Yun Rong's face immediately darkened, tears welled up in his eyes, and then he burst into tears: "Chahar is finished, there is no hope, the Great Khan has no way to return to heaven, we can only wait for defeat." ”

After the winter, Chahar became more and more difficult, although the Ming Kingdom opened the horse market to them, but it was of no help to the poor Chahar people, they could not take more livestock to go to the horse market in exchange for expensive grain, cloth, relying on Li Yu to help them smuggle to have more or less food, Chahar Khan was at a loss for this, Yun Rong suggested learning the method of Fengzhou, counting and arranging households, unified labor, unified distribution, and concentrated the rights of those tribal leaders who were powerful and wealthy, eating more and occupying more in the hands of the Great Khan, so as to tide over the difficulties, Of course, Chahar Khan hoped so, but as soon as the news spread, Chahar Khan's wife, brothers and sisters united with the tribal leaders to make trouble, and the cowardly Chahar Khan immediately retreated, and then there were several defections of the Otok tribe, Chahar's nobles and officials were angry, thinking that this was all Yunrong's fault, and insisted on curing Yunrong's crime, Yunrong's tent was also burned by them, Yunrong had to take his family to hide in Chahar Khan's big tent to save his life, Chahar Khan talked with Yunrong all night, Thinking that it was impossible for Yun Rong to stay in Chahar, it was best to go to his generous brother-in-law, so Chahar Khan sent Yun Rong to Fengzhou with a few people who had defected to the Otok tribe to survive - the people brought by Yun Rong were also miserable people, and their leaders took away their families, slaves, and people with livestock and food when they fled, and left behind the poor who could not go, and the idea of the Chahar officials was to divide the young and strong among these people into slavery with noble families, and the others were driven away and starved to death, Chahar Khan was very determined to stop this evil act this time, and sent all these poor subordinates to Fengzhou on the pretext of weakening the strength of Fengzhou.

Yun Rong cried and said: "The Great Khan has been completely disappointed in the Chahar nobles, it is these moths that have ruined the Chahar, Chahar has no hope, the Great Khan can only take one step at a time, the Great Khan told me that if Mongolia wants to revitalize, it must abandon these nobles, he can't do it, but he hopes that Li Yucha can do it, if he falls that day, he hopes that Li Yucha can take over the banner of revitalizing Mongolia, the Great Khan is really a good person!" He also said that he would help you, and that he knew that your life would be difficult, and that when the snow melted, he would hand over the pastures over there in Weining Haizi to you to graze cattle and sheep. ”

The people in the lobby were silent, only Yun Rong cried bitterly, Ortai sighed, came over and whispered to comfort Yun Rong: "Hezhou, stop crying, you can come, we will do it together in the future, speaking of which, we also have to thank the Great Khan, although he led the Chahar West invasion to do a lot of bad things, but he swept away the nobles of our right-wing departments, which gave us a chance, if those guys are still there, we will also follow the old path of Boshuo Ketu Khan." ”

When Batu heard it next to him, he couldn't help blushing, he was a person who had read books, he had read a lot these days, and he had thought a lot, and he understood the truth that he should understand.

Li Huai patted the table lightly and said: "This matter is over, we should cheer up and deal with the crisis, now we have something to do again, I am afraid this is more terrible than starvation, today at noon we received an urgent report, Terige and Yang Dazhi of the East Sentinel reported that there was a plague there and three people had died." ”

Ortai hung his head and said: "If I guess correctly, other thousand households will also send similar notices in the next few days, there will be this kind of thing after every famine and war on the grassland, last year we escaped, this year it is still coming, the weather is getting warmer, the plague will spread more and more, let's be prepared for the dead." ”

"What are we going to do? We must not watch the plague spread, we must stop it immediately. Li Yu said eagerly.

"We can't deal with the plague, and when everyone dies enough, the plague will naturally be stopped, so let it be fate." Li Fugui said gloomily.

"No, this matter must be taken immediately," Li Yu said categorically, his mind was blank, the tragic scene of Wula Mountain was about to appear again, he kicked the table and flew out in anger, "Lao Tzu is not afraid of anything this time, he just wants to fight with God." ”

The lights of the Great Commander's Mansion were not extinguished all night, Li Yu and the officials of the Great Commander's Mansion stayed up all night to study countermeasures, and the next morning, except for Li Huai, Batu and Namur, Li Yu and the others all went down to the various thousand households.

The ferocity of the grassland epidemic exceeded everyone's expectations, within a few days all the thousands of households reported an epidemic, the number of deaths increased sharply every day, Lang Zhong was sent to various health centers by the Great Commander's Office, these Mongolian doctors who knew medical skills rushed up with knives, where there was danger, there were their figures, and as soon as they made a move, they took out their housekeeping skills - bloodletting, more than ten days later, they not only did not save a person, but also suffered heavy casualties, more than a dozen brave Mongolian doctors died gloriously, and the Mongolian doctors were defeated, The dying shamans who had been squeezed by Lamaism on the steppe reappeared, and the shamans used their whole body skills to pretend to be ghosts, but to no avail, and more and more people died.

When Li Yu inspected Baita Village by the Black River, Uncle Dabu of the village was driving a group of people out of the village with a stick, and his son Su He and his daughter Qiqige were squatting on the side of the road and crying. Get out of here, more than 20 people have died in the village. ”

"Uncle, I want to see the villagers."

"It's useless, my old man has experienced it a few times, Mongolian doctors, lamas, and shamans are useless, those who want to die will always die, this disease spreads faster than anything else, the sick and the good must be separated, Yuzi, go quickly! At this time, you can't be soft, or more people won't die, and besides, all the dead people's things will be burned, and not a single one can be left. ”

"Dad, you take Qiqige away, I'll stay to take care of the villagers, I'm reluctant to leave! My wife and son are still in the village. Sue and begged and pleaded, but his brother Gilda held him up.

"No, Jeddah, take your brother and Kikige with you, don't come back, I will take care of my daughter-in-law and grandson, I'm old, I'm not afraid of anything, you stay and die in vain."

Li Yu walked back and forth at the entrance of the village a few times, and finally stomped on his horse and shouted to the guards: "Go!" Go back to the Barbarian Mountain. ”

The great plague that swept the grassland suddenly came, and soon pushed Fengzhou to the brink of collapse, many hundred households have been out of control, more and more people began to flee, and the place of escape invariably chose the Barbarian Mountain, which is the place that saved their lives, and there is also their most trusted Humbaturu, only there can they resign themselves to their fate with peace of mind, a large number of people flocked to the Barbarian Mountain, more than 30,000 people gathered together, and the plague expanded in the Barbarian Mountain, and with the plague, the old problem appeared, and the food was about to run out- The officials of the Great Commander's Mansion are still too young, the older Ortai and Li Fugui are only about forty years old, the others are not yet thirty years old, and the youngest Li Yu and Namur are only twenty-three years old.

Unlike the crying and wailing of the Barbarian Mountain, the camp of the Ming army seemed calm and peaceful, and the melodious erhu sound was heard from time to time. After the Ming army arrived at the Manhan Mountain station, the beginning was not bad, the officers were much better to their subordinates than when they were in the Guannei, and the military salaries and supplies were also issued in a timely manner, and there were not many deserters, but after the turn over, the military salaries began to be in arrears, and the rice, noodles, meat and vegetables sent by the Guannai were only left with sorghum rice, black beans, and Chinese cabbage. Not only did the officers not control the soldiers, but some of them also slipped away.

Zhang Chuanjie, who was serious about his work, used the whip and military stick, but he still couldn't stop the tide of deserters, he was anxious to find Bai Xianzhi to report, almost half of the people in the team had run away, and there were less than 700 people in the camp, so he couldn't go back and explain.

Bai Xianzhi didn't care at all, patted Zhang Chuanjie on the shoulder and said: "Xiao Zhang, what's there to worry about, it's okay, sending us out of the customs and garrisoning was originally a bad idea that popped out of the head of the officials, let them all go if they want to leave, even if there are only a few of us left, as long as we don't enter the customs, he can't do anything about us, and he has to say that we have merit." ”

Bai Xianzhi took out his erhu, swaggered to the open space in the camp, found a stool to sit down, and leisurely pulled up the erhu. Listen to me sing a bangzi drama "Yang Jiajiang" to you in vain, that Liu Qian, you give this official a bangzi. ”

"The heroes of Shanxi are the generals of the Yang family, loyal and brave to repay the emperor's kindness, first there is the golden knife Lao Linggong, the blood is sprinkled on the battlefield and the heroes, and there is Liulang Yang Yanzhao, and the Liao soldiers ...... before Yanmen Pass"

Almost everyone in the Datong border army can sing these dramas, at first Lao Bai sang them himself, and later everyone sang them together, just like that, every day the door of the Ming military camp is closed, damn it, those who should flee will escape, and others will sing big dramas if they have nothing to do, and when the epidemic is over, Lao Bai still has more than 500 people left in his hands.

Barbarian Mountain, the Great Commander's Mansion, Li Fugui, Ortai, Zhao Ji and others came back one after another, and they had nothing to do below, seeing that the situation was becoming more and more critical, they hurried back to the Great Commander's Mansion to think of countermeasures. Batu and Namu'er were startled when they entered the lobby, the two of them were gray-faced, their eyebrows and hair were white ash, Li Huai said that the two of them had brought people to burn lime these days, it was said that that thing could go to anger, Li Huai planned to throw a lot of lime on the Barbarian Mountain.

The Great Commander's Office did everything it could, the Mongolian doctors sent it down, the personnel were quarantined, the corpses were resolutely incinerated and lime was scattered everywhere, but the crisis seemed to be uncontrollable, and the death toll reported by each thousand households reached 4,000, the personal guard battalion died eight, and Li Fugui's craftsman battalion also died fifteen. What's even more terrifying is that in order to prevent the spread of the plague to the pass, the Ming State blocked the border wall passes, and the Ming army that had partnered with Fengzhou in smuggling in the past also turned their faces and did not recognize people this time, and resolutely prevented the Fengzhou people from approaching the pass, and the shadow of Ma Qiren, the ambassador of the Commerce and Market Department who was responsible for trade with the Ming State, could not be seen, and it was said that he fled into the pass with Fang Zhikun, and the connection between Fengzhou and the Ming State was cut off.

Yun Rong, the new secretary of the Great Commander's Office, said dejectedly that Chahar Khan had sent a letter asking for help, and the Chahar tribes were also hit hard by the plague, and more than 100 people died every day, but the Chahar people were no longer afraid of death, and they were so hungry that they even dug out the corpses that had just been buried to eat, and Chahar Khan hoped to help him with some food for the sake of his family.

Li Yu said with red eyes: "Seeing the villagers suffering, I can't stand it, it's because I don't have the ability to hurt everyone, I don't have the right to lead this general, you can nominate another one, it's really not good, everyone divides the remaining grain, yam eggs in the warehouse, let's scatter and flee for our lives." ”

Ortai listened to Li Yu's frustrated words, and immediately became angry, and slapped Li Yu on the head, Li Yu covered his head and squatted on the ground and sobbed in a low voice, Zhao Ji went up and kicked him to the ground, and scolded angrily: "I can't get used to your nest, how can you do a big thing like this!" ”

"I didn't want to do big things in the first place, whoever of you wants to do it, I won't do it!" Li Yu left with tears in his eyes, Li Huai and Li Fugui looked at each other and buried their heads, Yun Rong was dumbfounded, he had seen a lot of things about the white knife entering the red knife in order to compete for power, who would care about the death of some ordinary people, and he had never seen such a thing as forcing people to accept authority.

"Batu Taiji, are you willing to be the Grand Commander?" Ortai squinted at Batu, Batu hurriedly shook his head, he had already understood that the Fengzhou system that Li Yu tossed out in the Barbarian Mountain decided that whoever was the great commander would not want to be powerful, this would only be a job for the people to suffer and suffer, Na Mu'er also warned him, don't think that he is the son of the leader of Tumut, King Shunyi, he can give orders, the lord of Fengzhou can only be Li Yu, and others want to replace him, unless he can also win the trust of the people of all ethnic groups like him, otherwise Li Yu will give way to him, and he will not want to do itOrtai sneered and said, "Yuzi is indeed a child with no ambitions, and he doesn't have the skills of a hero in troubled times, but he loves every Fengzhou people, loves every person around him, I trust him, this great commander can only be him, he can't do it, the Erji Lama is already on the way, and the old lama will persuade him when he comes." ”

"If he is a hero, I won't serve anymore, the ancestor of the old Zhu family is ruthless enough, Lao Tzu will look down on him," Li Fugui said lazily, "Yuzi just can't see people suffering, in fact, plague is a common thing in and out of the pass, and when people die enough, it will stop, let's still consider spring ploughing, that is the most important thing." ”

"My brother has been like this since he was a child, he is not afraid of hardship, he is afraid that others will suffer," Li Huai hurriedly said good things to his younger brother, everyone has heard that he and Li Yu are brothers, but the Bansheng Han people always think that Li Yu's ancestors are also from Shanxi like them, otherwise they would run from the Jin country to Bansheng to settle down, and it has nothing to do with the people of Shaanxi, and the Mongolians insisted that Li Yu is a Mongolian, just a Chinese name, which is also common among Mongolians, Li Huai saw that others were indifferent, and changed the topic, "Brother Nianfeng is right." , We can't just think about dealing with the plague, spring ploughing is the big thing, and the Ming government doesn't care about us, but I contacted a few big businessmen when I was in Yulin, and they will definitely come to help us. ”

Everyone's eyes lit up, if there were Ming giant businessmen to help them, then there would be hope in Fengzhou, and they cheered up and discussed the next step together.

Li Yu staggered back to his sleeping tent, it was already dark, crying was heard from time to time in the night, and the fires in several fires at the foot of the mountain in the distance were still burning - cremating the bodies of the dead was a Mongolian custom, and the Bansheng Han people could accept it after living outside the customs for a long time, and these fires burned the corpses day and night, and the whole Barbarian Mountain was shrouded in terror.

Ulan and Wu Langha have been waiting in the tent, the news of Bo Shuo Ketu Khan's death came, Ulan's heart was full of hatred for Chahar Khan, and he also hated Wu Langha, and since then he has ignored Wu Langha, Wu Langha is ashamed to hide when he sees Ulan, and the relationship between the family has become cold, but the arrival of this plague seems to have changed everything, seeing the familiar people around them continue to die, the two women can't stand it, hugging each other and crying, experiencing this huge catastrophe, Witnessing the passing of life is such a simple thing, why let yourself live in hatred all the time, and the relationship between the two gradually became harmonious.

Li Yu entered the sleeping tent and planted it on the blanket, Wulan and Wu Langha hurriedly surrounded them, Li Yu took their hands and whispered: "I have no ability, I can't help the villagers, the commander is not right, I will work with the villagers tomorrow, I can't stand it, everyone will divide the rest of the food and disperse." ”

"No, everyone trusts you, you can't abandon everyone, the grassland is full of famine and plague, you let everyone flee there?" Ulan was angry.

"But if you stay here, everyone will die, I heard that Su and the eldest brother's sister-in-law and son are dead, I can't stand it, everyone is scattered and there may be more people who survive, I won't abandon everyone, as long as I can't die, I will always stay in the Barbarian Mountain, I will let the horses hunt, and I can feed you."

Wulan and Wu Langha threw themselves into Li Yu's arms and cried loudly.

The next day, Li Yu went out early, carrying a hoe and carrying a basket of lime to work, Meng Ke, Mo Rige and a few personal soldiers were startled, and hurriedly found a piece of household goods to follow, Ulan took Jida to the Great Commander's Mansion to report the news, Ortai was so angry that he beat his chest, but Li Fugui did not hurry to persuade: "Brother Duxing, you don't know what his temperament is, he feels uncomfortable, it may be better to work, let him be." ”

"No, what if something happens to him? The Lama Zerji should be almost there, and only his old man can stop this bastard," Ortai called out to Jeddah, "Gilda, you take a sentry battalion to pick up the Lama Zerji immediately, and be sure to take him to the camp as quickly as possible." ”