Chapter 46, Shameless Khitan
Japan, Tsukimidai, Nerima-ku, Tokyo, Nobita's house, Nobita Nobita's room
After confirming that the thugs from the Overtime Debt Collection Company had left, Wang Qiucai brought Doraemon back to take a short rest.
"...Wow! You two guys are so treacherous! You went to eat authentic prairie barbecue and didn't even call me!"
Nobi Nobita, who had just returned from playing baseball, heard Wang Qiu and Doraemon talking about the banquet they received from the Khitan people on the grassland. He immediately turned his face and had tears in his eyes. He hugged Doraemon and shook him for a while. , "...Why don't you think of me when good things happen? Are we still friends?"
Doraemon was shaken by him and felt helpless for a while, while Wang Qiu sighed, took out a plastic lunch box and handed it to Nobi Nobita, "...I knew you would cry and make trouble, so I brought it to you specially. A few pieces of bread and grilled lamb chops, No, they are all here, eat them while they are hot.”
"...Ah, thank you very much. I am indeed a good friend to Brother Wang." Nobi Nobita immediately smiled, grabbed a piece of mutton chop and stuffed it into his mouth. After just chewing it for a few times, his expression suddenly changed, "...Bah. Bah! What does this taste like? It’s half-cooked and has a strange smell..."
"...This is the taste of roasted lamb! Absolutely unadulterated prairie flavor!" Wang Qiu said with a smile while drinking tea, "...It's just that there is no salt, no sauce, no pepper and cumin, The sheep was not bled before being killed, the heat of roasting was not enough, and the sheep looked very sick..."
At the same time, Nobita Nobita reached out and grabbed the pancake in the lunch box again. He hesitated for a moment, but out of curiosity, he finally broke off a piece and threw it into his mouth... Then he put on a look of resignation and frustration. With an expression on his face, he tried hard to chew the dry cookie crumbs in his mouth, try his best to secrete more saliva from his mouth, swallow the sticky stuff, and then grabbed Doraemon's tea cup and drank it all in one gulp, then he barely recovered. Angry.
"...The Mongols treat you with such unpalatable food?" After drinking tea, Nobi Nobita said with a grimace, "...You are so stingy."
"...There is no way, the grassland is barren, and they usually can't even eat such things. And they are Khitans, not Mongols."
Wang Qiu corrected, "...the Mongols at that time were just an ordinary force on the grassland, confronting each other with the Khitans, Turks and Uighurs, the old rulers of the grassland, and had not yet become the overlords who ruled the entire grassland. ——The era of Genghis Khan will have to wait until a hundred years later..."
"...Oh oh oh! Can you please stop talking? I hate listening to history lessons the most!" Regarding this historical knowledge, Nobita Nobita fully showed the irritability of a child who is tired of learning, "... I have already learned Japanese history. But here we are, let alone such an unpopular Mongolian history..."
"...but we have already stepped into that period of history and turned it upside down." Wang Qiu replied with a shrug.
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Although the Khitans like Yelu Dashi and others had done their best to entertain the "immortals" from the Song Dynasty, they were trapped on the barren Mobei grassland after all, and suffered from years of war, poor trade routes, and scarcity of department stores. Even if they wanted to There is really nothing good to offer at the big banquet.
——If it is spring and summer, they can also go hunting on horseback and bring back some game for the guests from the Central Plains to try. But it is winter now, and birds have already migrated south on the grassland, animals are hibernating, and even rabbits have retreated into their nests.
Yelu Dashi sent his guards to wander around the countryside for a long time, but they didn't shoot a single bird. They only shot a wolf, and the wolf meat was so thick that it was almost unpalatable and had a sour taste. As for the Tula River outside the city... the Khitans are not Jurchens and do not have the technology to cut ice for fishing.
So in the end, I just roasted a few freshly slaughtered cows and sheep, prepared various dairy products with grassland characteristics, took out the treasured grains and beans, made some simple pasta, and gathered some dried vegetables and Dried mushrooms, boiled together with lamb into a large pot of soup, can be used to entertain guests.
The problem is that it is the lean season on the grassland right now. All the cattle and sheep are losing weight, and the meat is naturally old and chewy. Moreover, there is a shortage of salt and spices in the city of Kotun right now, and even fuel has to be saved... As a result, beef and sheep dung are used to cook hand-chopped meat, kebabs, rolled lamb, lamb chops, mutton soup, etc. , everything is full of peculiar smell, and it is estimated that only nomads can eat it.
The pancakes that were the staple food at this campfire banquet were made from barley and oats, which were ground into thick bran flour, and then spread out on hot stones to form dry pancakes without oil or salt. They tasted like expired dogs. Food, when you bite it, the residue will fall off, and it is especially easy to make people feel thirsty.
As for those dairy products such as milk porridge, milk tea, milk skin, milk cake, fried milk paste, cheese wine, etc., they are completely different from the products of the same name in the modern world that have been sterilized by high-temperature ultraviolet rays and vacuum-packed, and have a more or less rancid smell. taste. As for those so-called kumiss, the real feeling of drinking it is, by the standards of later generations, more like an extra strong lactic acid bacteria drink. As for Shaodaozi spirits, which are common in martial arts novels, they did not exist on the grasslands of this era - even in the Central Plains, the most primitive distilled alcohol had just appeared and had not yet spread to the grasslands.
Even the generals of the Song Dynasty, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong, frowned after eating such an unpalatable meal. As for Wang Qiu, a time traveler, he only used a little bit of butterwheat as an appetizer - using sour cream to fry green wheat until brown - and could no longer find anything that was edible. Especially those dirty cups and plates, which are simply off-putting: as we all know, there is a lack of water on the grasslands, so nomads have never paid attention to hygiene. In some tribes, rinsing clothes is even a crime. ……
However, the Khitan, Turkic and Mongolian tribesmen and women who accompanied the banquet all ate heartily and heartily. A group of people sat on a dirty felt rug, drinking wine directly from the wine bottles. They got drunk and threw the gnawed bones everywhere. Moreover, they didn't look like a "warrior on horseback" at all. Instead, they looked sallow, thin, and downcast, as if they hadn't had enough to eat for a long time. There are even many people who suffer from big neck disease. The meat balls under their necks are bulging like turkeys, and they simply don’t know what to say.
Seemingly aware that such crude and poor food and wine would probably not satisfy the distinguished guests, a group of girls from various tribes, known as the pearls of the prairie, emerged to provide entertainment by singing and dancing next to the bonfire. Then, they came up to pour wine for the distinguished guests, and hinted in their words: If they liked it, they could offer themselves to serve in bed. Wang Qiu was very excited for a while...but he waited until they came closer and took a closer look by candlelight. Wang Qiu couldn't help but feel excited at the appearance of these grassland girls. He almost vomited even the little food he had just eaten.
——What kind of prairie pearl is this? You're obviously cheating, right? He has a rectangular face with small eyes, a flat nose and turned lips. Although his figure is quite curvy, the problem is that, perhaps due to years of grazing and being exposed to wind and sun, his skin is dark and red, and is very rough. If you don’t look carefully, It's impossible to determine her gender... Hey, I've also watched the beauty pageant show on Mongolian TV in the future. Why is there such a big difference?
Seeing this face, the nostalgia that just arose in Wang Qiu's heart disappeared in an instant - if you think about it, you can understand that these girls on the grassland were born to graze on the fortress, fighting against the wind and sand all day long. Being in the company of cattle and sheep, can this smell get better? Moreover, water resources are precious on the Mobei grassland and there are no bathhouses. Many herdsmen only take three baths in their lives, and they always use dried dung to make fires when they have nothing to do. The smell on their bodies really stinks three feet against the wind and ten feet down the wind! If you really hug them and sleep for a few nights, your nose will be tortured to the point where you can't even distinguish between fragrance and smell.
Therefore, when the banquet was over and everyone dispersed, Han Shizhong, who seemed to have drunk too much kumiss, was the only one who hugged the two "little prairie sisters" into a small tent with blurred eyes. The other officers of the Song Dynasty rejected the "love" of these "pearls of the prairie" with embarrassment.
As for Wang Qiu and Doraemon, they hurriedly escaped from this world and returned to Nobi Nobita's room, preparing to use Doraemon's collection of tea snacks and comics to heal their battered taste buds and optic nerves.
However, Immortal Guo Jingguo, who cannot escape from this world at the moment, has to continue to discuss the next step of cooperation with Yelu Dashi.
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Generally speaking, Yelu Dashi's house is very quiet. There are several pieces of blue and white porcelain on the table and bookshelves, a flower-and-bird painting and a large calligraphy hanging on the wall, and a pot of orchids on the windowsill. It looks very much like a scholar's study, not a prairie eagle shooter's. Felt tent.
Under the flickering candlelight, it can be seen that the Khitan Hanlin Yelu Dashi is indeed good-looking and quite elegant. At first glance, he looks like a well-educated scholar. Unfortunately, his right leg is a bit lame. It is said that he had a childhood illness. Due to paralysis.
However, the request he made to Guo Jing, the "real person protecting the country" at this time, was not gentle at all. On the contrary, it was as loud as a lion's mouth.
"... One hundred thousand stones of rice and wheat? Equipped with swords, bows and crossbows for ten thousand people? One million gu of military expenditure? And a batch of brick tea and salt?"
Looking at the list handed over by Yelu Dashi, Guo Jing couldn't help but take a breath, and his face was very ugly, "... Dashi Linya! Not to mention whether the Song Dynasty has the obligation to provide the Khitan with weapons and equipment, you ask in one breath We want so many things, don’t we think we are too greedy?”
"...What the real person taught you is that your department first burned down the Jurchen robber cave Huining to avenge the Khitan people's subjugation, and then traveled thousands of miles to escort our compatriots and the remains of the late emperor. In fact, you are the leader of our Khitan clan. A benefactor should be rewarded heavily.”
Yelu Dashi showed an "honest" smile and said with great "sincerity", "...But our country, Daliao, is at the end of its rope, so it's okay to ask for anything. Although I am happy to hear that the Jurchen bandits suffered heavy losses, which gave me, the Khitan, a good opportunity to recover, but But here in Duncheng, the treasury is empty, and even the military expenses for raising troops are We can't raise any money, so we can only hope that the Song Dynasty can generously donate money and provide some financial support. If we can regain Shangjing (Linhuang Mansion, near Chifeng, Inner Mongolia today, the birthplace of the Khitan clan) in the future, we can regain the place where our ancestors are buried. I will accept whatever the real person asks for!”
Speaking of which, the reason why Yelu Dashi has lost his moral integrity and shamelessly asked Guo Jing for funding is really a helpless move.
——It turns out that two hundred years after the founding of the Khitan people, who were once nomadic people, the entire Liao Kingdom had already been highly sinicized, and the military, political, and economic systems were almost the same as those of the traditional Central Plains dynasty. But now that most of the territory has been lost, leaving only a piece of grassland centered on the city of Kodun, the exiled regime of Yelu Dashi has returned to its original appearance as a nomadic khanate.
Theoretically speaking, Yelu Dashi still has more than 10,000 elite cavalry with skilled bows and horses, but these armies, like the Huns and Turks before them, are "irregular armed forces" based on tribal organizations and integrating soldiers and civilians. The control of the tribe belongs to the chiefs of each tribe, not the nominal master Yelu Dashi... On the plus side, this military system links the production activities of nomads with military activities to a certain extent, mixes patriarchal relations with officer-soldier relations, and coordinates core organizations with peripheral organizations. Therefore, its short-term success The strength of military organization and mobilization efficiency are much higher than those of the army of ordinary agricultural countries. Often, as long as the leader gives an order, tens of thousands of tribesmen can quickly gather and go south to hunt.
But the flaws of this military system are also obvious. First of all, this system has a bit of the medieval European "I am a vassal of the king, but my vassal is not a vassal of the king" - in this army, the direct troops that Yelu Dashi can really command are just a few. There are only 500 Khitan palace troops and more than 1,000 city defense troops in Dun City. The other troops are the tribes of various chiefs and cannot be summoned and left immediately.
Secondly, this also led to extremely low efficiency of army command and extremely huge difficulties in mobilization - the only troops Yelu Dashi could mobilize at any time were the 1,500 standing troops in the city. As for the soldiers and horses of other tribes, they must have sufficient reasons and sufficient interests before they can be mobilized: if the Jin army crosses the desert and attacks, the tribes on the grassland will naturally fight to the death; if they go south when the autumn is high and the horses are fat, Robbery, then there will be more than half of them The nomadic tribes are willing to go to the south with Yelu Dashi to make a fortune; but if everyone is allowed to follow Yelu Dashi to drive thousands of miles to regain the Khitan people's country in the early spring, when the horses are thinning out and losing weight... this needs to be discussed... Check the price.
——If Yelu Dashi wants to restore the Liao Kingdom, the first step must be to fight back to the Khitan ancestral land in Linhuang Mansion, Shangjing, and then mobilize the Khitan tribe there to recruit at least tens of thousands of soldiers and horses of his own tribe, so that he can have women with him. The real person competes for the capital of the world... Obviously, during this period, he must strictly enforce military discipline and not allow these Mobei nomadic tribes to get rich by plundering their own Khitan mother clan, nor can they allocate the pastures of the Khitan Longxing Land to outsiders. As a trophy. For this reason, he must bear all the food expenses for this expedition, and also allocate large sums of military pay and rewards in advance, and cannot expect each tribe to "participate in the war at their own expense", otherwise no tribe will be willing to follow him to "volunteer labor" ".
But the problem is that in the current city of Ketun, there is neither enough money nor enough food and ordnance to support this expedition.
In the past peaceful times, the Khitan government in Kedun City would organize caravans every autumn, driving cattle, sheep and horses, and carrying animal skins and minerals to the border to exchange some salt blocks, sugar candies, tea bricks, and ironware with merchants from the Central Plains. , Cloths, spices, and winter supplies such as dried beans, oats, and rye are used to maintain and enrich the reserves in the city. Merely relying on the small piece of farmland by the river outside the city cannot feed the tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in the city. .
However, with the collapse of the Liao Kingdom and the rampage of the Jin soldiers, this traditional transaction has been intermittent in recent years. After Emperor Tianzuo was captured and Yelu Dashi fled to Kedun City, these Khitan survivors continued to trade every year. They can't make ends meet... Over the past few years, they've almost become paupers.
And if due to lack of preparation, this golden opportunity is missed to allow the severely damaged Jin army to breathe, or to allow some Khitan tribal leaders under the rule of the Jurchens to take the lead in rising up and regaining the Khitan ancestral land, Seizing the political commanding heights of the restoration of the Liao Dynasty, and causing the heroes of the Khitan tribe to rise up together... Then Yelu Dashi's road to restoration will become extremely difficult, and even lead to the tragedy of fighting among the same clan.
Therefore, in line with the idea of "doing nothing for two things", Yelu Dashi simply shamelessly lost his moral integrity and went to the Immortal Guo to beg for alms.
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"...So, he ripped you off and hit you with a blackmail? This can be regarded as repaying a favor with an enemy, okay?"
In the castle tower of the Floating City, Wang Qiu stared at Guo Jing dumbfounded, "...Do we look so much like fat sheep and meat tickets?"
"... He probably feels that it is best to get this blackmail, and if it fails, there will be no loss."
Guo Jing replied, "...even if we have a falling out, as long as we bow down and apologize, we probably won't do anything to him."
"...The trouble is, he really has to let him take advantage of this blackmail! If we really want the Khitans to take action as soon as possible to further change the world and get more reward points!" Wang Qiu thought for a while. Later, he gloomily discovered the secret.
"...Yes, if you want to cooperate, you have to be sincere." Guo Jing touched his beard in distress and sighed, "...if you know that your friend is hungry, but you still insist on complimenting him. He is a god who can live without eating the fireworks of the world, a tough guy who would rather starve to death than ask for help. Han, you clearly knew that when your friend asked you to send him some money, you were only willing to send him a letter full of comfort and encouragement, and also told him how noble it is to be self-reliant... If you really are For such a person, I can guarantee that your only friend is yourself.”
——Although he was very annoyed by Yelu Dashi's extortion, in order for the Khitans to go on the road as soon as possible so as to change history and obtain more reward points, Wang Qiu still had to scratch his head and find ways to collect goods to meet the needs of the Khitans. .
"...As for ordnance, I remember that before setting off from Bianliang, Doraemon moved a lot of things into the weapons prison in the Song Dynasty, and then emptied the arsenal of the Hebei Military Marshal's Mansion in Xiangzhou. Now, There should be quite a bit left, and I can probably make it up.”
"... As for salt, I can bring a cart back from the salt company in the city, just to help purchase goods for the supermarket. People from the salt company shouldn't have the spare time to track it down... As for the money used? Anyway, the price of salt is not expensive, I can put it down first.”
"...The price of tea is much more expensive. I will reject such an outrageous request! There is no surplus food in the time traveler's home!"
"...I really can't come up with one million copper coins, so I asked Nobi Nobita to get some sacks of glass beads and ask him if he wants them!"
"...In the end, it was one hundred thousand shi of grain... There is really nothing we can do about this. Whether in China or Japan, such a large-scale grain transaction is very eye-catching!" Wang Qiu shrugged helplessly, "...Professor Guo, can you cross this item out?"
"...This is the one that cannot be crossed out the most. There is not enough military rations for the soldiers to fill their stomachs, and there are no beans and barley to restore the strength of the horses that have been hungry all winter. How can we fight this battle?" Guo Jing spread his hands. , "...please think of another way!"
So, Wang Qiu, Nobi Nobita, Doraemon and Guo Jing sat cross-legged, frowning and thinking hard for a long time,
In the end, it was Wang Qiu who first had an idea in his mind and came up with a solution.
"...There is an old saying that 'it is better to teach a man to fish than to teach him to fish'. Instead of asking us to buy food for them at a loss, why not let these Khitan people grow their own crops?" He stared at Doraemon. Said, "...Traditionally, the grassland nomads believe that the land outside the Great Wall is difficult to farm, and they can only obtain grains and rice from the Central Plains in the south. But I remember that in the 21st century, Mongolia has actually The realization of food self-sufficiency shows that with the advancement of agricultural technology, some crops can still be grown on the Mobei Plateau... Doraemon, do you have any future food that is cold-resistant, drought-resistant, barren-resistant, and adapted to the climate of the Mongolian Plateau? Can crop seeds be used to sow seeds in the area of Ketun City at this time? ""...Ah, this...let me look for it, it seems to be really there..."