Struggle in the early Tang Dynasty

Page 875

Chapter 701 Arrival

Tuyuhun, originally a personal name, is Murong Tuyuhun, the eldest son of Murong Shegui, the "Shanyu" of the Murong family in Xianbei, Liaodong.

Shanshi was the respectful name of the leader of the Xianbei tribe at that time, which means the leader of the tribe.

After the death of Murong Shegui, the leader of the Xianbei tribe, because of the relationship between descendants and not concubines, Murong Shegui's Shanyu's position was finally inherited by his son Murongxin.

Fighting in the same room is not the monopoly of the Han people, and the same is true for the Xianbei ethnic minority tribe, which cannot be exempted.

Ever since Murong Xin inherited the position of Shan Yu, he has always been afraid of his half-brother Murong Tuyuhun, and always wondered whether his elder brother would endanger the status of Shan Yu in his own tribe when eating or sleeping.

Therefore, the misfortune of Xiao Qiang also happened between brothers.

Murong Tuyuhun was kicked out of the tribe because he was too weak to compete with his Shanyu younger brother Murongxin, and finally moved to Shanglong, westward with 700 pieces of music, using this as a base, descendants passed on, and invaded and annexed this place. The local aboriginal Qiang people finally became the strong tribe.

Dragons give birth to dragons and phoenixes, and rats give birth to cubs that can dig holes. Murong Tuyuhun's descendants are stronger than one generation after another. His son Tuyan has continuously annexed the population and territory of the nearby Qiang people, and slowly plotting to expand the population and territory to as far as .

In the generation of Murong Yeyan, the grandson of Murong Tuyuhun, the Mukechuan headquarters was established in Shazhou (now in the area of ​​Muketan, Guinan County, Qinghai Province). wait for the officer.And the grandfather Tuyuhun was set as his family name and country name. Since then, Tuyuhun has changed from a personal name to a family name and a country name.

Today, the royal family and the powerful class in Tuyuhun all regard themselves as Tuyuhun people, almost forgetting their identity as Xianbei people.

Of course, ordinary civilians and herdsmen in Tuyuhun could not call themselves Tuyuhun people, on the contrary they could only call themselves Qiang people.

Because the three characters Tuyuhun only belonged to the ruling class such as the royal family and powerful groups.

After several centuries, Tuyuhun Kingdom has become a small country that cannot be ignored by neighboring countries through the management and development of several generations of khans.

Today, the territory of the Tuyuhun Kingdom probably covers the Qilian Mountains and the upper reaches of the Yellow River.This area is of very important strategic significance to the Tang Dynasty, to Tubo, and even to the lingering Western Turkic Kingdom.

Therefore, the Tuyuhun country has become a sweet pastry virtually.

However, after the two battles against Tuyuhun in the Sui Dynasty, the Tuyuhun Kingdom completely surrendered, willing to be a vassal state of the Sui Dynasty, and expected to be protected.

After the Great Sui Dynasty changed hands to Li Tang, Tuyuhun also switched to the Datang name, and the old Khan Fu Yun was even more obedient to the Datang, and never turned his back on it.

Now after the secret coup by Dongchang Anye, Yu Wenqian and others, the new Khan Murong Yan is, to put it bluntly, a marionette of Dongchang, at the mercy of Yu Wenqian and others.

Especially after the eldest prince Murong Shun was stabbed to death in Chang'an Wei Palace, Yu Wenqian and others were even more at ease. They controlled Murong Yan and arranged the Tuyuhun court with ease, and managed the entire Tuyuhun country as firmly as an iron bucket. .

……

……

After about five days, Guo Ye, the envoy of the Tang Dynasty, led a group of people and luggage into the territory of Tuyuhun Kingdom.

They passed through the Qilian Mountains, and what they saw was the endless prairie.

On the prairie, there are Qiang herdsmen in Tuyuhun and countless herds of cattle, horses and sheep everywhere.

Because of the terrain, there are only a handful of cities in Tuyuhun, and most of the Qiang people in Tuyuhun live on herding animals. They live on the grasslands and live on the endless grassland here.

Apart from the Tuyuhun nobles, those who could live in the city were ordinary civilians with a slightly better family background.

Of course, it is precisely because nomads live in no fixed place, so the Tuyuhun court is also an impermanent state endowment, and will not tax these herdsmen, which is relatively loose.

The herdsman drove his flock to change places of residence on the grassland every three days. Even if he wanted to collect taxes, he had nowhere to find them.

If the imperial court needed money, the Tuyuhun imperial court would only collect taxes from rich families, businessmen, and city residents living in the city to fill the treasury.

The vast prairie stretches as far as the eye can see, the sky is like a dome, covering the whole field, it is really the sky and the wild, the wind blows the grass and the cattle and sheep are low.

Under the guidance of the grassland herdsmen, Guo Ye and his party took shortcuts and walked for two days and two nights. At noon on the third day, they officially walked out of the prairie.

According to the dictation of the leading herdsmen, after leaving the prairie, it is not far from Bailan City, the capital of the Tuyuhun Kingdom, and there should be about [-] miles away.

Seeing that it was still early, Guo Ye ordered to rest where he was, and asked Liu Zhenxuan to send a few fast horses to explore the road and see the road ahead.

Hundreds of soldiers rested on the spot, took out dry food and water, and rested their feet while eating.

As for Guo Ye and Liu Zhenxuan, they were already so hungry that they found a clean place to sit on the floor to fill their stomachs.

The two shared a few pieces of Hubing, Liu Zhenxuan took off the water bag from his waist and handed it to Guo Ye, Guo Ye took a few sips, wiped his lips and handed back the water bag, and joked: "Zhenxuan, how are you? Compared with the thousands of miles of treacherous mountains and rivers from Chang'an to Longxi, this Tuyuhun exotic style is still comfortable, right?"

Liu Zhenxuan himself took a few sips of water, chewed the mustache in his mouth and shook his head for a while, saying: "The journey is pretty smooth, the advantage is that the terrain is flat. Hehe, it's just that we have walked this way, and there are grasslands and wilderness everywhere. There are no inns where Dajian can rest and eat. If you want me to say, this Tuyuhun is really poor."

Guo Ye smiled and said: "You still want to find a hotel to stay in a top-notch hotel on the vast prairie? It's a good idea to let us meet the herdsmen and ask, and it's good to avoid a little wrong road. Hehe, wait When we enter Bailan City, I will let you take the brothers to eat delicious and spicy food, and I will not let you come with me for nothing."

Liu Zhenxuan shook his head repeatedly like a rattle drum, and said: "Master Hou, you are serious. As an envoy of the Tang Dynasty, you have sent an envoy to Tuyuhun under the imperial decree. I will wait for the escort and follow all the way. It is my duty. But..."

Liu Zhenxuan became acquainted with Guo Ye, he let go of his courage a lot, and his speech became less restrained, he smiled, shook his head and sighed: "This Tuyuhun is a foreign country after all, and it is so poor, this Bailan City should also be deserted It's all bleak. Don't say you want to find a brothel to have a glass of flower wine and have fun, but it's hard to find a decent wine shop."

"Haha, Zhenxuan's words are wrong!"

Guo Ye categorically denied Liu Zhenxuan's conjecture, and said with a smile: "You don't know, although this Tuyuhun is a foreign race, but it has always surrendered to the former Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty. They have always imitated our Han culture in China, and many things are similar to it. It is learned from our Han court. For example, their official system, their capital Bailan City, and the architectural design of several other cities are almost the same as our Central Plains cities. Although the customs are different, they are all doing their best. Learning our living habits, including food, clothing, housing and transportation, is proud of learning from Han people. As far as I know, in Tuyuhun, people with a little background are all dressed in the costumes of our Tang Dynasty Central Plains people. The herdsman who showed us the way just now, have you ever Discover?"

When Liu Zhenxuan heard what Guo Ye said, he felt ashamed. It seemed that the lord had done a lot of homework before he came, and he seemed ignorant.

Then he shook his head and said, "This subordinate was busy on his way just now, so he didn't pay attention to that herdsman."

Guo Ye said: "Although the herdsman is wearing a crudely made sheepskin jacket, isn't the style of that sheepskin jacket the same as the gowns with round necks and narrow sleeves that men in the Central Plains often wear?"

"what?"

Liu Zhenxuan roughly recalled it, got some impressions, and sighed again and again: "I said just now that I saw this man's clothes, how did you look at them? It's so awkward. I'm relieved when you say that, Lord Hou!"

"Haha, yes, it's awkward." Guo Ye also nodded and sighed, "The learning is neither fish nor fowl, and it looks a bit weird when you wear it!"

da da da da~

A sound of horseshoes approached their ears, and the two looked up when they heard the sound. It turned out that several fast horses that had gone to explore the road turned back.

The first cavalryman dismounted skillfully from his horse, trotted up to Guo Ye, half-kneeled on the ground with one leg, and cupped his hands to report: "Report to Lord Hou, there are people coming from Bailan City in front, saying that they came here specially to welcome Lord Hou as you enter the city." .”

Guo Ye thought to himself, could it be that the Tuyuhun court in Bailan City received the news of the visit of his envoy from the Tang Dynasty?

The speed of message delivery is quite fast.

Immediately, he slowly got up and patted the dust off his body, straightened his clothes, and looked ahead.

I saw a double-headed carriage driving towards this side, the dust behind it was flying like a whirlwind, and it seemed that there was a large number of foot soldiers following it.

Five steps away from Guo Ye, the carriage stopped abruptly.

Guo Ye was about to step forward to ask who was coming, when suddenly a slender hand stretched out from the car and lifted the curtain, a voice came out before he saw his face:

"Master Guo, oh no, Marquis of Yizhou, my concubine is late to greet you, so don't blame me!"

The voice was soft and warm, and Guo Ye's bones were numb when he heard it.