Xinshun 1730

Chapter 43 290 Watching After Three Years
After sending off the messenger, the group is about to embark on the most difficult part of the journey.

There are no more post stations, no more castles, just like the ancestors of the same family set foot in the Western Regions for the first time 700 years ago.

The endless white and frozen river; the inexhaustible boiled fish with pickled vegetables; the snow as deep as a person at the air outlet; the ice cracks on the river surface that can break a horseshoe after being squeezed and broken.

All this seems to have no end, as if the spring here will never come.

The endless road takes away all the topics that can be talked about; the boundless snow buries all the pride of the Western Regions.

Sometimes, someone in the team would suddenly say something.

"Today is the winter solstice, it's time to eat dumplings."

Only such a topic can provoke a little bit of heat and melt the endless silence.

"What kind of dumplings are you eating? You should eat ginger rice during the winter solstice."

"We don't eat ginger rice or dumplings, we drink mutton soup."

"Neither will work. Glutinous rice balls with fermented glutinous glutinous rice."

A group of people sat around the fire, looking at the boiled pickles with anchovies in the iron pot, swallowing their saliva, recalling the winter solstice of last year, the winter solstice of the previous year, and even the winter solstice of a long, long time ago.

It was the shortest day of the year and the night was dark.

Although the latitude here is high, there is no polar night yet, but the sun has set down the mountain early and will not come out until very late tomorrow.

The soldiers looked at the stars in the sky, and someone sang a ditty, pointing to the position of the Big Dipper and saying that they had never seen such a high Big Dipper before, this place is really evil.

The staff of the Ministry of Military Affairs looked at the position of the Polaris and calculated the latitude here.Using a large telescope, observe the satellites of Jupiter to determine the time difference, look up the "Astronomy and Time Chronicles" compiled by missionaries, and calculate the longitude here by using the method learned from the missionaries' surveying and mapping.

From the table we found, we can know that this place is already far to the east, even further to the east than Japan's "Mutsu country" in the map of the missionaries.The missionaries said that the ruler of the Mutsu Kingdom built Galen ships and crossed the Pacific Ocean during the Ming Dynasty. They never believed it, and thought it was incredible.

After calculating the longitude, these people were surprised to find that the distance they had traveled was enough to walk from the capital to Songjiang and back again.

If you count the road that goes around in circles, it will be even farther.

After leaving Luocha's castle, they didn't immediately go east along the Heilongjiang River to find Yongning Temple, but followed the footsteps they had made when they came here all the way south.

After making a big circle, it turned to the northeast.

At this time, we have passed the Wusuli River and turned back to Heilongjiang.

I could meet some Hezhen tribes before.At the end of the Ming Dynasty, these people were not all captured and used as the Eight Banners, and their habits were different from Houjin's. They didn't shave their hair, but they didn't tie it up either.

Some of these tribes lived by fishing, while others hunted.The means of travel have gradually changed from horses to dog sleds and moose.

With some gunpowder, knives, tea, etc., some moose and dogs were exchanged with these tribes.

There are now not only horses in the ranks, but also moose and dogs.

The clothes that used to be bright are now in tatters. Many people wear deerskins hunted along the way, their beards have not been shaved for many days, and their faces are blackened by the ultraviolet rays reflected by the snow. They look like a group of hunting tribes here.

It is estimated that there are still six or seven hundred miles away from the mouth of the Heilongjiang River.

According to the local Hezhe people, the river on the north bank of the river can directly lead to a large lake, where there are several water systems that flow further north, and the Raksha people also have a castle there.

Inside the tent, Liu Yu was saying goodbye to Jiaolao Butu.

"Starting today, we will be separated. I will give you the deer and dogs, and we will continue to use horses. We will leave 50 people to set up a stockade here. We will meet here next summer. Remember, no matter what, we must Come back."

Jiaolao Butu and others have already put on leather, wearing various tribal headdresses and roe deer skins.Some staff members who followed them were also dressed in the same way.

Liu Yu is going to Yongning Temple with more than 150 people.Rubbing inscriptions, surveying and mapping Jiangkou maps, contacting local tribes, and building a small temple.

In addition, they have to go all the way north along the coastline and draw as many maps of the coastline as possible, which will be the capital for future negotiations.

The rest were divided into two groups, both of which were disguised as dog hunting tribes, led by Jiaolaobutu.

One part turns to the northwest, inquires about the valley road mentioned by those tribes, turns back to the middle reaches of Heilongjiang, and checks some roads and rivers; The direction of the river.

This is where the duty lies. Even if you want to do something extraordinary, you have to finish these duties first.

Liu Yu had his own plan, so he asked again: "Old Shu, remember, you must return before June. This journey is the most difficult for you. I walk along the river, at least there are fish Eat, you can save food to feed the horses. You have to feed dogs and people along the way, all rely on hunting. It’s hard work.”

Jiaolao Butu didn't care about Liu Yu's hard work, but he cared about Liu Yu's saying that he had to return before June, and he felt more and more problematic.

When it came, it seemed difficult to go.

In fact, going back is the most difficult thing. Once the ice melts, the ground is covered with swamps, and mosquitoes spread, returning in June is not a good choice.At least at that time, it was impossible to walk on the ice, and it was a question of how many horses could get back alive.

After thinking about it, I finally couldn't help but ask, "My lord, what's going on in June?"

"Yes, there is something big."

Jiaolao Butu nodded, and asked in a low voice, "Is it an important matter for the court? Or is it an important matter for your lord?"

Liu Yu pointed at him, then at herself, and said something that Jiaolao Butu immediately understood.

"It's a big deal between you and me."

"Yeah, I got it."

There is no need to say any more, and all the things that should be said have been said. Pulling a fluffy bear skin to cover her body, Liu Yu sighed, thinking how far is this Yongning Temple?

…………

About two hundred miles away from the mouth of Heilongjiang, there is a cliff.

On the cliff, there are two monuments.

A long time ago, there was a temple next to the stele, but there was no monk in this temple.

Wind and rain can erase many marks.

The 300 years of wind and rain have worn away the edges and corners of the inscriptions on the stele. The sandbar at the mouth of the river has been flattened and then submerged, submerged and then flattened, but some stories passed down by word of mouth cannot be erased.

Under the cliff where the stele is located, a group of people wearing animal skins, carrying stone spears, and occasionally one or two holding muskets passed by.

Just like their ancestors in the past hundred years.

Walking to the cliff of the stele, he devoutly took out a handful of grass seeds and a handful of collected wild wheat, knelt down on the surface of the river, and sprinkled these grass seeds under the stele as a tribute.

They can't speak Chinese, but the elders in the clan chanted two Chinese words.

"Ming dynasty."

"Son of Heaven."

These are the only two words they will say.

There is such a legend in the clan, a long, long time ago, a man named the Son of Heaven came across the sea from the distant Ming Dynasty.

In the story, the boat they took was as tall as a pine tree, and the knives in their hands were as bright as the moon.

It is said that as long as some walrus ivory, a few white rabbits, and two sable furs are given to the emperor every year, he can exchange for the cloth that looks like he has no clothes in summer, and a vessel for cooking food. And in exchange for the protection of the tribe named Daming.

How long this story has been circulating, no one remembers.

Even the oldest elders in the clan only know that their parents said so, and their grandparents also said so.

Whenever someone doesn't believe it, the people in the tribe will cross the frozen sea and take those who don't believe it to see the two stone tablets on the cliff.

Stories are always stories, and maybe it wasn't the case 300 years ago.

Earlier, they hated the man called the Son of Heaven.

Because the emperor forced them to pay tribute, and because the things brought by the emperor caused a lot of selfishness in the quiet tribe.

In fact, three or four hundred years ago, the elders of the tribe even organized people to attack the soldiers who were collecting tribute and to overthrow the temples on the cliffs.

But stories are always told for future generations, and future generations always choose the stories they want to hear.

After a group of bearded men called "evil ghosts" came near the tribe, these bad stories about the emperor were gradually forgotten by the tribe.

People prefer to gather around the elders and listen to the story of "as long as some walrus ivory is offered as a tribute every year, the emperor of Ming Dynasty will take a boat across the sea to protect them".

Since ten years ago, more and more grass seeds have been sacrificed next to the stele on the stone cliff, praying that the legendary emperor who came across the sea by boat would really appear to protect them.

Those "evil spirits" not only forced them to pay mink fur and ivory, but also forced them to collect wild strawberries and raspberries in summer and dry them in the sun; He was tied to the horse's tail by those "evil spirits" and dragged back and forth on the ground.

Sometimes, the elders of the tribe will occasionally tell stories about the forced tribute falcons and the tribal organizations attacking the eagle harvesters. The young people in the tribe are very strange: that’s all, why attack the emperor’s people?
At least the guy named Tianzi will not treat them like "evil ghosts". Are those ancestors who attacked Tianzi soldiers fools?

The story has passed for too long, and the things in the story are stories after all.

The reality has not passed, and the "evil ghosts" in reality are really cruel.

So much so that this kind of resistance that almost condensed the early national consciousness three or four hundred years ago has become a fool in the hearts of young people of this generation.

These evil spirits not only forced them to pay animal skins and dried berries, killed people at every turn, but also brought nightmare-like diseases to their tribe.

A good young man will suddenly develop many pimples on his face, and then die after a high fever.They were even more convinced that all this was brought about by those bearded evil spirits.

So in this autumn, the bravest person was selected in the tribe.

When those "evil spirits" came to collect mink fur and berries, they set fire to their wooden house. In order to prevent the evil spirit from escaping, the bravest young man stayed in the wooden house, accompanied by billowing flames and smoke, and held him tightly Those evil spirits died in the sea of ​​fire with them.

They thought that if those evil spirits died, everything would be fine.

Unexpectedly, they opened the gate of hell, and more evil spirits came from the north.

They rode moose and hounds and pulled a strange long pipe. The sturdy wooden house could be smashed by such a long pipe at once, and the fence that was strong enough to resist the raging black bear was like summer ice in front of this long pipe. Fragile.

Many tribes who participated in the incident were completely wiped out. Men, women and even children in the tribe were nailed to sharp wood by these people, telling each tribe the end of the resistance.

Those who survived began to despair, but the elders of the tribe found hope from the story.

Contacted many tribes around, some tribes walked across the icy ice from distant islands, some tribes crossed the vast mountains from the far north, they gathered under this stone tablet, with the most pious tone , the most pious sacrifice, the most pious ceremony, praying to those two steles—the story of praying to the elders is not just a story, not just a legend.

Rather, there will really be a man called the Son of Heaven, who will come here in a boat taller than a red pine, with a knife brighter than the moon, take away their tribute, and tell them:

From now on, you are protected by the Son of Heaven!
　The Kuwu tribe’s attack on the emperor’s tribute collectors occurred in the Yuan Dynasty, not the Ming Dynasty; the demolition of the temple occurred in the Ming Dynasty, which should be due to religious factors, the conflict between primitive shamanism and Buddhism. (Of course, these tribes cannot be expected to distinguish between Yuan and Ming)
　　Walrus ivory is called Qiujiao in the list of tributes from the emperor.These tribes also offered tributes of mammoth ivory.These tribes are too small and live too scattered, so it is difficult for civilization to continue, leaving only legends.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)