The first leg of the route starts southwest from Bosten Lake and follows the Peacock River west until you find an ancient channel to the south. Bosten can be translated as standing, and the origin of the name is due to the fact that there are three mountains in the middle of the lake. In ancient times, this lake was also called the Sea of Fish, and it is the largest inland freshwater lake in China, from which the Peacock River originates and flows to the depths of the Taklamakan River. As we pass by the lake, we are dazzled by the vast and far-reaching blue water, and inadvertently, we have the illusion that we have reached the end of the world.
In the first two days after the departure, the professor's three students were in great spirits, they were all young, and for the first time in their lives they went into the desert, and they found it fresh and fun, and they learned the whistle of the camel commanded by the old man Anliman, and then you chased me and sang songs.
I was also eager to try and toss with them, but as the leader of the archaeological team, I still had to be serious, and thinking of this, I straightened up and rode on the back of a camel, trying to make my image as strong and majestic as possible.
The initial part of the journey, according to the words of the old man Anliman, is not a desert at all, this section of the ancient channel of the Peacock River existed before the river was diverted, the riverbed in some sections was not completely dried up, the surrounding sand was also very shallow, there were scattered small lakes and seas everywhere, and occasionally a small group of red-billed gulls and red-billed pochard swam on the water surface, and along the bay of the Peacock River, there was a small oasis with sand dates, poplars and some shrubs.
After passing this bay, we will really enter the desert, and the Peacock River will be diverted to the southeast, and there will be Loulan, Lop Nur, and Tanya, and we will go southwest and enter the "Black Desert". The old man An Liman said that the Black Desert was created by Hu Da's punishment of greedy infidels, and that countless cities and treasures were buried in the desert, but no one could bring them out of the Black Desert, even if you only took a gold coin, you would lose your path in the Black Desert, and be buried in it forever by the wind and sand, and never think of it again.
This is a large mobile desert, the wind blows the sand dunes, the landscape is the same day by day, there is no feature, and the ancient river channel has long been gone. Thanks to Anliman, the castles, houses, and towers that were mostly buried in the yellow sand, with only half of the roof exposed; Populus euphratica that is slanted by strong winds and at an angle of 30 degrees to the ground; A few small plants in the desert can't escape the eyes of the old man Anliman. These things are connected to form a line, which tells us that the ancient channel of the Peacock River once passed here, and at the end of this disappearing ancient river channel is the exquisite ancient city abandoned by Hu Da in legend.
The most impressive thing in the desert is those thousand-year-old poplars, who would have believed that there are trees in the desert if they hadn't seen it with their own eyes. Each tree was like a vigorous flying dragon, all the branches stretched out crookedly to the east, as if this dragon was running in the desert, in such a harsh environment, after thousands of years, it had long since died, and the trunk was blown by the wind and sand to the ground quickly, but it still did not fall.
The first rays of the morning sun rose from the eastern horizon, reflecting the clouds on the horizon, and the sand dunes in the desert were shrouded in a layer of glow, and the dry poplars and rippled yellow sand were reflected in golden red, thick colors, forming a magnificent picture between heaven and earth.
In order to avoid the scorching sun at noon, everyone hurried all night, and when they were tired, they could not help but be refreshed when they saw this scene, and Shirley Yang exclaimed: "The desert is so beautiful, God, you see that poplar tree, it is simply a golden dragon in the desert." "I took out my camera and pressed the shutter to capture the beautiful view.
When everyone was drunk by the beautiful scenery, I found that the old man An Liman was staring at the morning sun in the east, and there was a faint trace of uneasiness on his face, so I walked over and asked him: "Old man, what's wrong?" Is it about to change? "Because in the mainland, I have also heard that if the morning glow does not go out, the sunset travels thousands of miles, and the fiery red clouds in the morning are not a good sign.
This is the fifth day of our departure, the third day of entering the Black Desert, in front of us are the ruins of the West Night Ancient City, we were expected to arrive tomorrow, but the old man said that this time the storm will be very big, and the sand wall will not be able to stop it, if we don't rush to the ruins of the West Night City, we will all be buried alive in the desert.
I heard him say this, and knew that this thing was not a joke, there was still more than half a day's journey from the ruins of the ancient city of the West Night, and if something happened on the way to delay, it would be troublesome, and after walking all night, everyone was tired, and it was hard to say whether the old and weak women and children could hold on.
I jumped on the back of the camel and wanted to beckon everyone to go quickly, but I saw the old man An Liman slowly and leisurely get down from the camel, take out a blanket, spread it on the yellow sand unhurriedly, kneel on it, his eyes slightly closed, look reverent, open his hands to the sky, and then cover his face and chant aloud.
He was praying to Allah, and he had to do his homework every morning, and when I saw him so calm, I thought that it was not too serious for him to say that there would be a great storm in the evening, so I relaxed, and went to watch the beauty of the desert with the fat man, Shirley Yang and others.
Who would have thought that after An Liman finished praying, it was like a different person, his body seemed to be tightened with clockwork, he rolled up the blanket three times and twice, jumped on the camel like a spring, and whistled a long way: "Oh yo yo yo... Run quickly, if you run late, you will be buried in the purgatory of black sand. He urged the camel under his crotch and ran first.
I yelled, "This fucking old man." In such an urgent situation, he had just prayed slowly, but now he was running so fast that he beckoned everyone to leave.
The camels also felt the danger signal from the sky, as if crazy, threw off the four big hooves and ran wildly in the desert, usually sitting on the camel to walk, swaying and thinking it was very interesting, but once it ran it was bumpy and bumpy, we lay on the camel's back tightly, for fear that one would fall off if the grasp was unstable.
The running caravan raced through the desert, and the yellow sand rolled up a yellow dragon, all of them wearing goggles over their eyes and covering their noses and mouths with turbans. I looked left and right, and felt more and more that the situation was not right, the camels were out of control, staring and panting and following the big camel of the old man Anliman, running like a whirlwind, it seemed that the matter was more urgent and dangerous than I expected.
What I was most worried about was that some members were thrown off by camels, and I wanted to shout to Anliman in front of me to slow down, but I didn't have time to open my mouth, and I couldn't open my mouth, so I poured a mouthful of sand into one mouth.
I could only keep looking left and right, counting the number of people on the hump, until noon, Rao is camels walked vigorously, at this time I was also tired and sweating, and had to slow down, but fortunately no one was left behind.
An Liman asked everyone to hurry up and eat a few mouthfuls of dry food at this time, drink more water, don't worry about drinking up the water, under the ruins of the West Night City, you can find underground water veins, where the clear water will be replenished. Eat and drink enough, let the camel take a little foot strength, fortunately, it is not far away, but it is better to continue running immediately, otherwise it will be too late.
Everyone took out the naan and dried meat and ate a few bites indiscriminately, and the fat man and I were worried about these intellectuals, and asked them one by one if there was anything wrong.
Professor Chen was not young, and he was so out of breath that he couldn't say a word; Ye Yixin, the youngest female student, spit out a few sips, and the two of them only drank some water and couldn't eat anything.
The most terrible thing is Hao Aiguo, his deep myopia glasses have fallen off, he can't see anything clearly, and he is so anxious that he is in a hurry, thanks to the graduate student Sa Dipeng is also myopia, he has a spare pair of myopia glasses, and their degrees are about the same, which solves Hao Aiguo's urgent need.
Shirley Yang and another tall student Chu Jian are nothing, especially Shirley Yang, maybe it is her adventurous father's inheritance, or it may have something to do with her growing up in the United States, she has a strong adventurous spirit, and her physical fitness is also very good, she didn't sleep all night, and she ran in the desert for most of the day, and she didn't see how tired she was, she was still full of energy, and she was busy helping An Liman old man to reinforce the materials on the camel's back.
A breeze blew through the sand dunes, rolling up wisps of fine sand, and the sky in the distance gradually turned a dark yellow, and the old man shouted: "The trade wind is coming, don't rest any longer!" Allah willing, so many of us, run for your lives! "
The members of the archaeological team dragged their tired bodies and climbed onto the camel again, but at this time they could no longer care about the camel's physical strength, and shouted and urged the camel to run.
The sky, which had been clear just now, seemed to have darkened in an instant, and the wind came too fast, and more and more fine sand was swept into the air by the wind, and the surrounding area was shrouded in overwhelming sand and dust, and the visibility was getting lower and lower. In the chaos, I secretly counted the number of people in the team again, plus me, a total of eight people, who fell behind?
The wind was blowing more and more fiercely, the sand was raging, and everywhere was a dull yellow, and I couldn't see who had fallen behind, but the camel caravan had just descended from the sand dunes, and it was still too late to go back and find someone.
The first thing I thought of was the American Miss Yang, she was gone, our money would be lost, but then I dispelled this thought, the idea just now was a little selfish, their American lives are certainly precious, our Chinese's lives are not exchanged for salty salt particles, and no one can be left behind.
Next to me was the fat man, the only person I could recognize, and I wanted to talk to him, but the wind and sand were so strong that I couldn't open my mouth, so I rode on a camel and gestured to him, so that he could intercept the old man Anliman who was running in front of me.
After such a delay, the twenty-peaked camel ran dozens of meters away, and I didn't have time to confirm whether the fat man understood what I meant, so I turned over and fell off the back of the galloping camel.
The footprints of the camels in the desert have been blurred by the wind and sand, and they will soon disappear, and I ran against the wind in the direction I had returned, feeling that my body was like a piece of paper, and I could not help myself at every step, and I would be swept away by the wind at any time, and I could not hear anything in my ears except the sound of the wind.
We staggered for nearly two hundred meters, and 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, and I didn't know whether he was dead or alive, so I hurried over and pulled him out of the yellow sand.
It turned out to be Professor Chen, his situation just now was not very good, maybe when everyone got on the camel to flee for their lives, he was turned upside down by the camel in a hurry. Professor Chen was still alive, but he was so frightened that he couldn't speak, and when he saw me coming, he fainted with excitement.
Although the wind and sand at this time were fierce, I knew that this was only a prelude to a great desert storm, and a truly violent storm could come at any time. I couldn't delay for a moment, I carried him on my back, turned around and looked, the footprints I had just stepped on could still be recognized, God forbid, the fat man must stop An Liman, the old guy who ran faster than a rabbit.
I wanted to carry Professor Chen down the sand dune, but I didn't expect the wind behind me to be too strong, and I didn't stand on my feet when I took the first step. It turned out that the fat man understood what I meant, stabbed the camel's ass with a knife, caught up with An Liman in front, and threw him off the hump.
That is, thanks to the fact that they didn't run too far, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to find it back at all, and no one could speak at all, so they could only gesture, and if they could understand it, they would understand it, and if they didn't understand it, they would just do it, and everyone was ready to climb back on the camel and flee for their lives.
But the camels seemed to be frightened, and they wouldn't run away, no matter how the old man of An Liman whipped, and did not listen to the command, they lined up, squatted in place, and buried their heads in the sand.
Along the way, we have seen the bones of many camels, and when they die, they retain this posture, as if they were sinners receiving punishment. An Liman said that these were all camels frightened by Hu Da's black wind and sand, and they knew that the black wind and sand would come soon, and it was useless to run, so they simply knelt on the ground and waited for death.
This situation suddenly appeared, and we were helpless, were we all waiting to be buried alive in the yellow sand? It didn't taste good. Just when I was at a loss, Shirley took my arm, pointed to the west, and motioned for us to look over there.
I saw a huge white shadow running towards us in the wind and sand, which was already very close, but the wind was so loud that no one heard it. I subconsciously removed the sporting rifle from the hunchback, which we were going to use against the wolves. Everyone didn't care about the wind and sand, and focused on the white shadow, what was that? It's not like people.
The white shadow came to us in an instant like a devil, it was a camel twice as large as an ordinary camel, with only one hump on its back, and its whole body was snow-white, which stood out in the yellow sand.
"Wild camels!" Several people who knew this camel screamed at the same time.
In addition to the difference in size between ordinary camels and wild camels, the biggest difference between them is that the camels raised by people have two humps on their backs, while wild camels have only one on their backs.
Through the goggles, I seemed to be able to see the light of the old man's eyes, which was a light of joy in the dead and alive, and An Liman waved his arms excitedly to praise the true god Hu Da, and the camels kneeling on the ground also seemed to be called by some kind of summons, and raised their heads buried in the sand again.
I don't know what's going on, but I intuitively understand what they're doing, and we still have a chance to survive, just follow this snow-white wild camel, it's an animal in the desert, and it should know where to hide from the big black sand. Immediately make a gesture to the rest of the people, and let the group climb on the back of the camel and run after the white camel in front of them.
The camels lowered their heads, ran so much that they were about to foam at the mouth, used their remaining physical strength, followed the white camels in front of them, turned a large sand mountain, the terrain of the desert suddenly rose here, and the figure of the white camel flashed, and disappeared in a flash.
I secretly said that it was not good, it was gone, we were in trouble, seeing that the surroundings were getting darker and darker, it was no longer possible to distinguish between the sky and the earth, and in a minute or two, the black sandstorm that would devour life was coming.
Before we could understand what was going on, the camels under the seat turned around the towering sand mountain, and I looked left and right, and the sand hill actually had a ruined city wall, and a large rammed earth fortress underneath, which turned out to be the remains of a small ancient city.
Most of the buildings were buried in yellow sand, and some of the houses had collapsed, except for the strong section of the city wall, which had been exposed to the wind and sun for many years, and had long since become the same color as the desert. From a distance, you will only think that it is a large sand dune, and you will never find this ancient castle unless you turn in from the side.
The snow-white wild camel on the peak turned out to have run into this place for refuge, but the ruins of the ancient city blocked the view, and it was impossible to see where it had gone.
The city wall is like a high sand-proof wall, if you can rely on it to stop this rare sandstorm, in the words of the old man An Liman: "Then it depends on the will of Hu Da." "In short, in this case, having a place to hide is already an eye-opener.
For the rest of their lives, the members of the archaeological team were all yellow, and they couldn't tell whether they were scared to the point of yellowing or dust. Everyone got off the camels, and An Liman instructed the camels to lie down by the wall, and then led a group of people to wait one after another, and went down from the broken roof of a large house.
Although the ancient city has walls to protect it from the wind and sand, those walls are broken in some places, and a large amount of sand has been blown into the city by the wind over the years, and the broken houses are full of fine sand, which is more than two meters thick.
The big house where we took refuge was probably a facility like a yamen or a city hall, and it was relatively tall, but even so, we still had to bend our waists, and if we looked up slightly, we would hit the wooden beams on it.
Ye Yixin, Hao Aiguo and other people with poor physique, when they went in, they lay on the ground, took out the kettle and drank it, and the rest of the people helped Professor Chen in, he had recovered his senses, but his legs were weak. The fat man let out a sigh of air: "Our fate has been picked up." "
After An Liman entered the house, he immediately fell to his knees, and the devil from the black hell blew a black sandstorm, and thanked Hu Da and thanked him for sending the auspicious white camel to save us from the nightmare of disaster. An Liman said that the dromedary white camel is the most magical elf in the desert, Genghis Khan, Li Yuanhao, the king of Western Xia, and others, all have white camels, but those are two humps, although rare, but not magical.
If there is even one person in the team who Hu Da does not like, we will not see the white camel, and it seems that we are devout disciples who have been favored by Allah, and from now on we will break our bones and tendons like brothers. An Liman patted his chest and promised: "If there is any more danger, I will never leave everyone to run for my life first." "
I scolded in my heart: "His grandmother, dare to love you old man, she didn't take us seriously before, I said that if something happens, you will run faster than a rabbit." "
As he spoke, the big sandstorm outside had come, the wind howled, and the sky was shaking, and we couldn't help but be frightened in the ruins of the ancient city. So I arranged for Sa Dipeng, Fat Man, and Chu Jian to take turns staring at the holes in the roof, and as soon as there was any situation, I quickly notified everyone to run out. But everyone knows that if the storm moves the desert and the wall in front of us is swallowed up, even if we run out, we will only be buried alive in another place.
The exterior wall of the house was covered with artemisia seeds, a kind of hay, and I leaned out and plucked some of them, took out solid fuel, and lit a small fire to keep everyone warm.
The dark ancient house was illuminated by the firelight, Ye Yixin suddenly jumped up, hit the beam of the house with his head, and was almost knocked unconscious, countless fine sand fell on the beam, and the people below were not wearing goggles, so they were inevitably blinded.
While rubbing their eyes, everyone asked Ye Yixin what was wrong and what nerves he had.
My eyes also entered the sand, and I couldn't see anything, and I only heard Ye Yixin's trembling voice shouting: "There is a dead body lying in the corner of the wall on the right!" "
"Dead bodies?" Hao Aiguo rubbed his eyes and asked, "You Xiaoye, what are you doing in a daze?" Are we archaeologists still afraid of dead bodies? "
Ye Yixin's eyes also entered the sand, and he covered the top of his head that hit the roof beam and apologized: "I'm sorry, Mr. Hao, I'm ... I just didn't expect there to be dead people in this house, and my mind was not fully prepared... I'm sorry, I'm sorry. "
I have heard of a secret recipe, I was confused, and I can spit on it immediately, this trick I have tried a hundred times before, so I quickly spit a big spit, and the feeling of being confused was immediately reduced, and a lot of tears flowed out, but I was able to open it.
When I opened my eyes, I was startled, it turned out that the spit I had just spat on the top of Shirley Yang's head, she is a clean-loving person, even in the desert day and night, she also maintains good hygiene habits. She was rubbing her eyes incessantly, and in her confusion she didn't notice that someone was spitting on the top of her head.
I had to pretend that it wasn't like this, and hurriedly took out the flashlight from my portable geological bag, and looked at the wall, and sure enough, there were human bones. The climate in the desert is dry and abnormal, I can't tell how long I've been dead, only a pair of white bones remains, half of which is buried in the yellow sand, and most of them are still exposed.
At this time, the rest of the people also opened their eyes one after another, took out the kettle, and rinsed a few people with water who were seriously blinded, I told everyone not to worry, it was just a human bone, I don't know how many years it had been dead, wait for us to eat something, rest for a while, dig a pit for him and bury it.
The members of the archaeological team, except for the old man An Liman, often deal with ancient corpses, and no one is afraid, but they are a little puzzled that this human bone died here. The dead in the desert rarely decayed, and most of them were dried into mummies by natural air, but this white bone had no skin and flesh on it, and it may have been eaten by the sand wolf.
An Liman thinks this is not surprising, didn't the white camel run in to avoid the big sandstorm, and we survived thanks to following it. This desert is different from the half-desert half-Gobi with Loulan ruins and Yadan wonders, people enter the black desert in the west, only dare to follow the route of the ancient channel of the Peacock River, and do not dare to deviate at all, by ourselves, it is impossible to find the ruins of this castle, but the animals in the desert are different. This ruined city must be a refuge given by Hu Da to the animals in the desert, we don't see it, behind those broken houses and broken walls, there may be how many sand wolves, yellow sheep, and sand leopards who have taken refuge... At this time, there is a big sandstorm in the sky, and the animals on the earth are frightened, and no one can take care of anyone, and when the sandstorm has passed, you may find that the wolf and the yellow sheep are hiding in the same room, and then the wolf should show its teeth, and the yellow sheep should stick out the horns on their heads.
Hearing that there are still many wild beasts hiding in these dilapidated houses, Ye Yixin and a few other timid people are a little nervous, and An Liman is also worried about the camels hiding behind the broken city wall, he wants to brave the sandstorm to go out and tie the camels. It seems that this big sandstorm will not stop for a while, and I don't know how long it will take in this big house, so I asked the fat man and Chu Jian to go out with him, and by the way, I brought in all the food and fuel sleeping bags.
The three of them put on goggles, covered their mouths, noses and ears with bandanas, and tumbled through the holes in the roof. After two cigarettes, they came back, covered with sand, and the fat man tore off his turban and goggles, and sat down on the ground: "This wind blows, if the three of us don't pull each other, we can blow it to the sky." But the old man didn't get us, when we passed by a broken wall, there were six or seven yellow sheep hidden behind it, and when the wind was a little lighter, I took a gun to shoot two, and we had a fresh meat, these days are all jerky, and it's annoying to eat. "
When An Liman heard this, he resolutely disagreed: "No, no, no, as soon as you shoot, the sound of that gunfire will scare away all the beasts hiding in the city, and if they run out, they will be buried alive in the devil's black sandstorm." We're just like those animals, we're all here to hide, you can't be like that. "
The fat man said: "Come on, stop quickly, don't I just say that, I will summon you so many words, can I continue to eat dried meat?" You won't even let us eat jerky, right? Then he took out the jerky and canned food and liquor from his bag and gave them to everyone to eat and drink.
After running for most of the day in the desert, and now trapped in the ruins of this nameless ancient city by the sandstorm, except for the fat man and the old man An Liman, the rest of the people are not in the mood to eat. I care about Professor Chan because he is old and lacks medical treatment in the desert, so it is better not to have any accidents. I took the leather bag containing the liquor, walked up to Professor Chen, and persuaded him to drink two sips of wine to relieve his fatigue.
Shirley Yang and Hao Aiguo helped Professor Chen sit up, and the students, except for Chu Jian, who took his turn to stand guard by the hole in the roof, also gathered around the professor with concern.
Professor Chen seemed to have recovered, took a sip of wine, and said with a wry smile: "Think about the fact that I used to work in the field, and then I was locked up in a cowshed for more than three years, and then went to the labor camp to dig stones. Now the old man, it's useless, alas, thanks to Brother Hu today, without you, my old bones would have to be buried alive by Sandstorm. "
I comforted him a few words, saying that I can't take Miss Yang's share of dollars in vain, these are my things, if you always feel unwell, let's go back as soon as possible, it's still too late, after the ancient city of the West Night, that is the center of the Black Desert, the environment is much more cruel than this, and it will be too late to regret it.
Professor Chen shook his head and said that he was determined to go on, everyone don't worry, this kind of rare sandstorm will not happen in a hundred years, and it will not happen often.
I was about to persuade him a few more words, but Shirley Yang pulled me aside and whispered to me: "Mr. Hu, I used to think that you were a little too young to be the leader of the archaeological team, and I was very worried about whether you have enough ability and experience. There is something that I still need your help with, we have learned the power of nature, and the morale of the team members has suffered a lot of setbacks, I hope you can cheer everyone up and cheer everyone up. "
It was a problem, but the shopkeeper had a message, and I had no choice but to do it. Everyone gathered around to eat, and I said to everyone, "That's ... Comrades, our current atmosphere is a bit dull, marching all the way and singing all the way is a fine tradition of our army, let's sing a song together, okay? "
Everyone, you look at me, I look at you, it's a little inexplicable, thinking about when will we become soldiers? What does the fine traditions of our army have to do with our common people? Singing at this time, on this occasion? No one reacted for a while.
I thought to myself, and I was confused again, how to take out the set in the company, so I quickly changed my words: "No, no, what, let's chat, I'll report to you all about a small incident I fought on the front line." "
As soon as everyone heard that I was going to tell the story, they all became interested, and they surrounded me tighter, and listened to me while eating: "Once, we were connected to a difficult task, to forcibly capture the 306 heights, there were several Vietnamese fire points on the high ground, they were in a very good position, relying on each other and a dead end, our artillery fire could not directly destroy them, we could only let the infantry attack hard. The company I led was sixth, and we attacked three times without success, seven were killed, and more than a dozen were wounded. Our company is a well-known heroic company in the whole division, and it has never fought such a battle, and the soldiers are very depressed and can't keep up their spirits, and I was in a hurry, when suddenly the regiment commander called, and scolded me on the phone, saying that you can't even do it? No, get out of the way, give up the title of the hero company, and send other companies in the regiment. As soon as I heard this, I hung up the phone, and I came up with a way, I said to the soldiers, just now the Central Military Commission called me, saying that Uncle Deng knew the deeds of our Sixth Company on the front line, and the old man said that the Sixth Company is really good, and it will definitely be able to take down the position. As soon as the soldiers listened, what? Uncle Deng knows that we are connected? Then we can't embarrass him with this face, he came to the momentum at that time, and he went up and took down the position with a charge. "
When everyone in the archaeological team heard this, they all felt a little excited, and they all asked about the details of the battle on the front line.
I said to everyone: "Comrades, what I mean by this story is that no difficulty can stop us, our greatest enemy is ourselves, and as long as we can overcome our own fears, as long as we overcome our weaknesses, we will surely achieve the final victory." "
Under my guidance, the previous oppressive and dull atmosphere was finally greatly relieved, and although the sandstorm outside was violent, these people were no longer as nervous as they were just now.
After eating, it was Sa Dipeng's turn to take over Chu Jian's sentry, and the fat man and I went to clean up the human bones of the victims in the corner, and put it there like that, and the people in the room were not very comfortable, so it was better to bury this human bone before going to bed.
Now in such bad weather, it is impossible to bury it outside, so you can only dig up the sand on the spot. After digging a few times, the sapper shovel touched the stone, I think it is a little strange, this house is very high, hundreds of thousands of years of yellow sand blowing in the pile up higher and higher, how can it be a stone after a few digs?
Set aside the sand and look at it, the stone was black, dig a few more times on both sides, but there was no stone, Hao Aiguo and others saw it, and also came over to help, and worked together, digging more than half a meter deep, and in the fine yellow sand, a black stone statue was revealed.
This man's head is the size of two heads of ordinary people combined, and the eyes are olive-shaped, long, and the proportions of the facial features are too large, which makes it look uncoordinated. There is no crown hat on his head, only a flat bun, his expression is very serene, there is no obvious joy and anger, it looks like a statue of a god enshrined in the temple, and it is also like a stone man on some large mausoleum mountain road, but judging from the position of the stone statue in this big house, it is more likely to be the former.
I lit a gas lamp, Professor Chen looked at it, and said to Hao Aiguo, "Look at this stone statue, have we seen it anywhere before?" "
Hao Aiguo put on his nearsighted glasses and looked at it carefully: "Ah, it's true, a thousand coffins have been unearthed in Xinjiang, and there are stone figures exactly like this one in that tomb, with very prominent eyes, different from ordinary people, this should be called a giant pupil stone statue." "
In the Tianshan Mountains, Altay, Hotan River basin in Xinjiang, as well as in various parts of the Mongolian steppe, this kind of giant pupil stone statue has been found, the origin of the stone statue, has been unverified, once some scholars pointed out that this should be a certain god worshiped by the Mongols. According to historical records, Kublai Khan had a secret palace in the desert of the Western Regions, called "Xiang Palace", and the earliest statue of this stone man was enshrined in the Xiang Palace. But a few years later, as several older tombs and ruins were discovered, giant pupil stone figures were also discovered, which overturned the assumption of "Shang Palace". Some people say that it was left over from the ancient Turks, but in the end there is no definite statement, and it has become one of the many mysteries in the history of archaeology.
Several students in the archaeological team, who had never seen a giant pupil statue, took out a pen and wrote and drew it in a notebook, discussing how to dig up the sand below and see the whole body of the stone man. Hao Aiguo told them some relevant knowledge, saying that everyone is tired today, let's rest first, and tomorrow when the sandstorm stops, let's clean up the sand in this big house and see if there is anything to find.
I changed places, dug up the yellow sand, and buried the bones of the victim, and he had nothing on him that could prove his identity, and he couldn't even make a simple tombstone for him, alas, how good it would be to stay at home, and what to toss in the desert, just rest here.
I looked at my watch, and it was already evening, and the black sandstorm outside was still not stopping, but it was getting more and more violent, maybe it would blow all night.
Except for the sentry Satipeng, the rest of the people rubbed their feet with fine sand and lay down in sleeping bags to rest, which was learned from Anliman, in the desert, water is gold, and only fine sand can be used to wash feet. I found Sadipeng under the hole in the roof and told him to go to sleep for a while, and I came to keep watch for him.
I sat in the corner of the wall, holding the sports air rifle in my arms, in case a wild beast suddenly jumped in and hurt people, smoking while listening to the wind outside, the thought of Professor Chen and they had to continue to go deep into the desert was a headache, who knows how many dangerous traps lurked in the depths of the black desert. Today, there was a big sandstorm, and there were no casualties among the players, which can definitely be regarded as a miracle.
I thought of it, smoking one cigarette after another, and I don't know how long it was, but it was already dark outside, and the wind was still so loud, like countless devils crying, and from time to time sand fell into the holes in the roof, and if the wind did not stop, I was afraid that the broken city wall in front of me would be swallowed up by sand.
Then I noticed that Shirley Yang was awake, and when she saw me sitting in the corner of the wall, she came over and saw that she meant to talk to me. Usually, I rarely talk to her, mainly because she and the fat man don't deal with each other very well, and they don't look at each other very well, so except for the necessary communication, we don't talk to her much, saying that she deducts some money from us, which is enough for us.
Out of politeness, I said hello to her, and Shirley Yang came up to me and asked, "Mr. Hu, you can go to sleep for a while, I'll take care of you for two hours." "
I said no, I asked the fat man to take my place later, and I asked her to go and rest again, but she sat across from me and talked to me without a match.
One thing I always wanted to ask her was why she had to find that ancient city, maybe that city had long since disappeared, no one had seen it for so many years, her father and those explorers may not have died in that ancient city, any danger could be encountered in the desert, it was so difficult to find the bodies of those lost victims, and there were still many unsolvable mysteries in this black desert. I once read some tabloids that said that three explorers had also come here to explore and then disappeared, and after a long time, their bodies were found on the edge of the desert, all three of them died of dehydration, and strangely enough they still had most of the jugs of drinking water in their jugs. There are countless similar things, we humans know too little about the desert, there are many kinds of flora and fauna in the desert, some of which belong to undiscovered species. Let's just try our best to find it, and 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 firmly believe that my father and they have found the exquisite ancient city, because since he disappeared in the desert, I have dreamed more than once of a big black hole, and there is a large coffin hanging at the entrance of the cave, the coffin is engraved with ghost cave inscriptions, and there are many big iron chains wrapped around it, and there is a huge thing lying on top of the coffin, but I can't see what it is, and every time I try to see what is on the coffin, but when it comes, my dream wakes up." For more than half a year, I have dreamed of the same scene almost every night, and I believe that this is the dream that my father entrusted me with, and that the coffin must be the Absolute Queen's. "
I thought to myself why Americans were so superstitious and believed in dreams, but seeing her solemn expression, I didn't dare to say anything to refute her, but just comforted her a few words, diverted the topic, and asked her what was going on with that exquisite country.
"My father and Professor Chen have been friends for many years, they were classmates when they were young, and they were both fascinated by the ancient culture of the Western Regions. In '48, my father and his family went to the United States, and after the Cultural Revolution, he returned to China again. When he was in the United States, he bought a number of precious cultural relics unearthed by European explorers in the desert of Xinjiang in the early 19th century. Those European explorers had discovered the ruins of an ancient city near the Niya Oasis, and according to research, the ruins and artifacts were all from the Han Dynasty, and from some clues, it was speculated that it was probably the remains of the most powerful of the 36 kingdoms in the Western Regions. After years of research, my father and Professor Chen deduced that the ruins of Niya were just a subsidiary city of the Absolute Kingdom, and that the real main city of Exquisite should be in the north of Niya, the lower reaches of the Dark River. My father took the risk of organizing an expedition into the desert in the hope that he would find the ruins of the ancient city in his lifetime. There are not many surviving records about this once glorious ancient city. The Elite Kingdom was the leader of the alliance of small nations in the Western Regions at that time. Those small countries are now nothing more than a number of cities of different sizes naturally formed on some trade routes, and a small city also considers itself a country, and the most powerful of these small countries is the Elite. The Elite are mainly composed of the Ghost Cave Clan, with a few other ethnic groups mixed in, and after the death of the last queen of the Elite Kingdom, the city disappeared in the sea of sand. Whether it was destroyed by a natural disaster or a war is unknown, as if the country never existed. But until the eve of World War II, there was a British explorer who led an expedition into the Taklamakan expedition, and in the end he was the only one who made it out alive. He had completely lost his sanity, but a few photographs and diaries in his camera confirmed the existence of the Exquisite Ancient City. Later, some people tried to follow this clue, but then World War II broke out, and it was only in the last three or four years that various expeditions had the opportunity to enter the desert in search of treasures and relics. "
Shirley Young took out a small bag and showed it to me, and I took it and opened it, and inside was an old black-and-white photograph and an old diary full of English. The picture is very blurry, and you can vaguely make out that it is a city in the desert, with a tower in the middle, and the details are almost unclear.
I asked Shirley Yang if that was it... "Yes," said Shirley Young, "this is the diary and photographs of Mr. Walter, the explorer who visited the ancient city himself. This also gives us some clues, but the diary only says that they saw a huge ancient city in the lower reaches of the Zduan River, and were going to go in the morning to explore, and then it was gone, and I don't know what happened to them in the ruins of the ancient city, and why only one insane person survived in the end. "
I chatted with her, and accidentally found that in the corner of the wall illuminated by the gas lamp in the house, the eyes of the giant pupil stone figure with a big head that had been dug out seemed to move.