Chapter 343 Tour Hunting

  Cheng Chu couldn't sit still.

  The snow scene in Dongshoujiang City is beautiful, and the cattle and sheep in the stockade are also delicious, but he is afraid that if he continues like this, he will be useless. He is here to make contributions and make great achievements, not to cook hot pot and sleep on warm kang.

  In winter, the Yellow River freezes, and the snow is knee-deep everywhere. The Dongshoucheng Walled City, which leans against Shengzhou City on the south bank, is actually relatively safe.

  But Cheng Chumo just couldn't sit still.

  Open the warm curtain, leave the warm room, take off your clothes, jump into the snow, grab a big ball of snow and wipe it on your naked body.

  The cold wind is biting, and the snow rubbing on the body is extremely cold.

  Cheng Chumo was like going crazy, howling there while continuing to wipe himself with snow.

  The body soon turned red like a boiled shrimp, but Cheng Chumo felt that he was no longer drowsy, and finally regained his energy.

  The whole body was emitting white gas, and his body was red, but Cheng Chumo felt extremely happy.

   Brought a towel to wipe off the water, Cheng Chumo yelled, "Get my armor and prepare the horse!"

  The soldiers of the Zhenwu Army had come to watch for a long time, and they were a little stunned when they heard what Old Cheng said.

   "Why the **** are you so dazed, you really think you are here to enjoy the blessings? Get out of here and put on your armor and mount your horse!"

  Selecting 500 troops, Cheng Chumo and his party left the humble Dongshoujiang stockade and headed towards the vast snowy field.

  Where are you going?

  Of course it is impossible to visit Xieli's Khan Court.

  Leaving the warm camp, trekking in the cold wind, and walking for twenty miles, Cheng Chumo felt that the thing that made him dry finally subsided.

   "Military envoy, where are we going?"

   Surrounded by a vast expanse of whiteness.

   "Go and visit the tribes near here!"

  In fact, in the Hetao area, there are not only Han people and Turkic people. In addition to Han and Turkic people, there are actually many Hu people here.

  The name of the Hu people used to refer specifically to the Huns at the earliest time, and later it generally refers to the alien races in the north.

   During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Huns, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Jie, Di, and Qiang entered the Central Plains. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Rouran people in the north controlled the grasslands. Later, the Turkic people replaced the Rouran people.

  Rouran people were originally a branch of Donghu, and many Hu people outside Xianbei and Donghu were collectively called Zahu.

Fenhu, Qihu, Shanhu, etc. belong to Miscellaneous Hu, living in Hetao, Hedong and other areas. Fenhu lived in the boundary of Fenzhou in Hedong. Shanhu, also known as Jihu, originated from the Southern Huns who belonged to them in the Han Dynasty .

  The Hetao area originally belonged to the border area, and there were constant turmoil and wars. Therefore, there are many kinds of Hu ethnic groups here.

   There are Jihu, Fenhu, Qihu and other miscellaneous Hu, Xianbei and Turkic people have it, Qiang people, Di people also have it, and even Sogdian Hu from the Western Regions.

  These Hu people are now mostly surrendered to the Turks, and they all obey the orders of Jieli Khan, but they usually live separately.

  Turkic people usually graze or hunt in family units, and then use multiple families to form a small tribe of about 150 to 60 people. Once the population exceeds this number, they often divide out to form new tribes.

More than 100 people is the basic size of the tribe. If the population exceeds this size, it will have a great impact on the traditional way of life. The main reason is that this number is a scale that can maintain contact and not occupy too much space. However, the barbarians in the grasslands are still relatively backward, and the nomadic way of life requires them to occupy a large pasture.

   This is not like the farming civilization of the Central Plains, where people are concentrated.

  A small tribe of more than 100 people is divided into several families, and they are often blood-related brothers and nephews. They live scattered and are not far apart, so they can take care of each other without affecting their respective cattle and sheep grazing.

  On the small tribe, there are big tribes, and on top of the big tribes there are alliances.

  In fact, these Hu people’s organizations are still connected by blood ties, and the large and small sects continue to branch out and separate.

  With 500 troops, visiting any small tribe would pose a great threat.

   Fortunately, since I moved here, I came here in the name of the border market, so since the mutual market, the relationship is not too tense.

   Afternoon.

  Several tents appeared in the distance. It was a herdsman family, including a few slaves, and more than a hundred livestock, spending the winter in a slightly leeward place.

  The sudden appearance of this group of people on the snow line made the herdsmen very panicked.

  The strong head of the family hurriedly put on the leather armor, carried the bow and knife, and saddled the horse.

  The shepherd asked his young son to mount a horse and report to the nearby brothers.

  Cheng Chumo led his men and horses, spread out their wings like wild geese, scattered and outflanked.

   Soon surrounded the herdsmen's house.

  Cheng Chumo jumped off his horse.

  The herdsman held a straight knife and looked terrified.

   "Are you Turkic or?"

   "We are Gaoche people!"

  Cheng Chu nodded silently, "Can I go to your tent and have a cup of hot tea?"

  The herdsmen were uneasy, "Who are you?"

   "I am the envoy of the Zhenwu Army in the East Shoucheng City of Fengzhou Dudufu in the Tang Dynasty, Zuo Qianniuwei Qianniu Beicheng Cheng Chumo."

  Listening to this long list of titles, the herdsmen were even more in awe.

   "I don't know what the distinguished General Tang is doing here?"

   "Pass the border!"

  There are two large carts parked in front of the herdsmen’s tents, with extremely high wheels, which is the symbolic feature of the tall carters.

Cheng Chumo knew about these Gaoche people. They were also called Chile, Tiele, or Dingling people. They were a branch of the Tiele people. They had a long history. It is Dingling, and the Xianbei people call it Chile, because they use carts with tall wheels, also known as high carts.

   They were nomadic in the east and south of the Baikal River at first, and later expanded to the upper reaches of the Yenisei River, where they lived together with Gujiankun. Later, the Gaoche people migrated south. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Chile people participated in a large number of wars in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and later integrated into the Han nationality like many Xianbei people.

  The Chile people are also the most widely migrated and divided Hu nationality. From Mobei to the Western Regions, from the foot of the Yin Mountains to the Central Plains, they can be found everywhere.

  The Chile people have even separated into many different new ethnic groups.

For example, the six surnames of Gaoche, Yuanhe, Huihe, and Hegu, etc. In fact, the Chile people, also known as Tiele, are numerous in number and ethnic groups. superior.

   In fact, many Chile people in the south of Yinshan Mountain have been relatively Sinicized.

  In fact, the area around Qiantao Khanting, where Jieli Khan lives now, was called Chilechuan in the Northern Wei Dynasty, because it was a nomadic grassland for the Chile people who went south at that time.

  In the tent, the shepherd's wives, concubines and children crowded together in fear.

  Cheng Chumo took off his helmet and gloves, and sat by the fire.

  He took out his purse and grabbed a handful of money.

   "Buy ten sheep from your family and feed them to my brothers."

  The Chile herdsman with a high nose bridge, deep eye sockets, green eyes and yellow hair looked at the money and hesitated, "Can you get other trades, such as salt and cloth?"

  Copper coins are not a popular thing on the grasslands. Herdsmen prefer to barter, because the transaction is inconvenient, and they have to trade again with the money in their hands.

  Cheng Chumo untied a salt bag from his body.

  It is filled with high-quality fine green salt, and the grains are dry and clear, with a blue color.

   Herdsmen's eyes brighten up at once, which is a good thing.

   "Change, change!"

  After changing the salt, the herders looked at Cheng Chumo's weapons again. These weapons are very sophisticated, such as the horizontal sword and horse, the bright armor, and the cloak...

   "This can't be changed, it's an ordnance, a sharp weapon of the country, and an artifact of the border."

   "I'd like to trade furs, and sheep."

  Cheng Chu shook his head silently.

   "I still have slaves, I will trade them for slaves."

   "What kind of slaves, what kind of clan, can there be children of the Han family?"

  The herdsman hesitated, but finally nodded, "There are two."

  Two hungry and cold Han slaves were summoned.

  Cheng Chumo asked them a few words and confirmed that they were Han Chinese.

   "I can't give you the weapons for fighting, but I can give you the meat-eating knife. In addition, I'll give you an iron pot for these two people!"

  The herdsmen happily agreed to the deal.

  Iron pots are a good thing. They are easy to carry and not easy to break. They are much easier to use than clay pots.

  A deal is struck and things change hands.

  The herdsman immediately asked his wife to use the new pot to boil water and stew meat.

   "Military envoy, why are you so polite to this barbarian?"

  The herdsman helped slaughter outside the tent, Cheng Chumo bought ten sheep, the shepherd picked out the sheep himself, and said a few words to each sheep.

  The shepherd's wife is sorting out the fur of the transaction.

   There was a sound of horseshoes in the distance.

   Here comes the brothers of the shepherds.

  The brothers, nephews and nephews of the same tribe came rushing forward on more than 30 horses.

  The herdsmen stepped forward to introduce.

  Cheng Chumo took out tea, wine and sugar, and the herdsman brought out another cow to kill.

  The Zhenwu army patrolling the border also set up several large tents.

  Dried cow dung ignited a warm fire, and the soldiers of the Zhenwu Army set up a hanging pot to light the fire and stew the meat.

The herdsmen of this small tribe thought that Cheng Chumo was here to make a deal, so they came over happily to negotiate a deal. They were willing to trade their own furs, herbs, livestock, and even slaves for the knives, iron pots, tea, salt, sugar, and wine in Cheng Chumo's hands. wait.

  Cheng Chu silently smiled and agreed.

   Next is singing and dancing, eating wine and drinking meat.

   "Military envoy, why did we drink with them?"

   "How about, what do you want, smashing, looting and burning?" Cheng Chu laughed silently, "We are here to patrol the border, not to rob."

"Can·······"

   "Don't worry, turn around, take a look, and chat first."

   Drink to the brim.

  Cheng Chumo also toasted to the men of this small tribe, that is, the warriors in this tribe.

"In the future, not only the south bank of the river will be under the jurisdiction of our Tang Dynasty, but also the north bank will be the defense area of ​​our Tang Zhenwu Army, and it will be under the jurisdiction of our East Surrendered City. You must respect the will of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. If you are loyal, then from now on, everyone will drink and eat meat together, and you will have a share of good things, but if anyone dares to make an enemy of my Tang Dynasty and show his knife to my Zhenwu Army, don't blame me, Cheng Chu, for being silent."

"There is one more thing, please send me a message to the people of other tribes. I, Cheng Chumo, welcome everyone to go to Dongshoujiang City to trade with each other. The price is fair and the products are of high quality. Slaves, please release them to Dongshoucheng City immediately, and let them go home!"

   "Now send people to Dongshoujiang City, and our army envoys will reward them with salt, tea, cloth, etc."

   "If you don't let people go, you will bear the consequences!"

   "Any barbarians are not allowed to enslave my Tang people!"

  The tall chariots and beards in the tent were stunned.

  In the deal they reached with Cheng Chumo before, there was the purchase of Han slaves. Cheng Chumo still offered a very high condition, which was higher than the normal market price.

   Unexpectedly, this is not a normal slave trade.

   "Come on, keep drinking!" Cheng Chumo raised his glass, and the faces of these tall and bearded people were already a little uncomfortable.

  (end of this chapter)