(Title note: In Mingzi, Zi is pronounced as the second tone of Za instead of Zi. It is a fictitious place name here and is not in this time and space in orthodox history. You can refer to some ancient books that describe the Hani people today.)
I was on the horse and let the horse be startled by other horses beside me and lead me in circles. I kept turning my head to look at the way they came, and I didn't even know what I was thinking.
"First, enter the city, then." I finally smiled at General Xing, "I'm just looking at the terrain here. There are a lot of open spaces in the city. Although there are seven or eight empty rooms out of ten, it's better to live closer together so that we can take care of each other and move at any time."
"Everyone follow me into the city, Marquis Fengyun." He gave the order, then bowed and left. It seems that many people regard Ping'an as my fiefdom, and many people simply omit Ping'an. In fact, sometimes I prefer them to call me Marquis Ping'an.
The city was noisy for a while, and then fell into a unique tranquility here, with only the gurgling water flowing under the suspension bridge.
And I still wandered aimlessly outside the city, letting my thoughts run wild.
After a long period of confusion, I suddenly thought of Yinling again. What would Yinling do? Recalling the scenes in Ganning Water Village, my mind became clear and I immediately had an idea. I rode back to the city. I found the county's executive officer, the executive officer, and the temporary governor. The original county lieutenant and county magistrate all died in the banditry a few months ago. This person was just a temporary replacement. He was not a local, but a scholar from the southeast of Jingzhou. No one paid attention to him when he came. However, after all the county lieutenants and county magistrates were gone, he was very bold to stabilize the local soldiers who formed a regiment and reported the situation here to the state. When the news came, it was this year. Brother Chen began to sit in Xiangyang. Brother Chen must have no manpower to send. He thought this person was useful, but he had not checked this person, so he made him an executive officer. At this time, this person held both the positions of county lieutenant and county magistrate. To briefly comment on this person, he should be quite good at politics, but his military preparations were insufficient.
This person is indeed useful. His name is Chen Ying. He is a little over seven feet tall, of medium build, with a rough face that is bumpy and lumpy, just like the skin of a dry citrus tree. One of his eyes is even squinting, as if he is ill.
But he was a genuine scholar, lacking the agility to walk, and especially when it came to military discipline, it seemed that he only had some paper skills.
After meeting General Xing, I thought it would be hard to find someone uglier than him, but now I have to re-examine my opinion. However, these two people have their own strengths, and it is hard to tell who is uglier. However, I don't mind their appearance, so I quickly threw away these fanciful thoughts and began to ask slowly.
"There are many thieves here. Tell me what they are going to do with our people?"
"Reporting to the Marquis of Ping An Feng Yun, there are only a few reasons why bandits kidnap people. One is to rob the rich for ransom; the other is to recruit able-bodied men. In addition, if there are beautiful women, past property, etc., they will also kidnap people for this reason. Otherwise, what can the bandits do with so many troops?"
"Yes, what Lord Chen said is exactly what Zhi is thinking. In my opinion, since the clothes they were wearing were the Sichuan brocade robes that I ordered the craftsmen to tailor, the thieves must have come to rob them for the ransom." I directly omitted other possibilities. I was sure that there were no other possibilities. This might hurt some people, and I didn't consider the possibility that the thieves were hungry and had no choice, but I think what I thought was right. Moreover, once I was sure, I would never doubt it. I think I influenced him. He was still skeptical at first and couldn't be sure, but now seeing my expression, he nodded and asked me how to deal with it next.
I asked someone to bring a bag of rice and asked him to give us a brief description of the terrain and the situation of the bandits here.
This method was created by General Ma Yuan, the general of Fubao. At least that's what Yinling told me. I completely believed her, even if she was wrong, I used it anyway, and I didn't have any plans to do anything wrong.
Most of the mountains here run from northeast to southwest, and the branches in the mountains are like branches on both sides of a tree. The mountains are steep and there is a lot of rain, so it is easy to defend but difficult to attack. There are more than 30 big bandits in Wuling Mountain area, and the powerful ones have thousands of people, while the weak ones have only dozens of people. The most powerful one is the one named Qu in the north of Mingzi. This surname alone reminds me of Qu Xing; the slightly weaker ones are the ones named Wang in the west and Huang in the south. This place is right in the middle of these big bandits. Fortunately, these individuals have no idea of uniting, or even if they have ideas, they have not put them into practice. Otherwise, they would have just conquered Mingzi and established a country called Zhulang. Anyway, there was once a country called Yelang in the south of here, within the territory of our Han Dynasty. Although it did not exist for a long time, it at least came to pay tribute to our dynasty, and the emperor of the Han Dynasty also gave it a golden seal. This shows that these people are not very promising, and I have more confidence in them.
There is only one brigade here, and now another brigade is coming, and there is a division of infantry behind them, which is two days' journey away. This should be enough, at least one by one should be enough. (This kind of military organization already existed in the Zhou Dynasty. At that time, a brigade had 500 people, a division had 2,500 people, and an army had 12,500 people. By analogy with five, there are also books that say an army had 13,500 people. Because it does not fit the simple numerical analogy, it is not used.)
But the people who came to ask for money should have come. I asked them which group they were robbed from, but they didn't know. Since they knew there were many bandit problems, they naturally let them go to a safer place where there were no bandit problems. Even so, they only let them take the official road. Under such circumstances, they thought they were safe, but something went wrong. It was the couple's fault, but also my fault.
"My fault. I didn't expect this kind of thing to happen here. I just heard that the scenery here is as beautiful as the overseas fairyland, but I didn't expect it to be such a dangerous place. Since this is the case, I have no choice. I was going to go back, but now I must pacify this place first."
I calmed down a bit, and then said, "Let's go out and take a look first."
Chen Ying said nothing, but pointed to the mountains to the west of the city with some doubt and said, "My head."
“No…” He was about to dissuade me when suddenly a messenger rushed in and interrupted our conversation, bringing a very strange message. At least I couldn’t figure it out at the time.
"Marquis Ping'an Fengyun, a fierce-looking young man has come to see you outside the city." I wondered if the messengers in the army were influenced by the messenger in my mansion.
"Evil spirit?" I pondered. General Xing was resting in the city, and Chen Ying was in front of me. There should be no one like this in Jingzhou.
Suspicious, I came out with my gun in hand and asked again, "How many people?"
"one."
I threw the spear gently to the soldier next to me to hold it firmly, then told no one to follow me and went out of the city to meet this person.
To be honest, this man and General Xing are definitely a pair, just like Shentu and Yulei. If someone good at painting could draw the appearance of these two people and paste it on the door, the effect would probably be the same as peach charms.
This man had a high ridge, thick eyebrows, deep eye sockets, and light gray eyes, just like many people in the Dengna tribe; a large and pointed hooked nose, which made him look quite ferocious. Although many people in the Dengna tribe had big noses, none of them had this shape in the front; the mouth was slightly turned down, as if it was always angry, the ears were large and pointed, and the appearance was quite strange and peculiar, but overall, this man had an indescribable aura and feeling, even if the individual parts were viewed separately, they did not look like a human.
I was just observing this person on the city gate drawbridge. I admit that I felt a little curious. At least I never thought that a person could look like this.
He seemed to be observing me, too. I smiled at him, for no reason. Maybe I didn't feel his hostility towards me at that time. He smiled too, then dismounted and walked forward. He didn't carry any weapon either, and he straightened his clothes a little on the way. He walked under my horse, which was startled and began to get restless. Maybe it was because of this man's appearance that it was really uneasy. He came forward and pulled my reins to suppress the horse's restlessness. Soon I heard the sound of the bowstring on the city gate being tightened. I waved my hand to stop their actions and let him pull my reins.
"You are Xie Zhi, the Marquis of Ping An Fengyun." He asked me after the horse was settled.
"Exactly."
"Did you fight in the Battle of Hanzhong?"
"Yes, my strategy, my command." I was wondering whether this person was from Yizhou. Once I was a little sure, I decided to complete the matter without thinking twice.
"Is your weapon the weapon of the former Xiongnu Chanyu?"
"Yes, it's a pure silver wolf-tooth stick." The man asked a very strange question, and his accent was also strange, like the Yizhou accent, but not exactly.
“Do you have a mole on your head?”
"Yes." I smoothed the hair on my forehead and pointed to the sky gate. I knew it was there.
"That's you!" He looked at it carefully, as if he had made up his mind excitedly.
"Am I not me?" I was very curious, and had no idea what this person was doing here or what his background was.
He suddenly knelt on one leg in front of me, and when he looked up at me, his eyes were definitely full of respect: "I'm so happy to see you, can you let me fight under your command?"
This was a bit sudden, and it was the first time that such a thing happened. I quickly dismounted and helped him up. He actually wanted to refuse to get up, but I pulled him up forcefully. After he got up, he was full of admiration for me, and he used all his strength to push me down but couldn't. (Note: China has never produced systematic classical mechanics in history, so this kind of "yù diagram" work that has no physical meaning can be forgiven and understood.)
But this guy is very heavy and strong. I pulled him up and knocked on his chest with my fist. He leaned forward with his chest straight. The banging sound was obviously caused by this guy deliberately tensing his body. I was very satisfied with this strong guy.
But why he came here to look for me, and how he knew I was here, still puzzled me. Then, I felt something was wrong, and suddenly I saw him trying to take something out of his arms, so I took a step back.
He was a little at a loss. Looking at my expression, he took out a sheepskin bag from his arms very slowly and handed it to me with both hands.
"This is the stork tendon. I heard that you broke many bows. Why don't you use this?" He was concerned, but his story was just a rumor. I couldn't remember what bow I had broken, but I still took it. I thought this would put him at ease.
"How did you know I was here?" After expressing her gratitude, she asked before he had time to be polite.
"I... they..." He felt that this seemed difficult to explain. He hesitated for a while and could only whistle loudly to the back. Suddenly, several horses came out from the bushes on the roadside. Two of the horses had a pair of young men and women in gorgeous clothes. I immediately understood what was going on, and hurriedly greeted them. They also saluted immediately.
"Did you rob them?" The smile on my face immediately turned cold.
"Yes." The voice was a little strange, as if the man knew he had made a mistake. The man seemed much older than he looked.
"How old are you?" I slowed down again, perhaps because I felt soft-hearted.
"I'm almost 17." He seemed to sense something from my question and became excited again. To be honest, this uncle looked like he was in his 30s, at least he definitely didn't look like 17.
"Between you and me, do you owe any blood debt to the people here? If so, I will not let you go. I'm putting this here, are you still willing to follow me?" I feel that sometimes I should think before I say anything, as this may very likely bring about some bad consequences.
"I don't owe any blood debt. I just arrived here. I am originally from Zangke." He was indeed from Yizhou. Although I had guessed it, I still felt nervous in my heart.
"You are from Yizhou, why don't you hate me and follow me?"
"I am from Yizhou, but I hate the Han people in the north of Yizhou. They always bully us. We are a Yi tribe. If we resist, their army will come. We are few in number and cannot defeat them. But as soon as Dong Zhuo entered Sichuan, he defeated them. We were very happy for this. But when those black-armored cavalry came, they drove us away. Some of us fled back to the south, but there was a commotion among us. Everywhere they were conscripting men to prepare for the war. We followed the mountainside for several months to get here. Although it is noisy here, there are no taxes and no one comes to trouble us. We stayed here for the time being. Anyway, we can survive anywhere. Later, we heard that some people from Yizhou and Jingzhou drove Dong Zhuo away in Hanzhong. Then we knew that it was you who defeated them. We also heard a lot about you and that you were going to enter Yizhou to eliminate Dong Zhuo, so we wanted to follow you."
"Can you come so quickly?" I suddenly remembered this and was shocked. Then I thought that it would be difficult for Dong Zhuo to come over. When he came over, his entire side would be facing my brother's army that might appear at any time. But I still had a grudge in my heart.
"Yes, there are mountains on this side and there are mountains on the other side along the way. It's hard to find food, but it's not a big obstacle." This made me silent for a long time.
"You... are from the south?" I didn't realize at the time that I was asking a question I already knew the answer to, and it seemed natural to me.
"They are Han Chinese. People in our area are Han Chinese and southerners living together. Intermarriage is common. My mother is from the south and my father is Han Chinese."
"What's your name?" This sentence is also extremely boring, it is really just to break the awkward silence.
"E Huan, use a Han name. If you use the name of our tribe, we will be provoked by the Han people for no reason." His eyes were full of anticipation. This feeling was very different from that of Brother Chen. Brother Chen was always like that, calm and you couldn't tell what he was thinking, except for the time when he talked to me about his past. But with him, it seemed like you could tell what he was thinking and what was in his mind just by looking at his eyes.
"Come with me to the city to rest first. I need to check your affairs." This sentence was actually to end the conversation quickly. After finishing it, he warned himself that he seemed to be too frank, but he didn't mind. He just greeted the people behind him and asked them to come forward. I rode in front of the couple and asked about their lives. They lowered their heads very much, at least they were embarrassed to look me in the eye, but I just felt sorry for them and frightened them. Seeing that they didn't seem to suffer much, I asked them to go back and rest, and then went to the old man and said, "Let's go into the city."
"Brother E treated us very well. They knew we were brought by you, and immediately treated us as honored guests." In the hall, the two couples kept speaking well of E Huan. In fact, I didn't have any ill will towards E Huan, but these two people always felt that I wanted to kill E Huan.
"I understand. You guys go down and have some rest!" I didn't want these two people to keep disturbing me while I was thinking about things, so I gave an order.
They didn't dare to argue with me. They said goodbye to E Huan reluctantly and then slowly left the meeting room.
"General Xing, what do you think of him?"
"This guy is uglier than me." Although I don't think so, I still laughed when I heard General Xing's words. E Huan also laughed. Chen Ying should have been more self-aware and just laughed without saying anything.
"But this guy is very strong and he is sincere in coming here. My Lord, will you accept him?"
"E Huan, are you familiar with the mountain roads in this area?"
"It's OK for the northern part alone, but for other places, our people have not been here for long, so we don't know."
"Oh." I was already writing something down quickly with a pen in my hand. After finishing it, I asked someone to send it to Guiyang Ziyue immediately before turning away.
"Then take me to the north."
“Uh…” Old Xing also felt that something was wrong at this moment. Maybe he thought that I trusted him too much. However, seeing that I had already started to explain the matter to Chen Ying, he did not dare to interrupt and ask me.
After all, I hold all the power here, and they obviously understand that once I make up my mind, no one can change it. In the stories about the Battle of Hanzhong, I was so wise, resolute, and resolute that sometimes even I couldn't help but be fascinated by the heroic young commander; then I remembered that the "young commander" was "me"; finally I finally remembered that it was not true, and I returned to reality, sighed, shook my head and said to myself: Forget it.
It’s a pity or fortunately they didn’t know, so, in the afternoon, we had entered the northern mountainous area of Wuling Mountain, just because I decided so.
On both sides, there are cliffs covered with new greenery that rise thousands of feet, or cliffs covered with dead vines and new buds that drop hundreds of feet. The danger is extraordinary. I think the scenery must be extremely beautiful, but the danger that may appear at any time makes all the beautiful scenery disappear, or perhaps it will flash past my eyes and I will no longer remember what it looked like.
I still have to admit that I don't seem to be very brave. I will be afraid when I am in danger, but on the surface I still look like a hero, but I always swing my spear back and forth in my hand. E Huan always feels that something is wrong with my weapon. He stares at my weapon back and forth, which makes me feel very uncomfortable. In the end, it was only when his Tianlang was used by the Luoyang Palace to suppress evil that he withdrew his strong interest in the weapon. Obviously, this humble weapon in my hand was not of his interest.
As the setting sun shone in the evening, he kept telling us that the golden ridge in the west was the territory of the people in that surname area, but because there was a deep ravine and a rapids in the middle, they seldom came here often. Even if they did, there would not be many people, and they did not often go there. They went there just to see what was going on in the surname area and whether there would be any danger to them.
"How wide is the river?"
"Five feet, not very deep, but the current is very fast."
"How deep?"
"It's probably up to my neck, but I can't wade through. The water is too fast." It seemed to be nearly nine feet deep, which should be very deep. Many of our soldiers would not be able to see the bottom if they waded through. I gave up the idea, but then another one came to my mind.
"The water volume of this river is so huge. Will this river eventually become the moat outside Mingzi City?"
"Probably." It was an uncertain answer, which obviously did not satisfy me.
"Remember to go back and ask someone to check it out." I said to the people behind me, asking them to remember this.
"It's too dangerous here. It's easy to be ambushed. Even though we can't rush down, we will definitely suffer huge losses if logs and stones come rolling in. From now on, our army is not allowed to come here without my order. No one is allowed to come here." As we were moving forward in a deep and quiet valley, I had already begun to form a whole plan.
To be honest, after thinking about everything, I began to feel proud, and the more I figured out the more important details, the prouder I felt. This battle was not as big as the one in Hanzhong, but there were many more twists and turns in it.
Only at this moment did I realize how beautiful everything in the world was, but I gradually began to feel as if something was missing. Slowly, the world seemed empty again, and finally I felt heartbroken.
That night, through E Huan's relationship, we settled down in a village of a southerner. It was a village made up of bamboo houses. These southerners were very hospitable. E Huan and his companions had received help from these people when they came from Zangke, so they had a lot of interactions with each other.
However, the chief only told us to have a good rest at night, not to run around, be careful of wild animals, and excuse ourselves if we need anything, and then left. His accent was very strange, but I could understand some of his words, and E Huan kept explaining, so I could understand what he meant. After coming down. E Huan felt that his attitude was a bit strange, I think it might be because we are Han people.
The interesting thing is that these southerners, both men and women, all wrap long strips of cloth around their heads. Men wrap thicker strips, while women wrap thinner strips. When walking in the village, I look at them, and they also look at me. They are as interested in me as I am in them. E Huan didn't know why he did this. He only saw that many of their own people in the south also did this, and it had become a habit, but they didn't, so he didn't know. My explanation for this is that they walk on rugged roads in the mountains all year round. If they fall, this will protect their heads better and prevent any problems. Going up the mountain to hunt is mostly done by men, so men wrap thicker strips and women wrap thinner strips. E Huan thought I was very smart. He didn't ask the southerners here in detail because he didn't understand a lot of their words, and asking questions about this was rude to the southerners. He was also a southerner, so it didn't seem good.
Compared to the big deal about their heads, they simply don't bother with some big issues about their feet. Up and down, men and women, young and old, almost everyone is barefoot. Occasionally, those who are of high status and very old will wear a pair of straw sandals, and the feet of other people look as if they can bite through stones. There is nothing wrong with them walking on any kind of ground. No matter whether they are men or women, their feet are all black and thick, with thick calluses on the toes, so these people can run around and play as if it were flat ground. I remember the feet sticking out from the silver bell tube that I once saw in the bathtub. Those must be the most beautiful feet. Especially after seeing these people's "lower limbs", I have a deeper understanding.
Yinling, wait for me, I will be able to find you soon. After saying this to the person next to me, I began to secretly plan my own plan with full confidence.
I accidentally saw a special thing this night, which was related to the name of the city we are in here. It started with a mother calling her child.
“Mingzi…” I don’t know what the woman said to her child after that, but the sound before that was pronounced very clearly and I could clearly recognize this familiar sound.
"What does Mingzi mean?" I asked E Huan next to me. I couldn't talk to these southerners, and they couldn't make me understand them either. E Huan often dealt with them, and he knew a little bit, but he, these people spoke Chinese, but with accents in some places, which I understand a little bit. Many ethnic minorities have their own languages, but not their own writing. In order to record their own history, they often have to learn Chinese. In the end, many ethnic minorities directly use our Chinese.
"People here call it fire, but we don't call it that way."
"Oh, what did that woman do just now? After that, the child didn't do anything related to fire." The child just quickly jumped up to the bamboo building, and then there was no movement, as if he went to sleep, and all this was done in the dark.
"She was calling her son, that's what most mothers in her tribe call their boys, at least that's what I've always heard."
"Why?" According to this, they seemed to worship the power of fire. Why was there no fire in the village at this time? And almost all the fires were extinguished as soon as dinner was over. The moon was not bright tonight, which made the whole village unusually dark. I didn't dare to go out for a walk, lest I fall down. I didn't have a thick cloth ring to protect my head, so I asked, "Why is there no fire in the village at this time?"
"Well, I'm not sure. I was also very confused, but I didn't ask because I was afraid of offending them because they don't usually do this."
"Just like this today?" I even began to suspect that it had something to do with me.
But no one told us why, so I could only put aside my thoughts and suspicions, and settled down in a sleeping place on the bamboo building. This place is all bamboo, maybe it would be cool to sleep in the summer, but now the wind blows in through the gaps in the bamboo, it's quite chilly, fortunately these owners are still careful to prepare some bedding for me, although it's a bit thick, but I can still cover myself.
Compared with our house, the floor of their house is too high. Although it is only one floor, the floor of our house is about one to two feet above the ground, while theirs is about 15 feet. Some of them have pig pens underneath, while some have nothing but weeds. Fortunately, there is no pig pen under our bamboo house. I know that the place where Bai lives smells terrible, even though he is the most clean pig.
But building it high is a good thing, the silver bells can prevent the ground from being too wet, and it is also good for keeping away wild animals, especially in such a wild area, these two things must be paid the most attention.
E Huan lay beside me calmly, and the reason he was calm was that he was snoring. He was sleeping soundly and happily, completely ignoring my random thoughts beside me.
Suddenly, the whole village lit up, and a huge fire broke out in the center of the village, occasionally with the shrill whistle of a young man.
I hurriedly woke up the person who was sleeping soundly next to me. He got up in a daze and immediately nervously picked up his weapon, which was a Fang Tian Hua Ji, because I saw a crescent moon flashing a cold light.
"Marquis Fengyun, what's wrong? What happened? Is that Qu here?"
"I don't know. Don't move. Wait and see what happens." Seeing how nervous he was, I couldn't be nervous either. Although I also raised my spear, I didn't act immediately. I must avoid being hasty at this time.
"Mingga... Muhuan!" A very affectionate cry rang out from a nearby bamboo house, and then women from all over the village responded as if in harmony. E Huan immediately explained that he understood this sentence: Mingzi, my child.
These names are different from before, which is indeed a bit strange.
"It should be some kind of ceremony." I wasn't sure, but I nodded to him, motioning for him to go and take a look.
As soon as I went downstairs, I saw my men rushing over from nearby, asking me what to do now. I motioned for everyone to be quiet and go take a look together, without disturbing others.
But I didn't know what they were doing, so I just walked towards the fire.
There were quite a few people gathered in front, but no one was talking. The gap in the crowd not only emitted firelight, but also overflowed with layers of heat, which made many of us cover our faces with our hands, stop and just stand there. I asked them to stop there and threw my weapons to them to take care of. I straightened my clothes and stood among the crowd to watch. The old man next to me was very friendly. He smiled at me, motioned for me not to say anything, and turned back. Fortunately, being tall was an advantage at this time. E Huan and I were standing in the back row of the crowd, which did not prevent us from seeing the situation inside. Even the bravest of my soldiers were not so lucky. They just jumped around in the back. Finally, the southerners made way for them to get closer. Then they stood in the crowd and watched what was happening on the scene.
The circle was bright, so bright that I could see a man wearing a wooden old man mask and wearing colorful clothes dancing to the rhythmic drumbeats. His steps were slow and swaying, quite similar to the movements of our Han people in sacrificial ceremonies. There was a big fire pile in the east of the circle, and a road paved with charcoal in the middle to the west, with a stone in the middle at a distance.
The heat came again and again, and my face felt uncomfortable, but I still stood there. The power of interest was obviously stronger than the uncomfortable emotion.
"Yo eh... Muha... Naju... Yiya." The man turned around a few times and suddenly began to sing. Although I couldn't understand what he was singing, it was very interesting. He sang two syllables in a group, always first down and then up, then down and up again. Because of the advice of the old man next to me, I didn't ask what it meant and just listened to him singing. His voice was sometimes cheerful and sometimes low. He must be telling a story.
Since I didn't know what it meant, I could only wait until it was over. However, I was still polite and continued to stand and listen quietly like the people next to me. However, I noticed that many elderly people stood in the back row, while young people stood in the front row. I wonder if this is a bit disrespectful to the elderly.
Finally the singing was over, I felt a lot more relaxed, wiped the sweat from my forehead which was burned by the heat, and vaguely understood why the old man was in the back and the young man was in the front.
Soon after this incomprehensible ceremony ended, it seemed as if the real business had just begun. A man in a black cloak, a wooden mask and a tall bird feather shook his head and raised his cloak, which immediately blocked out most of the firelight. The scene immediately became much darker, and the man stood there motionless. At least from my side, I could only see sporadic firelight on the ground and the red light reflected from behind the huge cloak.
Ever since that person sang that long passage, no one had been talking around, except for some sighing sounds when the person wearing bird feathers appeared. Since then, there has been no other sound except the crackling of wood in the fire behind that person.
It seemed that a person came out of the crowd. I didn't know it until the figure flashed past me. It seemed to be a child. Then the child walked lightly through the flickering charcoal pile on the ground, but the movement was not fast, and it seemed like dancing. He should have walked over the stones. It may also be because he needed to judge the position of the stones clearly. He should have been wearing shoes. While I was thinking, the child had already walked around the big cloak and came to the side of the fire.
Suddenly, a torch was raised behind the cloak, and the people around him shouted together, as if to cheer for the young man or to express their joy.
The masked man put away his cloak and turned around in an exaggerated manner. Then, a barefoot boy in red clothes and a red headscarf could be seen standing in front of him, holding a red torch and a sharp knife in his hand.
Obviously the other things were meant to attract him, but the bare feet surprised me. Although I was used to seeing the whole tribe walking barefoot in this kind of weather, this time was different. The stone had been in the charcoal pile. How could he walk through it without getting burned? He must have gotten rid of it in the dark. I took it for granted that this was the case.
The young man and the masked man were standing opposite each other and walking around each other. The young man's steps were very steady, while the masked man was very lively. Only then did I realize that the mask had a green face and fangs, and it seemed to be a monster. At this moment, he was shaking his head, making the bird feathers tremble, and his steps were also exaggeratedly large. For every three steps forward, he would take two steps back. The two were always opposite each other.
Suddenly the young man pounced forward and cut off the bird feathers on the head of the monster mask with one knife. The man immediately fell to the ground and didn't move. It was obvious that he was pretending to be dead.
The crowd immediately cheered like crazy, not knowing what this meant. The man who had dressed up as an old man came out wearing the old man's mask. He checked the corpse on the ground, and seemed to pay special attention to the bird feathers on its head before turning around and announcing something.
I don't know what he announced, but his tone was very excited, so it should be a good thing. As soon as he finished, the people around him started cheering again.
Then the crowd began to move. Some men and women rushed into the field and began to dance in a circle. In the middle, they gathered around the fire and the young man in red. Some people ran barefoot over the stone in front of me.
It seems that I was wrong. It must be that the stone is not hot, but I don’t even believe this idea.
They were very enthusiastic and wanted to drag me in, but I said I didn't know how to dance that kind of dance, so I didn't go in. Because we couldn't speak the language, they didn't make it difficult for me. But later, E Huan was dragged in, and he didn't refuse. He seemed to like this kind of excitement.
Our soldiers watched for a while, and some of them went in to dance in circles, but I stayed nearby, sometimes talking to the old man next to me, but I couldn't understand what they were saying, and I don't think he could understand me either. Soon, I could see men, women, women, men, and men spinning around in front of my eyes, making me dizzy.
As the night deepened, the fire gradually died out, and the charcoal on the ground was no longer bright. The lights in the houses were turned on, but soon went out again. The young man in red and the "corpse" of the monster disappeared without a trace. They all went to sleep, and only a few torches in the village illuminated the place and the surroundings. But I was still there, but I stayed there for a special reason that felt very childish. Because I didn't go back, E Huan also stayed with me.
The flame in the torch was swaying in the wind, so I could only vaguely distinguish all the stones in the flickering light. I decided to test the stone with my hand to see if it was still hot, but the sweat dripping from my head made me withdraw my hand.
"Sizzle..." It sounds very much like the sound of water accidentally dripping into the pot at home. Of course, I mean the sound when the stove is burning very vigorously.
I withdrew my hand nervously, feeling somewhat relieved that I didn't put my hand down. I knew the sound of the pig's trotter with skin on being put into the pot would be louder than my voice, because it couldn't scream, but I could.
But it should be fine as I was wearing shoes, so I walked on it bravely.
It was fine when he first went up, but after walking five or six steps he realized something was wrong, so he immediately quickened his pace. However, after taking the last big step, he sat down outside the charcoal pile, struggled to take off his boots, and blew air on the soles of his burned feet.
Some people are really stupid. They see others suffer losses, but they dare to imitate them. Then, as expected, he sat with me, holding the soles of his feet and blowing air.
I don't know what's going on, but it's really weird. In the end, the two of us in the bamboo house just kept trying to explain it, but no one worked. In the end, we could only say that they were used to going barefoot and their skin was too thick, so it didn't matter.
(Note: There is a simple physical process involved, Zirui and his team are wrong)
The next morning, we set off when we still felt a dull pain in the soles of our feet. We walked until noon when we arrived at a place where about a hundred people of their tribe lived. We didn't rest until we came to a cave surrounded by a large fence. It felt a little inconvenient to walk.
The terrain along the way was still dangerous and the scenery was beautiful, and I gradually made up my mind.
There are not many old people or children in their tribe, mostly young men and women. But imagine that they have traveled such a long distance, those who are still alive are probably young. I looked around and didn't see anything suspicious.
After lunch and giving some instructions, I left E Huan and his men to leave immediately. Since we didn't have to look around when we got back, it would be much faster. In less than an hour, I passed by the southerner's village again.
But this time when I passed by, something I didn't expect had already happened: the young man in red clothes had died last night. His poor mother was crying, and the whole village was in a solemn silence.
I quickly found the patriarch in the crowd, who looked serious. I knew I could understand some of what he said, so I asked him word by word, "What's going on?"
"Qu...Qu...Killed Mingzi. Mingzi was hunting." He pointed to the west in grief and indignation. The word order of their speech was different from ours, but this time I understood it completely.
"Them." I also pointed to the west and he nodded.
The dead boy was only fifteen or sixteen years old. His young and childish face was covered in blood, which was too horrible for me to bear to look at.
I took off my cloak, opened my mouth and gestured to the patriarch to ask if I could do this. The patriarch nodded again, and I put my black cloak on the dead boy.
Then he turned around and got on his horse, and continued to speak to the tribe leader word by word: "Don't provoke them for now, I will go and destroy him."
He still hit me head on, but this time he did it with much more force.
I picked out one of the accompanying guards and ordered him, "Go and ask E Huan to bring his men to Mingzi as soon as possible."
We left quickly under the attention of the whole village. No one spoke and there was only the sound of the wind along the way. I didn't expect that we could ride so fast on such a mountain road. I only knew that I didn't think about anything else when I rushed back to Mingzi in the evening.
I only asked General Xing who came to greet me, "Where is Mr. Song?"
Song Yudong had just arrived, and his troops and food supplies had not yet been fully stationed in the city. I only realized this when I saw the temporary tents outside. At that time, Song was still in the city settling his soldiers with Chen Ying and others.
When Yudong and Chen Ying rushed to the meeting room, it was already dark. Of the two, only Song bowed and said, "The troops and horses have been settled, and the food and fodder have lasted for a month. May I ask when the Marquis of Ping'an Fengyun will march?"
"Immediately find a former carpenter among the soldiers, and invite all the carpenters in the city. Now it depends on them." I said this slowly with my brows lowered and continued to think.
They felt very strange, but after an hour when I explained everything that needed to be done, they understood. Although it was a little strange, they still nodded their heads in agreement.
Then I asked people to survey the direction of the upstream moat of Mingzi, and by the way, I listened to the reply on the things I told you when I left last time. After a little consideration, I hurriedly discussed with Song and others the plan to defeat the enemy. This time the plan was modified, and I did not come out for the latter part. They considered it and felt that it was feasible and there were no loopholes, so I arranged everything.
In the middle of the night, E Huan came running over, his face filled with grief and indignation. He stared at me for a long while without saying a word.
On the morning of the second day, according to the carpenter's progress, General Xing and I set out with 2,500 infantrymen, including the original garrison of Mingzi.
On the third day, Song set out to the southwest with only a few followers.
That night, E Huan led his troops to the north as planned. Almost at the same time, I camped at the foot of the bandit mountain in that surname area. When the night watchman came to ask for the night march password, I hadn't slept for several days and said without thinking: "Mingzi."