Six hundred and sixty-sixth Wuheng and Xianbei (1)
After being encouraged by Bo Shi, Zhang Weiyang felt that her whole body was full of strength.
Then, he was sent to the mission by Bo Shi and became a member of the Han Dynasty mission that would travel nearly two thousand miles through the wilderness and break ground during the snowy season to arrive at Wuheng Mountain where the Wuheng tribe is located.
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The mission is mainly composed of people from three parts.
The first is the Han Dynasty officials and soldiers led by Xinhua City Lord Bo Xujian, including Zhang Weiyang himself, totaling seventeen people.
Second, there are the hunters and guides recruited from the Yiren tribe and the hounds they raise. There are about a dozen of them, and it is said that they all have the experience of surviving in the snow for more than a month.
The third one is the Wuheng people who want to follow the mission and transfer to their own tribe.
The number of these Wuheng people is relatively small. There are only five people in total, including a young man.
The young man's status should be relatively high. From what Zhang Weiyang could see, the remaining four people usually surrounded the young man and were quite respectful.
In addition, the strange thing is that these Wuheng people are different from the Yi Di that Zhang Weiyang has seen and heard about.
Especially the patterns they left behind are even more peculiar.
They don't braid their heads into little braids like the savages of the Yehao tribe.
Instead, the entire front of the head is shaved. Only in China, only criminals will be punished by the government as a punishment.
But this style seems to be traditional among the Wuheng people.
Also, there is always a big dog squatting at the feet of these Wuheng people.
This kind of dog seems to be bred after crossbreeding with wolves, and its size and size are much larger than those of human-loving dogs.
The largest one was almost as tall as a man when it stood up, and looked extremely ferocious.
These dogs seem to have a straw rope tied to their ears. The straw rope is dyed with colorful paint, and it is unknown what its purpose is.
At the beginning, Zhang Weiyang was still cautious. She just silently helped organize the dry food, flint and blankets for the night and loaded them into the sleigh under the instructions of the leader, Bo Xujian.
However, after the mission came out, Zhang Weiyang gradually became familiar with them on the road because he was walking on the outer side and not far away from the Wuheng people, and he could even speak the language in a pleasant way.
, conduct some simple exchanges.
Slowly, Zhang Weiyang also learned the names of these Wuheng people, and also learned some interesting facts.
That young man's name was Ye Lizhi, or so it was pronounced. He was the son of an adult in Wu Heng, and he came to Han with the mission to gain experience.
In the Wuheng tribe, the high-ranking nobles in the tribe all regard themselves as adults, while the lower-ranking nobles all regard themselves as handsome men.
The status between adults and adults, and between young handsome men and young handsome men, is equal.
If there is a dispute, they will talk with their fists.
Two adults or young men, shirtless, have a fight, and whoever wins will be right.
Zhang Weiyang was amazed when he heard this.
Going by the flow, Zhang Weiyang also told these Wuheng people about his hometown Handan and some common knowledge he had heard about the Han Dynasty's sacred capital Chang'an.
Of course, this must be an exaggeration.
For example, the size and permanent population of Handan City were exaggerated by Zhang Weiyang at least three times.
Wu Hengren was even more stunned for a moment after being deceived.
After going back and forth, Zhang Weiyang actually made friends with these Yi Di. Especially when Zhang Weiyang invited these Wuheng people to have a few sips of wine during the break, they immediately regarded Zhang Weiyang as a brother.
The young man named 'Ye Lizhi' even used half-baked language to impress people. He patted his chest and promised Zhang Weiyang: "When we get to Chishan, I will definitely treat you to the grilled fish of our Wuheng people.
This season happens to be the time for our tribe to start winter fishing, and the fish in the sacred lake in winter are especially delicious!"
While talking, Ye Lizhi showed a longing look.
He is only fourteen or fifteen years old at most. He has no scheming and is very simple.
But speaking without intention, listening with intention.
Zhang Weiyang immediately wrote down this situation secretly.
In the future, this information will be compiled into files and sent to Chang'an to appear before the Emperor's case.
After chatting for a while, Zhang Weiyang looked at the big dog squatting next to Ye Lizhi and asked curiously: "Why do you tie straw ropes to the ears of these dogs?"
After hearing this, Ye Lizhi looked a little sad. He looked at Zhang Weiyang and said, "These big dogs are the guide dogs for us Wuheng people!"
"Guide dog?" Zhang Weiyang was a little confused.
"Yes, if I die, then it will carry my clothes and fur to the sacred mountain Chishan. Then the adults of the tribe will know that Ye Lizhi's soul is coming, and they will burn me with fire.
My clothes and fur, let this big dog take my soul to reunite with my ancestors and gods!" Ye Lizhi explained somewhat sentimentally: "These straw ropes are when we Wuheng people die, our souls return to our ancestors and gods.
With faith in the arms of the gods, every straw rope was blessed by a shaman in front of the gods. Last year, more than 300 guide dogs came to our tribe."
"More than three hundred guide dogs?" Zhang Weiyang didn't turn around for a while.
"Yes, a guide dog is just like a person. If you only see the dog but not the person, it means that the owner has died outside." Ye Lizhi's tone became more and more bleak.
But Zhang Weiyang didn't care after hearing this.
More than 300 people died in one year?
It doesn’t seem very serious, right?
But how did Zhang Weiyang know that among the Wu Heng tribe, those who can raise a guide dog are the elites of the tribe.
Slaves and ordinary herdsmen were neither qualified nor able to raise such a large dog.
Usually when ordinary herdsmen die, they will all be at the same time. The shaman will send an old dog to carry dozens or even hundreds of people's clothes and hair, and burn them together.
This was a good time for the tribe back then.
Therefore, among all the tribes in Wuheng, there may only be less than 2,000 people who can raise guide dogs.
Three hundred people died at once, which meant that one-seventh of the elite died.
Such a loss would be debilitating for any ethnic group, and may even lead to the demise of the ethnic group.
But what can the Wuheng people do?
These dead people were all people who were forced to fight by the Xiongnu.
They died on the way to fight for the Huns, using their own lives to give the Wuheng tribe a way to survive.
Their deaths allowed more than a thousand more babies born in the clan to survive this year.
From the perspective of tribal maintenance and survival, they deserved their death.
However, this view has a premise, which is that the Huns must ensure that they are the overlord of the grassland and the world, and can decide and control the life and death of the tribes on the grassland at will.
But now, the Huns' dominance began to waver.
The Han Dynasty, which came from the east, rose strongly.
Last year, the Xiongnu Chanyu even had to kill Wu Heng's neighbor, the leader of the Xianbei tribe, and take his head to appease the Han Dynasty. This is proof of this.
Otherwise, with the tyranny of the Huns, it would be impossible for them to bow their heads in front of a force weaker than themselves. Read the book and take a look
Therefore, through the tragedy of their neighbor, the Wuheng people learned that they had one more choice.
However, in the Han Dynasty to the east, the Wuheng people had never dealt with them, and they did not know whether the Han Dynasty people were man-eating tigers or kind elders.
This led to the visit of Ye Lizhi and others. What made Ye Lizhi and others happy was that the Han Dynasty showed great enthusiasm for their visit. The Shanyu of the Han Dynasty even ordered to send the current
This delegation visited Wuheng.
And this is undoubtedly a good start.
Ye Lizhi stayed in Xinhua City for more than ten days. He saw with his own eyes and heard with his own ears that the Hao people, who were often bullied by Xianbei, Wuheng and even Dingling people in the past, have been getting better and better day by day since they joined the Han Dynasty.
, the Shanyu of the Han Dynasty even sent troops to garrison on the territory of the Yi people to protect them.
The upper echelons of the Yiren tribe lived a life that stunned Ye Li.
Even a small leader lived in a large and spacious house. The walls and warehouses of the house were filled with dried fish and meat, and he wore beautiful and warm fur clothes.
As for the leader of the past, he is now called Cang Haijun.
In the past, every year, people had to humbly send livestock and slaves to Chishan to bribe the Wuheng people so that the Wuheng cavalry would not invade them.
But now, when this guy saw Mr. Wu Heng, his eyes were raised to the sky, and he didn't even bother to get up.
And he does have such a reason to be proud.
With his back to the Chanyu of the Han Dynasty, it is said that he has been approached and praised by the Chanyu of the Han Dynasty many times. In addition, the head of King Xianbei that was made into a wine vessel with saltpeter in his living room has become a very important figure in this far east.
No one dares to offend him without opening his eyes.
The consequence of offending him would be to start a war with the huge empire to the east that had millions of armored men and covered an area of tens of thousands of miles.
No one can withstand the thunderous wrath of Chanyu of the Han Dynasty.
It is said that even the Chanyu of the Xiongnu now dare not offend the Chanyu of the Han Dynasty.
"It's a pity that we Wuheng people don't have an ancestor named Shaogao." Thinking of this, Ye Lizhi couldn't help but feel a little downcast.
The appearance characteristics of Yi people are very similar to those of Han Dynasty people.
Therefore, it is naturally very convenient for them to become relatives.
However, the Wuheng people cannot
Ye Lizhi looked at the yellow beards and obviously different skin colors of his people, and shook his head helplessly.
Not only do the Wuheng people look different from the Han people, the Hao people, and the Koreans, but they don't even look like the Huns. On the grasslands, there are only a few of their close relatives, like the Xianbei, who have the same characteristics as them.
Skin color and appearance.
After setting out on the road again, Zhang Weiyang took some time off and ran to the envoy of the mission, the new master, Bo Xujian, and reported some of the information he had gleaned.
After Xu Jian listened, he was very interested and immediately asked someone to record it and write it down.
Since the Spring and Autumn Period, Chinese scholar-officials have noticed that in order to deal with the Yi and Di, they must first understand their customs and traditions.
Moreover, unlike Zhang Weiyang, Xu Jian was semi-literate a year ago.
Xu Jian was born in Jicheng. His father and ancestors were all attendants in the palace of the Yan Kingdom. Therefore, he had seen some records in the palace books of the Yan Kingdom.
These records are quite similar in some places to some of the habits and customs of the Wuheng people mentioned by Zhang Weiyang.
"Probably Wu Heng is the queen of Donghu," Xu Jian guessed in his heart.
During the Warring States Period, when the Yan State was expanding, it encountered challenges from the Donghu people, and the Donghu were even able to overpower the Yan State.
It was not until the birth of Li Mu in the late Warring States period that the strategic situation of Yan State improved.
During that period, there were close diplomatic exchanges between the people of Yan State and Donghu. There were even princes of Yan State who were hostage to Donghu. There are many relevant records, and many of them have survived to this day.
It was from these incomplete records that Xu Jian sensed the vague connection between Donghu and Wu Heng.
But he wasn't sure.
After all, there is not much in common between the two, and it is possible that they were transformed from a tribe that was once influenced by Donghu.
The mission trudged through the icy and snowy wilderness, heading north and slowly away from Xinhua City.
Three days later, they left the farthest patrol area of the Han army. They crossed the mountains and entered a world composed of ice, snow and mountains.
When you get here, the whole world is completely white, and it's easy to lose your way.
Fortunately, the hounds brought by the Wuheng people seem to have a talent similar to that of an old horse, and can always guide the way at critical moments.
In addition, they seem to have a very sensitive sense of smell and can easily detect animals such as rabbits hiding in the snow. They also supplemented the mission with a lot of meat.
The only trouble for the mission was that they had to sleep in the open.
In the world of ice and snow, choosing a good place to sleep outdoors without waking up the next morning to find yourself buried in ice and snow is undoubtedly a matter of life and death.
Moreover, the biting north wind in the mountains and the almost murderous low temperature at night also began to trouble the mission.
After entering this strange and desolate world of ice and snow, the mission began to suffer from injuries.
The next day, Zhang Weiyang got up and discovered that a Han soldier even froze to death on his sentry post during the night vigil, but there was still a fire burning in front of him.
This is undoubtedly a painful lesson.
Therefore, from then on, every time the people in the mission kept vigil, three people would remind and warn each other.
But this is not a long-term solution.
Fortunately, the accompanying Wuheng people comforted the others in the mission, saying that they would soon be able to enter the Xianbei people's range of activities.
The Xianbei people will definitely leave caves or even stone chambers nearby where they lived while hunting.
Once you enter the cave, you no longer have to worry about the freezing cold temperatures quietly taking away people's lives.
Sure enough, after entering the place mentioned by the Wuheng people, the mission found several caves for people to live in on the mountains along the way. Inside the caves, there were even extinguished fires and neatly laid hay beds.
If you're lucky, you can even find a lot of firewood.
However, as they continued to move forward, Wuheng and their hounds began to become nervous.
Zhang Weiyang even noticed that sometimes, those originally extremely quiet and tame hounds would squat down and bark low, while Ye Lizhi was even more vigilant about the surroundings as if facing a formidable enemy.
"What's wrong?" Zhang Weiyang went over and asked.
"The Xianbei people are coming," Ye Lizhi said cautiously: "Go tell others and prepare to fight. Our hounds have smelled the scent of Xianbei hunters. There is no mistake in this!"
"Xianbei people?" Zhang Weiyang didn't take it seriously after hearing this.
As a Han Chinese, Zhang Weiyang is confident enough.
Last year, the Xianbei people killed several Yi people in a sneak attack, and their king's head was sent to Xinhua, where it is still displayed in Canghaijun's living room.
What else can a small tribe like this do?
Do they have the guts to attack and block the Han mission entrusted with the emperor's mission?
However, Ye Lizhi's next words made Zhang Weiyang immediately alert.
"There are many savage tribes in Xianbei. Some of these savage tribes are headhunters. They hunt other humans who are not Xianbei people like wild beasts!" Ye Lizhi said solemnly: "Especially in winter like this, they
If it is difficult to hunt prey, it will eat humans as food!"
Zhang Weiyang did not dare to neglect and immediately reported the situation to Xu Jian.
After Xu Jian heard this, he immediately ordered to arm himself, but he was not too afraid.
There are a dozen soldiers who have received military training in the mission, and there are also a dozen people who have brought bows and crossbows. When encountering ordinary small tribes, there is no need to be afraid, just run them over.
However, Xu Jian soon realized that he was wrong.
On the distant mountains, human figures appeared.
Not one or two, nor ten or twenty, but hundreds of Yi Di, densely packed, roaring in on sleighs and carts.
Moreover, they appear from more than one direction.
When Ye Lizhi saw it, he immediately shouted loudly: "This is a person from Xianbei headquarters!"
Wuheng people are very familiar with their neighbors.
You can tell with your eyes closed that those are wild Xianbei and those are real Xianbei.
But, when did these Xianbei people come down from Xianbei Mountain?
Seeing this situation, Xu Jian felt relieved.
In such weather and with such a big fanfare, the Xianbei people were certainly not here to embarrass them.
So, Xu Jian picked up his yak, flicked the snow on his body, walked out of the mission, came to the front, and shouted in Xiongnu dialect to the Xianbei people who were roaring in: "Who is coming? This is
According to the agreement between the Emperor of the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu Chanyu, the place where the Han mission is stationed is deemed to be the same place where the Xiongnu Chanyu is stationed. All commanders, big and small, are not allowed to invade!"
After shouting three times in a row, the roaring Xianbei people stopped a hundred steps away from the mission, and then there was no movement.
This made Xu Jian feel a little dry in his throat.
Maybe about a quarter of an hour later, or even longer, when Xu Jian felt that he could hardly hold the Jie Yak in his hand, a man wearing a fox fur walked out of the Xianbei people a hundred steps away. This man used a Xiongnu weapon.
He shouted to the envoy: "Master Qiu Keju of Xianbei was very happy to hear the arrival of the Han envoys. He specially invites the Han envoys and all the envoys to come to Xianbei Mountain as guests!"
He spoke Chinese with a straight and round accent, and was extremely fluent.
And it’s still Chinese with a clear Qilu accent.
This made Xu Jian suddenly feel like he had seen an alien. When did Han people appear in this icy, snowy, desolate and barbaric place where no Chinese had ever visited? (To be continued.)
ps: Note: Xianbei and Wuheng have the same ancestry and origin. At present, the social habits of the Wuheng people are difficult to test, and there are only sporadic records.
For example, some can be found in the books of Wei and Jin, and some are also recorded in the books of the Later Han.
From these records, we can get some general ideas.
For example, the Wuheng people have yellow beards and are Caucasian, and the Xianbei people are similar.
The evidence is that Emperor Jin Ming was accused of being a yellow-bearded Xianbei slave because his mother was a Xianbei and he himself also had a yellow beard and had Caucasian characteristics.
In addition, the Wuheng people are good at raising dogs, and the Xianbei people live in stone caves. This is recorded in Ming history.
The Book of the Later Han Dynasty records that the Wuheng people "sing and dance when they are buried. They fatten a dog and lead it with a colorful rope. They also take the clothes of the horse the deceased was riding on and burn them before sending them away." This proves that they will use dogs to send them off.
As for the early records of the Xianbei people living in caves, the Northern Wei Dynasty even sent people to offer sacrifices to the caves where their ancestors lived.
In addition, the leaders of Xianbei Wuheng are all called adults, and I don’t know why.
Now, it is no longer clear where the Wuheng Mountain and the Xianbei Mountain are. We only know roughly that they were in the area of Rao Leshui at that time and the Xilamulun River today.
