Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 431 Envoy
Yingzhou, Liucheng.

The sun is shining brightly and the sunshine is warm.

Rulin Yamoge of the Khitan Xiwandan tribe stood outside the governor's office, staring blankly at the official residence in front of him.

This man's name is Mo Ge, and Rulin Ya is his official title, which is probably equivalent to Shizhong?

In short, he is a person who is well-read and able to provide advice to the king.

This time, Mo Ge came here on the order of the leader. After arriving in Yingzhou, he was greatly amazed. The governor had not given him a clear answer yet, but just asked him to live in the inn, but Mo Ge could not stay there at all. He would wait at the door of the governor's office every day, hoping to get a chance to meet the governor.

The officials at the post station tried to persuade him several times, but he refused to listen and insisted on doing so.

The sunlight today is particularly dazzling, but such warm sunlight falling on Mo Ge makes him feel indescribable sadness.

It was just a journey of less than ten days, why was there such a big difference?
Before he set out, he wrapped himself tightly, simply because his hometown was extremely cold. Although there was no snowfall in this month, it was still extremely cold during the day and at night. Even during the day, it was not much better, anyway it was much colder than here. However, after walking for less than ten days, the climate changed dramatically, as if a knife was cut between the two places, one side was icy and snowy, and the other side was warm and bright.

Mo Ge fell into deep self-doubt.

Is it true, as they say, that the Han Dynasty has the Mandate of Heaven?
He is a man who has read many books, but how else can he explain this strange situation except the theory of ghosts and gods?
Brother Mo sighed again, looking embarrassed.

The Khitans were a little afraid of the big country in the Central Plains. In their opinion, the Xianbei people were much more brutal than them, especially the previous heroic emperor.

The heroic emperor launched an indiscriminate attack on the surrounding areas, regardless of your usual relationship with the Central Plains, whether you are close to the Rouran people or remain neutral, or whether you have sent tribute or envoys before, you will be attacked anyway.

Gao Yang called out the names of all the neighbors around the border one by one, and no one, including the Hu people, big and small, could escape.

Moreover, the strategic significance of his attack does not seem to be obvious. He was trying to consolidate his position, which he had already consolidated through the war against Yuwen Tai. He was trying to resolve the crisis on the border, but who would solve the crisis on the border by conquering all of them? When the Western Han Dynasty fought the Xiongnu, it had to fight for allies. When the Eastern Han Dynasty pacified the Qiang, it had to divide the enemy. How could they do everything at once?
Anyway, he should have some reasons of his own. However, since Gao Yang, the surrounding neighbors basically stopped interacting with Qi. If they paid tribute and did nothing but were beaten by you, why would they stay close to you?
Now Mo Ge only hopes that this brutal Xianbei king in the rumors is different from the previous Xianbei.

The Khitans had a hard time.

Just as he was standing at the door waiting, another person walked over from a distance. The person's clothes were somewhat different from those of the people here.

The man looked at Brother Mo with a smile, with a somewhat embarrassed look on his face.

This is the envoy sent by the Xi people, his name is Mu Kunya.

The reason for the embarrassment was that they had met in their hometown not long ago.

The sudden rise of the Han State caused panic in the two tribal alliances. The Kumo Xi and the Khitans were sometimes very close, but sometimes they turned against each other and fought. The language and customs of the two sides seemed to be very similar, and even the way of tribal alliance was very similar.

Not long ago, the two met because of the issue of the Han State. They talked about the fact that Han merchants no longer came to the border, and several markets in the border were empty. Speaking of this, both of them were extremely angry. They believed that this was the fault of the Han State and that it should be attacked and should never be tolerated. Both sides announced that they were about to declare war on the Han State. Shortly after they met, the two met in Yingzhou as envoys.

This is a very embarrassing thing.

Mu Kunya was more shameless, so he just smiled and walked quickly to Mo Ge's side.

"It's been a long time since we last met. You're still as strong as ever."

"Long time no see? I just saw you in Elin Yazhang ten days ago."

Mo Ge complained a few words, but didn't say anything else. The two of them looked in the direction of the government office together.

Mu Kunya suddenly asked, "Still haven't seen him yet?"

"Their king must have not issued an order yet. Without the king's order, these local officials cannot meet with foreign ministers in private."

Brother Mo obviously knows the system here very well.

He looked at the Xi envoy beside him and asked, "Did you bring the Goguryeo people here?"

"You mean the Koreans?"

"No matter what name you change it to, it's still Goguryeo!"

Mo Ge waved his hand disdainfully. Compared with the Xi people, the relationship between the Khitans and Goguryeo was even worse. The two sides had been fighting on the border for many years. After the Khitan and other tribes on the border were dispersed by Gao Yang, Goguryeo took the opportunity to plunder their remnants and annexed many tribes. Its scale became larger and larger, especially the Khitan tribe. They swallowed up several remnants, and the relationship between the two sides became increasingly worse.

The Xi people were better, and would occasionally send people to interact with the Goguryeo people.

Mu Kunya sighed, "The Xi people are so weak. If they hadn't come together, how could they have gained the attention of the Han lord?"

"So you would rather contact Goguryeo than come with us?"

Brother Mo looked at this old acquaintance and warned him, "The Goguryeo people are ambitious and have not traded much with the Central Plains in the past. They only knew how to plunder the surrounding areas. It is common for them to go back on their words. In the past, a group of Khitan people asked them to pass through their territory, and their king agreed. But they took advantage of the group's unpreparedness and suddenly attacked. They have a long history of bad deeds. This time you call them, but don't let me get involved!"

Mukunya ignored him.

The two continued to wait here.

After waiting for a long time, an hour, or even more, Mu Kunya could not stand it any longer. He was sure that he would not be able to see the governor today, so he went back first. However, Mo Ge continued to stay here, seemingly not feeling hungry or tired.

I don’t know how much time had passed, but the door of the government office was opened and a carriage was seen slowly driving out.

There were knights surrounding the carriage in front and behind. Mo Ge's eyes lit up and he walked up quickly, but was stopped by the knights.

"Governor!"

"Governor Yuan!"

"I am a Khitan envoy! I just want to see you!"

Mo Ge screamed at the top of his lungs. The carriage was about to leave when he heard the people in the carriage say something to the coachman. A moment later, another knight came over and asked Mo Ge to follow him.

Brother Mo breathed a sigh of relief, and all the fatigue in his body immediately dissipated, and he was full of strength.

He was brought to the carriage.

"come in."

Brother Mo thanked him and quickly got into the car.

Yuan Yuxiu was sitting in the car, wearing simple clothes. He just stared at Mo Ge, and Mo Ge felt very uncomfortable with him.

Yuan Yuxiu sneered and said, "You have been standing here for four or five days in a row, from day to night, without eating or drinking. What's the matter? Do you want to die in front of my office and let me bear the blame for forcing a foreign envoy to die?"

Brother Mo lowered his head quickly, "How dare I! It's just that the governor is busy with affairs, I dare not disturb you, I can only stay here, hoping to meet with the governor as soon as possible, please don't blame me! I came here on the order of my master, and now my mission is not yet completed. After I finish these things, I will let you deal with it, and I will have no complaints."

Yuan Yuxiu was stunned for a moment and looked at the guy in front of him again.

This guy actually knows something about loyalty.

Yuan Yuxiu was no longer embarrassed and explained, "You are a foreign envoy, and I am a frontier governor. According to the law, I should not have a private meeting with you. If you have something to report, please have someone give me the letter and I will help you present it to His Majesty. Don't block me here any longer."

"Governor, I know these principles, but now that the envoys from the three states have come, I only have one thing I want you to know."

"You say it."

"The Khitans did not come with the Xi people and the Goguryeo people. They came together as envoys. We came alone. The previous memorial did not state this. I hope the governor can know this."

Yuan Yuxiu said "oh" and seemed to understand something in his heart.

"You blocked my door just to talk about this?"

"That's why."

"Okay, I understand. Let's wait for the imperial edict."

Sure enough, from that day on, Brother Mo no longer blocked the door.

After waiting for more than ten days, the Heavenly King's edict arrived here, requiring the governor to arrange for these envoys to go to Yecheng to pay a visit.

Yuan Yuxiu first summoned Mo Ge and sent someone to escort him to Yecheng. Two days later, he summoned the envoys of the other two countries and asked them to set off.

When Mu Kunya learned that Mo Ge had left first, he became extremely anxious. He tried several times to block the door and go see the governor, but he didn't get such an opportunity and could only leave slowly.

He wanted to know the reason, but Yuan Yuxiu didn't bother to explain anything to an outsider like him.

Brother Mo, who had set off first, was now filled with joy.

Mogo's delegation was rather shabby. Including him, there were only four envoys. However, there were more than thirty grooms accompanying him because Mogo brought gifts for the King.

They specially selected twelve uncastrated stallions as gifts for the audience.

These twelve stallions are all carefully selected BMWs by them. They are all excellent in terms of height, hoof length, back width, etc. These stallions are also very precious. One horse often needs several grooms to take care of it, and they eat better than humans. If these stallions are sent to a stable and some mares are brought over, a large number of war horses can be bred in a few years.

The person in charge of escorting the envoys was a young man who had not even grown a full beard, but was quite sturdy and had good riding skills, able to run back and forth on a horse.

Although Mo Ge tried to get close to him several times, the young officer ignored him completely, like a mute, and didn't say a word.

Brother Mo had no choice but to give up.

Their route was planned by Yuan Yuxiu. There were post stations along the way for them to rest. With the passage opened by Yuan Yuxiu himself, no one dared to make things difficult for them.

This situation continued until they entered Youzhou.

On this day, they entered the territory of Youzhou and just settled down in an inn.

The young officer was just about to take a rest when a knight came in and told him that someone had a conflict with the Khitans outside.

The officer came out hurriedly.

Outside the inn, Mo Ge and others were seen arguing with a group of people. Mo Ge's face was red, and he was suppressing his anger.

The people standing in front of them were dressed in bright clothes and had unique accents. Obviously, they were a group of Chen people.

These frontier areas also attracted many nobles from the south because of their proximity to the sea. The post houses where they now live have markets on three sides and are home to many southerners.

Then I saw a man from Chen who exuded an air of wealth holding the reins of the good horse tightly.

It turned out that when the Khitan grooms were grooming the stallions, they were seen by Chen Shang who was passing by. These people had never seen such fine horses before and could not walk anymore, so they insisted on buying them.

The grooms dared not say a word and called Mo Ge over, who then informed the accompanying knights.

The young officer was quite tired. Seeing the chattering Chen people in the distance, he couldn't help but look at the knights on his left and right, "What do you eat?"

The knight hesitated and whispered, "Governor Yuan once said that we must not be rude to merchants from the Southern Kingdom."

The officer was furious, "Stop being rude" means we should not rob the southerners, not be their grandsons!

The officer cursed and walked quickly forward, and the knights followed.

Yingzhou has always been relatively poor, with not much to offer, and merchants from the South can bring great benefits to Yingzhou. Therefore, Yuan Yuxiu attaches great importance to these people, and even personally receives big merchants from the South, takes them to travel around the places under his jurisdiction, introduces them to the beautiful mountains and forests of his own country, and takes them to compose poems and essays, all for the sake of the local area.

But this does not mean that the southerners can show off here just for the sake of making money.

The officer stepped forward and tore the southerner's hand away.

"This tribute is not for sale, leave quickly."

The officer said this coldly, signaling several knights under his command to maintain martial law in the area and not allow anyone to approach.

The Chen people were a little anxious. "Even if they are tribute, they must have a source, right? Where are these horses from? We can go and buy them!"

Mo Ge was stunned, and then said seriously: "Khitan and Han are on good terms. Khitan horses are Han horses. Without the order of the Han ruler, we dare not sell them outside."

The southerners actually had contact with the Hu people on the border, and it seemed to have started during the Eastern Wu period.

Relying on their naval superiority, they traveled unhindered all the way to Liaodong and other places, and then traded with the Hu people there, mostly buying iron and horses.

The name Goryeo was first recognized by the Southern Qi Dynasty. Many of these small regimes on the border had received titles from the south.

The Khitan is an exception. They have not yet developed a true feudal state and are currently just an alliance of multiple tribes.

When the southerner heard what the other party said, he was obviously a little angry.

"You barbarians, since you are afraid of the Han, why aren't you afraid of our Dachen? Our Dachen navy has countless huge ships that can block the river when they are laid horizontally!"

Brother Mo listened to the other party bragging, but he didn't get angry and just turned around and left.

The southerner watched them leave one after another, with a look of reluctance on his face.

He had been in the north for a long time, but this was the first time he saw such a strong and good-looking BMW.

He was sure that even in the homes of the truly noble people he knew in the south, there was absolutely no such BMW. This one looked even better than the horses that the emperor used to pull his carriage! !

And it's a male horse! Not castrated!!
After seeing these BMWs, he no longer had the heart to look at other horses. No matter how he looked at the other horses, he felt that they could not compare to the ones in front of him.

But the guy in front of him refused to sell it to him.

The southerner was anxious and angry, and could not help cursing: "You barbarians, it's just a few horses, and you call it tribute? The Han ruler has only this much virtue. The tribute from the south is all fine things, how can we offer animals?"

As soon as the southerner said this, a gust of wind blew by. Before he could react, the young officer had already rushed to him and punched him hard in the face. The merchant screamed and fell to the ground. "Chen and Han have formed an alliance, how dare you commit murder?!"

Several followers around hurriedly spoke up, but did not dare to come over to stop it.

The officer had already pulled out his knife and slapped the southerner in the face. "What did you say happened to the King of Han?"

"I did not say anything!"

The southerner looked terrified, and encouraged himself, pretending to say, "When we came here, the northerners promised us not to harm the merchants who came. Aren't you afraid of being punished by the Han lord for doing this?"

The officer tapped his face with the knife again, "I just want to ask you what you just said?"

"I'm telling you! My last name is Chen. If you dare to hurt me today, you will ruin the relationship between the two countries!!"

The officer laughed angrily. It was the first time he laughed.

"Your fucking last name is Chen?"

"I'm telling you, barbarian. Your surname is Yao. You are a member of the Three Officials of the Han Dynasty, a general in charge of Haizhou, and the son of Yao Changying, Marquis of Le'an!"

"This is the North. We asked you to come here to trade, not to show off your power. If I hear you disrespecting the King of Han again, I will chop you into minced meat and put it in a wooden box to present to your Chen Xu!"

"do you understand?!"

The southerner was extremely terrified, "I understand! I understand! This is all a misunderstanding, young general, I have admired General Yao for a long time, please don't be impulsive!"

The officer then put away his knife, glared at these people with disdain, and then left.

The southerners fled from here trembling, but Mo Ge's eyes suddenly changed when he looked at the officer.

Yao Xiong! Is he the Yao Xiong who killed the Khan of Eastern Turkic?

Yao Xiong had chopped off quite a few heads. When he was fighting against the Turks with Gao Changgong in Hengzhou, he beheaded a general, so he had some reputation on the border.

Mo Ge's attitude towards him suddenly became more attentive.

(End of this chapter)