The Khitan belongs to the Donghu Xianbei race, which mainly originated in the Huangshui and Tuhe Basins. It is divided into eight major tribes. There is no country yet. It only implements a tribal alliance system. In normal times, each tribe is nomadic and planted on its own and does not interfere with each other. It will only act in a joint action in major diplomatic events or in a state of war, such as the alliance leader being prepared to rely on which country, or when fighting against foreign countries, it will be coordinated and commanded by the alliance leader.

The ancient eight tribes of the Khitan have basically collapsed under the military attacks of the Northern Qi Dynasty. The existing eight tribes of the Khitan are the new eight tribes, namely: Daji tribe, Jueben tribe, Duhuo tribe, Fenwen tribe, Tuben tribe, Ruixi tribe, Zhujin tribe and Fu tribe. The current leader of the eight tribe alliance is Duluo, and he was born into the Dahe nobles.

On the fifth day of the winter of the seventh year of Daye, Gao Bufan and others left Liucheng and set out north to head for the tent in the southern part of the Khitan Tuhe River. The governor of Liucheng Luo Yi personally led a thousand cavalry to escort it. There was absolutely no problem with safety. The only problem was that the weather was cold after the snow and the road was very difficult to walk.

Originally, as the highest military commander of Liucheng, Luo Yi could not leave Liucheng easily, but this person was keen on fame and fortune and obviously did not want to miss the great opportunity to show his face in front of Ke Dun, so he personally led his troops to escort Gongsun Yingxiu, leaving only a deputy general and the Xue brothers to guard the city.

What made Gao Bufan feel strange was that Luo Yi brought dozens of small wooden basins, wrapped tightly, and didn't know what was inside. In short, it didn't look like a birthday gift to Ke Dun.

Of course, Gao Bufan would not be bored to go deeper. When he arrived at the place to pay his birthday to Princess Yicheng, he would pat his butt and leave after purchasing a batch of stallions. Once the twelfth lunar month enters, the place will definitely be colder. After a few heavy snowfalls, I am afraid that it will be difficult to move forward.

Let’s talk about the team heading north, leaving early and staying late, and it took six days to arrive at the Khitans’ tent station. On the one hand, it was because the road was difficult to walk after the snow, and on the other hand, the Khitans moved the tent north for hundreds of miles. It was probably because they were worried that the Great Sui Dynasty and Goguryeo would start a war, which would affect the pond!

Fortunately, it is still time to go, because Princess Yicheng's birthday is the twelfth day of the winter month, and now it is the eleventh day of the winter month. There is still one day to prepare, which is just right!

The Khitan tents were built on the east side of the south bank of the Tuhe River, while the Kedun's tents were built on the west side of the south bank of the Tuhe River. The distance was clearly divided into Weiwei. But the endless fields were full of felt tents, which were probably tens of thousands of tents. It was very spectacular, with cattle, sheep and horses everywhere, which was very lively.

Seeing this, Gao Shixiong was so excited that he wanted to try it out. Gao Shiheng said tskly: "Grandma, this is the first time I have seen so many horses. I'm afraid there are 100,000."

Cui Hu shook his head and smiled, "At most, there are 20,000 heads. The Khitans were first hit hard by the Northern Qi Dynasty. In the first year of Daye, they were severely damaged by the Sui Dynasty and the Turks. Now they have been recuperating for six or seven years, but they have only recovered a little. The population is definitely no more than 50,000. Some are cultivated and some are grazed. The nobles do not work for production, so how can they raise 100,000 horses?"

Gao Bufan heard this and said, "In this way, the Khitans should be very hostile to our Sui people, but the Khitans I met along the way seemed to be very friendly, except for the group that attacked us before!"

Gao Shixiong smiled and said, "My second brother and I have been beaten by me since I was a child. I am not obedient now. I believe that the Khitans are the same. I remember to beat him up or not. If I beat him up, I will naturally be as obedient as a cat or a dog."

"You kid are quite self-aware!" Gao Bufan said with a smile.

Cui Huyi smiled and said, "That's right, but the Khitans may not hate us Sui people. They just don't have the courage to resist. Once the Sui country's strength weakens, they will inevitably be unable to help but show their fangs, so we have to be careful."

Gao Bufan nodded secretly, Cui Hu was quite foresighted. Although the Khitans were weak at this time, they eventually formed a powerful Liao Dynasty and almost occupied the entire Central Plains.

At this time, the marching team suddenly stopped. It turned out that a team of Turkic cavalry came up. The headed Turkic general was negotiating with Luo Yi, and it seemed that the Sui soldiers were not allowed to get too close to Ke Dun's tent.

Sure enough, after the Turkic generals negotiated with Luo Yi, the latter ordered the camp to be set up on the spot, about a mile away from Kedun's den.

After everyone set up a camp, Luo Yi reminded Gao Bufan and others not to walk around randomly, so as not to cause misunderstandings. Then he only led a few personal soldiers to the tent to pay homage to Ke Dun. Gongsun Yingxiu was the guest invited by Ke Dun, so he naturally followed him with him.

After about half an hour, Gao Bufan and others were bored. Luo Yi came back and said with a strange look: "Brother Gao is quick-witted. I have a question below to ask for advice."

"Governor Luo has been awarded, but it's okay to say that, I'm just a little bit less knowledgeable. I don't know if I can help you." Gao Bufan said calmly.

Luo Yi smiled and said, "That's right. If there are a lot of tree trunks, the size, length, thickness, and thickness, how to tell which end is the bottom and which end is the top?"

Gao Bufan almost bit his tongue and said strangely: "Why did Governor Luo suddenly ask about this?"

"You don't have to worry about it, just tell me how to distinguish it!" Luo Yi said.

Everyone present couldn't help but look at the thoughtful look. Gao Bufan smiled easily, "This is simple, saw the two ends of the tree trunk and look at the annual rings at both ends... they are those circles, the dense ones are the bottom, and the sparse ones are the top!"

Luo Yi slapped his thigh and said, "Isn't that just? It's just that people think this is too troublesome. Is there an easier way?"

Gao Bufan frowned, thinking it was troublesome? It sounded a bit like looking for trouble. Seeing Gao Bufan frowned, Luo Yi couldn't help but feel disappointed and said, "Is there really no better way?"

"Of course, as long as you throw all the wood into the water, the slightly sinking end is below, and the slightly floating end is above." Although Gao Bufan felt strange, he helped people to the end and gave Luo Yi a clear path.

Luo Yi was happy when he heard this, but he was also very clever and asked, "What is the basis?"

Gao Bufan said casually: "The density at the bottom is high, and the density at the top is low!"

Luo Yi didn't understand what density was, but when he saw Gao Bufan saying so affirmatively, he stopped exploring it and headed straight to Ke Dun's tent excitedly. Everyone couldn't help but look at each other.

After about a cup of tea, Luo Yi actually returned and asked with a complicated look: "Brother Gao, what is density?"

Gao Bufan didn't know how to explain it for a moment, and said vaguely: "Density, as the name suggests, is the degree of tightness. It's like putting sand into a bottle. The tighter it is, the heavier it is, and the longer the tree grows, the greater the density, and the heavier it is!"

Luo Yi suddenly realized, "So that's it. Does Brother Gao know if there are chickens or eggs in this world?"

Cui Hu couldn't help but say, "Where did Governor Luo get these strange problems?"

Luo Yi said embarrassedly: "I'm not a Khitan yet... Forget it, please let Brother Gao go with me, but Dun wants to see you!"

Gao Bufan felt something was wrong and asked quickly: "Why should Ke Dun meet me?"

Luo Yi explained a little embarrassedly: "I went to the tent to pay homage to Ke Dun. Ke Dun was just now at the banquet for the chiefs of the Eight Khitan tribes. The chiefs of the Jueben tribe were uneasy and deliberately asked Ke Dun for some tricky questions. If Ke Dun could not answer, not only did he lose face, but also the face of the Great Sui Dynasty. The question from the wooden guy just now was created by the guy from Jueben tribe."

Luo Yi coughed awkwardly and continued, "It's all because of the general's talkativeness. He told Ke Dun the method he had just taught, and couldn't explain clearly what the density was, so... ahem, it's a big deal that has implicated Brother Gao."

"Can you not go?" Gao Bufan felt very distressed.

Luo Yi looked calm and said firmly: "No, if you don't go, you will be disrespectful to Ke Dun. You will be punished, not to mention that the face of the Sui Dynasty is a great deal!"

Gao Bufan secretly greeted Luo Yi's ancestors and said helplessly: "Then go."

Luo Yi pulled a thug, felt relieved, and reminded: "Brother Gao is sure? This general is so swearing you in front of Ke Dun. Don't make a fool of yourself in public, otherwise we will not think about it."

Gao Bufan shrugged and said, "Do your best!"

Cui Hu and Gao Shixiong watched Gao Bufan and Luo Yi go to Ke Dun's den with concern.
Chapter completed!