Li Ning is a typical time traveler, but what he came to is an atypical Song Dynasty.
To say it is atypical is not because the original prosperous era of civilization was illusory, nor because the poor and weak Song Dynasty suddenly became rich, but because it experienced more terrible wars.
This war brought huge changes to the Song Dynasty, making it completely different from its original history.
This war was caused by a group of atypical time travellers. The atypicality of this group of people is even more shocking.
Li Ning initially thought that they were fellow villagers from the 21st century.
But later he discovered that they came from any period of history, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, and they came in groups.
For example, recently, Li Ning discovered an army dressed as ancient Greece near Quanzhou.
Made from a hanging loom and a single piece of fabric, the heaton is the most commonly worn garment by Greeks. It looks like a cheongsam or a bathrobe. Of course, this kind of clothing looks more elegant. It’s just that if there are no underwear underneath, it’s easy to get naked, especially during a fight.
Therefore, most Greek young people and soldiers like to add a layer of robes on the outside. This kind of robe is called Calamis. It is also an important clothing style with Greek cultural characteristics and spread outside the mainland during the Hellenistic period.
With these two traditional costumes as evidence, there is no doubt about the origin of this group of mysterious soldiers.
However, there were countless city-states in ancient Greece, and the characteristics of the clothing were relatively universal, so it was not enough to identify which city-state this army belonged to, or simply to the Macedonian barbarians in northern Greece.
Barbarians, originally translated as "foreigners" in Greek. For the Greek city-states, the Macedonians were just not civilized enough and were not synonymous with barbarism. They are just a group of guys who consider themselves Greeks and promote the Greek city-state system everywhere. It would be unjustifiable to say that they are not part of Greece.
But Li Ning didn't want this group of people to appear in the Song Dynasty. This was supposed to be a dynasty where the world could live and work in peace and contentment. The shame of Jingkang was enough irony, so why let him encounter the iron hoof of Alexander.
But it backfired.
In the winter of 1036 AD, just when Su Shi was about to be born, Quanzhou City, thousands of miles away, unexpectedly welcomed a group of uninvited guests.
The Quanzhou city wall, which was built in the first year of Jiushi (700), may not be higher than some large cities recorded in Europe. For example, the city of Tyre that Alexander once faced was recorded to be one hundred and fifty feet high, while the city of Beijing that we were able to see later was only 10.72 meters, or a little over thirty-five feet.
To sum up, the Greeks may not really take the Quanzhou City Wall seriously.
Thus, a rare attack kicked off.
One by one, neatly arranged square formations slowly approached Quanzhou City. The shield bearer holding the prototype shield walked in front, followed steadily by the spear throwers, and behind them were countless spear soldiers. Both heavy infantry and light cavalry maintained their formations strictly.
The 4-7 meter long Sarisha spear rushed towards the frightened people in Quanzhou City like a collapsed forest. Even the maritime merchants living here fell into a huge panic.
Quanzhou, also known as Citon, is full of endless comfort and warmth in the eyes of these people who have experienced war and turmoil. Now, all this was shattered by the sound of neat footsteps.
Of course, in the beginning, it wasn't that bad. It was the first time for many gentry and common people in Quanzhou to see such a strange army. They started talking involuntarily.
"Where are the fishermen here? Why did they come into the city with a harpoon? And they are in groups!"
"Who wouldn't tell me? Look at the tatters of those clothes. This mother's craftsmanship is really rough."
"That's right, she's not as good as my wife."
"Wow" is a common first person pronoun in Fujian dialects. These words are of course praising the exquisiteness of traditional Chinese craftsmanship. Although, his wife is obviously looked down upon in this regard.
Sure enough, the neighbors responded to the young man's pride with a burst of laughter. But soon, frightened voices also came from their voices.
Because, a burst of javelins flew towards them like a curtain of rain. The "wow men" were so frightened that they screamed and ran away.
The soldiers dressed in Greek costumes were not busy chasing, but continued to advance step by step. The soldiers on the tower couldn't understand the actions of this group of people. The chaos in front of them was an excellent opportunity no matter how they looked at it.
But they didn't have time to think about it, because this time would be used to close the city gate. Otherwise the enemy would be a turtle and it would be time to crawl in.
Li Ning stood on the bank of the Luoyang River, looking at the river without the Luoyang Bridge behind him, thinking about how the calligrapher Cai Xiang would build the stone bridge in his hometown twenty years later that would benefit thousands of years, and he couldn't help but frown.
"I'm afraid there won't be a good time for him to build the bridge."
While he was talking to himself, countless panicked people passed by behind Li Ning. It wasn't until a white-haired old man accidentally fell to the ground that Li Ning woke up from his melancholy.
Quanzhou, the seat of Pinghaijun Jiedushi. Of course, the Song Dynasty had already reduced the power of the vassal towns. There is nothing to rely on in this Jiedu Mansion. What's more, southern soldiers have always been unable to fight, so they were deeply discriminated against by northern soldiers. This is a well-known problem in the Song Dynasty.
Sure enough, half an hour passed before a decent resistance began. However, the rapid advance of seven infantry phalanx brigades caused the dozens of soldiers who rushed out of the city to quickly retreat.
"It really deserves to be called the Great Song Dynasty. The land border is the core of defense. The heartland area is not paid enough attention, let alone the sea border. This bad habit may have been passed down to the Ming Dynasty. Haha, I don't know about the Jiajing Japanese Rebellion. At that time, did that boy Zhu Houcong ever scold the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty?"
Li Ning was talking to himself leisurely, but unexpectedly attracted the attention of a fleeing businessman.
This merchant is dressed in a rich costume, but he speaks fluent Mandarin, which is at least much better than Li Ning's.
"What my dear brother said is absolutely true. This sea area is also a place that must be guarded against. However, the imperial court does not pay attention to it."
When Li Ning saw him talking to her, he couldn't help but smile and said, "Brother, why don't you run away?"
"Oh, I see this military formation is very strange. It's a bit...a bit like the records in ancient books."
"What?"
Li Ning didn't quite understand. Because this ancient Chinese pronunciation also has entrance sounds, like the consonants at the end of English, it sounds a bit unfamiliar at first. On the other hand, the Khitan people in the Liao Kingdom were too lazy to pronounce this entrance sound because it was difficult to learn Chinese, and thus they gradually evolved into the ancestors of Mandarin.
Therefore, there is still a big obstacle to communication between the two.
After pondering for a long time, Li Ning finally understood what the other party meant.
He also suddenly remembered. After the great Alexander's Eastern Crusade, the entire Near East and Persia entered the Great Hellenistic era. Thousands of years later, the Arabs learned a lot of knowledge from the Greek sages from the ancient books handed down from that time. Thus began the Golden Age of the eighth to ninth centuries AD.
This also means that this big food businessman has seen the writings of the Greek period.
Therefore, the ancient book he mentioned must be one of these books.
Li Ning became easier to ride because of this.
"Brother, I am also very interested in this group of people. I think they look like Greeks. But they should be people from 1,300 years ago."
The big food merchant was stunned, slapped his forehead and said, "Yes, that's right, they are the same group of people from thirteen hundred years ago."
He muttered a lot, and one of the words was very similar to the Greek word in Arabic. But his Arabic is a three-swordsman—worse than a two-swordsman, and he only took classes in college out of curiosity—so his listening is not very accurate.
But they could have better ways of communicating.
"It's not safe here. How about we go to your house and talk in writing while reading books?"
As Li Ning spoke, he gestured with the movements of turning the pages of the book.
The other party was not an idiot and immediately understood what he meant.
So amid the smoke and smoke, they arrived at a manor in the suburbs.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the rural economy was mainly based on the manor economy. Land annexation is serious, and the state has few policies to intervene. Therefore, there are many big landowners in the countryside. The gap between rich and poor is large and neighborhood conflicts are serious.
The manor Li Ning came to was naturally no different. It's just that the coexistence of Han and Chinese is not common in coastal areas.
Therefore, Li Ning's problems will inevitably increase. As the two of them went back and forth, they introduced themselves to each other.
It turns out that this big food businessman's name is Pu Yane, he has been active in Guangnan all year round, and he came to Quanzhou this time to open up sales.
At the same time, the exchange between the two brought another discovery to Li Ning.
That is, they communicate directly in Arabic, which is much easier than speaking in Chinese.
Although Puyane's Chinese is pretty good, it still smells like a dialect. Arabic has been formed from Semitic languages since the fourth century AD. It has only incorporated some Western scientific and technological vocabulary in modern times and has not changed much. Although their dialect is also very serious, when they are surrounded by cannibals, it is naturally easier to speak Arabic.
Moreover, this also greatly deepened the favor of other big eaters towards Li Ning. Li Ning has been invited to have dinner with them.
But Li Ning knew little about Arab culture, so he politely declined in order to avoid etiquette issues. Fortunately, there are many Han farmers on this farm, so it is not difficult to get some food that Han people like to eat.
What's more, Fujian cuisine is also very delicious, such as: Tai Chi taro paste, Fuzhou fish balls, and the more famous Shaxian snacks.
Of course, Fujian cuisine during the Song Dynasty already had "red yeast cooking" - Xu Jian of the Tang Dynasty had already recorded this feature. The red fish and chicken we saw later were representative works - - important characteristics, but it has not yet been compared to the group of famous restaurants and famous chefs in the Qing Dynasty, which established the status of the eight major cuisines in a glorious era. Therefore, it may still be difficult to conquer the stomach of modern people Li Ning.
But Li Ning is not a waste. He can still cook seafood in chicken soup. What's more, he has studied in Shandong Peninsula for many years, and he still knows how to clean up razor clams.
Stir-fried bamboo clam meat is a famous Fujian dish, and the ingredients are not difficult to prepare. As soon as Li Ning inquired about it, the dealers gave him a lot for free. At least the cooking technique has been introduced repeatedly, but it is still limited to a few big cities such as Bianliang, and is still rare in Quanzhou.
Therefore, when he cooked the ingredients, he also attracted a lot of people's attention.
Although a sumptuous dinner was successfully prepared, it was certainly not this matter that should attract more attention at this time.
