Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 594 Big and Small Matters

Second Brother always does some unexpected things, but thinking about it, it makes sense. It seems that only Second Brother still retains the wild and untamed spirit of the Xianbei people in the Tuoba family. The others have been almost completely Sinicized.

But constantly putting yourself in such danger is really dangerous, so Xia Lin brought quite a few people to the Miao village for the Hurricane Rescue this time.

Before they even set off, news of the situation in Jiangnan Province had already reached him, and he had some things to deal with. But the problem was that compared to the possibility of his second brother being turned into jerky, these issues were really nothing.

The local militia mobilized a thousand men, fully armed, to attack the nearest Miao village. This area borders western Hunan, and there are about seven or eight Miao tribes of varying sizes in the surrounding area, the largest of which is probably the Bai Miao people.

Oh, strictly speaking, this is actually around the time when Zi Xuan in "Chinese Paladin 3" was just over sixteen years old.

The character of the Holy Maiden of Nanzhao Kingdom is also in line with the current environment. Normally, Nanzhao Kingdom will be established in a hundred years. At that time, Zixuan will be around a hundred years old, which is the age when she will fall in love with Xu Changqing in his second life.

Led by Xu Shiji, the thousand-strong team entered the Miao territory in western Hunan. This area was essentially a no-man's-land, and the Han officials in the surrounding area had been harassing the Miao people for years, which meant that they were at risk of being targeted and attacked as soon as they entered.

Because of the hot and humid climate, dense primeval forests, and mountainous terrain that forms a natural geographical barrier, the people here mainly rely on slash-and-burn agriculture, supplemented by hunting and gathering. Villages are mostly built on the mountains, forming a semi-closed settlement pattern.

It is said that bad people come from poor and remote places, and now Xia Lin has truly witnessed it. From sixty-nine years old to just learning to walk, every single one of them has a murderous aura in their eyes.

Fortunately, Xia Lin had found several bilingual guides in the vicinity before entering; otherwise, even the slightest mishap could have resulted in the complete annihilation of either the Miao village or the entire local militia. In any case, they would have been wiped out.

After explanation, and with Xia Lin bringing in many gifts, their risk level decreased linearly due to the interaction of the Golden Buddha Throne Principle and Stiponker's Law.

After making several inquiries, the local guide told Xia Lin, "General, they did indeed see a mountain demon a few days ago. The mountain demon was towering into the clouds, and no strangers were allowed to enter. It went all the way into the mountains."

“A mandrill…” Xu Shiji, who was standing next to him, couldn’t help but burst out laughing: “It really does look quite like one.”

Xia Lin rolled her eyes and said to the guide, "Translation is all about accuracy, fluency, and elegance, and you really did it."

"Thank you for the compliment, General."

Without further arguing with the guide, Xia Lin, having learned of the "mandrill's" movements, immediately prepared to lead his men there. However, they were stopped by several elderly men holding hands after only a few steps.

They chattered on and on in their native tongue, and the guide quickly explained, "General, these elders say that the sacred mountain in front is their Miao region, and we cannot ride horses or bring weapons in."

Xia Lin raised his chin and then asked the guide, "Can we bring people in?"

Compared to the barbarians of the grasslands, the Miao people at this time were the real barbarians. Although the grasslands were also quite barbaric, they had actually undergone considerable years of civilization and were generally open-minded, after all, they already considered themselves to be Han Chinese.

However, the Miao region is isolated, and a large part of them are still stuck in the Stone Age.

You heard right, it's the Stone Age. Slash-and-burn agriculture is considered advanced civilization and productivity for them. Although the surrounding villages have gradually been influenced by the outside world and slowly accepted new things, the Miao villages deep in the mountains are still in the era of using stones to make holes in the heads of enemies and hanging them under trees as wind chimes...

Seeing that the Miao people were very determined, Xia Lin stopped talking and raised his hand to order the army to stay outside and temporarily set up camp, leaving only a few guards behind. He then disarmed them and followed the guide into the "Holy Mountain" without looking back.

In fact, the most likely scenario if the plot were to break down at this point is that the cultivation era would begin after entering the Holy Mountain. For example, Xia Lin and Xu Shiji might enter the Holy Mountain and accidentally trigger the seal of a certain artifact, causing the Crimson Starry Sky to collapse. The Western Demon Realm could then use this as an opportunity to invade the human world. They would need to gather the Ten Ancient Artifacts to repair the cracks, but unfortunately, while releasing the artifacts, they would also release the terrifying ancient guardian beast Ya Zi. In order to protect Xia Lin, Xu Shiji would exhaust all his cultivation and trap himself and the beast in a cave.

To save Xu Shiji, Xia Lin embarks on a journey across the world in search of a divine artifact capable of vanquishing demons. During her travels, she accidentally sleeps with a snake demon and joins her on her quest for the artifact. She then discovers that the snake demon is actually the holy maiden of the Black Miao people. The Black Miao people chase after Xia Lin for three thousand miles in search of the holy maiden, only to learn that if the holy maiden does not sacrifice herself, the water demon will awaken and wreak havoc on the world. In the end, the two of them, along with a haughty young lady they met outside Suzhou, return to the Miao region of Nanzhao. The snake demon leaves behind a daughter before perishing together with the water demon.

But that's not actually the case...

The so-called sacred mountain is actually the base of a Miao tribe that never wants to leave the mountains. About 30,000 Miao people live in this mountainous area. They live in bamboo houses, hunt and fish, and extract rock salt in caves. Three to five hundred people die from rock salt poisoning every year. They get vitamins from wild vegetables and mushrooms in the mountains. They have only learned to use fire for less than three hundred years. Eating the flesh of their enemies is a war custom that has been preserved to this day.

Before eating the corpses, they would dance and make incoherent noises to celebrate. Even their more secular clansmen who stayed outside thought these people were too barbaric and were unwilling to associate with them. So they built a sacred mountain to seal them off inside, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. Otherwise, if they went out and ate a few Han people, who knows how many large armies would come to slaughter them.

However, in recent years, this seal has gradually loosened because the progress of civilization outside is relatively fast, and trade is more developed. Some people in the sacred mountain have also begun to secretly do business with the outside world, and then bring back good things from the Han people. Of course, this is only small-scale contact. Most of them are still in a primitive state of matriarchal society, and eating a deer raw is as easy as playing with it.

"Oh... a matriarchal society, right?" Xia Lin heard the guide's description on the way and then realized, "So that's the origin of the Women's Kingdom."

It's often said that humans can't imagine things they haven't seen, and Wu Cheng'en was no exception. For example, he wrote that the Golden Cudgel weighed 13,500 jin (approximately 6,750 kg). Using the Ming Dynasty's unit of measurement (1 jin ≈ 596 grams), the Golden Cudgel would weigh about 8.04 tons. That was an enormous weight in that era.

But if we move it five hundred years later, a 100-ton truck could carry twenty golden cudgels, a weight that Wu Cheng'en could not have imagined.

Similarly, the Kingdom of Women is also a country entirely composed of women. If we follow this logic, it should be a relatively large matriarchal society. Based on the description of the Kingdom of Women in Journey to the West, it should be roughly located in the southwest region.

Therefore, it is highly likely that the Kingdom of Women was a large tribe with a matrilineal system.

"I don't know if I can hold on." Xia Lin put her hands on her hips and looked at the layers of mountains in front of her.

At this moment, Xu Shiji burst into laughter: "You can't hold on anymore? I'll teach you the Five Animal Frolics when we get back."

"You need to practice until your golden spear never falls down."

After walking for about four hours, traversing mountains and valleys for an unknown distance, they finally managed to see some human habitation. The first sight of the people there completely shattered Xia Lin's impression of the tourist attraction.

In a word, they were poor.

Two words: fucking poor.

The karst peaks form a natural barrier, and the settlements are distributed on steep slopes at an altitude of 900-1300 meters. The main transportation relies on rattan cableways suspended on the cliffs. During the rainy season, landslides block the trade routes at the bottom of the valley, forming a mountainous country isolated from the outside world. The straight-line distance from Yao County, where Xia Lin is located is only 80 li, but the actual travel time is 15 days.

Right now, someone is working on the terraced fields. Xia Lin squats down, rolls up his sleeve, and touches the muddy water. He finds that the arable thickness is less than seven centimeters. This thing... what's the point of planting anything?

The terraced fields are surrounded by bamboo stake arrays and animal traps, which look rather eerie.

Fortunately, there was a local guide who, after some persuasion, explained that Xia Lin was a gentleman from out of town who came to see if he needed anything. This made the locals less wary.

"This is terrible." Xia Lin washed his hands by the stream, put his hands on his hips, and looked at the Miao village in the valley. "Damn it, I hope my second brother doesn't end up being eaten like cured meat."

"No," Xu Shiji shook his head.

"Really?" Xia Lin turned and glanced at him. "Are you sure you won't get eaten?"

“Of course not.” Xu Shiji smiled. “There isn’t enough salt here to pickle it. It’s better to peel it and roast it over a fire.”

Xia Lin gave him a thumbs up: "My second brother is so lucky to have a brother like you."

The group descended the hillside into the Miao village. Although the place was poor, there were quite a few people. However, these people were not as beautiful as the Miao people Xia Lin had seen in the future. Malnutrition and lack of clothing made them look somewhat primal, not to mention the heavy headdresses weighing over ten kilograms...

Oh, right. If I had to describe them, they would look somewhat like the Dalits from India—skinny, shameless, and having lost some of the essential human traits.

The guide who brought Xia Lin showed obvious disdain and disgust towards them, and his tone became impolite, even though he was just a waiter in a teahouse in the county.

"Alright," Xia Lin slapped him on the shoulder, "Why are you talking like that? Speak properly!"

(End of this chapter)