Cross the Sea in the Red Chamber

Sending Beiman envoys to Jing is a major event for the country and the court. Except for the military department led by Jiang Yuan who is busy preparing for the military parade, several other departments are also busy. Officials.The duty of the host-guest-clearing department is to receive all the affairs of foreign guests. The envoys from the northern barbarians need to be received by them, so the place is naturally very busy.

The Jing Dynasty did not have a special department to receive foreign guests, such as the Lifan Academy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Whether it was to receive domestic minorities, subordinate vassal states, or foreign envoys, they all had to rely on a host-guest-clearing department to work. No wonder they were too busy. Come.

Jiang Yuan shook his head secretly, this is really not the way.The importance of diplomacy is well understood by everyone in modern times. Such a small department under the Ministry of Rites simply cannot take on such a major responsibility.There are three Langzhong, two Yuanwailang, two principals, and several small officials under the Department of Cleaning Officials. What kind of responsibility can such a department with the highest official be the fifth-rank official be able to bear?It's not bad if you can greet people clearly and don't make low-level mistakes.It seems that after Situ Sheng officially took power, he must urge his lord to re-establish a department similar to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The entire imperial court had been preparing for more than half a month, and the Beiman envoy team finally arrived.

Have you watched a certain romantic drama, a certain princess?How did that brain-twitching chieftain get into the capital?The so-called sound of gongs and drums, the sound of bells and drums, the red flags fluttering, and the sea of ​​people...

Jiang Yuan thought it was something the author made up, but now he is standing by the city gate and looking at the guard of honor of the northern barbarian envoys in front of him. , He really underestimated the northern barbarians.

After the northern barbarian envoys entered the Great Wall from the northern barbarian country, the courtiers of the Jing Dynasty led the itinerary. When they arrived ten miles outside the city, they had to be received by officials from the Ministry of Rites. Jiang Yuan was responsible for welcoming the envoys at the city gate.

If there is a prince among the other party's envoys, then the low-level officials in the Ministry of Rites will inevitably have unequal status. On such occasions, Shun Wang is not suitable to appear on the stage, so Jiang Yuan, the son-in-law and Guanyinghou, can appear on the stage.Jiang Yuan was chosen because of his outstanding talent and ability to spy out the truth and thoughts of the Beiman envoy, and also because Jiang Yuan was quick-witted, and could calmly deal with whatever tricks the other party made, without causing chaos. Well, with Jiang Yuan's force value so high, are you still afraid that the other party will cause trouble?

The team was gradually approaching the city gate, and the official history of Beiman stepped forward. Jiang Yuan glanced at it, but was startled.

Nomads often have serious mixed blood, and their bloodlines are relatively heterogeneous, and this is especially true for the northern barbarians, who can be described as outstanding.It is not that Jiang Yuan has never seen Northern barbarians in the past. They are generally slightly shorter than Jingren, with prominent cheekbones, flat nose bridge, large eyes and mouth, black and red skin, brown hair that is naturally curly, and they ride horses all the year round, so they still have a little bow-legged.In terms of ancestry, the northern barbarians not only have the ancestry of the Qiang, Xianbei, Huns, Turkic and other ethnic groups in the Central Plains and the north, but also include the ancestry of the Arab region, Europe, North Africa, and even Asange.Randomly pulled out a northern barbarian, it is estimated that there are dozens of ethnic blood in his body. In terms of blood lineage, he can almost open the United Nations, but this envoy is completely different from the northern barbarians Jiang Yuan has seen.

The envoy in front of him also looked to be in his forties. Although he wore his left lapel hair like the other northern barbarians, wearing earrings and wearing the unique clothes of the northern barbarians, his appearance was no different from that of Jingren.No, this person's blood is from the Central Plains, he is not a northern barbarian, he is a descendant of a traitor!

There are always traitors in any era, and there can be a banker among the eunuchs, and there are naturally more traitors among ordinary people, so it is not surprising that there are traitors in Jing Dynasty and Beiman.

The advantage of the Northern Barbarian Kingdom lies in its strong force. In the early years of the Jing Dynasty, no one could be defeated. From the Central Plains to the Western Regions, their defeated generals were everywhere. Therefore, after the founding of the Jing Dynasty, especially after Emperor Gao was besieged, many people from Jing still chose to go for refuge. The northern barbarians with stronger force.Of course, many of the northern barbarians chose to defect to the Jing Dynasty, because the food and supplies of the northern barbarians were too rough. Although they would also plunder the countries of the Western Regions, and even fought all the way to Europe, but in this era, The scientific and technological level of the countries west of the Central Plains is too far behind that of the Central Plains. Before the Renaissance, it was too much to say that they were barbarians, and it was not a problem to say that they were backward.

Thanks to the pedantic rule of the Holy See, the development of Western science and technology is completely judged to be contrary to ethics and religion. This damage to the development of science is thousands of times stronger than those idiot literati who were brainwashed by stereotyped essays in the Ming and Qing dynasties of the previous life. A hundred times as much.Thoughts have been stifled, what else can develop?

Just think about how Copernicus died. At this time, Europe was in darkness, with no light at all.Without the etiquette that a civilized country should have, without scientific hygiene concepts, and without fancy clothes and gourmet food, how can countries in the West compare to the Central Plains when it comes to enjoying the West?With the gradual prosperity of the Jing Dynasty over the years, many northern barbarians also chose to leave their homeland and join Dajing. The extravagant enjoyment and peaceful life of the Jing Dynasty made them linger and forget to leave.

Many of the courtiers who defected to Beiman in the Jing Dynasty were conferred the title of princes, while those from the Beiman who defected to the Jing Dynasty were all conferred the title of duke. , it is not the case.

Even a leader of a small tribe with dozens of people in Beiman can be called king, while the status of duke and marquis in Jingchao is real.The titles of the Rongguo Mansion have already become first-class generals. Aren't these people still domineering and unwilling to be peaceful?Even a descendant of a housekeeper, someone who was born as a servant can be recommended by the Rongguo Mansion as an official. It is conceivable that these princes have potential power, otherwise they would not be able to fight evenly with the aristocratic family.

It seems that this envoy of the Northern Man is a descendant of the Jing court officials who defected to the Northern Man... What does the Northern Man state want to send such a person to be the envoy?provocative?Or do you plan to disgust the Dajing court?

Jiang Yuan didn't show any signs of expression. He rode forward with a calm demeanor, a handsome demeanor, and a gentle voice, "Your envoy is well. I've been exhausted all the way from afar, but it's made your envoy work hard."

The Beiman Zhengshi on the opposite side was also startled when he saw Jiang Yuan, and then looked at the Minister of Rites Xia Houchang who was standing behind Jiang Yuan, who was over 40 years old but followed his lead in everything, and couldn't help being in a daze.Not for anything else, just because Jiang Yuan is too young now.The Beiman and the Jing dynasty were in Asia, so of course they all had the common tradition of Asians, who believed that they could not do things well without hair on their lips, and Jiang was old and hot, so no matter whether they established a monarch or employed ministers, they all tabooed being too young Yes, no matter what, you have to get someone in the prime of life in your 40s or 20s, otherwise you are afraid that young people will cause trouble due to their lack of experience.But why did the Jing Dynasty go the other way and send a young man in his [-]s to meet the envoy of a big country?

Different from the Northern Barbarian Kingdom, the Jing Dynasty had very strict requirements on the service of officials, and they had to wear what kind of clothes according to their status. This was a very strict system.For example, the Minister of Rites, as a member of the first rank, is wearing a first rank court dress, a seven-beam first rank crown on his head, a jade belt around his waist, and a green, yellow, red and purple four-color silk woven crane flower brocade ribbon. Peiyu is the quality of jade, showing the majesty of important ministers.And Jiang Yuan's clothes are similar, the difference is the crown he wears.Although it is also a seven-beam crown, it has a cage scarf Diao Chan, four folds of vertical pens, four pillars, four vanilla flowers, and golden cicadas on the front and back. At a glance, it is a crown that can only be worn by a marquis.

The Beiman envoy frowned slightly, thinking that Jiang Yuan was some kind of hereditary relative of the emperor, a second-generation ancestor or something, so he was able to occupy a high position at a young age, and it was inevitable that he looked down upon him.He raised his eyelids, seemed to be a little dismissive of Jiang Yuan, and said, "I'm running around for the Holy Lord, why do you think it's hard work?"

"Oh? Your envoy came to Dajing, are you still used to the board and lodging?" Jiang Yuan raised his eyebrows, as if he didn't see the other party's expression, he said indifferently.

His words seemed casual, but the question inside was quite insidious. Judging by the look of the Beiman deputy envoy, there must be something dirty between the two envoys, and I am afraid they are still hostile.If the envoy casually replied that the food and lodging in the Jing Dynasty was better than that of the Beiman, so he was used to it, then the deputy envoy who obviously belonged to the Beiman might sue him when he returned home, saying that he loved the old country and intended to mutiny.If this is the case, this high-spirited envoy might have to be chopped up... Even if his fate is high, a divided envoy group is definitely more beneficial to Jingchao.

Therefore, Jiang Yuan is definitely a person who must take revenge, and he must not provoke...

As expected, the messenger was duped without knowing it, and replied directly that the board and lodging were very good, and he was very used to it.Jiang Yuan glanced at the deputy envoy next to him without any trace, and seeing that the deputy envoy's expression was a little unnatural, he couldn't help but snorted in his heart, stupid mortal, the language trap of Greater China is enough for you to drink a pot That's it, go back and study Chinese well.

The deputy envoy was dissatisfied, so he skipped over the main envoy and grabbed the conversation, pointing to the sky and said with a straight face: "The food and accommodation in Jingchao is far inferior to my Dabeiman, there are too many birds here, it is too noisy."

Jiang Yuan glanced at the sky, and sure enough there were many birds that were startled by the sound of gongs and drums. He said in his heart that it was not made by you, if the gongs and drums were not played, the birds would not be startled.With a wave of his hand, a few soldiers in brocade robes came forward to wait for the order. He said with a smile, "Since your envoy thinks the birds are noisy, let these soldiers get rid of these birds."

As soon as he finished speaking, the knights behind him bent their bows and set up arrows, shooting straight at the birds in the sky.The wings of those little birds are not even a foot long, and their flying speed is even faster, but these knights can shoot without fail, every arrow can shoot down a bird, but during the tea time, the birds in the sky were swept away by them empty.

Not only the deputy envoy, but also the official envoy of the Beiman Kingdom were shocked.The accuracy of these knights in archery was second to none. The northern barbarians were born good at bowing horses, so it was no problem to shoot these flying birds. What surprised them was the power of these strong bows.The birds in the sky fly so high that it is hard to touch a strong bow that is not more than two stones. The strong military bows of the Jing Dynasty have always been only one stone, so where did these two stone bows come from?

You must know that the general-purpose bows in the northern barbarian army at this time were still very rough horn bows, and they were not specially made strong bows with beef tendon added in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. That's it, most of them can't reach such numbers.Of course, there is no problem as a cavalry bow, but as a bow for the infantry to attack the city, it is far inferior to the hard bow of the Jing army.

Although the ordinary strong bows of the Jing Dynasty only had the strength of one stone, they could be made into iron tire bows with stronger pulling force by applying extremely complicated processes.However, such an iron tire bow is too time-consuming and laborious, and consumes steel. It takes more than a year to make a bow, so it is difficult to popularize.Therefore, even though many northern barbarian sharpshooters relied on smuggling Jingchao's powerful bows to show off their prestige, they did not pay attention to Jingchao's shooters.

When riding a horse, there is no way to borrow strength like when standing on flat ground, so riding bows are often weaker than step bows, and not everyone can pull iron-tired bows, so whether it is Beiman Kingdom or Jing Dynasty, riding The pull of the bow is about one stone.In the event of a field battle between the two sides, the range of bows and arrows is similar, and the northern barbarian army can naturally win a complete victory relying on their proficiency in bows and horses.If the Jing army defended the city and the Beiman attacked, even though the Beiman suffered a disadvantage due to lack of bow strength, they could still accept it.But what happened to those two stone bows now?

The northern barbarian envoys easily discovered that the bows equipped on the soldiers standing on the walls and gates of the capital, as well as the knights who came to greet them, were all of these two-stone strong bows. So many ordinary soldiers could have strong bows. Bow, which proves that Jingchao has found a way to improve the bow arm to be able to equip such a strong bow on a large scale.If these bows and arrows were used to defend the city in northern Xinjiang, wouldn't it be a big disadvantage when the northern barbarian army attacked? !How can you play happily when the range is so far away?

Yes, it is true that not everyone can pull a two-stone strong bow, but Jingchao not only has bows, they also have complex crossbows!

The crossbow can be wound by pedals, that is to say, as long as there is a bow arm that can bear the pulling force of two stones, Yasukuni can make a crossbow machine with a range of two stones.A person may not be able to pull a strong bow with the strength of two stones with both hands, but it is quite easy to string a crossbow/arrow, as long as an adult man who has received military training can easily do it.Then this kind of bow arm will definitely greatly strengthen the strength of the Jing Dynasty defenders!

Jiang Yuan has maintained a calm posture from the beginning, as if he was not the one who deliberately used the strong bow to scare the Beiman envoy just now.The improvement method of the two-stone bow was proposed by him. He liked to watch the Science and Education Channel in his last life. He didn’t remember anything else, but he remembered a documentary that said that besides bamboo, ox horns, ox tendon, and swim bladder were also used for bows. to fix.He mentioned it so casually, but the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry were quite inspired. After a few years, they really made this kind of two-stone bow, and this kind of bow has been mass-produced for the northern border defenders.Although in terms of output, it is definitely not as good as the original one-stone bow and half-stone bow, but it is quite impressive compared to the iron tire bow.After a few years of slow manufacture, it is enough to change the bow/crossbowmen of the entire Gyeonggi camp.

The Beiman deputy envoy probably felt a little embarrassed by his stunned expression, so he quickly changed the subject and pointed to a falcon flying by in the sky, saying, "You still have one that hasn't been shot down."

The falcon flew so high that even Ershi's strong bow might not be able to reach it, even if it could barely reach it, the arrow speed at that time was already too slow to pose a threat, and it couldn't shoot the falcon at all.His words were purely to find fault with Jiang Yuan. If Jiang Yuan couldn't let someone shoot the falcon, then he could laugh at Da Jing to cover up his stupidity just now.

Jiang Yuan came to meet the envoy today, and he was wearing court clothes, so naturally he didn't carry a bow and arrow with him.He didn't care, he reached out like a soldier next to him asking for a bow and arrow.Picking up a two-stone bow, he disliked that the range of this bow was not enough, so he took another bow from another person, holding the double bow in front with his left hand, and holding the bowstring in his right hand, and with one arm he used two two-stone bows. The strong bow was pulled away by him at the same time, and the arrows on the bowstring were like thunderbolts in the clouds, shooting directly at the falcon between the lightning and flint.

The falcon was shot in the abdomen before it had time to avoid it and fell off. After it fell to the ground, everyone found that there was no arrow left on the falcon, and the arrow shot by Jiang Yuan actually shot through the falcon. It flew out from behind, without stopping for a moment.What strength and speed must this be!

Jiang Yuan looked contemptuously at the cracked bow in his hand, and threw it back to the soldiers behind him, "I'm making your envoy laugh at me for not being able to carry a bow and arrow that I can take advantage of today."

Two strong bows with two stones were pulled apart, so how many stone bows does this person usually use? !The corners of the mouths of the two Beiman envoys twitched, and they put away their contempt for Jiang Yuan, feeling inexplicably surprised.It's not that they haven't seen the masters of the Northern Man, and they only use three or four stone iron bows at most. person?Who is this person? !

At this time, the two finally remembered to ask who the young man opposite the Jingchao official who came to greet him was...

Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War, Jiedu Envoy of Gyeonggi Daying, Captain Consort, Guanying Hou Jiangyuan!

Beiman also had spies on Dajing's side, so they naturally knew who Jiang Yuan was.The famous general who defeated the 1 Qi army with 15 horses and was said to be the reincarnation of Thor in the Jing Dynasty!It is said that he can open a seven-stone hard bow and shoot stone tigers with arrows.The so-called crowning the three armies bravely, the hero is unrivaled, so he was named the Marquis of Guanying.

At first they thought that these rumors were deliberately exaggerated by Jing Chao, but they didn't expect this person to have such supernatural power. Could it be that this person really has the legendary courage? !

The two envoys from the Beiman Kingdom looked at each other, silently, but they thought over and over again in their hearts. It seems that this trip to the Jing Dynasty is not that simple...