I, Altria, only want to rule China.

Looking at a nearby elm tree, Liya couldn't help wondering, could this be the Elm Spring?

Liya thought of some historical records about Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions.

It is said that when Zhang Qian returned to the Central Plains after his first mission to the Western Regions, he ran out of fresh water and was dry and thirsty. He saw a wet surface and thought there must be a spring underneath.

So they started digging. After digging a few meters, they found water gushing out. After quenching their thirst, they gently covered the hole to avoid damaging the spring.

When he made his second diplomatic mission to the Western Regions, he had several elm trees planted here as a mark, so the place was named Elm Spring.

Today, the elm trees planted by Zhang Qian have grown tall and can be seen from miles away. Looking at the branches that are about to sprout, Liya sighed: "It is true that the predecessors planted the trees and the descendants enjoy the shade."

They were following in the footsteps of their forerunners, but it was still so difficult. This shows how much courage it took Zhang Qian to break through the barriers. It is said that Zhang Qian's first trip to the Western Regions took 13 years. This shows that managing the Silk Road cannot be achieved by one generation alone, but requires efforts from every dynasty and generation to maintain it.

Unfortunately, the original post station here has become a ruin. If she unifies and recovers the Western Regions, this place must be re-established as a post station and cannot be destroyed by others.

As long as there are people cultivating the land and building forts here, envoys and merchants will not have to stop at Hecang City for supplies when they go to the Western Regions. This place will become a new starting point!

After the Western Regions are recovered, she will have to get the cement out as soon as possible and pave the road between the Western Regions and Hexi, which will make it much easier to travel in the future.

Only if the road is open, the Western Region will not be easily lost.

On the third day, all Leah and her friends saw was a vast Gobi Desert, sand hills and sand valleys. There was not a single tree to be seen.

Only weeds that Liya couldn't name took root here with difficulty. Occasionally, you could see a few small lizards, scorpions and other species crawling across the sand. Maybe there were some sandworms and snakes hiding in the sand?

Apart from this, there is no other life here.

After a whole day of trekking on the Gobi Desert, at dusk, a general walking beside Liya put down his telescope and exclaimed: "My lord, there is a big city ahead!"

"Big city?" Liya looked into the distance. Although her eyes were very good and could see very far, like a telescope, there was no city, right?

But it’s better to go and take a look anyway.

So the army marched in that direction, and when they reached their destination, they found that the so-called city was just a deserted city.

The city is surrounded by earth walls and covers a very large area. When you come into the city, you can still see the neatly arranged houses and well-planned streets. Unfortunately, now the buildings are deserted, with only the dilapidated houses left, which are almost buried by wind and sand.

"My lord, this city should be the capital of the Wusun before they migrated westward." Hua Mulan said after thinking for a while.

What, the old capital of the Wusun people?

After hearing this, Liya was a little amused. How could a nomadic tribe like Wusun build such a big city?

Of course, it is not an ancient civilization. This should be the attraction that is sold together with Yumen Pass, the Yadan Devil City.

However, whether this is true or not is just speculation. Leah also feels that there is no need to argue about this point. This place is quite suitable for the army to camp today.

Liya didn't say anything about this matter, but directly said: "Everyone rest here tonight. It's very windy here. If you don't hide behind the mound, you will all be buried in the sand tomorrow. Everyone, don't walk around after dark. There are many forks in the road here, and it's easy to get lost."

Under Liya's command, the army settled down in this ruined city.

At night, accompanied by wind and sand, sounds like ghosts howling and wolves howling were heard in the city, as if ghosts were haunting the city.

【Figure: Map of the Western Region】

Chapter 76: Out of the Desert

The sound of wind came from far away, blowing through the Yadan Ghost City, making a humming sound and whistling on the top of the felt tent, as if dozens of hands were tearing it apart. The shrill sound of the wind was creepy.

The soldiers who had fallen asleep were awakened, and they were all filled with fear and nervousness. Could this place be haunted?

Leah also heard these sounds. Coming from the modern era, she naturally knew that these were just caused by wind and sand, but the ancients did not know this.

I just felt that many people must have died here. The sounds of ghosts howling at night were probably the souls of the dead who were lingering here and wanted to come out and harm people at night!

If a ghost appeared at this time, or someone shouted loudly for no reason, the soldiers might be scared and flee.

Leah also realized this, and immediately called Mulan, telling her how the howling sounds of ghosts and wolves were formed, and asked Mulan to convey the message orally to the soldiers not to worry.

After hearing Liya's words, the soldiers spread the news from one to ten, then to a hundred, and then to a thousand, and finally they gradually calmed down.

But even so, by the next morning, many soldiers still looked depressed, and even if Leah explained this to them, it was not so easy to eliminate the feeling.

Looking at the soldiers' appearance, Leah knew that today was not suitable for marching, so after only walking for half a day, she chose a Gobi desert to rest and let the soldiers regain their spirits.

There is not a single tree or blade of grass to be seen here, not even a trace of green. Last night the wind was freezing cold, but now the sun is scorching hot, and the hot wind mixed with sand and gravel hits people's faces painfully.

Leah was fine, as she had a special physique, so nothing was wrong, but some soldiers seemed to have some problems.

Leah knew very well that if this continued, the soldiers would be in trouble, and they had to find an oasis as soon as possible, otherwise many people would fall ill.

Thinking of this, Leah asked someone to light up a hot air balloon to see if there was any water source along the way.

After the hot air balloon rose thousands of meters into the air, it finally found a green place, but it was a bit far from the army and it would take another day to get there.

After resting here for a night, the army set out early the next morning and finally arrived at the oasis before nightfall.

Leah heaved a sigh of relief. If she had not invented the hot air balloon before, the trip to the Western Region would have been too difficult. In just a few days, these ten thousand soldiers would have fallen behind by two or three levels.

After thinking for a while, Leah realized that it was because she was not clear about the journey to the Western Regions. She didn't know where to rest or where there was water.

She trusted the abilities of her soldiers too much, thinking that if the Rouran people could travel freely between the Western Regions and the Central Plains, then she should be able to do the same.

But the fact is that the Rouran people are very familiar with this road to the Western Regions. They know where they can rest and where there is water, so they can travel freely.

Leah was only following the routes of her predecessors, but these routes were hundreds of years old and some of them were no longer suitable for large armies to pass through.

Fortunately, the hot air balloon and telescope she made were able to help them out of these predicaments.

Next, Leah rested here for two days, and only set off again after the soldiers had recovered. This time they brought enough water, because even the hot air balloon would not be able to help them.

The rest of the journey was really green, and it would take at least four days to reach the next water replenishment point.

After Leah and her friends had been walking on this road for more than ten days, they finally arrived at Lop Nur.

If the places where Leah and the others had walked through before were dead silent, then Lop Nur was full of life.

Here, everyone witnessed the richness of species.

In addition to various aquatic plants, there are also various animals such as deer, rabbits, otters, foxes, wolves, hares, and various types of birds.

These animals are drinking water and licking their fur by the lake. Whether they are flying in the sky or crawling on the ground, they form a perfect biological scroll here.

"I didn't expect there is such beautiful scenery in the Western Regions." Mulan exclaimed as she looked at everything in front of her.

Only after traveling through this road to the Western Regions can you appreciate the vitality of all things here.

Greylag geese flew in a long line up and down in the sky.

The egrets flapped their wings slowly and swaggered through the shallow water, their white feathers very eye-catching. You could even hear the flapping of the wings of a few black swans on the water nearby.

There were also many birds on the shore. A small group of larks appeared on the saline-alkali beach by the lake, jumping around, and woodpeckers were pecking at the red willows with a thudding sound.

In the reeds, one could often hear the distinctive calls of the variegated titmouse, while doves and sparrows were nesting and playing. Sometimes, they accidentally stepped into the grass, scaring the colorful pheasants into flying with screams.

There were even more red-crested ducks, tens of thousands of them, covering a large area of ​​the lake.

These birds came from India, passing through the gap between the Himalayas and the Karakoram Mountains, and flew northwards via Khotan. When the flocks of birds entered the Tarim Basin, they saw endless deserts to the north and continuous snow-capped mountains to the south, so it was inevitable that they would stop at the only green land, Lop Nur.

But this time they are in trouble.

For the soldiers who had suffered so much, these birds were simply a gift from nature.

The soldiers' bows and crossbows never stopped. Almost every time they shot an arrow, it meant that the soldiers had an extra wild game for dinner tonight.

In addition to these birds, deer, rabbits, wild boars and other animals hiding in the bushes were not spared and almost all of them were caught.

Liya didn't say anything about this. Killing these small animals would protect this continent even more, wouldn't it?

So this oasis should be thankful to them. After all, without the destruction of animals, the plants will grow more luxuriantly, right?

Arriving at the territory of Lop Nur, it meant that they had officially entered the territory of Shanshan Kingdom. Not long after, Liya saw several small boats floating on the lake.

These small boats also discovered Leah's unknown army. They did not approach rashly, but paddled away quickly from a distance.

"My lord, these small boats should be the people of Shanshan. If we let them leave like this, will it be..." Chen Fang came to Liya's side and asked cautiously

Chen Fang was originally a general at Yumen Pass. Because he could understand some of the language of the Western Regions, Liya brought him here. In addition to him, there were some people who also understood the language of the Western Regions and were also brought here by Liya.

PS: If you are interested, you can go to Station B and search for "library". It records the areas ruled by various dynasties in China. I was so excited after watching it for 2 hours. It is really wonderful!

[Figure: Map of the fifth century]

Chapter 77: We are ready to fight to the death, why did the city lord surrender first?

"It's okay. Even if they know, it won't affect our actions." Leah waved her hand.

According to records from the Han Dynasty, the total population of Shanshan State was about 15000, with around two to three thousand soldiers. The most likely possibility was that after their arrival, the other side chose to open the gate and surrender.

After so many years, I believe there won't be much change. After all, the productivity of this era is like this. Without liberating productivity, it will be difficult to increase the population.

This is why in ancient times, the population was basically in the tens of millions. Even a powerful country like the Tang Dynasty only had a population of 8000 million at its peak.

However, the population of the Qing Dynasty was more than 100 million, which had a lot to do with the policy of equalizing the land tax and tax. However, even so, not much population was liberated.

Leah and the others continued to rest here for another day, during which time they also took precautions to prevent those kind-hearted people from launching a sneak attack at night if they were not afraid of death.

But it seems that Leah was overthinking it. Nothing happened that night and those kind-hearted people didn't dare to come over at all.

After having breakfast in the morning, the soldiers set out for the country of Fengshan. After they had walked for half a day, they could already see houses built on the roadside.

The appearance of these Fengshan people is very different from that of the people in the Central Plains. Although it is difficult to distinguish their hair, their appearance can be seen.

The Shanshan people are typical Turanians, which are equivalent to a mixture of white and yellow people. After all, the Western Regions is a crossroads of races, and the Sai people, Tocharians, Xiongnu, Qiang, and Han people all merged here.

They are of medium to short build, with fair skin, low forehead, high nose bridge, deep eye sockets, flat eyebrows, and big eyes. The pupils are usually black, but some are brown.

Moreover, the men here like to shave their heads and wear felt hats, leaving only long beards.

The woman's facial features are in line with the aesthetic standards of later generations, combining the advantages of both Westerners and Orientals. It's a pity that her life was hard and her appearance had been distorted at such a young age.

These Shanshan people all wore coarse cloth spun from hemp and sewn together with wild duck skin to keep out the cold. Compared with the soldiers who changed into formal Han army uniforms after leaving the desert, these people were dressed more like refugees.

When these people saw the army led by Leah, they all hid in their houses in panic, and only dared to watch them carefully through the windows.

Liya stopped a Shanshan man and asked him about the situation in Shan State.

The man from Shanshan looked a little panicked, but he still knelt on the ground and told something to Leah.

Leah didn't understand and could only look at Merlin. Although there were many translators in the army, Leah didn't bring them here to translate, but because she needed them to help with the reform.

"He said he was just an ordinary citizen who had done nothing bad and hoped we could let him go," Merlin explained.

"Tell him that we are the Han army and we want to know which direction Shanshan is heading." Liya said to Merlin

So Merlin started chatting with the Shanshan man. After knowing that these Han troops would not harm him, the Shanshan man became bolder and told Liya and the others about the situation in Shanshan.

But he didn't know much, and after Merlin asked some questions, he couldn't answer them, so he was finally asked to go back, while Leah and the others continued on their way.

From what this Shanshan man said, Liya discovered that their situation was similar to that of the Han Dynasty. Originally, they did not farm, but made a living by fishing.

Later, when the Han army came here during the Han Dynasty, they continued to reclaim farmland and allowed the Shanshan people to live a farming life. However, these fields were all owned by nobles, just like those in China, and the people here could only borrow land from the nobles for farming.

As long as she can farm, it will be fine. Otherwise, Liya will not know how to win the hearts of the people. Although tax reduction and exemption is one thing, the more preferential policies there are, the more grateful the people will be to her, right?

After leaving here, Leah and the others continued to move forward. After leaving the shores of Lop Nur covered with swamps and reeds, they were replaced by large areas of cattle, sheep, donkeys, horses, camels, etc. grazing on the grassland.

Following livestock and finding water and grass is the economic pillar of Shanshan Kingdom.

Leah did not disturb those people, but continued to move forward. After leaving the grassland, large tracts of reclaimed dry land and farmers growing grain gradually appeared in front of them.

Leah discovered that, unlike the kind people in Lop Nur who wore wild duck skins, the kind people in this area were dressed much better, and there were also many women working in the fields.

Leah knew this before she came to China, but for the soldiers who came here for the first time, it was an eye-opener.

There are three types of people in Shanshan Country. Fishermen and hunters fish and hunt in lakes and forests, farmers live in several small towns and grow wheat on the alluvial plains near the towns, and nomads raise cattle, sheep, donkeys and horses on grasslands that are not suitable for farming. These three types of people exchange these foods with each other.

And above them are the "city lords", who in turn pledge allegiance to the King of Shanshan.

The system of Shanshan Kingdom was somewhat similar to that in Europe and was still in the early stages of the feudal system. Although its territory looked vast, its population was only over 10,000, which was equivalent to a county in the Central Plains.

After Leah and her army arrived here, someone had already informed the city lord.

Not long after, a dozen riders came roaring in front of Leah and his men. Leah held down those soldiers who wanted to draw their weapons and watched them come up to them.

"Greetings to the great power of the Han Dynasty. I, Zhang Huiling, am here to greet all the generals." Before Leah could ask any questions, the other party knelt on the ground first and spoke fluent Chinese.

This scene made Hua Mulan and other generals a little confused. What was going on?

Liya knew this. It was not the early Western Han Dynasty. The people in the Western Regions had long been frightened by the Han Dynasty. Even the powerful Xiongnu were beaten by the Han Dynasty and cried for their parents. What about these small countries?

It can be said that most of the people in the Western Regions are fence-sitters. Even Ban Chao could rely on 36 people and the prestige of the Han Dynasty to conquer the Western Regions. There is no reason why she would not scare these people in the Western Regions and make them surrender when she brought an army of .

It can only be said that Leah has achieved her current status with the help of her predecessors.