Chapter 8 Discovery of Indigenous Tribes

In the early morning, the bright sun shone on the valley, and everyone got up one after another. After a simple breakfast, Zhao Zizhong cleaned up neatly, hung the telescope around his neck, equipped with a knife and a crossbow, and was about to set off to investigate.

"Boss, you must be careful!"

"Don't go too far."

"Come back soon."

Everyone told one after another, Zhao Zizhong waved his hand, "Don't worry, I don't have any problem, you pay attention to safety." Then he walked into the mountains and forests without looking back.

Wei Hongye picked up the shovel and said, "Let's start work too, and strive to get more gold today." ”

Four days have passed, and everyone has mined about five or six catties of gold, and Zhao Zizhong goes out every day to investigate, explore the way, and walk all over the radius of dozens of miles.

In the afternoon, everyone worked under the strong sun, and even Boris, who had the whitest skin, was flushed. At this time, a figure slowly walked out of the woods, and Du Dalei took a closer look, it was Zhao Zizhong who came back.

"Hey, the boss came back early today."

Zhao Zizhong walked to the shore and shouted, "Everyone come up, I have something to say to you." ”

Everyone put down their work and went ashore one after another. After everyone arrived, Zhao Zizhong said with a solemn face: "I explored the southeast today, walked about 20 kilometers, and found a village in a valley. ”

"Ah, what village is it?"

"Anyone?"

"Stupid, can there be no one in the village."

Everyone was talking nonsense. Wei Hongye drank: "Don't shout, let Lao Zhao talk about it in detail." ”

Zhao Zizhong took a breath and said: "In the morning, I went southeast to reconnoitre, and after walking for almost twenty kilometers, I climbed a hill, and in front of me was a mountain valley, and the terrain was very gentle. In the valleys, the villages are fenced off, and the houses there are very low huts made of tree trunks and branches. Then I made some detours to get closer to investigate, and found that there were about fifty or sixty people in the village, men, women, and children, most of whom were dressed in clothes made of animal skins, and the workmanship was very crude, and some of the clothes did not even have sleeves, as if they had been draped over their bodies. The men there were not tall, but they were all stout, and many carried rudimentary bows. There were a small number of iron tools in the village, but there were a large number of livestock, the largest being pigs, about one hundred and eighty heads, and a dozen horses, and twenty cows, and no sheep were seen. ”

Wei Hongye asked: "What kind of hairstyle do the men there make?" ”

"Most of them tie their hair in a bun on the top of their heads."

Wei Hongye thought for a moment and said, "It shouldn't be Khitan, Jurchen, or Mongolia. The Khitans shaved off the hair on the top of their heads, and the hair around them was scattered; Most of the Jurchens were 'money rat tails,' as in Qing court dramas; The Mongols were similar to the Khitans, with a bald crown on their heads, but their hair was braided all around. ”

Na Zhe asked eagerly: "What kind of nationality is that?" ”

"It doesn't seem to be the Xiongnu and the Turks, these two peoples are wearing hair."

"What do you mean by a draped hair?"

"Hair is hair that is loose, some braided, some tied into a ponytail at the back of the head." Wei Hongye explained. "Well, it's not Xianbei people, they have similar hairstyles to the Khitans."

Na Zhe snapped his fingers and said, "If it's not a Jurchen, it's not a Qing Dynasty; If you are not a Mongol, you are not a Yuan dynasty; If it is not the Khitans, it is not the Liao Dynasty; If it wasn't the Huns, it wasn't the Han Dynasty. ”

Du Dalei interrupted him: "What you said is not entirely right, the Jin State was also established by the Jurchens, and the Khitan was established during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. ”

"It could also be a small tribe, not a people that has left a glorious mark on history," Boris said. ”

Zhao Zi nodded emphatically: "What Lao Bao said makes sense, I have been going a few times in the past few days to observe carefully." ”

Na Zhe said suspiciously: "Is it possible that there is a tribe in a primitive society?" ”

Wei Hongye said: "It shouldn't be, Lao Zhao saw that there were iron tools there, and the tribes of the primitive society did not know how to smelt iron, and iron tools only appeared in a large area after the Han Dynasty." Lao Zhao, I'll go with you to investigate, I grew up in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, and I have come into contact with a lot of Mongolians, and I can also use some simple Mongolian, maybe I can use it. ”

Zhao Zi nodded emphatically: "Okay, let's go together tomorrow, the three of you continue to pan for gold, but you must pay attention to safety." ”

Everyone agreed, and they got back to work.

The next morning, Zhao Zizhong and Wei Hongye went out to investigate, while the other three continued to pan for gold, sometimes going to the woods to hunt, making jerky after catching the prey, and stockpiling food with all their might.

Four days later, in the afternoon, Zhao Zizhong gathered everyone together and said: "In the past few days, Lao Wei and I have carefully observed the village, and found that this tribe should be fishing and hunting as the main means of livelihood, and also raised a lot of livestock, a lot of pigs, fewer cattle and horses, and no sheep. No crops were planted. ”

Wei Hongye added: "I tried to get as close to the village as I could, listened carefully to the people there, and found that their language was somewhat similar to Mongolian, and maybe it really had some roots with the Mongolian people. ”

Du Dalei asked, "Is it possible that these people are the ancestors of the Mongols?" ”

"With this possibility, the ancient north has experienced many ethnic fusions, and the languages of many ethnic groups have borrowed from each other, and some words are the same."

Zhao Zizhong said: "We are still not sure what nationality those people are, now we have to discuss whether we should contact the people in that tribe, those people have bows and arrows, and there may be some danger." ”

Wei Hongye continued: "We can use the identity of merchants to contact that tribe, the ancient northern peoples were very friendly to merchants, they lacked iron, cloth, salt, tea and other living materials, merchants are very welcome to trade with the tribe. ”

Then Zhe asked, "Then what can we trade with them?" ”

Du Dalei immediately hit him: "You are really stupid, we have salt, tea, and liquor, isn't it written in the novel, liquor is very popular in the north." ”

Na Zhe shook his head, "The liquor can't be moved, I'm still waiting to sell it for a lot of money in the Central Plains, those natives are very poor, they can't pay a high price." ”

Wei Hongye said: "The amount of salt, tea and liquor we carry is very small, and it is impossible to trade with the natives on a large scale, so my idea is to give them some, gain the favor of the natives, and find a way to let them help us go south, after all, they are the head snakes of the land, they are familiar with the road and the natural environment, and it would be best if we could fool them into providing us with guides." ”

Boris continued: "You can give the natives some modern food such as sweets, instant noodles, ham sausages, etc., and they will be very satisfied." ”

Du Dalei hurriedly said: "That's right, those modern foods rich in flavors and additives will definitely make the tongues of the natives fall off, and they will definitely help us." ”

Wei Hongye suddenly stood up excitedly, "I think of an important thing, the few corn and potatoes that Zhe got before crossing will definitely be of great use, as well as the peppers we brought, if we find a place to plant these crops in large quantities after going south, the income will be very huge, much more than gold panning, hahaha!" ”

Zhao Zizhong slapped his thigh: "Yes, why didn't I expect it, the yield of corn and potatoes is very high, these crops are a big killer in ancient times when the grain yield was very low!" ”

Wei Hongye continued: "We must take good care of these things, which are more important than gold!" ”

Na Zhe asked suspiciously: "It will take us a long time to go south, won't these things break?" ”

Wei Hongye explained: "Corn and potatoes originated in the Americas, brought back to Europe by the Spaniards, and with the navigation technology at that time, it would take several months to get from the Americas to Europe by boat. ”

Zhao Zizhong also said: "If these crops are tightly wrapped and kept as low as possible, it should be possible." ”

Du Dalei added: "And chili peppers, I used to read a novel about a modern man who traveled back in time to ancient times and brought some chili peppers, and he successfully planted them and made a fortune. ”

Boris said: "Let's think about getting rich later, and our priority now is how to deal with the natives and get help. ”

Zhao Zi thought about it again, "We should be bold and bring some candy, salt, liquor and other things to contact them, we always have to take this step." Well, tomorrow I will go to that village by myself, and you will observe with binoculars in the woods behind, and if something happens, you will run away and leave me alone. ”

Du Dalei immediately shouted: "This can't be done, boss, it's too dangerous for you to go alone, we will definitely not leave you alone." Isn't that a white-eyed wolf? ”

"yes, yes!"

Wei Hongye said: "Lao Zhao, you are the only professional soldier among us, and you are the backbone of all of us, you can't have an accident." I'll go for it. I also know some Mongolian, so I might be able to communicate with the natives. ”

Du Dalei also immediately said: "Lao Wei, I'll go with you, I used to fight a lot, I had rich experience in brawls, and I ran fast, and others said I was stupid and bold." ”

Zhao Zizhong was a little moved, thought for a while, and said: "It's so decided, Lao Wei and Xiao Du go, Boris and I are in the rear, use the crossbow to warn you, as long as you feel that something is wrong, run immediately, don't delay for a moment." Na Zhe was guarding supplies in the woods on the mountain. ”

Wei Hongye asked, "How much gold have you got?" ”

"It should be more than twenty pounds."

"That's pretty much enough, we'll bring everything tomorrow, and if the communication with the natives goes well, we won't be back."

Na Zhe said with emotion: "After staying in this beautiful place for more than ten days, I am really a little reluctant to leave!" ”

Du Da Lei Deser said: "In the future, when the buddies are developed, they will bring a large group of followers back and dig up all the gold here!" ”