ripening season of hazelnuts is in July every year. At this time, the ripe hazelnuts have fallen under the trees. Hazelnuts are a very delicious dry fruit that can be stored for a long time. Everyone picked up some while they were resting.
"This place must be inaccessible," Yu Yi said, "otherwise these fruits would have been picked up long ago."
Changsheng nodded and answered, "There are pines and cypresses, hazel trees, and rhododendron trees that are rare elsewhere. This is very consistent with the Panhou Mountain recorded in the Great Wilderness Strange News."
As soon as Changsheng finished speaking, Datou raised his hand and pointed to the west, "My lord, look, what kind of things are there in the distance?"
Before Changsheng could answer, Batulu said, "Yak, wild yak."
"The presence of yaks proves that this is indeed Panhou Mountain," Changsheng said, raising his hand and pointing north, "Climb this mountain and continue two hundred and thirty miles north. There should be a small hill without vegetation, called Xiao Xianshan, that’s our first stop.”
"Xiao Xianshan? Why does it sound so familiar?" Datou scratched his head.
"Further north of Xiaoxian Mountain is Daxian Mountain," Changsheng said. "These two mountains have similar names to the Buxian Mountain in the northeast and are not related to each other."
"Oh," Datou nodded and said, "Two hundred miles is not a far distance. How about I go over and take a look first."
"I'll go with you." Batulu also stood up.
"The situation is unclear, so don't act rashly," Chang Sheng frowned and waved his hands when he heard the words, "According to the records of strange news, Xiaoxian Mountain has snow in summer and rain in winter. It is a place where yin and yang reverse. This kind of place not only breeds spiritual creatures, but also gathers alien species. A perfect place for Qi practice.”
"You mean there might be something hidden in that place?" Datou asked.
"right…..."
