Bald Boye inquired carefully.

It turned out to be: Tuoba Beijin's nephew rebelled and assassinated Beijin, and Bijin's eldest son, Tuoba Lian, was eighteen years old this year, and happened to accompany his father's side, standing up and fighting, killing Beijin's nephew and saving Beijin, but he himself was injured in the ribs. When the bald Boye and the others arrived outside Shengle City, this political assassination had just ended a few days ago, and at that time, Tuoba couldn't afford to be seriously injured, but it was no wonder that Beijin didn't have the heart to meet them. After all, the injuries were too serious to be treated, and Tuoba Lian died soon after, and he was buried today.

After Bo Ye and the others asked clearly, they returned to the account to discuss.

Zhou Xian has a loyal personality and hates such disloyal and unrighteous people, and said angrily: "Killing my uncle and usurping power is really wolf-hearted, and pigs and dogs are not as good!" He said regretfully, "It's a pity that although Tuoba Lian saved his father, he died!" But he is a filial son. ”

Bo Ye, Huyan Panni and the more than ten Zhizhen Lang are all Xianbei people, familiar with the situation of the Xianbei tribe, and are accustomed to seeing such things in the same tribe, where brothers kill each other, uncles and nephews kill each other, in order to compete for the position of the minister, no one is surprised, and no one is indignant.

The bald Boye said: "I have found out clearly that Tuoba Khan's nephew, Tuoba Jin, is the son of the previous Tuoba Khan. It is not surprising that he wanted to usurp power and seize power. ”

However, although he is the son of the former Tuoba Khan, and now he is a minister, how can he "usurp power and seize the throne, it is not surprising"?

This is because, in the words of later generations, even including the Murong clan who founded the Wei state, the entire Xianbei tribe, or by extension, all the northern Hu tribes, are now mostly in a period of transition from a matrilineal society to a patrilineal society, with the patriarchal society having the upper hand, but the matrilineal society still has considerable remnants.

In terms of the inheritance system, there is a situation in which the two forms of "brother to brother" and "father and son" coexist.

"Father-to-son", this is the embodiment of patrilineal society. "Brother to brother" and removing the factor that "in order to seize resources on the grassland, the various departments compete fiercely, the war is continuous, and the ministry needs a long king", to a large extent, it is the embodiment of the matriarchal society. Not to mention, in the past 100 years, there has been no shortage of Tuoba when the "Queen Mother" is powerful, "the mother is strong, the sons are everywhere", and several successive khans are their sons.

——In the original historical time and space, the Tuoba clan went south to the Central Plains, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, a cruel system was implemented, called "the death of the son and the mother", and the root cause of this is actually here. When the system is backward, only by using barbaric means and bloody killings that violate human nature can we play the most direct and fastest role in ensuring the survival of the tribe and forcibly promoting the progress of civilization in our own department.

However, there is no such system in the current Tuoba Department, and the system of "brother to brother" does not meet the requirements of patrilineal society, so when the "Queen Mother" clan is weak, or the "Queen Mother" clan loses in political struggle, there may occasionally be "father and son inheritance".

Both systems are legal.

Therefore, the bald Boye and other Xianbei people, after hearing and seeing, hearing and seeing a lot, and some of them even participated in such things, did not feel strange at all about the assassination of Beijin's nephew in order to "affirm" the right of "father and son".

Tuoba Xianbei is a powerful force in the north, Xin Er often pays attention to it, and before the bald Boye envoy, he once told Boye in detail about the recent history of the Tuoba Department that he had searched.

From what Xin Er told him, the bald Boye chose the reason why he was able to be a khan, and said it to everyone.

He said: "The former Tuoba Khan and Beijin were half-brothers. The previous khan fought fiercely with his uncle for more than ten years, and finally took advantage of the power of the Wei Murong clan to regain the Khan throne from his uncle. Bei Jin is his second brother, the oldest among the younger brothers, because he sent Bei Jin to Wei as a hostage. The former khan was dying, and he wanted to pass on his son, but his son was young and forced by the mother of the double catty, so he had no choice but to pass on the throne. Tuoba thought that the double jin was too far away in Wei, and in order to avoid chaos in the department, he killed the fierce and changeable third brother of the double jin, and agreed to set up the fourth brother of the double jin. It was the fourth brother of the double jin who insisted on reluctance, saying: My brother is the elder, and he should succeed to the throne, and I am in the great cause of the more and more time, and he will welcome him in person, and he will keep Wei as the hostage, and he will be able to return to the ministry and succeed the Khan. ”

The bald man paused, and concluded, "The son of the former khan failed to inherit the throne, and the throne of the double jin was tortuous. ”

This matter is over, and there is no need to say more.

An Chong didn't speak, and then said, "General, we're unlucky." ”

The bald man sighed and said, "Yes." ”

Huyan Panni, Song Jin, Zhou Xian and others all understood what An Chong meant by this.

He was ordered to come to the envoy, and the task was crucial, but he was assassinated and his eldest son was killed.

It is conceivable that the top priority of Beijin now must be to search for and kill the traitors.

Although in terms of food, the Tuoba Department treated Bo Ye and the others quite well, but when Bei Jin was free to see them, he didn't know when it would be.

An Chong said: "The alliance is expanding and attacking Shuofang, which is a major military strategy of the Ming Duke. We can't afford to wait here stupidly. He rolled his green eyes, looked at the tent, looked thoughtfully, and said, "I have to think of a way to meet Tuoba Khan as soon as possible!" ”

Bo Ye asked him and said, "Do you have a plan?" ”

An Chong thought for a while and said, "This ......"

Bo Ye asked, "How?" ”

An Chong said: "This ......"

Hakuno asked, "How?" ”

An Chong spread his hands and said: "Don't hide it, my brain has been racked, and I have no plan. ”

A group of people who were waiting intently for him to see him were disappointed.

Huyan Panni said: "No way, no way, this, this half a day, what is this?" ”

An Chong laughed and said with great confidence: "Although I have no plan, the general looks calm and calm, I expect the general to have a plan!" General, say it quickly, don't hang people's appetite. ”

The bald and wild hair did have a countermeasure, so he didn't make a fool of himself and told everyone.

When everyone heard this, they all said that they had a good plan.

Bo Ye returned to the tent door and said to the Tuoba officer who guarded them: "My family is the same ancestor as the Khan of your tribe, and now the prince of your tribe has unfortunately been killed. Lead me and lead me. ”

The ancestors of the bald department and the ancestors of the Tuoba department were originally brothers. The ancestor of the bald department is the eldest son. As with the mixing of the two inheritance systems, during the transition from the patrilineal to the matrilineal of the Xianbei tribe, the relationship between the brothers is also quite delicate. Second, the difference between the concubine and the concubine is not very obvious, which causes the status of the eldest son to be very embarrassing, and when the concubine is on the throne, he is often afraid of his cousin. It was for this reason that the ancestor of the bald tribe took his father's subordinates to him when he was alive and went away to other places, migrated westward, and entered Longzhou.

However, although the two are the same ancestor, they have been separated for a hundred years, just like the bald Boye said to Xin Er before: He is self-proclaiming, and I am self-bald. The two have long been irrelevant. The so-called "can also be called brothers", strictly speaking, is still a bit far-fetched.

But then again, after all, the two have the same ancestors and are of the same lineage.

The two officers of the Tuoba Department hesitated for a long time and could not make a decision, so they divided one to ask for the advice of their superiors.

After a long time, the man returned and said, "Come with me." ”

The bald Boye and the others followed the officer of the Tuoba Department out of the tent area.

It was not far away, and we reached the field road that led to the city gate.

The road is full of pigtails, or simply don't even braid, shave a round and bare Xianbei, Wuhuan, Eile and other Hu people of various ethnic groups.

There are those who are more exquisite, not afraid of the heat, and wear a wooden high hat unique to Xianbei.

The women of the Xianbei and other ethnic groups have a very high status in the department, the men are the main ones who fight outside, and the women are the ones who are in charge of the housework, and there are many women in the crowd. Some women have several braids, which are married; Some are younger, like men, and have no hair on their heads, which are unmarried.

Men and women mostly wear sheepskin coats with round necks and narrow sleeves, narrow-mouthed sheepskin silks, waist belts, short boots, and some are shirtless.

There are a lot of men and women, and there are a lot of people.

Although the Tuoba tribe is mainly nomadic, it has also been farming for a long time. The edges and ridges of the large fields on the roadside, which are used to grow crops such as corn, the east wall, the green grain, the wheat, and the finger wheat, are also crowded with people, surging forward in a noisy.

The officers of the Tuoba Department commanded the soldiers to open the way in front.

Walking in the crowded crowd, the scorching sun of midsummer was down, and Bo Ye and others were sweating.

An Chong has been in Longzhou for a long time, and there are many Hu people in Longzhou, but there are all ethnic groups, as well as Hu in the Western Regions, there are many types of hairstyles and languages, and there are quite a few people who wear Tang clothes; Unlike outside this Shengle City, what they saw at this time, thousands of men and women, regardless of old and weak, were full of almost the same kind of hairstyles, clothes, and accessories, and when they heard it, they were almost all Xianbei words,—— Wuhuan people and Xianbei people, just like the Di people and Qiang people, lived together for a long time, the language and customs were close, and there was almost no difference when they spoke.

An Chong couldn't help but think in his heart: "The former envoy Tianshui Pu Badger Sun Ying, along the way, I have met the Tang people, and I have felt that the customs of Longzhou are very different, and now in the north, all the eyes are fresh, and the wind of Longzhou is very different!" Fu Fuzi often said that 'the Tang people are unclothed', and what he said, 'If there is no self-court, I will wear my hair and leave the left', I can understand the meaning of his words. ”

Following the crowd, about ten miles, I came to an open place.

There are soldiers of the Tuoba Department on the periphery, and the people of Shengle are here, and they can't go any further.

This is the place where the Tuoba Department chose to bury Tuoba Lian.

The officer of the Tuoba Department went over and said something to the vigilant soldier, who went to ask for the officer's order, got out of the way, and let them in.

The noise on the road was gradually left behind, and after a few miles, the banners were swaggering, the elite guards were in good armor, and more than 100 people appeared in front of them, and from this group of people, there was a sound of mourning and music. The bald Bo Ye and the others quietly followed the officers of the Tuoba Department and walked closer.

It's going to be twilight.

A huge burial chamber had been dug into the ground, and Tuobari's coffin had been carried down.

A sturdy warhorse and a dog on a colored rope crouched uneasily on the edge of the tomb.

According to the customs of Xianbei, in the sound of mourning, dozens of Xianbei people smashed piles of gold and silverware, pottery, iron and other funeral goods.

Tuoba Boye and the others stood still.

An Chong saw this scene at a glance.

Maybe it's the business genes that are still in his blood.

Such a good thing was damaged in vain, and he bared his teeth, quite distressed.

Destroying the vessel to accompany the funeral is one of the customs of the Xianbei and Wuhuan funerals.

Zhou Xian is rough and fierce, he grew up in the Tiefu Department since he was a child, although he is a Tang person, he is not as good as An Chong, bald Bo Ye and other Hu people who are more Tang cultured, do not pay much attention to etiquette, look around, tilt his foot probe, look towards the tomb forty or fifty steps away, and see that the north and south walls of the tomb each protrude two ear chambers, one large and one small, with a stone platform under it, and a stone cover plate on it. This is a niche. Dozens of burial objects such as gold and silverware, clay pots, and ox leg bones have been placed inside.

The bald Bo Ye and the others watched quietly and waited for more than half an hour.

Night is coming.

The funeral ceremony officially began.

More than 100 people sent the funeral utensils into the burial chamber, sat around the burial chamber, and lit a fire on the side of the burial chamber. He brought the horses and dogs beside him and walked around the tomb. The mourners sang or wept, or threw meat at them, or gave them repeated instructions and words to the horse and the dog. Then two sturdy Xianbei men took up their swords, killed the horse and the dog, and dragged them to the fire that was kindled and burned. More than a dozen people held piles of clothes and ornaments and put them into the fire.

More than a dozen Tuoba witches danced around the fire and chanted incantations.

Zhou Xian couldn't wait patiently, his eyes were scattered, and he saw that among the witches, a few of them were clearly men, but there were two gourd-like things hanging on their chests, which seemed to be pretending to imitate the things on the woman's chest. This is also the result of the legacy of matriarchal society. Zhou Xian didn't know what the paternal and maternal lines were, but he had seen the same kind of situation in the Tiefu Xiongnu Tribe, because although he felt funny, he was not surprised.

After looking at it, Zhou Xian smelled the smell of meat, put his eyes on the dead horse in the fire, and said in his heart: "This horse wants to be Tuoba Lian's horse before his death." Such a strong war horse, killing and burial is just enough, why burn it again, and trample on it? ”

Thinking so, he also knew that this was the funeral custom of the Xianbei and Wuhuan people.

Xianbei and Wuhuan people believe that the soul is immortal after death, and the soul has to go through dangers and obstacles, as far as thousands of miles away from the Red Mountain, just as the Tang people believe that the soul returns to Mount Tai after death, so the clothes, accessories, and horses of the deceased before death are indispensable, and they must be burned and sent, so that their souls can be dressed as life, ride a horse, and reach the Red Mountain smoothly. As for the dog, the purpose is to use it to protect the spirits of the deceased to the Red Mountain. The Xianbei people who instructed the slain dog just now said to the dog that they were instructing "the gods of the dead to return to the Red Mountain".

Out of this belief, what Zhou Xian and others could not see, inside the coffin in the tomb, the head of Tuoba Lian's corpse was also facing the location of the Red Mountain in the northeast.

In the fire that burned the clothes that Tuoba Lian had worn before his death, the black ashes scattered in the wind.

Floating to Zhou Xian, An Chong and others, Zhou Xian stretched out his hand and waved. Zhou Xian wiped the sweat from his forehead, looked at the bald man, and saw that he was also sweating profusely, and thought: "The more than 100 Xianbei people who sent the funeral, the stars held the moon, and the strong man who hugged him must be Tuoba Doujin." They are already having a funeral, why is the general still standstill? ”

He is not a Xianbei person, he doesn't know much about the funeral process of the Xianbei people, and there is still a ceremony that has not been carried out, so it is not good for the bald and wild to go up rashly at this time.

As soon as they arrived, the bald man saw four or five men and women huddled in a corner outside the tomb.

Sure enough, after setting up the funeral vessels, killing the horses and dogs, throwing them into the fire, and burning Tuobala's clothes, soon seven or eight Xianbei armor soldiers brought the four or five men and women to the singing and jumping witches and wizards. After the witch and the sorcerer had recited incantations and prayed, the armor priest drew his sword in his hand, and no matter how many men and women wept or wept, one of them was responsible for the other, and killed them all and pushed them into the tomb.

Needless to say, these men and women were either Tuoba Lian's favorite wives and concubines during his lifetime, or his favored slaves. With the enlightenment of society, it is rare for people to die among the Xianbei tribes, but there are still some people.

At this point, several major steps of Xianbei's funeral have ended.

Bald and ambitious: "It's time for me to play!" Wiping off the sweat, cheering up, adjusting his mood, and suddenly singing in Xianbei language: "Aganxi, my heart is sad, Aganxi wants to return to the horse but not to return." Why is it too bitter for me to call horses? I'm Agan for Agansi. Ah Gan's body is bitter cold, and I quit my soil to live in Bailan. I see the sunset and I don't see Agan, sigh! How many can there be in life! ”

In the night, the fire was bright and dark, and in the solemn and sad atmosphere, the bleak singing immediately attracted the attention of Tuoba Beijin.

This song is called "The Song of Agan", and it was composed by an ancestor of the Murong clan of the Wei royal family under Fangxia.

Agan, Xianbei language, means elder brother.

Just like the old things of the bald hair and Tuoba tribes, the ancestor of the Murong clan, after inheriting the position of the minister, was afraid of his eldest brother Tuyu (yu) Hun, so he used the excuse of fighting with the horses raised by the Tuyu Hun tribe and the horses raised by his tribe, and reprimanded Tuyu Hun bitterly, asking him why he didn't lead his headquarters to stay away from it, but had to be adjacent to his own people's pastureland?

When the ancestor of the Murong clan was competing with his uncle for the throne before, Tuyuhun didn't help him, remained neutral, and knew that he was looking for trouble, so he said, horses are beasts, and fighting is their normality, why be angry with me? It's easy to stay away, and I'll take my people thousands of miles away. He led the 1,700 herdsmen assigned to him by his father in the early years, and moved westward to the south of Longzhou.

The Murong Xianbei taken away by Tuyuhun has multiplied to this day, and has also established a crude regime, that is, Tuyuhun Xianbei, who is called "Tuyuhun" by the outside world.

The ancestor of the Murong clan later regretted it and remembered it, so he composed this "Song of Agan".

"Ah Gan wants to return to the horse but not return", singing that Tuyuhun had not been away for a long time, and the ancestor of the Murong clan regretted it and sent someone to chase him. Tuyuhun said that the ranch is small, I am a humble man, and I should give the pasture to my brother; If you want me to go back, please try to drive Ma Lingdong, if Ma returns to the east, I will go with you. The pursuers rode 2,000 horses, and then they embraced the horses of Tugu Hun to the east, and only a few hundred paces were taken, and the horses went west with a mournful roar. If so, more than ten times. There was really no way, and the chaser knelt down and said: This is not something that people can do! I had to let Tuguhun lead the department to the west.

Although "The Song of Agan" was composed by Murong Shi, the story of "the separation of the family" sung by him is widespread in all Xianbei tribes, so it is widely spread. Tuoba knows this song.

He heard the singing and asked, "Who is singing this?" ”

The Tuoba minister, who had seen the bald hair at the city gate before, replied: "It is the son of the bald hair department of Longxi. ”

"Is that the envoy from Dingxi? Who told him to accompany him to the funeral? ”

"It was I who made the bold decision and agreed to him coming."

This minister's name is Qiu Dunqian, one of the ten surnames of Tuoba clan, and he is now Tuoba Beijin's cronies and important ministers.

Tuoba said "oh", no longer asked, and said, "Call him closer." ”

The two Xianbei courtiers called the bald Boye over.

Tuoba Beijin sat cross-legged on the ground, didn't get up, looked up and down, and said in his heart: "What a handsome son!" He said, "Are you the bald son?" ”

Since Tuoba Beijin ascended the throne, he has fought everywhere, breaking the high car in the north and defeating Tiefu in the west, with great achievements; Because he has been a proton in Murong Wei for more than ten years, he has learned the canonical system of Wei, and he has made drastic changes to the headquarters, carried out reforms, changed the inherent loose form of tribes, imitated Wei State, set up hundreds of officials, and divided all positions. Before the Tuoba Department, there was no city as the capital, and the Khan also lived in the wilderness, and the city was built near the old county of Shengle in Qin, which was designated as the Khan City, which was also the decision of Tuoba to double the jin.

is a male master, Jian Xin was assassinated, his beloved son died, and his murderous spirit surged, and his gaze became more and more coercive.

However, under his gaze, the bald and wild man was neither humble nor arrogant, and replied, "Yes." ”

"Why do you sing the Song of Agan?"

The bald man took out the words he had used against the Tuoba officer, changed it slightly, and replied, "My department and your department were originally one family. I have heard the good name of the Khan's son, and I am eager to see him, and I tell the genealogy of my ancestors, or I can talk about it as a brother with the son, but when I came to Shengle, there was a sudden drastic change, and the son of the world was unfortunately killed, and my heart mourned. The singer of "Song of Agan" is Murong who must not see his brother again; Now that the son of the world has passed away, Bo Ye can't see it! Thinking of the gloom, sorrow and self-help, unconsciously singing. As he spoke, tears rained down.

Tuoba Beijin loves Tuoba Lian very much, and was touched by Bo Ye, his eyes were moist, and he said: "It's hard for you to have this heart!" He commanded, "Indeed, your family and mine are of the same ancestor." Sit down. ”

Those who are eligible to sit on the edge of the tomb for burial are either relatives or close friends. Letting the bald man sit down shows that he recognizes his status as at least a distant relative. The bald man bowed and sat down beside him.

When An Chong and the others saw it, they all said in their hearts: "The most difficult thing is the first step to get double the favor." Let him sit down, and the matter is already done! It seems that you don't have to wait too long, and you will soon be able to explain the alliance with Beijin! ”