Lao Tzu City, Chile.

The flat and empty center of the Plaza de Arma, a tall bell tower filled with small donkey carts loaded with crops, a stone statue of the Spanish colonizer Pedro de Valdivia in the distance, two teams of Japanese ashigaru hats patrolling back and forth under the leadership of a small flag officer, and the sound of merchants shouting from the fixed stalls at the edge of the square.

A group of Ming troops marched from the wide street market south of the city, the front and back of the front and the left and right, and the first four were cavalrymen wearing red red horsetail helmets and carved rhinoceros breastplates and red red uniforms.

The two cavalrymen in the middle each wielded a long-handled eyebrow knife, the tip of which was half a foot above the ground; The two cavalrymen on the left and right held the cavalry spears vertically carrying the wide red vermilion bird flag, and slowly bumped and undulated with the cavalry horses.

The four cavalrymen were three paces apart, six men in each row, a total of three rows of infantrymen wearing red tasseled iron helmets, carved seahorses, cuirass, purple cloth jackets, and spears; The infantry was followed by archers in the same armor and armor, and in three rows with birds on their shoulders.

This is the front line.

Purple cloth is a special product of Songjiang Mansion to South Zhili, the name has nothing to do with the color, the cotton used is purple kapok, so the name is purple cloth, so the purple cloth is not only not purple, there are no flowers on the jacket, this fabric is light and breathable, skin-friendly, does not have to be dyed to naturally show light ochre, brown red close to white color.

In the next two hundred years, purple cloth was exported to the world and became a rare luxury.

The Spaniards and Portuguese were more knowledgeable and called it 'Songjiang Cloth', while the British changed its name to Nanking Cloth.

In 1819, Matsue exported 3.3 million horses.

Madame Bovary, a petty bourgeois woman written by the French writer Flaubert, wore a skirt of Nanjing cloth, which made the prodigal son Leon shake his heart when he saw it; Alexandre Dumas's Count of Monte Cristo wears trousers of Nanjing's purple cloth.

But in this world, because Songjiang has the highest output of purple cloth and the imperial court collects the most purple cloth in kind, most of the military uniforms of the Ming army are woven of purple cloth, so the orthodox military uniform is called purple cloth jacket.

The rear formation was the same as the front formation, and around the eighty flag troops, each of which had sixteen officers riding horses and marching in columns, these small flag officers, their deputy horsemen and the propaganda officers in the flag army, constituted this atypical Beiyang infantry marching map of 112 people.

The reason for SARS is because there are five indigenous Mapuche cavalrymen with tattoos, shirtless, wearing Western cuirasses and Toledo steel swords on their waists, and in the middle of the highest-ranking Mapuche leader, the overseer Shao Tingda, who holds the reins in one hand and rides his horse in the other.

"This used to be called Santiago by Xiyi, but I changed it to Laozi City, go back and tell your people not to call it Santiago anymore."

As the military formation entered the armed square from the street, the field of vision suddenly widened, Shao Tingda raised his arm and pointed to the collapsed statue and said: "They invaded our land, blindly named the city, hum, and dared to make a stone statue for themselves, and their heads were broken." ”

The leader of the Mapuche looked at the Armed Square, squinted his eyes briefly, his gaze showed a flash of hatred that was immediately relieved, and said in a jerky Beizhili official: "That man was killed by Lautaro twenty-five years ago, but the Mapuche people will always be grateful to you, General Shao." ”

"There is no need to be polite about this, the Son of Heaven assigned the Oriental Military Government to come to save the people and water and fire." Shao Tingda, who was slowly pacing the horse, smiled and said, "Isn't it strange to call yourself by your name like this?" When we first came here, we thought you were father and son. ”

The leader of the Mapuche generation was also called Lautaro, which means swift long-legged eagle in the Mapuche language, and he did not have this name until he became the leader, and the name change meant that he hoped that he could lead his people to fight the Spaniards to the end like Lautaro.

As a result, the Spaniards suddenly withdrew all within three months, and later he met Shao Tingda.

Lautaro knew that the majestic general in front of him was telling a joke, but he smiled and did not answer, but asked rhetorically: "Speaking of father and son, the general just said that this city is called Lao Tzu City, which should be what father means, I have heard people talk about it in Arauco, you all like to be other people's fathers." ”

"Why is this city called that?"

"You don't understand that, the name doesn't mean that."

Shao Tingda waved his hand on the ground, and was just about to speak, but he closed his eyes and searched the brain, which was lacking in culture, and then said according to the script: "Lao Tzu, named Li Er, is the author of "Tao Te Ching", and my brother also wrote a book with the same name, which is written here, and the Tao can be ......."

Shao Shuai tried his best to recite a passage to let Lautaro know his profound literary skills, but he didn't know what to memorize when he said the words.

After racking his brains and thinking about it, he suddenly remembered the ninth chapter engraved on Chen Mu's right arm, and said casually: "Holding on to it is not as good as that." It is not always safe. The house is full of gold and jade, and Mo can keep it; Rich and arrogant, self-blame. After retiring, the way of heaven is also. ”

"Lao Tzu City, that is, the meaning of the city obtained by the truth."

It's just that Shao Tingda didn't explain to Lautaro what the truth in his heart was.

The flag army escorted them to the west side of the armed square, which originally belonged to the tall and wealthy mansions of the Spanish dignitaries, and the defense was taken over by Shao Tingda's pro-army, who led the army to salute Shao Tingda and retreated, and then led his subordinates to the east where the church used to be, which has now become their military camp in the city.

For no other reason, just because of the ready-made stones.

After dismounting, Shao Tingda led the chief of Mapuche into the house, crossed the threshold, and then said: "Lautaro, you got me a crying tree, and gave me a lot of raw rubber, and my brother in Changsheng has always asked me to pay attention to this thing called rubber tree, which has helped me a lot." ”

"You learn Chinese well, and the people are also obedient to the education, do you want to live in this city, we have received more than 400 houses from the Spaniards, and there are many good houses, and the leaders of all departments can live in."

"I'm here today, in addition to transporting goods, I do have something to ask the general, and I have already said it in the letter."

Shao Tingda sighed when he heard this, sat down on the chair in the hall and asked Lautaro to sit down, and then said: "I know, you want to ask me to buy some birds, armor, and artillery, and go to Peru to continue fighting the Spaniards, but I can't give it to you." ”

"This is a military order, the Oriental military government has negotiated peace with the Westerners, and my brother has promised them not to seize Peru and the West Indies, I can't let you use my artillery to fight them, let alone ...... There is no threat to your territory, and it is time for the people to recuperate, so why fight to the death? ”

Lautaro didn't speak, just looked at Shao Tingda.

His tribe was safe, but the name Lautaro was more than that. More tribes in the north were also sent to the mines to die under the oppression of the Spaniards, and he wanted to make himself worthy of the name.

Shao Tingda shook his head helplessly.

"I can give you four Furlong cannons, but wait for the craftsman to erase the inscription; Two hundred or three hundred Spanish muskets, and some of their chain mail and armor, the horses are not yet available to you, and we are raising horses, and you have to survive until I give you them. ”

"But if you wait here, you will die for a lifetime, the West will return a large area of land to us, and the troops will be reduced to Peru, where there was indeed a rebellion last year, but the last rebel army has been defeated four months ago."

"Even if you want to raise troops, you don't have to rush for a while, you can send an army to Lao Tzu City."

Shao Tingda admired these Mapuche people very much, especially Lautaro, who dared to die, and he said: "We have a general named Lin Manjue, and I will ask him for a few officers, so that they can train soldiers for you here, and teach you some things suitable for guerrilla use, such things as making tree cannons, dividing troops to outflank, scouting, and luring the enemy to ambush. ”

"You can't use the guns of the Ming Dynasty, but the gunpowder is not inscribed, I can provide you with gunpowder, if you can beat you, you will attack the city, and if you can't fight, you will retreat to Chile and enter the border, and the Spaniards will not dare to come in."

Shao Tingda let out a long breath again, took out the hand held under the general's belly and tapped it twice on the table, and said, "Without my brother's order to declare war, I can only help you with this." ”