Chapter 12: Encountering the Han Chinese

Wei Hongye went on to say: "The Tang Army's equipment, quality, morale, and generals' ability have reached a peak in the era of cold weapons. At that time, one of the formations commonly used in the field battles of the Tang Army was the "Sharp Arrow Formation", with brave and fearless light infantry holding swords in the forefront, followed by infantry and cavalry assaults, and crossbowmen in the rear column firing on their backs until the opponent was completely defeated. The attack power of the Mo knife is extremely terrifying, "like a wall" when arrayed, and the power is not reduced during hand-to-hand combat, Li Siye is a fierce general who is good at making the Mo knife. On the cavalry side, it is a combination of light and heavy cavalry, and generally uses a horse lance and a horizontal sword. The Tang Dynasty improved the smelting technology, and the steel-filled method replaced the hundred refining method, making the iron war knife sharper. The armor of the Tang army abandoned the armor of the Wei and Jin dynasties and evolved into the thirteen armors of the Tang Dynasty, represented by the Mingguang armor, which was lighter in weight but improved in defense. In addition, it has to be mentioned that the crossbow of the Tang army of the Modao team was a projectile weapon of the Tang army, China's crossbow was unique in the world as early as the Qin and Han dynasties, and it was more mature and perfect in the Tang Dynasty, and its range and power were far from being comparable to ordinary bows and arrows. In order to make up for the shortcomings of the low rate of fire of crossbows, the military formations since the Qin and Han dynasties have always had both bows and crossbows. The Tang army generally used four types of crossbows, with the Fuyuan crossbow with a range of 300 paces, the open-stretch crossbow with a range of 230 paces, the corner bow with a range of 200 paces, and the single-bow crossbow with a range of 160 steps. ”

Na Zhe asked again: "What is the Mo knife like, it sounds very powerful!" ”

"The shape of the Mo knife is similar to the three-pointed two-edged knife of Erlang God in Journey to the West, but it is a single-pointed one, and the Mo knife is a double-edged long knife held by the Tang infantry, which is developed from the Western Han Dynasty horse sword, and absorbs the shape and smelting technology of the Han Lu Mo knife and the long knife of the Six Dynasties. There are specific departments for casting, storage, and management. The Mo knife is extremely sharp, the slashing effect is excellent, and it is mainly used to cut and kill the enemy cavalry in the war, and its tactical role is equivalent to that of a modern tank, and because of its great deterrent power, it is also used for civil and military high-ranking officials and the honor guard of the feudal town. ”

Du Dalei patted Na Zhe's thigh: "So we say that we are descendants of the Tang Army, and we are not ashamed at all." ”

Na Zhe said angrily: "You are excited, why are you slapping my thigh if you have nothing to do?" ”

"It hurts if I pat my own leg, but it doesn't hurt if I pat yours."

Zhao Zizhong said to Wei Hongye: "Old Wei, you ask Altan tomorrow when they will leave, and tell him that we are interested in that big city and want to go with them to see it." A few of us continued to hunt, dry meat, and sew clothes. ”

"Okay, I'll ask him tomorrow. There is another thing, our backpacks should not be seen by outsiders, everyone work hard, sew a few big bags with animal skins, and put our backpacks into them. ”

And when they had made up their minds, they rested. The next day, Wei Hongye found Altan and exchanged for a long time, before he understood that everyone was going to the big city in the south with the natives. Altan thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. So the traversal and the natives were busy, preparing all kinds of supplies.

Five days later, when everyone was almost ready, Altan came over and led Wei Hongye to the natives' stable, where a dozen horses had been put on rudimentary harnesses. Eight of the horses were strapped to a lot of goods, which were supposed to be something that the natives were going to take with them. Altan pointed to the other empty horses, and gestured to Wei Hongye for a while, meaning to let the traversers tie their belongings to the horses and use them to transport supplies.

Wei Hongye was very happy and thanked Altan. He beckoned everyone to hurry up and tie their heavy bags to a few horses. Altan told everyone to leave tomorrow and get everyone ready. In the evening of the same day, the aborigines held a grand banquet to bid farewell to the people, and everyone quarreled with the natives until late at night, and the guests and hosts enjoyed themselves.

The next morning, Altan took eight companions and a dozen horses, and set out south with the crossers. The indigenous men and women of the tribe came to see them off, accompanied everyone for a long distance, and then turned back, and many kept waving goodbye to everyone. There were also a few men who sang, and the singing gradually drifted away, echoing through the valley, and finally could not be heard.

Altan led the way with his companions on horseback, and followed behind on foot. The group marched south in the mountains and forests, trekking through mountains and rivers for nine days, and finally walked out of the mountains and forests and came to the plains.

What is presented in front of everyone is an endless sea of grass, like a large green carpet that has been spread to the sky. Turquoise weeds swayed in the breeze, interspersed with clusters of small wildflowers.

Du Dalei shouted excitedly: "Ah, ah, the prairie, we are here." ”

The natives turned around and smiled kindly. Na Zhe kicked him in the ass, "Don't shout, you'll call the wolf in a while, and you'll be loud." ”

Du Dalei smiled evilly and said: "The scenery here is so beautiful, the sky is high and the earth is wide, it is a good place for field warfare. Then he threw himself down, and the two of them rolled on the grass.

Wei Hongye looked at these two second-class goods laughing, and said to Zhao Zizhong: "We should have come to the Songnen Plain in Heilongjiang Province in the future, and I don't know how far we have to go to reach the city that Altan said." ”

"This is the legendary Great Northern Wilderness, I have heard a sentence 'The Great Northern Wilderness, the Great Northern Wilderness, there are rabbits and wolves, and the wild grass is not fed.' There is a good chance that there will be wolves here, so we need to be careful. ”

"There are so many of us, the wolves shouldn't attack us, right? It's summer, food is plentiful, and the wolves aren't necessarily interested in us. ”

"What you say makes sense, maybe I'm thinking too much."

The crowd continued on their way, and the weather was getting hotter and hotter along the way, and the sun was very strong during the day, and everyone was tanned a lot, and because they had not shaved for many days, and they were wearing animal skin clothes, they looked more and more like natives.

There were also many swamps on the road, and Altan carefully led the horse team around, stopping from time to time to fish in the puddles and enrich everyone's food.

On this day, Altan took everyone to a village, there were about 200 people in the village, dressed like Altan, and the natives here were very enthusiastic when they met Altan, hugging and patting each other, they should have known each other before. In the evening, the people here were very hospitable. After two days of repairing in this tribe, Altan continued southward with his people.

After walking for more than ten days, I met more and more tribes, all of whom were Altan who came forward to negotiate, and sometimes exchanged some materials and replenished some food with these tribes.

All the way south, the crowd began to thicken. There were some villages, and there were many farmlands, and everyone found that the people who worked in the fields were dressed very much like the Han people in the costume TV series, and many of the farm tools used were also made of iron. This discovery made the traversers very excited.

When we camped in the evening, everyone gathered together, and Du Dalei said: "Boss, should we get in touch with those people, maybe they are Han people." ”

Zhao Zi nodded emphatically, "I think it's okay, Lao Wei, are there any candy left?" ”

"And a few more."

"Tomorrow, if you meet natives who look like Han Chinese, you give them some candy and try to communicate with them, and you may get useful information."

"Okay, I'll try it tomorrow."

The next morning, the group came across a village with a field outside the village and several people working in the fields. Look at what they are dressed like Han Chinese. Zhao Zizhong glanced at Wei Hongye, and when he understood Zhao Zizhong's intentions, he walked to the edge of the field and shouted a few times.

A few of the people who were working straightened up and looked over, and one of them walked towards them with a hoe in his hand. When he arrived at the field, he looked at everyone curiously.

This person is not tall, only about 1.6 meters, about 40 years old, his face is black and red, there are some wrinkles, and the clothes on his body are made of linen, similar to the peasant in the TV series "Water Margin", wearing a straw hat on his head and straw sandals on his feet.

Wei Hongye stepped forward, clenched his fists and said: "This gentleman is invited, we are passing merchants, are you Han?" ”

The man on the other side looked puzzled, thought for a moment and said, "Eh, you are Han, who are you?" His accent is very similar to the Shanxi dialect of later generations.

Wei Hongye continued: "We are descendants of the Tang people, from the far west, and we have come here to do business. ”

Then he took out a piece of candy, peeled it off and broke it into two pieces, put half of it in his mouth, chewed it a few times, and brought the other half to the man, "This is the candy of the Far West, it is very delicious, please taste it." ”

The man hesitated for a moment, took the candy, slowly put it in his mouth, chewed it slowly, and then his eyes lit up, and he said again and again: "It's delicious, it's delicious, I've never eaten this object." ”

Wei Hongye took out some candy and put it in the man's hand: "The first time we met, it was not a tribute, this is for you, please try it for your family." ”

The man held the candy and bowed repeatedly, "Thank you, guests, you are really generous." Then he turned back and shouted a few words to a few people in heaven and earth. Several people in the farmland came over one after another, looking at the traverser curiously.

The man gave the candy to his companions and taught them to peel off the candy wrappers and put the candy in their mouths. A few people were very happy after eating, and they said words of thanks.

Wei Hongye continued to communicate with a few people, and Du Dalei and Na Zhe also walked over and tried to talk to them.

At this time, Altan also stopped and looked at this side. After about an hour, Wei Hongye and the three of them said goodbye to the man and returned to the middle of the horse team.

He said with a solemn face: "I finally know the era we are in now, this is the Liao Kingdom, and the year name is the twelfth year of the calendar." ”

Zhao Zi asked again; "Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure."

"What dynasty is the Central Plains in the south?"

"They don't know either."

"How did they get here?"

"They are from Yunzhou, that is, the later generation of Shanxi Datong, who was captured here by the Khitans more than 20 years ago."