After sending off the messenger, the group is about to embark on the most difficult part of the road.

There are no more post stations, no more castles, just like the ancestors of the same clan set foot in the Western Regions for the first time 1,700 years ago.

a white, frozen river with no end in sight; Eat endless pickles and boiled fish that can't change the taste; More than one person deep snow at the tuyere; The ice crevices on the river surface that can break the horses' hooves when they are crushed and broken.

There seems to be no end to all this, like spring here will never come.

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

Sometimes, someone in the team will suddenly say something.

"It's the winter solstice today, it's time to eat dumplings."

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

"What kind of dumplings are you eating? Ginger rice should be eaten on the winter solstice. ”

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

"None of them. Mash rice balls. ”

A group of people sat around the fire, watching the boiled pickles of the river fish that they had eaten in the iron pot, and swallowed saliva to recall the winter solstice of the previous year, the winter solstice of the previous year, and even the winter solstice of a long, long time ago.

The night is dark, and it's the shortest day of the year.

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

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

The people of the military government department looked at the position of the North Star and measured the latitude here. Using a large telescope, he observed Jupiter's moons to determine the time difference, looked up the "Astronomical Chronology" written by the missionaries, and calculated the longitude of the place using the methods learned from the missionaries who had surveyed and mapped the maps.

As you can see from the table that we have found, it is already very far east, even further east than the "Mutsu Province" of Japan in the missionary map. The missionaries said that the lord of the country of Mutsu had built a Galen ship to cross the Pacific Ocean during the Ming Dynasty, but they did not believe it, thinking it was too incredible.

Calculating the longitude, these people were surprised to find that the distance they had walked out was enough to walk from the capital to Songjiang and back.

If you count the road around in circles, it will be even further.

After leaving the castle of the Rakshasas, they did not immediately go east along the Heilongjiang River to find the Yongning Temple, but followed the footprints of the time they came all the way south.

After a big circle, it turned northeast.

At this time, it had crossed the Ussuri River and turned back to Heilongjiang.

You can also encounter some tribes of the Hezhe tribe before. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, these people were not all taken away as Eight Banners, and their habits were different from those of Houjin, they did not shave their hair, but they did not tie their hair either.

Some of these tribes fished for a living, and some hunted. The means of transportation have gradually changed from horses to dog sledding, moose and so on.

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

There were now not only horses, but also moose and dogs.

The once glamorous clothes are now in tatters, many of them are dressed in the deer skins they hunted along the way, their beards have not been shaved for days, and their faces are blackened by the ultraviolet rays reflected by the snow, and 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 leads directly to a large lake, where there are several water systems that flow further north, and the Rakshasas also have a castle there.

In the tent, Liu Yu was saying goodbye to Jiao Lao Butu.

"Starting today, we're going to be separated. Deer and dogs are given to you, and we continue to use horses. Fifty people were left to set up a stockade here to stay. We'll meet here next summer. Remember, you have to come back by June anyway. ”

Jiao Lao Butu and others have changed into skins, wearing headdresses and roe deer skins from various tribal eras. Some of the staff members who followed them were dressed in the same way.

Liu Yu wanted to take more than 150 people to Yongning Temple. Rubbing inscriptions, surveying and mapping of river estuary 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 parts, both disguised as hunting tribes of envoy dogs, led by Ao Lao Butu.

One turned to the northwest, inquired about the valley roads that the tribes said, turned back to the middle reaches of the Heilongjiang River, and checked some roads and rivers; The other is to follow the tributaries on the north bank of the Heilongjiang River to explore the Rakshasa Castle upstream, along the way with passable roads and rivers.

This is where the job lies, and even if you want to do something out of the ordinary, you have to do it first.

Liu Yu had his own plan, so he instructed again: "Old Shu, remember, you must return before June." This way, you have suffered the most along the way. I walked along the river, at least there were fish to eat, so I could save food to feed the horses. You have to feed the dogs and the people along the way, and you have to hunt. Great work. ”

Jiao Lao Butu didn't care about the hard work that Liu Yu said, but what he cared about was what Liu Yu said that he had to return before June, and he felt more and more that there was a problem.

When I came, it seemed to be a difficult walk.

In fact, going back is the hardest, once the ice melts and the snow melts, the ground is full of swamps, and mosquitoes are paved, returning in June is not a good choice. At least then I couldn't walk on the ice, and it was a problem that the horses would make it back alive.

After thinking about it, he finally couldn't help but ask, "My lord, is there something wrong in June?" ”

"Yes, there's a big deal."

Jiao Lao Butu nodded and asked quietly, "Is it a major event of the imperial court?" Or is it a big deal for adults? ”

Liu Yu pointed at him, then at himself, and gave a sentence that made Jiao Lao Butu suddenly understand.

"A big deal for you and me."

"Hmm. I see. ”

No matter how much you have to say, you don't have to say anything, you have finished talking about it, and pulled a fluffy bear skin over her body, Liu Yu sighed, thinking how far is this Yongning Temple?

…………

About 200 miles away from the mouth of the Heilongjiang River, there is a mountain cliff.

On the cliff, there are two monuments.

A long time ago, there was a temple next to the monument, but there was not a single monk in this temple.

Wind and rain can wipe out many marks.

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

At the foot of the cliff where the stele stood, walked a group of men dressed in animal skins, carrying stone spears, and occasionally one or two with muskets.

It's like their ancestors in the past 100 years.

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

They didn't speak Chinese, but the elders of the clan muttered two Chinese words.

"Da Ming."

"Son of Heaven."

These are the only two words they can say.

There is such a legend in the clan, a long, long time ago, there was a man named the Son of Heaven, who crossed the sea from the distant Ming Dynasty.

In the story, the boat they were riding in was as tall as a pine tree, and the sword in their hand was as bright as the moon.

Legend has it that as long as you give this man named Tianzi some walrus tusks, a few white rabbits, and two sable skins every year, they can exchange them for cloth that looks like they didn't wear in the summer, they can get utensils that can cook food, and in exchange for the protection of the tribe called Daming.

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

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

Whenever someone did not believe, the people of the tribe would cross the frozen sea and take those who did not believe to see the two stone tablets on the cliff.

Stories are always stories, and the story of 300 years ago may not be so.

Earlier, they disliked the man who was called the Son of Heaven.

Because the Son of Heaven forced them to pay tribute, and because of the things brought by the Son of Heaven, the quiet tribe had many selfishness.

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

But stories are always told for posterity, and posterity always chooses the stories they want to hear.

When a group of bearded people they called "evil ghosts" came to the vicinity of the tribe, these bad stories about the Son of Heaven were gradually forgotten by the tribe.

People prefer to gather around the elders and listen to the story that "as long as some walrus tusks are paid every year, the Son of Heaven of the Ming Dynasty will cross the sea by boat to protect them".

Since ten years ago, more and more grass seeds have been sacrificed next to the stone cliff and stone monument, praying that the legendary Son of Heaven who crossed the sea by boat will really appear to protect them.

The "evil spirits" not only forced them to pay mink and ivory, but also forced them to collect wild strawberries and raspberries in the summer and dry them; In autumn, grass seeds are collected and dried fish are dried; If you don't have enough mink to contribute, you will be 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 the story of the forced tribute of the falcon and the tribe's attack on the eagle collector, and the young people of the tribe were very strange: this is just it, why attack the people of the Son of Heaven?

At least the guy called the Son of Heaven will not treat them like "evil ghosts", and the ancestors who attacked the soldiers of the Son of Heaven are not fools?

Too much time has passed in the story, and the things in the story are the story after all.

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

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

Not only did these demons force them to pay for hides and dried berries, they killed people at every turn, but they also brought nightmarish diseases to their tribes.

A good young man will suddenly have a lot of acne on his face, and then he will die after a high fever. They were even more convinced that it was all because of the bearded demons.

So in this autumn, the bravest people were chosen from the tribe.

When the "demons" came to collect the mink and berries, they set fire to their huts, and in order to prevent the evil spirits from escaping, the bravest lads stayed with them, and with the smoke of the flames, they were caught and buried with them.

They thought that when the demons died, everything would be well.

Unexpectedly, they opened the gates of hell, and more evil spirits poured in from the north.

They rode moose, hunting dogs, and pulled on strange long tubes, the sturdy wooden houses that could be shattered at once, and the fence against the raging black bears was as fragile as summer ice in front of such long tubes.

Many of the tribes that participated in the uprising were completely erased, and the men, women, and even children of the tribe were nailed to sharp wood by these people, telling each tribe the fate of the rebellion.

The survivors begin to despair, but the elders of the tribe find hope in the story.

Having contacted many of the surrounding tribes, some from distant islands across the frozen ice, some from the far north across the vast mountains, they gathered under this stele and prayed to the two steles in the most pious tone, the most pious offerings, the most devotional rituals—the story of the elders, not just stories, not just legends.

But there really will be a man named the Son of Heaven, who will come here in a ship higher than the red pine and with a sword brighter than the moon, take their tribute, and tell them:

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