I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 313: Xifu! Xifu! Invite Xifu?

"Japanese?!"

Liu Ju asked subconsciously.

"What did your Highness say?"

The messenger looked puzzled when he heard this, indicating that he didn't understand what Liu Ju was saying.

Although the word "Wo" has meant short since ancient times, it was not used to refer specifically to the Wa country and the Wa people at that time, and people didn't even know that there was such a land and such a kind of people overseas.

"It's nothing, go on."

Liu Ju smiled vaguely and motioned for the messenger to continue.

The messenger bowed and continued:

"After the soldiers who went out to sea brought these short savages back, General Yang immediately interrogated them personally."

"During this trial, I discovered that in addition to their random chatter, they actually have a few words that are quite similar to the current language used by our Han people, but with a more obvious Qi accent. If combined with gestures and expressions, they can even communicate in a relatively simple way."

"General Yang also discovered that they could recognize a few Chinese characters."

"General Yang ordered them to write down the characters they knew. Although they were written crookedly, it was not difficult to tell that they were using the Qin Dynasty's small seal script."

"The two characters they wrote most correctly were '委' and '奴'."

"General Yang also learned from them that there is only one tribe on this island, with a population of about 200 people, led by a humble dog and a humble slave."

"Beigou is their leader. Just from the sound of his name, it should be Tsushima. I don't know how to write this name, but I have to write Beigou."

"Binu is their deputy leader. From the sound of his name, it seems to be Hanma, but I don't know how to write it, but I can only write the word Beinu."

"Their ancestors originally lived on a large island. Several decades ago, many tribes on the large island fought each other. Their tribe fled to the sea in small boats to avoid the war. Later, they encountered storms at sea. In the end, only a dozen people survived and drifted to this small island. They have lived on the island ever since."

"That's all we know so far. General Yang doesn't know how to deal with these short savages, so he ordered me to report to Your Highness. Please go and check and decide as soon as possible."

After hearing this, Liu Ju immediately asked another question:
"General Yang, did you not ask them where these words and expressions similar to those of our Han people came from?"

"These short savages simply can't understand some of the words. It's extremely difficult for General Yang to communicate with them. Even using gestures can't make them understand what I mean. Therefore, I can't ask too many questions..."

The messenger frowned and answered in embarrassment.

"understood."

Liu Ju nodded and turned to look at Guo Zhen.
"Guo Zhen, go and make some preparations. Tell the accompanying troops to pack up their tents and set off for Hepu in an hour to meet up with General Yang."

"promise."

Guo Zhen responded and went to do it immediately.

Liu Ju was still thinking about what the messenger had just mentioned.

He was able to write a few Chinese characters, but his writing style was the small seal script that was popular during the Qin Dynasty.

The two characters written most neatly are “委” and “奴”.

The chief and deputy chief couldn’t even write their names, but they could write their titles. The chief was called “low dog” and the deputy chief was called “low slave”.

There was a fight on the Big Island decades ago, forcing this tribe to go to sea to escape the war...

Liu Ju couldn't help but think of some historical materials about the contact between Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and Japan.

That is the earliest record of exchanges between the Celestial Empire and Japan in history books, which was about two hundred years ago.

The Japanese Kingdom sent an envoy to visit the Celestial Empire for the first time. The envoy called himself a doctor. After arriving in Luoyang, he presented a letter of credence expressing his willingness to be a Han vassal. Liu Xiu then gave him a gold seal with a snake button engraved with the words "King of the Han Wei Kingdom".

This gold seal was later discovered by a Japanese farmer and is now kept in a local museum in Japan.

In ancient China, the word "委" was the same as "哇".

Just now, when the messenger reported to Liu Ju, he also pronounced the word "委" as "哇", which means that even these short savages agree that "委" should be pronounced as "wo"...

This discovery made Liu Ju have to doubt.

Was it the Han Dynasty that first used discriminatory words such as "Wa" and "Nu" to refer to Wa, or was it Wa themselves who first came to ask for a seal using words such as "Wa" and "Nu" as respectful terms, and Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu had never seen such a strange request, and out of diplomatic etiquette and the magnanimity of a great country, he met their request, bestowed them with such a gold seal, and from then on tacitly agreed to their use of "Wa" and "Nu" as their country name?

Liu Ju now began to lean towards the latter. After all, such words have already appeared in Japan. Just look at how the leader and deputy leader of their tribe are called. One is called "Beigou" and the other is called "Beinu".

Does this explain something?
Moreover, Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu was able to become the founding emperor, so he was definitely not a brainless person. Although the Celestial Empire has always had the tradition of calling the north Hu, the south Man, and the east Yi, he must have been welcoming a country that took the initiative to come to the country and submit to it at the beginning of its founding. He should not have started to scold them right away, right?

Everything has a source.

Although during the Tang Dynasty, cultural exchanges between China and Japan became more frequent.

The Japanese people gradually realized that "Wa" and "Slave" were not good words, and they repeatedly requested the Tang court to allow them to change such names. They even made moves to change the country's name privately. As a result, they were never recognized by other countries, so they had to continue to beg the Tang court to change the name. It was not until the reign of Wu Zetian that the Tang court agreed to change the name to Japan after Wu Zetian got drunk.

But it is undeniable that before this, Japan has always had a special liking for such words.

For example, during the Three Kingdoms period, there were historical records of the exchanges between Cao Wei and Sun Wu in Wa, which showed that at that time Wa highly respected words such as "Wa", "slave", "dog" and "lowly".

The highest official of their country called himself "Dawo".

There are several countries whose names contain the characters "Nu", "Bei" and "Gou". Apart from the Yamatai Kingdom, the more powerful ones are the "Nu Kingdom" and the "Gou Nu Kingdom". At that time, the queen of the Yamatai Kingdom was also called Himiko.

That all happened later.

And now the only person Liu Ju could think of who could bring the Celestial Empire's writing to Japan and have such an impact on Japan seemed to be Xu Fu and the 3,000 boys and girls who accompanied him...

And the messenger just mentioned the strange Qi accent of the Japanese people, and the Qin Dynasty small seal script they used when writing.

They all undoubtedly point to Xu Fu, who went out to sea to seek immortality during the Qin Dynasty! So...

Are the legends in unofficial history true? Did Xu Fu really go to Japan?

Moreover, Xu Fu started from Qi, so the most likely destination was Kyushu Island, located at the southernmost tip of the Wakoku Islands, and Kyushu Island was also the closest to Tsushima Island...

All signs indicate that all this may be related to Xu Fu!

But why does the current Japanese country respect words like "Japanese", "slave", "dog" and "lowly"?
In any case, Xu Fu must have known the meaning of these words. His cultural level was not low. Legend has it that he was Guiguzi's last disciple. Historical records show that he was knowledgeable and proficient in medicine, astronomy and navigation. If he really exported these characters to the natives of Japan, it stands to reason that such a mistake would not have occurred...

Liu Ju really couldn't figure it out, so he could only go to Hepu as soon as possible to seek answers from those short savages.

It was a pity that Sima Qian did not come with me this time, otherwise this guy would probably be even more fanatical than me. After all, he might be about to witness an event that was lost in the long river of history...

……

Five days later.

Liu Ju and his entourage finally arrived in Hepu.

The construction of the seaport is in progress. Not only are there soldiers from the Han Dynasty working here, but a large number of people from the Chen Kingdom are also attracted by the "work-for-relief" policy and come here to make a living.

Yang Pu set up the military camp behind a hill twenty miles away from the harbor.

This place can block some of the sea breezes, and the mountain is lush with trees, so the wood and rocks needed to build the harbor can be cut down and mined on the spot.

"Your Highness..."

Upon learning that Liu Ju had arrived, Yang Pu went out of the tent to greet him personally.

"General Yang, where are those savages?"

Liu Ju did not exchange pleasantries with him and went straight to the point when they met.

Yang Pu bowed and said:

"It has been placed in the tent at the back. I have ordered people to guard it day and night, waiting for Your Highness to come and check it out."

"Have you asked anything new these days?"

Liu Ju asked again.

"Since we don't speak the same language, I really can't ask more questions. However, I have ordered a literate military officer to teach them the Han language these days. I believe that with time, things will improve."

Yang Pu answered with a smile and made a gesture of invitation to Liu Ju.
"Your Highness, please follow me. I will lead you to see them."

So the two of them walked one in front and one behind towards a military tent in the center of the camp.
Zhao Zhou, Ni Kuan, Chang Rong, Li Ji, Guo Zhen and others followed closely behind.

They had also heard about the short savages and were equally curious.

At the same time, they were a little unsure about how to evaluate Liu Ju's "dream"...

Before this, they still had some doubts about Liu Ju's "dream". After all, who can tell for sure what happens in a dream? But Yang Pu actually found an island according to the sea chart drawn by Liu Ju. How can this be explained?

But then again, didn't Liu Ju claim that in his dream, the overseas was a fairyland with plains and vast swamps? Then shouldn't the people living on the island be immortals and immortal people? Why did Yang Pu claim that what they captured were just short savages? How do you explain this?
When everyone was thinking this.

"Repeat after me, I~look at me pointing at myself, this is me~I~repeat me!"

Not far ahead, from a military tent with its curtains open, the sound of someone patiently giving a lecture could be heard.

"Goose!"

"Goose!"

"Hello!"

Three voices as if with a lame tongue were immediately heard from the military tent.

Following the sound, I saw two men and one woman, three skinny people with pale faces squatting on the ground and shouting at each other.

Although they all squatted in a very indecent posture, it was not difficult to tell from their body shapes that the height of these three people was definitely no more than 1.5 meters, so it was not an exaggeration to call them short savages.

"Very good, you read it most accurately, this is a reward for you."

The military officer nodded to the woman who shouted "Wow!", then took a small piece of corn cake and handed it to the woman.

"Shoes! Shoes! Sifu!"

The woman hurriedly took it and stuffed it into her mouth while carrying the other two short men on her back, as if she was afraid that it would be snatched away.

"This……"

Seeing this, everyone's expectations immediately sank.

This kind of honor is indeed incompatible with the immortals and their people. It is not an exaggeration for Yang Pu to call them short savages. They seem to be only slightly better than the monkeys in the mountains.

Only Liu Ju was not surprised at all. He walked straight into the tent, looked at the three short savages and asked:
"Have you ever heard of the name Xu Fu?"

The wild woman was stunned for a moment, and then she started shouting again:

"Xifu! Xifu! Please Xifu?"

"You mean Xu Fu of Qin? Have you heard of this person?"

Liu Ju was greatly encouraged by hearing this.

(End of this chapter)