Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 579 The White-Haired Soldiers of the Tang Dynasty!
"The green gate can be used freely."

"The Red Gate is primarily a fictional world."

"Huangmen~"

Reaching out, I drew back the thick curtains, revealing a sandstorm swirling outside the bulletproof glass.

The gale-force winds, carrying yellow sand, surged and crashed against the glass like waves, the crackling sound as muffled as thunder.

"Huang Men is supposed to be helping so-and-so, but why wasn't there a hint this time?"

Lin Dao lowered the curtains, turned around, and poured himself a glass of water.

He had just arrived in the desert when a howling sandstorm swept in.

There wasn't much to say, so I quickly went back and waited for a while.

Worried about missing crucial information, and thinking the sandstorm should have already blown away, they drove over in their custom-made RV.

The sandstorm did not end; instead, it became even more intense.

Fortunately, the money wasn't wasted.

This RV is extremely sturdy and very heavy.

Although sandstorms are fierce, they are difficult to shake; at most, you can only hear a loud noise.

Lin Dao was too lazy to go back, so he simply waited for the sandstorm to end.

I leaned against the bed with a water glass in my hand, turned on the TV, and randomly selected a movie to watch.

The melodramatic love story made Lin Dao drowsy.

What kind of love story is this, where you love me, I love him, and he loves you from so many different angles? It's all a mess.

Aside from the actors' good looks, Lin Dao couldn't find any other highlights.

I watched it for a while and then fell asleep.

When he woke up, it was finally quiet outside.

He got up, stepped forward, and opened the car door.

"Wow~~~"

Large swathes of sand rushed in, submerging the forest path to the ankles.

The tall RV was nearly half buried by yellow sand.

"There isn't such a large desert in the Central Plains."

"If nothing unexpected happens, this is the Western Regions."

Lin Dao changed his clothes, picked up his equipment, and stepped out of the RV.

Looking around, all that can be seen is a vast sea of ​​sand.

"If we're talking about the Western Regions, is this the Taklamakan Desert?"

The sun overhead was extremely scorching, and Lin Dao felt his face burning.

He first took the RV back to store and clean it, and when he returned, he brought back a large number of items.

A large parasol was set up to block the scorching sun.

Open the sky-blue flight case, take out the drone, assemble it, power it on, check and install the ground signal amplifier, and launch it to survey the surrounding environment.

I sat in a folding chair with a portable refrigerator beside me.

Lin Dao sat in a chair, controlling the drone with one hand and opening the refrigerator with the other, taking out a bottle of chilled Rebi to drink.

Drinking cold drinks in this environment is truly refreshing and invigorating.

Undoubtedly, high-altitude reconnaissance by drones is very effective; the higher they fly, the farther they can see, especially in such open environments.

Through the screen, Lin Dao saw the ruins of an abandoned city dozens of miles to the west.

Within the ruins, one can vaguely discern moving figures.

"As long as there are people, it's fine."

As long as the person can be found, information about the time, place, and person can be obtained.

Once the direction is determined, retrieve the drone and send everything back.

When he returned, he was already sitting in a four-wheel drive desert off-road vehicle.

Wearing sunglasses, a mask, and a hat, he started the car.

With the engine roaring, the huge tires, over a meter in diameter, kicked up clouds of dust and hurtled off.

It is indeed difficult to walk in the desert, especially when you encounter tall sand dunes.

When even off-road vehicles can't climb up the mountain, the only option is to take a detour.

As the sun sets, the light gradually dims.

The forest road stopped atop a sand dune.

A few miles ahead lay an abandoned city.

"Judging from the signs of weathering, this place has been abandoned for hundreds of years."

Through the telescope, a cluster of flickering flames appeared.

"It's good that someone's here."

Lin Dao put down his binoculars, got back into his car, started the engine, and headed towards the ruins.

"If they are of a different race, find out the truth and then kill them."

"If they are people from the Central Plains, then take them away from this hellish place."

The self-righteous naiveté would say that Lin Dao is just a butcher—a ruthless killer!
But from the perspective of the suffering people of the Central Plains, isn't this just a matter of course?

For example, what if there were a group of Japanese people in the ruins?
Of course, it's highly unlikely that Japanese people would appear in such a place.

If they are Japanese, does Lin Dao have to take care of them, providing them with food, drink, lodging, and transportation, and showing them consideration and care as he leads them out of the desert?
It's like a joke; he's not from Edinburgh!

If he really does that, the wronged souls of the Tang soldiers who died in the Battle of Baekgang will have to come and teach him a lesson over the past thousand years.

There is no light pollution in the desert, and there are no clouds in the sky after a sandstorm during the day.

The silvery moonlight, carrying a hint of chill, fell upon the earth, illuminating a bright expanse.

Desert off-road vehicles roared in, kicking up long trails of yellow sand behind them.

In the still of the night, the roar of the engine carried far, and the fire in the ruins quickly went out, leaving no trace.

This is because they heard a noise and became alert and on guard.

The ruins were quiet; there was no sound at all.

If this were the modern world, they would have already run out happily.

However, in the modern world, no one would go to spend the night in the ruins of a vast desert.

Normal people wouldn't do that.

We stopped at the edge of the ruins along the forest road.

The massive headlights shone bright beams, illuminating the weathered ruins.

I opened the car door, stepped out of the well-equipped forest road, and got out.

He stood at the edge of the ruins and peered inside, but could not see anyone.

Raising his hand and holding up the electronic megaphone, Lin Dao shouted into the ruins, "Listen up, you people inside!"

"I am a high-ranking monk on my way to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures. I have no ill intentions as I pass through this place."

"If you need help, you can come find me."

The ruins were eerily quiet, as if there were no living creatures at all.

Reaching out to grab the thermal imaging camera, putting it on and adjusting it, Lin Dao strode into the ruins.

Compared to low-light night vision devices, thermal imagers are at least two levels higher. Any creature that is a Tanji will emit heat.

The heat emanating from these bodies is clearly visible in the thermal imaging camera.

The ruins were not large; Lin Dao estimated that they were at most the size of a few hundred households and a few thousand people.

Moreover, most of the area has been buried by yellow sand.

Lin Dao wandered around for a while and soon found several luminous objects in an abandoned house.

A figure in pale yellow mixed with red kept looking in his direction.

Once the person was found, the rest was simple.

After removing the thermal imaging camera, Lin Dao raised a megaphone and called out, "Come out, I mean you no harm!"

If they are from the Central Plains, they certainly wouldn't have any malicious intent.

If not, then the malice would be quite obvious.

'Whoosh! '

A crossbow bolt whistled through the air, heading straight for Lin Dao's chest.

Lin Dao stood still and took the hit head-on.

He was wearing armor underneath his clothes, so he wasn't afraid.

The crossbow bolts had a strong impact, but they couldn't shake his body.

With a flick of his toe, the crossbow bolt was lifted and fell into his hand.

After examining it closely, especially noticing the inscriptions on the short crossbow bolts, Lin Dao immediately understood.

"The Anxi Army, Khotan?"

"You are the Anxi Army?!"

Anxi Army, a name that resonates far and wide!

Together with the Northern Army, they were positioned north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, controlling the vast Western Regions.

Its control extended to vast areas, even reaching as far as Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

The most famous battles fought by the Anxi army were the Battle of Talas and the Battle of Xiangji Temple.

The Battle of Talas ended in defeat because the Turks, who were known for their thieving habits, were betrayed.

The Battle of Xiangji Temple was the most brutal battle for the fate of the nation in a thousand years, fought between regular armies.

The decisive battle between the rebels will determine who loses.

Lin Dao smiled.

He liked both the timeline of the Battle of Talas and the timeline of the Battle of Xiangji Temple.

Of course, if he encountered Li Longji, he would definitely have to kill him.

And then there's Yang Yuhuan; we need to see just how fat she really was.

Now that he has arrived, the Anxi army will surely be invincible!

"Come out, I really meant no harm."

Lin Dao put away the grenade in his hand and called out to the ruined house, "I'm also a Han Chinese, is there anything I can help you with?"

A commotion broke out within the ruins.

The scene of Lin Dao taking the crossbow bolt head-on with his chest must have moved everyone inside.

At such a close distance, it's less than twenty steps at most.

They were still using crossbows, and the arrows they fired were armor-piercing steel arrowheads.

Even if the opponent is wearing bright armor, it will still be shot through.

But the people outside were completely unharmed; it was truly unbelievable.

A moment later, four figures finally emerged from the ruins.

The person leading the charge was carrying a powerful crossbow, presumably the one who fired the crossbow earlier.

The two men behind him, on either side, held narrow, straight horizontal swords with guards, their eyes wary.

The last person was wielding a Mo Dao (陌刀) with a blade over seven feet long and weighing fifteen pounds!

Lin Dao paid no attention to these things. The smile on his face disappeared, and he looked at the Tang soldiers with astonishment.

None of them were wearing helmets, and their hair was completely white in the moonlight!
"The Great Tang Anxi Army is stationed in Khotan!"

"Han Wang, the garrison commander of Shenshan Fort!"

Who are you!?

The leader had a booming voice and an imposing presence.

As he shouted, his gray hair and beard trembled.

Lin Dao was silent.

This was different from the Anxi army he had imagined.

Why are they all gray hair?
After a moment of silence, Lin Dao asked a question.

"May I ask you gentlemen, what is the reign title of the current emperor?"

This time, it was the white-haired soldiers who fell silent.

There are still people who don't know the era name, but judging from his face, he is definitely from the Central Plains.

Han Wang responded in a sullen voice.

"The sixth year of Zhenyuan."

Lin Dao quickly calculated in his mind: if it was the sixth year of the Zhenyuan era of the Tang Dynasty, that would be 790 AD?!

The Battle of Talas happened forty years ago.

Even though the An Lushan Rebellion had ended thirty years ago.

Why bother attacking Xiangji Temple!

"You guys wait a minute."

After leaving behind a single sentence, Lin Dao's figure suddenly vanished.

Han Wang and the others were shocked.

In their panic, they searched all around, but found no trace of Lin Dao.

"Could it be a ghost?"

"It's possible. How could a living person suddenly disappear without a trace?"

"This place was the Kingdom of Jingjue during the Han Dynasty. I heard that everyone here disappeared overnight."

"Shut up!" Han Wang couldn't help but scold, "Don't talk nonsense."

"The Kingdom of Jingjue was abandoned because it had no water and people migrated there. There's no such thing as a ghost."

"Where is he?" a Tang soldier protested. "We watched him disappear right before our eyes."

Han Wang was also filled with doubt and uncertainty.

He showed no fear in the midst of battle, but now he was genuinely afraid.

Fortunately, Lin Dao suddenly reappeared shortly afterward, startling the Tang soldiers once again.

"I see."

Lin Dao, having returned from reviewing the materials, breathed a sigh of relief.

"You are the white-haired soldiers of the Great Tang Dynasty!"

(End of this chapter)