Thousand Miles of Bright Moonlight

Chapter 149

Ten days later, Li Zhongqian and Li Xuanzhen arrived at Shazhou.

The Northern Rong had issued a border ban, and the guards were extremely stringent. Passing caravans and pedestrians had to go through careful scrutiny.

Li Xuanzhen had made preparations early on. Even before they departed from Liangzhou, he had taken advantage of an insider. Making use of one of Grand Princess Yiqing's secret spies he had previously captured, they forged the border identification, disguised themselves as Northern Rong scouts, and under the excuse of "sending tribute for Grand Princess Yiqing's birthday" passed through the Northern Rong guards' search. Smoothly sneaking through the mountain pass, they also swaggered into the Northern Rong's relay stations the whole way, taking the most convenient and fastest routes, demanding the best and fastest horses.

Occasionally, when some guards suspected their identity, the captured spy would fly into a rage, berate the guards, and arrogantly and domineeringly threaten to mention this to Grand Princess Yiqing once they arrived at Yizhou's court and send the guards to Samarkand to blow the northwest wind.

Samarkand was even farther than the Suyab nation, Kang nation, Shi nation, and other places. With abundant natural resources and merchants and caravans abound, it was on the route to Persia by the Silk Road's northern road. Countless caravans passed through here, and with the Central Plains exporting a steady flow of silk, porcelain, tea, and other things to the West, this was a strategic geographical location. The Northern Rong has been expanding rapidly over the years, and Wakhan Khan has been coveting all the rich lands north and south of the Pamir Mountains for a long time. He had sent a team on an expedition, which reached as far as the Samarkand, and there was no news after that.

Northern Rong's internal ranks were rigid, so the majority of common soldiers were civilians, and they were afraid of being sent to Samarkand to die.

The general was skeptical, but when he saw the soldier's arrogant attitude, he didn't dare to offend him and let him through immediately.

The spy told Li Xuanzhen and others that after Grand Princess Yiqing married to the Turkic tribe, she married three times to the old Khan then his descendants in quick succession. Then, they were subjugated to the Northern Rong. and Grand Princess Yiqing fell into the hands of a Northern Rong noble. The noble was Haidu Aling's teacher.

It was Grand Princess Yiqing who taught Haidu Aling how to speak Chinese. The reason why he knows the customs of the Central Plains and the courts of various countries inside out, was thanks to the Grand Princess Yiqing's wholehearted teachings.

The group of people traveled tirelessly, making haste day and night. The weather was getting colder and colder. The four directions were boundless, and they could go days of traveling without seeing the shadow of an oasis. One could see the horse bones, camel bones, and even human bones left behind in the sand dunes everywhere.

When they passed through the occasional oasis-dependent city, they would sneak into the city to inquire information from the commoners but would end up empty-handed. The civilian population were all emaciated, looking numb, and did not dare to talk to strangers.

They were afraid that asking too many questions would cause suspicion, so they had no choice but to leave it.

Li Xuanzhen's face was heavy.

The further northwest they went, he realized that the people's lives were even more difficult than he had previously imagined.

Shazhou and Guazhou were now lost to the Northern Rong. Along the way, the people they saw, whether they were Hu or Han, were all forced to braid their hair like the Northern Rong, speak Hu, and perform Hu etiquette. The divide between noble and low Northern Rong people was very distinct; the people at the bottom were like livestock, in a miserable situation.