Tibet

To Feng Changqing's expectation, there were less than 2,000 Tibetan troops in the Xushi Kingdom. After learning that the main force of the Tang army had captured the Yasin Valley, two thousand Tubo soldiers abandoned the Xushi Kingdom and evacuated to Xiaobolu.

The army arrived at Shangmi City, the city gate was opened wide, and King Jide Aluo led the queen, princes and officials to surrender to the Tang army.

Feng Changqing was also merciless. He immediately deposed the king and queen and established Gidearo's brother Largaro as the new king. All documents related to Tibet were destroyed and all Tibetan supplies were confiscated.

Although the Kingdom of Xuushi was successfully captured, Feng Changqing was very worried about another Tang army coming from Xiaobolu. There were two ancient roads on the north and south banks of Poyi River in Xiaobolu leading to the Kingdom of Xuushi, but this two The ancient roads will meet three hundred miles east of Yushi Kingdom.

In terms of time, the retreating two thousand Tibetan troops were likely to encounter the three thousand Tang troops who had killed Xiaobolu. Feng Changqing immediately made a decision and ordered Bai Xiaode to lead three thousand men to chase the retreating Tibetan soldiers.

Five days passed quickly, and there was still no news from the Tang army in the east.

At noon, Feng Changqing stood on a city platform with his hands behind his hands, gazing solemnly at the mountains, as heavy snow fell in the sky.

Li Ye walked forward slowly and said: "I heard that the heavy snow will come earlier than last year."

Feng Changqing sighed slightly, "It's twenty days earlier than last year. This is God's will!"

Li Ye worried: "Will General Bai and the others be trapped in the snowy mountains?"

Feng Changqing shook his head, "I just received news that the two armies wiped out two thousand Tibetan troops in Khanna Valley. They are now on their way back and will be back soon. They are not a problem."

Speaking of this, Feng Changqing's mouth showed a hint of bitterness, "The real problem is that we are trapped in the Shishi Kingdom."

"That food"

"The food we carry and the food stored by the Tibetan army in the city are enough for us to last for two months, but we will not be able to get out of trouble until at least February next year. Then we will face the dilemma of no food for another month and a half."

"We also have five thousand camels."

Feng Changqing nodded, "I know, but it will take more than a month for us to go back to Shule. Is it enough for two people to eat a camel for three months?"

"I remember Chang Shi said there is another way?"

Feng Changqing nodded, "I originally wanted to plunder the food of the Shishi Kingdom, but today the king told me that there is another way. With luck, I can solve the food problem."

"any solution?"

"We sent people to Wuzhanna and Humi Country to purchase food. It takes about ten days to go back and forth. With luck, we can get a batch of food before the real blizzard comes, especially Humi Country, which is famous for You can definitely get food at the transit place for food and livestock.”

Li Ye immediately asked Ying and said, "Let me go to the Humi Country! I can understand some of the languages ​​of the Western Regions."

Feng Changqing nodded, "I will ask Duan Xiushi to go to Wuzhan, and the Humi Country will cause trouble for Young Master Li!"

That afternoon, Li Ye set out with Pei Xiu, An Taixuan, 200 soldiers, and 3,000 camels.

It takes about five days to walk from Shuishi Kingdom to Humi Kingdom. The road is not difficult to walk, just walk along a valley. The same goes to Wuzhanna Kingdom. In fact, Shuishi Kingdom is the intersection of several roads. That's why strategic location is so important.

In fact, it is still late autumn, but the Snowy Mountains are already covered with white snow. There is a little warm and moist downdraft at the bottom of the valley, which makes it a little less cold. This is also a characteristic of the snowy mountains.

But this kind of coldness is also relative. The temperature at the top of the mountain is minus 30 degrees, and the bottom of the valley is about minus 5 to 10 degrees. It will be particularly cold at night, and it will drop to minus 20 degrees.

Fortunately, it is too far from the ocean and has a relatively dry climate with very little precipitation. Even if it snows, it is still on the top of the mountain. There is almost no snow in the valley, but the wind is strong.

If the Tang army wanted to return to Shule in winter, it would be no problem to walk along the Wakhan Corridor. The main reason is that the army could not cross Lingshan. It was 40 to 50 degrees below zero and the wind and snow were raging. If they had to walk for several days, everyone would freeze into ice.

So we set off from the Kingdom of Shishi in February and arrived at Lingshan in March. It was already spring and we could just go there.

The guide is a hunter from the Shishi Kingdom. He grew up in Anxi and speaks fluent Chinese. He is very familiar with the road conditions and takes them on a day trip and overnight stay. There is a lot of game on the road, mainly rats and rabbits, which they catch. We picked up hundreds of pikas and ate them all along the way.

That afternoon, several soldiers suddenly pointed into the distance and shouted excitedly: "Goat!"

Sure enough, there was a group of sheep in the distance, red argali sheep to be precise. They were all very fat, and there were more than thirty of them in total.

Li Ye immediately asked Pei Xiu to lead a dozen soldiers to drive away the argali. He led the soldiers to hide on both sides of the ravine, holding bows and arrows. After a while, driven by the soldiers of the Tang army, more than 30 red argali headed towards the gully. Running wildly.

Li Ye stretched his bow and nocked an arrow, aimed at the leading sheep and shot an arrow. The powerful arrow shot through the head of the leading sheep. The leading sheep fell down. The soldiers fired arrows together. In an instant, all the more than thirty argali sheep were shot down. This is their biggest harvest.

At night, the team stopped in a wide place in the valley, all the camels lay down, and the soldiers cut down the trees and lit a huge bonfire.

Everyone gathered around the campfire to grill the argali, sprinkled with salt and spices, and the soldiers' mouths were full of oil.

Strangely, the guide refused to eat. He shook the prayer bucket in his hand and recited scriptures to save the argali.

Li Ye suddenly came to his senses, and after he finished reciting the sutra, he asked with a smile: "Are you a Buddhist?"

The guide nodded, "Everyone in the country is a believer in the Buddha. I even went to Nalanda Temple for pilgrimage!"

"Then you want to be a hunter? Aren't you afraid that Buddha will blame you for killing?"

The guide solemnly said: "I went to Nalanda Temple to ask the eminent monk whether I would go to hell. An eminent monk told me that if you hunt for survival, you will not go to hell. If you kill for entertainment, you will not go to hell. That would go to hell, so I let it go.”

Li Ye nodded, "Then we caught rats, rabbits and hunted argali along the way. Is this considered survival?"

"Yes! You are hunting for food, not hunting for fun. This is different."

The guide paused for a moment and then said: "Our king went to Wuzhan Kingdom to pay homage to a holy monk in the summer. The holy monk told the king that before winter came, there would be a war in the Kingdom of Wuzhan, and a heavenly army would descend from the sky. As a result, you actually came. .”

Li Ye was shocked. Is this predicting the future?

He asked again: "What else did the holy monk say?"

"The holy monk also said that the West will change its dynasty this year, and that a war between the Eastern and Western powers will break out in Sogdia next year. Tocharia will be conquered by the iron heel of the West, and its beliefs will also change."

Li Ye was stunned. It was absolutely true. The Black-clad Dashi destroyed the Umayyad Dynasty this year and established the Abbasid Dynasty. The Talas War will break out in Sogdia next year. The Tang Dynasty will face the Dashi Dynasty. The prediction is absolutely correct. Could it be that this holy monk also traveled through time?

This news is too important to Li Ye, just like Feilong knows about his existence.

Li Ye felt regretful in his heart. He wished he had gone to Wuzhan earlier. He asked, "How far is it from Humi Country to Wuzhan?"

"The general also wants to see the holy monk?"

Li Ye nodded, and the guide smiled and said: "The holy monk is not in Wuzhanna now, but is preaching at Bailian Temple in Humi Country. The reason why I am willing to be a guide is because I also want to visit the holy monk in Humi Country!"

Li Ye felt really lucky. Maybe it was God's will. He took the initiative to ask to go to Humi Country. Was it because of the guidance of this holy monk?

Li Ye asked again: "What is the name of this holy monk?"

"The holy monk is called Padmasambhava!"

Li Ye couldn't open his mouth for a long time. Master Padmasambhava, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism!