"What's so difficult to draw? You can draw hunting, shooting sheep, leading horses, and raising animals in captivity. You can also draw armistices and alliances.
A strip of the Great Wall is drawn in the middle, and residents living and working in peace and contentment are drawn on each side to represent rest and recuperation. "
Old Nie smiled and felt that although Liu Jing was very smart most of the time, he would occasionally be so serious that he looked like a wooden head.
The two stepped on the white grass and galloped toward the foot of the mountain. Along the way, they met several middle-aged herdsmen with thick beards. They all greeted Lao Nie enthusiastically, stopped him, and asked him to dismount and drink.
Lao Nie did not stop, but pointed in the direction of the foot of the mountain with his riding crop, and then pointed at Liu Jing with his lips raised. When the herdsmen saw Liu Jing's Handi clothing, they all nodded and got out of the way.
Lao Nie said to Liu Jing,
"Though those people are all alone, they look just like ordinary Huns, but to be able to come and take part in the Julin Conference, one must at least be a Qian Chang, and be in charge of thousands of felt tents in his pastoral area."
Liu Jing turned around and looked at those people, and made a mental calculation. The small group of Huns cavalry harassing and plundering the border counties of Han Dynasty was far from the size of a thousand tents. At most, there were a dozen tents and thirty or forty elite cavalry troops. , it’s just a small team.
It seems that the alliance between the two countries must be deeply rooted in the hearts of every Qianchang, Baichang, and even Shenchang. If we only rely on moral constraints, the difficulty is self-evident.
“We still have to rely on force to conquer.
Talk while fighting, fight while talking, and if Jufan doesn't accept it, continue to fight. "
He recalled the conclusion that the Queen had made long before departure. At that time, he did not agree with it, but now he agreed with it from the bottom of his heart.
***
"We've arrived, dismount."
Old Nie raised his chin and looked straight ahead.
Liu Jing followed his gaze and saw a large group of people gathered on the hillside not far away, densely packed and countless. There was also an altar made of flat stones, which was already filled with various kinds of colorful sacrifices.
Behind the altar, there stood a very thick pillar, vaguely carved with patterns, and wrapped in layers of red, blue, and yellow satin, with its tails fluttering in the wind.
Red symbolizes the sun, blue represents the sky, and yellow represents the earth. This is a sacrifice to gods and earth.
Lao Nie and him dismounted, passed through the layers of people, and came to the wooden pillars.
Liu Jing raised his eyes to take a closer look at the carvings on the pillars. He couldn't tell what kind of animal they were. It seemed like a pack of wolves hunting, or an eagle spreading its wings and hunting sheep.
The great shaman stood in front of the altar and was talking to Modun Shanyu.
Compared with Maodun, who was as strong as a mountain, the great shaman's stooped and thin figure almost only reached Shanyu's waist.
Liu Jing tightened his grip on Hanjie and approached the altar. The great shaman turned his face. His gray messy hair was not combed into a bun, but was flying randomly in the wind, looking like a god and a devil.
Liu Jing bowed deeply to her, and she nodded arrogantly in return. Looking closely, she had a high nose and deep eyes, and her nose was extremely high. Every wrinkle on her face was like a knife, but her eyes were still as sharp as a falcon.
The most eye-catching thing is that she has three fine red lines from her forehead to her nose, which are the unique tattoo marks of shamans.
At the signal of the great shaman, Liu Jing and Mao Dun stood side by side, facing the main altar. Several young men carried up a freshly slaughtered black yak, with only the head, hooves and hide connected together.
Everyone worked hard and arranged the cowhide in a position with the head facing northwest and the hair facing down, and spread it flatly on the altar. The internal organs of the yak had been eviscerated and placed separately in a huge offering plate, placed aside as a sacrifice for the oath.
The weather was cold and there was no smell of blood.
Three Guale torches were lit, the flames leaped upwards, and the ceremony officially began.
***
The great shaman tremblingly took out a large pot full of horse milk wine and poured most of it onto the altar. Then he took a sip and handed the pottery pot to Mao Dun's hand.
Mao Dun also raised his head and drank a few sips, and handed it to Liu Jing. Liu Jing followed suit and felt that the wine was extremely spicy in his mouth, as if there was a line of fire burning from his throat to his belly, and his body suddenly warmed up.
Both the god and the participants in the oath had drunk wine. The great shaman turned around and walked around the altar three times, muttering something in his mouth.
"This is a request to Tengri Khan who lives in the seventeenth heaven to inquire whether the alliance between the two countries will go smoothly."
Lao Nie quietly squeezed behind Liu Jing and explained to him in a low voice.
The great shaman spoke faster and faster, his eyes rolled up involuntarily, only the dark whites of his eyes were exposed. After another while, her voice to herself became louder. It was no longer the tone of an old woman, but more like a hollow echo——
“Everything has a beginning and an end.
I don’t know who provoked the discord between us and the Great Emperor, but Tengger has ordered that the Great Chanyu will end this discord.
From now on, the elders of the Xiongnu and Han Dynasties will be supported, the young children will grow up smoothly, and the poor will gain wealth. This is Tengger's wish. "
Tengger and Changshengtian have similar meanings. They are both the supreme gods in the grassland and are omnipotent and invincible forces. Maodun Shanyu looked at the world and had to obey the wishes of Changshengtian.
After saying these words, the great shaman's face returned to normal, and the light in his eyes returned, as if his soul had returned to his body.
She stretched out her skinny hand, dipped some blood into the plate filled with yak offal, and then smeared it on the mouths of Mao Dun and Liu Jing.
Then, accompanied by several sharp eagle whistles, several huge sea turtles spread their brown wings and spiraled down from the sky, like dark clouds covering the sky and the sun.
They stretched out their sharp claws, quickly grabbed the yak's internal organs, and then disappeared into the white sky.
"Tenggri already knows about the oath of alliance between the Xiongnu and the Han Dynasty."
The great shaman bowed deeply in the direction where the eagle disappeared.
An alliance based on blood, if repeated, will be destroyed by heaven and earth.
***
"Isn't this what the Han people call God's will? It sounds like the same thing.
It seems that it is a blessing from heaven to be able to successfully enter into a contract. "
Liu Jing stared back at the scene where the great shaman seemed to be possessed just now, and did not dare to imagine the ever-changing coincidences. Could it be that there really are ghosts and gods in this world that control all cause and effect?
"I heard that King Chen Sheng, who raised his arms back then, relied on strips of cloth cut out from the belly of a fish to gather the troops to fight against the Qin Dynasty.
According to you, is that rag also called God's will? "
After hearing Liu Jing's emotion, Lao Nie stared straight at the torch and said something out of nowhere.
"you mean?"
Liu Jing turned his head and looked at Lao Nie's side face reflected in the firelight, feeling a little disappointed in his heart.
Lao Nie still didn't look at him and just murmured,
"The great shaman has an inexplicable relationship with the Huyan clan, Dalan's mother's family.
You also know that from beginning to end, the Huyan clan was happy to negotiate peace with the Han Emperor. "
It turns out that this is the case, there is no power of ghosts and gods, it is still just common people and public opinion.
Liu Jing sighed and said quietly,
"I originally wanted to ask you, if you make a covenant now, will you really be able to maintain peace forever?
Now it seems that there is no need to ask more. "
“It’s useless to ask, in which month and year in this grassland is no one swearing an oath?
If people could really keep their word, there wouldn't be so many disputes in the world. "
That's right, Liu Jing thought, anyway, his mission this time is to try to buy time for our Han, just take it one step at a time.
After all the tedious procedures were completed, he was surrounded by horses, making a loud sound on the ground.
Mao Dun also got on his horse and said to Liu Jing from a distance,
"You can discuss these trivial matters with Prince Jizhu.
After you talk to him, you can go home.
I think your great emperor is probably impatient to wait. "
