Six hundred miles away from Yanglecheng (Yixian, Liaoning), the capital of western Liaoning, deep in the grassland, there is a red mountain range, which is called "Ulan Hada" in Donghu dialect.
Ulan is red, Hada means mountain peak, Ulan Hada is Chifeng!
At the foot of Chifeng is Donghu's base camp. A huge cairn stands here. The yak tail flag planted on it casts a long shadow on the rippling blue grassland, framing the scenery of the red mountains in the distance.
Surrounding the cairn are countless felt tents, with the doors opening eastward toward the direction of the rising sun. It is now the time of sunrise, and the dew on the grass blades has not yet evaporated. Donghu people, regardless of gender, old or young, Then he walked out of the tent and knelt down towards Chishan, his eyes full of admiration.
According to the legend of the Donghu people, in ancient times, the goddess in the sky accidentally knocked over the rouge box and spread the rouge on the mountain, resulting in the appearance of nine red peaks. The goddess was punished by the sky and came to earth.
Here, she met Rao Le Shui Bo, and the two gods combined to create the Donghu tribe. Therefore, the Donghu people have always regarded Rao Le Shui (Xilamulun River) as their father and Chishan as their mother.
In the classics, the records of Donghu in the Central Plains are also very early. As early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, when Zhao Gong went north to conquer Yan, some Donghu tribes paid "yellow grain" as tribute to the Zhou Dynasty. However, at that time, the relationship between Donghu and the Xia Dynasty There was also a Shanrong in between. After Duke Huan of Qi defeated the Shanrong in his northern expedition, the Donghu tribe multiplied and then gradually moved southward into the Shanrong's former homeland, which was the north of Yan.
At that time, Donghu was still a divided and loose tribe, with dozens of towns scattered across the vast grassland.
The leaders of the towns are not inherited from generation to generation. Whoever is the bravest and strongest and can make decisive decisions in fighting, litigation and other matters will be elected as the leader of the town. Dozens of blood-related towns form a tribe and then elect the leader. A big leader occupies a grassland of more than a hundred miles.
However, in order to compete with their neighbors on the grassland, the Xiongnu, the various tribes of the Donghu began to unite together and elect the most powerful tribal leader as King Donghu. People in the Central Plains called him so, but according to the rules of the Donghu, he should be called "adult".
With Queen Donghu, Donghu becomes more powerful. Although he usually lives in pursuit of water and grass and eats meat and cheese, when the cattle and sheep in the grassland die of illness, or the water and grass are not rich enough, Donghu will become more powerful under the leadership of King Donghu. They attacked the surrounding tribal states in groups and plundered their food and population.
This kind of robbery usually concentrated in autumn and winter, and the Yi and Hui people in Liaodong region suffered so much that they had no choice but to surrender to Donghu.
However, Yan State, one of the Seven Heroes, was not so good-tempered. During the reign of King Yan Zhao, Qin Kai was ordered to sneak into Donghu as a hostage. After figuring out the details of Donghu's fighting methods, Qin Kai led the Yan army to defeat Donghu, seize Liaodong, and expand the territory thousands of miles away. , and built the Yan Great Wall to drive Donghu back to the grassland.
Four generations have passed since the great defeat. After the new generation of King Donghu was elected as the "adult", he encountered two golden opportunities.
The first one is that the Xiongnu were severely damaged by the Qin Dynasty. Maodun killed his father and established himself as a chanyu, and fled to Mobei. So Donghu openly took over the eastern territory of the Xiongnu, and together with the tribesmen, he even forced Maodun to pay tribute to Donghu every year. tribute.
Second, the mighty Qin Dynasty also collapsed. The heroes of Yan and Zhao continued to rebel, and the garrison soldiers in Yuyang and Youbeiping rose up to resist the Qin officials.
Taking advantage of the chaos in the Central Plains, King Donghu made a bold decision:
"Over the Wall!"
After the beginning of spring, all the Donghu tribes held a meeting in Raoleshui, and immediately went south in large numbers. They were good at riding and shooting, and almost everyone had soldiers. They initially achieved great results:
The areas north of Yanshan in Yuyang and Youbeiping counties were all occupied. The local warlord Zang Tu did not dare to be an enemy of the Donghu people, so he withdrew all the population to the interior, gave up hundreds of miles of territory, and allowed the immigrant villages and farmland to become Donghu people again.
's pasture.
However, during the subsequent attacks on Liaodong and Western Liaoning, the Donghu people encountered unexpected resistance.
A man who claimed to be a prince of the Qin Dynasty, with a group of soldiers covered with chilblains, gave the Donghu herdsmen a heavy blow at the foot of Xiangping City. He then organized the native Liaodong natives who were good at riding horses to attack northward, and attacked them all the way.
Donghu rushed back to the front line of the Great Wall...
The Hu people have always bullied the weak and feared the strong. Since Liaodong is difficult to conquer, let's go to Liaoxi.
Unexpectedly, the prince refused to give up and led his soldiers to attack Liaodong, relieving the difficulties in Yangle City and severely damaging King Donghu's troops at Bailangshui (Daling River).
Although the Donghu are good at riding and shooting, their armored soldiers are still different from those in the Central Plains. Otherwise, they would not have been beaten to death by Yan, who was at the bottom of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period. When the residents of western Liaoning and eastern Liaoning got weapons and were organized, the Hu people would not be able to get any favors.
fruit.
Seeing that eastern Liaoning and western Liaoning were not easy to attack, and the plundered population and property were sufficient, King Donghu withdrew his troops and returned to Chishan...
However, counting the number of people, it turned out that this was Donghu's heaviest loss since Qin Kai defeated Donghu. Thousands of tribal warriors fell in Bailangshui, and it was with great difficulty that they recovered their bodies.
Just like the Central Plains people in Kanto believe that their souls will return to Mount Tai after their death, the Donghu people also believe that after everyone dies, their souls will also gather in Chishan, and those who died in war will be placed on the top of the mountain to return to the goddess mother
's embrace.
Their funeral method is very special. They put the body in a coffin and have a mourning and crying ceremony. But when it comes to burial, they send it off with singing and dancing.
Every household should keep a fat dog, preferably a black dog, which should be led with a colored rope and burned together with the horse and clothes of the deceased. This means that the dog should escort the soul of the deceased back.
Chishan.
So at this moment, thousands of fires were burning around Chishan, and the smell of roasted dog meat filled the air...
King Donghu sniffed, but refused the indignant leaders who requested to launch another attack on western and eastern Liaoning to avenge these dead people.
"It's not urgent to go to Bailangshui for revenge. There are more important things to do now!"
King Donghu knew very well that although the prosperous cities in the Central Plains were attractive, the grassland was the foundation of Donghu.
With the decline of the Xiongnu and the demise of the Yuezhi, the Donghu are now the most powerful tribe on the grassland. The strong have always bullied the weak in the grassland. King Donghu often takes advantage of the fire to rob and force the Xiongnu to surrender. Every year in the summer, the Xiongnu have to send
When the skins of cattle, horses, and sheep came over, but they were out of date, the Donghu blatantly detained the Xiongnu women...
Now it’s the time of year when the Huns come to pay tribute. King Donghu and the Xiongnu Chanyu Maodun agreed to meet in Outuo. This time, in addition to livestock hides, King Donghu asked for Maodun’s Yan family and BMW...
…
Marriage robbery is a custom of the Donghu people. If you don't get a wife by robbery, you won't be able to hold your head in the town. They will first snatch women from other tribes to live together. Sometimes after half a year or hundreds of days, they will give the woman a gift.
Get rid of cattle, horses, sheep and other livestock as betrothal gifts - if it is a Xiongnu woman or a Central Plains woman, she will only be used as a slave.
It is better to snatch women away, and King Donghu is also a fan of this method.
"If Mao Dun doesn't offer it, I will crush Shan Yuting. If Mao Dun does it, he will be looked down upon by all his subordinates. If I kill him again then, one hundred thousand Huns will be renamed Donghu!"
After burning the dogs and sending the souls of the tribesmen who died in the battle to Chishan, King Donghu immediately ordered his tribesmen to set off westward, and also ordered:
"The defeat in Liaodong and Liaoxi must not be spread to the Huns!"
"Let's go to Outuo first, collect the tribute from Maodun, wait until the horse is fat in the autumn, and then go south to western Liaoning and eastern Liaoning, and cut off the head of the prince of Qin Dynasty!"
…
After learning the news of the retreat of the Donghu people, Yanglecheng, the capital of western Liaoning, has become a sea of celebration.
More than a month ago, Yangle City was surrounded by Hu cavalry and was on the verge of collapse. At the time of crisis, it was Prince Fusu who led the Haidong garrison to defeat the enemy.
Defeated Dong Hu on the White Wolf River and killed more than two thousand Hulu.
This was an exciting victory. Now there was no felt tent left in the north of Bailangshui. The locals finally did not have to worry about going out to farm a field because they, their wives and daughters would be captured by the horsemen.
The scouts sent to distant places even reported that the entire Donghu tribe had begun to leave Chishan, their home base, and march westward.
The danger was temporarily lifted. As a result, the heads of Guizhou in eastern Liaoning and western Liaoning were extremely grateful to Fusu. The eldest son's prestige reached its peak in the two Liaos...
But amidst all the cheers and praises, Liu Dabeard, who was promoted to commander because of his meritorious service in the Battle of Bailangshui, expressed his concerns to Fusu in private.
"Young Master, although the heads of Liaodong and Western Guizhou are grateful to you for repelling the Hu people and saving them, they are indigenous people. I am afraid that not many people are willing to return to the Central Plains with you. On the contrary, the Haidong garrison soldiers have been in the water in the past few months.
We went into the fire, suffered many scars, and lost nearly a thousand people. We didn't have time to think about it when we resisted the barbarians, but afterwards, the robes complained a lot."
"The morale of the garrison soldiers is indeed a bit unstable..."
Fusu also noticed this situation, and it was his decision to stay in the two Liaos to resist the barbarians. Although it was justified in principle, in the final analysis, it did not benefit the garrison soldiers at all.
Liu Ji had recently been favored by Fusu and took the opportunity to say: "When they first left Haidong, the soldiers had a simple idea and just went home. But now, after paying so much, just listening to the praises of the Liao people cannot satisfy them.
."
Fusu looked at Liu Ji and said, "I never delay my reward."
Liu Ji said with a smile: "Yes, the young master distributed all the food and money and silk rewards presented by the two Liaos to everyone, but kept nothing for himself. But these can only satisfy the desires of the pawns!"
"As for Sima, the leader, the five hundred masters, well, including me, Liu Ji."
Old Liu patted his chest very generously and did not hesitate to stay out of the matter: "After following the general and winning two battles, and occupying the territory of the two Liao Dynasties, what we want is not just that simple! Master, you must not ignore it.
!”
What do the officers want? To be listed as a prince, or even to split the soil and seal the territory, this is human nature.
But now Fusu is still only called son and general. What does this make the people below think?
"Liu Ji, you are an honest person and are willing to tell the truth to me."
Fusu was silent for a while, nodded and said, "I know it."
But Fusu still underestimated people's desires and did not expect how quickly things would develop.
He didn't even expect how courageous Liu Ji would be...
At night, when Fusu went to inspect the military camp again, although he suffered a lot of losses, his troops were not less than when he left Haidong. Instead, Liaodong and western Guizhou were invaded, and the people were still warriors, each with three or four thousand soldiers.
People joined, and within a short time, Fusu had tens of thousands of people under his command.
Fusu then entered the depths of the camp and saw the officers and soldiers standing in the court with their swords exposed, their faces solemn, as if they had been prepared.
"Wait, this is..."
Fusu was surprised, but Liu Ji was behind him. General Gao Cheng had already prepared a red and black crown with twelve chapters embroidered on Fusu and put it on Fusu!
Before Fusu could react, thousands of garrison soldiers, led by Liu Ji and others, bowed to Fusu, and the mountains roared and the ground shook:
"The First Emperor has passed away. Hu Hai should not be installed. The one who should be installed is the eldest son. There is no one in the world today. I hope that the son will succeed to the throne!"