Tenzin lowered his head tamely and asked the escort to take off the noose around his neck, and then walked to the stretcher. The stretcher was very heavy, making his steps drag and stagger. His muscles became sore, then numb, and finally unconscious. Every few steps, he had to find a way to lift the heels to prevent the boots from falling off. The Qiang people next to him had already noticed his embarrassment, but they did not give him any space to tie his shoes with straw ropes. These hateful guys stood aside, either watching coldly, or laughing loudly, waiting to see what happened to him. joke. Tenzin knew that in this land, shoes were equal to feet and equal to life. As a prisoner, even if he had a wound on his foot, he would become weaker and weaker and eventually die.
The grass roots suddenly stubbed his toes, and Denzin staggered, fell to one knee heavily, and bit his own tongue. He tasted the blood, which was extremely sweet. The stretcher tipped over and the people on it screamed. Tenzin grabbed a bush, held it firmly, and tried to pull himself up again, but his stiff legs were unable to support him. The stretcher was too heavy and he was too tired and weak.
"Get up, Tubo dogs, don't pretend to be dead!" the Qiang guard shouted loudly, waving the whip in his hand. Tenzin lowered his head and gritted his teeth to endure it. He seized the opportunity to tear off a few grass roots and tie his boots tightly. This was a rare opportunity. Suddenly, he received a heavy blow on his shoulder, and Tenzin fell onto his back. The copper jar containing the bones of his friend flew out, fell to the ground, and rolled far away.
"Eh!" The Qiang guard picked it up from the ground, played with it twice in his hand and sneered: "It's a good thing you robbed somewhere. If you hide it and don't hand it over, you're giving me an advantage!"
For a moment, a thread in Danzeng's heart seemed to be broken. He jumped up from the ground angrily, threw the Qiang guard to the ground, took back the copper pot, stuffed it into his arms, and looked around fiercely, like a man who had been tortured. A beast cornered.
"What's going on! What's going on!" Actun jumped off his horse and walked over. At first he thought it was a mutiny by the prisoners, but he soon discovered that it was not the case. Most of the Tubo people were honest. Sitting on the ground, like a group of tame sheep, there were only a dozen Qiang people gathered in a group, holding wooden sticks and whips in their hands, shouting and cursing loudly. He walked into the crowd and saw a Tibetan man huddled up in a ball. It was the Tibetan officer who begged for surrender.
"What's wrong?"
"This guy is hiding his property!" A Qiang man shouted loudly: "Just now he was beating people and trying to escape!"
"Escape?" Acton looked at Tenzin. He was in rags, with no dry food, no protective weapons, and no horses. In this wilderness, surrounded by malicious people, where could he escape to?
"Private possession of property, what property?"
"It was the copper jar in his arms. He accidentally dropped it to the ground. When I picked it up, he rushed towards it like crazy. There must be something valuable in it!"
Actun turned around and said to the Qiang girl behind him: "Tuyan Mangjiebo, go and ask that guy what's in that copper pot?"
Tuyan Mangjiebo nodded, took two steps forward and said to Denzin: "Mr. Lang asked me to ask you, what is in the copper can in your arms?"
Tenzin glanced at the Qiang girl and did not answer immediately. After a few minutes, he replied: "The copper jar contains the bones of my friend. It is not a treasure. I have promised him that I will take him back to his hometown for burial." !" At this point, he took out the copper pot and presented it with both hands.
Tuyan Mangjiebo showed a look of astonishment. She took the copper jar and hesitated for a moment. Finally, she handed the copper jar to Actun and whispered: "He said it contained the bones of his best friend. He wanted to take this with him." Go back to your hometown for burial!”
Actun took the copper jar, opened it, looked at it, and then closed it again: "Give this back to him! Tell those Qiang people that we are still in danger now and don't let anything happen!"
It turned out that Acton was right. Just after noon, the sky began to become gloomy, the north wind blew stronger and stronger, and then it began to snow. Snowflakes fell on everyone's hair, beards and shoulders, and it was very heavy. Soon they will be connected. Both the Qiang people and the Tubo people had forgotten their original hatred at this time. They were familiar with the local climate and knew that this sudden snowstorm was not simple, and it was likely to cover up everything on the earth. , turned into a snowfield. In the face of this power of nature, personal grievances are irrelevant.
"Go faster, go faster!" Akdon urged loudly: "Just get to the camp. There is enough food there. We can camp there and return to Songzhou City when the snow stops!"
Although Tenzin couldn't quite understand what the Tang officer was shouting, he could guess a bit. But he no longer had the energy to care about this at this time. Every ounce of his energy was spent on moving his feet. Looking down, he could see those clumsy and shapeless things stumbling across the mud and snow. I remember that the boots were black, but the ice and snow melted and froze repeatedly around him, and finally they turned into strange-shaped snowballs. His legs were like two popsicles, stiff and unable to bend.
The snow was falling harder and harder, and the snow soon covered his ankles. His steps were dragging and staggering, and the stretcher behind him made him look more like a huge four-legged monster. I am too tired, really too tired, and I can't walk anymore. Bodhisattva has mercy, please let me lie down! Even if it means death, as long as I don't have to walk anymore. Although the snow covers the ground, walking becomes more and more dangerous. Under the snow are not only rocks and grass roots, but also burrows-the kind of burrows that prairie dogs love to dig. An exhausted person can easily sprain an ankle or worse once they step into a cave. What would happen if you stepped into it yourself? ——Denzin didn’t dare to think about it carefully.
In desperation, Tenzin took another step. He felt as if his feet were not soil, but cotton balls. He was falling endlessly, but he couldn't touch any hard place, and he just kept going down, down. I had to stop and find a place to lie down, it was so painful. I was cold and tired, and I wanted to sleep... even just for a little while by the fire with something to eat.
But Tenzin knew very well that if he stopped, he would be dead. He had often seen people freezing to death in the snow, with their faces covered in bruises and weird smiles, and some even tore off their coats. It is said that people will have a hallucination of feeling extremely hot before freezing to death. Tenzin had never experienced this feeling, nor did he want to.
Exhaling his breath, Tenzin took another step. He was now very happy that the Tang Dynasty had confiscated the iron armor on his body. This not only reduced the load, but also prevented him from hypothermia. What was even better was that he was not stripped of his sheepskin jacket and yak hair cloak. , but there was nothing he could do about the boots - snowwater seeped in from the damaged areas and then froze, and he could no longer feel the pain. He hoped that he could save his toes, so that although he would not be able to run in the future, at least he could still walk. Without Who needs a slave who can't walk.
Suddenly, Tenzin stumbled under his feet. He tried to stand firm, but his whole body fell down as stiffly as a stone statue. Someone was shaking his shoulders. "Get up," said a voice, "you idiot, this is no place to sleep, you will die! Get up and move on!"
"I'm not sleeping, I'm just resting. Go away and leave me alone!" Tenzin said, more like murmuring than speaking: "I'm fine, I just want to rest."
"Get up." It was the voice of the Qiang girl, her voice was hoarse. She appeared above Sam, a thin layer of ice already forming on her cloak, "You can't rest, you'll freeze to death."
"Leave me alone!" Tenzin smiled and said: "No, really, I feel very comfortable like this. You can leave quickly. I will catch up after I rest for a while."
"Lie!" The girl's cheeks were already blue and purple from the cold: "You will only lose strength the longer you lie down, and then you will die!"
"What's going on?" Actun jumped off the horse. He looked at Tenzin's condition and said, "Tuyan Mangjiebo, bring the horse over!"
Tuyan Mangjiebo responded and went to find the sheepskin. Acton first took out a gourd from the saddle and gave Tenzin two mouthfuls. Then he took out a knife and cut open Tenzin's boots, and beat them with snow. He rubbed it twice, and then started rubbing it vigorously. After a long while, Tenzin finally regained consciousness in his feet. He felt countless steel needles pricking his feet, and he screamed!
"It's good to be conscious!" Acton smiled. He wrapped Tenzin's feet with a piece of sheepskin and put him on the horse. He said: "You can ride a horse. It will be fine when you get to the camp. If you don't have luck, If so, your feet should still be saved!"
Under the leadership of Akdon, the group finally met up with Wang Pu before early morning. Wang Pu had already set up the camp. Seeing the embarrassed appearance of Akton and his group, he couldn't help but be shocked: "What did you do? How did you do it?" Like this? Why are there so many people?"
"We caught up with the group of Tubo people and defeated them. These are the captives and the recaptured Qiang people!" Actun said with a smile: "We just encountered wind and snow on the way back. I didn't expect the weather here to change so quickly. , I almost confessed everything on the road!”
"Yes, I also heard those veterans say that the weather here in Songzhou is unusual, but I didn't expect it to be this bad! You are the same. If the weather is bad, just bring our people back. Don't worry about these Qiang people and What are the Tubo people doing? We in the government office can’t even pay for the loss of one of our brothers!”
"The Grand Governor is new here and is not familiar with the Tubo and Qiang people. Wouldn't it be just right if we could send dozens of prisoners there?" Acton said with a smile: "How does the Grand Governor treat us in the Yamen on weekdays? Isn’t this the time to do the work of a dog and a horse?”
"What you said makes sense. I haven't seen you for a few days, and your knowledge has improved!" Wang Pu said with a smile: "Forget it, I have already asked someone to boil the ginger soup. Let's drink a bowl of ginger soup and apply some plaster first!"
"Yeah!" Acton responded: "By the way, do you think this wind and snow will continue to fall? Then will we be trapped here?"
"It's only September now, so it shouldn't be!" Wang Pu said: "I've already asked, and they said the weather here comes and goes quickly. If it's snowing continuously after October, it should be snowing now. It will stop in a day or two, and it won’t be too late for us to return to Songzhou by then!”
Facts have proved that Wang Pu was right. The sudden heavy snow had subsided by noon the next day and stopped completely by the evening. On the morning of the third day, the group set off to see them off.
Songzhou City.
"Wang Pu and Acton are back?" Wang Wenzuo raised his head: "Okay, I must have been trapped by snow on the road. This ghost place is worse than Baekje and Goguryeo. If you are not careful, you will suffer big losses!"
"They encountered heavy snow on their way back!" Ijilianbode laughed: "But they didn't come back empty-handed!"
"Didn't you come back empty-handed? What do you mean? Did you snatch back some Qiang people?" Wang Wenzuo asked.
"Not only that, Aktun caught up with the group of Tibetan soldiers and defeated them. He captured more than 70 people alive and brought back all the soldiers and armor, as well as a deputy Baihu."
"Oh? Aktun has made a great contribution this time!" Wang Wenzuo laughed: "I was thinking that it would be great if I could capture a few Tibetan prisoners and bring them back, so that I could see what the power of the Tubo people is. Now they actually captured After so much experience, I can ask questions clearly about many things! Otherwise, it would be like a blind man riding a blind horse, facing a deep pool in the middle of the night, and this battle would be impossible to fight!"
"A blind man rides a blind horse, walking into a deep pool in the middle of the night! What a poem!" Igilianbod held up his palms and said with a smile, "The subordinates will immediately bring up the Tibetan prisoners!"
"Don't panic now, bring up a few more pictures of their soldiers and armors and let me have a look! It's not too late for the prisoners to ask questions tomorrow!"
Ijirenbod responded and quickly presented several pieces of armor and weapons. Wang Wenzuo looked at each one carefully and found that these pieces were all pierced armor. The armor leaves were so fine and hard that they could not be damaged by ordinary swords. He also tried it with a bow and crossbow. Shooting at about thirty steps can penetrate the armor, which is even better than the armor of the Tang Dynasty.
"What a great armor!" Yijilianbod exclaimed: "Our country's craftsmen are far behind!"
"Actually, it's nothing!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "The Tubo people should have good mines, so they can smelt good iron, and then repeatedly cold forge it, and the resulting armor will naturally be strong. However, they only have so few craftsmen in the country, and it takes a lot of money. With so much artificial iron used in weapons and armor, the tools used for farming and animal husbandry in the country must be very crude. Maybe farmers use wood and stone tools. Agriculture is the foundation of all industries, and the Tubo people are so aggressive in military affairs. Even if they gain a temporary benefit, It won’t last long. As long as the invasion yields nothing, they will naturally devour themselves and die!”
"That's what the governor said!" Yiji Lianbode nodded: "But the poor rat eats the cat, and the Tubo people are so militaristic that it is difficult to defeat them. How do you think we should deal with it?"
Wang Wenzuo frowned and said nothing. His analysis of Tubo just now is certainly true. With Tubo's backward productivity level, small country and few people, but it can support so many well-equipped troops, it must be that all limited domestic resources are invested in the military, such as young men joining the army. , the limited craftsmen and metals are used in the military, and the agriculture and animal husbandry cannot get enough metal tools, which will inevitably have a worse impact on the country's agricultural and animal husbandry production.
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