"Haha, Master Li's plan has finally paid off. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoThese natives really beheaded the tax collectors of the Qing court to ask for rewards. ”

Listening to the translator's words, Wu Zhuang's face appeared with a bright smile.

It's just that he laughed too hard this time, causing the corners of his mouth to be frozen and hard to tear in an instant, and immediately red blood flowed out, which made him smack his teeth. Fortunately, the weather was extremely cold, and the wound was immediately frozen firmly.

"Go, open the gates, and Ben will meet them in the urn." After Wu Zhuang finished speaking, he immediately strode down the city tower.

Looking at the tall, thick, and thickly covered iron gate of Sakhalin Beibao, the tribal warrior Siketeng who opened the ground with a bang in front of him, and carried a bloody human head in his hand, was very excited and complicated.

Sikten came from a tribe of the Jurchen Hezhe people of the East China Sea in the Chingai region north of Sakhalin's fort, and belonged to the Orok tribe, one of the four major tribes of the Hezhe, who lived here for generations, fishing and hunting. Since the fourth year of Tiancong, the entire Jurchen tribe of the East China Sea in the Chingai region was conquered by the Later Jin army, forced to submit to the Qing court, and forced to pay tribute.

Sikten was the eldest son of the tribal chieftain, and he was still young at the time, and he was very resentful of these Qing people who forced them to pay tribute, but he was not able to resist, after all, their tribe was still small, and there were only about 150 adult tribal men who could fight, and he was not at all an opponent of the strong and highly organized Houjin army. And the entire Hezhen Oroku tribe lacked organization and was scattered, so it was easily broken by Houjin one by one.

The humiliating past is remembered in Sick's heart.

It soon occurred to Sikten that at the end of last year, because his tribe could not hand over enough furs, the Qing court forcibly took away twenty of the strongest adult men in the tribe to fight for the Qing court as soldiers to pay for taxes.

When he heard those arrogant Qing envoys laughing and using words like cattle hunting to describe the tribesmen who were captured in this way, Sikten's heart was furious, and he drew his knife on the ground and rushed out of the tent.

A pair of old but strong hands grabbed him to death.

Sikten turned his head sharply and saw that it was his father, who was pulling him tightly. The gray-haired old man's lips trembled with anger: "Sikten, what do you want to do?" Don't you want to die?! ”

"Father, let go! I must have slaughtered them with my own hands! Like an angry lion, Sickerten was desperately pulling at his father's hand.

His father was still holding him to death, and he laboriously freed out one hand and slapped Sikten hard in the face.

"Smack!"

With a crisp sound, the corners of Sikteng's mouth were bleeding, and he was so angry that he finally calmed down.

"You went out this time, alone, how can you be the opponent of the more than 100 Qing army! What else can you do but die in vain? I'm afraid that if you don't kill any of you, you will be cut into meat sauce by them! My father's words were full of pain and helplessness.

"Father。。。。。。 Sykten's eyes were full of tears, his teeth were gritted loudly, but the hand that clenched the waist knife gradually relaxed.

"Father, are we people of the Hezhe tribe going to be oppressed by the Qing people forever?!" Sikten looked pained.

Listening to his questioning, his father, the head of the tribe, did not reply to him, and in the end, only let out a long sigh.

Sikten, who was devastated, couldn't help but be disheartened.

He gloomily believed that under the brutal rule of the Qing court, he could only live in humiliation without dignity like his father in the future.

But what Sikten didn't expect was that at the end of August this year, a fleet of the Ming Kingdom came to the southern end of the Chingai region, that is, the boundary of Nangharwei, to build a castle here, and seemed to intend to settle down for a long time.

Sikten was very curious about these strange outsiders. At this time, there were brave people in the neighboring tribes, who wanted to sneak attack these Ming people, but they didn't expect that the Ming army troops guarding were very fierce and fierce, and they actually killed all the criminals, hundreds of heads, built into a high Jingguan, and piled up at the entrance of the mountain forest, so that a group of indigenous tribes with bad intentions were completely shocked.

After the Ming people built the castle, Sikten, like his father, was very worried that these Ming people would rely on the strength of their troops to bully and conquer their own tribes, so as to force their own tribes to pay tribute like the Qing people.

What he didn't expect was that these Ming people had no intention of using swords against them, but sent civil officials to their tribes with gifts, and announced three good news.

The three good news are, first, they are now under the rule of the Ming people, so they no longer need to pay taxes to the Qing court, and the Ming Shangbang is lenient and benevolent, gentle and far away, and they are allowed to be exempted from paying taxes for three years.

The second was that the Ming allowed them to go to the fort of Sakhalin for three days at the end of each month to trade, and exchange the skins and dried meat produced by the tribe for salt, cloth, iron and other things that they were desperately lacking.

The third is that if the tribal warriors can capture the Qing captives, whether they are dead or alive, as long as they are sent to Sakhalin North Fort and verified that they are on the right body, they will be rewarded.

After the Ming officials announced these three news, the tribe of Xiketeng immediately became jubilant.

The indigenous tribes, who had to fight against the harsh natural conditions all the time, attached great importance to practical interests, and the Ming people had such preferential and lenient conditions, which were much stronger than the small favors such as what kind of ribbon and fan were given by the Qing court.

And what made Sikten and the strong tribal warriors most desirable was the third piece of good news for the Ming army, that is, they could exchange Tartars for rewards. And the Ming army to give a reward is very tempting, such as killing a Qing court envoy, the Ming army's reward is twenty pounds of salt plus three cotton cloth, or two woolen wool plus five pieces of iron, in addition, according to the actual needs, in addition, it can be exchanged. Such favorable conditions are extremely tempting for Sikten and other tribal warriors.

You must know that the goods of the Ming army are basically the necessities of life that these tribes are extremely short of, and they are extremely important for the development and growth of the tribes. What's more, among the barbarian tribes, the honors and rewards that can be obtained through bloody battles are far more respected by the tribesmen than those obtained by sweating and exerting their efforts.

Therefore, after learning the news, Sikten couldn't hold back the joy in his heart anymore. He knew that because the tribe was sparsely populated and most of the sturdy men had been requisitioned by the Qing people to offset taxes, the number of animal skins and dried meat produced was limited, and the trade volume with the Ming army was not much, so it was difficult to meet the needs of the tribe's life and production. And if he and other tribal warriors can exchange for these precious goods by hunting down Qing envoys or soldiers, he will undoubtedly be able to get more rewards for his tribe, and his prestige in the tribe will increase day by day.

So, in this winter, when three arrogant Qing envoys came to the tribe again to ask for taxes, Sikten and a group of tribal warriors, without waiting for them to enter the cottage, did not hesitate to attack and kill them, and beheaded these Qing envoys, and came to Sakhalin North Fort to repay their merits.

At this time, Wu Zhuang, the commander of the Zhendong Battalion, was sitting on a high chair, he waved his hand, and motioned for the three of them to enter the room to talk.

When the three of them entered the room, they handed over the three bloody Tartar heads to the receiving soldiers in a solemn manner, and at the same time Sikten said a few words aloud to the interpreter.

The interpreter laughed: "Commander Wu, this man's name is Xikteng, the son of a tribal leader in the Chingai region, he said that he hopes that Lord Wu will keep his promise and award them a reward. “

Wu Zhuang smiled, and the corners of his mouth hurt like tears again. So, he coughed lightly, and replied pretending to be calm: "Very well, then a priori take a look at the heads to see if they are lying." “

When the soldiers inspected the head, Xi Keten briefly explained to the translator how to capture the three Qing court envoys, and Wu Zhuang listened to the translator's words, and his face couldn't help but smile.

Soon, the soldiers who verified it came back and reported to him: "General Wu, the head of the Tartar has been inspected, the braids are all shaved for a long time, and the teeth and mouth and face shape are also consistent, but there is no doubt that they are real Tartars." “

Wu Zhuang nodded, stood up, strode over, patted Sikteng's strong shoulder affectionately, and said loudly: "Very good, you three did a good job." There is a way that is true to words, and it will be believed, and our army will give you a reward now. I think you already know the rewards of our army, so go and pick what you want. ”

When Sikten heard this, he immediately consulted with the two men who had come with him for a while, and finally made a decision, and exchanged the three Tartar heads for a reward of forty pounds of salt, six horses of cotton cloth, and fifteen pieces of iron.

When handing over these rewards to Sikten and the others, Wu Zhuang made his own decision, he selected a sharp and thick waist knife from the arsenal and gave it to Sikteng.

"Thank you, General!" Sikten stroked the extremely sharp, shining waist knife, with a look of love on his face.

"Sikten, the reason why Ben will give you this knife is really in the hope that you can cut off more Tartar heads in the future, then Ben will never hesitate to give you a reward." Wu Zhuang smiled and patted Sikteng on the shoulder again.

Seeing that Wu Zhuang valued himself so much, Xi Keteng was greatly encouraged, and he said aloud: "Don't worry, general, we have to know what to do!" ”

Subsequently, Sikten and the others diligently tied the reward items on horseback, and left the city to return to the tribe.

Wu Zhuang looked at their distant backs, but there was a smug smile on his face.

With Sikten, the first crab eater, in the following days, almost every few days, a tribe sent the head of the Qing captives to seek a reward, and Wu Zhuang did not hesitate to give, and often gave additional gifts to show encouragement.

Wu Zhuang's generosity soon achieved greater results.

Those tribal warriors, after beheading the Qing court envoys who came to ask for tribute. Some of the brave even crossed the frozen Strait of Tatar and traveled to Outer Manchuria, attacking and killing the Qing envoys who were paid tribute to the local Sona.

Like Sikten, he is a role model.

Just after receiving Wu Zhuang's reward, only five days later, Xi Keteng, who could not hold back, once again led more than 110 of the most elite warriors in the tribe to cross the strait, sneak to the mouth of the Heilongjiang River, and attacked and killed more than 20 people of the Qing army team who were in the border of Heleli and were asking for tribute and were defenseless.

Naturally, when he sent these twenty or so heads to Wu Zhuang, Wu Zhuang was very overjoyed, and in addition to rewarding him, he also gave him a well-made piece of armor.

Wu Zhuang's move made Xi Keteng even more grateful, and he became closer to the Ming army in his heart.

Wu Zhuang was naturally aware of these barbarian tribes, and their dependence on the Tiger Army was deepening. So, he struck while the iron was hot, continued to envelop them, and asked them that in case a Qing army crossed the sea to attack, they could be used as a supplementary force to kill the enemy with the Ming army, and they could also be counted as meritorious and rewarded.

Wu Zhuang, who was already trusted by a number of barbarian tribes, put forward such a suggestion, which was deeply supported by a number of barbarian tribes, and they agreed with Wu Zhuang that as long as the Qing army came to attack, if the Ming army requested, the tribes would spontaneously gather troops to assist the Ming army in the battle.

From mid-November to early December, because all the tribes in the north of Sakhalin Island were constantly attacking and killing Qing envoys, and tribal warriors such as Siketeng crossed the sea to attack the Qing army, which led to the killing of Qing envoys or soldiers of about 200 people, which greatly shocked the entire Qing court, and Emperor Chongde Huang Taiji was even more furious.

"Hmph, these blood-drinking people dare to resist the Qing Heavenly Soldiers, they really covered their dog guts!" In the middle hall of the building, the emperor patted the chair and shouted angrily.

However, although Huang Taiji was extremely angry, he immediately considered that because the weather was freezing at this time, and the snow was falling everywhere, the Qing court did not dare to send people to Sakhalin Island, which was already in turmoil, to verify the reason for the killing of the envoy. However, without receiving the news of the arrival of the Ming army on Sakhalin, Huang Taiji took it for granted that it should be those barbarian tribes who had always been dissatisfied with the Qing court, who secretly conspired and gathered people to make trouble, so they dared to attack and kill the Suogong envoys of the Qing court.

For such rebels, it is necessary to suppress them quickly.

After a little thought, Huang Taiji quickly thought of the right person to go on the expedition.

That is, last year, he went to the Salhacha area at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River to conquer and exterminate the rebel tribes here, and the criminal department of the Zhengbai Banner.

So, Huang Taiji shouted loudly: "Meler Ezhen Ye Keshu, where is the Xing Ne'an of the Criminal Department?" ”

"Your Majesty, the minions are here." Ye Keshu and Xing Ne hurriedly left the court and knelt on the ground to fight.

"You two listen well, I ordered Ye Keshu to be the main general, Xing Ne to be the deputy general, and the two of you, with 2,000 elite soldiers, immediately marched north to quell the rebellion. Lead the army across the strait and go to Sakhalin to attack and kill the rebel tribes, as long as the tribes involved in the rebellion, all of them will be captured and enslaved, and those who disobey will be killed on the spot! ”

"Whew, minion obeys!"