One day in the autumn of the third year of Yuanfeng (78 BC), the "flea food" just passed.

The dawn in the northwest is dry and cold, the outline of the Qilian Mountains becomes clear, the Silk Road to the Western Regions is looming, and the barking troops in the distance are heard...

This is the morning when the spring is hanging.

Xuanquan is an inn on the border of the Han Empire. It is located in Xiaogu County, Dunhuang County. It is surrounded by either Gobi wasteland or Shawo Mountains. Within a radius of dozens of miles, this unique place to rest.

Whether it is the Hu Shang who went east or the Han envoys from the west, they all have to rest here, let the horses drink fresh water and get some food to fill their hunger. If they can sleep comfortably on the couch in the Chuanshe, they will be even more like a living god.

It was just that the officials and soldiers in Xuanquan were suffering, and they had to sleep at night and be careful to serve them.

Early in the morning, Ren Hong was awakened and came out to entertain visitors.

"As a servant of Xuanquan and a minor official who fights food, his salary is not high, but he has to take care of everything."

Ren Hong suppressed his desire to yawn, knelt on the desk, spread out his pen and ink, and narrowed his eyes to observe the two talismans presented to him - the letter of introduction and passes from the Han Dynasty.

The Han Dynasty's laws and regulations stipulate that every store must record the identity, number of people, and food and accommodation costs of all people coming and going. This is the unchanging rule since the construction of Xuanquan Building.

Ren Hong murmured silently in his heart: "That is, two thousand years later, so many Han bamboo slips were discovered at the Xuanquan site, with more than 10,000 pieces..."

Before coming to this world for no reason, he drove to the Gobi Desert to visit the "Yunquanzhi Site", but he never dreamed that his destiny would be closely linked to this inn two thousand years ago.

It’s all because of the strange sandstorm that made a student of the 21st century history department who had a great future, turn his eyes into a young Han Dynasty named “Ren Hong” as soon as he opened his eyes…

After confirming that it was not a prank or variety show, he could only start his Han Dynasty life as "Ren Hong".

Half a year has passed, Ren Hong has adapted well, and has become a white man and has become Xuan Quan Zhizuo, and has received a salary, so he has no worries about food and clothing, and has begun to think about future opportunities:

How to legally leave this remote small office and go to a broader world?

"It's true, I'm not wearing any good clothes, but I actually came to the unpopular Zhaoxuan Zhongxing..."

Emperor Wu of Han has been dead for a long time, and the "time traveler" Wang Mang should have not been born yet. This year is the third year of Yuanfeng and the ninth year of Emperor Zhao of Han Liu Fuling's reign.

Of course, this emperor, who was younger than Ren Hong, was still alive, and he had no posthumous title yet, and no one dared to call him directly.

Whenever it is mentioned, you have to bow to the east and call it "now the upper part".

Or according to the unwritten rules of the Han people, they are called "county officials".

Ren Hong’s understanding of this unpopular era is only superficial, and he can only try his best to grasp every piece of information in his memory:

Those names that flash in history: Huo Guang, Su Wu, and Liu Bingyi cannot count on them for the time being.

Those heroes who promoted the prestige of the Han Dynasty in the Western Regions, Fu Jiezi, Chang Hui and Princess Jieyou, must have passed by Xuanquandi, but what time is it?

Therefore, whenever a guest passes by, Ren Hongchang takes advantage of his position to inquire about information and absorb useful information.

The two talismans in front of him attracted Ren Hong's attention!

"The Dunhuang Central Duke Bu Guanghou Guantun Chang Su Yannian..."

"The Dunhuang Central Duke Wei Shi Chen Pengzu..."

I have never heard of it. Like this Ren Hong, he is a little man in history.

Ren Hong glanced forward, and the owner of the talisman was sitting in the treasure room, drinking the cool rice wine that had just been served.

Su Yannian was the military officer sitting on the left, wearing armor and thick beard, with a thick voice and a loud voice, and every word clearly reached Ren Hong's ears.

As for Chen Pengzu, it was the essay man who was wearing an official cloth robe opposite him, who had a three-pointed beard and always liked to shake his head, as if he didn't agree with every word.

What attracted Ren Hong's attention was the name that appeared many times in this literary and military conversation:

"Fu Jiezi!"

Ren Hong was a little excited, but he still lowered his head and pretended to register carefully, but his ears stood up, listening carefully to every word from the tourists.

He could see that he was wearing a yellowed linen single robes with a little ink mark on his cuffs, his wrists were white, and his palms were not called out, which meant that he was not a child. With the wave of the rabbit brush, on the pale yellow poplar wood bamboo slips, ancient Han Li was taking shape...

After just a moment, I basically understood the matter. Su and Chen were ordered by the commander of the central Dunhuang commander to go to Yumenguan in the west to welcome the return of the imperial envoy Fu Jiezi. The rooster crowed and rushed for several hours. At present, they were arguing whether to leave after drinking a drink or leave after dinner...

"Hard work pays off, and we finally come..."

Ren Hong's hand paused, and he held the pen in an empty voice for a while, and he breathed a sigh of relief:

"Brother Ban Chao, I'm sorry!"

So, when the two began to talk about Fu Jiezi's heroic deeds in Kucha, Ren Hong suddenly raised his hand and slapped the brush heavily on the table!

"Click!"

Like a thunder!

Su and Chen looked back in surprise, and happened to see a young official stand up, and yelled angrily:

"A real man has no other ambitions, so he should follow Zhang Qian and Fu Jiezi made contributions to foreign lands. How could he spend a long time working in the pen and inkstone?"

...

"I just heard from the two of you that Fu Jiezi killed the Hun envoys in Kucha, and he was very brave, so he made such a statement and disturbed the officials."

Ren Hong stood up hypocritically and apologized to the two of them. He had just snatched Ban Chao's famous quote a hundred years later.

Su Yannian, the military officer with a strong beard, was straightforward and did not think it was offensive. He even held his hands and laughed:

"It's okay, young man, you just said something, and you have a strong ambition! You should be clear! Why don't you come here and drink together."

Chen Pengzu looked at Ren Hong with his eyes slanted, but he saw that the young man was only eighteen or nineteen years old, eight feet tall, wearing a soapy hair on his head, without any need, and his face was not dark.

So young, he even spoke wildly. In addition, Chen Pengzu was also a civil servant who "worked in the pen and inkstone". He was immediately displeased and ridiculed Ren Hongdao:

"A meritorious service in a foreign land? A little boy has no hair on his lips, but he is arrogant. How can you know the dangers of the Western Regions?"

"Just say that to the west of Yumen, there are white dragon piles, three ridges of sand, and quicksand thousands of miles away. It is extremely dangerous. Those who enter can only walk out alive. Have you been there?"

"No." Ren Hong thought to himself: "Of course I have been there. There is Yadan Devil City over there, and the ticket is 80 yuan per person..."

Once upon a time, either as a student, he followed his mentor to conduct research or travel by himself, he almost traveled to various famous scenic spots and rivers in the Western Regions.

Of course, this cannot be said. Ren Hong had to respond: "However, there is also Dunhuang in the Gobi Desert, but it is not that big. I grew up here and have become accustomed to this climate. I can still ride a camel, knowing how to find water sources and how to avoid wind and sand."

"What's more, I heard that Bowang Hou Zhang Qian is from Hanzhong County and Fu Jiezi is from Beidi County. The climate is completely different from that of the Western Regions. They can all go to the quicksand desert. As the children of the border, if it is really my turn to be the pioneer of the country, how dare Ren Hong come to the forefront of others?"

Chen Pengzu frowned: "Even if you pass the White Dragon Pile and the 36 countries in the Western Regions, your words are different from those in the Central Plains. When ordinary people go, they will be speechless and you won't even have to eat! What should you do?"

Ren Hong smiled and said, "Actually, I can speak some Western languages."

It was Chen Pengzu's turn to be surprised: "That difficult-to-mouth Hu Yu must be the translator of the dictionary country, and you can do it?"

Ren Hong explained: "In summer, a Hu merchant from the Western Regions stayed in Xuanquan for two months for some reason. I asked him to teach me Loulan dialect. Although he was not very proficient, his daily interactions with him were enough..."

He has not wasted the past six months.

In fact, Chen Pengzu only heard about the Western Regions. Seeing that he could not stump Ren Hong, he was a little embarrassed for a moment, so he had to ask Su Yannian for help:

"Brother Su, you went to Luntai garrison back then, let's talk about it!"

"I want me to say..."

Su Yannian drank a sip of wine and added: "Actually, the most troublesome thing in the Western Regions is not the wind and sand, nor the thirty-six countries."

He put the wine cup heavily and gritted his teeth and said:

"But the Huns!"

...

"Eleventh year has passed since Emperor Xiaowu stopped the Luntai military farming!"

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the Han army often used troops in the Western Regions. From Dunhuang to Lop Nur, they often formed pavilions, and Luntai and canal plows all had hundreds of land soldiers.

Su Yannian was a veteran who had traveled to the fields in Luntai. When talking about this past, he felt a lot of emotion.

Ren Hong knew that in his later years, the people of Guandong were full of grievances, but the old emperor did his own thing and thought about destroying the Huns in his lifetime.

As a great barbarian country, the Huns could not be eliminated in one or two wars. What's more, Emperor Wu of Han used the wrong general and was defeated repeatedly in wars against the Huns, losing tens of thousands of troops, and almost defeating Huo's early victory.

The war was not going well, and Emperor Wu of Han became more and more violent. He always suspected that someone wanted to curse him by gangs, killing three prime ministers in a row, and his two daughters were also imprisoned and executed. Everyone in the world was in danger.

It was not until the witchcraft disaster that the Emperor Wu of Han realized a little. In his later years, he issued a Luntai edict to rest with the people and suspended the expansion of the outside world...

The big tripod, which was already about to boil, finally cooled down a little.

But the Han Dynasty went from being a militant force to another extreme. All the garrisons of the Han Dynasty in the Western Regions withdrew and gave up the management of the Western Regions, giving the Huns the opportunity to return there.

"In the past eleven years, the Han soldiers have never left Yumen again."

As a soldier, Su Yannian was indignant about this:

"On the contrary, the Huns galloped in the Western Regions. We often went to Yumen Pass and heard the waiter that the Shanyu envoys were extremely powerful from Loulan to Dayuan. Whenever they arrived in a country, the city-state kings were all humble. They even ordered the countries to kill Han envoys, which made the Han emissaries shame!"

"As far as I know, there are three incidents in three years!"

Chen Pengzu took over the conversation and described the frequent interception of Han envoys by the Western Regions city states.

"If it weren't for this, Mr. Fu angrily scolded his king in Loulan and killed the Xiongnu envoys in Kucha, he would not be so angry. Now, from Yumen to Dunhuang, everyone is circulating Mr. Fu's move!"

"It is difficult to have so many messengers who hold the rituals, let alone ordinary pedestrians and merchants? It is even more unsafe."

After saying that, Chen Pengzu glared at Ren Hong and said, "Ruzi, do you still dare to say that you will go to a foreign land to gain fame?"

Ren Hong did not refute this time, so he stood up silently and handed over the two talismans to Su and Chen.
To be continued...