Tug-of-war is an old custom in Nan County. This is not a nonsense, it is a real thing.
When he asked the charioteer Sang Mu to lead the officials to explain the rules to the military commander, Hei Fu also said to Wang Wei, Zhai Chong and others: "Have you ever heard of Lu Ban?"
Wang Wei was young and had never left the North, so he shook his head. Zhai Chong was older and had fought in the Central Plains, so he came to this place.
"Lu Ban lived two hundred years ago and was a skilled craftsman of the State of Lu. At that time, the King of Chu was competing with the King of Yue for hegemony in the Jianghuai River, so he hired Lu Ban to join Chu and make weapons for boat warfare for the Chu State."
"So Lu Ban made instruments called 'hook' and 'reject'. When the enemy was at a disadvantage, the hook could catch the enemy ship, and the soldiers pulled it back hard to prevent it from escaping; when the enemy was at a disadvantage, the hook could catch the enemy ship.
When it was advantageous, it could not resist the enemy's ships and prevent them from pursuing them. The Chu army had a hook and refused to retreat, and was invincible. They defeated the Yue Kingdom, invaded eastward, and extended their territory to Sishang..."
Wang Wei listened with rapt attention and praised: "What an amazing craftsman!"
From that time on, the common people of Jianghan, who often served as Chu Lou Chuanmen, had to practice the art of pulling hooks whenever their lords called for martial arts, so that they could come in handy during water battles. Slowly, it evolved into
The folk "drama of pulling a hook", although the Chu Kingdom perished, the custom has been passed down. This is the origin of tug-of-war.
And now, Heifu has brought this movement to the Northland.
While they were talking, the ten warriors from the Cow Killing Tribe and the Tiger Tribe had already listened to the rules, arrived on the field, and looked at each other with wide eyes. The two tribes already had a grudge, and the fight a few days ago started with them.
A fight started.
And the people of the Rong tribe from ten miles and eight villages also heard about the new things that happened in Pengyang City. They helped the old and the young and came on horseback and carts. There were actually as many as two to three thousand people, surrounding not far away, offering sacrifices to their respective tribes.
The warriors are encouraged.
They saw a long hemp rope more than ten feet long in the open space. They killed the cattle. Ten people from each of the two tribes of Huluo lined up on both sides. They picked up the rope and stood still. In addition to the shallow ditch between them, the officials also
In the middle of the hemp rope, a red flag is erected as a boundary, and a drum is played as a signal for the two teams to pull the rope to each other.
With the sound of drums, the cattle were killed, and the warriors on both sides gritted their teeth, leaned back, and used all their strength to pull the rope. Dust was raised under their feet. The number and strength of both sides were about the same, so they were locked in a stalemate.
The red silk ribbon tied at the middle point of the rope moved to the left and to the right. The rope was pulled violently and was about to break, as if it was crawling and not turning back.
Not only was the field anxious, but others were also nervous. Ten people were pulling, thousands of people were shouting, and the ground was shaking with noise.
But in the end, the Sha Niu family became the final winner. The people of the Sha Niu family suddenly burst into loud cheers, and rushed up to lift the ten warriors high, treating them as heroes, pushing them onto their horses, and letting the ten men show off their power.
The strong man of the Huluo family got up from the ground in embarrassment, with some dissatisfaction on his face, but Gongsun Bailu, who was ordered by Hei Fu to judge both sides, said with a gloomy face:
"I have sworn before that there is no hidden evil in defeat, there is no concealment in strength, and there is no chance of defeat. Do you want to go back on it?"
"I don't dare. It's true that the Sha Niu family is strong and the Hu Luo family lost."
Hu Luo Luo glared at his own children and let them return to the tribe in despair. They inevitably received a lot of scolding from the tribe, but this tug of war was in front of thousands of people, and there were officials as witnesses. If you lose, you lose.
, and there is no excuse.
So, this winter, a water source and a mountain top were used by the cattle-killing family.
Next came the other three families. Whenever there was a territorial dispute, they would compete in a tug-of-war. They all sent out their strongest disciples to win or lose. The last time, just when the winner was about to be decided, the hemp rope made a "snap" sound.
It broke, and all the contestants fell to the ground, causing thousands of people watching to laugh.
By the time it was getting dark, the intricate territorial disputes among the five tribes had all been resolved through tug-of-war. Compared with the previous seven or eight tribes warriors who had to die every time the disputes were resolved, today's duel would cost at least
A few people who used too much force to get to their waists were really friendly and harmonious...
Sha Niu Li, Hu Luo Luo and the other five people were also considered wise and happily accepted the result. Afterwards, Hei Fu asked thousands of people from the five tribes to gather outside Pengyang City and said loudly:
"During the tug-of-war, I visited the old men in each department, and they told me a story."
"In ancient times, when tribes competed for pasture water, they fought to the death with short blades. Every time they fought, hundreds of people were often killed or injured. The coldest winter and the worst famine only caused so much damage to the tribe."
"So decades ago, the five rulers gathered in Pengyang and made an agreement. From now on, only ten people will be sent to fight. The winner will be able to use water and grass for a year."
"But even so, more than ten warriors die every year, so why bother?"
"It is better to die ten people than to die a hundred people, and it is better to die ten people than to die at all. From now on, whenever there is a dispute among the five tribes, ten people from each will send out a tug of war and fight instead. How about that?"
The soldiers of the Great Plains were often recruited into the army. They also knew the laws of the country and the military, and had a certain degree of discipline. When the commander-in-chief spoke, the five princes and chiefs could only agree. As for the ordinary herdsmen, they also felt that there was nothing wrong with it.
After the people of the five tribes dispersed one after another, a huge bonfire was lit outside Pengyang City. Heifu had all the sheep sent by the princes of the five tribes be slaughtered and shared with the soldiers who came with him to stop the private fight. He even killed them himself.
Cut meat for them.
The county lieutenant's approach to the lower-level county soldiers naturally won the applause of Wang Wei and other soldiers. However, just when everyone was eating happily, Gongsun Bailu found Heifu and expressed his opinion to him.
"The commander-in-chief thinks that the five Ohara tribes will really abide by the rules set today?"
…
Heifu swallowed the roast mutton in his mouth, looked at Gongsun Bailu who was reflected red by the firelight, and said: "I'm afraid not, letting them tug of war today is just an expedient measure, at least let the five tribes live in peace for a year, and don't cause chaos.
.”
"The same is true for the subordinates."
Gongsun Bailu's accent was very serious. He said: "There are too many cattle and sheep in a small pen, and they will fight each other, let alone five warlike tribes?"
"What's your solution?" Heifu asked.
"There are two ways." Gongsun Bailu paused.
"tell me the story."
Gongsun Bailu glanced at the white wolf of Yiqu who was dancing happily with other soldiers not far away. He approached Heifu and whispered: "The first is to make the soldiers of Dayuan abandon their herding and engage in farming!"
"Oh?" Hei Fu looked at Gongsun Bailu in surprise. This man's knowledge was quite impressive.
He knew that this was not the place to talk about things, so he excused himself to go to the toilet and asked Gongsun Bailu to leave the noisy bonfire with him, returned to the city, and sat across from each other. Hei Fu's words were a bit more polite.
"Please also ask Lieutenant Gongsun County to discuss it in detail."
Gongsun Bailu said: "The county captain should know that the identity of my grandfather is the son of Lord Yiqu and the Queen Mother Xuan. King Zhao was kind and knew that it was not easy for the Queen Mother. Therefore, after Yiqu was destroyed, his eldest father (grandfather), Grandfather Zhong, was spared."
"My eldest father was ashamed of his identity as a Rong clan, so he changed his household registration and considered himself a son of Xia. He wore Xia clothes, spoke Xia dialect, and changed his surname to Gongsun."
The same mother gave birth to an illegitimate child with a wild man, but King Qin Zhao and Qin Shihuang responded in completely opposite ways.
But think about it, Empress Dowager Xuan committed herself to Lord Yiqu for state affairs. Empress Dowager Xuan sacrificed her appearance to win over Yiqu for many years, allowing the Qin State to have no worries and free up its hands to strengthen the country's power and establish a strong position among the vassal states.
The battles were endless and there were many gains. King Qin Zhao knew about this and even acquiesced in it: "The matter of Yiqu is urgent, so I will invite the Queen Mother. Now that the matter of Yiqu is over, I can take charge of it!"
However, Zhao Ji wanted to rebel against Lao Ai purely for her own lust, so Qin Shihuang did not show mercy at all.
Gongsun Bailu said again: "But my great father Zhong is not like that. He just wants to be a Rong man. He will continue to take Yiqu as his surname, braid his hair in military uniforms, wear his hair in left lapels, lead his people to move livestock, eat meat and drink cheese."
One stem bears two fruits, which also represents the two lifestyles of Northland County.
Heifu knew this, so after three generations, the Gongsun family had reached the title of Duke Dafu, and Gongsun Bailu even became the county captain of a neighboring county. By virtue of his family's status as a "distant clan relative", he had more official positions than ordinary Rong people.
trust.
"Before my grandfather passed away, he warned my father, uncles, etc. to dig graves and bury them according to the customs of the Qin people, and not to follow the customs of Yiqu and Qiang Rong and burn their ashes. He also said that if you want to establish a foothold in the north,
You will surely make meritorious deeds, win titles, and be granted more land, but nomads will perish!"
Hei Fu was a little surprised by the knowledge of Grandpa Gongsun. After questioning, Gongsun Bailu told him the reason.
"My eldest father was once the supervisor of the pastoral garden. He discovered that a family that relied on livestock production needed five to ten hectares of woodland and pasture. In the event of rain or snow disasters, they might have to move to survive. And a family of five needs to manage the farmland.
With a hundred acres, you can have enough food and clothing."
"However, the number of immigrants from Guanzhong is increasing day by day, and they are all over the Jingshui River and muddy water. The land in Beidi County is limited. Although not many people move in every year, in the long run, where will there be so much open space for the Rong people to graze?"
"What your great father said is true!"
Hei Fu nodded and expressed his deep agreement. This is a simple economic question, and it is also a multiple-choice question faced by all the people in Beidi County, and even on the "Longmen-Jieshi" dividing line between agriculture and animal husbandry:
“To feed the same population, the land required for animal husbandry is dozens or even hundreds of times larger than that for farming!”
