In the middle of the night, the Su family's ancestral house was an old house, and it was at the foot of the mountain, so it was very gloomy at the moment.
It is the season of chilly spring, and the cold wind outside the window is blowing.
Cao Mian was not very courageous when he was a child. At night, Cao Yusheng often frightened him with stories of various monsters.
Until one time the child was frightened and had a high fever for days, Cao Yusheng felt distressed, and never told such stories again.
Later, Cao Mian learned of the existence of Liemen, and gradually discovered that the stories his father told him when he was a child were all true.
They are all recorded in "Kyushu Foreign Objects", and my father just made a little artistic processing.
So at this moment, seeing Cao Yusheng's expression, Cao Mian was in a daze for a while, as if he felt that he had returned to his childhood.
The feeling of anticipation and fear came to my mind unconsciously.
But he still grew up after all, Cao Mian sucked the cigarette butt in his hand hard, choked out the cigarette, and listened attentively.
"The prey that Lin Shuo and the others are facing this time should be the Dover Demon." Cao Yusheng said in a low voice, "Cao Mian, the name Dover Demon, do you think it sounds a bit strange? ?”
"That's right." Cao Mian nodded, "Whether it's the snake hook, the mountain king, or the white-headed flying corpse, the names of these strange creatures all have obvious Chinese traditional elements. We Chinese discovered and named it first.
The Dover Devil is a bit strange.
From the word structure, the word devil should determine the nature of this thing.
It is a demon, or rather, it is understood as a demon by those who know its existence.
But the word devil itself is a foreign word, not native to China.
And 'Dover' is even more strange, these two words should be attributives, used to modify, limit or explain the two words 'demon'.
But Buddhas and demons are two religious systems in themselves, and it is difficult to mix them together at ordinary times.
So I speculate that the word Dover may be a transliteration.
When this name was spread to China, it was pronounced like this, so it was recorded as these two characters. "
After listening to Cao Mian's analysis, Cao Yusheng nodded: "The analysis is good.
The Dover demon first appeared in the records of our hunting gate during the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty, that is, when Tang Xuanzong was in power.
The first few years of Datang Tianbao was the most prosperous period of the Tang Dynasty.
Gao Xianzhi, a famous general of the Tang Dynasty, conquered Tubo, Xiaobolu, Cheshi, and Shi in the Western Regions. During this period, he was granted the four envoys of Anxi.
And with Gao Xianzhi's continuous conquests, the influence of Datang in the Western Regions, which is now around Central Asia, has also reached the peak in Chinese history.
By the way, do you know where Stone Country is now? "
Cao Mian shook his head: "I don't know."
"It's where Lin Shuo and the others stayed tonight, the current capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent," Cao Yusheng said.
"Oh." Cao Mian said, "What a coincidence?"
"It's not a coincidence, but this thing was originally there." Cao Yusheng continued, "When Gao Xianzhi conquered the Shi Kingdom, the king of the Shi Kingdom surrendered, and Gao Xianzhi also accepted the surrender.
As a result, General Gao probably felt that if he just accepted the surrender, the credit was not great enough, and the record was not brilliant enough, so he changed his mind.
Civilians, kill them all. King, take away. The property was looted.
In the first month of the tenth year of Tianbao, that is, AD 751, Gao Xianzhi entered the court and presented the captured king of Shi Kingdom in front of Tang Xuanzong.
As a result, he was awarded the Great General Youbayashi, and his reputation reached the peak of his life.
And the King of the Stone Kingdom was beheaded.
Cao Mian, what do you think of this matter? "
"It's not authentic," Cao Mian said, "but there's nothing wrong with it. Generals want military merit, which is caused by the system at that time. Human nature can't stand the test."
"Yes." Cao Yusheng said, "It's not a big problem at this point. But Gao Xianzhi's mistake was that he failed to get rid of the roots. The King of Shi Kingdom was arrested, but the prince ran away.
Prince Shi Wang ran to Heiyi Dashi next door to rescue him.
Guess what happened? "
"Old man, I really don't know this history." Cao Mian shook his head.
"As soon as Gao Xianzhi heard that Prince Shi was asking for help from Heiyi Dashi, he chose to take the initiative to attack Heiyi Dashi without waiting for any movement, and led 20,000 troops to attack Heiyi Dashi.
I guess, there was also a problem with the intelligence at the time, Gao Xianzhi didn't know the depth of the black clothes, he thought it was a small country like the small Bolu country, the Che Shi country, and the Shi country.
In fact, the whole world at that time, from now on, there were only four major countries.
One is the Tang Dynasty in the east, the Frankish Empire in the west, and the Byzantine Empire, which is the Eastern Roman Empire near Greece.
The last one is the Arab Empire, which had just completed the change of dynasty at that time, called the Abbasid Dynasty, which is the black-clothed food in Chinese history books.
As a result, Gao Xianzhi led more than 20,000 horses and went on an expedition. On the away game, they encountered an army of 200,000 people, and later the reinforcements increased to 300,000.
This was the famous Battle of Talas in the history books, and Datang did not win it.
The reason why this battle is so famous is that it was the only time in history that Datang and Arabia fought each other, which is considered a gimmick.
But in fact, the historical significance is not great, because Datang also lost less than 20,000 troops, most of whom were not Tang people, but mercenaries from small affiliated countries.
Even the main general, Gao Xianzhi, escaped and escaped. He was later beheaded by Tang Xuanzong because he failed to suppress during the Anshi Rebellion.
However, in other aspects, there are still some influences, mainly one in and one out.
The one that goes out, is papermaking.
Papermaking is an invention of our China. Because of this battle, some of our craftsmen were captured there, and the craftsmanship was passed on. Since then, the West has existed.
And the one that came in was the Dover Devil.
This name came from the remnants of the defeated Tang army. "
"Hey, then this deal is a huge loss!" Cao Mian shook his head and said.
"Who says it's not?" Cao Yusheng said, "Although Gao Xianzhi is greedy for meritorious service, he is still a famous general of his generation, and his military skills are really good.
With a ratio of ten to one troops, General Gao did not suffer in a decisive battle head-on, and the stalemate lasted for several days.
In the end, it was because of the rebellion of a vassal army that the Tang army was attacked from both sides, and it was defeated.
Even so, among the chaotic army, Gao Xianzhi was still able to run out with thousands of troops, which shows that the combat effectiveness of the direct troops in his hands is very strong.
Among them, there are our hunters.
Our Liemen has always been like this, not only eliminating harm for the people, but also serving the country.
Throughout the dynasties, whenever the frontier army needed to fight frequently, our Liemen would send people to participate.
And there are rules, we hunters do not serve as officers in the army, at most we are elite soldiers, and generally we only serve as pawns, charging to kill the enemy.
Among Gao Xianzhi's personal soldiers, there are people from our Liemen family, three brothers from the same family, surnamed Fu.
During the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty, their Fu family was one of the nine masters of Liemen at that time.
The three Fu family brothers at Gao Xianzhi's place were, according to records, specially sent by the Fu family to the army to support them. They were true inheritance hunters with solid nine-inch abilities.
During the Battle of Talas, the three brothers faced 200,000 to 300,000 enemies and killed countless enemies without any injuries. The three of them protected Gao Xianzhi without losing a single hair.
As a result, on the way to retreat, passing through a desert, all three brothers died, do you know why? "
"Meet the Dover Devil." Cao Mian sighed.
"Yes." Cao Yusheng nodded, "Gao Xianzhi's remnant tribe has more than 3,000 people. Although they lost the battle, they are also my best men in China.
They were really good at fighting, but when they encountered fierce beasts and alien species in the desert, they were poor and poor, and the environment was harsh. Logically speaking, they had no chance of surviving.
The three brothers of the Fu family used their three lives to hold back the Dover demon, saved them, and let them go home.
Cao Mian, when you tell your son this story, don't forget the names of the three brothers.
Their names are Fu Zhenghong, Fu Zhengyi, and Fu Zhengliang. These are the three martyrs of our Liemen. "
"I've made a note." Cao Mian nodded vigorously.
Cao Yusheng sighed, and continued: "More than 3,000 people have returned, and the news naturally spread. When the Fu family asked, the name Dover Demon appeared in our records for the first time.
Since then, there have been seven hunting operations in the hunting gate, all of which are aimed at this thing.
As a result, this thing disappeared without a trace and was not found.
With the defeat in the Battle of Talas, coupled with the subsequent Anshi Rebellion, the imperial court gradually lost control of the large area of land near the desert.
So the hunt for the Dover Devil had to be delayed.
Unexpectedly, seven hundred years later, that is, the eleventh year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, this kind of thing appeared again in the Taklamakan Desert.
At that time, the hunting gate was full of elites, and fifty-seven hunters formed a hunting team.
I have read the list of fifty-seven people.
The leader of the hunting gate at that time, as well as the heads of the nine families, quite a few of them, were all inside. Among the other inheritance hunters, the least capable one is also seven inches.
That's how out of fifty-seven hunters, only one Lin Tahai came back.
And even this Lin Tahai, who was posthumously recognized by the door as ten-inch capable, died within a month after returning, and died of serious injuries. "
"No way, it's so scary." Cao Mian was dumbfounded, "Then my sister and the others can come back?"
"It's hard to say." Cao Yusheng shook his head, "That's the eleventh-ranked beast species on the Kyushu Alien Object List, and it's one of the most powerful existences among the things humans have ever hunted.
Faced with this kind of thing in life and death, who dares to say that he can come back alive
Moreover, the side that Lin Shuo and the others are about to face is very likely to be the side that the Fu family brothers faced more than a thousand years ago, or the direct descendants of that side.
It's too close, it's all red desert. "
"Then what does this thing look like, and why is it so powerful?" Cao Mian asked again.
"I don't know what it looks like." Cao Yusheng shook his head, "The one shot to death by Lin Tahai in Chenghua's 11th year, the body sank in the sea of sand, and Lin Tahai only brought back its head. By this time, the head was long gone.
The old version of the drawing on Kyushu Foreign Objects has been handed down to the present, and it is no longer clear.
Anyway, judging from the description, the head is not too big, it is about the same size as our human head, and it really looks like a legendary demon, which is hideous and terrifying.
As for the ability, according to Lin Tahai himself, this thing can create illusions and mislead hunters at a distance.
Once you get close, it is very powerful in melee combat. An ordinary nine-inch capable hunter is like paper in front of it.
And usually it hides under the sand dunes, so it is difficult to find it because it does not show up easily. "
"Okay, old man, I figured it out." Cao Mian said, "You want Lin Shuo and the others to die, so you let them accept the deal.
Old man, let me tell you the truth, even if I take over your Liemen business, I will at most be a mastermind and advise my cousin.
I really don't have the idea to be the leader, you don't have to hold back and hurt others like this. "
"How do you brat talk? Am I that kind of person?" Cao Yusheng scolded with staring eyes, "If you say such things, you are not worthy of being a hunter.
Eliminating harm for the people has never been as easy as talking about it!
We hunters accept business, when have we considered our own life and death
The European Xing family has a seven-inch threshold, and there are only two nine-inch hunters in total. Don't they know that it might be the Dover demon
The son went and didn't come back, and the father led others to continue. Do you think this is just the father looking for the son
This is called going forward!
This is the rule set by our ancestors! Don't kill aliens, swear not to give up!
A family with a threshold of seven inches is like this, Lin Shuo is the leader of the hunting gate, what should he do
Cao Mian, in terms of ability, I never expected you to compare with Lin Shuo.
But in terms of consciousness, can you learn from it and look at those outstanding peers around you
Lin Shuo, Nian Qiu, and Di Lan, take a good look at them, what is a real hunter! "
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