Ailang and his group stopped in front of the gate. The leader of the Southern Barbarian immediately came forward with a few people and asked, "Who are you?" Ailang clasped his fists and said, "We are merchants from Cangwu, and we are transporting goods to Tianchi to sell." The leader glanced at the big trucks behind Ailang, waved his hand, and the men around him immediately stepped forward to check. Each truck carried goods such as porcelain, cloth, silk, etc.

Several subordinates checked and came back to report to the leader: "The leader is all goods, there is no abnormality." The leader nodded, then handed a wooden sign to Ailang and reminded him: "If the pool is preparing for a ceremony for the gods sacrifice today, many levels have been added. With this wooden sign, you can be unobstructed!" Ailang took the wooden sign and clasped his fists and said, "Thank you." The leader turned his head and shouted, "Switch!" Then the door was closed and pushed open. Ailang led his men to pass through the door with these many goods and entered the territory of the Southern Barbarians.

Here I will briefly introduce the situation of the Southern Barbarians. In fact, the southern part of Yizhou in this era is collectively called the Southern Barbarians. This area is not just the southern part of Sichuan. It is actually very vast. It extends from the current southern part of Sichuan, including Guizhou, Yunnan, and northern Myanmar and Laos. It belongs to the Southern Barbarians at this time. These places are where the various ethnic groups of the Southern Barbarians live. The Han Dynasty expanded its territory and occupied these places and set up counties for management. However, with the Yellow Turban Rebellion coming to the Central Plains, the county officials set up in the Southern Barbarians basically withdrew from the mainland, and those who remained in the local area also surrendered to various barbarians. Therefore, today, the various parts of the Southern Barbarians are completely controlled by the barbarians.

Among the various tribes of the Southern Barbarians, there are three most powerful branches, one is Zhurong tribe, which is centered on Tianchi, which is now Erhai Lake, and ruled a large area of ​​land in the western part of the Southern Barbarians. Her strength is not the strongest, but because the leader of this branch is said to be a descendant of the Fire God, the status is extremely consistent; the second branch is Meng Huo's tribe alliance, which is also the most powerful branch, and the ruler of the central area of ​​the Southern Barbarians; the third branch is the Wuxi barbarians commanded by Shamoke, the leader of the Wuxi barbarians who competed with Meng Huo for the strength of their strength. This branch is also quite powerful, and its overall strength was slightly inferior to Meng Huo, but because Meng Huo failed in Jingzhou not long ago

Because of this, the strength between the two sides is now comparable.

The team led by Ailang went west along the mountain path, and on the way, they kept meeting the southern barbarians who were going to pilgrimage to Tianchi in the west. These people seemed very alert to see Ailang and the Han people, keeping a distance from Ailang and the others, and no one came to contact Ailang and the others from beginning to end. This is no wonder, after all, in the hearts of these barbarians, the Han people were the hateful enemies who had invaded their hometowns. However, the barbarians were hostile and hostile, but Ailang and the others did not encounter any danger along the way, and there were no difficulties in the passes everywhere.

Ailang and his group traveled on the road for several days. In the evening that day, they arrived at the capital of Menghuo territory, Dianchi City on the south bank of Dianchi Lake. This was originally the location of Yizhou County in southern Yizhou, but at this moment, the flag of the Han Dynasty had long stopped floating on the top of the city, but was replaced with Menghuo's huge wolf-headed flag.

What surprised Ailang was that this wilderness city was very lively, with bustling at the gates of the city, and merchants came in and out shoulder to shoulder. Not only were there barbarians of all kinds, but there were also many Han people wearing Hanfu! But this was also normal. After all, the Han people have ruled here for so many years, and there were naturally many Han immigrants. I am afraid that many Han people have lived here for generations!

Ailang and his group entered the city, and the streets that appeared in front of them became more lively. The merchants and travelers of all ethnic groups were crowded on the streets and traded. Ailang and the others had to fill their steps and slowly moved forward among the crowds. Ailang looked at the street and found that the appearance of this street was no different from that of the Central Plains City. The buildings on both sides were also Han-style. It seems that although Meng Huo occupied this place, many things could not be changed.

A young man in Hanfu suddenly ran to Ailang and the others. Ailang couldn't help but hold back the horse and the team stopped. The young man bowed with a smile on his face and said, "You guys must be from Zhongyuan, right?" Ailang said, "We came from Cangwu." The young man said, "You guys must have no place to stay yet, so why not stay in the shop and stay!" As he said that, he pointed to an inn not far away.

Ailang looked at the inn and thought it was OK, so he said, "Okay. Let's live here." The young man looked very happy and quickly led everyone to the side door, went directly into the backyard, and came to a separate courtyard. The young man smiled and said to Ailang, "Fortunately, he had just sent away a Han caravan, otherwise there would be no place for the shop to greet all the guests!"

Ailang looked at the courtyard in front of him and felt that it was no different from the independent courtyard of Zhongyuan Inn. It was just a little smaller, but it was enough for more than a hundred people to live there. Ailang gave Dianwei a wink, and the latter took out a certain amount of silver to hand it over to the young man. Ailang said, "Hurry up and prepare some wine and food for us. We were already hungry all the way over!" The young man smiled and said, "Come and everyone, you can go and prepare!" Then he went down.

Not long after, the food and drinks came. The guards were eating in the yard, while Ailang and his friends ate and drank in the room. The waiter said to Ailang with a smile on his face: "Customers are slow! The villain is in the lobby. If the guests have any needs, they will send someone to the lobby to call the villain!"

Ailang said: "Brother Xiao, are you a Han Chinese?" Xiaoer smiled and said: "That's right. But although he is a Han Chinese, the villain has been in Dianchi Lake since he was born, and he doesn't know what the Central Plains look like!" When he said this, Xiaoer's eyes showed a hint of yearning.

Ailang said: "This is the first time I have brought people here to do business. Are there many Han people here? I thought this place was full of people from all ethnic groups in the Southern Barbarians?"

The waiter sat down opposite Ailang and said, "It's the first time that the guest officer is here, no wonder I don't know anything! In fact, although the southern barbarians are mainly from the southern barbarians, there are quite a few Han people, all of them migrated back then!" Then he couldn't help but say with some concern: "We Han people don't have to worry when we ruled. But now it's the barbarians. Alas, it's nothing, but if one day the barbarians want to attack us Han people, wouldn't we only have to be slaughtered!" Speaking of this, he seemed to suddenly realize something and quickly smiled and said, "Look at my mouth, I'm talking nonsense again! Guests, don't take it to heart!"

Ailang smiled and said, "What are you afraid of? I am also a Han Chinese. Will you go and sue you for your secret?" The waiter smiled awkwardly.

Ailang said: "I see that Dianchi City is even more lively than Cangwu. The Nanman is so lively every day?" The waiter shook his head and smiled, "How can it be! Isn't this a ceremony for the sacrifice of the gods? Many people want to go to Tianchi to attend the meeting, so it will naturally become a must-pass way here. Furthermore, I heard that King Meng Huo is preparing to propose to Queen Zhurong at this conference, so this year is even more lively than in previous years. Many people want to see this rare grand occasion!"

Ailang asked in surprise: "They are not husband and wife?" The waiter was stunned and smiled, "What did the guest officer say?" Ailang realized that he had accidentally leaked the secret of heaven again, and immediately changed the topic and said, "Why is it said that Meng Huo proposed to Zhurong a rare grand occasion?" The waiter smiled and said, "You don't know anything. Queen Zhurong has always been the incarnation of the Fire God in the hearts of the people of the Southern Barbarians, and a symbol of the gods in the world. She rarely gets married. Therefore, King Meng Huo's actions will be so eye-catching. If Queen Zhurong really agreed to King Meng Huo's proposal, it would be the first time in these hundreds of years! In the hearts of the people of the Southern Barbarians, it would be like a god marrying a mortal! Therefore, everyone is so eager for this!"

Ailang thought to himself: If Zhurong's status in the minds of all ethnic groups in the Southern Barbarians is so high, then Meng Huo is doing this to enhance his prestige! Haha, this guy looks like a black bear, but he is quite scheming!

Then he thought that Zhurong had indeed married Meng Huo in history, which made Ailang very puzzled. He really had a rare beauty like Zhurong, who actually fell in love with Meng Huo's rough black bear? I couldn't figure it out, but I just felt that this could only be attributed to an inexplicable marriage!

Seeing that Ailang didn't ask anything more, the waiter clasped his fists and said, "If the guest officer had nothing to ask about, the villain would go down and go to work." Ailang nodded and said, "You go." The waiter stood up and turned around.

Ailang was thinking about Meng Huo trying to propose to Zhurong, considering whether to find a way to destroy the matter? Ailang temporarily denied this idea, because since Zhurong and Meng Huo were interested in negotiating with him, then don’t act rashly. If it’s backfiring, it would be a big problem. Besides, haha, my wives have been asking him all the time, it’s better not to take risks casually. The purpose of this trip is just to see the situation inside the Southern Barbarians.
Chapter completed!