The rivers and lakes are full of vests

In the Huanggu Miao village, there is a huge empty dam in the east corner. At this moment, many Miao people gathered on the dam. They wear the most luxurious and solemn Miao costumes, and they look solemnly at the wooden platform in the middle of the dam. surrounded.

Fu Peibai and Shiqi stood on the second floor of the stilted building not far away, just in time to see the entire empty dam.

"Miao people believe that after death, people carry dustpans on their bodies, and their souls cannot be saved and rest in the underworld, so they will hold a ceremony to untie the dustpan. However, this kind of ceremony is usually held by relatives and neighbors on a small scale. This kind of ceremony is held every year. It is rare to see a big ceremony in the village, it seems that the former patriarch is loved and respected by the people of the village." Shi Qi said lightly. (Note 1)

Fu Peibai was a little surprised, but she didn't expect Shi Qi to be so well-informed, even the customs of the Miao people in the Gu area to be so clear.

The eyes of the two turned to the middle of the dam again. The outermost layers were ordinary clansmen, and the inner layer were wizards wearing ghost masks and red blue totems painted on their arms. They were holding bamboo hexagrams and livestock around The sacrificial speech is chanted on the wooden platform.

In addition to the usual sacrificial items, a cow was tied to the stage. Sima Tuo was standing aside, holding a hammer in his hand. The sturdy ox hammer fell to the ground, and then someone came onto the stage with a knife, quickly opened the neck to take blood, slaughtered the ox, put it into the boiling water beside it, cooked it, shared it with the villagers and ate it. (Note 2)

It was the first time Fu Peibai had seen such a crude and primitive sacrifice method, full of blood and brute force.

Seventeen introduced: "This is a bull-beating ceremony in the sacrifice, which is intended to hand over the cows to the dead in the underworld for use."

"However, I am a little curious. The current patriarch is from the Central Plains. How could the former patriarch hand over the position of patriarch to a foreigner?" Fu Peibai asked out of his confusion.

"Although the many tribes in the southwest are completely different from the ruling style of the Central Plains Dynasty, there is one that has been adopted, and that is the inheritance system. If the current patriarch is from the Central Plains, then the previous patriarch should also be from the Central Plains. "

Fu Peibai was puzzled, "The two patriarchs are both foreigners? What about taking office?"

Seventeen leaned on the railing, listened to the melodious Miao songs in the dam, and continued: "I should be the Miao King who was born and bred in the local area when I took office."

Fu Peibai became interested. Seeing Shi Qiyi's appearance of knowing a lot, he asked: "Then how did the previous patriarch get the position of patriarch from the old Miao king?"

Seventeen chuckled lightly, and began to talk about the distant history of the Southwest, "This goes back a hundred years ago. At that time, the Southwest Gu Region was not under the jurisdiction of the Central Plains Dynasty, and the local tribes were their own kings. The largest of them was It is the Miao nationality, and the old Miao king is also the largest tribal king in the southwest.

Then, when the dynasty first established the country and wiped out the Central Plains, it sent troops to the frontiers, as far as Futu to the west of the southwest, and Chirong to the north of the northwest, all of which were included in the territory of the dynasty. However, it is easy to conquer these border areas, but governance is difficult. It's not easy. The tribes in the southwest and northwest seem to submit to each other, but in fact they are dissatisfied and secretly wait for an opportunity to rebel. "

"In the third year of submitting to the dynasty, a huge rebellion broke out in the southwestern region. The rest of the tribes except the Miao joined forces to march into the Central Plains, taking advantage of the Northern Expedition to annex dozens of cities. Angry, he immediately sent his confidant General Sima Jun to march south, and issued a death order."

Shiqi paused for a moment, then said slowly, "Massacre."

Fu Peibai's heart skipped a beat, and his face became serious.

"The 30 troops of the Central Plains Dynasty were divided into three groups and went straight to the southwest. The blood flowed thousands of miles. According to historical records, it took only one month for the army to quell the southwest rebellion. After the ten tribes were massacred, only a few big tribes remained, 20 people and 3 people remained, even so, the boss was not relieved, and ordered Sima Jun to kill all the people in Nanman."

Seventeen stopped at the most critical moment, making Fu Peibai scratch his head with curiosity, "And then?"

"The above is the official historical record, and the following is the unofficial version. The content cannot be verified. Do you want to listen?"

"listen!"

"There are records in the unofficial history that Sima Jun, the general of Yanwu, rebelled against the Central Plains Dynasty with his family and fled to the southwestern hinterland. Taking advantage of its natural dangers, he led the Miao tribe to fight against the Central Plains crusade army for several years. The position was passed on to the general of the Central Plains, and after the death of the alien patriarch, the position was passed on to his grandchildren.

I only thought of this historical material after hearing the surname of the patriarch. Presumably this patriarch is the descendant of General Sima Jun. "Seventeen finished speaking, the Central Plains man who worshiped his father with the Miao customs raised his chin in the court ceremony.

"Didn't the book say why General Sima Jun defected from the Central Plains?"

"No, Ah Pei, why do you think he did this?" Shi Qi turned his head and looked at Fu Peibai with a smile.

Fu Pei rested his hands on the railing and tapped his fingers unconsciously, "It's hard to speculate, but I guess it's because the general couldn't bear to kill the innocent people here, so he chose to leave the Central Plains?"

Seventeen chuckled lightly, "Apei, you are really pure and kind. You never thought that maybe he came to the Southwest to join the Miao nationality out of self-protection? The few who were able to die well may be because of the helpless actions he made after he had a rift with the boss."

Fu Peibai shook his head, expressing his disapproval, "If he wants to protect himself in the Southwest, he doesn't need to care about the people here. Why would he spend so much time and effort leading the people here to go to the mountains and build a residence? And he has been dead for so many years, here Every year, people from the Central Plains will hold such a grand ceremony to pay homage to him, which shows his status in the hearts of the people, so I am more inclined to think that this Central Plains general couldn't bear it, and he didn't want to commit the sin of killing again, so he came to the southwest. Lead this group of people to survive."

"In any case, the devastated wilderness in the southwest now seems to be a pure land. Although the reputation is not very good, it is really rare to be able to live as leisurely as the Miao people in the troubled times." Fu Peibai sighed and finished. , looking back at the dam.

Shi Qi was noncommittal and said nothing, and the two silently watched the grand memorial ceremony.

At the end of the ceremony, it happened to be noon, and the two of them walked halfway up the mountain. Halfway through the walk, the originally bright and clear sky began to roll with dark clouds and muffled thunder, as if a thunderstorm was about to come.

Fu Peibai and Shiqi hurried back to Sima Tuo's stilted building. As soon as their front feet stepped on the wooden steps, heavy rain came.

The wind was howling, the rain was pouring down, and there was a chill in the air. Fu Peibai looked at Shi Qi's thin clothes and said, "Come inside, it's going to be windy and cold."

Shi Qi nodded, and just about to enter the house, a man with a coat covering his head ran up the steps, his whole body was drenched by the heavy rain.

The person who came to tore off his coat, revealing a simple and honest face, it was Brother He Gu, but his expression was slightly worried.

Fu Peibai asked: "What's the matter, Brother Hegu?"

He Gu wiped off the rain on his face, looked at the strong wind and rain outside the house and said: "With such a heavy rain, there will be rockslides in Mao'er Mountain again, I am a little worried about Old Man Tie."

Fu Peibai became serious, "Where is Maoershan?"

He Gu pointed to the hazy mountain in the distance in the rain.

Fu Peibai thought for a moment and said: "Brother Hegu, please bring me a coir raincoat. I will go to the mountain to find him."

Before He Gu could respond in the future, Shi Qi grabbed Fu Peibai's wrist and said with a stern expression, "No, it's dangerous."

Fu Peibai smiled, "It's okay, I'm used to wild in the mountains and forests since I was a child, and I know the general landforms of the mountains and forests."

Shi Qi still didn't let go, her eyebrows frowned slightly.

With a gentle voice, Fu Peibai patted the back of her hand, "Don't worry."

Shi Qi looked into those dark and clear eyes, and she was stunned for a moment. At this moment, she suddenly felt that the young man in front of her had grown up, and was no longer the girl who was at a loss in the cellar. Enough for peace of mind.

Shiqi let go of his hand, watching Fu Peibai quickly put on his coir raincoat, declined He Gu's company, and then dived into the torrential rain.

He Gu waved his arms and shouted: "Brother Fu, after going up the mountain, go straight to the southeast, go around the mountainside, walk along a gravel road, and you will see a small wooden house, that is where the old man Tie settled on the mountain. "

In the heavy rain, the man in coir raincoat didn't look back, he raised his arms high and ran towards Maoer Mountain.

At this time, in Maoer Mountain, huge mud-rock torrents occurred in many valleys and deep valleys. A large amount of clay, sand and gravel washed down by rainwater mixed together to form a fierce stone flow, pouring down the steep hillside. And down.

Fu Peibai arrived at the small wooden house on the mountainside smoothly according to the route He Gu said. She kicked open the wooden door, but there was no one in the house. She could only wrap her coir raincoat tightly around her body and search around along some faint footprints.

"anyone there!"

"anyone there?"

She shouted all the way while scanning her surroundings. After a long while, Emperor Tian paid off, she caught a glimpse of a person under a broken tree trunk.

She strode over and stripped off all the dead branches and leaves. Under the thick trunk, there was an unconscious old man, with white hair messed up on his face, and he couldn't see the whole picture clearly. Pressed, unable to move.

She stretched out her hand and breathed a sigh of relief after finding the other person's weak breath. She hugged the tree trunk with both hands and lifted it aside with all her strength, then quickly carried the old man on her back and walked down the mountain.

Thanks to the fact that she now has internal strength, otherwise with her body, it would be quite difficult to carry an eight-foot-tall old man on her back.

An hour later, Fu Peibai appeared at the entrance of the village with the figure of the old man on his back. Shi Qi walked over quickly holding an umbrella, raised the umbrella high, covered Fu Peibai's head, and asked, "Is there any injury?"

Fu Peibai stared at the water stain on Seventeen's shoulders and shook his head, "No, but this old man's leg is injured, let's go back quickly, I have a hat, don't need an umbrella for me."

Shi Qi hummed, and the two walked quickly into the village.