Amid the heavy snow, a group of knights stopped far away.

The leader was about forty years old, and his face was covered with rough weather marks. Looking at the manor several miles away, he hesitated to move forward.

Mingming had been here a few months ago, and he didn't feel scared at all then. After all, Wang Jun was already a toothless tiger. What could he do to them?

But it's different now.

Jicheng got a new tiger. This tiger is in its prime, ambitious and full of energy, but it is much more dangerous than Wang Jun.

Perhaps he sensed his master's uneasiness, as the horse kept snorting and scratching at the snow with its hooves.

After a while, several riders came running out of the vast snowfield and stopped about ten steps away.

"Bless you." The visitor dismounted and shouted.

The forty-year-old man also got off his horse, forced a smile and said: "Liu Fudu."

"Just call me Liu Da." Liu Da smiled and said, "Why, your manor is right in front, why are you hesitant to move forward?"

"I'm afraid Mr. Chen will kill me." Zhiyou said very bachelorly.

He and Liu Da only met a few times.

At that time, Liu Da was still under Shi Le's tent, and under Shi Le's order, he sneaked into Youzhou to recruit and surrender the Jie people tribe scattered outside. Due to various reasons, he failed to succeed, so the matter was shelved.

This time when old things were brought up again, Liu Da changed his allegiance to Shao Xun, a man who had risen rapidly in the past ten years, which made him very emotional.

As one of the top tribes in Youzhou, Zhiyou also fought several battles for Wang Jun. After Wang Jun was imprisoned, he followed the principle of collecting money to do things, went south to Jizhou, fought the last battle, and then returned to Guangning County pasture.

During this period, people from Daijun Tuoba Xianbei came to try to win over him. He was somewhat moved and discussed with them for a long time. Unexpectedly, the matter was not kept secret and word spread.

Chen Gong sent Liu Da to appease him. He was a little scared, but after thinking about it, he decided to come and have a look.

By the way, the manor Liu Da mentioned belongs to his family. It is not far north of Jicheng, but it is now empty.

Mr. Chen is waiting for him there. Should he go or not?

"Mr. Chen has always been true to his word and has never broken his promise to enrich himself. If you come with me, nothing will happen. Zhi Xiong has already become an official under Mr. Chen." Liu Da advised.

Zhiyou was still very hesitant.

Regardless of his surname Zhi, there are many Jie people with the surname Zhi. Anyone who is a descendant of the Da Yuezhi people may have the surname Zhi.

Who is Zhixiong? He is probably from Dayue clan, but Zhiyou doesn’t know him.

Jie is a man-made tribe, which was once called "Zahu" - correspondingly, the five Xiongnu tribes in the Han and Wei Dynasties were called "Zhenghu".

In other words, as long as they are not from the five Xiongnu tribes, they can be called "Miscellaneous Hus", which can be roughly divided into two types: "Hus outside the Great Wall" and "Hus from the Western Regions".

Most of the Jie people are Hu from the Western Regions. The word "Jie" originally means "warriors" (Chakirs) in the Western Regions. After being conquered by the Huns, they were reduced to slave tribes and remain to this day.

It's very complicated here.

There are descendants of the Da Yuezhi, descendants of the Kangju people who were plundered by the Huns, and descendants of other small countries or tribes in the Western Regions. In short, any place that has been conquered or plundered by the Huns may be their hometown.

Therefore, the Jie people are not monolithic, let alone a strange tribe that has been separated for many years.

They only have two things in common.

One is a high nose, deep eyes, and curly beard.

The second thing in common...

Zhiyou finally made a decision, if you come, just go, or you may die.

A group of dozens of horsemen quickly arrived outside the manor. After negotiating with the sergeant, the entourage stayed outside. Several leaders took off their weapons and headed inside, led by Liu Da.

Before entering the manor, Zhiyou turned his head and looked at a cemetery in the distance.

That is the cemetery of his family members, many generations are buried there.

The Jie people have a custom of cremation - after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Shi Le ordered that "(the people of the country, that is, the Jie people) should be burned and buried as if they were their own people."

If you are a noble person, you would like to have a "secret burial" (burial in secret) after cremation, and then have a "fake burial" in public, so that no one knows the true location of the cemetery.

But the cemetery of Zhiyou's family is real, and it contains traditional sarcophagi from his hometown. It can be regarded as a model of the integration of Hu and Han cultures.

The cemetery was not damaged, so he felt relieved and followed Liu Da inside.

Everything in the manor remains as before.

The most conspicuous building in the courtyard is the "Ting Liao".

Zhiyou paused here, silently looking at the several-foot-tall torch plate - it was called "Ting Liao" because he specifically found the name from the Book of Songs in order to adapt to the culture of the Central Plains.

When he was at home, there were several slaves called "Shi Liao" living in the small room inside the Ting Liao building all year round, who were responsible for lighting the sacred fire.

At this time, the holy fire has been extinguished, and they are getting further and further away from Hu Tianshen. It is so sad - in fact, this is the second thing he and Liu Da have in common, they both believe in Hu Tianshen (Zoroastrianism, that is, Zoroastrianism) .

Zhiyou sighed and continued walking forward,

When they came to a magnificent hall, Zhiyou was stunned. It turned out that there were so many people here. And not all of them were Jie people, but also Wuhuan, Xiongnu, and Xianbei.

They prostrated themselves at the foot of the steps and saluted Duke Chen together.

"What are you doing standing still? Prostrate yourself." Liu Da reminded him, and then prostrated himself on the ground.

Zhiyou was dumbfounded. I just came to take a look. I didn’t say that I wanted to join Chen Gong. But when everyone prostrated themselves on the ground, he and several of his entourages were still standing. It was indeed too eye-catching. After struggling for a while, he took his entourage with him. We bowed to the ground together.

"Everyone, get up." Chen Gong sat on the bed and said majestically.

A large group of people stood up and entered the hall, lining up left and right.

Zhiyou stood beside Liu Da and looked up intently.

When I saw it, I suddenly felt good about it.

It turns out that Mr. Chen is not that kind of fair-faced and weak scholar, but an extremely majestic and sturdy man.

The expression on his face is resolute and majestic, and his hands are extremely rough. It looks like he has been wielding swords, guns, bows and arrows all year round.

Zhiyou praised him repeatedly in his heart, and his resistance became much less.

There is also a woman sitting next to Mr. Chen, who is tall and cool.

Zhiyou is also very friendly, and without any other, he looks like Kang Ju, a descendant of the Yuezhi.

She wears a gold-leaf acacia hat on her head, which is obviously made of Persian brocade - since ancient times, there have been wild silkworms in Persia and the Punjab region of India. The silk is thicker and the craftsmanship is relatively backward, so the quality of Persian brocade is not as good as that of Central Plains brocade.

Seeing this golden acacia hat, Zhiyou was even more excited.

It is recorded in the scriptures of Hu Tianshen that Xerxes, the king of the Achaemenid Dynasty in Persia, gave the people a crown intertwined with gold. From then on, this kind of hat became popular and spread everywhere.

This woman who was favored by Mr. Chen was wearing this hat. Couldn’t she be one of his own?

Thinking of this, Zhiyou had already made a decision: instead of joining Tuoba Xianbei, it would be better to join Chen Gong.

There are thousands of Jiaji people in Guangning and Shanggu, and there are more than ten thousand Luoji people in Dai County. If they can all be lured to join Chen Gong, they may be able to find a new way.

"Anyone who can come here today will be rewarded. If you make military exploits in the future, I will not begrudge you an official title." Chen Gong spoke from above again.

The woman in the Acacia hat was afraid that everyone would not understand, so she said it again in Jie language - Jie language is a language mixed with words from other ethnic groups, originating from the East Iranian language branch.

"Duanbu Xianbei, you are no strangers." Chen Gong said: "I have called you many times, but no one came to meet. He has a way to die. After the new year, I will attack, and all the tribes will send troops by then. Follow me, do you have any objections?"

"I sincerely obey Duke Chen's order." Everyone responded one after another.

Zhiyou pretended to respond, with some doubts in his heart: Did these people all come in advance? Did they all know what was going on in advance?

Liu Da turned to look at him and whispered: "I'll tell you later."

Zhiyou nodded slightly.

In fact, he is no longer reluctant to seek refuge with Mr. Chen.

Tuoba Xianbei kept wooing him and tried to extend his hand into Youzhou. He was hesitant at first, but now he felt that his brain was broken and he took refuge with Tuoba clan.

Not only was he poor, but he also had no sense of intimacy.

Moreover, Duke Chen seems to be short of cavalry, while Tuoba has almost all cavalry and not many infantry. From the perspective of doing business, one should also know who is more suitable to rely on and who can get a better selling price.

Mr. Chen spoke from above again, but Zhiyou didn't listen very carefully and was silently thinking about his thoughts.

After a while, Liu Da pulled him and said, "It's time to go to the banquet."

Zhiyou hummed and followed him silently.

****

In the empty hall, Shao Xun peeled a pomegranate from the ice cellar with his own hands and gave it to Liu Ye to eat.

Liu Ye took it happily.

Shao Xun gently touched her face and whispered: "Liu Ling doesn't even dare to mention the Celestial Master's Way in front of me. You should also stop talking about Zoroastrianism in the future."

Liu Ye was stunned for a moment, and then agreed without hesitation.

Seeing her like that, Shao Xun suddenly felt a little heavy.

This woman's eyes were all about him now, making him a little breathless.

"That's all, you can do whatever you want." Shao Xun sighed.

In fact, Zoroastrianism cannot compete with Buddhism and Taoism. Without human intervention, it will decline.

Its heyday should have been during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Empress Dowager Hu of the Northern Wei Dynasty was lucky enough to have her wife, nine concubines, and hundreds of servants starting from the princess ascend to the top of Songshan Mountain. All obscene sacrifices were abolished, but Hu Tianshen was not an exception.

In the last years of the Northern Qi Dynasty (Gao Wei), he offered sacrifices to ghosts other than his own, but instead bowed his head and encouraged himself to serve Hu Tian.

In order to attract the Western Regions, the Northern Zhou Dynasty also worshiped Hu Tianzhi. The emperor personally followed Yi customs in his rituals.

The Northern Wei, the Eastern Wei, the Northern Qi and the Northern Zhou all recruited a large number of Hu from the Western Regions of the Jie people to the Central Plains to serve as soldiers and fight. For this, they were shameless. The emperor and the queen mother personally worshiped Hu Tianshen. Even when they eliminated the obscene sacrifices, they all paid tribute to Hu Tianshen.

Open the net.

But this was also its final glory.

This religion, both in the East and the West, finally declined.

Liu Yena put down the pomegranate, sat in Shao Xun's arms, and whispered: "I listen to you."

Shao Xun didn't know what to say.

You're so kind to me, I'm embarrassed to play with Cui.

He has lived in Wang Jun's house for more than ten days, and he really hasn't touched Mrs. Cui. The strange thing is that Mrs. Cui has not left either, and has been living in the house without embarrassment, obviously for some purpose.

If he stayed here any longer, Shao Xun felt that his innocence would be destroyed.

So far, he has only been touched by two women, one is the Jing family, and the other is the Cui family.

Jing had been severely punished by him several times.

Mrs. Cui also seemed to want to be punished.

"Are you going to fight after the Chinese New Year?" Liu Ye asked, holding Shao Xun's neck.

"Yes." Shao Xun said: "Before I arrived in Youzhou, Duan Mobo took his men and ran to Peiping. He wanted him to come and submit, but he was doubtful. It seems that he still needs to be beaten."

"Duan Bu is quite capable of fighting. Shi Le was afraid of them before." Liu Ye was a little worried.

"Don't worry, I have a way to rectify the Duan tribe." Shao Xun comforted the woman and said: "One hundred thousand tribesmen are cramped in Beiping. To the east is Liaoxi County where Murong Xianbei is based, to the north is Yuwen Xianbei, and to the west is me

, there is also the Silver Spear Army to the south. This

In such a dangerous situation, what room for struggle does Duan Bu have? The cavalry is a clutch of soldiers, but now Duan Bu lacks room to maneuver around. I don’t care how he harasses me, so I go straight to the pasture and raid his lair. See

Isn’t he hiding here and there?”

"These tribes are really in bad luck when they meet you." Liu Ye said with a relieved smile.

"You can't say that. I gave them a chance to make progress." Shao Xun shook his head and said: "If Duan Bu comes to surrender now, what if a few town generals are banned? Now that we don't have enough money and food, I don't want to fight, and I can't mobilize many.

people."

"I heard that there are still tens of thousands of Luojie people in Dai County. If they are willing to come to surrender, I will not begrudge the official title. If you are not willing or unable, I will think of a way to send some reliable people to the west to lure their tribesmen to come and join them.

Tribe." Shao Xun hugged the woman on his lap and said.

Liu Ye said yes.

The man has been doing very well recently and knows that she doesn't like coquettish bitches, so he stays with her every day.

The two of them shared the same quilt and slept in each other's arms at night, which must have made that bitch Cui mad, so now she agrees to whatever the man says.

Furthermore, what if she gets pregnant? She has to think about the future.

"I hope Duan Bu understands the situation." Shao Xun finally sighed.

As a ruler, how could he be willing to see his cavalry force dominate?

Whether it is Jie people, Xianbei people, or other tribes, it is best to keep each other in check.

If Duan Bu Xianbei can save a lot of strength to throw, he can also suppress some Jie people.

Shao Xun held the Jie woman in his arms and was already thinking about how to cross the river and destroy the bridge in the future.

On December 30, the last day of the year, the angel, the prince (Sima Quan) and his wife Liu Bai (the son of Situ Liu Tun) arrived in Jicheng.

He brought two edicts.

One of them was to strike down the general shogunate of the town army and confer Shao Xun as the shepherd of Yanzhou, and the other was to confer death on Wang Jun.

Lao Wang's life has entered a countdown.
Chapter completed!