Chapter 54: Western Piano and Eastern Erhu
Tumancheng, formerly known as Tumancheng.
The history of the Yan State, if the last hundred years are removed, is simply a history of wars with the barbarians. During the war years, Tumancheng was the final stage of the war between the Yan State and the barbarians. front.
I can’t count how many times the men of the Yan Kingdom set out from here to expedition into the desert.
Either they are wrapped in horse leather, or they carry the heads of barbarians in triumph.
A large part of the reason why the kingdoms in the Central Plains were so ruined was that the Yan State relied on its own power to block the northern threat from the desert, giving the three big countries in the Central Plains the opportunity to "sing and dance".
Of course, this does not mean that the monarchs of the Yan Kingdom were so selfless and dedicated, willingly guarding the border for the civilization of the Central Plains.
Who said their geographical location is so bad?
Unless the monarch of the Yan Kingdom is tired of sitting on the throne and wants to change his life in the desert to live as a rancher eating cheese and wearing sheepskins, it is absolutely impossible for him to bow to the desert barbarians.
However, it has been nearly a hundred years since the smoke of gunfire left Tuman City. This former frontier fortress, the first military town, has now developed into the military, economic, political and cultural center of the entire Beifeng County.
Compared with Tumancheng, Hutoucheng is really just a younger brother.
The business and trade economy that Hutou City has always been proud of is actually just eating a little bit of soup from the pictures that are falling all over the city.
There are many foreign merchants here, and they regard this place as their transit point. Caravans from desert barbarian tribes, caravans from the Western Regions, and even more distant western caravans all gather here.
At the same time, caravans from Yan, Jin, Qian, Chu and a large number of small eastern countries also linger here all year round. It is true that this is the "Shenzhen" of this world. Too much.
At this moment,
In Tumancheng Street Market,
A middle-aged man with a mustache and a white Western-style robe was walking with a dog.
The dog leash is very thin,
so thin that it can be taken back to the skillful woman to knit clothes,
but the dog it is holding is very big.
It has white and black hair and a long tail. If it were fully raised, it would be much taller than a normal adult man.
The residents of Rao Shitu Mancheng are all experienced in the world, and they also keep a respectful distance from this big dog. However, some children are not afraid and have been chasing and playing behind the big dog, but If you let them touch the dog's head at close range, these little babies won't dare.
If you look at it from a modern perspective, this giant dog looks a lot like a husky.
However, this size is comparable to that of an adult Alaskan with plenty of bones.
One person and one dog wandered around the street for a long time, and then returned to the mansion.
Tumancheng is large, but its style is extremely rough. It is not like the capital city of Qian Kingdom. It is divided into many districts and cities inside and outside. However, the masses naturally have their own settlements, rich areas and civilian areas. According to different House prices are very consciously divided.
There are also mansions built by businessmen from various countries. In later generations, these mansions will become tourist and photo attractions.
The courtyard in the mansion is very large. Although there is no official military attache like the embassy in later generations, the private guards in the caravan are indispensable, and the defense is quite tight.
This is also allowed by Tumancheng officials, because there is a Zhenbei Army camp outside Tumancheng. The Zhenbei Army has a camp of 50,000 troops and is stationed there. Anyone can Don't dare to act recklessly.
As for this large Erha, originally during the city gate inspection, the city guards were not allowed to enter.
There are monsters in this world.
Daze in Chu State, Tianduan Mountain in Jin State, and deep in the desert to the north of Yan State are actually places where monsters are haunted.
In some armies, there will also be tamed monsters to assist in battle. The exotic beasts equipped by Yan State's own officials and generals also fall into this category, but they are artificially bred and bred.
If the monster goes crazy, especially in the city, the damage and impact it will cause will be too great.
However, when entering the city that day, the Erha performed a juggling act and proved that he was a big dog who could only do acrobatics, so he was allowed to be brought into the city.
There was a charcoal pot burning in the room, and Winter took off his coat.
Two blonde maids came over with hot towels, squatted on both sides of Erha, and wiped Erha's feet.
After finishing these tasks, the two maids withdrew.
Winter poured tea, two cups.
Erha stepped to the table, straightened his body, and sat on the chair. He stuck a paw on the teacup and brought it to his mouth. He stuck out his long tongue to taste the tea.
"The tea from Qian Country is indeed good." Winter praised.
“Indeed, in the past, when tea was trafficked to us, the journey was long and fresh, and it passed through a long desert. It seems that the tea was also contaminated with the astringent taste of sand.”
< br>Erha, speak human words.
“The best tea, the best porcelain, the best silk, and even the most beautiful women are all in Qian Country. This Qian Country is really enviable.”
Went sighed while sipping tea.
"There are desert barbarians outside the Yan State, there are Daze in the Chu State and the Shanyue people in the Daze who are causing rebellion, and in the Tianduan Mountains in the Jin State, there are not only demon tribes, but also savage settlements.
Only this The land under the jurisdiction of Qian State is suitable for human habitation. The land is rich and the resources are abundant. Rich in production."
Winter nodded and said: "Maybe it's because the geographical conditions are so good, but Qian country is the weakest among the four major countries in the east."
Qian country. The most classic battle in China is the battle that made the first Zhenbei Hou famous.
But apart from this, when Qian Guo faced Jin and Chu successively, they were both abused masters, winning less and losing more.
Erha put the teacup on the table with his paw and said:
"I like the words of the wise men from the East very much: Born in sorrow and died in happiness."
"What a pity, this East , is indeed full of gold, but it is too far away from us.”
“It’s not just the distance. , Do you still remember the barbaric disaster back then? "
The barbaric disaster refers to the barbarian tribe led by Wang Ting and the Yan Kingdom after many years of fighting. The Great Khan of the barbarian royal court had to admit that , the Yan State and the Yan State's cavalry are indeed a difficult stone to chew, and they have been beaten to death by the Yan State people many times.
There was no way, since the way south was almost hopeless due to the existence of Yan State, the Wang Ting Khan of that generation turned to command the barbarian tribal cavalry to plunder westward.
First they swept through the countries in the Western Region and forced them to surrender. Then the barbarian cavalry drove further and directly broke into the western border.
The barbarians who were originally beaten to a pulp by the Yan people at the border of the Yan Kingdom instantly regained their confidence in front of the Western countries and defeated many Western countries, which greatly shocked the Western world.
Perhaps it was because the Great Khan, who had been suppressed by the Yan people since he succeeded to the throne, had been suppressed for too long, so after invading the West, seeing that the situation was good, he began to become promiscuous.
He personally led the royal court elite and the army of wise kings in an attempt to attack Huanglong. His sword pointed directly at the capital of the largest empire in the West at that time, hoping to directly defeat the spirit of the Western world, thus Let the western land become a new pasture for the barbarians.
As a result, the Holy See took action. In that battle, all the Knights Templar came out. All the elites from the Western countries gathered. There were countless great magicians and great fighters. Even the Western dark camp sequence seemed to have mobilized its forces. Help out.
In that battle, the barbarian Khan who went deep alone and the most loyal and elite royal court elite around him were all destroyed!
Although the barbarians still had extremely strong combat power, they were driven back again by the Western countries because they were leaderless.
Since then, the Barbarian Royal Court has gradually become a mascot similar to the emperor of later generations due to its heavy losses. It can no longer integrate and order the desert barbarians to obey its orders.
A hundred years ago, after receiving this news, the monarchs and ministers of the Yan Kingdom were extremely surprised. The barbarians who had been fighting against them for so many years were actually defeated by Westerners.
< br>
How terrifying are these Western countries?
But in the eyes of the Western world, my God, this group of terrifying barbarians were defeated by the Yan Kingdom in the east before they came here, but they are already so terrifying that they almost made the entire West Civilization was annihilated by its iron hoof.
God, how terrifying is that empire called "Yan"?
For this reason, over the past hundred years, because the desert barbarians have become honest, the Belt and Road Initiative has been established.
East and West think each other is terrible and not easy to mess with,
With such an attitude,
Over the past hundred years, exchanges between the East and the West have maintained an extremely good honeymoon phase.
The Yan State attaches great importance to commerce. Compared with the other three eastern kingdoms, the territory of the Yan State is really barren, and the royal family of the Yan State also has to deal with many local nobles from their own empire. In a blood-sucking situation, it is even more urgent to protect one's own business interests.
“A hundred years have passed, but the Zhenbei Army here is still strong.”
Winter sighed.
In recent decades, the Roman Empire has risen again and become the undisputed largest power in the Western world.
He originally thought that after such a long period of peace, Yan’s terrifying war machine would have become rusty, but the facts told him that this army, known as the Zhenbei Army, was still extremely terrifying. .
The empire wants to extend its tentacles to the east. The barbarian tribes are easy to deal with, but the journey is too long. A laborious expedition is already extremely stressful. By the time the empire's army crosses the desert extremely tired When they come to the east, can they withstand the charge of the 300,000-strong Northern Army cavalry from the upper and lower six towns of Beifeng County?
“Rome was not built in a day. We just need to do the things at hand well.
Besides, haven’t the Zhenbei Hou Mansion and the Zhenbei Army under his command already done so? Have you broken up with the Yan court? If you can get the promise of Zhenbei Hou Mansion and reach cooperation with them, it will no longer be a dream to extend the power of the empire to the east. "
"Will those old antiques from the Senate agree?"
"Get things done first, and then consider the Senate. If we can achieve cooperation with the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion, the Senate will have to agree. Agree, don't agree... Haha, aren't they afraid that the generals below will bloodbath the Senate again? He refused to see me. He must have noticed my identity. I will try again in a few days.”
“These Eastern people are like this. It doesn’t matter how fierce their internal strife is. But they are extremely wary of foreigners like us. In their eyes, there is no difference between us and barbarians.”
“Let’s not talk about this.”
Winter interrupted Erha's words,
reached out,
took out a small porcelain bottle from his pocket, pulled out the cork, and took a deep breath of the aroma inside, with a smile on his face. With a look of great enjoyment, he slowly said:
"How did you find out about that group of people?"
"They only came to us, not to other trading firms. .”
"You didn't find other Western businessmen either?"
"No, they just found us."
"Why do I feel that they have seen through our identity?"
< br>"You mean, he Are we the spies of the Yan Kingdom? "
"No, no, no, no spies would come up with such a magical thing without doing their job properly. As for the thing called soap, don't you do it every day these days? Are you using it? ”
Erha heard this and said:
“I must have washed that thing too many times, and I’m losing some hair.”
“Haha, when you go back, use it. Take a bath with soap, and then spray this on your body. Won’t every spermary female dog in the empire be obsessed with you?”
Erha grinned and smiled. Obviously, this A scene that he has fantasized about and anticipated for a long time.
“Have you determined the location of those people?”
"Not yet. They have been deliberately hiding themselves since they gave us this gift."
"They are not fools."
"They should be interested in us. What you want is to negotiate with us," Erha said.
"If you want to negotiate, you must be qualified to sit at the same table with me, otherwise..."
At this time,
A black shadow penetrated from the doorway of the room, revealing a human figure kneeling on the ground.
"What's the matter?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, we finally found the location of those people."
Hearing this, Winter stretched himself,< br>
Tao:
"Go, make less noise and catch the ones alive."
"Understood."
The black shadow figure disappeared immediately.
Erha then raised his paw and pressed a bell on the table.
“Dingle bell…………”
Immediately, Erha lay on the ground again, pretending that he was really just a dog.
Soon, footsteps were heard outside, and a man who looked like a native of the Western Regions came in respectfully.
"Honorable master, your loyal servant Maimuti, is at your command."
Went glanced at Erha who was lying on the ground wagging his tail, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. Meaning,
Tao:
"Go and choose a female from the mastiffs I bought from a barbarian merchant a while ago and give it to her."
Went pointed to Erha under the table.
Maimuti nodded and said: "Okay, Master."
"Oh, by the way, I asked you to find someone who can play the piano in Tuman City. There is news. "
Actually, Winter didn't have too many expectations for this task. Even in the West, there are very few people who know such an elegant instrument as the piano, let alone in this remote country. East.
He likes to play the piano, but it is like meeting a close friend in the mountains and rivers. Without anyone who understands the piano around, he feels that the sound of the piano has lost its original flavor.
“I reported back to the owner and found one. He said that he knew piano. Moreover, he took the initiative to describe the appearance of the piano to me. Although there was a slight discrepancy, the general appearance was consistent with the owner’s piano. , It’s just..."
"Oh? I really found it. "Went immediately became happy and said: "Just what?"
"It's just that he is blind."
"My piano teacher is also blind. A blind person has a keener sense of music than a normal person.”
"Yes, Master, you are right."
"Where are they now?"
"They are already waiting for the master's call in the living room."
"Okay, please He comes in."
"Woof!"
Winter pointed at Erha lying on the ground with some disgust,
"Take it out first and breed it."
"Wow~~"
— ————Thank you to Bingtang Snowman and Chris_MZH for becoming the 48th and 49th alliance leaders of "Demon Arrival"!
(End of this chapter)