In the thirty-third year of the First Emperor of Qin, in the month of Mengchun, Xianyang in the north was still warm and then cold, and the snow had not yet melted. However, the land of Xiou, thousands of miles away in the south, was still lush with greenery.
The mountains here are not high but there are many, towering between rivers and lakes, surrounded by dense forests. It is the territory of birds and animals, and it is also the hunting ground of the Ouyue people.
Although Ouyue women have a high status, hunting is still exclusive to men. On the edge of the forest, hundreds of Ouyue men of short stature, bareheaded and barefoot gather together, either carrying bows and arrows, holding bamboo spears, or holding soil.
dog.
Surrounded by them, there was a bare-chested hunter with a ridged face and an upper body. He was slaughtering a piglet with his own hands. This was a sacrifice to the ancestral spirits to bless them with a good hunting harvest.
Adagu, a short man with short hair, held a bow and looked at his "Tebo" with admiration, that is, his father, translated as Xu Song, who was the leader of the Ouyue tribes.
However, when not fighting outsiders, the village and the tribe were under the control of the elderly "Du Lao". As the ruler, Yi Xusong was only responsible for leading the men to hunt for meat and to defend the village.
It has been passed down from generation to generation, and Yi Yusong will grow old one day, and Adagu will grow up and take over the bow in his hand!
But at least not now.
The Vietnamese ballad, which sounded like the words were stuck together, came from the mouth of translator Song.
"When hunting meat into the mountains, first light the torch. The fire will not go out all the way, and everyone has a keen eye; when hunting for prey's footprints, you will find them when you enter the mountains. Old footprints and new footprints can be distinguished at a glance. You can also see them when passing through grass and stone slabs.
You can see it when you climb up a tree, you can see it when you flow through water. No matter how you fly, you can't escape my sight."
"Tracking and running fast is like flying with wings. If you shoot accurately at the pass, the gods will guide the arrow. If you shoot it, the arrow will pierce. Boil water at home and wait for it, so that the meal is not wasted. Anyone who passes by will have a share, everyone.
Only then can I feel at ease.”
"Everyone you meet on the road will share in it, and everyone will feel at ease!"
Hundreds of people repeated this sentence loudly and shared it. This is one of the reasons why Ouyue is respected by all Yue tribes and likes to find their leader to preside over disputes. Unlike the South Vietnamese who like to use headhunting to sacrifice blood to the gods, and even cannibalize human flesh.
, the gods of Ouyue are much gentler.
"Adagu."
Before entering the forest, Yi Xusong's son called over and handed him a young man with cut-off hair and a pursed mouth.
"You take Amozai with you."
Amozai is also a Yue, but not an Ouyue. He comes from the "Gui Kingdom" in the north. Under the terrible oppression of the "Qin", the tribe became fragmented, and the leader also died in the battle. The elders had no choice but to
He gave up his ancestral land and took the remaining troops to seek refuge in Ouyue.
The elders of Ouyue all believed that these panicked neighbors should not be admitted as they would consume Ouyue's food and hunting grounds. The wizard also used chicken divination to believe that these people would bring disaster to Ouyue.
However, the translation of Song Dynasty was against all opinions.
"Gui Guo is also a descendant of Buluo Tuo and is one of the Twelve Kingdoms. Many years ago, when Ouyue suffered a disaster, Gui Guo helped us. A few years ago, we even made a blood oath to help each other. Now Gui Guo has
Difficult, how could Ouyue ignore it?"
The "guo" here is not a country, but a name for clan and tribe in the Yue language. However, no matter what, the power of the ruler is very great at critical times. Ouyue finally accepted the remnants of the Gui Kingdom.
The translator asked Song to hope that Ouyue could regard the people of Gui as clansmen, and specifically asked his son to take care of Amozai, who had lost his father and his home.
But Adagu was a little unhappy. This Amozai had a pair of thin arms, and he might not be able to pull the bow and be a good assistant to him. But since Tebo had orders, he could only agree.
Before entering the forest, Adagu also repeatedly warned Amozai: "Be careful when walking, don't step on any frogs!"
Seeing the confusion on Amozai's face, Adagu explained that frogs cannot be stepped on because frogs are the gods of Ouyue.
"The governor and wizards of Gui Kingdom have never told you about "Buluotuo"?"
Amozai was a little embarrassed: "I told you, but I didn't listen carefully. I only remembered the things about Gui Kingdom and didn't know about other tribes."
Adagu's sense of superiority was even greater. He was still far away from the hunting ground in the deep forest, so he told Amozai about the "Twelve Kingdoms" of the Yue people.
"Buluotuo" is an epic poem by the Yue people in Lingnan. "Bu" is the honorific title of a very prestigious old man, "Luo" means knowing, knowing, and "Tuo" means many and creating. "Buluotuo" is
"The First Ancestor", he is also the earliest ancestor of the Yue people.
Legend has it that after the creation of the world, the universe was divided into three realms: upper, middle and lower. Thunder King was in charge of the upper realm, Buluotuo was in charge of the middle realm, and the dragon (crocodile) was in charge of the lower realm. Later, when all things on the earth were majestic and human beings prospered, Buluotuo and Lei
The king discussed and divided the world into 12 kingdoms.
"In one country, a dragon turns into an ox, in another country there are hornets, in another country the sound is like a frog, in another country the sound is like a sheep, in another country the fish turns into a dragon..."
Adagu still remembers Du Lao's words. This country that "sounds like a frog" is Ouyue.
It is said that the frog is the son of the God of Thunder. He was sent to the human world to jump among the weeds and let Ouyue follow it to find rice that could be planted. The frog also helped the Ouyue people drive away pests, so that their rice fields had a bumper harvest and their population increased.
Therefore, Ouyue worshiped frogs, and the large bronze drums they cast were mostly decorated with three-dimensional frog images. It can be said that frogs were their totem...
"So that's it."
After finishing speaking, Adagu was even more proud when he saw Amozi, who was slightly younger than him, looking at him with admiration.
"Ouyue people are not only good at hunting, but also good at growing rice. My name is Dagu, which means rice. Your name is Mozi, what does it mean?"
Ah is a name for a young man. As long as he is underage, he must add Ah before the title. There are also many different slangs and sayings among different tribes of the Yue people, so not all words are the same.
Amozai explained that his name, moz, means scalper.
"The god of the Gui Kingdom is the Yellow Ox, so it is also called the Yellow Ox Department."
Amozai's voice gradually became lower. Just like the Ouyue people cannot step on frogs, scalpers cannot be killed in their tribe. But when they fled in a hurry, they could only release the old scalper into the mountains. I wonder if it could escape.
Can you survive?
But compared to those tribesmen who were deceived by merchants or kidnapped by the Qin army, scalpers died happily even if they were killed by wolves.
"Cattle Department."
Adagu nodded. As far as he knew, among the Twelve Kingdoms, there was also a buffalo tribe south of Ouyue. Although it was still an independent tribe, it was willing to listen to Ouyue in everything because Ouyue could help them resist.
Luo Yue, South Vietnam.
Baiyue in Lingnan used to be the Bird Clan who claimed to be the "eldest son of the God of Thunder", that is, Luo Yue was the strongest. Secondly, there were the South Vietnamese who worshiped "Jiao" and liked to have dragon scales tattooed all over their bodies.
But now, Luo Yue has declined, and an "Elephant Tribe" has been separated. The Buffalo Tribe and Fish Tribe, which once surrendered, have also betrayed them. South Vietnam is currently divided, and various internal settlements are headhunting each other.
However, it was Ou Yue, who used frogs as a totem and mainly cultivated rice, to come from behind and become the most powerful.
Therefore, Adagu dared to pat his chest and boast to Amozai, saying that the scalpers had defected to Ouyue, and his Tebo would definitely keep them safe.
But instead of making Amozai happy, his words made him look worried, as if he was recalling his experiences before and after his escape.
"But I have always said that all the mountains, all the forests, and all the Yue tribes in the settlements are not as powerful as Qin!"
…
The whistling gradually fell silent, and the birds fell back into the forest again. The hunting ended successfully, perhaps thanks to the translation of a few hunting songs from Song Dynasty. The Ouyue hunters returned with their loads, and several large wild boars were carried on bamboo poles for the hunters.
Smiling from ear to ear.
Adagu was not bad either. Although he was young, he was very powerful. He shot two civets to death. What surprised him even more was Amozai. Although he was not good at archery, he was good at blowing arrows, but he could only blow ten steps.
, you must ensure that you approach quietly.
"It's still not accurate enough."
After using this skill to kill several birds and three rabbits, Amozai was not at all happy and muttered: "The arrows I blew out couldn't penetrate the Qin people's scales at all."
"Scales like dragons", this is what Amozai calls the Qin people's armor, because the Yue people don't wear armor, even when fighting, they wear it on their upper bodies.
In Lingnan, copperware is very valuable. It is either used to cast bronze drums and worship ancestors, or it must be used by the best warriors in the tribe. He, an underage child with "A" in front of his name, is not qualified at all and can only cut it himself.
Bamboo arrow.
After two days of hunting, the two teenagers had become familiar with each other, but Adagu was shocked by the experiences Amozai told.
Amozai said that their tribe was close to the border of the Qin people and had tall buildings made of earth and stone.
In the beginning, there were only occasional Qin merchants who came to trade, bringing goods from the Central Plains and exchanging local specialties. The two sides were relatively harmonious.
But gradually, the merchants were no longer interested in general goods, and they began to encourage the Gui State to help plunder people from neighboring tribes, so that the merchants could buy them at high prices.
The princes and elders of the Gui Kingdom did not agree, but in the settlements below, there were young princes who were greedy for the goods of the Qin people and were doing this quietly.
"I know."
Adagu nodded. It must have happened two or three years ago. Several settlements in Gui State went too far and plundered Ouyue. After receiving reports from surrounding small settlements, Yi asked Song to personally bring thousands of warriors there and attack them.
Drive away the intruders.
They also met with Du Lao, the ruler of the Gui Kingdom, at the river bordering the two tribes, and made a blood oath to become brothers. They would never prey on each other again. When one party was in trouble, the other party would also help.
But after that, the Qin people's oppression of the Yue people became increasingly frequent. The merchants no longer entered the country in large numbers, but brought dozens or hundreds of soldiers armed to the teeth. They marched along the river and explored Changsha County.
In the southern mountainous area, they attacked tribes that were unwilling to pay tribute to Qin, either by trapping them or by force, and if they encountered resistance, they would massacre them.
Over the past few years, the Yue tribes in the Changsha County plains were either plundered and wiped out, fled into the mountains and forests, or came to Ouyue and South Vietnam.
After the Yue people in Changsha County became difficult to capture, the Qin people once again turned their attention to Gui State and sent envoys to force Gui State to surrender to Qin like the small Yue tribe further north.
Gui Guo agreed, bowed himself to the throne, and sent Amobi's elder brother to the border as a hostage. Every year, he presented chicken feathers, bamboos and other items to the Qin people, which were not too heavy.
But later, Qin officials intensified their efforts and began to ask Gui for people to serve in the army. However, those who went there in the first year never came back...
"There are not many people in Qin, so what else do we need?"
Adagu still couldn't understand. According to Amobi, there were more Qin people in just one small border town than in the entire Gui Kingdom tribe.
"Be a slave."
A Mo Zai said: "Some people who fled for refuge said that after the Qin people captured the Yue people, they took them to the inland and planted black sweet bamboos. Those sweet bamboos grow everywhere and produce red roots, which are sweeter than honey.
Sweet, Qin merchants used this red sweet root to trick greedy Yue people into going to the city, and then turned them into slaves!"
"Sweet bamboo? Red roots?"
Adagu couldn't imagine what it was.
"The elders said that it was watered with human blood, that's why it's so red."
Amozai pointed at Adagu's big toe with his bamboo spear again: "In order to prevent the Yue people from escaping, the Qin people also chopped off their left toes. This did not affect their work, but they could no longer run fast."
In just a few years, the Qin people captured tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Yue slaves from all over the south, including Changsha, Yuzhang, and Kuaiji!
Because he was afraid that if he agreed to the Qin people's request, all the tribesmen would become slaves, Amozi's father, the king of Gui, refused the request and drove the Qin people out.
I thought that their settlement was located deep in the mountains, blocked by water, and very safe. But then came the Qin army's invasion, saying that the Gui State was "rebellious". Under the leadership of several princes who surrendered to Qin,
Killed directly to their main settlement.
When talking about these things, Amozai's teeth were chattering. The battle was fierce, but the Yue people's bows and arrows could not penetrate the Qin people's thick scales, and the Qin people's weapons were as sharp as the fangs of a dragon.
It is sharp and can easily tear apart the bodies of Yue warriors.
Finally, the fire spread through the settlement, and Amozai's father left behind a small family, while Du Lao took the remaining tribesmen into the mountains and migrated south...
This is the story of the fall of Guibu.
Adagu was stunned, but at this moment, everyone walking out of the forest heard the deep sound of drums!
Ouyue, or Xiou, is actually just a tribal alliance. All the tribes established by the descendants who believe in the frog god call themselves Ou and are scattered over hundreds of miles. They have no cities, only settlements, and the largest settlement is also a place for worship.
The place where the ancestor spirits and frog gods live is this place called "Bandagu".
Dagu is rice and Ban is field. There is a huge settlement of thousands of people living in it. The outside is covered by mountains and dense forests, and its surroundings are opened up into vast rice fields. Women work in the fields and men are responsible for hunting.
After hearing the sound of the bronze drum, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked towards the direction of the settlement. The bronze drum was a sacred instrument. Whenever it was sounded, it was either a sacrifice or a meeting to discuss important matters.
Translator Song also immediately called Adagu and the others, asking him, who was fast on his feet, to run back to the tribe to see what was going on.
Adagu was barefoot, but he was walking swiftly on the rice field path. Amozi followed closely behind him, and the crickets in the grass were frightened by them.
When the two of them approached the gate of Muzhai Village, they saw a shocking scene.
Jie Jun, who was responsible for guarding the village, had already led hundreds of people out, armed with wooden spears, bows and arrows, aiming at a group of uninvited guests.
It should be a caravan from the Qin people, but the difference from before is that this time, there are many more soldiers wearing armor in the caravan, and the leader is wearing black clothes with long sleeves, constantly wiping his forehead.
Khan's official son.
When the Qin officials glanced at the naked Yue people, there was a lot of contempt in their eyes, and they were still talking loudly in Qin language.
Every time he said something, the Yue man who looked like a translator on the side would translate for him: "The Changsha Shou Tu of the Great Qin Dynasty sent an official to see the Lord of Xiou!"
"It's the envoy of the Qin people!"
Just when he saw those people, Amozai's footsteps behind him stopped. Adagu could hear his angry voice mixed with fear, as if he was a deer that had just escaped from birth and saw a deer chasing him in the forest.