三展室——千里行镖镖局走镖，北至塞外大漠，南达江汉海滨，水旱两路行镖，即辛苦又十分危险。这边为我们展现了当年千里行镖的场景。镖局在走镖的镖路上倘若碰见了打过交道的“朋友”——强盗，首先会喊镖“合吾一声镖车走，半年江湖平安回”。走镖者英雄也，单枪匹马闯江湖，武艺高强战盗匪，野店黄岭品孤单，把酒问天涨豪迈，英雄救美传佳话，商旅感恩留侠名，如此完美的镖师生活让人期待，这些都是同学们在武侠小说中，影视中看到镖师行侠仗义的形象。其实真实的镖师形象是押带着数以万计白花花的银两，置身在危机四伏的江湖中，行走在山高路险，水及时长，人烟稀少的荒山野岭，不敢解衣睡觉，不能洗脸，兵器从不离身，随时防匪盗贼抢劫偷窃，用汗水甚至生命为商家服务，常常一走就是几个月甚至几年，其间的艰辛与危险非常人所能忍受。没有过人的胆识和过硬的武功怎敢做一名镖师。这才是镖师真实的生活形象。就像我们的中国共产党一样，经得起胜利和挫折、高潮和低潮、顺境和逆境的考验，任何敌人和困难都压不倒、摧不垮;历经磨难，斗志弥坚，千锤百炼，更加坚强

Exhibition Hall 3 — The Thousand-Mile Escort Trail
 
Escort missions stretched from the desert frontiers in the north to the riverfronts of the Jianghan Plain in the south, covering both land and water routes. The journey was grueling and fraught with constant peril. This hall recreates authentic scenes of long-distance escort travel in ancient times.
 
When escorts encountered familiar bandits (referred to euphemistically as "old friends") along the trail, they would shout the traditional rallying cry:
One shout of "Hewu" sends the cart forth, half a year of safe travel across the rivers and lakes.
 
Wuxia novels and films romanticize escorts as lone heroes wandering the underworld, defeating bandits with unmatched martial arts, enduring solitude in remote mountain inns, drinking wine to fuel heroic spirit, saving damsels in distress, and earning eternal gratitude from traveling merchants. This idealized image is what most visitors picture.
 
The reality, however, was far harsher. Charged with guarding tens of thousands of taels of silver, escorts navigated isolated, rugged mountain and river valleys teeming with hidden dangers. They dared not remove their clothes to sleep, could not wash their faces mid-journey, and never parted with their weapons, staying perpetually alert to robbery and theft. They served merchants at the cost of their sweat, and often their lives, on missions that could last months or even years — hardships no ordinary person could endure. Only those with extraordinary courage and formidable martial skill dared to take up this profession. This is the unvarnished truth of an escort’s life.
 
Much like the Communist Party of China, escorts endured triumph and setback, prosperity and hardship, smooth passages and deadly peril. No foe or hardship could break their resolve. Tempered by countless trials, their spirit only grew stronger through adversity.