After arriving in Zhongjing, the Liao Kingdom stayed in Zhongjing, and King Nerugu of Chu hosted a banquet in honor of the Song envoy.
Zhongjing has been hundreds of miles away from Yanyun. The place has beautiful scenery and people, and there is a strong smell of Hu everywhere. There is no trace of the Han family anymore.
For example, in this banquet, food is served with wooden utensils. A basin of camel mince is served first... which is meat porridge cooked with camel meat and eaten with a wooden spoon. This is the opening food of a traditional banquet in the Liao Dynasty.
Then large plates of meat are served. The meat is rich and varied, including cattle and mutton raised by livestock, and various birds and animals captured by hunting. However, there are only two cooking methods, either boiling it into pulpy wet meat or marinating it into bacon. Then
Cut the meat into square pieces and serve it on a large plate. The guests cut it into small pieces with a dagger and eat it with their hands.
However, it was taken into account that the Song envoys were not good at using knives and daggers, so they had Khitan maids in fresh and clean clothes at the table, holding silk scarves and knives and daggers, cutting all the meat to eat the Han envoys.
Along the way, the envoys of the Song Dynasty ate not only meat and cheese from cattle and sheep, but also porridge cooked with goat's milk. Even young people like Chen Ke and Zhao Zongji could no longer see the fishy smell and it was really unbearable.
Fortunately, Zhongjing is the capital of the Liao Kingdom, so there is still a supply of vegetables. It’s just that the Liao people’s way of eating vegetables is too vigorous. They don’t cook it at all, don’t dip it in sauce, and just eat the meat raw... Damn,
Is this eating vegetables or eating grass? The people of the Song Dynasty were helpless again.
Moreover, people in the Liao Dynasty not only ate raw vegetables, but also ate raw meat. One of the dishes at the banquet was "rabbit liver sliced raw and served with deer tongue sauce." Zhao Zongji tasted it and almost vomited.
But this was nothing compared to the grand finale of the day. The waiter took a horse, poured it with strong wine, and then broke it under its armpits, and a bloody horse liver came out.
Cut it immediately and offer it to the guests.
Zhao Bian vomited at that time. The last time he was on an envoy to the Liao Kingdom, he knew that the Liao people had the habit of eating raw meat, but they took care of the Song envoy and gave him cooked food. I don’t know what kind of addiction he had this time. He was actually on the scene.
Eating live horse liver. This was very impactful to the scholar-bureaucrats of the Song Dynasty...
"Eat it while it's fresh," Nerugu, who was wearing a golden crown, said with a smile: "This is a fine war horse, and it can be sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars in your Southern Dynasty."
Zhao Zongji frowned and thought to himself, if I eat this thing, wouldn't I be no different from an animal? He decided not to move.
But after all, the other party was showing "kindness" and had to give a suitable reason to make it justified. He then said: "Thank you very much for your kindness, but I, a Confucian disciple, must follow the teachings of our ancestors. 'You can't eat without cooking.'"
Normally, this explanation is acceptable, but Nerugu's face still dropped: "Isn't it too disrespectful?"
"Of course we want to give the prince face, but doing so violates the teachings of the saints. As envoys, this is inappropriate." Zhao Zongji picked up the wine glass and said, "I will punish myself with three drinks and apologize to the prince."
"Who told you to drink?" Nerugu snorted coldly. He was the son of the uncle of the emperor of Liao Kingdom. He was of noble status and commanding. He didn't take Zhao Zongji, the prince of the Southern Dynasty, seriously at all: "You have to eat today even if you don't want to.
!Otherwise, where would I put my face?"
"When two countries are in contact and treat each other with courtesy, they naturally have dignity." Zhao Zongji said lightly. The implication is that if you don't give face first, you will bring it on yourself.
The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became stagnant, and the officials of the Liao Kingdom who were sitting with him all looked at each other angrily.
The people of Song Dynasty also had serious faces. How could they not see that the King of Chu of Liao Kingdom was deliberately causing trouble?
"Your Majesty, please calm down and give me a word." Zhao Bian hurriedly said: "Song and Liao are far apart in the world, and their lifestyles are very different. The two countries are good neighbors and friendly, and have always treated each other as guests and taken care of each other's eating habits. This has been the case for many years.
"
"Who do you think you are?" Zhao Bian said very reasonably, but Nerugu said with disdain: "Are you worthy of my respect?"
"Please be careful what you say, Your Majesty." Zhao Bian said bravely: "Every word and deed of the envoys of the two countries when they get along will be recorded in the "Quotations" and presented to the emperors of the two countries for inspection."
"Really?" Nerugu laughed loudly and said, "Then listen carefully and let someone write it down word for word for the emperor of the Southern Dynasties to see." After a pause, he said word by word: "I, Daliao, must
I want to go back to my own land!" After saying this, he left the table midway.
When I returned to where I stayed, the atmosphere was a bit heavy.
"It seems that your judgment is absolutely correct. Yelu Chongyuan and his son are the biggest obstacles to our trip." Zhao Zongji looked at Chen Ke and said, "Believe it or not, he must have complained first and went to the Lord of Liao to accuse us of being arrogant and rude.
It casts a shadow over our trip."
"I believe it." Chen Ke nodded. The situation was indeed difficult. With Yelu Zhongyuan and his son here, I believe that meeting the Lord of Liao on this trip would not be too pleasant.
"I can only hope that Lord Yelu Hongji of the Liao Dynasty will not be so confused." Zhao Bian was in a low mood. Today's banquet broke up unhappy, and today's mission report was really impossible to write.
"It's a pity that Lord Liao is indeed a fool." Chen Ke shook his head and said, "So prepare for the worst..."
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After resting in Zhongjing for two days, the mission followed the Liao people and set off for the Liao Lord's Nabo.
There is endless grassland along the way. Often, after walking for a long time, no one can be seen. Occasionally, a small group of tents can be seen on the horizon in the distance. At this time, thousands of cattle and sheep can be seen. Sometimes,
Seeing groups of wild horses roaring past, there were thousands of them, and the people of Song Dynasty were stunned...
"The sky is vast and the fields are vast, and the grass is blown by the wind and cattle and sheep are low." On the vast grassland, everyone's mood became more optimistic. They lamented the difference between the grassland scenery and the mainland, and imitated the Khitan people.
Horses galloping on the grassland.
While galloping, Chen Ke suddenly reined in his horse and looked into the distance with a solemn expression.
All the officers and soldiers of the Song Dynasty also stopped and looked around where he was looking. They saw smoke and dust billowing in the sky. When they listened carefully, there seemed to be faint shouts of killing.
"Is there someone fighting in front?" Zhao Zongji asked.
The Liao people who were protecting them were all overjoyed and rushed towards the destination, leaving the Song envoy behind.
"No." Chen Ke shook his head and said, "They are probably holding some kind of event."
"Follow up." It's not a big deal to be behind for too long. It seems that the people of the Song Dynasty were too timid.
The team marched forward for three to five miles, when suddenly there was a roar from the east, and thousands of Liao horsemen rushed over. The knights on horseback bent their bows and arrows, brandished their swords and guns, and shouted and killed them from a distance.
"Protect your lord!" The guards immediately became nervous and quickly formed a formation to protect the important people.
At this time, there was another cry from the west, and thousands more Liao people came to kill from the west.
Immediately afterwards, from the south, north, southwest, northwest... there was a sound of thunder from all directions, and fully armed Liao cavalry appeared, running towards the Song envoy.
"Sir, we are surrounded!" the guards said in panic: "They also drove wild beasts to attack!"
It turned out that the front line for the Liao army was thousands of deer, elk, deer, roe deer, bears, jackals, wolves, and foxes. These animals were running towards the Song Dynasty's envoy from all directions.
"Don't panic, they are hunting!" Chen Ke said loudly after finally understanding the situation.
"What should we do with these ferocious beasts?" He said, "We can't withstand the overwhelming force coming at us!"
"Hahahaha!" Chen Ke and Zhao Zongji laughed loudly together: "Of course we can't deny the good intentions of the Liao people!"
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Yes, this was indeed a large-scale hunt. But all the wild animals within a radius of dozens of miles were driven to the direction of the Song envoy. This was obviously not a coincidence.
In fact, this is a good show deliberately arranged by the Liao people. On the vast grassland, the Khitan cavalry, which has been strong for centuries, is coming from all directions. What kind of formation is this, and what kind of deterrence is it? Such a trick, in later generations,
The US imperialists often use it, and the purpose is to completely overwhelm the opponent in terms of momentum, so that they cannot even think of resisting.
Of course, no matter how ferocious the Khitan cavalry were, they would not be able to rush over and kill the Song envoys, but they had a great gift in exchange for the wild beasts they drove away.
Think about it, when the timid Song people found themselves surrounded by thousands of wild beasts, how would they panic and panic?
As soon as they thought of this, the monarchs and ministers of the Liao Kingdom in the military formation in the distance burst into laughter.
There were also experienced ministers who worried and said: "Your Majesty, it is better to stop in moderation. If the Song Dynasty envoy is killed, it will be difficult to explain to the Southern Dynasty."
Emperor Yelu Hongji of the Liao Kingdom was only in his twenties and had a handsome appearance. He carried a carved bow on his back, a sword hanging on his waist, and wore an emperor's hunting attire. He looked majestic. His enthusiasm for hunting was even greater than before.
The emperors of the past dynasties nodded when they heard this and said: "Let's go over there!" After saying that, they rushed out at once.
The noble ministers and imperial guards of the Liao Kingdom quickly followed.
After passing through the layers of Khitan warriors, the Lord of Liao, who originally planned to 'show off his power, save the Song envoy, and then be all arrogant', finally saw the situation clearly, but couldn't help being dumbfounded:
I saw several high-ranking officials from the Song Dynasty, each leading more than a hundred Song troops. They each drew their bows and arrows, wielded their swords and spears, and were killed until they were covered in blood. Looking at the grassland again, I saw that countless animals had fallen, some of them bloody.
Some were struggling and wailing, and large areas of grass were dyed red with animal blood...
When he took a closer look, the Lord of the Liao Dynasty found that the Song people were very methodical in charging and intercepting, and their bows and arrows were very powerful. Not only did they shoot fast, but they were also extremely lethal. Wild beasts often lost the battle after being hit by arrows...
"Who said Song people are weak?" He glared angrily at the minister who came up with the bad idea, and shouted: "Why are you still standing there? After all the hard work, they killed them all?"