The original intention of participating in this indigenous tribe's sun festival is twofold, one is to meet merchants from other countries and show us a clear way to return from the sea to the west.

Another purpose was to exchange the potato wine in my hand, or the luminous sea pearl on my waist, for some warm clothes and camel mounts suitable for long journeys for all my brothers.

Now, it seems, the first wish has been completely frustrated.

And the second wish, it seems, is about to be put down the drain.

None of the indigenous savages here are knowledgeable, and the people are different from the nations of the world.

We seem to have entered the year of the three emperors and five emperors, and we are trading with the ancestors of antiquity.

They regard gold as a pebble and mustard, and they do not know the use and value of cotton and silk, and of course they do not understand what potato wine is like clear water.

Everyone is struggling with the inability to trade, and is ready to leave first.

The native priest who presided over the sun festival just now came to our liquor stall with three or five retinues.

It turned out that after the shriveled old man had tasted the tribute potato wine, he was mad by the mysterious slurry, and he came to us to make a deal.

Without the presence of an interpreter like Duo'er, everyone could only learn from other indigenous traders and communicate with the priest in sign language.

After some dancing demonstrations, the indigenous priests finally understood what we meant.

Nuggets, cassava and bud rice for the stomach, felt to keep out the cold, alpacas for leg strength, and pottery and bowls for making tea and stew.

The whole market can enter the eyes of the big people to trade goods, and these are all necessary things for us at the moment.

The priest said no more, waved his hand and let the attendants carry our barrels, and motioned for us to go with him to the temple.

Brother Lin and I are both merchants, so of course we understand what the indigenous priests mean.

In other words, he bought our goods, but there was not enough money with him, so let us go and pick them up.

The men left a few barrels of potato wine, put them in their own bags, and followed the priest to his temple.

There are no windows, no lintels, no statues and shrines dedicated to the sun god.

The priests and their retinue lodging in dark houses made of stone strips scattered throughout the square of the altar of the sun god.

There is no comfort at all, only shelter from the wind and rain, and the living rooms of the ascetics of Tianzhu Kingdom are nothing more than that.

Today there are many offerings, like hills piled up on the altar platform, but they are all food, pool salt, felt, and the like.

The priest pointed to these goods with his golden rod, and muttered to us for a long time, his face full of conceit.

It seems that he is the richest subordinate of the whole day, and we can take as much as we want.

Brother Lin and I looked at each other and smiled bitterly, without the leg strength of a camel horse, these cheap and bulky items would not be able to be transported!

"Big brother, let's take these goods first! Then take it to the market and exchange it for alpacas! ”

In desperation, I suddenly remembered the Roman merchants in Fulou Shaxiang City who sold Suhe spices.

They exchanged spices for our golden sand, and then went to Chang'an and Luoyang, and used the golden gold to trade the silk of our Eastern Han Kingdom.

This indigenous market is all barter, and they don't know what wine is, but they should accept it in the bud, the cassava, the felt, and the bacon.

"Hahaha! That's a great idea! Brothers, hurry up! Move all of this to the square! ”

Brother Lin was relieved when he heard this, and hurriedly instructed everyone to wrap the goods in exchange for felt, and returned to the market with them on his shoulders.

When picking felt and bud rice, one or two golden bumps will occasionally pop up, and everyone will also accept all the orders, which is regarded as a big windfall.

The next deal was much simpler, exchanging felt for clay stone bowls, and exchanging all the buds and bacon for five alpacas that served as leg power.

The afternoon sun shines on this mysterious mountain, and the crowded mutual market square can also occasionally meet some young and beautiful indigenous women, and the innocent smile like Puyu is heartwarming.

They saw that we were different from the other natives, and they chased after them to make a deal.

I hope to exchange some rough bone tools and feather hats for our clothing, swords, long knives, and mulberry bows and quivers behind our backs.

In this wild sea country, there is no supply of these weapons and clothes to replenish, and the gold cannot be exchanged!

But for fear of hurting the hearts of the indigenous beauties, he had to take one or two feather arrows and give them away, as if he was giving a token of love to the woman he liked.

And these wild girls also gave me peach wood and reciprocated Qiong Yao.

Follow us closely and give back the charm of the snail shell.

There was even a woman who cut off a strand of green silk with a stone knife and gave it to the heroic General Qin Chong.

If it weren't for the tribesmen's obstruction, these wild and fiery native wild women would have been like moths to a fire, ready to lead the alpacas to follow us to the ends of the world.

In this way, in addition to worshipping the gods and intermingling with each other, the annual national gathering of the sun festival in this sea country is also a lovesick place for young men and women of different tribes to chase each other and express their love.

Just like the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl above the Nine Heavens, they meet once a year, and once they like each other, they will never lose each other.

And we have fallen into a foreign land, living in the rivers and lakes, and we must not grow up with our children.

Although Lin Qing and Brother Chun have been teased by the wild girls, they can only escape.

After a while, the natives of the various tribes began to follow the road they came from and set out on their way home.

The native elder, who had already known each other, invited us to come along, but we were walking north, and we were already on different paths.

Brother Lin originally had an idea, hoping to meet some indigenous craftsmen who made iron and copper in the market.

As long as you can buy black iron or bronze, it is no longer difficult to build iron chisels, iron axes, copper saws, and copper nails.

With these tools and instruments, we can rebuild a merchant ship to cross the sea in this foreign sea country.

It's a pity that this indigenous person is too savage, and it is still in the Stone Age.

This idea of his can only be temporarily abandoned, and he will continue north along the coastline to find a land route to the west.

With alpacas as the leg power to transport goods, we are all masters of fishing and hunting, so we have no worries about food and clothing on the way north.

Trek through mountains and rivers every day, and enjoy the exotic scenery along the way.

Sometimes, we would meet indigenous families grazing alpacas, walking side by side with us in the mountains.

After walking northward like this for more than half a month, the mountains running north-south in the east have always been with us, and the ground atmosphere has become hotter and hotter.

"Young master! This eastward continent is boundless! Will it be connected to Persia and Rome? Why don't we go east and see what happens! ”

One day, everyone was climbing over a cloud peak on the coast of Canghai, standing on a high place and looking at the boundless continent in the east, Qin Chong said to me with emotion.

"Yes! If you can meet a prosperous country like Eastern Rome, even if you can't return to your homeland in this life, you can live and work here in peace and contentment! Young master, Qin Chong's idea is good! ”

The pot helmet led the alpaca behind him, and happily agreed.

has been going north so aimlessly, and everyone in the team has already complained.

"Brother! Our homeland is on the west side of the sea, where the sun sets! ”

Brother Lin heard the suggestion of Qin Chong and Guo Helmet, and pointed at the west weather with the wooden staff in his hand and panted.

"The sky is round, and people are in the middle! Qin Chong's pot helmet! Remember, our home is in the Western Wilderness Continent! Hahaha! ”

I also have a curious mentality, wanting to see what the eastern continent looks like and whether there are magical states.

But I also know that such a path is contrary to our homecoming, and it is absolutely not feasible.

Our relatives in our hometown are still waiting for us to return, and as long as we have a breath of air, we can only walk on the way home.

"In this huge sea country, I don't believe it as a brother, and I can't find a market that sells dark iron! Do you believe it? ”

On the way down the mountain, Brother Lin handed me the wine bag and asked me anxiously.

Since going north, he has asked me this question many times, as if he was cheering himself up.

Everyone doesn't have any extravagant hopes for returning to their hometown by land, the sea is boundless, when will it come to an end!

Finding the iron-making state shipbuilding westward is the best hope for the journey.

So everywhere we went, we would climb to the top of the local mountain and look around.

Look for the city-states of the sea country with thousands of fireworks, or the rich countryside of Qianmo.

But apart from the barren fields, vast dense forests, and rolling mountains, the mustard-like people of the world have become the rarest creatures on this continent, rarer than the falcons soaring in the sky.

"Big brother, don't worry, this sea country is just beginning to open chaos, and they are still using stone tools, so they won't know what Xuantie is. When we meet an ironstone mine, our own smelting is! ”

Seeing that Brother Lin was so anxious, I hurriedly comforted him.

"Brother Xian still knows the art of smelting? You can't be a brother, right? Hahaha! ”

Brother Lin was overjoyed when he heard this, and his beard and hair on his face instantly stood up, hugging my shoulders and laughing loudly.

"In the past, on my business journeys, I saw the iron-smelting workshops of various countries, and I also read some strange books of gold and stone. Therefore, I still know a little about the art of smelting and forging gold and stone. If you can find iron and stone, it should not be difficult to cast dark iron! ”

Originally, it was to comfort Brother Lin, but between the lightning and flint, I remembered the smelting technique, and my eyes also lit up.

It's like a returning guest who walks at night sees the lights of his home, and the whole person is brightened.

"Virtuous brother! Why didn't you say it earlier! Tell your brother what Tieshi looks like, so that the brothers can pay more attention along the way! ”

Brother Lin has changed his decadent state since he came ashore and returned to his heroic nature.

"The iron and stone are all red and black, and when they touch each other, they make the sound of bells, and I recognize this kind of gold and stone. Whether you can meet or not, but by chance, the eldest brother should not be in a hurry. ”

"Brother Xian, how can you not be in a hurry for your brother! The old man in the family is waiting for his children to return, and there are a pair of children waiting to be raised for his brother, and he can't return to his hometown in this life, and he won't be blind to his brother's death! ”

Brother Lin sighed abruptly, and also talked about the sore spot of everyone, we stopped and looked at the western sky.

On the other side of the sea, are they all okay?

(End of chapter)

Shang and Buddha