Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

Youzhou, Xuantu County, Goguryeo City.

Ten miles south of the city, a team of about a hundred people was waiting outside the inn beside the official road. Today the sky was slightly overcast and some snow had fallen, but according to the experienced local elders, the sky would clear up once the wind picked up in the afternoon.

A cavalry team of a thousand men came slowly from the south. When the leader of the welcoming team saw this, he immediately stepped forward to greet them.

This person was Chen Ning Chen Yuanli, who opened the city gate of Goguryeo in the previous war and became the prefect of Xuantu County because of this achievement.

"Greetings, Lord Wenshu and Lord Yuanbo." Chen Ning stepped forward and bowed. "It's snowing on the road today, so it's really hard to walk. Lord Wenshu and Lord Yuanbo, please come into the city and rest quickly."

Wang Xiong didn't say much, while Wang Chang on the side said with a smile: "Didn't I send someone to tell you? Don't go out of the city to welcome us, there's no need for such a big show. Yuan Li, tell everyone to get on their horses and go back to the city. It's a bit inhumane to stand here and wait in the snow."

"Lord Wenshu is right." Chen Ning said with a smile, "Lord Wenshu, please. Lord Yuanbo, please."

Generally speaking, you can just call him Wang Gong. But aren't Wang Chang and Wang Xiong both surnamed Wang? There's nothing we can do about it. Previously, when the governors of Lelang and Daifang came to Xiangping to report on their duties, they made a joke about it and confused the two "Wang Gong". In the end, Wang Chang and Wang Xiong had to report this official title, and that was the end of it.

"Has the Sushen envoy arrived?" Wang Xiong finally spoke.

"My lord Yuanbo, when I came out of Goguryeo this morning to greet him, he had not yet arrived. But according to the date that the King of Buyeo and I mentioned, the Sushen envoy will definitely arrive today."

Wang Xiong nodded and said, "It is a great event for the country when a distant country comes to pay tribute. We two came from Xiangping, firstly to inspect Xuantu County, and secondly to meet the envoy of Sushen in advance."

"Yuan Li, when Gongsun Ni was in Liaodong, did Sushen ever come?"

Chen Ning was originally the Goguryeo governor of Xuantu County appointed by Gongsun Gong. The Gongsun family had been in Liaodong for fifty years. It would be a lie to say that people from Sushen had never visited here. Chen Ning had heard of them three or four times.

But since Wang Xiong asked such questions as the governor of a state, we must respond carefully.

Twenty days ago, Buyeo King Titai sent someone to Xuantu County and said that the Sushen envoy had arrived in Buyeo and wanted to go to the Wei Dynasty to pay homage, and asked whether he could come.

Chen Ning sent a fast horse to Xiangping to inquire, and after receiving a positive reply from Yingzhou Governor Wang Xiong, he told the Titai that he could bring people to Goguryeo City. In addition to the people of Sushen, the Titai would also come to visit.

Chen Ning's horse's head fell slightly behind Wang Xiong. He leaned forward and whispered, "Lord Yuanbo, this is the first time I have heard of an envoy from Sushen."

Wang Xiong nodded in satisfaction. "During the Zhou Dynasty, King Jing of Zhou once said that Sushen is our northern land. During the reign of Emperor Shun, the Sushen clan came to pay tribute to the Central Plains, so Sushen's offering of arrows can be regarded as an auspicious omen."

"Let's go. Today, we will see how the people of Sushen speak and whether their appearance is the same as that of the people of Wei."

"Yes." Chen Ning nodded in agreement.

In the afternoon, around 2:15 pm, Wang Chang, Wang Xiong and the prefect Chen Ning, who were guarding the prefect's mansion, finally waited for the arrival of Buyeo Wang Titai and the Sushen envoy.

"Greetings to Lord Wenshu, greetings to Lord Yuanbo." Titai bowed.

The Sushen envoy beside him, under the guidance of a Fuyu official who could speak Fuyu and a Fuyu person who could speak Sushen, knelt down and bowed to the two. Everyone has knees, and in this era, kneeling down was a common etiquette for the lower to respect the elders. Even the most remote tribes knew about it, just like raising a thumb to express appreciation in later generations, and there was not much surprise.

Wang Chang was the governor of Yingzhou. Although he had greater power and responsibilities than Wang Xiong, he was not the first to speak at this time. Instead, he gave the protagonist position to the governor Wang Xiong.

Wang Xiong nodded: "Titai, do you understand Sushen language?"

Titai smiled bitterly and said, "Lord Yuanbo, how could I understand the Sushen language? There are often caravans in our country that trade with the Sushen. They travel back and forth every quarter. In August, the caravan that went to Sushen brought the news that the Wei Dynasty had pacified the Gongsun Rebellion to Sushen. When they returned in November, they brought the envoy back along the way."

Wang Xiong nodded: "What is this person's name?"

The envoy replied, "My Lord Yuanbo, this man is called Wuzhuke, and he is the son of the leader of the Black Water Tribe, one of the twenty-eight Sushen tribes."

"Twenty-eight?" Wang Xiong was a little surprised: "If it is twenty-eight, how many people are there?"

Titai bowed and said, "I don't know all the details either, let Wuzhuke and Yuanbogong tell it themselves."

"Yuanbogong," the translator pointed to a person beside him, "This is Bi Li, who knows Sushen dialect. He translated Sushen dialect into Buyeo dialect, and then I translated it into Chinese."

This is a double translation.

"Okay." Wang Xiong nodded slightly.

Wu Zhuke was about thirty years old, with a body shape similar to that of an ordinary Han Chinese, but he seemed more muscular. He had an extraordinary aura, and was wearing a mink fur coat, the fur was very shiny, and it could be seen that the material was very good, but it was not as delicate as the fur coats of the Han Chinese.

Wuzhuke took off his fur hat with colorful feathers, revealing his shoulder-length braided hair, with colorful silk threads and jade pendants hanging from the ends of his hair, and two gold rings hanging from his earlobes. According to Titai, the language of the Sushen people is similar to that of Buyeo and Goguryeo, but many words and pronunciations are different.

Wang Xiong talked with Wuzhuke for a long time and learned that his tribe was called Heishui and lived in the south of a big river called Heishui.

This time, Wuzhuke came to Liaodong with the Buyeo caravan. There were five people accompanying him, all of whom were good hunters in the tribe.

The so-called 28 tribes of Sushen is just a general term. Wuzhuke couldn't tell exactly how many tribes there were, but the Heishui tribe he belonged to was a union of a large tribe and a series of small tribes, controlling the area from the middle of the Heishui River to the vicinity of the Nanshui River. The number of people exceeded 50,000, and this was the number in recent years when the grain harvest was poor and livestock was not abundant. The Sushen people farmed, and millet, beans and sorghum were common crops. They also engaged in fishing and hunting. As for animal husbandry, the main ones were pigs, dogs and horses.

Wang Xiong was very surprised to hear this news. Although he had served as the governor of Youzhou before, the Hu people he dealt with were only Xianbei and Wuhuan tribes. He rarely saw Dingling people north of Xianbei, not to mention Buyeo and Sushen.

In the eyes of the scholars in the Central Plains, Youzhou was already a frontier area in the known world, and Sushen was even further away.

After Ti Tai called out a few times, the official waiting outside the hall took out two strangely shaped wooden bows and two deerskin quivers from Ti Tai's carriage.

"Is this the stone arrow?"

Wang Chang and Wang Xiong stood up at the same time, took the deerskin quivers, pulled out arrows from them and looked at them.

The so-called 楛箭石頮 are arrowheads made from 楛木箭 shafts and bluestone.

Wang Chang took it in his hand, looked at it for a few seconds, and tested the bowstring slightly. He had a general understanding of the power of the Sushen people's bows and arrows. There was nothing surprising about it.

But for the Great Wei, this was a sign of good fortune.

Wang Chang said softly, "During the reign of Emperor Shun, Sushen came to pay tribute. During the Zhou Dynasty, Sushen became a vassal of China. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, Sushen sent envoys to offer tribute of Chinese arrows. Now, in the fourth year of Taihe, Sushen is again offering tribute of Chinese arrows and stone needles."

"Brother Yuanbo," Wang Chang said, "it would be better to quickly send Wu Zhuke and the interpreter to Luoyang and report to the court."

"Of course." Wang Xiong stroked his beard and smiled, "Your Majesty has just taken over Liaodong this year, and there are such auspicious signs. It is truly a blessing from heaven."

Wang Chang and Wang Xiong stayed in the vicinity of Goguryeo City for a few more days. At the invitation of Chen Ning, they watched the Liaodong people's unique skills of casting nets to catch fish in the frozen river in winter. It was truly a rare sight.

When the two men set out for Xiangping with the Sushen envoys, and just as they arrived outside the city of Xiangping, they heard something even more coincidental from the state official who came to report.

"Report to Lord Wenshu, Lord Yuanbo." A state official named Zhang Kai bowed and saluted, "Lelang County Governor Kong sent people from the Korean city to Xiangping, and they arrived yesterday. Among them are 20 Japanese envoys, and the leader is the Nanshengmi who was received by His Majesty in Xiangping during the summer vacation."

"How could it be such a coincidence?" Wang Xiong shook his head slightly and turned to look at Wang Chang: "Wenshu, it seems like the two of us are faking it."

Wang Chang smiled slightly, "How can it be fake? It's just a coincidence, no need to think too much. I have already asked, it takes no longer than a month to return to Japan from Lelang County by sea. If Japan reacts in a little more time and prepares the gifts, it is normal to arrive in Liaodong in December."

Wang Xiong said, "If that's the case, then let Nan Shengmi from Japan and Wu Zhuke from Sushen go to Luoyang together. Wenshu, when should we let them go?"

Wang Chang said calmly: "The people of Wa and Sushen came to Liaodong not to visit you and me, but to pay homage to the emperor in Luoyang and pay tribute. What benefit do you and I have in keeping them in Xiangping?"

"Send someone to interrogate them later. If there is nothing unusual about these people, let them set off early tomorrow morning. First go to Liaosui, where they will receive carriages and food for the winter crossing of the Banghai Road, and then go to Liaoxi County via Bintu, Jieshi, and Linyu."

"If they go fast, they should be there in two months."

Wang Xiong nodded and said, "Let's do as Wenshu said. Dong Zhou did nothing else after taking office. He first left hundreds of people in Jieshi and set up several supply sites along the coastal road. I didn't expect that they would be used before the end of the year."

Wang Chang said, "Dong Zhou is known for being mediocre. He was impeached by Huang Gongheng from his position as governor of Yingchuan. This may not be his idea. It may be the idea of ​​General Dong."

"The son is not as good as the father." Wang Xiong sneered.

Wang Chang also laughed: "Brother Yuanbo's eldest son Changyuan (Wang Hun, courtesy name Changyuan) has the same name and surname as my eldest son, both of them are called Wang Hun, which is a very coincidental thing in the world."

"Changyuan is knowledgeable and thoughtful. If my son can be like Changyuan, my family will prosper in the future."

Wang Xiong smiled and said, "The Wang family of Langya and the Wang family of Taiyuan are both Wangs, so they should be one family. Although your son lived in Luoyang when he was young, your nephew, Wang Shen, is not in Xiangping?"

"Wouldn't it be better if my Wang Hun and your nephew Wang Shen were to serve as state officials and lead the envoys from Wa and Sushen to Luoyang?"

"Very good, very good." Wang Chang also laughed: "Just do as Brother Yuanbo said!" (End of this chapter)