After the heavy snowfall, the earth is white, the nearby mountains are covered in silver, each showing its strange state, the vast prairie has not seen a trace of green, this heavy snow has made the herdsmen and sheep here completely disappeared, in the past, in the grassland in the past, flocks of yellow sheep, red deer also hid back in the nest, everywhere is quiet, occasionally you can see the smoke of the sporadic rise in the distance, finally let this empty land still show a trace of vitality - what is unexpected is that In this area where the Karaqin people lived, some Han people and Mongols also built Bansheng houses and settled here to engage in farming, but no one would come out and walk around on such a cold day. The Luanhe River, which flows through this grassland and mountains, has long been quiet, and the river is covered with a thick layer of ice, and the ice is empty, only a few worn-out boats are frozen on the ice, and everything here is so quiet, as if frozen by ice and snow.

This silence was finally broken, a horse team suddenly appeared on the east bank of the river, the horse team looked for a while and began to carefully step on the ice to walk towards the west bank, the composition of this horse team is very messy, the team of more than three hundred camels and horses driven by the shepherd and without saddles are obviously here for the market, but this business is also too diligent, how can the horse market in the Ming Kingdom be opened after April, what are you rushing to do now? It's only late November! There are also more than a dozen lamas in red clothes and yellow hats in the ranks, which is not surprising, the caravans that travel far away are generally accompanied by strong bodyguards, and small groups of horse thieves dare not touch them, and the passers-by who travel far away are of course willing to go with them, and the caravans usually welcome these people to join, and it is naturally safer when there are more people. However, it was obviously wrong when they went out, the caravan should have set off after the beginning of spring, and the lamas should have sat on the hot kang in the temple at this time.

The horse team walked very carefully, everyone got off the horse and walked, two bodyguards looked like people with long sticks beating the ice to explore the way in front, while listening to the sound, while beckoning to the people behind them to follow, the horse team followed them slowly on the ice, after walking for a while, someone in the team got impatient, and a stout young man shouted: "When you are going to go like this, go to the side, I will lead the way in front." As he spoke, he pushed away the road-finding guard, held a spear in one hand, and strode forward with the other hand leading the horse.

"Monk, be careful!" A tall young man in the back reminded him that he was holding a long horse lance in one hand and an old lama in his fifties in the other.

"It's okay, this snow has been falling for four or five days in a row, and on such a cold day, the ice has already frozen to death, and the Khalkha people are not familiar with it, so you can follow me." Meng Ke replied nonchalantly.

The tall young man smiled and said to the old lama beside him: "This guy is good, he will be fine, Lama Yuerji, be careful not to slip, or I will carry you." ”

"Am I too old to walk? It's enough to have a big man like you to protect you, Derge, go and take care of your livestock, and don't follow me all the time. The old lama replied, waving his hand to let the middle-aged man who was running before and after running aside, but this man obviously didn't want to go, so he coped casually, and continued to follow the old lama's buttocks, and the young lamas around him glared at him very dissatisfied, this guy was scolding the old lama all the way, and when he crossed the river just now, he robbed them of their errands, and forced them to one side, and he had to wait for the old lama, but the old lama did not take his affection, but called the young man to his side. The lamas have seen it, this is clearly the old lama likes this young man, the two have walked together along the way, as if there is endless things to talk about, in fact, the lamas also like this young man, the young man is handsome, not to mention, but also loves to help people, along the way to explore the road, set up tents, find firewood are indispensable to him, the most happy thing is that he still has the ability to find prey in the cold weather, from time to time to bring back a few hares, pheasants to open meat.

This young man is, of course, Li Yu, he did not go smoothly out of the Ula Mountain, the west of the Ula Mountain is the territory of the Korqin people, both of them are not familiar with the road, and they walked forward with Hadari's dizziness, fortunately, they can all speak Mongolian, and they inquired all the way to the area of the Xilamulun River, and met the Khalkha people there into a mess - the Great Belle Daishan of the Jin Kingdom sent troops to recruit the Zarut people, and wiped out the Orzai Tubel of Zarut and his tribe without much effort, and casually cleaned up a few remnants of the Bahrain tribe, The hapless Khalkha people were ravaged again this year, and the big beyler had killed enough and robbed enough, and soon retreated, but the beaten Zarut and the fish that slipped through the net of the Bahrain tribe began to hang out on the grassland - this group of hungry and faint lost dogs turned into thieves and robbed everywhere on the grassland, Li Yu and Meng Ke were naturally not afraid, with their skills and equipment armed to the teeth, it would be good not to bully others, but someone would definitely be unlucky, just like the Khalkha merchant Derge they met, this guy was almost cornered.

Since the beginning of the war in Liaodong, the demand for war horses and livestock in the Ming Kingdom has increased greatly, and the Mongolian princes have taken this opportunity to make a profit, this Dege is a livestock dealer who runs in the Ming horse market all the year round, he is a Trans-Khalkha from Mobei - Dayan Khan once held down the pastureland, and divided the twelve tribes of Khalkha into Hedong and Hexi with the Khalkha River as the boundary, and handed them over to their two sons to rule, of which the five Hedong tribes gradually moved south to the area of the West Lamulun River to become the Inner Khalkha Department, attached to the Chahar Mongol Khan, The seven tribes of Hexi remained in place to become the Trans-Khalkha Department, which has now been divided into three major areas led by the Chechen Khan, Tushetu Khan and Zasaktu Khan, and the Mobei Trans-Khalkha Department is poorer than the Mongol tribes in Southern Mo, except for livestock and sheep, there is almost nothing, and the iron, cloth, tea and most importantly grain necessary for life have to be exchanged with livestock, so the horse market of the Ming Kingdom is very important to them, and the Khalkhas, including the three Khans of Trans-Khalkha, will never let go of the opportunity of this kind of transaction, They have borrowed their compatriots to exchange markets with the Ming Kingdom.

In addition to doing business for himself, Derg also has to help Zasaktu Khan do some business, last winter Outer Khalkha suffered severe cold and heavy snowstorms, frozen to death a lot of livestock, which made the Outer Khalkha people suffer heavy losses, this year Derg came up with a way, simply do not stay in Outer Khalkha in winter, drive the livestock to the slightly warmer Sila Mulun River pasture for the winter, those Inner Khalkha departments are always embarrassed to be embarrassed to come from afar for the fellow villagers, so that you can also catch a morning market after the beginning of spring, Zasaktu Khan is very supportive of this idea, He also prepared a special gift for him to bring to the chiefs of the Inner Khalkha tribes, so that Derg set out with his cattle in mid-September.

But Derge didn't expect that he had worked hard to get to the Xilamulun River, just in the middle of the war, at this time everyone was running for their lives, no one could take care of him as a fellow countryman, Derge had to follow the east to hide in Tibet, and finally looked forward to the Jin soldiers leaving, the scattered guerrillas began to rob again, Derge was soon targeted by the robbers, a large group of people surrounded Derge and beat them hard, Derge invited several bodyguards to die, just Li Yu passed by, he and Meng Ke shot a few leading guys, and the other robbers saw that the situation was not good and scattered.

As soon as Derge got out of danger, he immediately entangled Li Yu and didn't let go, this was his life-saving straw, he also understood, Xilamulun River can't stay, there are soldiers and chaos everywhere, who still thinks that you are a fellow countryman, the next time you may not even be able to keep people and livestock, he wants to continue to go south, and go to the cattle dealer he knows in the south to spend the winter, but he doesn't dare to go by himself, to the south is the territory of the Karaqin people, the Karaqin people are composed of two major tribes, mainly Yongshao Bu people, and the Duoyan people who migrated from the Taoer River outside the eastern border of Liao- Duoyan people began to move south to join the Yongshao Bu people in the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, and the two have been mixed and assimilated for a long time to form the current Karaqin people, unlike the more disciplined Tumut people, the Karaqin people are so poor that they are more keen on killing people and robbing, plus they are in the south and Zhangjiakou Fort City, some of them can be robbed, so there are more horse thieves who come out, and they are also more fierce. After this escape, Derg no longer had hope in his own group of bodyguards, so he counted on the two young men in front of him to help him, these two people were like gods to him, he had already seen the skills, the two of them had superb riding and archery skills, and their outfits were even more unusual, they all had excellent iron armor, bows and arrows, riding spears, and short knives, and each person had two war horses, and even the children around him had real bows and arrows in their hands instead of toys.

"With these two strong hands to protect you, you should be able to drive those poor Karaqin ghosts away." Thinking like this, Derge began to sweetly pull Li Yu into the gang, don't you know the way? Follow me, I have to run the horse market almost every year, and I know this place better than my hometown; Aren't you worried about the Chahars blocking you? Follow me, I have the clearance token of Khalkha Zasaktu Khan, and the Chahars also have to give face! Aren't you worried about the rations and forage on the road, come with me, I've got it all, and I can give you some honorarium.

Li Yu was moved, so they joined Derge's caravan, in the following journey, everyone took care of each other, it was indeed much smoother, the bodyguards who had been beaten had two strong hands to support them, and suddenly became bolder, and after following Li Yu and Meng Ke to defeat several bandit gangs composed of guerrilla soldiers in a row, no one dared to provoke them anymore.

When passing by the territory of the Chahar people, they did not encounter trouble, Derge's customs clearance token still worked, although Chahar Khan and the Mongol tribes of Southern Mo have long turned their faces, but it is too far away from the Trans-Khalkha tribes of Mobei, Chahar Khan, who governs the whole of Mongolia, is not bothered to manage the Outer Khalkha tribes at all, but the two can do well water without river water, and the Zasaktu Khan of Trans-Khalkha They are all descendants of Dayan Khan like Chahar Khan, and the Chahar people will not have nothing to do to make trouble for themselves. The sharp-eyed Chahar people also recognized the horse lance in Li Yu's hand and the bow that Meng Ke was carrying - Li Yu was used to the strong bow given to him by the old Khan, and the bow of the Chahar Bayara officer who originally used it was used by Meng Ke to make it, this horse lance and bow are the weapons used by the iron lance Konot, the iron lance of the Chahar Chinese army, which is very well made, far from being comparable to the weapons in the hands of ordinary Chahar soldiers, and the Chahar people guess that these two people may be from the side of the Great Khan, since this is the case, it is even more difficult for these people, with this thought, The Chahars not only did not trouble them, but also made it as convenient as possible for them.

Originally, everything was going well, the caravan should have quickened up and rushed as much as possible before the heavy snow, but Derge himself delayed the time, and in the west of Ulan Hada (now the area of Chifeng) they met the Gurji Lama and his party, if it was an ordinary lama, Derge probably pretended not to see it, and he didn't care about others, no matter what kind of Cuierji Lama he was - Gurji Lama means Guru in Mongolian, and only a very small number of lamas who are proficient in Buddhism and highly respected will receive the title of "Gurji". According to the rules set by Altan Khan and the Mongolian princes, the Queerji Lama has a high status and enjoys a special reputation equivalent to that of the Mongolian Hongtaiji, so there are few Quirki Lamas in Mongolia during the time of Altan Khan, but with the infiltration of the Yellow Sect into various tribes in Mongolia, Taiji, Noyan and the Yellow Lama cooperate closely and praise each other, and the honorable titles of Mongolia's "Khan" and "Baturu" are casually thrown to their donors by the lamas, and those who have obtained the honorific title of Taiji and Noyan also add "Qiuerji" to the lamas in turn , "Kabuchu" honorific title, both sides are very happy, but the big and small Khan on the grassland, Baturu has since grabbed a handful, and even some lords who only have dozens of households have also turned into sweat, the same is true for lamas, Leng Buding may have the honorific title of "Qiuerji" wherever he emerges, and the consequence of indiscriminately issuing honorific titles is that the honorific titles are becoming less and less valuable, and the lamas are in their own nests, these honorific titles are still a little useful, and no one recognizes them when they go out, and businessmen like Derge who go south and north will not take these lamas seriously.

Derge met this group of lamas and wanted to leave, but when he saw the lama's flag with the words Kuku and Tun Dazhao Monastery Erji Lama, his heart moved and inquired, and when he asked, he knew that this Gurji Lama was not an ordinary person, he was sitting on the bed in Dazhao Temple, when he was young, he went south and north, jumping up and down Khalkha businessman Derge immediately knew that he had met a nobleman, this great lama is not an ordinary person, he was originally the grandson of Tumut Altan Khan, ordained to Tibet since childhood, and was taught by the third ** Lama Sonam Gyatso, after the death of the third ** Lama, he accepted the invitation of the local government and senior monks of the Ming Kingdom, went to the northwest of the Ming Kingdom to preach the scriptures, and also studied Buddhism with the Han lamas in Wutai Mountain, Shanxi, the fourth ** Lama Yundan Gyatso - the great-grandson of Altan Khan, because he was recognized by the Mongolian prince as the reincarnation of the third ** lama and was supported, when he sent the Living Buddha of Maidali to the Mongolian region to sit on the bed and preach the scriptures, he specially designated this uncle of his own generation of the Gurji Lama to assist the Living Buddha of Maidari, His actual status among the Yellow Lamas in Mongolia is second only to the Living Buddha of Maidari, who has the honorific title of "Great Ci Nuomenhan". Now when the Chahar Khan ascended the throne, the Gurji Lama had accompanied the Living Buddha of Maidali to congratulate him, and awarded the Chahar Khan who was only thirteen years old at the time the title of "Khutukturindan Khan", at that time he and the power of the Living Buddha of Maidari reached its peak for a while, but the good times did not last long, as he grew older, Chahar Khan could no longer tolerate the Yellow Sect, which was growing more and more powerful and colluded with the leaders of various tribes to threaten his power, so Chahar Khan introduced the power of the Red Religion in Tibet, and excluded and suppressed the Yellow Lama, The Living Buddha of Maidali couldn't stay in Monan, and he went to the Khalkha people in Mobei to preach the scriptures, and now the highest status of the Yellow Sect Lama in Monan is this Erji Lama, and the Dazhao Temple, which was originally sat by the Living Buddha of Madari, was also changed to sit on the bed by him. Although Chahar Khan has severely defeated the power of the Yellow Sect, the Yellow Lama still has strength in various tribes in Mongolia, especially this Queerji Lama, his position in the 30,000 households of Tumut, Yongshaobu and Ordos on the right wing of Mongol in southern Mongolia is almost unshakable, and when the Mongolian tribes call other Gurji Lamas, they must add his tribe and real name in front of their honorific titles, and only this great lama is called "Cerji Lama", as if he is the only Urji Lama on the grassland, Over time, his real name was forgotten.

Derge has no interest in Lamaism, to be precise, he doesn't take any gods seriously, he doesn't care whether he is reincarnated as a donkey or a horse in the future, he just wants to earn money quickly, but this Erji Lama has too much influence, even the Shunyi King of Tumut, Boshuo Ketu Khan, is his grandchildren, he talks and stomps his feet in the 30,000 households on the right wing, and God has eyes for him to meet a nobleman, so don't hurry up! Ordos, Fengzhouchuan, and Karaqin, which are occupied by 30,000 right-wing households, all border with the Ming State, and all have a pass to exchange markets with the Ming State.

After making up his mind, Derge entangled with the Gurji Lama, and wanted to accompany the Zara Lama to death, claiming that he was the most staunch believer of the Yellow Sect, and when he met the respected Zarji Lama, he would feel guilty for the rest of his life if he did not wait for protection and listen to the teachings. In the face of such devout believers, the Lama had no choice but to agree to go along, and the number of their group of lamas was indeed too small, and it was not easy to deal with horse thieves and bandits who did not believe in Buddhism.

The ranks of the caravan expanded, but the speed of walking with this group of procrastinating lamas immediately slowed down, Derge this guy in order to get close to the Gurji Lama, he had to listen to the Cerji Lama's lectures, not only did he have to listen respectfully, but also pulled his subordinates and Li Yu and them to cheer together, to be honest, since Derge's gang dared to break through, none of them were rules people, and it was pure nonsense to let them listen to the scriptures, Derge tried his best to make a look of understanding but he just pretended not to be, but yawned instead, The Lama quickly saw that lecturing with these people was playing the harp to the cow, and simply talked nonsense with them.

The Qiuerji Lama, who had a good relationship with Chahar Khan, was entrusted by the leaders of the 30,000 households on the right wing of the right wing to go to Chahar Khan's old nest as a lobbyist in Chakhar Khan, intending to reconcile the tense relationship between the two sides with Chahar Khan.

Chahar Khan is really unable to support it, his subordinate Korqin Department completely got on the ship of the Jin State, and the most powerful Khalkha Department was beaten by the Jin State twice in April and October this year, and was already dying, the remnants of the Khalkha and the eight Etoks directly under the Chahar did not have the courage to fight with the Jin army, but in view of the lessons of Chahar Khan's killing of Uziyet's "old fried flowers" and annexation of the Uziyat Department, they guarded Chahar Khan like a thief - Chahar Khan was too much, after annexing the Uziyat Department, He also ate some tribes of the Bayute tribe and the Wengjira tribe into his stomach, which was too chilling, and some people began to think about the way back, and secretly contacted the Jin country, and the people of the Chahar tribes were scattered, and the Chahar Khan became more and more out of control of his own people.

Chahar's ally Ming Guo sent people to Chahanhot to hook up with Chahar Khan, and raised the annual reward to Chahar from 4,000 taels to more than 10,000 taels, and asked Chahar to send troops to help the Ming army fight against Jin, but Ming was really not happy enough, Chahar was about to be unable to open the pot, and the money promised by Ming was dragged and not given, so the two families continued to argue, Chahar Khan would never send troops if he couldn't get the money, and Ming Guo adopted the attitude of "rewarding the soldiers, and not helping them", and he would never pay for the troops if he didn't see Chahar sending troops.

The impoverished Chahar Khan hit the idea to the right-wing 30,000 households again, and began to find trouble with the right-wing 30,000 households, the Ming State established a mutual market relationship with the right-wing 30,000 households in the fourth year of Longqing, and the 45th year of Wanli also established a mutual market relationship with the 30,000 households of the left wing under the command of Chahar, and every year the Mongolian ministries paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty gave the Mongolian ministries and city rewards, and now the annual market reward reached 380,000 taels of silver, and the money was distributed by the Mongolian departments participating in the mutual market, and Tumut's Boshuo Ketu Khan made the most, His family got 110,000 taels of silver, and the Karaqin tribes together also had 180,000 taels, and there were too many left-wing tribes who reached out to ask for money, and it was only 120,000 taels in the hands of Chahar Khan, but the left-wing departments, including Chahar, since Liaodong was occupied by the Jin State, the original Kaiyuan and Guangning horse markets were gone, and they couldn't find a place to pay tribute to the horses, and of course the Ming Kingdom would not give them a penny of silver, and Chahar Khan also thought about going to Zhangjiakou Fort to participate in the mutual market, and how much money came back, but the Karaqin people were too violent, and they didn't let the Chahar people earn a penny of silver. Directly killed the Chahar people who went to the mutual market, and the cattle they brought were also robbed, Chahar Khan couldn't bear it, and directly notified the 30,000 households on the right wing, either to hand over all the city rewards, or everyone to see them on the battlefield, and then the 30,000 households on the right wing were a little weak-hearted, they were used to living a good life, and they were really afraid to fight, so they sent the respected Yuerji Lama to talk to Chahar Khan.

However, it was not a good time for the Zarji to come, and the little Taiji Turji of the Alakyut Division, one of the Otok tribes directly under Chahar, had just defected to the Jin State with more than 100 households, and Chahar Khan was angry, and he immediately became furious when he saw the Lama of Urak.