After a short time, Arutai and Batu came into the account, and after the ceremony was finished, Tana split his head and asked, "How much food did you two belong to move here from Beiping Mansion?" ”

Arutai and Batu looked at each other, not knowing what the queen mother meant, and after thinking for a while, Arutai said: "My department only has about one month's rations. ”

Batu said: "The same is true of my department. ”

Tana frowned, and sure enough, the situation was grim, so she said to the two: "After we and Song Du Du arrived, more than 100,000 people poured in Kaipingwei at once, and the food was only for the rest of the month. At present, there is a spring famine, and there must be a shortage of grain everywhere, and even if it is necessary to collect grain from Beijing, it will take two or three months. Even if the food arrives here, it is the priority of the guards and soldiers, and it is estimated that we, the Mongols, will be prepared to starve for half a year, and will not be relieved until the autumn harvest. ”

The two of them were shocked when they heard this, and they both said: "Queen Mother, most of our subordinates are women, children, old and weak, if we really starve for half a year, there is a chance that we will die." Isn't moving here harming them? They didn't eat us two alive yet. ”

Tana said, "You two don't panic. Now that we are back in the grasslands, it is time for those Han Chinese to change their eating habits. Three meals a day, changed to two meals a day, porridge in the morning, milk and cheese at noon, and no sheep is allowed to be eaten until the last resort, which is the only asset in our hands at present, and I still have a lot of use. ”

Batu said: "Women and children are okay, but men may not be able to stand it if they want to graze and hunt." ”

Tana said angrily: "Then what to eat, wolf, rat, snake, if you have the ability, you will eat enough, and if you don't have the ability, you will starve to death." ”

When Batu heard this, he didn't dare to say more.

Tana lowered her voice and said, "Take out all the furs and mountain goods in your hands and go to the market to exchange them for food and iron tools." ”

The two of them obeyed.

Tana ordered a large iron box to be taken out from the people, and when it was opened, it was filled with stacks of Daming treasure bills. She pointed to these treasure notes and said: "This is the 100,000 treasure money that the imperial court gave to the king of Zhongning for the use of the vassal, you two take it, and quickly send people to the nearby towns to buy grain, iron tools, and tools, but don't let people notice, lest prices skyrocket, and you can't buy anything." ”

The two were overjoyed, knelt down on one knee and thanked him, Tana pointed to Zhang Shixing who was standing next to him, and said lightly: "Don't thank me, if you want to thank this Zhang Tongzhi." ”

The two got up and thanked Zhang Shixing. Zhang Shixing clasped his fists and saluted: "This official was ordered by Qin to escort King Zhongning to this domain, this matter is unshirkable, there is no need to thank you, if you want to thank the emperor, thank the emperor for his grace." After that, he took out the treasure money given by Yu Zhen and Sun Furong from his arms, handed it to the two, and said: "This is a little bit of personal caution from this official, don't dislike it, please accept it." ”

The two excused themselves and put them in their hands, and after thanking them again, the two carried the iron box and were about to leave the account. Tana drank them both and said, "Wait a while, eat the roast sheep and then leave." ”

It turned out that the fat sheep outside had been roasted, and the attendants carried it out of the baking pit, and the aroma was overflowing. Tana ordered someone to carry it into the tent and beckoned everyone to sit down and feast together. Everyone sat around, took out their pocket knives, cut meat and dipped it in salt, and ate happily. Only little Bartel's small mouth pouted higher, originally thought that a Zhang Shixing was going to grab meat with him to eat, but now there are two more mouths, he muttered in his mouth, as if he was scolding in a low voice, Tana heard it on the side, stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth, and said with a smile: "Little prince, eat quickly, don't scold, you won't be able to eat meat in the next three months." ”

When everyone heard this, they burst into laughter.

A few days later, Song Zhong sent someone to invite Tana over, saying that there was something important to discuss. Tana came to Huayan Temple, and as soon as she entered the main hall, she saw Song Zhong sitting behind the case with an angry face, and Zhang Shixing bowed his head and stood aside, as if he had just been taught a lesson.

Song Zhong saw Tana come in and ordered someone to take a seat, and after Tana sat down generously, he asked Song Zhong and asked, "What is the important matter that Governor Song invited me to discuss?" ”

Song Zhong said: "Queen Mother Zhongning, in recent days, your subordinates have purchased food in Kaiping Wei, and have snapped up ironware, cloth, salt, and other applied things. ”

Tana smiled: "I thought it was so important for Governor Song to summon me in a hurry, but it turned out that it was for this matter. My subordinates moved here from Beiping Mansion, and there is a shortage of everything, so it is normal to buy some household belongings. It just so happened that the imperial court also rewarded 100,000 yuan in treasure money, so I let them buy all the things, and it was useless to keep them, maybe one day they would be eaten by rats, or a pile of waste paper. As for the shortage of all kinds of things on the market, Song Dudu can order someone to transfer them from the customs to solve the eyebrows. In addition, the sergeants of the guard station secretly sold military rations, and the governor of Song should arrest them and behead them to show to the public, so as to set an example, what do you want me to do? ”

When Song Zhong heard this, he was angry and said: "The Queen Mother said lightly, Beiping Mansion is thousands of miles away from here, and it will be three months before the items are prepared and transported here." Now this Kaiping Weinei sergeant plus his dependents, I am afraid that there will be no less than 70,000 or 80,000 people, a thousand stones per day, and the grain stored in the warehouse is not enough for a month, and you Mongolians have bought out the grain on the market, isn't this adding fuel to the fire? ”

Tana waved her hand and said, "Song Dudu has something to say, so there is no need to spare the bend." ”

Song Zhong said: "Okay, please ask the Queen Mother to order the department to return the grain, and I will buy it double." ”

Tana pondered for a moment and said, "This matter is easy to say, so I will order my subordinates to eat less grain and more meat, and return some of the grain to the Song Governor." But there is one thing, if you want us to eat more meat, we must hunt more, and if we hunt more, we must have more bows and arrows, and our department moved here from the Guannai, and there is the greatest shortage of bows and arrows. I don't think Song Dudu has to buy it back at double. We barter, one pound of grain for ten arrows, I will give you 100,000 pounds of grain, how about you give me a million arrows? ”

When Song Zhong heard this, he gasped, and he stared at Tana for a long time without saying a word.

Tana smiled slightly: "Song Dudu, most of my subordinates are old and weak women and children, and they will not make trouble, these bows and arrows are indeed used for hunting, please rest assured." Moreover, you have more than 50,000 men under your command, and each of you has less than a dozen or twenty arrows, who can know. Although 100,000 catties of grain is not much, it can last for ten days and a half months. I also pulled this out from between my teeth, if Song Dudu doesn't want to exchange, then that's it, let's say goodbye. With that, Tana stood up, beckoned to the guards, and made a gesture to leave.

Song Zhong hurriedly got up and stopped her and said, "The Queen Mother is slow, the number of millions of arrows is too large, if the court investigates it, Song can't afford to be guilty." 500,000 arrows is still conceivable. ”

Tana turned around, high-fived Song Zhongyi and said, "Okay, for the sake of Song Dudu's escort all the way, we will make up our minds." ”

The two immediately finalized the settlement.

Tana said again: "Governor of Song, more than 100,000 people suddenly poured into Kaipingwei, no matter how we cut down on food and clothing, the imperial court quota is limited, and the food is always not enough to eat, I don't know when the Governor of Song's patrol will end?" ”

When Song Zhong heard this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly, the secret way sent him to patrol the border was a pretense, in fact, it was to prevent King Yan from causing trouble. And when King Yan will start to do things, this can not be said, it is estimated that King Yan himself can't say for sure, it depends on how the court deals with the matter of cutting the domain.

Song Zhong said: "This has to wait for the will of the imperial court. I guess it's going to take a year and a half. ”

Tana said: "There are 40,000 or 50,000 nomadic herders in the vicinity of Kaiping, and they will inevitably compete with the governor for food. Wouldn't it be better for me to lead my troops to graze and hunt in the area of the fishing area, which not only avoided competing with the governor for food, but also allowed the livestock to live, the best of both worlds. ”

Song Zhong hesitated for a while and said: "Where is the queen mother's nomadism, Song has no right to ask, but the fishing area has always been the territory of Duoyan Sanwei, and the queen mother went there, if there was a conflict between the two, Song was ordered to patrol the border, and it was difficult to escape the blame." ”

Tana pointed at Zhang Shixing and said: "Zhang Tongzhi is a member of the Jinyi Wei Sanpin, everyone respects him for three points, and he will accompany him. ”

When Zhang Shixing heard this, he hurriedly waved his hand and said: "I was ordered to escort the Queen Mother to Kaipingwei, and I have completed the task, how can I go to fish in the sea again?" If I can't help it, I want to return to Beiping and have another business trip. ”

Tana glanced at him and said, "Go and come back quickly, what's the matter?" ”

Zhang Shixing's head shook like a rattle, and he said continuously: "I can't go, I can't go." ”

Tana smiled at Zhang Shixing and asked, "Zhang Tongzhi, did the emperor order you to escort the living queen mother or the dead queen mother?" ”

Zhang Shixing was stunned when he heard this, and blurted out: "Naturally, she is the living queen mother." ”

As soon as the words fell, Tana took out a dagger with a swipe, put it against her throat, and said, "Then now she is the Queen Mother of Death." With that, with a slight force, blood dripped from the tip of the knife.

Song Zhong screamed, his body was as fast as lightning, he rushed to Tana's side, stretched out his hand, used his inner fist to grab the hand, and as soon as his hands were wrong, he snatched the dagger in Tana's hand, and threw it on the ground with a bang.

Tana ignored the bleeding from her neck and said coldly: "If you stay here, you are also waiting for death, and it is better to die early than to die late." ”

Zhang Shixing stomped his feet and said, "That's it, the lowly will escort the queen mother to the fishing sea, and no matter what, the lowly will rush back to Beiping." ”

Tana said happily: "Okay, you don't have any jokes. After that, he ordered the wounds to be bandaged, and when everything was done, he took his leave and returned to the camp.

Song Zhong watched her back gradually fade away, then looked back at Zhang Shixing, sighed and said, "This woman is so ruthless, brother, you have to do it yourself." ”

Zhang Shixing shook his head helplessly and said, "It's unreasonable, who made me do her thing." ”

After a few days, Tana left behind 2,000 families with impaired mobility, and led more than 8,000 households and more than 30,000 people to drag their families and mouths, lead cattle and sheep, and go north.

Zhang Shixing accompanied more than 500 Jinyi lieutenants, he ordered Niu Er to lead the remaining men and horses back to Beiping, and secretly told him to send more people to monitor all the movements of Yanwangfu, and discuss with Zhang Yu, the political envoy of Beiping, or report to the imperial court quickly, he will return to Beiping for more than a month, or two months at most.