New Shun 1730

After seeing off the messenger, the group was about to embark on the most difficult journey.

There are no longer inns or castles, just like the ancestors of the same race who first set foot in the Western Regions 1,700 years ago.

The endless white, frozen river; the endless pickles and boiled fish that can't be changed; the snow as deep as one person at the wind outlet; the ice cracks on the river that can break a horse's hoof after being squeezed and broken.

It all seems to have no end, like 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 visiting the Western Regions.

Sometimes, someone in the team will suddenly say something.

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

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

"What kind of dumplings are you eating? It's time to eat ginger rice during the Winter Solstice."

"We neither eat ginger rice nor dumplings. We drink mutton soup."

"No way. Just glutinous glutinous rice balls."

A group of people sat around the fire, watching the vomiting river fish cooked with pickles in the iron pot, swallowing saliva and recalling the winter solstice last year, the winter solstice the year before that, and even the winter solstice a long time ago.

A dark night enveloped the sky. This was the shortest day of the year.

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

The soldiers looked at the stars in the sky. Someone sang a ditty, pointed to the position of the Big Dipper, and said that they had never seen such a high Big Dipper. This place was really evil.

The people from the military government's official department looked at the position of the North Star and calculated the latitude here. He used a large telescope to observe the satellites of Jupiter to determine the time difference, checked the "Astronomical Time Record" written by the missionaries, and calculated the longitude here using the methods he learned from mapping maps with the missionaries.

From the tables we looked up, we can know that this place is already very far east, even farther east than Japan's "Mutsu Country" on the missionary map. The missionaries said that the ruler of Mutsu Kingdom had built a Galen ship and sailed across 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 walked was enough to walk from the capital to Songjiang and back again.

If you include the detour, it's even further.

After leaving Rakshasa's castle, they did not immediately go east along the Heilongjiang River to find Yongning Temple. Instead, they followed the footsteps southward.

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

At this time, we had crossed the Wusuli River and turned back to Heilongjiang.

I have encountered some Hezhe tribes before. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, not all of these people were captured to serve as the Eight Banners, and their habits were different from those of the Hou Jin Dynasty. They did not shave their heads, but they did not tie them.

Some of these tribes make a living by fishing, and some hunt. The means of travel gradually changed from horses to dog sleds, moose, etc.

Using some gunpowder, knives, tea leaves, etc., we exchanged some moose and dogs with these tribes.

Now there are not only horses in the team, but also moose and dogs.

The once-splendid clothes were now in tatters. Many people wore deerskins from hunting along the way. Their beards had not been shaved for many days. Their faces were darkened by the ultraviolet light reflected by the snow. They looked like a group of tribes hunting here.

It is estimated that it is still six to seven hundred miles away from the Heilongjiang estuary.

I heard from the local Hezhe people that the river on the north bank of the river can directly lead to a large lake. There are several water systems there that flow further north. The Rakshasa people also have a castle there.

In the camp, Liu Yuzai bid farewell to Jiao Lao Butu.

"Starting today, we will separate. I will give you the deer and dogs, and we will continue to use the horses. We will leave fifty people to set up a camp here and stay behind. We will meet here next summer. Remember, no matter what, before June Must come back."

Jiao Laobutu and others had already changed into skins, wearing various headdresses and roe deer skins from the tribal era. Some of the people from the Fang Division who followed them were also dressed in the same way.

Liu Yu wanted to take more than 150 people to Yongning Temple. Rubbing inscriptions, surveying and mapping the river mouth, contacting local tribes, and building a small temple.

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

The rest were divided into two groups, both disguised as hunting tribes with dogs, led by Jiao Lao Butu.

One part turned northwest to inquire about the valley roads mentioned by the tribes, then returned to the middle reaches of Heilongjiang River to check some roads and rivers; the other part went north along the tributaries on the north bank of Heilongjiang River to check out the Rakshasa Castle upstream and the accessible roads and rivers along the way. River direction.

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

Liu Yu had his own plan, so he asked again: "Lao Shu, remember, you must come back before June. This journey for you is the most difficult. I walked along the river, and at least there were fish. Eat, you can save food to feed the horses. You have to feed the dogs and people, so you have to work hard."

Jiao Laobutu didn't care about Liu Yu's hard work, but he cared about Liu Yu's words that he must return before June, and he felt more and more that something was wrong.

When we came, it seemed like it would be hard to leave.

In fact, going back is the hardest part. Once the ice melts and the snow melts, the ground is filled with swamps and mosquitoes, returning in June is not a good choice. At least you can't walk on the ice at that time, and it's a question of how many horses can make it back alive.

After thinking for a while, I finally couldn't help but ask: "Sir, what happened in June?"

"Yes, something big happened."

Jiao Laobutu nodded and asked quietly: "Is it an important matter for the court? Or is it an important matter for your lord?"

Liu Yu pointed at him, then at himself, and said something that Jiao Lao Butu immediately understood.

"A big deal for you and me."

"Yeah. Got it."

There was no need to say any more words. All that needed to be said was said. He pulled a fluffy bearskin over his body. Liu Yu sighed and thought, how far is Yongning Temple?

…………

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

On the cliff, there are two tablets.

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

Wind and rain can erase many marks.

Three hundred years of wind and rain have worn away the edges of the inscriptions. The sandbar at the mouth of the river has been flattened and submerged, submerged and flattened again, but some oral stories cannot be erased.

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

Just like their ancestors over the past hundred years.

After walking to the cliff of the stone monument, he devoutly took out a handful of grass seeds and a handful of collected wild wheat, knelt down on the river, and scattered these grass seeds under the stone monument as a tribute.

They don't speak Chinese, but the elders of the clan are chanting two Chinese words.

"Da Ming."

"Emperor."

These are the only two words they can say.

There is a legend in the clan that a long time ago, a man named Emperor 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.

Legend has it that as long as the emperor is given some walrus tusks, a few white rabbits, and two sable skins every year, he can exchange them for cloth that looks like he is not wearing anything in the summer, and he can get utensils for cooking food. And in exchange for the protection of the tribe called Daming.

No one remembers how long this story has been circulating.

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

Whenever someone didn't believe it, the people in the tribe would cross the frozen sea and take the unbelievers to see the two stone tablets on the cliff.

Stories are always stories, and the story of three hundred years ago may not have been that way.

Earlier, they despised the man named Emperor.

Because the emperor forced them to pay tribute, and because the things the emperor brought made the quiet tribe have many selfish motives.

In fact, three or four hundred years ago, the elders of the tribe even organized attacks on soldiers collecting tributes and toppled temples on the cliffs.

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

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

People prefer to gather around the elders and listen to the story that "as long as they pay tribute to some walrus tusks every year, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty will cross the sea by boat to protect them."

Since ten years ago, more and more grass seeds have been offered as sacrifices next to the stone tablets, praying that the emperor who came across the sea in a boat would really appear to protect them.

Those "evil ghosts" not only forced them to pay mink skins and ivory, but also forced them to collect wild strawberries and raspberries in the summer and dry them; in the autumn, they collected grass seeds and dried fish; if the mink skins contributed were not enough, they would be forced to He was tied to the horse's tail by those "evil ghosts" and dragged back and forth on the ground.

Sometimes, the elders of the tribe would occasionally tell stories about the forced tribute of eagles and the tribe's organized attacks on the eagle collectors. The young people in the tribe were very surprised: That's all. Why attack the emperor's people?

At least the guy named Emperor won't treat them like "evil ghosts". Are the ancestors who attacked the Emperor's soldiers fools?

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

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

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

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

A good young man will suddenly develop a lot of acne on his face, and then he will die from a high fever. They were even more convinced that all this was caused by those bearded evil spirits.

So in the autumn, the bravest people in the tribe were selected.

When those "evil ghosts" came to collect mink skins and berries, they set fire to their wooden huts. In order to prevent the evil ghosts from escaping, the bravest young man stayed in the wooden huts and held on tightly amid the billowing flames and thick smoke. Those evil spirits perished in the sea of ​​fire with them.

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

Unexpectedly, they opened the door to hell, and more evil spirits came from the north.

They rode moose and hounds, pulling a strange long pipe. A sturdy wooden house could be smashed to pieces by such a long pipe. A fence that could withstand a violent black bear was like summer ice in front of this long pipe. Fragile.

Many tribes that participated in the incident had their traces completely wiped away. The men, women and even children in the tribe were nailed to sharp wood by these people, telling each tribe the consequences of resistance.

The survivors began to despair, but the elders of the tribe found hope in the story.

They contacted many tribes around them, some of which crossed the frozen ice from distant islands, and some of which crossed the vast mountains from the far north. They gathered under this stone tablet and prayed for the two stone tablets with the most pious tone, the most pious sacrifices, and the most pious rituals. The story of praying to the elders is not just a story, not just a legend.

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

From now on, you will be protected by the Son of Heaven!

The attack on the tribute collector of the Son of Heaven by the Kuwu tribe occurred in the Yuan Dynasty, not the Ming Dynasty; the demolition of the temple occurred in the Ming Dynasty, which should be a religious factor, the conflict between primitive shamanism and Buddhism. (Of course, these tribes cannot be expected to distinguish between the Qing, Yuan and Ming dynasties)

Walrus ivory is called Qiujiao on the list of tributes to the Son of Heaven. These tribes also paid tribute to mammoth ivory. These tribes were too small and lived too scattered, so it was difficult for their civilization to continue, and only legends remained.