Chapter 74: A Thousand Li of Yellow Sand, Traveled Slowly

By the Ruoqiang River, the sun had not yet risen, and a hazy moon hung at the edge of the sky. On just such a morning, a party of sixty or seventy men was already prepared to set out.

Fan Running and the other Guiyi Army envoys, who had come trailing along slowly behind, had also all arrived. This dark, lean fellow, who had temporarily taken up the post of clerk for Zhang Zhao's party, was writing names on one funerary urn after another and then setting them carefully in place.

Among these urns, apart from Huo Sheng'er, Zhang Zhao, who had fallen in battle at the ancient city of Loulan, the remaining seven had all died in the bloody battle at Wuni City.

Besides these seven who had fallen in battle, there were also more than ten men whose wounds required complete rest.

In the battle at Wuni City, the losses Zhang Zhao suffered could hardly be called small: seven men killed, more than ten seriously wounded. As for the lightly wounded, they were not even counted, because nearly every man bore some wound.

The spoils, however, were quite substantial. From the treasure vault of the Zhongyun king Sanpoba, Zhang Zhao had taken away gold, silver, and valuables worth more than fifty-five thousand strings of cash.

As for the rest — grain, cloth, and the like — there was so much he could not possibly carry it away. He sold half to traveling merchants and left the remainder to Li Ruoliu.

"Young lord, wait for me! Wait for me, Ma Yaozi!" A clatter of hoofbeats rang out as Ma Yaozi, riding a fine gray-green horse, came galloping over from the Zhongyun king's palace tents built on the mountainside.

Since more than ten men had to remain in Wuni City to recover, Zhang Zhao simply had Yan Jin lead twenty men to stay behind as a garrison.

First, to back up Li Ruoliu; second, to protect the wounded. Only after the Khotan warriors arrived would they go to Khotan to catch up with Zhang Zhao.

And considering that Ma Yaozi had just won himself a beauty, Zhang Zhao decided to let him enjoy the pleasures of the boudoir in Wuni City a while longer. He had not expected the fellow to come running after them in the end.

"What's this? Ma Yaozi, you can't bear to part with me? Aren't you afraid I'll snatch your little lady?"

Man Xiong, who was loading the carts, said in a muffled, booming voice. The fellow still remembered Ma Yaozi cursing him that night.

"Get lost! Who can't bear to part with a thieving bear like you? I'm going with the young lord to win more great merit!"

Ma Yaozi shot Man Xiong an annoyed glare, then went over to Zhang Zhao of his own accord and began loading the armor from his horse onto the cart.

Zhang Zhao said nothing, only watching Ma Yaozi with a faint, ambiguous smile.

After a minute or two, Ma Yaozi could not take it any longer. He scratched his cheek awkwardly and said, somewhat sheepishly,

"It was no fun. That Hu girl kept crying nonstop. Say two words to her and she'd go off and hide and cry. No fun at all!

I gave her to Blind Luo. Blind Luo lost a hand, and from now on he'll need someone to look after him! I'd rather save up more money and go back to Yu Niang! Only Yu Niang knows how to care for a scabby soldier like me!"

Blind Luo was one of the armored soldiers of Zhang Zhao's Hanshan Unit, originally from the Shouchang garrison. In the final battle, his left hand had been cut off at the wrist. Zhang Zhao had left him with Li Ruoliu to serve as a personal guard. Even once his wound healed completely, he was one of those unlikely to continue following Zhang Zhao.

"You did the right thing. Blind Luo lost his hand for all of us. Having a woman to look after him will be much better.

And your thinking is right too. When you had no money, Yu Niang not only didn't scorn you, she even made up the difference out of her own pocket. Once you've made something of yourself, you ought to marry Yu Niang.

I was in the wrong last time. From now on I'll share money with you, but I won't be giving you any more women!" Zhang Zhao said gravely.

Ma Yaozi nodded out of habit, but then felt something was not quite right. Seeing the teasing look on Zhang Zhao's face, he decisively slipped off to one side.

Zhang Zhao raised his head and glanced once at the Zhongyun kingdom's palace tents on the mountainside. Li Ruoliu had not come out to see him off.

After all, Zhang Zhao and his men had killed Sanpoba. In the days before, Li Ruoliu could still claim she had been forced into it, but if she dared come out to see them off, wouldn't the Zhongyun people take her for an accomplice of Zhang Zhao and his men?

Until the Khotan warriors arrived, the situation here could not be said to be entirely under Li Ruoliu's control. She had to be cautious.

He had no idea whether Li Ruoliu and Mei Niang had conceived, nor what this place would look like when he returned years later.

Nor did he know to what extent a child could affect the relationship between him and Li Ruoliu.

"Let's go, young lord! We will come back!" Old Zhang Zhong looked at Zhang Zhao with concern. The loyal old servant feared Zhang Zhao had fallen under the spell of Li Ruoliu's charms and was unwilling to leave.

"Right! We will come back!" Zhang Zhao nodded, then took his big yellow horse by the reins and waved his hand. Amid the tinkling of bells, the party slowly continued on, heading west.

Sand filled the sky, and for a thousand li there was no sign of human life. Windblown sand blotted out the sun, and black storms wrapped in dust swept across the land in every direction.

A camel suddenly knelt on one knee and let out a loud cry. The Guiyi Army laborers traveling with the party hurried over. This was a patch of shade on the leeward side of a sand dune, and it looked no different from anywhere else.

But everyone began digging in a great hurry. Before long, after digging down about two or three meters, the dry yellow of the sand turned to the brown of wet sand. Ma Yaozi wrapped up a large clump of the wet sand in hemp cloth and handed it to Zhang Zhao.

Zhang Zhao quickly took it and pressed the cold, damp sand to his chest.

They were not short of water yet — the camels carried plenty — but drinking water alone could not make up for the rapid loss of moisture from their whole bodies.

The only solution was to use the camels to find places where wet sand could be dug up, and then press the wet sand to their chests.

And it was not something you could do just once. After every eight to ten kilometers of travel, it had to be done again. Otherwise, you could just wait to be roasted dry by this terrifying desert and turned into a mummy!

In truth, the eleventh month of the lunar calendar was not a good time to go to Khotan. According to Fan Running, one should normally travel to Khotan between the fifth and eighth months, because then one could follow the Great Qiemo River all the way to Yuechang (Qiemo) City.

Zhang Zhao guessed that this Great Qiemo River, which Fan Running said did not exist in winter, must be the later Cherchen River.

Because whether "Cherchen" or "Qarqan," both were Uyghur-style pronunciations of Qiemo, and the Cherchen River had historically been an intermittent river that appeared and disappeared.

No one knew how long they had walked, nor how many times they had changed the wet sand. Even Zhang Zhao, Man Xiong, and Dunzhu, men of extraordinary stamina, were utterly exhausted when a bright splash of green appeared before everyone's eyes.

Zhang Zhao rubbed his dry, stinging eyes. His face showed no expression, and he did not rush forward, because he had already been fooled once!

A day earlier, he had seen just such an oasis, and only after charging at it with a howl did he discover that it was a damn mirage!

Damn it! I, Zhang the transmigrator, have spent all this time building up my image before my armored soldiers as brave, quick-witted, and far-sighted — and it nearly all came crashing down because of that one embarrassing blunder.

"Ya-ha-ha-ha!"

Zhang Zhao was still cursing furiously in his heart when Fan Running beside him let out a howl and ran straight over.

"Young lord, we've arrived! The oasis ahead is Luye Township of Yuechang City!"

Wu Yuan'er came up to Zhang Zhao excitedly. The fellow was lucky to be alive — after massive blood loss, Zhang Zhao had brought him back with nothing more than a round of chest compressions and rescue breathing.

Hearing confirmation from Wu Yuan'er, who knew the road well, the whole party went completely wild. Men, horses, and camels all howled as they ran toward the oasis opposite.

Khotan — at last, they had arrived.

... Divider...

A little survey!

This book goes on sale at the end of the month. Tiger is a part-time writer with slow hands, only a bit over a thousand characters an hour. Updates, well — at most I can manage about six thousand five hundred characters a day.

Right now there are two options.

One: chapters of about three thousand three or four hundred characters, two updates a day.

Two: chapters of about two thousand two or three hundred characters, three updates a day.

Which do you all prefer?

All chapters have been cached for you. Download the APP to view them.