After traveling for two days, on the third day they saw the grassland at the edge of the desert. The group instantly cheered, and the farther they went, the more grass they saw on the ground. Although the grass was short, it was still grass, wasn’t it?
Manbao lay by the car window and watched for a long ti. Bai Shan, riding a horse and holding her horse’s reins, ca running from the front and invited her, "They say there are wild rabbits ahead. Do you want to go hunting?"
Manbao’s eyes lit up. She grabbed her bow and arrows and quickly ran ahead, leaving the caravan.
Daji led the guards to follow along.
Daliang rolled his eyes and also called so brothers to catch up.
On the grassland, there weren’t that many rabbits. It was just rare to see green, so horseback riding felt much more pleasant. The land here was very hard; the Gobi and grasslands weren’t clearly defined. Manbao thought this place must be difficult for farming.
"Look quickly, that’s a river!"
Everyone imdiately craned their necks to look. It was a blue, shimring river and quite a large one at that. The crowd beca excited and galloped towards the river. A river andered through, and they saw three tracks on the ground. Everyone couldn’t help but look at Daliang.
Daliang identified the direction, pointed north, and said, "It should be that way."
That was also the direction the river ca from. Following the river, they ran forward, and soon the trailing caravan also picked up speed, galloping not far behind them.
As they went along the river, Manbao and the others first saw scattered herdsn and groups of cattle and sheep, and then, not far from the riverbank, they saw farmland.
Seeing farmland, everyone beca energetic. People generally don’t live far from farmland. Sure enough, shortly after, they saw houses made of yellow mud with wisps of smoke rising in the air. Manbao instinctively glanced at the sun in the sky, curiously asking, "It’s neither early nor late. Why is there smoke?"
Daliang said, "This is their evening al. They eat twice a day. So people drink sheep’s milk in the morning, and eat in the afternoon, which is equivalent to one al a day."
"Didn’t you say many rchants pass through here?"
Daliang grinned, "So when there’s no war, they can eat a full al in the afternoon. Otherwise, in such warm weather without war, a lot of families would make do with milk tea and flatbread in the afternoon."
Bai Shan pointed at the farmland by the river and asked, "Don’t they grow grain? Is the yield low?"
Daliang had never fard, so how would he know?
"Anyway, they are very poor, much poorer than the people in our Small Town."
That’s why they think every place in the Small Town is great and are unwilling to move.
Talking as they approached, they saw the village, which could barely be called a village, as there weren’t many buildings, nor many people.
The villagers spotted them, and they heard calls and cheers as many people ran out of the houses. Before they could act, the kids and young n from the village were already running towards them.
They ran up and greeted with a Buddhist gesture, jabbering in their language, then reached for their horses.
Manbao widened her eyes and turned to Bai Shan, "I don’t understand their language."
Bai Shan didn’t understand either, but he could see the enthusiasm and smiles on their faces. So he didn’t resist, instead he stroked Daoli’s neck and let it follow them.
Daliang leisurely let them help lead his horse, saying, "I don’t understand, but I know they’re welcoming us. Let’s go, our caravan is so nurous, this village is so small, every household probably will have to make room to accommodate us, so there’s no need to fight for guests."
Manbao was quite curious, "Haven’t you stayed in this village before when passing by?"
"There wasn’t this village when I passed by before," Daliang said. "Looking at the houses, they seem to have been built recently."
Really?
Manbao and the others looked at the yellow mud houses along the road. While they weren’t in great condition, they sohow lacked traces of use, indeed looking newly constructed.
As they reached the village entrance, adults ca out to welco them with smiles, all giving Buddhist greetings.
Daliang said, "Gaochang believes in Buddhism, and this place is quite close to Gaochang. These people might have escaped after the fall of the Gaochang Kingdom."
Responding to the smiles, Manbao and the others instinctively returned a smile and dismounted to salute back, offering Confucian salutes.
The villagers grew even more enthusiastic, crowding around them, trying to bring them inside. In the commotion, so even argued. Two robust won took advantage of their gender to squeeze in and hold the reins of Manbao and Zhou Liru’s horses, pointing to their hos to invite them to rest.
Manbao smiled subtly and pointed outside the village, saying, "There are more people out there, so many people."
Although the language was not understood, everyone comprehended her gestures, and instinctively looked where she pointed, just as the carriages appeared in sight.
The villagers’ eyes lit up imdiately.
They initially found it strange that these guests only rode horses without luggage.
But now, seeing the carriages, they understood. This was a caravan, and judging by appearances, a large one!
Honored guests!
So the villagers beca even more enthusiastic. The ones who first held onto Manbao’s horse didn’t let go but shouted backwards, while those pushed behind took off running towards the caravan.
Seeing this, people who had been shouted out of their houses didn’t ask for reasons, but also took off running outward. Suddenly, only those tightly holding onto the horses remained by Manbao and the others.
Manbao and the others weren’t in a hurry, so they leisurely followed the road into the village. Those leading their horses wanted them to rest inside first, but they politely declined.
They dared not insist, fearing others would snatch them away, so they followed closely.
When the caravan arrived, those who ran around with them paused, looked at the number of people, then at Zhou Man and the others, no longer worried.
With so many people, you don’t have to fight for guests. They’ll naturally co to your house, and these people were clearly one company.
The villagers warmly surrounded the caravan entering the village. Since no one had a place to accommodate so many people and there were no shops around, everyone gathered on the road.
An elderly man finally ca out to speak, calming everyone down. Then he ca forward, seemingly looking for a leader.
Steward Li proactively ca out to negotiate, but he didn’t understand their language, and they couldn’t understand Chinese either.
So the two ssengers stepped forward. Wei Xingren translated for them, and Manbao and a few others curiously gathered to listen.
Gold and silver were rarely seen here, and even copper coins were seldom used. What they preferred were silk and tea leaves. In the Western Regions, these were considered hard currency.
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