Even Yelu Yudu had such a ridiculous idea.
The huge team continued to walk on the north side of Qinghai. In the first few days, the scholars in the team could not suppress their excitement. They clearly recalled various allusions:
They knew that to the south of them was Qinghai, where "the long clouds of Qinghai darken the snowy mountains";
Knowing that somewhere in the east lies the source of the Yellow River, where the water of the Yellow River comes from the sky;
I know that the snow-capped peaks in the north that are faintly visible on a sunny day are the Qilian Mountains, which are the place where "a long journey of thousands of miles to Qilian" was made. The north of the Qilian Mountains is occupied by Liangzhou and Ganzhou, which are the Liangzhou mentioned in so many "Liangzhou Ci" poems.
They also knew that if they continued westward, they would pass Yumen Pass, where "the spring breeze does not reach Yumen Pass", and Yangguan Pass, where "there are no old friends west of Yangguan".
But I don’t know whether it is sad or funny that these places that are clearly recorded in their minds, places that even the Guangzhou people and the remnants of the Khitan can name, have not been to them for hundreds of years?
Is this reasonable?!
Of course, this inexplicable restlessness unique to young intellectuals would eventually be suppressed by the boring itinerary. After leaving Qinghai Lake, they marched in the Caotou Tatar territory south of Qilian Mountain for the next twenty days.
Then the topic turned to the four words "Grass-headed Tatar".
By the way, no one can tell the origin of the Grass-Headed Tatars.
Some people in the team speculated that they were close relatives of the Ganzhou Uighurs; others speculated that they were close relatives of the Xizhou Uighurs; the accompanying Khotanese merchants interrupted and said that these people should be the descendants of the Nine Zhaowu Clans, who were driven away from the north of the Qilian Mountains by the Xiongnu and then returned to the south of the Qilian Mountains; but when they asked a local tribal leader who had done business in Xining, he said that some of the ancestors of his tribe were Turgesh people... Everyone was talking about it, and the only certain information seemed to come from Yelu Yudu and his Khitan and Xi followers. These people insisted that no matter what, this group of so-called grass-roots Tatars were definitely not Tatars, because the difference was too great.
But, so I say but.
Suddenly one day, while writing his official travel diary in the sunset, the accompanying member of the Ministry of Rites suddenly lost his composure. He clearly remembered a text he had read in a corner, which seemed to indicate that the reason why this group of tribes were called Grass-headed Tatars was because when the envoys of Khotan went to see Emperor Shenzong, they said that this group of mixed tribes south of the Qilian Mountains were Grass-headed Tatars... and at noon that day, the accompanying Khotan merchant even said in all seriousness that this group of people were originally called Yellow-headed Tatars in Khotan, but the Song people kept calling them Grass-headed Tatars, so they were forced to change the name.
As for the Yellow-headed Tatars, it is much simpler. It has always been a general term for the scattered Tatar tribes in the west of the desert. In other words, this tribal group is very likely to have come from the north, crossed the Hexi Corridor, and then arrived here from the Qilian Mountains Pass.
But if that were the case, not only would Yelu Yudu be wrong in insisting that they were Tatars, the key point is that the reason why this tribal group in the southern part of the Qilian Mountains was called Grass-head Tatars was probably because an official in charge of recording or transcribing made a mistake in copying or remembering, or it was simply something that the Khotanese made up after being asked about it by Emperor Shenzong.
And they actually struggled with this mistake for more than ten days.
However, everyone couldn't help but focus on the four words "grass-headed Tatar" because they were too bored.
This place is too poor and too dilapidated. The largest tribe has only three or four hundred cavalrymen and cannot even afford dozens of sets of armor. When they saw the huge delegation of envoys from the Song Dynasty, they almost thought that the Song Dynasty was coming to the west for an expedition and they surrendered immediately... The officials from the Ministry of Rites wanted to write a document temporarily, but were stopped by Hu Hongxiu because they were worried that it would alert the enemy and cause unnecessary trouble.
As for buying a woman with half a piece of cloth, although it is cost-effective, it is of course not allowed. Few people would do such a thing as exchanging a handful of salt for a sunbath... After all, it has only been more than half a month since I left Xining, how could I not be able to resist?
However, the towering Qilian Mountains stretch endlessly, separating the only possible military threat to the north.
Then the land was covered with yellow meadows and swamps in winter. After looking at the Qilian Mountains for more than ten days, they felt bored. After reciting the poem dozens of times, they were tired of it. They could not help but start to kill time by reciting the four words "Grass-headed Tatar".
In this way, 20 days after leaving Xining, we finally passed the front section of Qilian Mountain, left the range of Caotou Tatar, and arrived at a mountain pass (Dangjin Pass). Next, according to the guides, we will enter the territory of the Yellow-headed Uighurs. The Yellow-headed Uighurs are stronger and theoretically can pose a threat to the team, but the probability is not high. Compared with this theoretical danger, the more troublesome thing is that there will be intermittent no-man's land next.
That's right, compared with the first half of the road, the second half of the road still has high mountains (Altun Mountains) in the north that are enough to block everything, but there is no Qinghai and lush grass in the south. That place is a desert, and only the narrow semi-desert area at the foot of the mountain is passable. This is also the fundamental reason why the military threat of the Yellow-headed Uighurs is actually relatively low. Robbery in such a place is a bit like a blind cat looking for a dead mouse.
Of course, there was water, so the journey was generally fine. But based on experience, a considerable number of people were likely to get sick, not seriously, but various minor illnesses that were difficult to explain. And based on the size of the team, an indefinite number of people would die on the journey, and war horses and yaks would also be lost.
But everything would get better after another twenty days of traveling, when they turned into the mountain pass and entered Datun City in the heart of the Western Regions (according to the description of the Khotan envoys, this journey was most likely to pass through the Solkuli Corridor in the middle section of the Altun Mountains and enter the prosperous Lop Nur area at that time).
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!
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