A group of people are riding horses, driving slowly over the endless wilderness. Judging from the way these people are dressed, they don’t look like people from the Central Plains. They have strange hairstyles and no hats. This is the look of the Donghu people.
There were probably less than a hundred of these Donghu people, with a group of knights at the front and back, and some carriages in the middle. The carriages were loaded with goods. This scene was not uncommon in this land.
The Donghu people are different from the Huns. Due to the differentiation between tribes, they have long-term trade relations with Yan and Zhao. The Donghu people sell horses, livestock, fur products, and rare treasures that are not found in the Central Plains to Yan and Zhao.
Of course, what they exchanged was silk and other items, and sometimes they also exchanged grain and seeds. The smelting technology of the Donghu people was actually not backward.
From many archaeological discoveries, we know that the ancient peoples in the Northeast began to use iron tools very early. As we know, the smelting technology of the Khitan people is very advanced. The Khitan rulers’ attention and respect for iron tools is rare. They even made
The development of smelting technology in Khitan, the iron smelting center, can be said to be inspired by two aspects. The first is the Bohai Sea. The smelting technology in the Bohai Sea was very developed in the Tang Dynasty and had sufficient iron ore resources.
The origin of the development of Khitan iron smelting technology seems to have started after they conquered the Shiwei people. The Shiwei people who officially appeared in the Northern Wei Dynasty are also an ancient ethnic group in the Northeast. As for their origin, some Dingling survivors currently say,
(Xianbei) There are different theories such as the theory of descendants of Donghu, Sushen theory, and self-development theory. Based on the analysis of historical data, it should be correct that their main body is derived from Donghu.
The unearthed iron artifacts seem to prove this in disguise. The smelting technology of the Donghu people appeared a little later than that of the Central Plains. It was probably introduced from the Central Plains, and then developed its own characteristics. This is different from the Xiongnu. The smelting technology of the Xiongnu
The technology may have come from Central Asia. Zhang Qian went on a mission to the Western Regions and brought back some iron forging technology. The Xiongnu had contact with them earlier. It is difficult to say whether their smelting technology was spread from Central Asia.
A long time ago, historians have always believed that the smelting technology of the Xiongnu was very backward. It was not until many cultural relics were unearthed that everyone was surprised to find that the smelting technology of the Xiongnu was also good. Iron smelting appeared earlier in the Middle East, West Asia and other places. Technology, my country's iron-smelting technology appeared relatively late, and bronze ware has long been the mainstream. When the Han Dynasty opened up ties with foreign countries and began active cultural exchanges and common development, the Xiongnu's smelting technology seemed to lag behind.
The Donghu people's caravan this time is a little different from before. First of all, they don't look like merchants. The knights in front and behind are all riding horses of the same color, carrying the same weapons, and neat leather armor.
, there are even flags, which is very surprising, but they don’t wear helmets. The Donghu people don’t have such a habit. Their troops try to be simple and don’t want to carry too much weight.
Judging from their clothes, they are not ordinary caravans.
After they drove forward for some distance, the shouts of soldiers appeared in the distance. Soon, they saw several simple "Great Walls" not far away. That thing cannot be called the Great Wall, it can only be said to be
As the soil piled up, some soldiers drew their crossbows and pointed them in their direction. There were probably several thousand in number. It could be seen that they were very nervous. The Donghu people were led by a middle-aged man with a big beard.
young man.
He raised his hand to indicate that he was not carrying weapons, and shouted in Yan language that was not very fluent: "We are here to pay homage to King Yan! We are the envoys of King Donghu!" He shouted like this, far away.
Among the soldiers, a general popped up, looked at the people in front of him seriously, and then shouted: "Dismount! Come over here!" The bearded man immediately looked at the first young man behind him.
, the young man calmly prepared to dismount, and when the others saw this scene, they also dismounted one after another.
Soon, the Donghu people led their horses and walked to the front of the city wall. The general and his soldiers surrounded them. He raised his head and looked at the bearded man in front of him. He asked: "Who are you?"
"I am the Prime Minister of King Donghu, and my name is Li."
"In?", the general asked in confusion: "Natsuko?"
"Yes." The bearded man hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said. The general looked at his face. He didn't look like Natsuko at all. However, he didn't go into details. He asked Li about the purpose of coming here.
Li smiled and said: "I came to see King Yan on the order of King Donghu." The general frowned and asked: "Our country and Donghu have never had any friendship."
"We are neighbors, how can we say we have no friendship?" Li said, taking out some gold from his arms and about to give it to the general. The general hesitated for a moment and said righteously: "Please give it to me.
Put these things away, you are humiliating me! I will ask someone to send you to Xinyan City!", the general said, waved his hand, and the soldiers came forward and motioned these people to continue moving forward.
Prepared gifts.
There were some sickly young people following behind, but they glanced at the general a few more times, and then left with the knights.
The general stood in the distance and sent away these Donghu people. The deputy general beside him said helplessly: "General, that piece of gold can be exchanged for dozens of miles of land. We have received many gifts in the past. Why don't you accept it this time?"
?", the general looked at the Donghu people who were leaving, and said seriously: "If I accept his gift, Yan State will definitely be looked down upon by these barbarians. Although Yan State gave up the land of its ancestors and came here, but we
We are different from them. I would rather starve to death than embarrass Yan State!"
Under the guard of the soldiers, the Donghu envoy rushed towards the royal city of Yan State. He asked in a low voice in Donghu language: "My king, you can take a few steps back and walk in the middle and back. If something happens, you can tell me."
You can also leave in time”
"How can we see clearly when we are standing at the back? The reason why I want to come with you is to see the situation here with my own eyes. You don't have to worry, King Yan will never hurt us.", the sickly young man
The man said with a smile.
After Yan Wangdan escaped from Liaodong, he originally wanted to defect to North Korea, but later he discovered that the Zhao people had arrived first and had already destroyed North Korea. The so-called North Korea country did not even have any place to occupy, no cities, no houses, and no farmland.
The technology was not as good as the Xiongnu Donghu, and the nomadic technology was not as good as the other countries in the Central Plains, so Yan and Zhao began to build cities here. The two sides originally wanted to build a city together, but because there were two kings, it was not suitable, so they built two cities separately.
.
The two cities are not far apart. In this foreign land, they still need to stay together and fight against the enemy. At the same time, they have captured a lot of indigenous people, opened up farmland around them, domesticated livestock, and prepared to build a city here.
The new Yan State and Zhao State. Because the Yan State is close to here, more people and soldiers have escaped, while the Zhao State has made a lot of preparations, so it has brought out more supplies. Both sides need to cooperate.
At the same time, you must also be wary of the other party.
However, today, the relationship between the two countries is still very friendly. They were expelled by Qin, but they are the two most powerful forces on this peninsula. The culture of the indigenous people on the island is extremely backward, because today's Donghu is still
It was not defeated. After Donghu was defeated, the tribal alliance disbanded, several ancient ethnic groups came here, and the Yan people also fled here, which allowed the civilization here to start. It is really difficult to describe what it is like here today.
The two overlords appeared out of thin air, and soon swept away many surrounding tribes, integrated them, and began to develop the land here at a high speed, building cities, textiles, mining, smelting, etc. Donghu's envoys came to the capital of the Yan Kingdom.
The royal capital is also very simple. The height of the city wall is less than the height of two people, and it does not look very strong. However, it surrounds the city and has a city gate.
There are still many soldiers on the city wall. No one can stand on the city wall. There are steps-like supports behind the city wall. The soldiers stand behind the city wall and stretch out to fight. There are also many indigenous people outside the city.
Farming was being carried out under the supervision of Yan soldiers, and the Yan people directly used them as slaves. The Donghu people squinted their eyes and did not speak. They walked into the city gate, and there were more Yan people in the city.
Although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs, there is a market in the city, and there are children playing. It looks no different from the rural towns in the Central Plains. The people here seem to have forgotten the suffering, or are used to today's life. They still look like
It was relatively calm. King Donghu, who was hidden in the envoy group, looked at everything around him carefully, and didn't know what he was thinking. The houses in the city were also stylish, and several old men could be seen sitting together and chatting.
.
After development, the land here is still relatively suitable for farming, and the minerals here are relatively rich, and the resources are not too poor. The Yan people are self-sufficient and do a good job. With so much free labor, the Yan country
If they keep going like this, maybe they can really develop a good country on the peninsula. They walked all the way to the gate of the palace. Everything was so simple, except for the palace, which looked impressive and cost a lot of money.
Even the palace wall looked stronger than the city wall. It was impossible for all the Donghu envoys to go in, and King Yan had already known the news of their arrival. Under the leadership of the minister, the Donghu envoys left with three deputy envoys.
They entered the palace. The furnishings in the palace were quite impressive, much better than King Donghu's palace. They finally saw King Yan Dan.
Yan Wangdan looks a bit scary. He is pale, skinny, and bent over. He has no kingly demeanor at all. The high-spirited young man at the beginning has been destroyed long ago. He fled here by himself, but his heart is dead.
In the homeland of Yan State, he looked at the envoys in front of him with his slightly dull eyes. These people only felt that they were being stared at a little creepy, and the envoys came forward to pay homage.
"I came here to pay homage to King Yan on the order of King Donghu. King Yan is well?!" Li knew etiquette better. He bowed towards King Yan and paid homage. Dan, the King of Yan, sneered.
It was a bit harsh, and the appearance made it even more scary. Yan Wangdan's eyes widened and were filled with bloodshot eyes. He asked: "King Donghu asked you to come to see if the Yan Kingdom can be destroyed? Are you here to find out the news?
Yes?"
There was no trace of panic in him, and he said seriously: "Donghu has always been trading with the State of Yan. You have a very good relationship with the old king of Donghu. You often communicate through letters. Why should we attack the State of Yan? The State of Qin is what we have in common.
Enemy, the Qin people killed our old king, and Donghu vowed to take revenge. However, the Qin people are too powerful, and Donghu is no opponent. I came here this time to formulate an alliance with the Yan State."
"Covenant?" There was no color in Yan Wangdan's eyes. He looked at the Donghu people in front of him and asked: "What kind of covenant should be drawn up? Do you want Yan to surrender? That is impossible!"
"Of course not. Donghu is willing to work with Yan to resist Qin."
"What can't be resisted can't be resisted." Yan Wangdan just shook his head. He completely lost confidence and was already desperate for the future. The Donghu envoy couldn't help but frowned. He looked at the deputy envoys behind him and spoke again.
Said: "Donghu has enough soldiers. Our king has led us to defeat several enemies around him and is reorganizing his troops. However, we are still no match for Qin. We need the help of Yan."
"How can Yan Guo help you?"
"Knowledge, a lot of knowledge. Donghu can advance and retreat with the Yan State to protect the safety of the Yan State, and the Yan State needs to teach us the techniques it has mastered."
Yan Wangdan looked at the Donghu people in front of him, but did not speak, as if he was deep in thought, and said with a smile: "If you don't want to, I won't force you, we can go to Zhao Guo, the reason why we came to you first
, because the State of Yan has good relations with Donghu, so we came here. If you are not willing, I think the State of Zhao will not refuse our kindness. I heard that King Zhao is very ambitious and has been sending troops to attack the surrounding areas.
tribe, when it becomes strong, I think there will be no place for Yan to escape."
At that moment, Yan Wangdan's face became even paler. He trembled, picked up the wine cup in front of him, and drank it in one sip, "Are you threatening me? How can I believe that you will really come to help Yan?"
The people of the country never believe those verbal promises.”
"We can send enough livestock in exchange for things. We will send caravans to continue trade with Yan. At the same time, we hope that the Yan people can also come to Donghu's land to trade. We will ensure the safety of these people. At the same time,
"We also need craftsmen, scholars, and generals. We don't need you to give them to us. You just need to lend them to us for a period of time."
Yan Wangdan looked a little moved. He hesitated for a long time, nodded, and said: "Okay, let's fulfill your promise first. Yan country does not need livestock, we need seeds, farm tools, and iron."
"good!"
Li readily agreed, but the young man standing behind him had his head lowered at the moment, a smile on his face, but his eyes were full of disdain.
ps: Lao Lang originally thought that the Xiongnu and Donghu tribes did not have iron tools and their smelting technology was backward, so he misdescribed them in the previous article. However, a classmate who is engaged in archeology corrected my mistake and let me see a lot of cultural relics and artifacts.
Information, well, Lao Lang was wrong. These people are indeed good at smelting iron, and their skills are not low. So are the Huns. Why do they still use bones when they clearly have iron tools? Isn’t this deliberately misleading writers like Lao Lang?
