Riding a horse on the vast grassland, Zhou Jun, who had never been to Mobei in his previous life, truly experienced the scene of "the sky is vast and the fields are vast".
Shuofang's army sent an envoy to Huihe, pretending to be horse merchants of the Tang Dynasty, with a total of ninety-five people.
While walking on the road, Zhou Jun was facing the warm wind and asked Sun Aying about the customs and customs of Huihe.
Sun Aying told Zhou Jun that the Huihe people rode high cars, chased water and grass, lived a nomadic life of eating clothes, skins, and meat, planting tents and crooked huts, and mainly made a living by raising horses, cattle, sheep, camels, etc.
Among them, the middle and upper reaches of the Orkhon River and Selenge River are the most prosperous areas in Uihe.
However, the Uighurs, like the Turks, engage in another kind of shady livelihood besides animal husbandry.
That is looting and slave trading.
In addition to launching wars to "rob the bandits", the Uighurs also carried out small-scale, non-public raids on tribes or families.
They would find out the defense forces of other tribes or kingdoms, and take advantage of special opportunities such as festivals, weddings, and sacrifices to plunder the entire clan.
If it was a small tribe or country that was plundered, the Uighurs would uproot it and take away all the wealth they could.
As for the captives, since the Uighurs are nomadic people who live by herding, animal husbandry does not require a large amount of labor, and the Uighurs themselves do not have a fixed city to prevent slaves from escaping.
Therefore, most men will be slaughtered on the spot, while women will be kept as slaves.
Listening to what Sun Aying said, Zhou Jun couldn't help but think of a passage in the history books of later generations.
Nomads are limited by the natural environment in which they live and their relatively backward productivity, which results in their views on war being different from those of settled agricultural peoples.
Nomads are more fond of plundering. As Engels said: "Plundering, in their view, is easier and even more honorable than creative labor."
Sun Aying continued: "Suppose the Huihe people faced a large tribe, or even an empire."
"They will find out about a wealthy family or a local governor in advance, then kidnap the other party's children and demand ransom."
Zhou Jun shook his head as he listened. What is the difference between the behavior of the Huihe people and kidnapping by bandits?
Little did he know that Sun Aying's next words would make him even more angry.
Sun Aying: "After successfully abducting a hostage, there will be a master who is responsible for torture and will look for characteristics on the hostage. It may be a birthmark or a stain on the body."
"They would use a knife to cut off the piece of skin, attach it to a letter demanding ransom, and throw it at the doorstep of the hostage's home."
Zhou Jun shuddered when he heard the young man in front of him, who was about sixteen years old, talking about such cruel and violent customs.
Zhou Jun was silent for a moment and then asked: "What if the hostage's family cannot raise money or is unwilling to pay the ransom?"
Sun Aying: "Every few days, Master Jiu will cut off some skin of the hostage, or chop off a finger, and then throw it in front of the hostage's house."
"If the ransom is really not obtained, the hostage will die in all kinds of torture. And the tortured corpse will eventually be hung in a conspicuous place to humiliate the hostage's family or tribe."
Zhou Jun, who was riding on the horse, couldn't help but take a breath when he heard this.
Now, he finally understood something.
At the beginning, as the daughter of the governor of Khorasan Province, why did Hua Yue prefer to pretend to be deaf and dumb and pretend to be infected with the epidemic, rather than reveal her identity to the Turks?
She may have known that if she revealed her identity, not only would she not be able to go home, but she might also suffer inhuman torture, and her future would be even more dangerous.
In this way, Zhou Jun and the accompanying sergeant Shuofang were talking and walking upstream to the Orkhon River in the northwest.
The team traveled for more than half a month, experiencing scorching heat, heavy rain, sandstorms, and bandits, and finally arrived at Khasibala Hasun (near present-day Erdenet City in Mongolia), a place known as "Thousands of Days"
’ the vast pastureland.
Going north along the Orkhon River, the number of tents and livestock along the way gradually increased.
Zhou Jun, who had not had time to take care of himself for a long time, had a short beard and his clothes were full of mud and dust.
Although Zhou Jun looked a little embarrassed, his interest was quite high.
There were deserts and grasslands all along the way. Sometimes he could walk for three days in a row without seeing a single person. On such days, Zhou Jun was really miserable.
And now, although the Hacibala Hasun of the He tribe is still vast and sparsely populated, it is many times stronger than those desolate places.
Zhou Jun rode forward for some distance and saw large tracts of livestock and horses gathered among many tents, and heard the sound of people there.
Sun Aying took a look and said to Zhou Jun: "In front is the market, and beyond that is Ye Hu's tent."
Zhou Jun nodded and drove his horse through the market.
Only halfway through, Zhou Jun suddenly heard a call.
"That citizen of the Tang Dynasty, in the name of the Lord, please save me from here!"
Listening to the not-so-standard Tang Dynasty Mandarin, Zhou Jun looked towards the source of the sound and saw a young monk covered in rags, locked in a wooden slave cage, desperately stretching out his hands, begging for help.
With the idea that doing more is worse than doing less, Zhou Jun turned his horse's head and continued to move forward.
The young monk who was imprisoned saw Zhou Jun walking away and shouted anxiously: "I am a monk from Yiningfang Jingjiao Temple. Rescue me and the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty will reward you!"
When Zhou Jun heard the word "Jing Jiao", he drove his horse back, looked at the young monk in the slave cage, and asked, "Do you know Luo Han?"
When the young monk heard this, he was stunned for a moment, then nodded quickly and said: "Of course I know him, he is the elder of Chang'an Church and the master of Jingjiao Temple."
Zhou Jun frowned and asked the monk, "What's your name?"
The monk hurriedly said: "My name is Yis."
Zhou Jun rubbed his forehead.
The so-called scriptures are also called Persian scriptures.
It would be renamed Da Qin Jiao in the fourth year of Tianbao, and would be renamed Nestorian Jiao again in the late Tang Dynasty.
Nestorianism, along with Taoism and Buddhism, were collectively known as the Three Sects of the Middle Tang Dynasty in the history of the Tang Dynasty.
Its true form is Nestorian Christianity, which originated from the Greek Orthodox Church (Eastern Orthodox Church) and was founded by Nestorius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, between 428 and 431 AD.
As for this Nestorian missionary Yis, Zhou Jun actually remembered this person in the history books. If he hadn't had the same name and surname, he would have been the highest patriarch of Nestorianism in the Tang Dynasty in the future.
But what puzzled Zhou Jun was that according to historical records, Yis was a Persian who worked in the church in Wangshe City in his early years. He did not come to Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty until the Anshi Rebellion broke out.
At that time, Prince Li Heng was located in Lingwu and used Shuofang Jiedu envoy Guo Ziyi.
Because of Yi's ability, he was appreciated by Suzong of the Tang Dynasty, so he served in Guo Ziyi's army and made great achievements in quelling the Anshi Rebellion.
However, the Yisi in front of him was in Hacibala Hasun, Uighur, and was captured as a slave. What was going on?
Seeing Zhou Jun's hesitation, Sun Aying asked in a low voice: "How to deal with this person?"
Zhou Jun glanced at Yisi, who clasped his hands together and looked begging.
"Find the slave owner and redeem this person first." Zhou Jun said to Sun Aying: "Get him some food and find a few people to keep an eye on him."