On the eve of the Spring Festival of the summer calendar in the sixth year of Long'an, our group finally came to another indigenous sea country that believed in the Sun God Religion.

Here the acres are flat, the pasture is like smoke, at first glance, it looks like the east Jin Jiangnan in the middle of summer.

It is also incomprehensible that this country is still hot and full of flowers, and there is no appearance of a cold day.

Could it be that I have misremembered the timing of the solar terms? Or are the four seasons of the year in these sea countries the exact opposite of our native country?

Of course, none of that matters anymore.

In the mountains to the northeast of the coast, we finally found the gold and stone mine we had been looking for.

It is shaped like granite, embellished with copper stars, and wrapped in cyan patina.

At a glance, it is clear that it is the red copper stone used to cast the bell and tripod, not the mother ore of the dark iron.

The smelting and casting techniques of the Han Dynasty bronze ware in China have long been mature, and their hardness is not comparable to that of dark iron.

However, it should be more than enough to add lead, tin or gold and silver to form an alloy during smelting, and use it to forge the nails and rivets used in the construction of ships.

In addition, it is connected to the agricultural areas of the indigenous maritime countries, so it is very convenient to purchase supplies.

The mountains of the copper mine are located by the sea, the dense forests are widely spread with ancient trees, and the logs for shipbuilding are inexhaustible.

It is really a feng shui treasure land for metallurgical logging and shipbuilding to go to sea!

"Big brother! This is it! We also did the last time to do Mo Xie, I hope to be able to forge the sword of the king! Hahaha! ”

"Brother Xian, good Yaxing! Metallurgical shipbuilding goes hand in hand, and it is difficult to work without two years! If you want to live here for a long time, according to my brother, the first priority at present is to quickly follow the local customs, so as not to provoke right and wrong in the future! ”

We wandered around the mountains for two days and one night before we stopped in an uninhabited col.

There is a large river in front of it, backed by a mine and dense forest, and the surface is all rock.

It is very convenient to build a smelting furnace, burn charcoal, transport materials, and take water.

In addition, you can not only climb high and overlook the sea and sky here, but also face the water of the long river to drink wine to the wind, which is also an excellent place for health preservation.

So I took a fancy to this col at first sight, and I couldn't help but think about the ancient and modern poetry.

Brother Lin took a more long-term view and reminded me at the right time.

Now we have entered the throat hinterland of this indigenous sea country, and we are still going to open mountains and carry stones and construction here.

If you don't carefully disguise yourself as a Chinese, it will be difficult to clean up any kind of entanglement with the local natives in the future.

I can't help but think of the trip to Eastern Rome back then, we followed the advice of the old Hesrul and dressed up as Egyptians, and did save a lot of trouble on the way.

"What the eldest brother said is very true! Hehe! Lin Tie! Come here! Something to ask you! ”

Everyone put down their alpaca bags and was bathing by the river, and when they heard my shout, Lin Tie ran forward quickly naked.

"Yizi! What are you looking for me? ”

The indigenous boy who was abducted by us three months ago is now tied up and used to using a wooden chopstick.

Except for a little darker skin, there is not much difference between us Han people.

"Lin Tie, what kind of clothes do you natives usually wear? Teach us! ”

Lin Tie's elegant words were still rusty, and Xiao Inca retranslated it next to him before he understood what I meant.

Without saying a word, he untied his hair in two or two strokes, plucked some unknown berries from the bushes in front of him, and stirred them with the red powder of copper ore.

Then he drew two horn-shaped patterns on his face and kicked them off his feet

Soft Boots laughed at us with a stick.

The attire of the natives is clear at a glance, with tattooed faces, barefoot holders, and felt cloth summer robes.

Such a costume is wild and retro, much more rough and simple than our bunched Hanfu, and you can learn it without a teacher without learning.

However, it was inconvenient to walk barefoot in the gravel-strewn mountains, so I secretly decided to replace them with Roman rope shoes.

"Lin Tie! Why do you paint like this? It's like two big locusts lying on their faces! Hahaha! ”

Seeing that we were discussing the matter of changing clothes, everyone gathered around curiously, and Qin Chong asked Lin Tiedao jokingly.

"Red Sun! Heavenly! ”

Lin Tie solemnly pointed to the sun-like dome and bowed reverently.

"Young master! What does he mean? Qin Chong asked me puzzled.

"Their indigenous sea country believes in the sun god, and these two strokes of Lin Tie should represent the flame of the red sun, and it is also a religious totem."

I replied casually, untying the hair on my head and preparing to be the first to set an example.

Qin Chong picked up the little Inca and drew two crimson lines on my face.

It has been half a year since they went ashore, and everyone has long been clothed in indigenous felt.

So after the tattooed faces one by one, they didn't need to dress up in any other way, and they all became living natives.

The next morning, after washing off the copper powder marks, we found that there were two more blue-black marks on our faces, like two upside-down eyebrows, which could not be wiped off no matter how much we scrubbed.

"Lin Tie! What kind of witchcraft are you using? With such a tattoo, we will return to our homeland in the future, how to meet the villagers! ”

Brother Lin saw that each of us had become such a ghost, and he couldn't help but be furious and roared at Lin Tie.

Lin Tie was so frightened that he muttered for a long time, but the little girl Inca relieved him.

"Ah Da, Lin Tie said that this is a local custom. With this blue pattern, you can get the protection of the sun god, and you can also be accepted by the natives here! This, this blue pattern is not in the flesh, and it can fade by itself after half a year! ”

The Inca has recently become obsessed with the art of bow feathers, and Qin Chong specially made a bamboo bow for her with deer tendons as strings.

This little baby got up early and was already shooting water on the edge of the long river with a small bow.

Seeing that our adults were arguing, he timidly came to my side and whispered in my ear to defend Lin Tie.

"My little girl has a lot of eyesight, hehe, it's nothing about your little baby, let's go play."

I lovingly brushed Inca's hair and turned to Brother Lin again.

"Big brother! You're wrong about Lin Tie. The Inca said that this is the custom of the sea country, which can not only eliminate disasters and avoid disasters, but also integrate into the people, and can fade away on its own after half a year. We are now exiled between the rivers and the sea, and this broken hair and stabbing face is also in line with our own identity, hehe. In this indigenous sea country, this kind of folk customs may be the same as the government and opposition of the Eastern Jin Dynasty today, and men's grease and powder are regarded as a kind of noble elegance, which can smile at the beauties of the world! ”

Squatting at the water's edge facing the rising sun, my hand-in-hand professor's daughter bent her bow and arrows and shot at distant targets.

The falling bamboo arrows left a circle of ripples on the surface of the river flowing westward.

"Really?"

"Young master! Is this true? Qin Chong came to see his own face and asked in surprise.

"It's true, big brother! They are all their own brothers, don't hurt the harmony for such a trivial matter! ”

"That's good! That's good! Lin Tiexian's nephew, Uncle blames you! Hahaha! ”

Brother Lin hugged Lin Tie's shoulders and laughed out loud with relief

。

Confucius said: The body is skinned, and the parents who receive it dare not destroy it, and the beginning of filial piety is also.

Our Han family children have been taught by Confucianism since childhood, and they regard the word "filial piety" as more important than their lives, so it is no wonder that Brother Lin was angry just now.

"Young master! Lin Ye! It's time to eat! ”

In front of the temporary station, Guo Helmet and Lin He, who were on duty to cook today, had already prepared the morning meal and shouted for us to go to the meal.

"Brother Xian, I have a proposal for my brother, first quarry and cut down trees to build our sheltered from the wind and rain, and the second step is to make wine in the dregs. There is not much wine left, this quarrying and smelting, logging and shipbuilding are all heavy work, there is no turbid wine to refresh the spirit, I am worried that everyone will not be able to lift the energy, hehe. ”

As Brother Lin promised before, he has authorized me to take charge of all the trivial matters of walking on land.

So it's up to me to decide whether to build the wine pond lees workshop or the gold and stone smelting furnace first.

Brother Lin is a heavy drinker, and he specially suggested to me in the name of other fellows.

"That's nature! Only by eating a large piece of meat and drinking wine every day can you be motivated! It can also relieve our homesickness! Hahaha! ”

"Hahaha! What the virtuous brother said is very true! ”

Brother Lin and I looked at each other and laughed.

"But without koji, you can't make a delicious sake! We can't drink any more of our leftover potato wine! ”

"Brother understands! For brother understand! ”

As we spoke, we had returned from the bank of the river to the terrace at the mouth of the valley.

Today's breakfast was very simple, with freshly hunted venison yesterday, and cassava and bud rice picked from the indigenous fields.

Venison stewed cassava, without the spices of Tianzhu as bait, it is very boring to eat.

Over the next half month, we used swords and axes in the mountains to cut down the large and small timber needed to build houses and wineries.

It took more than two months to build a large dwelling with a stone and wood structure, as well as a pot for sake brewing and a cellar made of dark stones.

Berries, cassava and wild buds are harvested and mixed with the koji of potato sake for storage and fermentation.

During the logging and quarrying period, you will occasionally meet indigenous farmers and hunters in the fields.

There are also officials who patrol around with guards, and they all regard us as our own people.

There is no curiosity to watch, there is no inquiry, and each other is safe.

We have finally ended our wandering days since we came ashore and have our own estate in this new world.

With our skills to make a living, it is not difficult to have no worries about food and clothing from now on!

But although Haiguo is good, it is not a long-term home.

Our homeland is on the other side of the sea, in the western wilderness continent where the red sun sets, and the greatest mission in this life is to return to our hometown.

So after settling down for a while, mining and metallurgy was finally put on the agenda.

However, when it comes to the art of gold and stone, we are all laymen.

How to distinguish between poor and rich ores, how to burn charcoal, how to blow air, how to raise temperature, how to increase the hardness of red copper, all these have not been done, and no craftsman in the city can consult.

Everyone can only rely on some impressions in their memory, the scene of the Han subway stone craftsmen smelting cast iron, and figure it out little by little according to the gourd painting scoop.

And such imitation took us a whole year.

Of course, everyone has also become an expert in metallurgy.

After Lin Qing and the others returned to their hometown of Nan'an County, some people changed their careers to start trading gold and stones, and it is said that they have earned a net worth for many lifetimes, which is a later story.

(End of chapter)

Shang and Buddha