However, Cao Yuan's story did give me some inspiration.
I have heard that some people with a strong causal relationship with their substitute can see their past lives. Presumably, the scenes Cao Yuan said she saw in her dream should be some fragments of her past life.
If you dream about the same thing for a long time, there must be a big cause and effect!
In a trance, I feel that the fragments of scenes witnessed by Cao Yuan in her dream may hide the mystery of the demise of Loulan.
The demise of Loulan has always been an unsolved mystery throughout history. The history books have always been vague about this. We only know that in 400 AD, this ancient country in the Western Regions that existed for hundreds of years perished silently. It's a pity that the Central Plains at that time was in the period of the Five Barbarians' Rebellion in China when the Han Dynasty fell and the Three Kingdoms ended. There was no so-called central power at all. Each ethnic group took turns to perform, and the flags on the city walls changed every day. That period was known as the Five Barbarians and Sixteen Kingdoms. Anyone who knows about that era knows that the Han civilization at that time was almost dying. The connection between the Han Dynasty and the Western Regions had been cut off for a long time. Basically, no merchants or envoys entered the Western Regions along the ancient Silk Road. So how did Loulan perish? The Han people had no witnesses at all. It was only in 400 AD that a monk named Faxian saw the tragic scene of Loulan when he went west to seek Buddhist scriptures - there were no birds flying above, no beasts running below, and only dead bones as signs everywhere!
At that time, Loulan should have just perished.
Nowadays, many archaeologists have actually entered the ruins of Loulan for investigation, and finally came to the conclusion that the mystery of Loulan's demise is related to the diversion of the Zhubin River in the middle reaches of the Tarim River. Loulan experienced large-scale drought and water shortage at the time of its demise, and there should be traces of invasion of alien species. The alien species that invaded Loulan was mole crickets. Mole crickets were not originally a species of Loulan, but after arriving in Loulan, because there were no natural enemies such as mantises, they reproduced on a large scale and finally showed an overflowing phenomenon, completely destroying the ecological balance. Rural children in the north should have played with mole crickets, and they should know that the main food of this thing is the roots and stems of crops. At that time, mole crickets were rampant in Loulan, and the result is self-evident. The roots and stems of crops were almost eaten up! !
The living environment of Loulan people was destroyed due to lack of water and crops being eaten to death. It may be that too many people died of starvation and drought, and the bodies were not handled in time, and finally Loulan had a large-scale plague, which was also called "hot nest disease" at that time, so that the country was completely extinct.
Of course, these are all speculated by historians, because when the ruins of Loulan were discovered, historians once found traces of plague outbreaks there, and after removing half a meter of soil, there was a dense layer of mole cricket fossils underneath, which had to be shoveled out one by one with a shovel, which shows how rampant the mole crickets were in Loulan at that time! !
All of this... is based on the actual discoveries made by archaeologists, and then combined with the historical speculations at that time to restore some situations. Archaeology is like this, verification, speculation...
However, based on the fragments in Cao Yuan's dream, I vaguely feel that the mystery of the demise of Loulan may be misjudged by archaeologists, or it should be incomplete speculation - the mystery of the demise of the ancient country of Loulan may have a conspiracy today!
There is no doubt that drought caused by the diversion of the Zhubin River in the middle reaches of the Tarim River has occurred in Loulan's history. So what caused the river to change its course? Was it the drastic change in global temperature at that time? I don't think so.
And the mole crickets, did this alien species jump to Loulan on its own to invade? I'm afraid it's not.
Combining the fragments in Cao Yuan's dream, whether it is drought or mole crickets, they are probably all caused by war! ! !
A rough outline took shape in my mind - the King of Loulan envied the prosperity of the Central Plains and wanted to enter the Central Plains and fight the Five Barbarians for food during his lifetime, but he was helpless as his life was coming to an end, so he could only sigh all day long. It happened that at this time, a man appeared and told the King of Loulan that there was an elixir of immortality in the Great Qin in the west, that is, the Roman Empire, so the King of Loulan sent out an army to seek the elixir of immortality. As a result, he died before the elixir of immortality was retrieved. The army he sent out may have had friction with other countries during the march and provoked a war. So when the King of Loulan just died, an unknown enemy descended on the land of Loulan and launched a war of annihilation against Loulan!
At that time, in order to destroy Loulan, those unknown enemies simply dug up the Tarim River, forced the Zhubin River to change course, and put Loulan into a water shortage dilemma. Then those enemies released mole crickets in Loulan, letting the mole crickets eat the crops of the Loulan people, leaving the Loulan people without food. Under the lack of water and food, Loulan broke out in plague and was completely extinct.
This is definitely not my conjecture. In order to win a war, it is not the first or second time in history that the mountains and rivers are forcibly turned around, not to mention the war against Loulan to destroy the country!
Apart from anything else, there was such an example that happened under our noses during World War II. At that time, in order to prevent the Japanese from crossing the Yellow River and fighting to the south to pursue the retreating troops who were not yet stable, our country blew up the Yellow River Huayuankou in one breath, causing millions of deaths! What can't those emperors and generals do to win a war? In the face of war, human life is really worthless.
As for who the mysterious enemy who destroyed Loulan was, there is no way to speculate. There were only three parties that came from the west and had the ability to destroy Loulan.
First, the Great Qin, which was the Roman Empire at that time; second, the Sassanid Empire that replaced the Parthian Empire and dominated the Euphrates River Basin in Asia Minor; third, the Huns.
However, the Roman Empire and the Huns are unlikely, because in 400 AD, it was when the Huns were crazy about the Romans. The Huns, who were trampled by the Han army and were driven to Europe like dogs who lost their homes, ended up maneuvering in Europe. The 13-nation coalition could not stop their attack, and the Western Roman Empire quickly fell, calling the Huns the whip of lightning. In other words, when Loulan was destroyed, the Roman Empire and the Huns were really fighting fiercely, and they should not have had time to run to the east, because at that time they did not know that the powerful Han in the Central Plains had fallen, and they were afraid of the east.
In comparison, I think the Sassanid Empire is the most likely. The Sassanid Empire has always been considered to be the continuation of the Parthian Empire. It is located on the ancient Silk Road and is the way to the Qin Dynasty. The King of Loulan sent his army to the Qin Dynasty to seek the elixir of immortality. It is very likely that friction will occur through this country.
Although both the Sassanid Empire and the Parthian Empire, as one of the four major powers in the world at that time, were evaluated by Sima Qian in "Records of the Grand Historian" as weak soldiers who could be trampled at will, their weakness was only aimed at the Han army. It was like playing to beat the Loulan people. Therefore, the Sassanid Empire is the biggest suspect in the destruction of Loulan! !
However, there are still many doubts in this matter - for example, who was the person who instigated the King of Loulan to go to the Qin Dynasty to get the elixir of immortality? What is the purpose of this person?
For some reason, I thought of the Taoist Sanqing...
Could it be this guy again? It's really possible when I think about it!
Three talents gather evil spirits, three caves are connected, and we have found the other two caves now. One is the tomb of the Queen of Jingjue, and the other is the tomb of Wusun King Lie Jiaomi. As for the legendary third cave, Tianxue, it has never been found. If it should be in Loulan, then our trip to Loulan this time will be fun!
But the more I think about it, the more I feel it is suspenseful. The bastard Sanqing Taoist can fool the ancient Jingjue Kingdom to its demise, and it is also possible that he fooled the Loulan people to destroy their country.
Maybe, the entire tragic history of the demise of Loulan was planned by this person himself!
I have a lot of guesses in my mind, and I have thought a lot after sitting in the desert with Cao Yuan for a night.
However, no matter how the history is, I think I can be sure of one thing. Cao Yuan's previous life should be the last queen of Loulan-Queen Jieyou, the legendary first beauty of Loulan!
With these complicated thoughts, this night passed.
At 10 o'clock the next morning, according to our agreement with Iris, we set off on time, riding on the first camel, Cao Yuan, who was our main guide this time, and would lead us all the way west to find the legendary Loulan King City! !