Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Tenzin lowered his head obediently, asked the escort to untie the noose around his neck, and then walked to the stretcher.The weight of the stretcher made his steps drag and falter, his muscles ached, then numb, and finally unconscious, and he had to find a way to lift his heels every few steps to keep his boots from falling.The Qiang people next to him had already seen his distress, but they did not give him space to tie up his shoes with straw ropes. These hateful guys stood aside, either watching coldly, or talking and laughing loudly, waiting to see what happened to him. joke.Tenzeng knew that in this land, shoes are equal to feet and equal to life. As a captive, even if there is a wound on his foot, he will become weaker and weaker and eventually die.

The grass root suddenly caught his toes, Dan Zeng staggered, and fell heavily on one knee, biting his own tongue, and he tasted the taste of blood, which was extremely sweet.The stretcher overturned, and the people on it screamed.Tenzin grabbed a bush, held on firmly, and tried to pull himself up again, but his stiff legs just couldn't hold him up.The stretcher was too heavy, and he was too tired, too weak.

"Get up, Tubo dog, don't pretend to be dead!" the Qiang guard yelled loudly, waving the whip in his hand, Dan Zeng lowered his head and gritted his teeth to bear it, and seized the opportunity to tear off a few grass roots to bind his boots. This was a rare opportunity.Suddenly he was hit hard on the shoulder, and Dan Zeng fell on his back, and the copper pot containing the bones of his friend in his arms flew out, fell to the ground and rolled away a long way.

"Hey!" The Qiang guard picked it up from the ground, held it in his hand, played with it twice and sneered, "Where did you snatch such a good thing? If you hide it and don't hand it over, it's a good deal for me!"

For a moment, a certain thread in Danzeng's heart seemed to be broken. He jumped up from the ground angrily, threw the Qiang guard to the ground, snatched back the copper pot, stuffed it into his arms, and looked around viciously, like a bearded head. A cornered beast.

"What's going on! What happened!" Akton jumped off his horse and walked over. At first he thought it was a mutiny by the captives, but soon he found out that it was not. Most of the Tibetans were honest and honest. Sitting on the ground, like a group of tame sheep, there were only a dozen Qiang people gathered together, holding wooden sticks and whips in their hands, and shouting loudly.He walked into the crowd, and saw a Tubo man curled up in a ball, it was the Tubo officer who begged him to surrender.

"what happened?"

"This guy is hiding property!" A Qiang man shouted loudly, "Just now he beat someone and wanted to escape!"

"Escape?" Acton looked at Tenzin. He was dressed in rags, had no dry food, no weapons for protection, and no horses. In this wasteland, surrounded by malice, where could he escape?
"Secret property, what property?"

"It's the copper pot in his arms. He accidentally dropped it on the ground just now, and when I picked it up, he jumped on it like crazy. There must be something valuable in it!"

Acton turned around and said to the Qiang girl behind him: "Tuyanmangjiebo, go ask that guy, what's in that copper pot?"

Tuyanmang Jiebo nodded, took two steps forward and said to Tenzin, "Lang Jun asked me to ask you, what's in that copper pot in your arms?"

Tenzin glanced at the Qiang girl, but did not answer immediately. He replied after a few minutes: "The copper pot contains the bones of my friend, not any treasure. I have promised him that I will take him back to his hometown for burial." !” Having said that, he took out the copper pot and presented it with both hands.

Tuyanmangjiebo showed a look of astonishment. She took the copper jar, hesitated for a while, and finally handed the copper jar to Acton, and said in a low voice: "He said it contained the bones of his friend, and he wanted to take this with him. Go back to your hometown for burial!"

Acton took the copper jar, opened it, looked at it, and then put the lid back on again: "Give this back to him! Tell those Qiang people that we are still in danger, and no extra trouble is allowed!"

Facts proved that Acton was right. Just after noon, the sky began to become cloudy, the north wind was blowing stronger, and then it began to snow, and the snowflakes fell on everyone's hair, beard and shoulders. It will be connected soon.Both the Qiang people and the Tubo people put their original hatred behind them at this time. Those who are familiar with the local climate know very well that this kind of sudden snowstorm is not simple, and it is very likely that everything on the earth will be covered up. , turned into a snowfield.In the face of such a mighty force of nature, personal grievances are completely irrelevant.

"Hurry up, hurry up!" Acton urged loudly: "Just get to the camp, there is enough food there, we can camp there, and return to Songzhou City when the snow stops!"

Although Dan Zeng didn't quite understand what the Tang officer was yelling, he could guess a little.But he didn't have the energy to care about that right now, every ounce of energy he had was spent moving his feet, and looking down he could see the awkward shapeless thing stumbling across the mud and snow, he I remember that the boots were black, but the snow and ice melted and froze repeatedly around them, and finally they became strangely shaped snowballs. His legs were like two popsicle sticks, stiff and unable to bend.

The snow was falling heavier and heavier, and the snow covered his ankles quickly. His steps were sluggish and staggering, and the stretcher behind him made him look more like a huge four-legged monster.I'm too tired, really too tired, I can't walk anymore, Bodhisattva is merciful, let me lie down!Even if it is death, as long as you don't have to go again.Although the snow covered the ground, it became more and more dangerous to walk. There were not only stones and grass roots under the snow, but also holes—the kind of holes that groundhogs like to dig the most.Exhausted people can easily sprain their ankles or worse once they step into the cave.What would happen if you stepped into it yourself? ——Dan Zeng didn't dare to think about it.

In desperation, Tenzin took another step.He felt as if his feet were not dirt, but cotton balls, and he was falling endlessly, but he couldn't touch a hard place, just kept going down, down.I had to stop and find a place to lie down, it was such a pain.I'm cold and tired and want to sleep...even a little sleep by the fire and something to eat.

But Tenzin knew very well that if he stopped, he would die. He had seen many people frozen to death in the snow, with bruises all over their faces, strange smiles on their faces, and some even ripped off their coats.It is said that people will have a hallucination of feeling extremely hot before being frozen to death.Tenzin had never experienced this feeling, nor did he want to experience it.

Breathing out, Dan Zeng took another step. Now he is very glad that the Tang people confiscated the iron armor on his body, which not only reduces the load, but also does not lose temperature. What is even better is that he has not been stripped of his sheepskin jacket and yak wool cape. , but the boots can’t help—snow seeps in from the damaged place, and then freezes, he can’t feel the pain anymore, I hope I can keep my toe, so that although I can’t run in the future, at least I can walk, no Who needs a slave who can't walk.

Suddenly, Tenzin tripped under his feet. He tried to stand still, but his whole body fell down like a stone statue, and someone shook his shoulders. "Get up," said a voice, "you idiot, this is no place to sleep, you'll die! Get up and keep going!"

"I'm not sleeping, I'm just resting. Go away and leave me alone!" Tenzin said, murmuring rather than talking: "I'm fine, I just want to rest."

"Get up." It was the Qiang girl's voice, hoarse.She appeared above Sam, a thin layer of ice had formed on the cloak, "Can't rest, you will freeze to death."

"Leave me alone!" Tenzin said with a smile, "No, really, I am very comfortable like this. You go, I will rest for a while, and I will catch up."

"Lie!" The girl's cheeks were already blue from the cold: "You will only lie down more and more weak, and then you will die!"

"What's going on?" Acton jumped off his horse, looked at Tenzin's situation, and said, "Tuyanmangjiebo, bring a horse here!"

Tuyanmangjiebo responded and went to find the sheepskin. Acton first took a gourd from the saddle, fed Danzin two mouthfuls, then took out a knife and cut open Tenzin's boots, and beat them with snow first. Twice, then rubbed vigorously. After a while, Dan Zeng felt sensation on his feet. He felt countless steel needles pricking his feet, and screamed!

"It's good if you are conscious!" Acton laughed. He wrapped Tenzin's feet with a piece of sheepskin and put him on the horse. If so, you should still be able to keep your feet!"

Under the guidance of Acton, the group finally joined Wang Pu before midnight. Wang Pu had already set up the camp. Seeing the distressed appearance of Acton and his group, he couldn't help being surprised: "What did you do? Like this? Why are there so many people?"

"We caught up with the Tubo people and defeated them. These are the captured and recaptured Qiang people!" Acton said with a smile, "It's just that there was a snowstorm on the way back. I didn't expect the weather here to change so quickly. , almost confessed on the road!"

"Yes, I also heard from those veterans that the weather here in Songzhou is unusual, but I didn't expect it to be so bad! You are too. When the weather is bad, just bring our people back. Don't worry about these Qiang people and What are the Tubo people doing? We Yaqian can’t afford to lose even one of our brothers!”

"The governor is new here, and he is not familiar with the Tubo and Qiang people. Wouldn't it be good if he could send dozens of captives there?" Acton said with a smile, "How does the governor treat our yamen on weekdays? Isn't it time to do the work of a dog and a horse?"

"What you said is quite reasonable. I haven't seen you for a few days. Your knowledge has improved!" Wang Pu smiled and said, "Forget it, I've already had ginger soup cooked. Let's drink a bowl of ginger soup and apply some ointment!"

"Yeah!" Acton responded, "By the way, do you think this snowstorm will just go down? Then we will be trapped here!"

"It's only September, probably not!" Wang Pu said, "I've already asked. They said that the weather here comes and goes quickly. If it's after October, it might snow continuously. It should be snowing now." It stopped in a day or two, and it won't be too late for us to return to Songzhou by then!"

Facts proved that Wang Pu was right. The sudden heavy snow had lightened by noon the next day and stopped completely in the evening.On the morning of the third day, the group set off to send them back.

Songzhou City.

"Wang Pu and Akdon are back?" Wang Wenzuo raised his head, "Well, the road must be trapped by snow. This ghost place is worse than Baekje and Goguryeo. If you are not careful, you will suffer a lot!"

"It was snowing heavily on their way back!" Igilein Bode said with a smile, "But they didn't come back empty-handed!"

"Didn't you come back empty-handed? What do you mean? Have some Qiang people been snatched back?" Wang Wenzuo asked.

"More than that, Acton caught up with that group of Tubo soldiers, wiped out the entire army they fought, captured more than [-] people, and brought back all the soldiers, as well as a deputy hundred households."

"Oh? Akton has made a great contribution this time!" Wang Wenzuo laughed: "I was thinking that it would be great if I could capture a few Tibetan captives and bring them back. I would also like to see how powerful the Tibetans are. Now they have captured After so much coming back, many things can be clarified! Otherwise, it would be like a blind man riding a blind horse, facing a deep pool in the middle of the night, this battle is simply impossible to fight!"

"The blind man rides the blind horse, facing the deep pool in the middle of the night! This poem is good!" Yi Ji Lian Bode said with a smile, "Then immediately bring the Tibetan captives up!"

"Don't panic, bring up a few more pieces of their armor and let me have a look! It's not too late for the prisoners to ask questions tomorrow!"

Yiji Lianbode responded, and soon sent several pieces of armor and weapons. Wang Wenzuo took a closer look at them one by one. They were all pierced armor. Shooting at about thirty paces can penetrate armor, which is even better than Tang's Bingjia.

"It's really good!" Igillian Bode said in shock: "Our country's craftsmen are far behind!"

"Actually, it's nothing!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "The Tubo people should have good mines, so they can smelt good iron, and then repeatedly forge the armor. With so much man-made iron materials on weapons and armour, the agricultural and animal husbandry equipment in the country must be very crude, and maybe the farmers use wood and stone utensils. Agriculture is the foundation of all industries, and the Tibetans are so aggressive, even if they benefit for a while, they can’t. It won't last long. As long as there is no gain from the invasion for a while, they will naturally devour each other and die!"

"What the governor said is true!" Yiji Lianbode nodded: "But the poor rats eat the cats, the Tibetans are so aggressive, and they are hard to beat. How do you think we should deal with it?"

Wang Wenzuo frowned and said nothing.His analysis of Tubo just now is naturally true. With such a backward productivity level in Tubo, a small country with few people, but can support so many well-equipped troops, it must be that the limited domestic resources are invested in the military, such as the young and strong joining the army. , the limited craftsmen and metals are used in the military, and the agriculture and animal husbandry cannot get enough metal tools, which will inevitably have a worse impact on the country's agricultural and animal husbandry production.

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