The next day, Meng Xinghe took a letter from his family back to Taihu County. He had been out for a few days and could not worry his relatives at home. In the letter, he only said that he had something to do and wanted to go on a long trip. Where would he go? He didn't indicate it, but he was afraid that Aunt Yun or Mengdie, the two goblins, would follow him. He was not afraid that they would come after hearing the news and disrupt his plan. He just wanted to resolve the matter in Lingnan as soon as possible and then return to Chang'an to see him. Sons and daughters whom I have yet to meet.
He didn't know whether his trip to Lingnan would go smoothly, and what difficulties were waiting for him ahead. He felt that his trip was as unpredictable as the misty clouds ahead. Meng Xinghe got on his horse and just said "set off". Behind him, the group of people started. Follow him to Lingnan.
Meng Xinghe also learned from Du Xuan's words that the reason why she calls Lingnan the land of hundreds of ethnic groups is because there are many different ethnic groups living in Lingnan, such as Tibetan, Miao, Yi, Hui, and Bai. It is considered a relatively large ethnic group, and there are also some smaller ethnic groups that live in the Lingnan area. From the Bashu area, you have to go south along the Lingnan Road to today's Guangxi area. The transportation in ancient times was not as developed as it is now, and there was only one road to Sichuan that was difficult to reach the sky. He said, I'm afraid it's already the end of the year after this trip.
The road to Shu is as difficult as climbing to the sky. Now Meng Xinghe finally realizes how helpless Li Bai's three "sighs" were. If his mount Heifeng hadn't been a rare thousand-mile horse, he might now be on the wrong foot with Chai Shao and others behind him. The sloping uphill and lower slopes were extremely painful.
It was already late autumn along the way, and there was absolutely no beauty to speak of. Meng Xinghe and others walked in a hurry for a few days. They spent a day in the capital of Bashu to reorganize and continued their journey south without stopping. Along the way, they did not see the vipers and beasts that Miss Du mentioned. I have seen a lot of miasma in mountains and forests. The closer I get to Lingnan, I feel that compared with Jiangnan, there is less of the beauty of the water towns, but more of the spirituality of the mountains, especially those stilted buildings built deep in the bamboo forests by the water, which are even more accidental. Compared with the prosperous towns in the north, the scenery here can be regarded as secluded.
If there is a chance in the future, he will take Aunt Yun to live here for a while before going back. Meng Xinghe was thinking about his future life, and before he knew it, he had already walked his horse to the riverside.
I just saw this broad river cutting off the road to Lingnan from a long distance. The river is not wide and the water flow is gentle. The clear river water reflects the green bamboos on both sides. Compared with the rushing of the canal, she is like a daughter. The river is full of beauty all over.
"There is no way." At this time, Mr. Chai sighed: "There is no boat on this river. How can we get across? Do we have to sleep here tonight?"
Meng Xinghe had no choice at the moment. He wanted to go to the shore to cut bamboo to make a bamboo raft, but this place was not his territory and he did not dare to mess around.
"Miss Du, you said a few days ago that we are almost there. We have been walking for more than half a month, why are we still not there?" Meng Xinghe got off his horse and let Heifeng have a good rest. Fortunately, he had him along the way. It was quite comfortable to walk.
Miss Du jumped off her horse and slept in the open with several men along the way. Fortunately, instead of saying hello, this guy kept urging and asking for directions. Naturally, she felt a lot of resentment in her heart.
"I don't know," Miss Du is not afraid of what Meng Xinghe can do to her. Anyway, this guy talks about being powerful, but his actions are far from enough.
"I'll beat your legs, or you can pinch your shoulders," Mr. Meng immediately showed his courtesy. He had no choice but to make it to Lingnan without Miss Du as a guide. He would never have been able to reach Lingnan under the guidance of a simple map. He was not pretending to be a man at this time. When the time came, I still had to make a show of asking, even though I knew Miss Du didn't need it.
"Stop," Miss Du only said one word, but she felt much better than before: "The river in front of us is called Tuojiang River. Going up the river, we can see Phoenix City, where the capital of Lingnan is located. Although Lingnan is You are a vassal to the imperial court, but you do not pay annual tribute and have independent military power. Therefore, even if you are a high official or a prince of the Tang Dynasty, you are no different from ordinary people here. Moreover, you wear Han clothes like us. I’m afraid my clothes have already been kicked out before they even arrived in Phoenix City.”
It turns out that there is such a thing. Why didn't you tell me earlier? Meng Xinghe is now looking for clothes to change, but he doesn't care that much anymore. Is it possible that he can't go to Phoenix City wearing Han clothes? Who decides this? The rules are so inhumane.
"Hey, third brother, look, there's a boat ahead." Just when Meng Xinghe was indignant, following Chai Shao's words, everyone turned their attention to the Tuojiang River, only to see a bamboo raft paddling gently. Coming from the water, it looks like a fish swimming in a painting.
As the bamboo raft slowly approached, I saw a barefoot woman carrying a bamboo basket on the raft. Most Lingnan women were petite and delicate, and on the green ears, a pair of silver earrings jingled. The river breeze rustled, and the clothes she was wearing were completely different from Miss Du. She had a short neck scarf, wide green edges on the placket and cuffs, and three five-color plum lace lines embroidered on the breast with colorful threads, which were integrated with the lower skirt. She wore a square on her head. A green silk handkerchief was wrapped around her green hair. When she saw Meng Xinghe and others calling from the shore, as if they were about to cross the river, she speeded up the bamboo raft and quickly reached the shore.
"Girl, are you going to Phoenix City?" Miss Du stepped forward. Apparently facing this Lingnan woman, Miss Du was the only one among them who could go up.
The woman tilted her head and listened for a long time before asking: "Han people." She said these two words were not pronounced properly, so she must not be able to speak Chinese.
Why did he encounter a language barrier? Meng Xinghe saw the situation on Miss Du's side, walked up slowly, then pointed to himself and the people behind him, then pointed to the woman's bamboo raft, and then pointed to the upper reaches of the Tuojiang River, with both hands moving. Stopped and started flapping: "Phoenix, Phoenix,"
Is this possible? Miss Du frowned slightly, Meng Xinghe looked very funny.
The woman heard the word "Phoenix" clearly and frowned: "I want to go to Phoenix City."
Meng Xinghe nodded one after another and gave the woman a thumbs up to praise her for being smart. It seemed that body language was the most primitive and could be used by everyone.
When the woman knew that this group of people wearing Han Chinese costumes were going to Fenghuang City by ferry, her expression became unbearable. She pushed her pennies to the shore, and the raft was about to leave the shore immediately.
"My father said that the Han people are the most cunning and cunning people who come to Lingnan to rob treasures and land. If you want to go to Phoenix City, I won't take you there, you big liars," the woman actually said as she paddled the boat away from the shore. She speaks fluent Chinese. It was obvious that she was just cautiously guarding against this group of Han Chinese of unknown origin on the shore.
"Liar," Mr. Meng couldn't laugh or cry. "Who is the liar?" he asked, making it clear that they were deceived.
"You are a Han Chinese who is a liar." The woman was not afraid that Meng Xinghe would jump over and bully her. They said that Han people from outside were insidious and cunning people. Seeing the Han man just now gesticulating and dancing, it was indeed true. Han people They are all liars.
If Meng Xinghe could float on the water, he would definitely float over and teach the ferry woman a lesson. However, he also knew that this was not the time to talk nonsense, so he groped around on Mr. Chai's body next to him, took out two ingots of silver, and pointed them towards the river bank. The woman said: "I'll give it all to you. This will be enough to take us to Phoenix City, right?"
"Humph, your Han people's things are all dirty, and you always like to use money to buy what you want. I won't take you there." The woman never rowed away, but she felt that it was rare to see Han people in Phoenix City. The last time she saw them was five years ago, and now she finally met a group of Han people, both men and women. She felt that her father would not blame her if she stayed a little longer.
Meng Xinghe was completely at his wits end now, "Well, how can you take us to Phoenix City?" Meng Xinghe simply asked directly. He didn't like talking to this woman across the river like this.
The woman wondered why the Han people in front of her were not like the Han people who met her five years ago and did not take them across. Instead, they stood on the shore and insulted them with some unpleasant words. She giggled and said, "My father said, you Han people are all duplicitous people." , the most untrustworthy, and also shameless. He likes to deceive us Miao women and make us Miao women sad. Since you want to go to Phoenix City, well, do you dare to eat this?" The woman took it from the basket on her back. He took out a piece of something dark and muddy and threw it to Meng Xinghe from a distance, "As long as you can eat it, I will take you to Phoenix City."
"This is," Meng Xinghe picked up the muddy thing on the ground, and heard Miss Du whispering softly in his ear, "This is a yam, it is not poisonous. If you eat it, you won't die."
"There is so much mud, how can I eat it? How do I know if I will have a stomachache?" Mr. Meng cried out depressedly in his heart and put the piece of yam to his mouth: "If I eat it, you can really send us to Phoenix City. "
"Yeah," the woman nodded.
"Okay, I'll eat it. I'll just treat it as a cucumber." Meng Xinghe took a big bite, then put the yam thrown by the woman in his mouth with a mouthful of mud, chewed it hard twice, and swallowed it. , and soon, at the cost of bearing the humiliation, Meng Xinghe actually swallowed all the yam. His stomach felt weird, so he couldn't be poisoned.
"Okay, I've finished eating," Meng Xinghe wiped his mouth as he swallowed the last bite. He probably wouldn't be able to eat for three days.
When the woman saw that Meng Xinghe, a Han man, really ate the yam that she threw at her, she thought that this Han man was really strange. They, the Miao people, value their trustworthiness the most and would not change their words. Seeing that Meng Xinghe fulfilled her condition, although Somewhat reluctantly, I still rowed the boat over.
"Come up," the woman specifically glanced at Meng Xinghe.
"Broken," Meng Xinghe spat, and jumped onto the boat rudely. Damn it, his mouth was full of mud, and he didn't know how to hand him some water.
"Here you go." Just when Meng Xinghe felt that he had failed as a human being, the Miao woman who was rowing handed him a water bag.
Meng Xinghe took it unceremoniously and started gargling, quickly using up the Miao woman's bag of water.
The Miao girl saw his aggressive movements and said happily: "You are really weird as a Han Chinese. You don't know that yam cannot be eaten raw."
"Well," Meng Xinghe glared at Miss Du in front of her, feeling like she had been deceived. Could this girl be taking revenge on me?
"It's better to die. Once everything is over," Meng Xinghe broke the pot. Damn it, he was played by two women before he even arrived in Phoenix City. It was really a bad start.
Miao Nu was also straightforward. When she heard Meng Xinghe's words, she laughed and said: "Then you are a deadlock. There is no cover for the Tuojiang River."
"Huh," I endured it. Meng Xinghe calmed down his anger and suddenly laughed and said, "I know the Tuojiang River has no cover." After saying that, Meng Xinghe's eyes rolled around, obviously having some evil thoughts.