Notes From Buried Times Chapter 34

Like a handful of scattered pearls, the Western Desert hides an astonishing number of ancient cities from different eras. Some have been discovered, while others are still sleeping in the endless sea of   sand.

Daniel Xia went into the hall and spread out the map for Qian Huzi to see.

"This is a map of the Western Regions drawn in the Song Dynasty, based on the "Book of Han. Records of the Western Regions." He took out a pencil and pointed with the tip of the pen: "This is the Puchang Sea, which is Lop Nur. It was a large expanse of water at that time. This is the Tarim River. The river flows southwest, passing through the Quicksand and the White Dragon Pile, and is Weixu. To the southwest of Weixu is the Mountain Country, and to the southwest of the Mountain Country is Shanshan, which is Loulan."

Noah Qian held up the kerosene lamp and leaned very close to it. The smoke was very irritating to the eyes.

"The scale of this map is totally wrong, and the location is also very vague," Daniel Xia said, "Now the waters have disappeared, and the Tarim River has long since changed its course. Only the Bailongdui, or Yadan, remains. But anyway, we are in this area, right?"