Li Weiying, carrying an empty bowl, had just stepped out of the room when she turned back, saying, "Huan Lang, quite a few people are beating him." Huan She hurriedly came out to see what was happening. It turned out that some customers found the singer too noisy, and given his volatile temper, the argument escalated into a fight. Huan She was about to help when Li Weiying quickly draped a fur coat over him, put on a cloak, and fastened the knot under his chin, trying to conceal the tattoo on his cheekbone. Huan She rushed downstairs, and the customers' punches and kicks were weak. Huan She easily rescued the Turkic vagrant, helped him sit down, and seeing that his face was bruised and swollen and his clothes were torn, he gave him some money, saying, "You'd better leave quickly." The Turkic vagrant stubbornly said, "I haven't finished singing yet." Turning his head, he saw Li Weiying fiddling with his erhu (a two-stringed bowed instrument), and stammered in Chinese, "Don't touch my things!" Li Weiying didn't say anything, but simply twisted her fingers lightly, re-stretching the broken string on the erhu before handing it to him.
The Turkic vagrant, clutching his harp, wanted to continue playing, but his injured hand could no longer move. He muttered, "You Han and Tiele people look down on me, and the Turks ignore me too." Huan She took the harp, casually strummed it, and it was exactly the tune he had played earlier. The Turkic vagrant sang a few lines and then tears streamed down his face. Then, Li Weiying softly sang—"
High in the blue sky, its shape resembles a dome or a hut.
The vast land, like brown dust.
A brand new universe, the beginning of the world.
"Born here are my Turkic ancestors."
She sang the Turkic epic that the Turkic vagrant had been singing over and over again, but she had changed the original chaotic Turkic language to make it more fluent and elegant. Coupled with her beautiful face and melodious voice, everyone in the inn suddenly fell silent, even the Turkic vagrant stared at her in a daze. Huan She plucked a note with a sharp tug, and she smiled at him, gesturing for him to continue, and sang with her usual graceful demeanor:
Time flies, and years pass quickly.
Great ancestors, powerful tribe.
The surging waves, the vast expanse of blue, the sea lapping against the shore—this is my beautiful homeland.
Among the Turkic guests present, some burst into tears upon hearing Li Weiying sing like this. She paused, waited for Huan She to play a rapid string section, and waited for the guests to quiet down before resuming her singing:
But people forgot the malicious gazes of neighboring countries looming behind their backs.
The ruthless enemy, wielding their butcher's knives, indiscriminately attacked men and women, young and old.
In one night, they were all wiped out.
Blood flowed like rivers, and people died with their eyes wide open in disbelief.
Heavens above, how can my Turkic people be exterminated?
Suddenly, a cry was heard.
There was originally a boy, about ten years old, whose remains served as cover for him.
The enemy saw the chicks under the overturned nest.
They grinned maliciously, saying they would spare his life, but instead cut off his arms and chopped off his feet.
They abandoned it in the marshes, turning their backs on it without a second glance.
She sighed softly, "Poor little boy, so badly injured, how will he live?" The Turkic guests wept even harder, and the Han, Tiele, and other non-Han people, recalling their own ancestral histories, all shared a similar tragic fate, and sighed deeply. She looked at Huan She and continued singing:
A female wolf, having just lost her cubs, frantically searches for them, looking east and west.
Smelling the blood, she found him, gently licked him, and treated him as if he were her own child.
They would feed them meat every day, carefully tending to them.
As the boy grew up, he fell in love with the mother wolf, and they mated.
When this bizarre news reached the enemy country, the king was furious.
Send an envoy to kill the husband.
The pregnant she-wolf cleverly escaped.
They first fled to Haidong, then rushed to Beishan.
There is a cave there, more than two hundred li in circumference, with flat land and lush grass, perfect for production.
Heaven took pity on her and she gave birth to ten sons.
The Turkic people continued to thrive.
Several generations later, there was a ancestor named Zu Nedu Liu, who married ten wives and fathered ten sons.
After Nedu went away, his wives argued incessantly.
Who exactly is qualified to be the leader?
They agreed to meet under the tree and test their skills.
Ashina, the youngest of the concubine's sons, was...
Unexpectedly, he jumped over the highest branch.
The people admired him and made him their leader.
Ashina erected the wolf-head banner, which stretched across the vast grasslands with imposing momentum.
The Turks were intelligent and indomitable.
Beneath the golden mountain, generation after generation, they were the Rouran people, working as blacksmiths.
It forges a blade that gleams with a cold light.
I, Tumen Khan, defeated the Tiele for the Rouran people. Hearing that the Rouran princess was beautiful and affectionate, I submitted a marriage proposal to the emperor.
The Khan of the Rouran, Anagui, instead of acknowledging the merits, rebuked him: "You audacious brat, you are my blacksmith slave!"
Tumen refused to submit, killed the envoy, and married a princess from the Western Wei Kingdom.
They returned and dispatched troops, inflicting a great defeat on the Rouran.
Anagui committed suicide, deeply regretting his actions.
From this day forward, heaven and earth will know the might of the Turks.
She finished singing, but the lingering sound of Huan She's zither still echoed in the air, captivating the crowd. After a long silence, thunderous applause erupted. She placed the Turkic vagrant's broken bowl in the center of the table, saying, "I sang his song." The crowd readily opened their purses, filling the bowl to the brim with silver ingots and copper coins; those that couldn't fit were piled on the table. Huan She returned the Hubosi to the weeping Turkic vagrant and helped him gather his money.
Behind them, guests were still discussing: "What a beautiful young lady, she'll come again tomorrow... Where is the 'Golden Mountain with Helmets' she sang about... well, it's a mountain range in the northern mountains of Gaochang." Huan She, hearing this, smiled and said to Li Weiying, "I've heard that the original meaning of 'Turk' is 'helmet,' and they named their tribe after the Golden Mountain, which resembles a helmet." A Tiele guest laughed, "What 'Helmet Mountain,' 'Golden Mountain,' we call it 'Mantou Mountain.'" Everyone around laughed; the mountain did indeed resemble a helmet, and even more so, a mantou (steamed bun). The Tiele man continued to mock, "How laughable that the Rouran people even call it Bogda, saying it's some kind of mountain of gods."
Huan and Li went upstairs to their room, but overheard an Arab merchant muttering to himself, "Bogda? Baghdad? Sounds like the God-given Mountain."
Huan and Li exclaimed in unison, "The Mountain of Heaven's Gift!" and rushed downstairs. Huan She asked him, "You know the Mountain of Heaven's Gift?" The Arab merchant was startled and said, "I don't know..." Li Weiying said, "You clearly said the Mountain of Heaven's Gift, where is it?" The Arab merchant said embarrassedly, "I just said it offhand. Bogda sounds a lot like Baghdad in Persian, which means 'given by heaven.' I don't know if the Mountain of Heaven's Gift actually exists."
Seeing the two men standing there speechless and looking frightened, the merchant quickly left. Suddenly remembering something, he turned back and said, "I know a place that's probably the Mountain of Heaven." Huan Li asked excitedly, "Where is it?" The merchant smiled without answering. Li Weiying gave him a silver ingot, and then he said, "Fifty li south of Baghdad, there's a Hanging Gardens, built by the Babylonian king for his queen. It's an extremely high earthen platform, rising layer upon layer, planted with many beautiful flowers, like a fairy mountain hanging in the air. Isn't this the Mountain of Heaven?" Huan Li and the merchant exchanged a glance, both thinking to themselves, "Could it be that we're going to the Abbasid Caliphate to find the Mountain of Heaven?"
Having heard too much about the Tianshan Mountains, Li Weiying cautiously asked, "The Hanging Gardens you mentioned, are they three peaks standing side by side, covered in snow all year round, with celestial birds and beasts? Are there any combustible stones?" The merchant smiled and said, "One silver ingot for one answer at a time. Four questions." Huan She grabbed his neck, "I don't have time to waste with you. Do you want to take another breath?" He tightened his grip, and the merchant shouted, "No, nothing at all." Huan She released his grip, "Nothing at all?" The merchant was resentful and angry but didn't answer. Huan She made a gesture of joining his fingers, and the merchant quickly said, "It's been burned down long ago. There's nothing left." After saying that, he quickly slipped away.
Huan She sighed in frustration, "This man was a fraud. Let's ask someone else." She said, "Alright. Huan Lang, we've been playing for two days now. Why don't we go back to Dahai Village tomorrow and discuss other matters later? The Heavenly Gift Mountain is so magical; it must be hard to find." He nodded, and the two returned to their room.
The next morning, Li Weiying finished getting ready and went to Huan She's room. She knocked several times before he hurriedly got up, put on his clothes, and opened the door, apologetically saying, "I overslept." Li Weiying smiled and said, "It's alright. You're always the one who wakes me up. Today I got up especially early to compete with you." She glanced at the messy pile of papers on the table and offered to help tidy them up, but Huan She hurriedly said, "Don't worry about it, I'll do it." She had already picked up one of the papers and was looking at it. It turned out to be a drawing of the terrain of the Western Regions, with several mountain ranges clearly marked, especially the peaks called Tianshan and the routes to and from them. Huan She snatched the paper and crumpled it into a ball. "I just drew it because I couldn't sleep." Li Weiying gazed at his dark circles and bloodshot eyes, deeply moved that he had quietly drawn so many topographical maps without saying a word. She took the paper, unfolded it, and smoothed it out. "It's very well drawn. I'll keep it." She folded it and put it in her pocket, then said, "Are you hungry? Let's go downstairs and get something to eat." Huan She responded and followed her downstairs with his luggage.
As the two ate, Huan She ordered another pot of wine. The Turkic vagrant who had sung for money the day before also entered the shop. The waiter chased him away, but he ordered two steamed buns, sat down casually, and silently ate them with his head down. Suddenly, the waiter brought him a pot of freshly warmed wine, saying, "This is a treat from the customer over there." Huan She looked up and saw Huan She nod slightly in acknowledgment, but he ignored him and continued to eat his buns.
After Huan She and Li Weiying finished their meal and paid the bill, just as they were about to leave the shop, a Turkic vagrant caught up with them, grabbing Huan She's clothes and saying, "This is for you." He shoved the hubosi (a type of zither) into Huan She's hands. Huan She was shocked: "No, you rely on this to make a living." The vagrant glanced at Li Weiying: "I was in battle when I was eighteen, and the Tiele people cut off my leg. I sang 'Yu'er' for fifteen years, but I still can't sing as well as your wife once. I don't deserve this zither." Li Weiying felt embarrassed when she heard him say that he was Huan She's wife, and took out some silver to give him: "Alright, thank you. We'll buy this zither."
He refused to accept it: "I don't want it. You sang so beautifully about the homeland of the Turks yesterday. I've thought about it for a long time, and this bustling city isn't my home. I want to go back to the Western Sea, to the place where my ancestors lived, to herd cattle and sheep, find a wife, and have ten sons. This money is useless to me." He turned and stepped out of the shop, but then turned back and said, "Are you looking for the Mountain of Heavenly Gifts?" Huan She asked, "You know it?" He shook his head: "I don't know. But yesterday I heard your wife say that the Mountain of Heavenly Gifts has three peaks standing side by side, covered in snow all year round, and has birds and beasts. Isn't the Golden Mountain of Doumou like that?" Li Weiying asked, "Then... are there any stones that can burn?" The wanderer said, "The Turks started out as blacksmiths, so the Golden Mountain should have some stones that can be used to smelt iron." Li Weiying said happily, "Really?" She took out the map Huan She had drawn and asked him, "Take a look, is this it?" The map marked a Golden Mountain. The wanderer looked at it and said, "I don't recognize Chinese characters. But the direction is wrong. This should be Mount Altun. Although it's also a Golden Mountain, it's not the Golden Mountain of Doumou."
She gave a soft "oh," and the wanderer pointed to the map, saying, "It should be here, this mountain." Huan She and Li Weiying looked at it and recognized it as the Tanwu Mountain, also known as Tianshan, which they had mentioned earlier when chatting with the Yiwu merchants. Huan She asked, "Tanwu Mountain?" The wanderer replied, "It should be Tanhan Mountain. Isn't Tanhan the same as a helmet?" Huan and Li thought for a moment and couldn't help but chuckle. They realized that the ancients had mistaken Tanhan for Tanwu, and the error had been passed down through generations. It was truly a roundabout way of getting back to the right place.
The two watched the Turkic wanderer depart into the distance. Huan She gently stroked the hubosi (a type of ancient Chinese writing instrument) and said, "Let's get going."
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PS:
1. The following are mountain names that Comrade Zhidao Xiangsi struggled to understand (his original intention was to make it more difficult for Huan Li to find the Heavenly Gift Mountain, but he ended up confusing himself). ----
①Qilian Mountains: Tianshan in Xiongnu language.
② Baishan Mountain in Yiwu (Yiwulu): also known as Tianshan, Chuluomanshan, Xiluomanshan, and Shiluomanshan. Now called Kushetu Ridge, Kushe: a Mongolian word for stele. This is because the Tang Dynasty general Jiang Xingben once erected a stele on this mountain.
③The White Mountain north of Kucha: also transliterated as Ajie Mountain or Ajietian Mountain, derived from the Turkic word Ak-tagh, where tagh means mountain.
④Altun Mountains: Altun yis means gold mountain, now known as Altai Mountains, which produce gold, silver, iron, coal and copper, especially placer gold.
⑤ Beishan: now known as Tianshan, Bogda Mountain is the eastern peak of the Tianshan mountain range.
⑥ Bogda Mountains: Tian Shan, Tanwu (Khan) Mountain. In Turkic language, the helmet is Tulga. Some historical records often use the distinction between Tanwu and Tanhan, which is likely a copying error.
2. Cotton is a type of cotton. Before the Song Dynasty, it was not planted in the Central Plains region and was only introduced to Gaochang and Jiannan. During the Tang Dynasty, cotton cloth was still rare, and silk was expensive. Ordinary people mostly wore linen or hemp clothing.
3. Li Weiying recited "Ode to Cherries" written by Emperor Taizong of Tang. The Tang Dynasty was truly a land of poets. I won't go into other poets, but the genius Li He was a member of the imperial family, and it seems that many of the emperors of the Tang Dynasty were also poetry lovers.
The *Complete Tang Poems* includes 88 poems by Emperor Taizong (Li Shimin) (wow...), 8 by Emperor Gaozong (Li Zhi), 7 by Emperor Zhongzong (Li Xian), 1 by Emperor Ruizong (Li Dan), 64 by Emperor Xuanzong (Li Longji) (wow...), 2 by Emperor Suzong (Li Heng), 15 by Emperor Daizong (Li Shi), 6 by Emperor Wenzong (Li Ang), 7 by Emperor Xuanzong (Li Chen), and 1 by Emperor Zhaozong (Li Ye). It also includes 1 poem by Empress Zhangsun (Empress Zhangsun) of Emperor Taizong, 5 by Consort Xu, 47 by Empress Wu Zetian (Empress Wu Zetian) of Emperor Gaozong... even Yang Guifei left one poem. Being an emperor in the Tang Dynasty wasn't easy, and being a member of the emperor's family wasn't easy either...