Tang's dining table

The area south of central Sichuan is extremely vast, starting from Chengdu and traveling two thousand miles to Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake.

Go south three thousand miles to Yongzhou.

Two thousand miles to the west and three thousand miles to the north is what people broadly consider the Southwest.

There are dense forests and many rivers here. Although the products are not abundant, they are very beautiful.

For this reason, Yun Chu was unwilling to let this land separate from Datang's body.

Just as Yunchu thought before, not all Nanzhao Shengluopi's supporters were in such a vast land.

Before he, the general manager of Jiannan Road's march, arrived in Chengdu, Chengdu had already announced that Yunchu had invited the forest tribe to discuss important matters.

When Yunchu arrived at Dujiangyan, there were already many forest tribesmen here.

Huo Cheng arrived earlier than Yun Chu, and with the help of shopkeepers from the tribes who traveled to the southwest all year round, Huo Cheng had already done a lot of business with the chiefs of the various tribes who had arrived earlier.

He even purchased ten elephants.

Yun Chu was now standing in front of the elephant.

In that world a long time ago, elephants had no way to survive in Chengdu unless they were in the zoo. But things are different in Sichuan now. Elephants are a scourge in the southern forests.

The main reason why it is said to be a disaster is that there are too many of these things in the forest. In addition, they have a long life and have no natural enemies.

However, it is because of the existence of elephants that there are some trails that people can pass in the dense forest in the southwest.

The forest Asian elephant in front of Yunchu was not as tall as the African savanna elephant Yunchu had seen before, but in the eyes of the Tang people, this thing was already a giant.

Chang'an originally had a white elephant. When Li Zhi moved to Luoyang, he took the white elephant with him. As a result, the people of Chang'an never had the opportunity to see elephants again.

Seeing that the elephant's feet were tied with iron chains, and that the iron chains had even penetrated into the elephant's muscles, and the skin was even torn at the connection points, Yunchu asked the elephant slave to untie the iron chains and replace them with another one where the iron chain was originally tied. Cowhide rope.

The elephant slave was extremely frightened when he untied the iron chain. The cowhide rope can be used to tie people or tigers, but using it to tie an elephant is like tying a goshawk with a silk thread.

When the chains were lifted, the elephants raised their trunks and barked loudly, and happily walked around in circles. Just when the elephant slave thought that the elephants would take the opportunity to escape, unexpectedly, the elephants seemed to be just Celebrating that they were freed from the shackles, the range of activities was still within the constraints of the iron chain. The cowhide rope, which was like silk to them, had not been broken.

When Yun Chu even tried to pull the oldest female elephant away, the female elephant followed him honestly.

When passing by a family's unharvested vegetable gourd field, Yun Chu picked the vegetable gourds and threw them one by one into the mouth of the leading female elephant.

After the leading female elephant ate four or five gourds in a row, she deliberately moved away so that Yunchu could feed the elephants behind her. She watched as hundreds of crisp, tender and juicy gourds were eaten clean by the ten elephants. , Yunchu finally figured out the members of this group of elephants.

The elephant herd is basically composed of female elephants. The youngest elephant is not even ten years old. There is a pair of small tusks no more than half a foot long in the mouth. This should be a male elephant.

Judging from the fact that the leading female elephant took great care of the other elephants, they were originally a herd. I don’t know how the elephant seller managed to catch the entire herd.

The elephants were too dirty. Yun Chu took the elephants to a small river. The elephants happily sucked water with their trunks and sprayed each other in the river. Under Yun Chu's coercion, the poor Chang'an guards had to follow. River, using huge brushes to brush and bathe the elephants.

When we first went down, we thought the elephants would hurt people. However, after being in contact with them for a while, the guards felt that the elephants seemed to know what was good and would not hurt them who were tied up and bathing.

For Yun Chu, who has raised sheep, marmots, and wolves since he was a child, the best and fastest way to tame these beasts is to constantly feed them delicious food.

As long as the beast accepts feeding, then the feeding relationship has been reached.

The cabbage in Shu seems not to be as big as that in Chang'an, but it is not too small, weighing five or six pounds. This is the top delicacy that Yunchu rewards the elephants with.

Seeing the elephants opening their terrifying big mouths and eating the whole cabbage, and still barking happily, Yunchu knew that these elephants, which had been tamed by the elephant slaves, now began to like him.

For five days in a row, Yun Chu spent time with the elephant except for handling military affairs. Now, he could command the elephant to put down its trunk, and let him step on the trunk and be carried on the elephant's back.

Li Yuance watched Yun Chu being carried on the elephant's back again, and couldn't help but said to Jiang Xie, "He has no plans to fight."

Jiang Xiedao: "Yes, he really has no plans to fight with Sheng Luopi. More and more savages are coming to the forest these days. Even if Yunchu meets a village leader who doesn't know where he is, the clan leader will smile. Not only that, he also asked people what specialties there were and whether there were any good things that could be exchanged with merchants.

He also told people that as long as they thought it was valuable, they could try it. Among them, regarding the pictures of herbal medicines, he distributed them to the savages as if they were free of charge.

It seems that the commander-in-chief is planning to use caress instead of suppressing him this time. "

Li Yuance said: "Since he doesn't want to fight, what are the two of us doing here?"

After that, he waved his hand and went back to his tent.

Yunchu did not stay in a tent at night, but set up a small tent that could be carried by one person, and slept among the elephants. After these few days of contact, the elephants had allowed him to interact with the little one. The bull elephant sleeps in the very center.

Yunchu actually had very little sleep time, and the lights in the small tent would often stay on until midnight, and several times, it would stay up almost all night until dawn.

Every time he comes into contact with those savages, Yunchu will definitely record a lot of things when he comes back. At the same time, he will also convene many merchants who specialize in the southwest trade route for discussions. When he encounters new things, he will carefully record them.

On the eighth day, Sheng Luo Pi's envoy came, and it was Pi Luo Ge, Sheng Luo Pi's son.

Pi Luo Ge came to ask for forgiveness, and this young man who liked to go barefoot came to see Yun Chu with a certain death mentality.

After seeing this young man, Yun Chu said with pity, "Are you the most incompetent son of Sheng Luopi?"

Piluoge's Tang dialect was good. He stroked his chest and saluted, "If my humble life can calm down the Tang Dynasty's anger, I will be Shengluopi's proudest son."

Yunchu circled around Piluoge, just like a tiger circling its prey. He could see clearly that the hair on the back of Piluoge's neck had stood up high, and the muscles on his bare feet were tense. , it seemed that he would rush out with all his strength in the next moment, and he didn't know where the courage came from, so he just suppressed the desire to escape, and obediently stayed where he was and died.

Yun Chu did not kill Pi Luoge, but said regretfully: "Every death in this world means one less hero. Go back and let your father send a better son to die.

Six thousand armors of the Tang Dynasty were lost in the hands of your father. It is impossible for him not to give an explanation to the Tang Dynasty. "

Pi Luoge's face was pale, and he could barely restrain his body from trembling. However, with sweat dripping from his forehead, he still said stubbornly: "Every son of Sheng Luo Pi is a warrior, just for the sake of the tribes in the southwest. I am willing to die if I am harmed by weapons."

Yunchu put his hand on Pi Luoge's shoulder and whispered: "You are too young, and there are infinite possibilities in the future. You have not enjoyed the taste of love, and have not tasted the joy of being a father. You are dead now. What a pity.

I need an explanation here, a clear explanation. Just let your father send you a sacrifice of equal value, without having to sacrifice the life of his beloved son to compensate. This is unfair to you, a young man. "

Pi Luo Ge looked at Yun Chu and said, "Will the Tang Dynasty give the Nanzhao people justice?"

Yun Chu smiled and said: "We, the Tang Dynasty, are a huge country. We have always cherished every feudal state and treated every feudal state as if we were our own sons."

Pi Luo Ge trembled: "Then, kill my people, rape my people, rob my people, even pierce babies with spears, burn villages with fire, and take away their little food. Taking away the last piece of animal skin on their bodies that can keep out the cold, beating my people with whips, enslaving my people, forcing them to dig in mines, and not allowing them to have a moment's rest even if it rains heavily, this is what the Great Is Tang fair to Nanzhao?"

Yunchu sighed and said: "The official administration in Shu has not been governed for many years. There are also corrupt officials who enslave and persecute the people of Nanzhao for their own selfish interests.

However, you must believe that the monarchs of the Tang Dynasty are wise, merciful, and fair. Although they are thousands of miles away, they still see the suffering of the people of Nanzhao.

Therefore, I came to the Southwest this time not to conquer the Southwest, but to compensate the people in the Southwest.

Now, you should have heard that Chengdu is actively rectifying those corrupt officials who have not only harmed you, Nanzhao, but also the people in Shu.

Yang Wenhua, the governor of Chengdu, is dead. His head is still hanging on the city wall of Chengdu. Soon, those filthy monks from Wenshu Monastery who robbed your sisters will also die. Those corrupt officials who are still resisting will soon die. .

I think if you are willing to stay here for a little longer, the people you hate and the people we hate will disappear from this world. "

Pi Luo Ge looked at Yun Chu in confusion and said, "Is the Tang Dynasty really so good?"

Yun Chu smiled and said: "You just don't have the chance to visit Chang'an or Luoyang. If you see these two places, you will fall in love with the Tang Dynasty and even want to die in the Tang Dynasty."

Pi Luoge still said doubtfully: "Aren't you here to fight?"

Yun Chu pointed to the mountains of supplies outside and said, "Has anyone brought so many things to fight? Go back and tell your father Sheng Luopi to send over the corpses of my soldiers who died in the battle, and then send another Approval of the culprits who killed my warriors of the Tang Dynasty, and we can start a happy barter deal right away."