Tubury looked at the darkening sky and the snowflakes the size of goose feathers falling from the sky, and couldn't help but explain to the locals: "It is no wonder that so many of us are wary of our villages in this weather."

I heard that the local villagers all make a living from hunting, maybe their harvest is not good enough this year, and I am afraid that we are not the real Houjin army, but other tribesmen who have come to rob them of their winter food, right?

We have a Niulu Eight Banners soldier here, and even if they have any ideas that they shouldn't have, they can still be suppressed. But if we continue to stay like this in the wilderness, even if the blizzard survives, we will not have much combat power left. ”

Jachel glanced at the soldiers in the circle surrounded by plows and snow mounds, and found that most of them were pale and depressed, and a few were sallow-faced and unsteady on their feet.

He couldn't help but nod and said, "Maybe the villain is thinking too much, and the adult's subordinates really can't continue to stay in the wilderness, so the villain will call the clansmen to tidy up and get on the road." ”

After Jaeze left to greet the people, Tubury thought about it, and still called the guards around him and ordered: "Go and organize the team, gather the soldiers who can still fight in front, check the weapons and equipment, and we should be careful when we enter the village." ”

"E, rest assured, these Heilongjiang savages are cold-resistant, but they have neither iron nor decent armor, if they really have any bad intentions, we will definitely let them know the prestige of our Houjin soldiers."

Tubury thought about it, although it was difficult to wear iron armor in this weather, the cotton armor on their bodies was enough to provide sufficient protection. Most of these Heilongjiang savages use heavy sticks as weapons, and they have very little power when hit on cotton armor.

Otherwise, how could Lao Khan and hundreds of people be able to defeat the estuary of Heilongjiang all the way without any casualties. Tubury glanced at the snowflakes swirling and falling over the camp and realized that the bow and arrow were probably useless in this weather.

But he quickly put this fear behind him, because he didn't think that these savages would dare to use force against the soldiers of the Houjin Kingdom. He quickly got on his plow and followed Yajie's plow to the village, hoping to get to the villagers' houses as soon as possible to get warmer, if only there was a bowl of hot broth or fish broth.

While these Houjin troops were riding on the plough and advancing to the village in the northeast, the village belonging to the thousand people of Niuyi was also busy in a tense atmosphere.

This is a typical village of the Oroqen people, who were also called Aili Liaozi by the Jurchens. This village is the largest population gathering outside of Temple Street, with 14 or 50 tents in the whole village.

The Oroqen house looks like a conical tent from the outside, while inside the tent is a semi-basement, with the most important fire pit in the middle of the room. Small tents can only accommodate one person, while large tents can accommodate 3 to 40 people.

The largest tent in the village was erected in the middle of the village, and now more than 20 people were sitting around the fire and deliberating.

Zhao Chengdong flipped the chicken buried in the fire pit, it seemed that his interest was focused on the chicken in front of him, and he didn't care about the embarrassment of the several village elders who were sweating on the other side of the fire pond.

Ji Ruo, a strong man standing behind the elder, finally spoke up dissatisfiedly and said, "Elder Amblun, hurry up and make a decision, after that Yajie returns, he will soon bring the Jurchens over." Isn't it possible that we should keep the door closed and let them go back? ”

The wrinkled Elder Ambron looked like he was in his early sixties, but he was only in his early fifties. He also didn't know what to do about the current situation.

Although their village has a population of more than 500, there are less than 200 young and strong, and less than 60 soldiers have seen the battle array. Although the young men in the village have been hunting in the mountains and forests since they were children, they all have good skills, but Elder Ambrun, who has experienced the war with the Jurchens, knows that fighting is not the same as hunting.

When those Jurchens first appeared in front of them, they taught them what war was with their rigorous military formations and excellent weapons and armor. The tribes originally scattered along the Heilongjiang River quickly succumbed under the butcher's knife of the Jurchens.

During that war, Elder Ambron witnessed the decline and then demise of many powerful tribes as a result of their resistance to the Jurchens. Their village also accepted many villagers from villages destroyed by the Jurchens, and it gradually expanded to the extent it is today.

However, now, the village that has developed with great difficulty has to face a difficult choice, and it can even be said that it is the life and death of the village.

On the other side, the Ming man who called himself Zhao Chengdong asked the nearby tribes to surrender to the Ming since he occupied Temple Street last summer. Unlike the Jurchens, who conquered by force alone, these Ming people held their much-needed supplies in one hand and used the terrifying thunderbolt weapons in the other, and by the winter they had basically brought the tribes and tribes near Temple Street to their knees.

The Ming people also used the provision of winter supplies as bait, so that some small tribes whose population was too small to store winter materials moved to Temple Street.

Because there are several fertile mountains and forests nearby, their village is reluctant to move to Temple Street, 200 miles away. However, after several exchanges and trades with the Ming people, most of the people in the village were inclined to submit to the Ming Kingdom.

As the weather has become colder and colder in recent years, it has become more and more difficult to raise supplies and food to protect against the cold, and salt, alcohol and tobacco are special supplies that only the Ming people can provide in sufficient quantities.

These Oroqen people, who were conquered by force by the Jurchens, soon threw themselves into the Ming because of their hard life.

The news that the Jurchens had dispatched an army of several hundred men to regain the lower reaches of Heilongjiang was soon spread to Temple Street by some indigenous tribes of Heilongjiang who were hostile to the Houjin Kingdom.

Although Temple Street has developed into a small town with a population of more than 1,000 at this time, there are only 150 Ming soldiers who spend the winter in Temple Street, because the houses suitable for Ming people have not been completed much.

Most of the Ming people could not bear the cold here, so they temporarily withdrew to Vladivostok and Jeju Island, waiting to return to Temple Street in the spring and summer of the following year.

Zhao Chengdong, accustomed to living in a cold region, and his Jurchen guards chose to stay behind, although he was not afraid that Houjin's army of hundreds would come to attack Temple Street, especially in this weather.

But he was also unwilling, and the Jurchens were picked up and led by local villages along the way. In Zhao Chengdong's view, the tribes in the middle and lower reaches of Heilongjiang should now belong to the population of the Ming Dynasty.

If the Jurchens were allowed to press these local tribes to attack Temple Street, they would not only lose the labor force that would build Temple Street in the coming year, but also create a rift between them and the local natives.

Therefore, after receiving the news of the Jurchens' arrival, Zhao Chengdong sent people to begin to move to the middle and lower reaches of Heilongjiang, leading to various villages on the road to Temple Street.

The village led by Elder Amblon is Zhao Chengdong's first target. Not only was the population of this village the largest along the way, but this village was also far richer than the surrounding villages, and they were able to provide enough supplies for the Jurchens to consume for a while.

Zhao Chengdong personally brought more than 60 soldiers to persuade Elder Amblun to evacuate with the villagers, but more than two days passed, and the elders in the village had not yet made up their minds, and the Jurchen vanguard had arrived.

At this time, Zhao Chengdong no longer persuaded Elder Ambrun, but gave him two choices. Either help them to attack this Jurchen vanguard; Either they will be the enemy of the Ming Dynasty.

Amblun didn't know how the Jurchen vanguard was, but the army of more than 60 people brought by Zhao Chengdong was enough to make this village bleed.

Hearing Ji Ruo's questioning, Amblun and the other elders also came to their senses, even if they were young people in this village, they might not listen to them and break with the Ming people. The hunting team led by Jiruo and Yigabu, after trading with the Ming people a few times, had already fallen to the Ming people in front of them.

Once they say no, maybe the Ming people on the other side will cut off their heads first, and then coerce the villagers outside to attack the Jurchens, if that is the case, maybe the people they want to save will be killed and injured more.

Amblon thought for a long time, and finally said with a gloomy face: "We are willing to obey General Zhao's arrangement, but I hope that General Zhao will not let our people suffer too many casualties." ”

Zhao Chengdong finally took his eyes off the earthen ball wrapped in the pheasant in the fire pit, he looked up at Ambrun at it, and then nodded and said, "Wouldn't it be better to have decided like this earlier?" In the future, everyone is a family, and if I Zhao Chengdong eats a bite, I will never starve you.

Then please sit here and wait for us to destroy this Jurchen striker, and everyone will pack up their things. When the wind and snow stop, they all moved to Temple Street for the winter..."

When Tubury came down from the plow, he saw Jachel approaching with two men dressed in similar clothes. After the three of them saluted him, Jachel introduced him, "My lord, the one on the left is Igab, and the one on the right is Jiro, and they are all warriors of this village.

Ambrun, the elder of the village, was injured in the leg and couldn't come out to greet the adults, so the two of them came to welcome the adults. ”

Tubury glanced at Igab and Jiruo, and found that both of them were sweating nervously, so he couldn't help but smile and said: "I came here on the orders of the Great Khan this time, not to crusade against rebellion, but to recover the estuary of Heilongjiang and prevent those Ming people from continuing to harass you after the beginning of spring, so you don't have to be nervous." ”

Ji Ruo was a little surprised and said, "Your Excellency is here to recover the entrance to the sea?" Didn't you go to Temple Street? ”

Tubury said disapprehantly: "Of course we have to go to Temple Street, but where should it be burned to the ground?" I don't know if I can live in it, but if I can't, I have to go further.

I heard that the people built a small stockade at the mouth of the sea, do you know how many people they left in the stockade? ”

Ji Ruo and Yi Gabu glanced at each other, and then realized that they and Zhao Chengdong had misunderstood, and it seemed that the Jurchens did not know about the Ming people's construction of a castle on Temple Street. They have only the oldest, outdated information in their hands.

Igab hurriedly said to Tubury: "Please also enter the village first, Elder Ambron knows these things better, you might as well go and ask him..."