The Tatars who came from Hamiwei have been in the army for several days. However, this Tatar Khan concubine, Zhu Gaoxu saw it for the first time.

According to the classification after the Yuan Dynasty, she is a person of color eyes, that is, the "people of all colors" in the Western Regions and the West, which is different from ordinary Mongols; Because the Yuan Dynasty reused the Semu people, it is not surprising that these people can gain a foothold on the grassland.

In Zhu Gaoxu's eyes, she is a Caucasian similar to the Arab race in Central Asia, with slightly curly dark brown hair that is almost black, and her eyes are also black, but her face and skin are very different from everyone else. She looks young, has a plump body, and is considered a good looker among the lustful people. However, in Zhu Gaoxu's insight, the woman with colored eyes looks okay when she is young, but she ages quickly.

The brigade marched along the main road, surrounded by vast plains on all sides, and the grass and trees withered in the autumn and winter seasons, and the scenery looked a little old and decadent. Zhu Gaoxu did not ride again, he would rather endure the dust on the road than stay in the carriage all day.

The Tatar Khan's concubine Asari was allowed to ride beside Zhu Gaoxu, and her posture looked like that of a person accustomed to riding horses all year round. After not speaking for a long time, Zhu Gaoxu occasionally observed her, thinking that she could fall asleep just by sitting on horseback.

After a long time, Zhu Gaoxu finally turned his head and said, "Has Concubine Khan heard a word?" ”

Asari immediately looked up at him, "What? ”

"I was sold, and I helped me count the money." Zhu Gaoxu said.

Asari shook her head in confusion: "What does His Majesty the Emperor mean?" ”

Zhu Gaoxu said: "It is obvious that Arutai and Dehuochi do not care about your life, nor do they care about the son of Benyali Khan. If you help them, you can only become a pawn or a victim. ”

Asari said, "What did they do? ”

Zhu Gaoxu was stunned for a moment, and said in his heart: I still want you to confess.

He quietly observed Asari's exotic eyes, and she was also looking at Zhu Gaoxu. I saw that her eyes were still confused, and she didn't dodge, looking calm. This made Zhu Gaoxu have a little intuition for a moment, could it be that she really didn't know?

Zhu Gaoxu's side didn't say anything, just listened to the conversation between the two.

After a moment of silence, Asari couldn't hold her breath and asked again, "Why did His Majesty the Emperor know in advance that the Warats would attack us?" ”

Zhu Gaoxu didn't answer, and said casually: "We should exchange with each other, so that it is fair." ”

Asari looked a little irritated and angry, but she didn't dare to attack. She asked, "When will His Majesty the Emperor let us return to the north?" You promised Arutai. ”

Zhu Gaoxu said: "Don't be impatient, you won't be able to leave for a while." I am an honest person, but first of all, you have something to conceal and suspect of deception, so Concubine Khan should understand what you mean. ”

Asari probably thought of her Mongol prince, and suddenly she looked apprehensive, and her spirit withered by eight points.

This is the end of their unpleasant first conversation. By noon, the brigade stopped to rest. Zhu Gaoxu found Duan Xuege, who was traveling with him, and instructed Duan Xuehe to accompany Asari to observe Asari's words and deeds, as well as her relationship with Tuohuochi. A person can pretend for a while, but a little longer can expose a lot of things.

In the afternoon, the army approached the city of Jinan, but the escort was dozens of miles north of Jinan and did not go to the city. Zhu Gaoxu told Gao Xianning again that he should temporarily leave the team and go to Jinan City to contact local scholars and recount the feelings of fellow villagers and classmates. Gao Xianning is very famous in various parts of Shandong, he can be regarded as a famous person, and he also has a wide range of friends in the local area, as long as he goes back, he must be a guest.

Zhu Gaoxu knew that Gao Xianning's home was in Jinan, so he made a joke when he left, saying that "wealth does not return to his hometown, such as a night walk in brocade clothes".

However, the army did not stop here, and continued eastward to Binzhou.

When Zhu Gaoxu thought of the character of Tang Sai'er before, he determined the itinerary this time.

He knew that Tang Sai'er was from a county in the south of Binzhou, because he had been to Binzhou, Shandong Province back then. What impressed him more was that there was a large statue next to the Yellow River Bridge, that is, the statue of Tang Sai'er. It's just that now the Yellow River is not here, but in the south, no one knows about Tang Sai'er.

Because Tang Sayer became a hero who resisted the reactionary feudal rule in later generations, he had a very high status. However, the position determines the mentality, and now Zhu Gaoxu has become the largest feudal ruler of the Ming Dynasty, and of course he has no good opinion of those who intend to destroy his rule.

There were too many states and counties in the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Gaoxu usually didn't go out of his way to inspect a certain place, but this time it was just because he remembered that the place where Tang Sai'er lived was nearby, and he wanted to go on a whim to see what the soil of the leader of the rebel army was like.

The team walked from the north of Jinan City for seven days to reach Binzhou City. But Zhu Gaochu did not enter the city, and led the army to continue to walk south for more than ten miles, and the forward scouts found a lake, so Zhu Gaoxu ordered the army to be stationed on the east bank of the lake.

The forward general gave money to the villagers, then requisitioned a village, and the soldiers built a fence barracks around the village. After Zhu Gaoxu and the others arrived at the barracks, he lived in a rammed earth tile house in the village.

The bureaucrats of the Third Division of Jinan City and the Binzhou prefect were obviously very concerned about the emperor's men, but they did not dare to violate the edict of the emperor and come to the army without authorization. Soon, the prefect of Binzhou led a group of officials, still lightly armed, to the Chinese army, asking for the preparation of grain for the army. However, Zhu Gaoxu refused, the army did not need the local government of Shandong to provide military rations, and after a while, when everyone arrived at the beach, the official ships from the south could replenish the grain for the army; After entering the territory of the political envoy of Beiping, there was no shortage of supplies.

Zhu Gaoxu warned the prefect that the conscription of strong men under various names should be immediately stopped, and the decree should not be changed for three years.

Early the next morning, Zhu Gaoxu left the barracks with his entourage and an official from Binzhou, and inspected the surroundings along the dirt road. Duan Xue hated being in the horse team, and brought out the Tatar Khan concubine Asari, and Zhu Gaoxu didn't care about them.

The dirt road is wide enough to look like it can be driven, but it is not paved with bricks and stones, and it is very dusty, and even the branches and leaves on the side of the road are covered in mud. Zhu Gaoxu and the others rode slowly, and he saw that the villages on all sides were very dilapidated and old, but from time to time he could see white smoke and hear the sound of chickens and dogs, and everything was very quiet.

At least this year, as Zhu Gaoxu has seen with his own eyes, there is no sign of unrest and uprising.

The group wandered until noon, when they suddenly heard the sound of blowing and beating from the nearby village. Zhu Gaoxu stopped to watch, and Hou Hai, a civil official beside him, immediately said: "Saint, this is the musical instrument of the Taoist priest, and there is something white over there." ”

Zhu Gaoxu looked at it for a while, then looked back and said, "Prepare a gift, let's go and have lunch." ”

Hou Hai hurriedly persuaded: "The saint is ten thousand times, I am afraid that the common people will not receive it well. ”

Zhu Gaoxu glanced down at the military uniform on his body, and then looked at the red robe on Hou Hai's body and the green robe of Binzhou officials, and said: "Then I will be the son of Hong for another day, and Hou Zuo is an official passing by. ”

Hou Hai listened, so he had to arrange it.

A group of more than a dozen people rode up the path, and when they approached the village, the Taoist priest's gong and wind music became clearer and clearer, and even the Taoist priests could faintly hear singing like chanting, but they couldn't understand what they were singing.

When Zhu Gaoxu followed the sound and rode close to the place where he was doing white things, he jumped off the war horse and led the horse to walk over. I saw that the courtyard was full of old square tables inside and outside, and there was a cry in the courtyard. White flags are hung on the bamboo poles outside the courtyard gate, and white paper and black letters are also pasted on the door frames.

The villagers looked sideways, curiously at a group of people who were obviously from the government. After a while, the master's family, men, women, and children came out, and they all knelt at the door to thank them. It was probably Hou Hai who gave a big gift, that is, the people of the government, and it was also good to give gifts to the funeral.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "People can't be resurrected after death, and the main family's mourning changes." ”

At this time, a middle-aged woman who was kneeling on the ground and wearing linen and filial piety couldn't help it, and immediately cried again.

A group of people walked into the courtyard, came to the mourning hall and bowed, and then the master arranged two tables of seats in the courtyard, and everyone took their seats. The yard was smoky, with smoke from burning incense, candles, paper money, and soot from straw burned by cooks cooking food outside.

The surrounding people and guests have been looking at this side, and people seem to be talking about where the master came from to be an official. Coupled with the blowing and chattering of the Taoist priest, there was a commotion here.

Zhu Gaoxu saw that the people at a nearby table were looking at this side, so he simply turned around and asked, "Who is this family that died?" ”

"You don't know?" A man in a gray cloth robe asked.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "We're just passing by." ”

The man in gray cloth said: "The white-haired person sends the black-haired person, it's miserable." The eldest son of the head of the family, in his forties, had been working in the fields all day yesterday, and when it was dark he went to the lake to wash the mud, fell into the lake and drowned. ”

Zhu Gaoxu sighed: "It's really tragic. ”

At this time, the crying in the mourning hall suddenly increased, and a woman's voice began to read as she wept. The content she read was much better than the Taoist scriptures, so Zhu Gaoxu listened attentively.

The woman wept heartbreakingly, and her words were very moving. It is probably more than 40 years of telling the tragedy of the deceased, he began to work at a young age, did not live a good day, gave food rations to his younger siblings from an early age, and worked every day when he became an adult, facing the loess with his back to the sky, and undertaking forced labor. It's a pity that he worked hard all day before he died, and he didn't have a good meal.

It's all vernacular, and Zhu Gaoxu feels that even the Tatar Asari understands it, because her expression looks very depressed. The Binzhou officials who accompanied him at the same table looked sincerely afraid, as if he thought that it might not be a good thing for the saint to see the local people in such misery.

"For thousands of years, most people have lived like this. It was like this before, and it won't end easily in the future. Zhu Gaoxu looked at the Binzhou official quietly and said.

At this time, I suddenly remembered Hu Hui's political master, Zhang, and felt that Hu Hui's ideal of being an official was actually full of humanistic sincerity.