PS: I recommend a novel "Southern Jin Idler", a very good alternate history, if you are interested, you can take a look, the old author's vest, the quality is guaranteed. The second chapter of the pen fun www.biquge.info is in the evening

……

In the fourth year of the reign of Zhao Hou (485 BC), on the morning of the first day of the second month of Zhongchun.

The dawn is gradually bright, the rising sun erupts, the brilliant golden glow dyes the sky red, and the colorful glow rolls up, gorgeous as brocade. The spring breeze was warm and strong, blowing from the east, and it dispelled the thick fog that shrouded the sky over the Yellow Pond.

This is a good day to set off, today Zhao Hou will return to Yecheng with a large group of people, but first, he has to see off a team of more than 100 people.

Being able to be sent to the outside of the Shili Pavilion by the lord of the world, this is a glory that ordinary people dare not ask for, Liu Xia is more and more honestly afraid, but Zhao Wuxian stopped his bow and continued to tell him the unfinished things.

"Actually, you don't have to go to the Hezong clan to find the starting point of Mu Tianzi's westward journey."

With the collapse of the Daiguo eight years ago, Zhao's territory has greatly expanded to the north, and his vision is much broader, so Zhao Wuxian knows that the country of the Hezong clan, which was once strong in the past, has long since collapsed into a group of small states that are half-cultivated and half-pastorized on the Hetao, and the largest tribe is called the Kongtong clan, and the war between them is uncertain, but in the previous years, the county cavalry has been transferred south to participate in the war against Qin, Wu, and Qi, and the loss of war horses is too great, and there will be no energy to send troops to sweep the grassland for a while.

Although Zhao Wuxian promised Liu to explore the west, he drew a new route for him.

In the pavilion, he pointed to a map of Shangjun and its surroundings and said: "You took more than 100 tigers to Xinjiang first, and then to Jingyang County, Fengyi County. At the turn of spring and summer, the Pingjun in charge of the northwest trade, Yi Dun, would send a caravan from Jingyang to Yiqu for trade, and then to visit Wushi, two hundred miles west of Yiqu......

"Yui!"

Liu Xia Yue promised, he knew that this Yiqu and Wushi all belonged to Xirong and were inextricably linked with the earlier dog Rong.

Among them, Yiqu is located in the upper reaches of Jingshui, which is the most powerful tribe in Xirong, with a population of more than 100,000 and more than 10,000 soldiers, and can even threaten the Weinan of Qin. Yiqujun also sent an envoy to ask Zhao to send troops to destroy Qin, but was rejected by Zhao Wuxian on the grounds that "the descendants do not seek Xia, and the Yi does not mess with China".

The Wushi are a tribe located at the foot of Liupan Mountain (Longshan), and this people are not only herdsmen, but also merchants. Later, during the time of Qin Shi Huang, the Wushi Bao of the Wushi tribe was a big merchant who was good at breeding animal husbandry and trading with Zhuxia and became rich. Nowadays, after the decline of the Hezong clan and the reduction of trade in the northern section of the Jade Road, that is, the grassland section, the southern route has prospered. Among them, the Wu tribe was the middleman on the jade road on the southern route, and the Qin people generally obtained jade from the Western Regions directly from them and then sold it to the Central Plains Zhuxia.

"But how the Wu people obtained the jade is unknown."

Zhao Wuxian frowned, and looked at the area west of Longshan with regret, the map did not include that area at all, there was a blank for Zhao State, only knowing that the Qunrong and Xiqiang tribes were dense, mixed with the Qin people.

Thinking about the general scope of the map, Liu Xia Yue boldly guessed: "Two thousand five hundred miles southwest of the Hezong clan, there is the Western Xia clan, which is said to be a state established by the descendants of the Xia people who moved westward, and is also engaged in the transfer of jade, and the Wu people probably obtained jade from the Western Xia clan......"

"Xixia clan, look at this name, is it the Xia River and Linxia area of the Yellow River Jiuqu in the future?" But hundreds of years have passed, and I don't know if this small state is still there.

Fortunately, Zhao Wuxian was more fortunate than Liu Xia, at least he knew the global map, and anyway, it was right to cross Longshan Mountain from Wushi and go west. As long as you arrive at the Jiuqu of the Yellow River, you can cross the river into the Hexi Corridor, and along the way, there are always tribal city-states, not a no-man's land.

So he set a goal for Liu Xia Yue to find a way to the west this time: "You are still young, you don't have to insist on going to the Tianshan Mountains once, find the West Queen Mother Country, this time you will go west, first find the legendary Yu Country." ”

The Yu clan is also the Dayue clan of the Qin and Han dynasties in later generations, and the Xiongnu were still an inconspicuous small tribe at this time, so the Yueshi people also happily raised livestock in the Hexi Corridor and did the resale trade of the jade road. However, when he got there, Liu Xia Yue really went out of the Chinese region, because the Yue people not only have a very different culture from the Central Plains, but even their races are different: they are the same as the Cypriots in the Western Regions, they speak a dialect of the East Iranian language family, and they are all high-nosed and deep-eyed Indo-European peoples, whether they are "Loulan Beauty" or "Xiaohe Princess", these dried corpses have this characteristic......

This ethnic structure of the Western Regions was not changed slightly until more than a thousand years later, when the Uighurs came to dominate the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains—the round-faced and thin-eyed Uighurs in the Dunhuang Grottoes became the high-nosed and deep-eyed Turans of the Bezikerik Grottoes, or later the Uighurs......

These are the next words, in short, what awaits Yanagi Shita in front of us is an unknown foreign land, a group of unknown kinds of peoples, one unknown city-state and civilization after another.

This is another great journey after Mu Tianzi's westward journey.

Zhao Wuxian asked people to prepare wine, drank it all and saw off Liu Xia Yue, and finally awarded him the scepter.

Liu Xia Yue solemnly took it, with a solemn face.

This cane is mainly made of bamboo, the handle is eight feet long, and the tail end is tied with a triple yak tail knot, which flutters with the spring breeze......

"Yanagi Shitatsu, do you know the meaning of this scepter?" Zhao Wuxian asked.

"I know, the festival represents the identity of the prince, and all the envoys who hold the festival will come on behalf of the king, and see the festival, such as seeing the king!"

"It's more than that." Zhao Wuxian patted Liu Xiayue, urging him to set off, and said at the same time: "This has been going for many years, thousands of miles, and the quicksand of the Peerless Domain, using cheese as pulp. Don't forget, this scepter represents a powerful mother state behind you! Go, wait for the news of your smooth return! Firmly remember your identity, your scepter is everywhere, that is, Huaxia! ”

……

Liu Xia Yue slowly walked away with the scepter in his hand, but there was one thing that Zhao Wuxian did not say to him: the reason why caravans and explorers were sent so frequently to visit the surrounding areas of Qin was because of Qin in addition to trade.

In recent years, the Qin State has suddenly changed the law, and Zhao Wuxian has already given Qin Bo a warning at the Huangchi Zhihui, but the vigilance against the Qin State's strategy must still be done well, knowing oneself and knowing that the other side will win all battles, and the exploration of the situation around the Qin State, especially in the Longxi region, has become extremely important, so Liu Xiayue's westward journey has also had a little more political role, and at the same time, it has also deliberately bypassed the Qin State, Zhao Wuxian does not want the results of Zhao's exploration to be cut off by the Qin people.

At the same time that Liu Xiayue embarked on the trip, Qin Bopan also returned to Yongdu in the dust, and the first thing he did when he entered the Dazheng Palace was to let people quickly recruit the chief of the Great Mansion.

When Zipu heard that the monarch had arrived in Yongdu in the middle of the night, he eagerly summoned him, and couldn't help but chuckle in his heart, thinking, could it be that Zhao State threatened Qin State again at the meeting of Huangchi, causing the monarch to change the national policy?

Unexpectedly, when he hurriedly dressed and arrived at the Dazheng Palace, he found that Qin Bopan was kneeling in Qin Mugong's temple.

After Uncle Qin wiped away his tears and came out, the first thing he said when he saw Zipu was to grit his teeth and say: "At the meeting of Huangchi, Zhao Wuxian made the widow beat the widow for fun, and his ambition was complacent, and he insulted Qin too much, and he was ugly!" The widow suffered such a heavy humiliation, he really couldn't swallow this breath, and he dared to help the widow change the law and change the system, and restore the business of Mu Gong as soon as possible, so that Zhao Guo would no longer dare to look down on Qin State! ”

……

With the strong support of Qin Bopan, the Qin State followed the Zhao State's changes and moved towards the deep water area, while the Chu State, thousands of miles to the south, also spread the aftermath of the Huangchi Meeting to Yingdu.

The Han River is flowing to the southeast, and the Yingdu, which has been reborn from the catastrophe, is located on the banks of the Jianghan River, and a grand sacrifice is being held at this time: the Si Ming Sacrifice.

Da Si Ming and Shao Si Ming are the gods worshiped by the Chu people, and the death of the Great Si Ming Lord is majestic, mysterious, and awe-inspiring; Shao Si ordered the life of the Lord, kind, kind, and loved.

At the same time, the divine power of the two commanders was also extended to grasp the rise and fall of the Chu State and the existence and destruction of the state.

The ancestral hall of Da Si Ming is in the north of Han Shui, and he confronts his sister Shao Si Ming in the south and north. It was spring, the sunset was shining, and two high platforms decorated with flowers and herbs had been erected in front of the water in front of the two shrines. In the middle of the river is a tall building boat, an altar is set up on the boat, on the altar, three heads are inserted with feathers, wearing masks of witch Zhu stand in the center, worship Yugui, three animals, six statues and six Yi, and chant the blessings in the mouth.

And the state of Chu from the nobles and county princes to the men and women of the Shishu are all surrounded on both sides of the Han River, and the altars of the great and young priests are densely surrounded.

When night fell, with the chime as the call, the people on the north shore sang: "There are always all in Kyushu, and He Shou is dying." Fly high and soar, and take the clear air to resist yin and yang. ”

The people on the south bank sang: "Kong Gai is green, and he climbs the comet for nine days." Zhu Changjian embraces young Ai, and Sun is the only one who is righteous for the people! ”

While singing, they respectfully offered sacrifices, nothing more than the noble with gold and jade three animals, the lowly with wild vegetables and rice, which can be regarded as a sacrifice to the gods, and they all worship the statues of the two priests.

In the song, the witches wearing lotus clothes, tying belts, wearing blue crowns, wearing Lu Li, and painting five-colored witch sacrifice patterns on their faces are also dancing on the boat. They are praying for the gods to bless the earth, may the Chu country be prosperous for a long time, may the Jianghan grain be abundant, and may the Yingdu Lanhui garden be full of gardens, for the palace that has not lived for a long time to drive away evil spirits and ward off evil, and pray that everyone in the Chu country will have children and multiply, and be blessed forever. At this point, this priesthood has reached its climax.

And on a big boat that was crossing the Han River, Ye Gong Shen Zhuliang, who was wearing a wide sleeved deep coat and a three-foot long sword, was also watching this scene intently.

Looking at Yingdu, who had regained his vitality, he said excitedly: "The once great Chu has returned!" ”

Looking up at Yingdu, Yunmengtai, Zhanghuatai, and Yuzhangtai, after being attacked by the Wu army, all the palaces that have been dim for many years have been lit up with candlelight, and the sparks are lit, like a comet falling into the world, which seems to indicate the rebirth of the Nirvana of the Chu State!

In the past two years, with the tide of Wang Sunsheng's offensive in the east, the state of Chu has completely recovered the lost territory and driven the state of Wu back to the seashore, and it seems that if he works harder and cooperates with the people of the Yue country, he can completely destroy the state of Wu!

Now that the east is safe, the capital of Chu has naturally moved back to Yingcheng from Yandi.

After the relocation of the capital was completed, Xiong Zhang, the king of Chu, and Yin Zixi, according to the custom, wanted to convene the county officials from all over the country to feast and drink to celebrate this great event.

However, for Ye Gong, this time in Ying, there is still a major matter related to the future of the Chu State to discuss. That is, Zhao State has gone into battle with bare arms at the recent Huangchi Conference, openly promising to protect Chen and Cai, and extending his hand into the traditional sphere of influence of Chu State.

The state of Chu should respond to this move in this way, whether it is confrontation or appeasement, war or peace, and the national policy must be established in this court meeting.

However, it was not only Ye Gong who was recalled, after getting off the boat on the shore of the Han River, he ran into a person, a person he least wanted to meet.

Wang Sun Sheng, who had just been named "White Gong" for his meritorious service to Wu, also brought a group of Eastern soldiers into Ying to worship the King of Chu, I don't know if it was a coincidence or deliberately, impartially, his ship docked at the same time as Ye Gong's ship.

The middle-aged and ambitious Bai Gongsheng still stood as straight as a sword, and the conquest of the past two years made his face with a trace of murderous and viciousness, raised his eyebrows, and when he saw the banner on the opposite side, he actually put down the eyes of no one all along, and took the initiative to go over to say hello.

"Ye Gong?"

"Bai Gong......" Shen Zhuliang had no choice but to accept the offer.

So, in history, Ye Gong and Bai Gong, two lifelong enemies, met for the first time......

PS: Xixia clan, "The Biography of Mu Tianzi" volume 4: "From Yangxian to the west as for the Xixia clan, two thousand and five hundred li." From the Western Xia to the Zhuyu clan and the head of the river, there are 500 miles in a thousand. ”

This Western Xia clan should be Daxia County, Longxi County in the Qin and Han dynasties, and it is also the Great Xia that paid tribute to the Zhou Dynasty in "Wang Huijie", which has nothing to do with the Central Asian Daxia Kingdom in the Western Han Dynasty.

The rise and fall of the Xixia clan is also recorded in the Book of Yi Zhou: "In the past, the Xixia was benevolent and non-soldier, the city was not good, the warriors had no position, and they were rewarded favorably; The wealth is not rewarded, the Tang clan cut it down, the city is not guarded, the warriors do not use it, and the Western Xia is dead. (To be continued.) )