The autumn breeze rises, and the northern geese fly south. The Mongolian steppes north of the Great Wall have turned yellow, and herders have begun to stock up on fodder and build huts in preparation for the harsh winter that is coming.

For the Central Plains, when winter comes, it only means that there is no need to work as hard as other seasons, as long as the snow does not become a disaster, with a year of preparation, it is enough for the vast majority of people to spend this cold season with peace of mind, only wait for the spring of next year to plant seedlings.

But for the people on the grasslands, winter is often a serious challenge. Because the snow here is heavier than in the south, everything will be covered with snow, and there will be almost no food to be found, and those simple tents are likely to collapse completely once they are crushed by the snow, burying the herdsmen inside in the snow, and when they are discovered, they are afraid that the people inside will freeze to death in the cold wind.

Even if the weather is not too extreme, the long winter can take a heavy toll on herders. The cattle, sheep and horses are likely to die in this cold weather, or because they did not have enough forage, and the herders could only watch their cattle and sheep starve to death in front of their eyes. However, many herder families have saved up their wealth after a year of hard work, but it is often wiped out by changes in the weather.

Therefore, for many tribes and herders on the grassland, the turn of autumn and winter is often the busiest and most worrying time, for fear that if they are not prepared, they will lose everything.

Of course, for the nomadic Mongolian tribes, there is actually another way to prevent the next possible problems, that is, to find the opportunity to kill on the side of the Great Wall, and plunder enough food and wealth from the people of the Central Plains to survive the long winter.

It's a pity that since the battle of Tumubao that year, the Mongols have not been able to take too much advantage in the battle with the Ming army, and every plunder will be accompanied by a large number of young and middle-aged people dying on the battlefield, so it is too uneconomical. Even if he is the real master of the grassland now, the Warat Taishi is the first, and he does not dare to start the war easily, so he can only let people make a small fight on the border of the Ming Kingdom.

Of course, as a generation of heroes on the grassland, as a tribal leader with great ambitions, he didn't completely give up the idea of invading the Central Plains, but this time, he didn't dare to venture as easily as before, and he had to come up with a more appropriate way to invade the Central Plains.

In addition, there is another way for the steppe tribes to survive this harsh winter, and that is to trade with the merchants of the Central Plains. By exchanging their most precious horses for grain from the Central Plains, the tribe will not only not be starved due to food shortages, but also allow cattle and sheep to get more fodder due to the reduction of horses, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone. However, the consequences of this are also quite serious, and when the herders lose their horses under their crotch, it will be difficult for them to go to the battlefield.

However, for many small tribes who see that they are not even able to live, this is the only option for self-preservation. Even in the past few years, the former Taishi has repeatedly warned the ministries not to trade horses with Ming merchants without permission, but it is still difficult to stop this new trade trend.

The Tasu tribe is one of these many small tribes that rebelled and pioneered, and today, they have welcomed a merchant from the Central Plains. When the herdsmen saw the cartloads of grain and vegetables coming behind him, their eyes were full of greed, and they only thought about trading as soon as possible, and then taking home enough grain to eat for a winter.

Although there are only about 100 merchants, and they are the territory of the grassland tribes who came on their own initiative, it seems that there is a great suspicion of sending sheep into the tiger's mouth. Because as long as the other party is greedy all his life and directly kills people and sells goods, he can take enough food without paying any price. However, none of the herders here dared to give birth to such an idea.

Although the Mongolian people always plundered the border lands of the Ming Dynasty and always showed their savage and greedy side, on the grassland, they were extremely hospitable and honest. In addition, the merchants of the Ming Kingdom have already spread the word to the entire grassland, as long as a merchant is robbed by the greed of a certain tribe, no matter how many deaths and injuries they end up in, from now on, the merchants of the Central Plains will no longer set foot in the grassland.

Although this threat is only a legend, the various tribes of the grassland dare not easily violate it, because it may provoke the anger of the people, and the entire tribe will become the public enemy of the grassland, and the price is too great.

The Tasu tribe would never dare to do such a thing, so when the merchants arrived, their patriarch would come forward to negotiate with the merchants of the Central Plains and bargain, hoping to obtain more food at the lowest price and leave more wealth for their people.

However, as an honest steppe man, the patriarch named Tabela was clearly not accustomed to such a verbal dispute, and the smiling merchant opposite him was clearly the best at getting the other party to kneel with words. So after a bit of bargaining, the final figure was unsatisfactory.

Looking at Tabela's depressed face, the merchant named Chen Liang laughed again: "In fact, it can be seen from below that the situation of your tribe is indeed very bad, if you can't get enough food, it will not be easy to survive this cold winter safely." ”

"Yes, so please lower the price a little, so that I can give an explanation to my people." As he spoke, the head of this brave and fearless clan on the battlefield even got up on purpose, stroked his chest and pleaded with him.

Chen Liang's eyes flashed with a strange light that was not easy to detect, and then he smiled bitterly: "Patriarch doesn't have to be like this, in fact, I also want to help your clan through this difficulty." It's just that...... It's not all in the next person's possession, and I can't let anyone else suffer. ”

"That'...... I hope you can help. Tabela felt that the other party had relented, so she begged again.

Chen Liang said after a little silence: "On the grain, you can make a little concession on the bottom, but this is still difficult to solve the problem in front of your department. So I thought that if we wanted to do it once and for all, we had to find another way. ”

"Do you have a way?" Seeing that the other party was willing to make concessions, Tabela was suddenly overjoyed and hurriedly asked. As the head of the clan, he is always responsible for the livelihood of the whole clan, which is much more difficult than leading people to kill enemies on the battlefield.

"Naturally, there is a way, it depends on whether the patriarch is willing or not." Chen Liang smiled, took a sip of mare's milk wine, and actually sold Guanzi. After tasting it, he frowned again, almost not spitting out the contents of his mouth. This mare's milk wine is so sour that I can't swallow it at all, but it's much more unpalatable than the wine in the Central Plains. It's just in front of the other party that he can't really squirt out the wine, so he can only swallow it hard, which is more bitter than drinking medicine.

Tabela, who was already excited, did not notice the other party's abnormal reaction, immediately rubbed his hands, and asked urgently: "I don't know if there is any good way, as long as I can help my people survive the current winter, I am willing to pay the high price." Of course, it would be nice if there were fewer horses. ”

"As long as the patriarch can do what he says, not only will he not have to give you horses, but he may also get more benefits." Chen Liang put down the pottery bowl in his hand and said.

"Speak quickly, speak quickly." The patriarch was obviously a little impatient.

Seeing this, Chen Liang leaned closer and said, "Actually, patriarch, you don't know yet, in the past two years, Da Ming has already had the heart to appease all the tribes of the grassland. As long as you attach to the Central Plains and submit to the Ming court, the court will inevitably come up with enough food to help your ministry solve the current problems. Of course, at the same time, you must also show some sincerity, and you will inevitably migrate to the edge of the Great Wall, under the jurisdiction and control of the local government. ”

"This ......" Tabela, who was still looking forward to it, quickly collapsed his whole face when he heard this, and even showed a little vigilance: "Are you asking me to return to the Ming Kingdom with my people?" Let me betray the steppe? ”

"Isn't this also a choice out of desperation?" Chen Liang smiled slightly, not panicking at all: "Of course, this is just a little bit of a shallow opinion of the next person, how to choose, or it is up to the patriarch to decide for yourself." However, as far as I know, in the past year or two, no less than ten small tribes have been annexed to the Central Plains, and their current life is quite good. There were two tribes who simply entered the Great Wall because they believed in the imperial court and began to learn how to farm, and some of the grain I brought this time was obtained from them, and I had to give them some of the cattle and sheep that I had exchanged. ”

These words made the other party very moved, but because of the opinions he had been holding, Tabela did not immediately agree, but said a little stiffly: "This fact is too big, I can't be the master alone, let me think about it again." ”

"That's natural, I'm just making a suggestion below, and as for how you choose, it's none of my business. Even if you want to submit to my Ming now, patriarch, it's useless to look for me, a merchant. Chen Liang said lightly, not seeing the slightest intention of persecuting the other party.

Until Chen Liang said goodbye and went to rest first, Tabela was still full of worries, and he couldn't calm down for a long time.

He didn't know that the identity of Chen Liang, who claimed to be a businessman, was not just a businessman, he was also one of the many secret spies sent into the grassland by Jinyiwei. And the purpose of these people is not to assassinate or destroy, but to rebel. Rebelled some tribes on the grassland from Yexian's side and made them subordinate to the imperial court.

As long as one tribe can be opposed, the power on the steppe will be reduced by one point. Then, when the two sides start the war again, Daming's chances of victory will increase by one point.

This is a new strategy for the grassland of the Ming Dynasty in the past few years, and judging from the current results, this strategy is still quite successful.

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A new volume, the last volume of the book, begins。。。。。。