After having a heart-to-heart conversation with Chongzhen, Hai Lanzhu's mood was obviously a lot brighter. What she was most worried about all along was what kind of future the Horqin tribe, the defeated Jurchens, and the Mongol tribes on the steppe would usher in after the Ming State won the final victory in the war with the Houjin.

Hai Lanzhu would rather venture into the customs than follow Huang Taiji's invitation to go to Shenyang, this move has already shown in essence that even if the Jurchens defeated the Ming army several times and seized Liaodong to establish a foundation, there were still some Mongols who were not optimistic that the Jurchens would have the last laugh.

Since Hai Lanzhu believed that the Ming Kingdom would be able to achieve the final victory in this war, after accompanying the emperor to inspect Tianjin, Tangshan and other places, she had no doubts about the victory of the Ming Kingdom.

So will a Ming country, which has eliminated the Houjin Kingdom, be willing to live in peace with them, the nomads on the grasslands, as before? Judging from the history of the Ming Kingdom for more than 200 years, the Taizu and Chengzu periods, who were extremely powerful, never gave up the idea of completely conquering the grassland.

If the current Emperor Chongzhen can eliminate the Houjin State by force, it will also mean that the force of the Ming State has returned to the apex of history. With such a powerful force in the Ming Kingdom, what other tribes on the grassland can resist?

With the supreme authority of the Ming Emperor, how to deal with these failed Mongol tribes and Jurchens was in the emperor's thoughts. Therefore, it is extremely important for Hai Lanzhu to understand what kind of person Chongzhen is and what kind of thoughts he has about the Mongols and Jurchens.

As the daughter of the Mongolian Horqin tribe, she loved her hometown and her people, and did not want to see a future in which they would be destroyed by the Ming army. But since entering the Ming Kingdom, the rejection of the people outside the customs by the ordinary people of the Ming Kingdom has shocked Hai Lanzhu.

Yes, these ordinary Han people not only hate the Jurchens, but also the Mongols, and even the Han people outside the Guanxi hate. In their minds, outside the border is the land of barbarians, and the Han people who go to the barbarian land to beg for a living are either criminals or second-rate people who can't get along in their hometowns.

The discrimination of ordinary Ming people against people outside the customs made Hai Lanzhu worried, she was worried that the emperor of the Ming Kingdom also had such an opinion, and she didn't know how to make the emperor reverse his prejudice against people outside the Guan.

However, with accompanying Chongzhen to the north and this frank dialogue, Hai Lanzhu finally let go of the hidden worries in her heart, accepted Chongzhen's idea of treating Mongolia and Jurchens, and incorporated the Han people, Mongols, and Jurchens into China, and everyone became a part of China, replacing the sword with the law to resolve disputes between various ethnic groups.

Chongzhen's idea may make some Mongolians who dream of restoring the honor of the Golden Family unhappy, but for Hai Lanzhu, the peace and tranquility of the people is more important than the so-called glory of the Mongols. Of course, maybe her sister, who married far away in Shenyang, will have different opinions, but now Hai Lanzhu's mood is excellent.

With Chongzhen's explanation, Hai Lanzhu became more handy when dealing with the affairs of Naadam and the tribe asking her for help.

The day after the two talked, on a plain across the river from the Chengde Castle under construction, the Naadam Conference convened by the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom was finally held.

Among the 36 tribes of Guanmen, the Taiji of the 19 major tribes who were still loyal to the Ming State, the leaders of the small tribes attached to these large tribes, the tribal leaders who were relocated to the east of Zhangjiakou by the Ming State, some Han immigrants who migrated to this place, the Ming scholars stationed in Chengde, and some merchants who came from the Guannei, nearly tens of thousands of people gathered on this open plain to participate in this Naadam Conference.

This was about the first time in decades that the Mongolian right-wing departments had held such a large-scale Naadam conference, and it was also the most lively one.

With the strong material transportation capacity of the logistics department and merchants of the Ming ** team, the goods provided to the tribes participating in the Naadam Conference for trading are unprecedentedly rich.

Although in Chengde in the 11th lunar month, the temperature has dropped to about 10 degrees during the day, and it has reached below zero at night. However, because of the tents and other heating materials provided by the Ming side, the participants did not suffer from the cold.

Hai Lanzhu took her maids and the relatives of the tribal leaders to inspect the tents stationed on the periphery of the venue, distributing food and firewood to the herdsmen who came from afar without much supplies.

At the venue not far from the tent area, the crowd was crowding onlookers, and the Mongols' favorite Bokpuppet Bayiledhu, also known as Buku wrestling.

3,888 pairs of wrestlers, wrestling on the grass in pairs to the cheers of the crowd, either wore old sheepskin jackets or wore shodeg made of cowhide or deerskin or camel skin.

Unlike the Han Chinese who settled in the interior, the Mongols, who lived a nomadic life, were lonely most of the time, and the people who spent the longest time with them were non-verbal animals. Therefore, the Naadam Conference is not so much a competition as a spiritual exchange between Mongolian tribes.

In just a few days of the conference, those Mongolians who had been herding alone for a whole year reaffirmed their social attributes through horseback riding, archery, and wrestling, and won the affirmation of their own worth by others through competitions.

At this moment, whether it was the Mongolians participating in the competition or the onlookers, they were mentally indistinguishable from each other. They applaud the winners of their own tribes as well as the winners of their foreign tribes, and this emotional catharsis made these Mongols let go of all the unsatisfactory things in their lives, which made them look very happy.

Sitting in the stands, Zhu Youzhen watched the game and communicated with the tribal leaders in the stands. Occasionally, he stood up to present medals to the winners and had a few words with them. This peaceful atmosphere makes every day seem so beautiful.

Of course, since it is Naadam convened by the Ming Emperor, it is natural that there will not only be the traditional competition program of the Mongols. In order to highlight the existence of the Ming Dynasty, every morning and before the start of the afternoon conference, there will be a military performance of the Ming army.

In the beginning, the military performances of the Ming army were small groups below the company, so the performances did not look so aggressive, and did not spoil the peaceful atmosphere of the conference.

However, on the morning of the fourth day, the cavalry of a regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division of the New Army performed marching and charging tactics at the meeting. These cavalry, clearly armored and marching in unison, were like a wall advancing when they charged, not to mention meeting these cavalry from the front, just watching them advance from the side was already oppressive and speechless.

However, for the young men who had accepted the Ming Emperor as their sovereign, they were not only not intimidated by these cavalry, but were very interested in the majestic armor and cloak of these cavalrymen, so soon people began to inquire how they should join this army.

And for the upper echelons of the tribe, when they saw this cavalry unit, their hearts were not joyful but a little panicked. If the previous emperor's reward to the various ministries was honey, then now these displays of force are a warning to them.

While the tribal leaders were deliberating how to renew their allegiance to the Emperor in order to break the Emperor's suspicion of them. They received an invitation to the Ming army to hold an artillery firing exercise on the morning of the fifth day of the Naadam Congress, and the emperor invited the heads of the tribes to visit.

Because it was a relatively destructive artillery fire, the exercise site could not be placed at the Naadam venue, which had a large number of people, but was placed in a hilly area across the river. Standing on the built city wall and standing by the river, you can see the artillery firing.

Zhu Youzhen and the clan leaders naturally wanted to stand on the city wall and see the entire environment of the exercise, while those ordinary herdsmen could only stand by the river and watch the artillery fire on the other bank to enjoy themselves.

It was about eight o'clock in the morning, and Chongzhen took the accompanying generals and leaders of various departments to climb the city wall. Before giving the order to open fire, Zhu Youzhen was still a little uneasy and asked Zhou Wei beside him: "Have you been sure about these artillery, *, shells and gunners?" I don't want to be made fun of them if something goes wrong. ”

Wednesday Wei replied very seriously: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty guarantees with your head that there will be no problems that will make Your Majesty unhappy." ”

Hearing Wednesday Wei say this, Zhu Youzhen's mood relaxed a little, but his relaxation did not last long.

A total of 12 artillery pieces participated in this artillery exercise, including 8 8-kilogram guns and 4 12-kilogram guns. Although after the establishment of the artillery system in the General Staff, the power of these guns has far exceeded that of the former Franc cannons.

But as far as artillery firing exercises are concerned, the performance of these guns is not very different from the performance of the Furlong cannons. Because after the solid bullet is out of the muzzle, if it is not aimed at humans or animals, it will only hit one or several pits on the ground.

If you are not a professional soldier who understands the power of artillery, the focus of ordinary people will only be on the sound and smoke that comes out of the moment you ignite the medicine pack and send the shells out.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen didn't actually expect the ordinary herdsmen on the other side of the river to understand the power of artillery, he just wanted these tribal leaders standing on the city wall to understand the power of artillery, so he also took the trouble to introduce the use of firearms to everyone.

The 12 guns were first divided into three salvos, followed by round-robin firing, which was normal at the beginning, just like the power of the artillery that Zhu Youzhen saw in the artillery foundry on the outskirts of Beijing.

But the last salvo, the distant riverside hills that were targeted, suddenly exploded with earth-shattering explosions, and the entire top of the hill was flattened.

Zhu Youzhen's eyebrows jumped, and he almost thought that a gun below had turned into a 240mm heavy * gun. He subconsciously looked at Wednesday beside him, the officer was obviously frightened by such a violent explosion, and it took a long time to react, and whispered to the emperor to plead guilty: "Your Majesty, it's all the minister's fault, the minister wants to make the artillery drill results look better, but I didn't expect to bury more..."

Zhu Youzhen suppressed his desire to get angry, first looked at the clan leaders on the city wall, and saw that they were still in a state of distraction when they opened their mouths one by one, and did not notice the conversation on his side, so he was a little relieved.

He raised his binoculars to see if there would be any traces left on the hills, but he accidentally found that the Mongols watching the exercise on the other side of the river were all prostrate on the ground, and there were lamas who kept walking around in the crowd, as if chanting sutras to ward off evil spirits.

Zhu Youzhen put down the binoculars, and had a decision in his heart, he whispered to Wednesday: "Deal with the whole thing, I don't want the deception to spread out, and tell everyone involved to shut up for me..."