Three Kingdoms

While they were seeking their own path in Jiangdong, Liu Bei and others in Jiaozhi were also preparing some matters.

There are too many indigenous people around Jiaozhi.

These indigenous people are generally separated by natural boundaries, such as rivers or ridges. Perhaps after crossing a mountain or crossing a river, they are another tribe or a different tribe.

Most of the Cham tribe natives live in buildings. Well, it is a two-story "building", with livestock and poultry living below and people living on the upper floor. Therefore, people who did not have buildings in the Han Dynasty could retreat, because basically even these tribes in the southeast, whether it was Fujian or Yue Still in Jiaozhi, the houses basically have this structure.

In the earliest days of the Han Dynasty, there was some administrative structure in Jiaozhi, but the system at that time was too rough. Well, not only at that time, but also in the later feudal dynasties, it was the same, only a rough management of the tribal and indigenous systems in the border areas. Generally speaking, official titles recognized by the court were awarded to the indigenous people of a certain stronger tribe, and they were basically hereditary. These people are often called "local officials" or "chieftains". In exchange for official positions, these local officials suppress the rest of the indigenous people and maintain local security and social order; secondly, they complete the tasks assigned by the government on time each year. various apportionments.

There are official taxes here, and there are also so-called "lucky money" privately owned by officials.

Of course, among the money collected, the local officials' own income is also indispensable. After all, no matter how big or small the local officials are, the government does not give them any salary, and they have to collect it themselves. In other words, as long as the local official paid the various public and private accounts and taxes on time every year, the local official could do whatever he wanted in his own territory, and he was basically a local emperor.

This political structure model naturally saves time, effort and worry. For those children of the gentry who are unwilling to leave the Central Plains, coming to the frontier to serve as officials is like laying a foundation that cannot be improved. After three to five years, they will be plated with gold or inlaid. Silver, the level has gone up all of a sudden, and if you go up, you will naturally have capital.

But since then, these border areas have never been owned by the Han family...

This is the reason why many small countries around China in later generations have obviously received a lot of cultural heritage from China, but do not recognize Chinese culture at all. This is because these small countries have been managed by local officials from the beginning. These local officials who have been passed down from generation to generation will be like Are they so loyal to the central feudal dynasty as shown in various TV movies?

Could these answers be unclear to those high-ranking officials and bosses in the court who are all minded except for their hearts?

They must all know it, but they must all be doing things according to Bald Qiang's famous saying, so what is outside must be what is inside? If you don't get rid of those who are thinking about your back, how can you think about doing outside?

Liu Bei and Guan Zhang slowly walked into an indigenous village.

Several warrior-looking natives led Liu, Guan, and Zhang to a small square outside the village.

Liu Bei looked at this indigenous village.

This village was different from some of the Zhan villages in Rinan he had visited before. First of all, this village does not have a special wall, but seems to use a kind of thorn as a fence. There are also vines and bamboos planted in it, which makes the entire wall not look dead, but feels alive.

Of course, it's not about druid magic, but the wall is made of plants.

This kind of wall is an insurmountable barrier for ordinary animals without any special tools.

The wall made of plants must have taken a long time from laying to forming, which also shows from another perspective that the villages here have existed for a long time.

Liu Bei was even sure that those thorns were probably poisonous...

The only weakness is that it is not fireproof.

Another point is that many of the houses in this village are stone structures. Unlike most local stilted buildings, these mud-stone structure houses also show a certain degree of strength. Without certain manpower and tools, whether it is mining or transporting stones, it is a huge project for the indigenous people of Nichinan.

Not long after, the Zhanren warriors came back and offered to let Liu Bei and the others enter the village.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were not angry about waiting outside the village.

Guan Yu wasn't angry, maybe it was normal, but Zhang Fei was actually willing to let his elder brother wait outside, and he wasn't angry either?

I remember the Zhuge villagers back then... Of course, there is no Zhuge villagers scene now, but there is an additional Zhanren villager. Sometimes getting angry is not just to show off one's temper, but to show off one's temper. Zhuge Villager certainly understands this, so Zhang Fei can let it go if he gets angry. The sword and gun spoke.

Liu Bei came here to talk things over, not to play tricks.

Although Liu Bei has won over some Zhan people, they are just a few. There is still a large area of ​​Zhan people who are aloof and not close to Liu Bei. At the same time, Liu Bei wants to attack these Zhan people, so the input-output ratio is different. It was too big, so Liu Bei came.

Coming with "peace"...

There were many curious people in the village, looking at Liu Bei and others from afar or near.

Zhan people almost don't wear much clothes.

On the one hand, it is because of poverty, and on the other hand, it is because of the climate.

When it was warm in the Han Dynasty, people in the Central Plains could wear single clothes in winter and go shirtless in summer, let alone a place like Ninan? In the climate of the Han Dynasty, even the natives such as Goguryeo Fuyu, who were located relatively northerly, were naked every day...

Generally speaking, the costumes worn by Zhan people are to tie some big leaves around the waist, or simply go naked. It is the same for men and women. If there is some linen or leather on the body, it is considered a high-class accountant. For example, the warriors who led Liu Bei and others had animal skins obtained by hunting on their bodies.

Without Chinese culture, these surrounding tribes would have been naked for who knows how long.

Most people are naked, regardless of gender.

Don't think that there are some "good benefits" in this. In fact, many of them are worse than not watching.

Because Zhan people, like other tribes around China, also like tattoos. Especially the farther south the area goes, the more tattoos there are. Due to limited pigments, most of these tattoos are mainly blue and black, and they also like to be tattooed on the face, and then extend to the body, hands and other parts. So much so that if a person who is not aware of this custom suddenly comes face to face with such a person under the whirling light and shadow in the forest, he will probably be frightened to death.

This may be one of the reasons why mainstream Chinese culture does not like tattoos, because since the Zhou Dynasty, only barbarians or criminals have tattoos. This has been the case for thousands of years...

In addition, these people usually do not have any skin care products, their skin is dark and rough, their hair is yellow and sparse, and their bodies are also covered with dirt, mites, fleas, lice, etc. that have been raised for more than ten or decades.

If you can still feel that you can't stop talking about it, then all I can say is that I admire you.

Of course, in turn, these accountants often looked down upon Liu Guanzhang.

Because Liu Guanzhang has no tattoos, and has not exposed his chest, abdominal muscles, or other parts that show off his masculinity, how can he make a female accountant think he has any strong genes?

For the Zhan people, what they valued more was Liu Guanzhang's weapons and equipment, especially the powerful crossbows. It is said that that kind of thing can even shoot through the trunk of a tree, but almost all those who are shot are dead. This is an important reason why the leader of the people is willing to meet and negotiate with Liu Guanzhang.

Liu Guanzhang and his party were taken to the largest house in the village. This house is much larger than other houses in the village and is built on a stone platform. The walls of the house are also made of stone, and the sliding windows are made of bamboo and held up with a wooden stick.

However, even with such a sliding window, the light in the room is still very dark. The moment you enter the door, your eyes will feel dark, and it will take a few breaths to get used to it.

In the middle of the house, there is a fire pit, which makes the house not feel damp and cold. There is a trumpet-shaped smoke collection port above the fire pit, which is generally made of bamboo. It is connected to a thick bamboo tube to prevent the smoke from the fire pit from spreading all over the house and choking people.

This is considered "high technology" for Zhanren, and it is obviously not something that ordinary Zhanren families can have.

The person occupying the head is an old man, with gray beard and hair, and a lot of wrinkles on his face.

Because Zhan people generally don't pay much attention to hygiene, there are often some small bugs crawling around in these skin folds. There are too many bugs in tropical forests, so the Chinese people in the Central Plains say that the ethnic minorities in the southwest are... In fact, it is mostly because of this situation that the body nourishes Gu.

Liu Bei brought gifts to the leader of the Zhan people.

There is no crossbow, although Zhan Ren really wants one.

A jar of rose wine.

A packet of caster sugar.

A hundred-refined sword.

For the current productivity of people, these three gifts are dimensionality reduction blows.

Wine is also available in Zhan people, but it is usually rice wine, fermented glutinous rice wine. Because the wine-making technology is still very rough, and there is no specialized industrial chain, the quality of Zhanren’s rice wine is not only unstable, but also difficult to preserve. Generally speaking, it is crudely fermented wine within a few months, with ethyl acetate The ester content is very low.

Therefore, the peach wine with high sweetness, high fruit aroma, and bright red color has been amazed by people almost as soon as it appeared.

In addition to the wine, the sugar and steel knives also made the leader of Zhan Ren admire him.

Liu Bei's smile was gentle, as if he couldn't see the little bugs that were occupying people's heads and bodies around him.

With gifts as lubricants, the friction between the two parties becomes much more natural, and talking about things becomes smoother.

Liu Bei brought translators, who were the first group of accountants that Liu Bei gathered before, but because the environment around Ninan was really bad, mainly because there was no decent infrastructure in these places, not even the roads. It was trampled by humans and beasts, and it was difficult to even pass a vehicle, let alone lead an army to march.

Therefore, Liu Bei especially strengthened trade.

Liu Bei found out that this was an important tribe of Zhan people, but even he, the leader of Zhan people who didn't have much culture, couldn't figure out how many people there were in this tribe. He only roughly said that there were more than ten cottages. It is under his control, but how many people are there specifically? It could be from a few hundred to a few thousand, it is possible.

Anyway, the surrounding mountains and rivers all belong to him.

All in all, the Zhan people are also very complicated internally. Even because of the different regions of the Zhan people, there are also different habits and primitive worships. They are hostile or friendly to each other, and they intermarry or not. Almost no one can figure out the relationship between them. .

The attitude of the Zhan people towards the Han people is actually very average.

Originally, when Shi Xie was in Jiaozhi, he mainly focused on the Guilin Cangwu area of ​​Jiaozhi. Jiuzhen County in the south, for example, basically had no involvement, let alone Rinan County further south. If there is no trouble, it will be treated as if it does not exist.

The Zhan people welcomed Liu Bei's proposal for trade. They want all kinds of things, the most important ones are salt and iron. They like wine and sugar, but most of them can't afford it.

The leaders of the Zhanren said that if Liu Bei could bring salt and iron, they would be willing to exchange it for animal skins, livestock, wood, bamboo and rattan utensils, etc., as long as they had anything, except for the population.

Jiuzhen Rinan is close to the sea, but not everyone knows how to obtain salt from the sea water.

Especially the Zhan people who live in the mountains and forests, some of whom have never seen the sea in their lives, but regardless of whether these Zhan people have seen the sea or not, they all need salt, and they also need iron tools.

These requirements were within Liu Bei's expectation.

Although Liu Bei brought three gifts, in fact, none of these three gifts could be provided by Liu Bei independently, and the only one he could offer was salt.

Because Liu Bei had salt, it was not a gift, but currency, and a general equivalent.

In areas with backward commodity economies, there is indeed no equivalent exchange product more suitable than salt.

The Zhan people also have farming customs, but their farming methods are very rough. In other words, they basically just throw away the seeds and forget about it.

Of course, Zhan people have more things, namely wood, bamboo and rattan.

There are so many plants that are so luxuriant in the mountains and forests. Although the original farming of the Zhan people destroyed some vegetation, it was actually like giving a manicure to these mountains and forests. If the Zhan people were not careful, these cleared areas would be invaded by various shrubs and weeds again. .

Liu Bei wanted to build a ship, which required a large amount of wood, gum, related bamboo rollers, etc., and even some wild fruits, such as wild plantains, longans, jackfruit, etc., which could be used as food supplements.

In addition, there is wild ramie. The Zhan people are not very good at using these wild ramies, so Liu Bei plans to let these Zhan people grow ramie, and then purchase the raw materials to make cloth and sell it to these Zhan people. At least they will have to wear skirts, otherwise there will be Unsightly...

Zhan people also raise pigs, cows, chickens and ducks, etc., but they basically raise them in free range. There are neither stables nor artificial feeding, so most of them are very thin, and their cattle farming skills are also very poor. There are not even any in any village. A pair of ox plows.

Liu Bei is very good at learning.

He was originally just a wanderer from the countryside, but he was like a sponge, absorbing various skills all the time. For example, Liu Bei's tactics of setting fire were learned from the Battle of Changshe.

Therefore, Liu Bei also learned the current trade of Zhan people from Fei Qian...

With the force of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, there is basically no problem in massacring the Zhan people's villages, but what happens after they are killed? Is it possible that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei should be asked to cut wood and cultivate livestock?

In the initial occupation process, Liu Bei's initial military conquest did indeed gain a lot of territory and some slaves, but in the subsequent process, not all the people were willing to submit, even those slaves In the process of working, the phenomenon of escaping often occurs. They rush into the ravines and forests to catch them, which consumes manpower and material resources. If they don't catch them, they run away more and more.

In the end, Liu Bei finally stopped using force to conquer, turned to think carefully, and finally adopted trade.

Liu Bei's smile was gentle. He didn't want to sell it at a high price to make huge profits.

The leader of the accountant was naturally very satisfied.

Liu Bei proposed to establish a trade market point in the middle area between the two sides, and then conduct regular trade at the market point. Both parties can send goods to the market point for exchange...

The leader of the Zhanren had no objection. He thought the proposal was fair.

"Brother!" ” On the way back, Zhang Fei, who had been silent all the time, couldn’t help it anymore, “Brother, you are too polite to them! 』

Liu Bei still smiled gently and did not respond. He knew that Zhang Fei always felt that he was a relative of the Han Dynasty and should not suffer the slightest grievance, but he also knew that no one in this world should be born without grievances.

If you think about the young emperor Liu Bian, you will know that even the throne is not born to anyone, let alone the so-called grievances?

"Third brother, do you think this road is good?" ” Guan Yu said on the side, squinting his eyes.

"What kind of broken road is this!" Zhang Fei howled, "I can't ride a horse, and I can't move a cart!" Fortunately, it didn’t rain in autumn and winter. If it rained in spring or summer, there would be no chance of leaving! 』

Guan Yu nodded, "Third brother, believe it or not, when we come back next time, this road will be easier..."

"Um. Liu Bei nodded and said with a smile, "My second brother is right." 』

Guan Yu nodded slightly.

Zhang Fei scratched his head, and after a moment he slapped his hands, "Oh, so that's it, I understand!" Brother is so awesome! 』

Liu Bei smiled and said, "Hey, I learned this from Hussar..."

Guan Yu squinted his eyes, "Spring and Autumn existed in ancient times!" 』

Liu Bei also nodded, "That's true." However, in the four hundred years of the Han Dynasty, only the Hussar has used it best... There is no priority in learning, and those who are good can be teachers... Since the Hussar can use this method to defeat the Xiongnu and the Western Qiang, then these Zhan people now..."

"Of course it's my eldest brother too!" ” Zhang Fei laughed.

Liu Bei was still smiling, "This is just the beginning, there are still many things to pay attention to..."