A few days after the Battle of Jinnanshui, Weiyang's fleet returned to Nanning with wounded soldiers, prisoners and trophies, and Heifu was eagerly waiting for it. Novel .

Han Xin reported his victory to Hei Fu in a very unique way, using dozens of ivory tusks and chopped off trunks.

Needless to say, ivory is a valuable thing and is often decorated in the palace, but fresh elephant trunks are rare. With the changes in the environment, elephants have become extinct north of the Huaihe River and Qinling Mountains.

"Han Sima said that this elephant's trunk, orangutan's lips, and badger's roast are one of the eight treasures. They are all beautiful meats. He specially asked us to cut off the trunks of Luo people and elephants and send them back quickly. Please tell me.

It is eaten by the marquis and the supervisor..."

Zi Ying, who was originally ordered to return to Xianyang to report to Heifu on the Minyue and South Vietnam affairs, also went to Luliang in Lingnan again after the scorching heat ended to perform his duty of supervising the army. At this moment, he was standing next to Heifu.

Hei Fu raised his palm and praised: "We defeated Ou Luo in one battle and beheaded more than ten thousand people. This is a great humiliation for our former master. We have made great achievements. Weiyang, you and Han Xin have done a good job!"

A stone fell to his heart. Han Xin's first performance was not bad. Although he knew that he had Zhang Shenjun's orange card in his hand, he still had to go through actual combat to reach the full star level.

Heifu was very satisfied with Han Xin's victory, but he had no intention of eating the elephant trunk that was sent back.

Elephants have thick skin and their meat is not easy to cook, but their trunks are rare ingredients. Because elephants move slowly, most of them use their trunks for activities. The trunk is the part of the elephant's body that moves most frequently.

Therefore, the muscle tissue in this part is very flexible, and people who have eaten it say that it tastes pretty good when cooked.

But Heifu still refused:

"Who knows what elephants have done with their long trunks?"

So he very generously asked Dongmen Bao and other captains and soldiers to divide the trunk of the elephant.

However, after returning to the shogunate camp, he grew up in the palace and ate countless eight delicacies banquets before Ziying told Heifu: "Actually, one of the eight delicacies, elephant bark, is not the real elephant, but the elephant-nosed fish..."

"I see."

Heifu said oh, it seems that Han Xin still suffered from his lack of education.

In fact, he didn't know either.

However, even if it was really "elephant pulling", Ziying had no appetite at all. First of all, he had been infected with schistosomiasis more than a year ago. After treatment, the obvious symptoms disappeared, but the roots could not be removed.

There were bugs gnawing at his flesh and blood, laying eggs waiting to be fed, and he felt sick.

Secondly, when he returned to Xianyang some time ago, Ziying reported all the details of the Southern Corps to Qin Shihuang. His Majesty the Emperor expressed his gratitude to Heifu for quickly boosting the morale of the Southern Army and sweeping across Fujian and Vietnam. South Vietnam was very satisfied with Heifu's presence in the army.

Yangshanguan Kun sent out powerful men and appointed old troops as captains without saying anything.

Qin Shihuang just asked Ziying to come back and emphasized to Heifu again:

"Before the end of the thirty-six years, march to Beixianghu. Don't forget your oath!"

Ziying had no choice but to grimace and continue running on the road, dragging his sick body.

Fortunately, as soon as he arrived in Nanning, he learned of the good news ahead. Han Xin had completely defeated the Luo and Ou people. The last alliance of Baiyue collapsed and they fled in all directions. Then they went all the way south to the legendary "Gateway Opening to the North."

"It's only a matter of time before the north-facing households."

But what surprised Ziying was that Heifu gave Han Xin the order to "station on the spot".

"The Marquis of Changnan."

When they were alone, Ziying couldn't help complaining: "If you don't lead Han Sima to the south quickly, why stop?"

"Of course it's to collect the corpses of thousands of dead soldiers."

Heifu's answer was of course, as it seemed that this was more important than satisfying the emperor's territorial claims.

Ziying was so anxious that he stamped his feet: "It is late August now, and there is only one month left before the end of the year. If we don't arrive at Beixianghu by Luo people, how will you report to His Majesty then?"

"Supervisor, don't be anxious."

Heifu asked him to sit down and said with a smile: "Actually, we have arrived at Beixianghu long ago..."

"ah?"

Ziying was a little confused. People in the court agreed that the north-facing household was in Luliang, which is further south of the Lingnan area. According to some Chu people who went deep into the area, the sun rose from the north there, so the place

Residents open their windows to the north to enjoy the sun, which is the opposite of the Central Plains...

"Actually, Beixianghu is not the place name of a small place, but a large area..."

Heifu had no choice but to briefly tell Ziying the geographical knowledge he had discussed with Xu Fu, the best contemporary astronomer and geographer, a few months ago.

"Xu Fu told me that the day with the shortest day is the winter solstice, and the day with the longest day is the summer solstice. Investigate the reason, the winter solstice is a long way, and the summer solstice is a short way..."

This is a rule that the Chinese people have long summarized and written in the calendar. The line that takes a shortcut every day on the summer solstice is the Tropic of Cancer.

This line passes through Yulin, Cangwu, and Panyu and Nanning are all to the south. Here, the sun is slightly north of the sky for only ten days a year. The so-called "north-facing households" are actually

Because the temperature is too high, not only do we not need to rely on sunlight to raise the room temperature, but we need to focus on avoiding the sun, so we live outside the house. People in the Central Plains do not know the local language, so they take it for granted...

Heifu explained it to Ziying, and on the way back to Yulin, he pointed to the Yue people's cottage along the Yushui River with the door facing north as evidence, and finally convinced Ziying that they were already at Beixianghu.

"But I'm afraid His Majesty won't accept this argument."

But Ziying was still worried. When he returned to Xianyang, he heard that last year, the countries in the northern part of the Western Regions did not allow the Qin army to use the passage to Daxia. His Majesty was furious. In the spring of the 36th year, he pardoned the prisoners and the criminals.

The side cavalry gathered 60,000 soldiers and civilians, including 10,000 oxen, 30,000 horses, and tens of thousands of donkeys and mules to provide grain. They followed Li Xin out of Yumen Pass to attack the countries in the Western Region...

For a time, all the troops in Longxi and Hexi were wiped out. At this time, the price of food in Lianguanzhong also soared, and there were complaints. On the other hand, the emperor also ordered to speed up the construction of Lishan Mausoleum.

Seeing that the emperor's uncle was so stubborn, Ziying was afraid that the Marquis of Changnan would not be able to complete the task and would harm himself. How could he dare to argue with Qin Shihuang about the true meaning of "Beixianghu"?

"Supervisor, please rest assured."

Heifu was confident and said: "Although the real Beixianghu area is vast, as long as we reach the southernmost point, leave a garrison, recruit barbarians, and make it the Qin County government, in this way, we can take all the Beixianghu.

Naturally, I can report to His Majesty."

Only then did Heifu tell Ziying where Xu Fu was.

"I asked Xu Fu and others to take part of the navy to leave Panyu and explore the coast. They found that there is a large island in the south of the South China Sea. It is the end of the land in the south of Lingnan. It is named 'Zhuya'. The supervisor can do this

Report back to Your Majesty, that is Beixianghu, the end of the world!"

For China, the past ten years have undoubtedly been an era of great geographical discovery. Countless regions in the southeast, northwest, and only exist in the "Book of Mountains and Seas" and "The Biography of Emperor Mu" have been discovered one by one by merchants, envoys, and armies, and their numbers have increased accordingly.

Yes, there are a lot of new place names.

Since Columbus could refer to America as "India", it is not unreasonable for Heif, as the discoverer, to refer to Hainan Island as "Northern House".

Otherwise? He really wants Han Xin to take people to Southeast Asia? There is no way to go to many places. When he went there, he had four or five thousand, and when he came back, he might only have one thousand left... In short, the emperor should be deceived first

Let’s talk about it in the past.

Ziying was shocked: "Setting up a county from the sea? Wouldn't this...not live up to the name?"

Heifu spread his hands: "His Majesty said that we must take the land route to Beixianghu?"

Ziying recalled every word Qin Shihuang said when he met him. After carefully reviewing every word, he shook his head: "That's not what I said..."

"Isn't that enough? Previously, I was ordered by His Majesty to help the young master to support Lord Su Canghai. He also relied on sea ships. The place where the sea ships arrived was the territory of Great Qin. It will be the same this time."

Heifu raised his hands to the north: "Afterwards, I will tell you that the great Qin Dynasty should not use the sea as a wall, but should use the sea as a road and a border! Your Majesty's country not only has the East China Sea in the east, but now,

Further south is the South China Sea!"

…

At the same time, hundreds of miles southwest of Panyu, the Qin army's fleet had crossed the short Qiongzhou Strait, arrived at "Zhuya Island", and anchored in a harbor in the northwest of the island.

"Even the merchants who have traveled farthest have never been here, and the South Vietnamese have never set foot here. How did the Marquis of Changnan know that there is an island here?"

Xu Fu was full of suspicion. He thought it was a brand new vast land at first, until several ships ordered to explore the way circled it and proved that it was indeed an island.

As a result, Xu Fu's respect for Heifu became even more awe-inspiring. Whether it was Fusang Island in the southeast of Sanhan, Yizhou Island in the east of Minyue, or Zhuya Island in front of him, they were all mentioned by Changnan Marquis one by one.

middle.

Fusang Island was mentioned by three Han people when Xu Fu was searching for immortals on the sea, but the latter two islands were too far away from him, so he had no way of knowing.

It was okay once, but three times in a row, in Xu Fu's eyes, Hei Fu really had the power of ghosts and gods.

Compared with his magical ability to know things like a god, the half-truth and half-false tricks of their alchemists are really trivial!

However, in Xu Fu's eyes, this island is really wild and wild. It is full of coconut trees, dense forests, beaches, seabirds, and black reef cliffs. It is almost late autumn, and the sun is still so hot that the soldiers of the Qin army are peeling off their skin.

, the sea breeze was still strong, and Xu Fu, who loved the sea, did not want to get out of the cabin easily.

"The southern service is wasted and not worth a penny."

Xu Fu made a conclusion, not knowing that more than two thousand years later, people from all over the country would flock here to buy houses.

When the fleet was anchored in the northwest of the island to avoid waves, they occasionally saw a few tattooed savages. Their language was very different from that of the South Vietnamese, and it was impossible to communicate with them. However, they did not have the bad habit of headhunting and had a docile personality. When they met the Qin people

Not afraid, the whole tribe came to the beach and watched with wide eyes. When they finally saw the huge ship, they probably regarded them as gods and actually knelt down and worshiped...

After the Qin soldiers went ashore to explore, they found that the terrain here was gentle. In addition to the sandy soil on the seashore, which could not grow grains, there were actually some freshwater streams in the interior where rice could be grown.

Xu Fu discussed it with several captains of buildings and ships, and finally decided, how about leaving a garrison here?

It is of course unprofitable to keep troops and set up governance in this inhospitable place. It is purely to satisfy Qin Shihuang's territorial desire of "extending all households from the south to the north".

At this time, Xu Fu remembered something, so he returned to the cabin and carefully took out a... tip bag from the small box on the ship wall.

This was awarded secretly by the Marquis of Changnan when they left a few months ago...

"Open it before garrisoning troops and setting up a county." This was Hei Fu's instruction. He put it into Xu Fu's hand with a playful smile on his face.
To be continued...