Chapter 21: The Archaeological Team to Xinjiang

Sand Sea Devil’s Nest 1

It turned out that Dajinya happened to know a professor of the Beijing Institute of Archaeology and Literature, and they often have horizontal exchanges with each other, and recently there has been an incident, and the details of this incident are as follows.

In the * decade was forced to interrupt the archaeological protection of cultural relics and other activities, in the reform and opening up, once again restarted, the last three years, is an archaeological peak, a large number of ancient tombs and relics have surfaced.

Antique collection exchange transactions are also extremely hot, all kinds of large and small grave robber gangs, see the mound to dig, especially in Shaanxi, Henan, Hunan and other places as much, and there is a growing trend.

Since the discovery of Xinjiang Loulan Xiaohe burial complex, people seem to have snapped out of it, Xinjiang’s great desert, once the brilliant and incomparable Silk Road, the Peacock River along the thirty-six countries of the Western Regions, Hu Huhu, Loulan, Milan, Nia, Luntai, Pu class, Gumo, West Night …… adventurer’s paradise, I don’t know how many treasures and prosperity is covered by the blanket of covered by yellow sand.

For a while, countless exploration teams, archaeological teams, grave robbers scrambled to enter the Taklamakan Desert in search of treasures, which is the second exploration boom after the desert exploration fever in the early nineteenth century, but this big desert for most of the inexperienced explorers, just as the famous Swedish-born explorer Sven Hedin on the interpretation of the Taklamakan, that is a place where you can go no return, the sea of death, thus the name.

The protection of the remains of the ancient tombs in Xinjiang is urgent, but the officials do not have enough manpower and financial resources to excavate and protect the remains of the Taklamakan Desert, and a large number of archaeologists are scrambling in Henan to excavate the ancient tombs that have already been destroyed by grave robbers or construction work.

Dajinya know this professor, long-term research on Western culture, the destruction of ancient tombs in Xinjiang, worried about the incident, has been looking for leadership to apply, hoping to personally lead a team to the desert, for these ruins, to do an on-site assessment, and then to the relevant departments to apply for excavation or protection.

Superiors are insufficient funds as an excuse, repeatedly shirk, in fact, funds are secondary, mainly because of recent accidents in the desert is too much, worried about the professor they went out of something other than the Chinese officialdom after the baptism of the *, there is now a kind of unspoken rules, do not ask for merit, but no fault, not to make mistakes is to establish a great deal of merit, promotion and wealth is a matter of time.

Until recently, there is a Chinese-American stepped forward, the professor’s archaeological team to provide all the financial support, which was able to come to life, the current archaeological expedition is still in the pre-preparation, they also need to find a rich desert survival experience leader, in addition to the lack of an understanding of the art of feng shui stargazer, because most of the archaeological team members are nibbling on books nerds, there is no leader, into the desert is certainly not come out, there is no Knowledge of astrology and feng shui of the high people, with them can not find the ruins of ancient tombs and so on where.

How easy to find such people, some people come to enlist, most of them are the generation of the world, both sides of the talk, on the show, so the professor also asked Dajinya in the folk to find such a capable person.

Dajinya asked me if I want to go, the Americans out of the price can be quite high, and can go to the desert to see, in the end, there is no tomb, as a step on the plate, the future action or a reference.

I said: “This opportunity is good, for us is a rare practice, we have never dealt with archaeologists, if we can go together, we can learn a lot of things from them. I have been to the desert, in the past, the troops had twice entered the depths of the desert for military exercises, the leader is the leader, to enter the desert, we must also find a good local guide, in addition to the stars of the sky and feng shui I understand, as long as there are stars in the sky, I can lead them to find the place they want to find. Only, I don’t quite understand, why this American paid money to sponsor our Chinese adventure activities? What is his purpose? Americans are not Thunderbolt, Americans are very pragmatic and value practical benefits the most, they won’t do anything without benefits.”

Dajin said: “the details of this, I do not know very well, only know a general, funded by the American, is a woman, Chinese, her father is a Wall Street tycoon, usually very fond of adventure archaeology and other activities, last year, her father and her fiancé, as well as a group of Chinese explorers, went to Xinjiang together to explore, her father seems to be what the Jingjie culture is particularly interested in, they went that time is to find that the Jingjie culture, the American people are very pragmatic. They went that time is to look for that hidden in the hinterland of the sand sea Jingjie ancient city, the results went and did not come back, a person also did not come back, the local garrison sent out an airplane to find, and finally did not find, not a clue. She inherited a large amount of family heritage, I’m afraid that her father’s matter is not too dead, this funding sponsorship, it is possible that they also want to do their best to find her loved ones, although she is an American, after all, is of Chinese descent, according to the tradition of our Chinese people, after the death of the people have to be buried in their hometown, ah, thrown into the desert in the sun and wind, far from home loved ones, but also not at peace. ”

The three of us have been drinking until the evening party dispersed, agreed by the big gold teeth to contact the buyers, and introduced us to the upcoming departure of the archaeological team organizer Professor Chen, we can not join in, but also need to interview with Professor Chen.

Two days later, Dajinya took us to Tianjin, Shenyang Road in Tianjin, there is a small antique store, the owner is a thirty-something years old white woman, we call her “Han sister”, Han sister is a Hong Kong boss adopted mistress, the boss in Hong Kong is one of the few major collectors of antiques in Tianjin to Han sister to open such a shop, one reason is for the purpose of the buyers, and introduced us to the organizer of the upcoming archaeological team, Professor Chen, we still need to talk to Professor Chen. So a store, one in order to find something to do for her boring life, the second is the acquisition of antique artifacts.

Sister Han is a woman who is not very talkative, but she has a very high attainment in antique appraisal, after looking at our artifacts, she generously paid 60,000: “Now the market, at most 50,000, pay you 10,000 more, is to hope that we will make friends, and in the future there are any good things, please also get here.”

I took the thick banknotes in the hands, the mood of excitement, hands are a little trembling, I cursed myself no talent: “Old Hu ah old Hu, you are also considered to have seen the world of people, when Chairman Mao in Tiananmen Square Tower parade of the Red Guards, you participated in the excitement of the time? Frankly speaking, I was excited, but not as excited as I am now. At least you are also considered to be a big forest climbed trees, the Kunlun Mountains dug a pit, against the Vietnamese counterattack fired a gun, how to be so excited today, even the money can not hold? Alas, this is the power of money ah, there is no way, you can not respect money, but no money, can not give the folks in the mountains to pull the power lines, can not give the families of those who sacrificed their comrades to improve their lives, the money is too great, born into death, for what, just for the money.”

After going back, I divided the money into four parts, one to Yingzi, one to Fatty, and one to the branch secretary, to share with the group, the remaining one, to keep the purchase of equipment, as well as the funds for the next action.

Fatty did not want his share, he said that this time the money said less quite a lot, but said more is not much, to the Ganggang camp to repair the road is certainly not enough, we a point will not be left much, I heard that old Hu your company has a lot of countryside martyrs, the family has a large population, although there is a government subsidy, but the life is very difficult, and even some of the old lady, her son sacrificed, she can not afford to buy a bus ticket to go to Yunnan, to see his son’s grave. Listen to you say this, my eyes are sour, heart is very uncomfortable, you simply send me this to those martyrs and wounded and disabled brothers, my life, the biggest wish is to be a soldier on the battlefield to fight, but my father died early, I don’t have that opportunity, old Hu you help me fulfill this wish, we have more money in the future and then share it with me is not too late.

Speaking of this, my tears also in the eye sockets, patting the fat man’s shoulder: “line ah, now more and more aware of the high. There are plenty of opportunities to make money in the future, this time let’s strive to go to Xinjiang and earn American money.”

Rest a few days, the big gold teeth to notify, said about the archaeological team to meet Professor Chen, took me and Fatty went to Professor Chen’s office place, the professor is not small, I met on behalf of his worry, this old bones still want to enter the world’s second largest mobility desert?

With Professor Chen, and his assistant Hao Aiguo, this is a forty-year-old middle-aged intellectuals, hair messy like a chicken nest, a look at the lack of experience in dealing with people, his depth of myopia glasses to show people that he is a rigorous and pragmatic attitude to study hard, and not too much attention to their own image of the people. There were a lot of people like him at the time, but after the reform and opening up, with the popularity of new knowledge, new trends and other new values, there are not many such old-fashioned people left.

Hao Aiguo seriously sized us up, not polite, open the door and said: “two comrades, your intention we already know, I think our archaeological team’s requirements you are also aware of, this time it is a break in the break in the exception, the exception in the exception, what we need is talent, you two are the desert survival adventure experience, or understand the astrological feng shui science? This can’t be half-assed, if you don’t have the skills in this area, we won’t go through the back door at all.” After saying that, he glanced at Dajinya, “Looking at anyone’s face won’t work.”

Professor Chen felt that Hao Aiguo spoke too straight, he and Dajinya’s father is also very familiar with, often ask them for advice on some antique appreciation, do not want to make the relationship too stagnant, so he stood up from the sofa to round up the situation, invited us to sit down, made some small talk, asked me and Fatty some things, smiled and nodded after listening to it, “Not simple ah, when the People’s Liberation Army’s captain, and also participated in the war experience, and has been to the desert,” he said. The company commander of the People’s Liberation Army, as well as the experience of participating in the war, and has been to the desert, really rare ah, when we nerds leader, that is really more than enough. Most of the ruins and tombs in the desert are buried under the yellow sand, and the Peacock River ancient road has long been dried up and is difficult to find, if you don’t know the art of Tianxing Fengshui, I’m afraid you can’t find it, I don’t know if you two know about this Fengshui?”

I know this kind of Tianxing Feng Shui also known as the Heavenly Vault Green Sack Technique, is the “Yin Yang Feng Shui Secret Art” in the Heavenly Word Volume, the most obscure chapter, I have never actually used it, however, at this time can only be hard to blow, I scratched my scalp and replied, “Old sir, not I brag ah, for this astrolabe moon engraved feng shui technique, I am familiar with it, but where do I have to start? ……”

Sand Sea Devil’s Nest 2

In order to get this job paid in dollars, I poured out the stock in my stomach, hoping to kan them down, kan meng, thanks to my ancestry of the secretary, at first Hao Aiguo look at me young, thought I was a relative of the big gold teeth, backdoor to them to mix the food, I said a few sentences, the head is the way, he can not help but be impressed with me, in a side of concentrated listening.

This feng shui well, known as the most geomancy, feng shui place can be simply summarized as: hide the wind place, get water place. This “book of burial” in the good ah: “burial, multiply angry also. Gas is scattered by the wind, the boundary of the water is stopped. The ancients gathered so that not scattered, traveling so that there is a stop, so it is called feng shui.

Later generations will be Feng Shui unlimited expansion, not only limited to the burial of the earth’s veins and points, and gradually extended to the art of geomancy, geomancy, heaven and earth, to put it bluntly, is to analyze the relationship between heaven and earth and the three people of a study.

But today I only to the professors and teachers here, say a branch of feng shui “Star Feng Shui”, the ancient emperors and nobles, the death of the matter is very important, enjoy the treatment of life, death should continue to have, not only so, they also believe that the world’s rise and fall, are issued in the dragon vein, so tombs have to be set up in the feng shui treasure, the Yongzheng Emperor once the emperor’s tomb, the emperor’s tomb, the Emperor’s tomb, the Emperor’s tomb, the Emperor’s tomb, the Emperor’s tomb, the Emperor’s tomb, the Emperor’s tomb. Emperor Yongzheng once the emperor’s mausoleum outlined in a concise manner, he said: Qiankun poly show area, Yin and Yang convergence of the place, the Dragon Point sand and water, there is no beauty is not collected, the situation of the gas, all the auspicious Ham ready, mountain range water law, detailed, Xun for the upper Ji of the soil.

Although there are only a few short sentences, but this is undoubtedly the most direct, the most graphic, the most vivid description of the mausoleum, but he only said half, the ancients pursued the unity of man and heaven, not only to mountains and water, but also the sun, moon and stars.

From ancient times, people often watch the sky, study the changes in the stars, used to speculate on the fortunes and misfortunes, in the choice of feng shui site, will also join the essence of astronomy, heaven and earth of the phase to go, eighty-four thousand miles, people’s hearts and kidneys phase to go, eight inches and four minutes, the human body of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, the upper should be five days of the stars, and twenty-four stars correspond to the world’s geography of the mountains and rivers, the star has the beauty of bad and evil, the earth has the good and bad luck.

Where on the auspicious soil, must echo the sun, moon and stars in the sky, and the flow of nebulae to determine the acupuncture point of the art of Qingwu, is the most difficult to master Feng Shui in the Tianxing Feng Shui.

There are twenty-four hosts in the sky, twenty-four hours of the day, twenty-four seasons of the year, so there are twenty-four Feng Shui to twenty-four, twenty-four places, which twenty-four? It is: the emperor, the Big Dipper, the heavenly officials, the heavenly court, the heavenly city, the heavenly kitchen, the heavenly mistletoe, the heavenly Han, the heavenly base, the heavenly auxiliary, the heavenly stables, the heavenly ghosts, the heavenly B, the lesser micro, the heavenly Han, the heavenly pass, the heavenly emperor, the south pole, the heavenly horse, the heavenly screen, the Taiyi, the Taiwei.

Can read these stars of good and bad arrangement, and then through the compass positioning, we can find the place we want to find, but this kind of Tianxing Feng Shui schools are very many, each with its own chapter and method, which is not lacking in contradictory, the monuments in the vast sea of sand, after a thousand years, can be two or three percent of the chance to find it is good.

Prof. Chen heard here, happy to stand up and said: “Comrade Hu said very good, God opened his eyes ah, finally sent us you such a talent. In the great desert of Xinjiang, after thousands of years, or even thousands of years, the sea of change, the former oasis and cities have become a vast sea of sand, mountains and rivers have disappeared, if we want to find those tombs on the ancient Silk Road, relying on the art of Tianxing Fengshui, is the most concise and effective way. I announce that you two, from now on, are officially joining our archaeological working group.”

Hao Aiguo also came over and shook hands with us warmly, apologized for the unkindness just now, “I’m sorry I’m sorry, our kind of intellectuals are stinky old nine,* so many years, have been squatting earth kiln, squatting stupid, not very good at talking, please don’t care.”

I was secretly glad: “Hey, I also know so much, and then say non-exposed horse’s foot can not be, Tianxing Feng Shui is difficult to imagine, I can not see too much, but I think that your group of intellectuals wearing myopic glasses, can not be prohibited from the test of the brutal environment in the desert, after going in less than two days will have to run back, in addition to my exaggeration, the probability of finding the relics say In addition, I exaggerate, the probability of finding the relics said extremely low, if you can not find, then it is not my responsibility not to understand the Star of Heaven feng shui, but our wages, can not be a penny less.”

I was thinking of complacency, the room came in a young woman, Professor Chen hastened to introduce us: “This Ms. Yang is our funding for this activity, she also go with us, you do not look at her as a girl, but the famous National Geographic magazine photographer ah.”

I made a gentlemanly gesture and shook hands with her, thinking that since the other party was American, I had to speak English with them. It seems to be: “Ha …… ha …… ha leak.”

Miss Yang smiled faintly: “Mr. Hu, I can speak Chinese, let’s talk in Chinese. You can just call me Shirley Yang from now on.” I didn’t expect her to speak Mandarin very well, without half a bit of American accent, as for what kind of American accent, actually I don’t have that concept, anyway, I think she’s no different from Chinese people.

Shirley Yang shook hands with Fatty again, and then raised a question, Mr. Wang Kaixuan (Fatty) came with Mr. Hu, Mr. Hu’s skills are great, commanded the troops, but also know the art of Tianxing Fengshui, however, what Mr. Wang has the ability to do, we have not yet been taught. This expedition to the desert is a big deal, and we don’t need people without unique skills.

I did not expect the Americans to speak so directly, the group all looked at the fat man in unison, I hurriedly said on his behalf, “The desert is not peaceful, this friend of mine, a good shot.”

Fatty see that the American woman look down on their own, the mouth a skimming, grunted and said: “Xinjiang counts for something, when I went to the Xinjiang desert to fight the bandits, in the Niya Oasis to kill the bandits ass, but also personally killed the bandit leader, you see, this is the spoils of war.” Said, pulled out the piece of jade pendant in front of the group a shake: “Have you seen it?” This piece of jade pendant is his father’s old comrade in arms during the Red Army period, in the fat man gave him a gift when he was a child, he was in the Niya Oasis in Xinjiang, from the elimination of a group of bandits in the hands of the proceeds.

I grinned straight next to me, thinking that this idiot, say a blind talk are not round, you put your father’s generation of heroic deeds things are on their own head, but also motherfucker to go to Xinjiang to fight the bandits, fight the bandits at that time you still wear crotchless pants, and you said you ate Xinjiang lamb kebabs is more or less. Now, it seems that I can only cheat, if you do not take the fat man to go, I also do not go, I guess they can only compromise in the end.

However, no one refuted, Professor Chen and Shirley Yang’s eyes are attracted by the jade pendant in the hands of the fat man, where the fat man holding the jade pendant hand to, their eyes follow to where, even the eyes can not afford not to blink.

Sand Sea Devil’s Nest 3

Shirley Yang originally did not agree with the fat man to participate in the archaeological team, but since seeing the fat man’s jade pendant, she did not hesitate to promise to give us two, each person 10,000 U.S. dollars, if we can find the desert hinterland of the Jingjie Ancient City, and then double the payment. But this money will not be honored until after we return from Xinjiang.

Dajinya also once looked at the fat man’s jade pendant, to his old ways, can not see the origin of this jade, he is not as good as Professor Chen and other people in this regard, after all, Dajinya is pouring contraptions, Professor Chen is immersed in the study of the ancient culture of the Western region, up to several decades, Shirley Yang’s father and he is a good friend, Shirley Yang since childhood by the family environment, the history of the Western region and other things is also a half expert, so the two of them took a look at this piece of jade pendant, and then pay twice as much. So the two of them took a look at this piece of jade and saw the way out of the door.

Prof. Chen believes that this piece of jade at least 1,500 to 2,000 years of history, the text engraved on it is the Ghost Cave text, Ghost Cave is an ancient minority in the Western Regions, now this ethnic group has long been extinct, according to Dunhuang unearthed a number of books on the Queen of the Kingdom of the Jingjie is the Ghost Cave people, and the ten Ghost Cave text on the jade, what exactly the content of the jade, but also need to be further proof.

Professor Chen and Shirley Yang’s father are obsessed with the Western culture, Jingjie this once prosperous and gorgeous city, can be said to be the thirty-six countries in the Western Chu Chiao, heyday, in the Western region rare, and then the country seems to be out of a catastrophe, the queen died, and since then this ancient city has disappeared.

The former glory has been buried by the yellow sand, proving that it once existed clues, only some ancient documents in the sporadic records, the legend of the Jingjie Queen is the first beauty of the Western Region, she is like the sun in the sky, her appearance makes the stars and the moon eclipsed.

Shirley Yang’s father is in search of this queen’s tomb, Chinese and American scholars, a total of five people formed an expedition, carrying top equipment, into the depths of the sand sea, but never returned.

This action, for one thing, is a site assessment and survey of the ancient tombs in the desert, and for another, also want to take a chance to see if they can find the remains of the five explorers and properly interred.

Shirley Yang wanted to buy the jade pendant in Fatty’s hand, but Fatty and I thought it was a curiosity and bit the bullet, secretly calculating how many dollars we could rip her off. We joined this team of scholars and photographers composed of the expedition, I mixed on the leader, the fat man mixed on the vice-captain, to go to the desert, so finalized.

Westbound train, speeding in the vast western land, I and the fat man in the sleeper car sleep in the dark, our first stop is Xi’an, where to meet with Professor Chen’s students, and then Urumqi, the expedition’s equipment will be directly consigned to there.

As soon as Hao Aiguo came in, he let the fat man’s smelly feet make him almost fall over, he pushed me awake, “Comrade Hu, wake up, wake up, the professor wants to discuss something with you, come over here for a moment.”

I looked out the car window, the sky is still bright, I don’t know what time it is, I’m all sleepy, put on my clothes and follow Hao Aiguo to the next door.

Professor Chen and Shirley Yang were looking at the map, saw me come in, greeted me and sat down, Hao Aiguo poured me a cup of hot water, I asked them what’s the matter?

Prof. Chen said, “We will arrive in Xi’an tomorrow morning, picking up my three students, the personnel are all here, you are our captain, I want to discuss the route with you in advance.”

Shirley Yang also said beside me, “Yes, Mr. Hu, the professor and I discussed, we plan to start from Bosten Lake, and look for the ancient Peacock River channel to the south, and then, enter the deep desert via the ancient Peacock River channel, and follow the Zidu Dark River to the south, to look for the ruins of the Jingjie Ancient City, and we would like to ask for your opinion.”

I feel funny in my heart, these intellectuals and rich people, on paper, whimsical, you so walk in the desert Gobi in a circle, which people dare to go Z-shaped route in the desert, even if not thirsty and starved to death in the sun, in the end, but also to die of exhaustion, but I have always thought that they belong to the money more burned, full of braces, a good day do not have to go to the desert to suffer, the designated not use two or three days! I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to get the money back, but I’m sure I’ll be able to get the money back in two or three days.

I said to Shirley Yang: “Miss Yang, although I am the leader, but for the arrangement of the traveling route, I am not qualified to participate in the decision, you have determined the route and target, I am responsible for the group to lead to the place, in other words, your, the shopkeeper work, our, the hard work.”

Words out of my mouth, I also a little regret, as the saying goes, take people’s money and people to eliminate disasters, people paid to hire me, of course, I have to do my part, so I told them, about the route of the matter, we must wait until after Xinjiang, find a native local guide, ask for his opinion, and then decide, now that a little bit too early to say, looking for a guide of the matter wrapped up in my body.

The people discussed some more details, and then rested to go, this time on the train after the conversation, I vaguely feel that they, these people, very determined, do not see into the desert in a few days to run back.

In Xi’an, met the rest of the members of our archaeological team, are Professor Chen’s students, simple-looking Sa Dipeng, tall Chu Jian, there is a female student Ye Yixin.

Together with the previous five people, a total of eight people arrived in Xinjiang, I contacted a former comrade in the army, Liu Gang, he is the descendants of the troops into the 39th Brigade, born and bred in Xinjiang, but he and the locals are not too familiar with the local people, trying to find a familiar with the geography of the desert local Viennese guide is very difficult to find, and finally through the Liu Gang’s friends, I found an old man doing business in the livestock business.

The old man’s name is “Aishaiti – Aimati”, but his name, no one has shouted, people call him “An Liman”, meaning the living map of the desert.

An Liman old man holding a tobacco pouch, shaking his head non-stop: “No, no, now it is the windy season, into the desert, Hu Da his old man, that is to blame down the well.”

We softly, I let Professor Chen showed the document, I explained to him that we are the state sent down to work cadres, local comrades must cooperate, An Liman if you do not give us as a guide, we will look for the police, your camels and donkeys are confiscated, so that you can not do business.

Shirley Yang also told him, as long as you come to be our guide, all your livestock, I pay double the price to buy it, and when you come back from the desert, these animals are still yours, the money is also yours.

An Liman old man had no choice but to be down, but he put forward a request: “car well do not drive, Hu Da does not like the machine well, camel well more with, Hu Da like camels.”

In this link, I and An Liman old man’s opinion is the same, the camel in the desert than the car to be much more reliable, camels have been known as the beauty of the desert boat, not only is an animal with the ability to carry, they have a lot of skills left over from the ancient ancestors there, you can avoid desert storms, quicksand and other threats in nature, you can not eat or drink in the blazing sun under the load of the forward, wide and fat paws, the force area Wide and fat paws, the landing area will not easily fall into the sand, old and experienced camels, will lead the master to find water in the vast desert sand, in the night, alert camels can also play the role of sentinel, in the wolves and other beasts in the dark sneak attack when the prompt master.

An Liman old man selected twenty camels, the day of departure, our equipment and supplies are loaded onto the camel back, and bring a lot of bean cakes and salt, fat man while helping him to carry the things, asked: “old man, we in the desert just eat bean cakes and salt? The more we eat, the thirstier we get.”

An Liman old man laughed: “ah my Uli Anjiang (strong friend), this well, you want to eat is also can, but Hu Da think these well, or should be left to the camel to eat well.”

An Liman old man told us all, now the season, is the most dangerous time in the desert, from Bosten Lake to the ruins of the city of the Western Nights, this previous section of the road, there are deserts and Gobi Beach, fortunately, there is the Peacock River is connected to the ancient river, is not difficult to recognize, but would like to go further into the depths of whether you can find ZiDuDianHe, that depends on HuDa’s will.

Our small team of nine people, rather than an archaeological team, it is more like an ancient camel caravan, the amount of food carried, about enough to last less than a month, fresh water enough to use for more than ten days, halfway to several oases as well as the underground dark river, but also can be replenished with edible water. In addition, there are several large pockets of yogurt soup, in the desert when the thirst is unbearable, drink a mouthful of thirst, can top ten mouths of water. This, coupled with the expedition’s various equipment and facilities, made each camel carry a lot of weight, and when traveling, the personnel could only rely on two legs, walking half the way and riding a camel half the way.

The first part of the trip’s route is from Bosten Lake to the southwest, along the Peacock River to the west for a period of time, until you find the ancient river to the south, Bosten can be translated as the meaning of standing, the origin of this name, because there are three lakeside mountains standing in the lake. Anciently also known as the lake for the fish sea, is China’s first large inland freshwater throughput lake, the Peacock River is originated from here, flowing into the depths of the Taklamakan, in our past the lake, look out, the vast and far-reaching blue water dazzling, inadvertently, produced a kind of as if it has traveled to the end of the world illusion.

Sand Sea Devil’s Nest 4

The first two days after the start, the professor’s three students are very excited, they are very young, is the first time in their lives into the desert, feel both fresh and fun, a moment to learn from the old man commanding the camel whistles, a moment and you chase me to play, singing.

My heart is also eager to try, hate to toss with them, but as the leader of the archaeological team, I still have to be a little more serious, thought, I straightened the body riding on the back of the camel, try to make their own image of resolute and wise some.

The initial section of the journey, according to the words of the old man An Liman, is not a desert, peacock river of this section of the ancient channel, is the river before the diversion of the river exists, some sections of the riverbed is not completely dry, around the sand is also very shallow, there are sporadic small lakes and the sea, the water surface occasionally swims a small group of red-billed gulls and red-billed ducks, along the peacock river river bends, there is a small piece of a small oasis, the growth of sand dates, poplars and other poplars, the water is not a desert, but a desert, the Peacock River. Along the bend of the Peacock River, there is a small oasis of jujube, poplar and some shrubs.

After this bend in the river, even if it is really into the desert, the Peacock River diverted to the southeast, to the other side is Loulan, Lop Nor, Danya, and we traveled to the southwest, into the “Black Desert”, An Liman old man said that the Black Desert is Huda (Allah, Allah) to punish the greedy infidels and produced, the desert buried countless cities and treasure, but no one, can get out of the Black Desert, but the desert is not a place for people. But there is no one who can bring them out from the Black Desert, even if you only take a gold coin, you will lose the path in the Black Desert, buried in it by the wind and sand with a long way, and never want to come out again.

This is a big fluid desert, the wind blowing sand dunes, the landforms of the day, without any features, the ancient river has long been missing, thanks to An Liman, those buried by the yellow sand most of the way, only half of the roof of the ancient fortresses, houses, towers, by the gusts of wind blown into a tilted, and the ground at a thirty-degree angle of poplars, a few small pikes in the desert (the name of the plant), are not able to escape from the eyes of the old man of An Liman, the eyes of the old man of An Liman. These things together, strung together into a line, it tells us that the ancient channel of the Peacock River used to pass through here, at the end of this disappeared ancient river, is the legend of the ancient city of Jingjie abandoned by Hu Da.

In the desert to give us the deepest impression is that those thousand years of poplar, if not see with their own eyes, who would believe that there are trees in the desert, each tree is to a strong flying dragon, all the branches are crooked to the east, as if the dragon running in the desert, in such a harsh environment, the birth of thousands of years, has long been dead, the trunk was blown by the wind and sand are almost flat to the ground, but it still did not But it still didn’t fall.

The first ray of sunshine in the morning, rising from the eastern horizon, reflecting the clouds in the sky, those rolling sand dunes in the desert, covered with a layer of haze, dry poplar and rippling yellow sand, were reflected into a golden red, heavy colors, in the sky and the earth constitutes a magnificent picture scroll.

The people in order to avoid the hot sun at noon, rushed all night, is walking sleepy, see this kind of scenery, all can not help but spiritually invigorated, Shirley Yang exclaimed: “The desert is too beautiful, God, you see that poplar, is simply a golden divine dragon in the desert.” They took out their cameras and pressed the shutter, hoping to preserve the beautiful scenery.

When we were all mesmerized by the beautiful scenery, I found that An Liman was staring at the sunrise in the east, and a trace of uneasiness appeared on his face, so I went over to him and asked, “What’s the matter, old man? Is there going to be a change in the sky?” Because in the mainland, I have also heard of the words that the morning sun does not go out and the evening sun travels ten thousand miles, and the fiery red clouds in the morning are not a good omen.

An Liman old man nodded, after a long time before he spoke: “Yes, the clouds in the sky in the blood, Hu Da Lama, probably angry, the desert, and to wind up.”

I laughed: “I’m Hu, Hu Da is also Hu, right? Our old Hu family people, temper can be good, never like angry.”

An Liman old man was so angry that he blew up his goatee: “How can Hu Da’s surname be Hu? You say so, Hu Da is to be angry. Tonight the black desert is going to be very windy, we will not rest during the day, hurry forward.”

This is already the fifth day of our departure, into the black desert on the third day, in front of the remains of the ancient city of the West Night, we were expected to arrive tomorrow, but An Liman old Khan said that this storm will be very big, built a sand wall can not block, if not rushed to the remains of the West Night City, we will be buried alive in the desert.

I heard him say so, know that this is not a joke, here from the ruins of the Western Nights of the ancient city and more than half a day’s journey, the road in case of something delayed, that can be a problem, and walked the whole night, the guys are exhausted, that a few old and weak women and children can hold out, it is not easy to say.

I jumped on the back of the camel to say hello to the group quickly, but saw the old man An Liman slowly and leisurely, from the camel down, take out a blanket, not slowly spread on the yellow sand, kneeling on it, eyes slightly closed, look pious, open hands stretched out to the sky, and then covered his face, read aloud: “Allah hu ah well.”

He was praying to Allah ah, every morning must do the homework, I saw him so calm and relaxed, thought he said that the night to start a big storm is not much serious, also then relaxed, and went and fat, Shirley Yang and others together to watch the beauty of the desert.

Who thought of An Li Man prayed, after, like a changed person, the body seems to be screwed full of clockwork, three under two rolled up the blanket, spring general leaped up on the camel, make a long whistle: “Oh yo yo yo yo …… fast run it, run late will be buried into the black sand purgatory. ” The big camel on the crotch was catalyzed, and ran up first.

I cursed: “This fucking dead old man.” In such an urgent situation, he had the leisure to pray slowly just now, and now he was running so fast, so he immediately greeted the crowd and moved.

Camels also feel the danger signal from the sky, like crazy, throw open the four big hooves in the desert, usually sit on the camel walking, wobbling feel quite interesting, but once it runs, it is bumpy, we lie on the back of the camel, afraid of a unsteady grip on the fall.

Running camel caravan in the desert speeding, raised the yellow sand rolled up a yellow dragon, everyone put the windscreen on the eyes, with a bandana covering the nose and mouth, I looked around, more and more feel that the situation is not right, the camels have lost control of the staring and gasping to follow the old man’s big camel, running to the cyclone, it seems that things are more urgent than the bottom line of my expectations and danger.

I am most worried about a member of the camel was thrown down, want to shout at the front of the An Liman slower, but it is too late to open his mouth, but also have no way to open his mouth, a mouth will be filled with a mouthful of sand.

I can only keep looking left and right, counting the number of people on the hump, has been running until noon, spare the camels are sturdy and good to go, this time also tired and sweating, had to slow down, fortunately no one fell out of line.

An Liman let everyone hurry to take advantage of this time to eat a few mouths of dry food, drink more water, don’t worry about the water to drink all the water, the remains of the West Night City below, you can find the underground water veins of the ancient Peacock River, where the water will be replenished, eat and drink enough to let the camel a little bit of footwear, the good thing is that the distance is not far away already, but still immediately continue to run, or else it will be too late.

The guys took out the naan and dry meat, haphazardly ate a few mouthfuls, the fat man and I worry about these intellectuals, one by one to ask them if there is anything wrong.

Although Professor Chen is not young, the camel upside down can not come up for air, can not say a word, the youngest female student Ye Yixin, wow wow wow wow vomited a few mouths, the two of them only drank a little water, can not eat anything.

The worst is Hao Aiguo, his depth of myopia glasses fell out, can not see anything clearly, anxious and confused, thanks to the graduate student Sa Dipeng is also myopic, he has a spare pair of myopic lenses, their degree is about the same, solved Hao Aiguo’s urgent needs.

Shirley Yang and another tall trainee Chu Jian is nothing, especially Shirley Yang, perhaps and her father’s love of adventure genetics, but also may be her growing up in the United States has to do with, she has a strong spirit of adventure, physical fitness is also very good, a night of sleeplessness, but also in the desert running for most of the day, but also do not see how tired she is, is still full of energy and is busy to help the old man An Li Man She was still in high spirits, busy helping old man An Liman to reinforce the supplies on the camel’s back.

A breeze blew over the dunes, rolling up a wisp of fine sand, the distant sky, gradually turned into a dark yellow, An Liman old man shouted: “The wind is coming, do not rest again, God bless, we are so many people, quickly escape to go.”

Members of the archaeological team dragged the tired body, climbed on the camel again, at this time has not cared about the camel’s physical strength, yelling and urging the camel to run.

Just now the sky is still clear, as if in an instant on the dark down, the wind came too fast, the wind rolled into the air more and more fine sand, surrounded by a blanket of sand, visibility is getting lower and lower, in the confusion, I secretly counted the number of the team again, plus me, a total of eight people, who fell out of the team?

Sand Sea Devil’s Nest 5

The wind was blowing fiercer and fiercer, the sand was raging, everywhere was a dark yellow, I could not see who had fallen out, but the camel team had just gone down the dune for only a hundred meters, and it was not too late to go back to look for someone.

My first thought is that the United States Miss Yang, she wants to be gone, our money on the soup, but then I dismissed this idea, just now the idea of a little selfish, they are Americans life is certainly valuable, our Chinese life is not to take the salty salt particles in exchange for, can not let anyone fall in line.

Beside me is the fat man, is the only person I can recognize, I want to talk to him, but the wind and sand is very fierce, can’t open his mouth, I rode on the camel gesturing to him, let him stop running in front of the old man Anriman.

With such a delay, twenty large camels ran out dozens of meters away, I did not have time to make sure that the fat man did not understand what I meant, and rolled over from the back of the wildly running camel pack.

The footprints of the camels stepping in the desert have been blurred by the wind and sand, and will disappear soon, I ran against the wind in the direction from which I came, feeling that my body was like a piece of paper, every step was out of my control, and at any time I would be swept away by the gusts of the wind, and I couldn’t hear anything in my ears except for the sound of the wind.

Stumbling out nearly two hundred meters, we finally found a man lying on the ground on the dune beam where we had just rested. The man’s body was already half covered with sand, not knowing whether he was dead or alive, I rushed over and pulled him out of the yellow sand.

It turned out to be Prof. Chen, he was not in a good condition just now, probably when we all got on the camel to escape, he was turned down by the camel in a hurry. Prof. Chen is still alive, just too scared to speak, he saw me come, fainted in excitement.

At this time the wind and sand although fierce evil, but I know, this is only a prelude to the desert storm, the real violent storm, may come at any time, a moment can not be delayed, I put him on his back, turn around to see, just be I stepped on a series of footprints are still recognizable, God blessing, fat people be sure to stop An Liman that old man who is greedy for life and fear of death ah.

I want to carry Professor Chen down the dune, I did not expect the wind behind me is too big, take the first step on the foot did not stand, the two a pile of children rolled down the sandy slope, yellow sand, someone helped me up, it turned out that the fat man figured out what I meant to do, with a knife and stabbed the camel buttocks, catching up with the front of the An Liman, pounced on him down from the hump, the camel herd to see the head of the camel stops, the rest of the stopping, only the buttocks hurt that one, and then the camels, and the camels, the camels, the camels, and the rest of the camels, and the camels, the camels, the camels, and the rest of the camels. Fuming like crazy towards the front, immediately disappeared in the vast sandy wind.

Thanks to the fact that they did not run too far away, otherwise it is impossible to find back, this effort who can not speak, can only gesture, can comprehend it, can not understand to follow the line, the crowd is ready to climb back on the camel to escape.

But the camels seem to be scared, they will not run, let the old man An Liman how to whip, but also do not listen to the command, lined up in a row, squatting in place, burying their heads in the sand.

We have seen a lot of white bones of camels along the way, death, are retained in such a posture, as if the sinner to receive punishment. An Liman said that these were camels that had been frightened by the black sands of Huda, and knowing that the black sands would come soon and that it would be useless to run, they simply knelt down and waited for death.

This situation suddenly appeared, we can not do anything, do we wait to be buried alive by the yellow sand? That would not be a good taste. Just when we were at a loss, Shirley Yang pulled my arm and pointed to the west, signaling for us to look over there.

Only to see in the sky of wind and sand, a huge white shadow running towards us, close enough, but the wind is too loud, no one heard, I subconsciously removed the camelback sports rifle, this kind of small-caliber sports gun is our preparation for dealing with the wolves, all of us can not care about the wind and sand, focus their attention on that mass of white shadows, what the hell is that thing? It doesn’t look like a human being.

The white shadow was like the devil, it reached us in an instant, it was a camel that was twice as big as an ordinary camel, with only one hump on its back, its whole body was snow white, it stood out in the yellow sand.

“Wild camel!” The few people who recognized this kind of camel called out at the same time in their hearts.

Except for the difference in body size between ordinary camels and wild camels, the biggest difference between them is that people raise camels with two humps on their backs, while wild camels have only one on their backs.

Through the windscreen, I could see the eyes of Anliman’s old man glowing with the light of joy of life in the midst of death. Anliman was so excited that he waved his arms in praise of Allah, the true God, and the camels kneeling on the ground seemed to have been summoned to bury their heads in the sand and lift them up again.

Although I do not know what happened, but intuitively understand their behavior, we still have a chance to survive, follow this snow-white wild camel to run on the line, it is this desert animal, should know where to hide from the black sand of the Hu Da. Immediately made a gesture to the rest of the people, so that the group climbed on the camel back, followed the front of the white camel running.

The camels lowered their heads, ran to the mouth are almost spitting foam, use all the remaining strength, closely follow the front of the white camel, turned a large sand hill, the desert terrain here suddenly elevated, the white camel’s silhouette flashed, only a leap and disappeared.

I thought it was not good, it ran away, we will be in trouble, see the surrounding is getting darker and darker, can not distinguish between the sky and the earth, in a minute or two, the life devouring black sandstorm is coming.

Before we realized what was going on, the camels under the mounts turned around and bypassed this towering sand hill, I looked to the left and right, that sand hill actually had a section of crumbling walls, underneath there was a large fortress of rammed earth, it turned out that this was the ruins of a small ancient city.

Most of the buildings are buried by the yellow sand more than half, some houses have collapsed, only that section of the solid city wall towering out, the wind and the sun, already do not know how many years, has long become and the desert the same color, from a distance, will only think it is a large sand dune, not from the side turn in, will never find this ancient fortress.

The peak of the whole body snow white wild camel originally ran into this place to take refuge, only the broken walls of the old city blocked the line of sight, can not see where it ran to.

The city wall is like a high sand wall, if it can block this rare sandstorm with it, with the words of the old man An Liman: “That depends on the will of Hu Da.” Anyway, in this case, there is a place to hide is already God’s eyes.

Archaeological team members after this robbery, everyone is yellow, can not see is scared face yellow, or a face of sand, all the people under the camel, An Liman command camels in the wall lying down, and then led a group of people, one after another from a large house broken roof down.

Although the ancient city has a wall to shield the sand, but some parts of those walls are broken, so many years there are still a large number of sand is blown into the city by the wind, broken houses, the ground is full of fine sand, more than two meters thick.

We went in to take refuge in this big house, may be similar to the government office or city hall like facilities, relatively tall, even so, still have to cat back, a little head up, will hit the wooden beams above.

Ye Yixin Hao Aiguo and other physically unfit people, go in and lie on the ground, take out the water bottle to drink, the rest of the people helped to help Professor Chen in, his sanity has been restored, just legs soft, the fat man let out a breath of air: “This life is considered to be retrieved.”

After An Liman entered the room, he immediately fell to his knees, the devil from the black hell blew up a black sandstorm, thanks to Hu Da, thanks to him to send auspicious white camels to save us from the nightmare of disaster, An Liman old man said that the dromedary white camel is the most magical elf in the desert, Genghis Khan, the king of Western Xia, Li Yuanhao and others, have white camels, but those are all the two-humped ones, although rare, but is not considered magical.

If there is even one person in the team that Hu Da doesn’t like, we won’t see the white camel, it seems that we people are pious believers favored by Allah, from now on each other should be like brothers, breaking bones and connecting the tendons, An Liman patted his chest to guarantee: “If there is danger again, never again will I first leave everyone behind, and run away on my own.”

I cursed in my heart: “his grandmother, dare you this old man, previously did not take us seriously, I said an accident you fucking run faster than a rabbit.”

Speaking, outside the big sandstorm has come, howling wind, blowing the sky shaking the ground, we in the ancient city ruins can not help but be alarmed, in case the wind and sand buried the house exit, not alive suffocation? So I arranged Sa Di Peng, Fatty, Chu Jian three people, take turns to stare at the broken hole on the roof, once there is any situation, quickly notify the group to run out, but the group know very well, if the storm moves the desert, the front of the city wall is swallowed up, even if we run out, but also just a different party was buried alive.

Outside the room under the wall is full of sand artemisia, this is a kind of hay, I probe out to pull some of the hand after, take out the solid fuel, lit a small pile of fire, to give the group warmth.

The dark ancient house, was lit up by the fire, Ye Yixin suddenly jumped up, her head hit the beams, she was almost knocked out, the beams fell countless fine sand, the bottom of the people did not wear a windshield, the face of the eyes were not lost.

While rubbing their eyes, they asked Ye Yixin what happened. What’s wrong with her?

My eyes also into the sand, can not see anything, ear only heard Ye Yixin trembling voice called: “The right corner lying with a dead body!”

Sand Sea Devil’s Nest 6

“Dead body?” Hao Aiguo asked while rubbing his eyes, “You Xiaoye, what’s the fuss? Are we archaeologists still afraid of dead bodies?”

Ye Yixin’s eyes also got into the sand, covering the top of her head that hit the roof beams and apologized, “I’m sorry, Mr. Hao, I …… just didn’t think that there would be a dead person in this house, and my mind wasn’t adequately prepared …… I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry. ”

I heard of a secret recipe, lost eyes, immediately spit spit can be good, this trick I used to try a hundred times, so I hurriedly spit a large mouth of spit, the feeling of lost eyes immediately alleviated, outflow of a lot of tears, but has been able to open the eyes.

Open your eyes, it scared me, it turned out that I just spit, just spit in the top of Shirley Yang’s head, she is a clean person, even in the desert day and night, but also maintain good hygiene habits, she was sandy eyes, is constantly rubbing the eyes, the confusion did not notice their own head was spit on the top of the mouth spit.

I had to pretend not so much, hastily take out the flashlight from the portable geological bag, to the wall to see, really is a human skeleton, the desert climate is dry and abnormal, can not see how long dead, only a set of white bones, the wind blowing in the sand buried a small half, most of them are still exposed to the outside, cold eyes, it is really quite scary, no wonder scared Ye Yixin jumped so high.

At this time the rest of the people, also opened their eyes one after another, took out the kettle, with water for a few people who are seriously confused eyes rinse, I told the crowd do not worry, nothing, is a human bone, do not know how many years dead, and so we eat something, a little rest for a while, digging a pit for him to bury is.

Members of the archaeological team, in addition to the old man An Liman, are often deal with the ancient corpse, no one is afraid, just this human bone died here more or less a little bit suspicious, the dead in the desert will rarely decay, most are dried into a natural mummy, but this pair of white bones on the body of the skin and flesh is not half, maybe it is to let the wolves to eat up.

An Li Man thinks this is not strange, that peak white camel is not running in to avoid the sandstorm, we are thanks to follow it to be spared, this desert is different from the remains of the Loulan Yadan spectacle of the semi-desert half Gobi, people into this western black desert, only dare to line from the Peacock River ancient river, do not dare to deviate from the point of view, by ourselves, it is impossible to find the ruins of this castle, but the animals in the desert is not the same, this ruined city, surely, this ruined city is not the same, but it is not the same. The same, this ruined city, must be Hu Da given to the desert animals shelter, we do not see, those broken houses and broken walls behind, may be hiding how many refuge sand wolves, yellow sheep, sand leopards ……, this time the sky is blowing a big sandstorm, the animals on the ground are terrified, who can not care about who, and so the sandstorm after the passing of the sandstorm, may be found that the wolves and yellow sheep are hiding in the sand. find the wolf and the yellow sheep are hiding in a house, then it is the wolf should be bared teeth, is the yellow sheep should be stretched out the horns on the head.

I heard that these broken houses are still hiding a lot of sheltered beasts, Ye Yixin and a few other timid people, are a little nervous, An Liman is also worried about the camels hiding behind the broken walls, he has to go out in a sandstorm, to tether the camels, it seems that this big sandstorm won’t stop for a while, and I don’t know how long it will take to consume in this big house, so I let the fat man and the two men of Chu Jian to go out with him too, and by the way, the food and fuel sleeping bags.

The three of them put on their windshields, wrapped their mouths, noses and ears in bandanas, and tumbled out through the broken hole in the roof. After smoking two cigarettes of effort, the three of them came back, the body is full of sand, the fat man pulled off the bandana and wind mirror, a butt sit down on the ground: “I fuck, this wind blowing, if not the three of us pull each other, can give us to the sky to go, but that old man did not blindfolded us, we passed by a wall of broken, the back of that hides six or seven yellow goats, and so on later the wind is less, I take the gun to hit two When the wind is less windy, I’ll take my gun and shoot two of them, and we’ll have a meal of fresh meat, for the past few days it’s all dried meat, and I’m tired of eating it.”

An Liman heard this, said strongly disagree: “No can not, you can not, you shoot the well, the sound of gunfire well, the beasts hiding in the city well, are scared away, they will run out, will be buried alive in the devil’s black sandstorm well, we and those animals are the same well, are Hu Da Kaien, can come here to hide well, you can not be like that. ”

Fatty said: “Well well, you quickly stop, I do not just say it, inviting you so many words, I then eat jerky okay? Hu Da, his old man will not even let us eat jerky, right?” Said from the bag took out jerky and canned white wine, distributed to the crowd to eat and drink.

In the big desert running for their lives for more than half a day, now by the sandstorm trapped in the ruins of this nameless ancient city, in addition to the fat man and An Liman old man, the rest of the people are not in the mood to eat, I care about Prof. Chen, belonging to the big old man, the lack of medical care in the desert, don’t have any accidents only good, I took the bag of white wine, walked to the side of Prof. Chen, persuade him to drink a couple of mouthfuls of alcohol to relieve the fatigue.

Shirley Yang and Hao Aiguo helped Prof. Chen to sit up, the students, except for Chu Jian who took his turn to stand guard by the broken hole in the roof, also gathered around the professor with concern.

Professor Chen seems to have recovered, drank a mouthful of wine, smiled bitterly and said: “Think about the previous field work, and then locked in the cowshed for more than three years, and then to the labor farms to open up the mountain digging stone, what sin has not suffered ah, but also survived, now old, not useful, alas, today thanks to the old brother Hu, without you, my old bones have to be buried alive in a sandstorm can not be. ”

I comforted him a few words, said I can not take Miss Yang’s share of the dollars for nothing, these are my part of the matter, if you feel unwell, let’s go back as soon as possible, it’s not too late, after the ancient city of the Western Nights, that’s the center of the Black Desert, the environment is much crueler than this, by then it’s too late to regret.

Prof. Chen shook his head, said resolutely to go on, the guys do not have to worry, this rare sandstorms do not come once in a hundred years, will not often have, since we have escaped, that the great disaster, there will be a blessing.

I was about to persuade him a few more words, Shirley Yang pulled me to one side, quietly said to me: “Mr. Hu, before I think you do archaeological team leader, is really a little too young, but also very worried about whether you have enough ability and experience, today I finally know, the captain of the candidate is not you. There is one thing that I still need your help, we have learned the power of nature, the morale of the team members has suffered a considerable setback, I hope that you can give the group a boost to cheer them up.”

This is a difficult problem, but the shopkeeper sent words, I can only do it, the group gathered around to eat, I said to everyone: “That …… comrades, our current atmosphere is a bit dull ah, all the way marching all the way song, is the fine tradition of our army, let’s sing a song together, okay? ”

Crowd you look at me, I look at you, are a little puzzled, thinking when we became a soldier? What does the fine tradition of our army have to do with us common people? At this time, on this occasion, singing? No one reacted for a moment.

I thought bad, and confused, how to take out the company that set, so quickly changed his words: “No no, so what, let’s talk about the day, I give you guys to report a small report on the front I fought in the war.”

Hearing me tell a story, all interested, gathered more tightly, while eating and listening to me say: “Once, we connected to a difficult task, to force the capture of the 306th plateau, there are a few Vietnamese on the plateau of the fire point, they are configured in a very good position, interdependent and dead ends, our artillery can not directly eliminate them, only let the infantry attack! The company I lead is the sixth company, our company attacked three times, were unsuccessful, sacrificed seven, there are more than ten people were wounded, our company is the division’s famous hero company, never fought such a battle, the soldiers are very frustrated, can not beat the spirit, I am anxious about it, and suddenly the head of the regiment called a phone call, on the phone to my head a scolding, said your company can not do it? Can’t you give up your position, give up the title of hero company, the regiment and then send another company on. I heard that this is not good ah, hung up the phone, and came up with a way, I said to the soldiers. Just now, the Central Military Commission called me, said Deng Da master knows our six companies in the front line of the deeds, the old man said the six companies are really good, will be able to take down the position. When the soldiers heard that, what? Master Deng knows about our company? Then we can not give him the face of this, at that time came to the energy, went up a charge and took down the position.”

When the archaeology team heard this, they all felt a little excited and asked for details about the battle on the front line.

I said to the group, “Comrades, what I mean by this story is that there is no difficulty that can stop us, our greatest enemy is ourselves, as long as we can overcome our own fears, as long as we overcome our own weaknesses, we will surely be able to achieve the final victory.”

Under my drive, the previous depressing and dreary atmosphere was finally greatly relieved, and although the big sandstorm outside was fierce, these people were no longer as tense as they were just now.

After eating, it is the turn of Sa Dipeng to take over Chu Jian sentry, fat man and I go to clean up the corner of the victim’s human bones, just like that to put it there, the people in the house is not too comfortable, before sleeping, first buried this human bone is better.

Now so bad weather, it is impossible to bury to the outside, it can be on the ground to dig up the sand, digging not a few, the engineer shovel touched the stone, I think some odd, this house is very high, hundreds of thousands of years of blowing in the yellow sand, piled up more and more high, these sands at least two or three meters thick, how to dig a few is the stone.

Set aside the sand to watch, the stone black, to both sides and then dig a few, but no stone, Hao Aiguo and others saw, also came over to help, a hand, dug more than half a meter deep, fine yellow sand, but also revealed a black stone statue of a human head.

Sand Sea Devil’s Nest 7

We only dug out its head, this statue is completely carved from black stone, there is no other color on it.

The size is as big as the two heads of a normal person combined, the eyes are olive shaped, long, in the five features of the face does not seem to be coordinated, the proportion accounted for too large, the top of the head is not a crown and hat, only pulled a flat hairpin, the expression is very peaceful, no obvious joy and anger, both like a temple tribute statue of the gods, but also like some large mausoleums mountain passages on the rock man, but judging from the position of the stone statue in the big house, the former is the The possibility is greater.

I lit up a gas lamp to give them light, Professor Chen looked at it, said to Hao Aiguo: “Look at this stone statue, we are not where we have seen before?”

Hao Aiguo put on nearsighted glasses, scrutinize: “ah, really, Xinjiang unearthed a thousand coffins graves, the tomb also has and this identical stone man, eyes very prominent, different from normal, this should be called giant pupil stone statue.”

In Xinjiang Tianshan, Altay, Hotan River Basin, as well as all over the Mongolian steppe, have found this giant pupil stone statue, about the origin of the stone statue, has not been proved, once scholars pointed out that this should be a Mongolian worship of a deity, according to the history of Kublai in the Western Desert, there is a secret palace, known as the “Palace of Fragrance”, the earliest statue of this stone man, the first time the stone man statue. The earliest statue of this stone is enshrined in the incense palace.

But later and after some years, with a few more ancient tombs and remains of the discovery of the age, but also found from the giant pupil of the stone statue, which overthrew that assumption, and some people say that this is the ancient Turkic people left, to the end there is no exact method, into the history of archaeology, one of the many puzzles.

Archaeological team of several students have never seen the giant pupil stone statue, took out a pen in the book and mark and draw, discussing to dig up the sand below, look at the whole body of the stone man, Hao Aiguo gave them some relevant knowledge, said that today the guys are tired, take a rest, tomorrow and so on the sandstorm stops, let’s clean up the sand in the house to see if there is anything to be found.

I changed a place, digging through the sand, the bones of the victims buried, he had no clothes and anything that can prove his identity, even a simple tombstone can not give him to do, alas, well stay at home how good, on the desert to toss what it is, just rest in peace.

I looked at the watch, it is already evening, outside the black sandstorm still did not stop, but there is more and more fierce momentum, may also be scraped on the whole night.

In addition to the sentry Sapeng, the rest of the people have rubbed their feet with fine sand and lie down into the sleeping bag to rest, this is with An Liman learned, in the desert, water is gold, washing feet can only use fine sand, I found in the roof of the broken holes under the sentry Sadeepeng, let him go to sleep for a while, I’ll take over for him sentry.

I sat in the corner of the wall, holding the sports air rifle in my arms, in case of sudden beasts suddenly leaped in to hurt people, while smoking and listening to the wind outside, the thought of Professor Chen they have to continue to the depths of the desert, a real headache, who knows that the depths of the black desert lurks in the depths of the number of dangerous traps.

The desert is like this, on the surface look very calm, no wind, the whole earth is like being covered by golden satin, but under the surface of this calm, engulfed countless people and animals quicksand, ever-changing sands, all kinds of desert plants and animals, are a threat to the safety of the team of explorers factors, it is not good to say that there will be any accidents, encountered a big sandstorm today, and the team did not appear casualties, which can be considered a miracle. This can definitely be considered a miracle.

I think out of my mind, smoking one after another, I do not know how long, the sky outside has been dark, the wind is still so big, like countless devils in the howl, from time to time there is sand into the roof of the hole, the wind and then do not stop, I am afraid of the front of the broken wall will be swallowed by the sand.

At this time I found Shirley Yang woke up, she saw me sitting in the corner on sentry duty, came over, look at her that means to talk to me, usually, I seldom talk to her, mainly because she and the fat man is not too deal with the two, look at each other are not very good, so in addition to the necessary exchanges, we don’t talk to her, said anxious she deducted us some money, that is enough for us to suffer.

Out of politeness, I said hello to her, Shirley Yang came over and asked me, “Mr. Hu, you also go to sleep, I’ll replace you for two hours.”

I said no, I’ll ask Fatty to fill in for me later, and I told her to go and rest again next, but she sat down across from me and chatted with me one way or another.

There is something I have been wanting to ask her, why do you have to find that ancient city, maybe that city has long been gone, so many years no one has ever seen, her father and those few explorers, may not be dead in that ancient city, in the desert what danger may encounter, want to find those lost remains of the victims can be really difficult, and this black desert there are many mysteries that can not be solved, I have read I once read some tabloids, it said that there are three explorers, also came here to explore, and then disappeared, after a long time, people in the edge of the desert to find their corpses, these three corpses are dehydrated death, the strange thing is that their water bottles are still filled with more than half of the pot of drinking water. There are countless similar things, we human beings know too little about the desert, there are many kinds of plants and animals in the desert, some of which are undiscovered species. Let’s try our best to find it, even if we can’t find it, we don’t have to blame ourselves too much.

Shirley Yang nodded: “Mr. Hu, what you said is very reasonable, but I always believe that my father has found the Jingjie Ancient City, because since he disappeared in the desert, I have dreamt more than once of a big, black hole, with a big coffin hanging over the hole, carved with ghostly writing and wrapped with a lot of big chains, and on top of the coffin there is a huge thing lying on the ground. , but I couldn’t see what it was, every time I tried desperately to see clearly, what exactly was on that coffin, but as soon as I came to that point, my dream woke up, and for more than half a year, I dreamt of the same scenario almost every night, and I believed that this was a dream my father had given me, and that the coffin must be the Queen of the Essence.”

I thought to myself how Americans are also so superstitious, but also trust the dream thing, but look at her solemn look, also dare not say to refute her words, just comfort her a few words, digress, ask her that the Jingjie country is really what is going on.

Shirley Yang said: “My father and Professor Chen is a good friend for many years, they were classmates when they were young, are very obsessed with the ancient culture of the western region, four eight years, my father and his family went to the United States, * after he returned to China again, he was in the United States, once bought a number of cultural relics, are the early nineteenth century, European explorers in the desert in Xinjiang excavated Valuable cultural relics, those European explorers had found the remains of an ancient city near the Niya Oasis, according to the relics and artifacts are Han Dynasty, by some clues on the presumption that there is likely to be the Western thirty-six countries in the most powerful Jingjie country’s ruins, and my father and Professor Chen, after years of research, deduced that the remains of the Niya, is only a subordinate city of the Jingjie country, the real Jingjie should be in the main city of the Niya North, the lower reaches of the Zidu Dark River, my father was hoping to personally find the ruins of the ancient city of the Jingjie in his lifetime before he ventured into the desert by organizing an expedition. All his life he was fascinated by the ghost cave culture of the Jingjie, and there are not many surviving records of this once incomparably glorious ancient city. Jingjie country was the leader of the alliance of small countries in the western region at that time, those small countries, in fact, now look at nothing more than a number of trade routes, the natural formation of a number of cities of varying sizes, a small city is also a country of its own, and the most powerful of these small countries, is the Jingjie, the Jingjie people to the Ghost Cave tribe is the main, but also a mixture of other ethnic minorities, the Jingjie country after the death of the last queen, the city disappeared in the sandy sea, the city was destroyed by a natural disaster or destroyed. Whether it was destroyed by a natural disaster or by war, there is no way to know, as if the country never existed at all, but until the eve of the Second World War, there was a British explorer, who led an expedition into the Taklamakan, and in the end, he was the only one who came out alive, and his sanity has been completely lost, but a few photos and journals in his camera confirmed the existence of the ancient city of the Seijei The ancient city of Jingjie existed.

Later, some people once wanted to follow this clue to find, but then there was the outbreak of World War II, until the last three or four years, each expedition has the opportunity to enter the desert to find treasures and relics.

Shirley Yang took out a small bag to show me, I took it and opened it, inside is a yellowed black and white old photo, and an old diary written in English, the picture of the photo is very fuzzy, vaguely can be discerned, the photo captured is a city in the desert, the center of a tower, the details are almost not clear.

I asked Shirley Yang if this is ……, Shirley Yang said, “Yes, this is my father bought it back from the UK, this is the diary and photographs of that explorer, Mr. Walt, who had personally visited the Jingjie Ancient City, which also gives us some clues, but the diary only wrote that they saw a huge ancient city at the lower reaches of the Zidu Dark River, and prepared to go in and explore it in the morning, after that, there was nothing, I don’t know what they encountered in the ruins of the ancient city, and in the end, only one mentally deranged person survived.”

I chatted with her, I inadvertently found that, in the corner of the wall illuminated by the vapor lamp in the house, the giant pupil stone statue that had been dug out of a large head, its eyes seemed to move a little bit, I haven’t closed my eyes for a day and two nights, could it be that I’ve been seeing flowers in my eyes?