Chapter 7 Direction (Part 2)

  In this small valley, no one knew what the future would be like except for Yang Yingqi.

  He regretted that he wasn't studying the history of Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan dynasties, so he couldn't recite the timeline of major events in Chinese history like other travelers - those travelers could even clearly recall what would happen every month, while Yang Yingqi didn't even know what would happen to the Song or Liao dynasty in a year.

  However, he knew that Zhao Ji was the emperor who witnessed the demise of Northern Song, and he had been sitting on the dragon chair for many years, which means that the demise of Northern Song was already a visible thing - if history hadn't changed. But the demise of Northern Song was after the demise of Liao State, and the one who destroyed Liao State was the Jurchen people who stabbed the Khitan people in the back!

  Jurchen!

  Yang Yingqi asked Diwu: "Mr. Di, do you know Jurchen?"

  "Jurchen? I naturally know!" Di Yu said somewhat strangely: "Isn't Aru Ban just Jurchen?"

  "Not so!" said Yang Yingjie: "I know that some Jurchen people are not ruled by the Liao State, or rather, do not obey the rule of the Liao State."

  "You're talking about the Raw Girl Truth." Aru said: "Our Hesu Temple is a familiar girl truth, and there are many raw girl truths in the Hongtong River area. They don't listen to the Khitan Emperor's words at all. After I killed someone, I thought of going to join them, but unfortunately, it didn't work out."

  "What about their strength?" Yang Yingqi asked.

  Arumandao said: "The Shengnu people are actually of the same clan as us, but the Khitan people always say they are very barbaric and difficult to get along with, I don't know if it's true or not."

  Yang Yingqi listened and couldn't help but ask: "The number of true men among the Jurchen tribes is not many, currently the strongest one is the Wan Yan tribe on the Hun River..."

  Di Yu hadn't finished speaking when Yang Yingqi had already shouted out: "Wanyan troops!"

  "What's wrong?"

  Yang Yingqi knew he had lost his composure and hastily said: "No, nothing. Mr. Di, please continue, just talk about this Wanyan clan."

  Di Yu said: "I have been to the Hun Tong River, but I didn't go deep and didn't get acquainted with the tribal chief of Wanyan. Now that I think about it, it's a bit regrettable. If I remember correctly, the current tribal chief of Wanyan should be Wanyan Wuya...".

  Yang Yingqi thought: "Wanyan Wuya, I've never heard of this name, don't know what kind of person he is to Wanyan Aguda."

  Just then, Di Yu said: "I've heard that Wu Ya Shu's body hasn't been well for several years, so the one who actually holds the power in the clan is his younger brother, A Gu Da."

  Yang Yingqi's heart skipped a beat! Wanyan Aguda! He finally heard the name of a big shot he knew. From what Di Yu said, it seemed that Wanyan Aguda had not yet become the chieftain of the Wanyan tribe, so the power of the Jurchen people should be on the rise now! Suddenly, Yang Yingqi saw another path before him: if he couldn't go to Lingnan to live out his days in peace, if he wanted to leave some achievements in this era, then the Northeast might be a good place to go! But, after all, he was still a Han Chinese. Although the Jurchen people had been assimilated into the Central Plains ethnic groups in later generations, in this era, they were still a very barbaric nation - and also the destroyer of the Northern Song Dynasty, the most civilized Han regime!

  "What should I do? Should I go to the Northeast and help the tyrant?" Yang Yingqi thought blankly, completely unaware that everyone around him was staring at him.

  "Ying Qi," Zhe Yan Chong pushed him gently: "Are you okay?"

  Yang Yingqi came back to his senses, somewhat embarrassedly smiled and said: "Sorry, I was distracted." He composed himself and said: "Those who are good at attacking, move above the nine heavens; those who are good at defending, hide below the nine earths. Now we have no way out in front of us, and there are pursuing troops behind us. The only solution is to hide in the Taihang Mountains. The Song army will not take the initiative to attack and surround us, and the Khitan cavalry may not necessarily be able to outrun us in the mountains! Now that spring is approaching, the ice and snow are melting, and the mountain roads are opening up, it's a good time to enter the mountains. But in the long run, the Taihang Mountains are not a place where we can stay for a long time!"

  Cao Guangyi said, "That's right, the Taihang Mountains are on the border of the two countries. The land between the mountains is narrow and thin, making it difficult to farm, but the temptation to go out and plunder is great. In the long run, even if you don't want to be a bandit, you'll end up becoming one. But you're escaped slaves from the Khitan people, and you've just offended the Song Dynasty's border army. You're stuck between the Song and Liao dynasties, I'm afraid it won't be easy for you either."

  Yang Yingqi said: "When you come out, have you thought about where to go next?"

  Cao Guangyi hesitated and said, "If you have a bright and upright place to go, Cao will follow. If you want to flee, Cao won't accompany you! I would rather not die at the hands of government troops when they break into the mountain, I'd rather go to Shaanxi to surrender to General Xia Zhongyou."

  Di Yu sighed: "What you did tonight is a great kindness to us, but in the Song Dynasty it's a crime of colluding with the enemy! Even if you went to Shaanxi, I'm afraid General Xiao Zhen won't be able to take you in."

  Cao Guangyi also knew that Di Yu's words were not false and couldn't help but look gloomy.

  "Since it's like this, let's go to the great desert then. Herding horses and sheep, it's actually quite carefree."

  Yang Kaiyuan said: "I don't want to be a bandit either, I'd rather wander outside the Great Wall!"

  Zhe Yan Chong asked Yang Yingqi: "And you?"

  Yang Yingqi hesitated and said: "The Wugu tribe is in the Da Xianbei Mountain area, right?"

  Di Yu said: "Yes."

  Yang Yingqi said: "As for Wugubute, I'm actually not very interested, but it might be a transfer point for us."

  "Relay point? Where else do you want to go?"

  Yang Yingqi said: "I think that after we have rested and recovered in Wugu, we will cross the Da Xianbei Mountain and head to the northeast. Perhaps there, we can create a new world for ourselves."

  "The Northeast?" Di Yu said: "That is the world of the Khitan people, where can we be accommodated? Besides, we can't get through anyway."

  Yang Yingqi said: "The Northeast is not necessarily the world of all Khitan people. I am talking about a place that is even further east and even further north."

  "Further east and further north? Are you saying that Sheng Nu's territory is real? How did you think of this?"

  Yang Yingqi said, "If we enter the grasslands and deserts, we can only herd horses and sheep. Firstly, as Brother Cao said, those water and grass are owned by others and may not accommodate us; secondly, we are Han people, herding horses and sheep is not our specialty, even if we learn it, we cannot compare to the Mongolians."

  Cao Guangyi secretly admired him and no longer dared to regard Yang Yingqi as a child, and couldn't help but ask: "What about the Northeast?"

  Yang Yingqi said: "The northeast and the grasslands are vastly different. Although I've never been there, I've heard that it's surrounded by mountains and rivers, rich in mineral resources, and the easternmost part is even closer to the sea. With mountains and forests we can build houses, with mineral resources we can smelt steel and coal, with seas and rivers we can build ships and do business - these are all areas where the Jurchen people can't compare to us. We only have 500 people, so our threat to them is not great, perhaps we can rely on them and ask for a place to settle."

  At that time, the Han people had no impression of the Jurchen people and did not have a good or bad feeling about them. They just thought they were a very distant tribe. Because Aru Ban was there, Zhe Yan Chong and others felt a faint sense of closeness to the Jurchens. However, regarding Yang Yingqi's proposal, they still thought it was somewhat fanciful.

  Zhe Yan Chong said: "It seems everyone wants to go north, but I don't know what Ouyang is thinking."

  Only Ou Yang's voice was heard saying: "What big deal are you guys talking about? Do you want my opinion?"

  Yang Yingqi said: "We are discussing where to go."

  Ouyang Shi sneered: "Where should we go? Do we still have a choice?"

  He walked closer, and Yang Yingqi saw that he was covered in mud and grass roots, and asked: "What happened?"

  Ouyang Yi lowered his voice and said: "The Khitan people have caught up."

  Several leaders tried their best to control themselves, but they all let out a cry of "ah". Yang Yingqi was even more shocked and stood up.