The author

Chapter 309 The suffering of the Western Regions, the wealth of the Western Regions, the grand ambition, the compassionate heart (asking for monthly tickets)
At that moment, Li Guanyi felt that the atmosphere was frozen. The people around him who were wearing Western-style clothing put their hands on the hilts of the swords at their waists, their faces full of vigilance. Li Guanyi looked at the ancient artifact that was crushed into powder under his feet.

How much money would it cost to compensate...

Li Guan looked at the knives in the hands of the Western Region warriors over there, a smile appeared on his face, he stood firmly, holding Yaoguang in one hand, and holding the Tiger Roaring Sky Halberd in his right hand. This exaggerated and heavy weapon flashed cold light under the moonlight. Li Guan said:
"We are traveling merchants from the Central Plains. We were caught in a tornado. When the desert sandstorm stopped, our goods were lost and we were thrown here."

This is the Tuyuhun language of the Western Regions. Li Guanyi has a strong soul and was taught by Cramming.

The people from the Western Regions tribes over there looked at each other and talked for a while, but Li Guanyi could not quite understand what they said. Li Guanyi's forehead twitched. There are many dialect variants in the Jiangnan area, but people in the Central Plains can at least understand Mandarin.

Here in the Western Regions, even language is a problem.

Li Guanyi realized that he had underestimated the complexity of the situation in the Western Regions.

Many of the great heroes of the Western Regions were sung in ancient epics. They did not have their own writing and records for a long time. Three hundred years ago, Tuyuhun unified the Western Regions, but it failed to leave the mark of inevitable unification like the Central Plains.

Neither writing nor language has been completely unified.

Li Guanyi felt his palm being patted and lowered his head. The silver-haired girl gently patted his palm. Li Guanyi let go of his hand, and Yaoguang jumped lightly and landed steadily on the ground.

Then turn around and go behind Li Guanyi.

Standing on a big rock and standing on tiptoe, the girl pressed her white and slightly cool fingers on both sides of Li Guanyi's temples. She whispered softly, and a cool feeling flowed through Li Guanyi's eyebrows.

Before, I just felt that the noisy conversations in the Western Regions suddenly became clear.

Li Guanyi understood what he said.

"What did this Central Plains person say?!"

"He seemed to say that he was a god who came down from heaven?"

"Nonsense! Could it be that people from the Central Plains can already fly? Did he fly here from the Central Plains?!"

Li Guanyi said: "Everyone."

When he opened his mouth, his voice was magically understood by everyone. All the people in the tribe were startled, and the scimitars in their hands made clanging sounds. Facing the hostility of the crowd, Li Guanyi swept the Tiger Roaring Sky Halberd in his hand across the ground, leaving a mark.

Then he pointed to the broken ancestral weapon over there.

The young man was very proud and said those two words with confidence, even though his reason was not right.

"I'll pay!!!"

The hostility was thus resolved.

…………

"Here, please drink..."

Li Guanyi thanked them in some not-so-standard Tuyuhun Mandarin and took a rough pottery which contained cow and sheep milk. He took a sip and it tasted a little salty. Opposite him was a girl who was younger than Li Guanyi and Yaoguang.

She was wearing Western-style clothing, with a curved knife on her waist, bronze skin, and her black hair on one side tied up with blue and red silk threads. This girl was one of the few people in the tribe who could speak Tuyuhun Mandarin. She asked, "Where are you from?"

Li Guanyi replied: "Zhongyuan, we are businessmen."

“It was just a storm.”

The little girl named Saatanti said "oh" and the expression on her face clearly showed that she did not believe it. Li Guanyi used the Mohist mechanism to set off a fire to tell the rest of the people in Tiance Mansion his location.

When the ancient red dragon left people behind, it sent them off with flowing wind.

It just ensures that the overall situation is within a rough range, but it is not precise enough.

Yaoguang took out her small wooden cup from the package and poured some goat milk from the Western Regions to taste. A big man with a big beard and two curved swords on his waist strode over and said aggressively, "You said you want compensation, how do you want compensation?"

Saatanti wanted to say something, but the big man held his shoulders.

The man raised his eyebrows and said loudly: "This is our ancestral tool. It is what our ancestors used when they walked on this land. When Tuyuhun was still a Buddhist slave, these tools were born in water and fire."

“For us, it has great significance and value.”

"You broke them. They are very important to us, just like our relatives and ancestors..."

Li Guanyi thought about it, rummaged through his pocket, and took out a small bag.

The little bag was where the eldest lady deposited something with Li Guanyi in Changfeng Tower. When it was opened, there was a handful of golden beans inside, emitting golden light under the moonlight.

Li Guanyi: "Is that enough?"

The man's name is Batur, which means warrior and hero.

Li Guanyi's behavior directly sank him.

The man with a big beard and two scimitars held it in for a long time, his rough face turned red, then he gritted his teeth, stretched out his hand, reached into the pocket of Li Guanyi's hand, and searched.

He stretched out his hand and grabbed one third of the golden beans that Li Guanyi had expected.

I counted them, then put some of them back, leaving only a little.

He said in a muffled voice: "Enough, enough!"

Li Guanyi looked at the golden beans and grinned, feeling distressed. He had just arrived in the Western Regions and had not had time to do anything, but there had been such a loss. He collected the remaining golden beans, and because of this he gained a lot of favor from the tribe.

"Central Plains people, traveling merchants, gold beads!"

Batur counted the golden beads and asked the old people who were supposed to be left in the lake to come back. He lowered his voice and said, "The Central Plains people who brought the golden beads from the sky are blessed by the gods. He brought the golden beads, and you can walk on this land for a while longer."

"This gold can be exchanged for some dry food, cattle and sheep in the city. We can also get some water blessed by the gods and Buddhas. If the disease is cured, we can still survive."

Batur had a cold face and asked the old people to put on their clothes and go get food. Only when everyone had gone back did he reach out and grab the gold, then raised his hand and wiped his eyes with his back to everyone.

"Tianger, the hero bestowed upon the earth by the gods."

He thought of the legend from his childhood.

I thought of my grandfather who touched my head when I was a child, walked to the front of the holy lake and never came back, holding the scimitar and making clanging sounds.

Soon, everyone in Tian Ce Mansion came back according to their level of Qinggong. As for Qilin, he had already been lying beside and began to lick the cow and sheep milk from Li Guanyi's place, smacking his lips and commenting that the taste was just so-so.

Then swallow it in big gulps.

Although it's just so-so.

However, the gentleman Qilin will not waste any food!
When Shi Dalin, Zhangsun Wuchou and others came back, this small tribe prepared food for them. It was served in rough pottery. It was a kind of rough grain similar to wheat, cooked with milk and goat's milk, dried figs and raisins. Li Guanyi and his group from Tiance Mansion were also given roasted jerky.

Put together, it is the best hospitality this small tribe can offer to this caravan that fell from the sky.

Li Guan took a bite of the dried meat and glanced at Qilin who had taken out a small porcelain bottle from somewhere, poured out fine chili powder and five-spice powder, and then ate the barbecue elegantly.

Li Guanyi’s forehead twitched.

What did the old Qilin teach him?
Batur also made tea for them with cow and sheep milk, but the milk tea was a bit salty, which made people who were used to the tea in the south of the Yangtze River not quite used to it. The farmer's teacher Xu Tiange ate the grain with a crunching sound and ran over to talk to everyone and ask about the grain seeds.

Pan Wanxiu, a Mohist scholar, was very interested in the tribe's mobile living style and the wooden structures created by the local people to store things and luggage, so he went over to communicate.

Fan Qing took the initiative to go and talk to the tribal warrior holding the scimitar.

Lei Laomeng stroked his chin and looked at the horses, cattle and sheep of the tribe.

For a moment, Li Guanyi was the only one who had nothing to do. He sighed and drank some salty milk tea to calm down. The sky in the Western Region seemed particularly empty and distant, and the stars were quiet. Suddenly, someone pulled Li Guanyi.

Turning around, I saw Nangong Wumeng who had returned last.

Li Guanyi handed over the food prepared by the tribe and asked, "Why are you taking so long?"

"Your Qinggong is only worse than mine here."

Nangong Wumeng rolled her eyes and muttered, "That ancient dragon master was too unkind. He threw me quite far away. When I fell, I was in a branch of this lake. I was also burned by a rock. My back is all blue."

"I was going to throw this thing away."

"But, fortunately, I took a look at it under the moonlight and brought it to you anyway."

Li Guan smiled and said, "What do I need this stone for?"

The most beautiful woman in the martial arts world took out the stone and threw it to Li Guanyi. Li Guanyi grabbed it casually and was slightly stunned. He felt the touch of the stone in his hand, which was totally wrong. He took a closer look and saw that it was shining golden under the moonlight.

It is heavy, but it is actually a piece of naturally formed gold nugget.

Nangong Wumeng smiled slyly and said, "What's the matter? Your Majesty, could it be that just this piece of stone makes you so happy? Ah... there really is no change at all... Wooah!"

Li Guanyi raised his head and grabbed Nangong Wumeng's wrist: "Well done!"

"I knew I was right to bring you here!"

Nangong Wumeng was smiling slyly and seductively just now, but in the blink of an eye, he stammered: "You, you you you!"

Li Guanyi gave all his meat to Nangong Wumeng.

Caressing this large piece of natural gold.

As expected of you!

The Qilin Army of Tiance Mansion has the best fortune!

Nangong Wumeng retreated. Li Guanyi ate and looked around. There were quite a few people, including young and middle-aged men carrying scimitars. There were cattle, sheep, and horses. Li Guanyi thought about it, pretended to get something, and found the little girl Saatanti to ask about the situation.

Saatanti was very grateful to the Central Plains merchant because the old people were saved from being thrown to die by the lake. When he heard Li Guanyi's question, he replied: "We came here by water, and we are going to the nearby city to buy some food, sell furs and meat, and exchange them for salt and tea bricks.

"If you don't eat salt, you will have no strength. If you don't drink tea, you will..."

Saatanti pondered for a moment, then gestured with his fingers and said, "You will get sick and your blood will go bad."

Li Guanyi understood that it was difficult to replenish fresh vegetables here.

"So what city are you going to?"

Saatanti replied: "In the city of Baluka, there is a lake called the Great Clear Pond. The lake is long and narrow, and the water is dark blue, bitter and salty. But the salt sold in the city of Baluka is very cheap, so we all go there."

Li Guanyi seemed to be thinking about something.

The title deed that the young lady prepared is right there. It is a large piece of land in a village. It sounds like it is a salt lake that produces salt in the Western Regions. The young lady really chose a very good place.

He chatted with the little girl. Saatanti seemed very curious about things outside. She answered Li Guanyi's questions and also asked him about things outside. Li Guanyi also gave brief answers.

Li Guanyi understood the situation. This tribe had more than a thousand people, which was a very small one in the Western Regions. They did not have the military power to occupy even the smallest oasis, and they were unwilling to join a large tribe to serve as servants, so they had no choice but to wander around. The Western Regions also had large rivers.

In spring, the snow and ice from the vast snow-capped mountains in the north melt, the water rises, new oases appear, and animals chase after water sources. These small tribes, who have no fixed place to live, chase after these small animals.

Go hunt them and pick medicinal herbs from snowy mountains and rugged places.

Then they followed the water flow to the places of the large tribes and sold the furs, calves of cattle and sheep, and medicinal herbs in exchange for salt, tea bricks, and weapons to support the lives of the tribes, and then continued to chase the water source and leave.

"We can't afford to live in a city-state."

Li Guanyi was surprised: "Didn't Tuyuhun build many cities during its three hundred years of unification of the Western Regions?"

Saatanti asked in confusion: "But those cities belong to the Tuyuhun people."

"Now it's the Tanguts, and then it's the Central Plains people."

“We have never been accepted.”

"Moreover, after the great hero died more than 300 years ago, things became chaotic. Now there are many cities, and each of them has established a country."

The people of the thirty-six tribes established their own countries. Although Tuyuhun unified the Western Regions, they ultimately lacked vision and failed to completely unify their thoughts. This was a typical era of rule by man and heroes.

The idea of ​​unification has not been imprinted in everyone's mind.

When there is a rare hero, these city-states can be integrated together to become a great and prosperous country over the years. However, when such a hero dies, the country he founded will also fall apart.

Li Guanyi glanced at the tribe and asked curiously, "I see you have so many cattle, sheep and game. How much salt and iron can you exchange for in the city-state?"

Saatanti was silent for a moment, then counted on his fingers and said:
"Three sheep can be exchanged for one pot."

"One cow for one brick of tea, that's it."

Li Guan paused, looking at the furs, dried meat, and herbs that the tribe had spent a year accumulating, which in the end could only be exchanged for a little bit of tea bricks and salt. This situation could not be compared to the oppression of the Central Plains dynasty.

Li Guanyi didn't know what to say for a moment. Saatanti thought for a moment, put a small dagger made of ox horn in Li Guanyi's hand, and said: "This is a gift from my grandma. I will give it to you now."

"We originally wanted to leave the elders of the tribe here, leave a little bit of food, and then leave. But this year there are more children in the tribe, and the annual harvest can't feed more people, so we have to leave the elders here."

It is a control strategy of the nobles in the Western Regions.

Li Guanyi realized it immediately, but Saatanti didn't know this. He just said, "Maybe we are not working hard enough to feed so many people. If you hadn't come down from the sky, they would have stayed here."

"I heard that there are sky burials near the holy mountain. When people die, they let eagles eat their internal organs on the mountain and return to heaven and earth."

Li Guanyi held the exquisite horn and said, "Is that so?"

Saatanti said: "There is nothing we can do."

"In the Western Regions, people use gold, silver, and small coins. Only the tribe leaders can go to the big cities because they are warriors with swords. Wandering tribes like us are inferior people, and our lives are only worth a piece of straw rope."

Saatanti and Li Guanyi chatted about these things and ran to help the old people. As soon as Li Guanyi put down the pottery, some people here didn't dare to say anything to him. They just put their hands together and said, "Golden beads."

"Golden beads."

Li Guanyi grinned.

He is not some golden bead.

Besides, that thing is called golden beans.

Everyone in Tian Ce Mansion found out the situation themselves, and then returned to one place to compare the information they knew. They all found it a bit complicated. Although they had known early on that the situation in the Western Region was bad, they had never thought it would be like this.

Only Zhangsun Wuchou was used to this place. He said, "Because the Tuyuhun King was born a serf, but he overthrew the people who had previously oppressed him. After he became the overlord of the unified Western Regions, his descendants oppressed the vagrants and serfs even more severely than before."

"They're probably worried about the emergence of another Tuyuhun, right?"

Fan Qing whispered, "I sneaked into the holy lake and found many corpses. Some of the corpses had signs of being bitten on their bones. The people who stayed here must have cannibalized each other before they died."

"It should be that the winner eats the others and then starves to death."

"And both sides will suffer losses and be eaten by vultures."

"The bottom of this lake is almost filled with bones."

Li Guanyi rubbed his brows, remained silent for a while, and said: "After we wait, we will go to the place we agreed on before to stay. Wuchou."

Changsun Wuchou bowed and said, "My Lord."

Li Guanyi:
"Tomorrow morning, go find Erlang and give him my handwritten letter."

When Changsun Wuchou heard Li Guanyi's address, he looked strange and said:
"Yes."

Li Guanyi said: "Nangong."

Nangong Wumeng was in a daze, and Li Guanyi called out to him a few times before he hurriedly responded and asked, "What?"

Li Guanyi said: "You are the best at Qinggong, and you have a magic weapon, go find Qibili."

"Tell him where I am and ask him if he still remembers the appointment we made that day."

Nangong Wumeng looked serious and said, "Yes."

"Nangong obeys the order."

She hesitated and said, "What about you, General?"

Li Guanyi looked at the tribe and replied, "Since I am a traveling merchant from the Central Plains, I will temporarily work with these people to find out the situation in the Western Regions. Such a complicated situation cannot be understood without going there to see it in person."

"Okay, let's all take a break."

Everyone took the order and retreated. Li Guanyi sat on a rock at the side, while Yaoguang read quietly beside him. Li Guanyi looked at the sky, pondering in his heart that the situation in the Western Regions was worse than he had expected.

The Wolf King Regent has been conquering all directions, and the Dangxiang State is unable to resist.

But the nobles of the thirty-six tribes only maintained their own rule and exploited ordinary tribal herdsmen. Li Guan pressed his finger between his eyebrows and looked at the peaceful tribe in the night, sleeping with each other as pillows, with scimitars in their arms. The moonlight was quiet, but he felt like he was walking on the edge of a cliff, as if he would die completely in the next moment.

This is a chaotic world. The people in the Central Plains work like cattle and horses, but they also have to sell their daughters and sons. The nomadic tribes in the Western Regions wander around, but they have to abandon their elderly to maintain the survival of their own tribe.

"The price of a person's life is a piece of straw rope."

"Alas... troubled times."

Li Guanyi looked at the stars in the sky.

He suddenly understood why Qibili had ridden a donkey two years ago, crossed the vast land alone, arrived at Jiangzhou City in the south of the Yangtze River, and begged Chen Dingye for help.

Why did Qibili have such a huge reaction after Li Guanyi promised land and protection?

A human life is just a piece of straw rope.

How desperate and determined was Qibili at that time to embark on the road to the Central Plains alone? And how aware were the people in his tribe to let Qibili, who was already a master of some level at that time, set out on the road instead of protecting themselves.

It's to survive.

It's all about survival.

Li Guanyi was lost in thought.

There was a gentle touch on his shoulder, and silver hair fell on him. The silver-haired girl leaned on his shoulder. Li Guanyi was slightly startled, and felt the slight but steady breathing sound. He suddenly said to himself: "After all, too many things happened in this day."

"Yao Guang must be too sleepy..."

The silver-haired girl said in a calm voice:

"I'm awake."

Li Guan paused.

The Western Regions are vast and boundless. Under the bright moonlight, this tribe that will disappear at any time is sleeping. Li Guanyi is sitting here. The silver-haired girl has her eyes open, sober, rational and restrained, leaning on the shoulder of the young prince.

Then he used the little finger of his right hand to gently hook Li Guanyi's sleeve.

Under the moonlight, we can hear each other's breathing.

The silver-haired girl said in a calm voice, "I'm here for whatever you want to do."

"Whatever future you're heading for, I'll be there."

"The Nine-Colored Divine Deer doesn't believe you, but I do."

Li Guanyi lowered his eyes and replied, "Okay..."

He looked at the people of the Western Regions, drinking the milk wine alone, looking at the vast sky. The Western Regions...

The sleeping Saatanti murmured softly:

"Tianger..."

"Golden beads."

Li Guanyi had made a decision in his mind.

Li Guanyi thought: "The town we are going to is actually quite large, and there are water sources and oases around it. If Saatanti and the others don't mind, why not settle down there?"

"Accept their goods at a reasonable price."

"If they are willing, please spread the news that there is a Central Plains man here, whom they call Jinzhu and Tianger, who is willing to gather these wandering tribes in the Western Regions."

"I am willing to shelter them."

Li Guanyi still doesn't know what kind of future this promise he only made to Yaoguang, this decision he made out of reluctance in his heart, will lead to. He just wanted to make the decision. His past and his husband could not make him a hero of this era.

To massacre the city and to build a memorial tower with human heads to promote one's own reputation.

At this moment, when Li Guanyi's thoughts came to an end, the Jiuzhou Ding in his body whistled again -

Li Guanyi was slightly startled, and he looked inward.

The Jiuzhou Ding roared violently!
The nine-colored charm obtained from the nine-colored divine deer inside slowly dissipated.

The divine charm that had only been awakened by one-ninth began to change faintly!
(End of this chapter)