The winter of the seventh year of the Apocalypse was a very disastrous season for the Karaqin Tribe. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

In fact, every winter, the herdsmen in the Mongolian steppe have a hard time, drought and severe cold cause a large number of pasture grasses to die prematurely, and when winter comes, herds of cattle and sheep are frozen to death and starved to death.

As a barrier between the Chahar Department and the Ming Dynasty, at this time, Karaqin can always be left and right, not only to get financial support from the Ming Dynasty, but also to get Lin Dan Khan's wooing and reward from time to time.

But in the winter of the seventh year of the Apocalypse, Yuan Chonghuan, who originally advocated uniting the Eastern Mongolian tribes to jointly resist the Jin, stepped down, and Lin Dan Khan, who was quite good to Karaqin, was also defeated by the Later Jin army and moved westward.

The Ao Han and Naiman tribes in the north betrayed Lin Dan Khan of the Chahar Mongols and completely fell to the Later Jin, and on the surface they were even considered enemies of Karaqin. And the Ming Dynasty in the south has now changed its new emperor, and is busy with political infighting and purges, and has no time to take care of the north.

Karaqintai Jibul Hatu, who has always liked speculation, suddenly ran out of ideas, and didn't know whether to follow other Dongmeng tribes to take refuge in Houjinhao, or whether they should stick to the route of more than 100 years and continue to follow the Ming Dynasty to eat and drink.

The reason why he was so hesitant was because Karaqin was not as far away from the Ming border walls as the tribes further north. Once Karaqin chooses to completely surrender to Houjin, then on the one hand, it is likely that he will have to act as cannon fodder for Houjin to attack the Ming Dynasty. On the other hand, because Karaqin guarded the north gate of the Ming Dynasty, it was too close to Jizhen and Xuanfu in the Ming Dynasty, once it deviated from the Ming Dynasty, it was likely to be the first to be attacked in retaliation. And Qi Jiguang, the chief soldier of Jizhen back then, also left them with indelible painful memories.

Even if today's Ming border army has long lost the sharpness and strength of the past, it is still possible to destroy Karaqin, after all, the entire Karaqin Department is now only 30,000 or 40,000 people, plus other small tribes attached to Karaqin, the young and strong cavalry who can fight on horseback is only six or seven thousand.

Therefore, Burhatu had to be cautious and deliberate, and in the face of the persuasion of the Ao Han tribe, on the one hand, he continued to maintain ambiguous contact with him, and on the other hand, he sent a small tribe attached to him to continue to ask for food and rewards from the Jiliao Governor's Mansion. If Da Ming didn't care about himself at all, then in order to get through the current difficulties, he had no choice but to take refuge in Houjin.

However, the news from Fried Flowers and Guiying shows that the Ming Dynasty still attaches great importance to the requirements of the Karaqin Department, and wants to send people to visit and express condolences in person, not only with a large number of rewards, but also ready to set up a field to open a border exchange market with the Eastern Mongolian Ministry.

While Burhatu was anxiously waiting, Chen Renxi and his men and horses had already arrived at the Naiman Department and the Ao Han Department, and now they were on their way south to Karaqin.

Chen Renxi did not go to Horqin, because Horqin was already a die-hard of Houjin, but he still had illusions about the Naiman and Ao Han tribes. After all, these tribes were all under the command of Lin Dan Khan, and they once followed Lin Dan Khan, cooperated with the Ming army, and fought against the Houjin.

But when he took his men and horses to the big tent of the Naiman Department and the Ao Han Department successively, the attitude of the leaders of the two tribes towards him was vain, neither hot nor cold, which made him feel a trace of danger, and when he found an opportunity, he left in a hurry without saying goodbye.

Wang Zhenyuan and Chen Guowei were not only the warriors of Ningyuan City, but also the wealthy merchants of Ningyuan City, who specialized in the trade of grain and leather goods between Western Liaoning and Eastern Mongolia during the honeymoon period between Lin Dan Khan and the Ming Dynasty. They were very sensitive to the changes in power in the Xilamulun River valley, and they were also very familiar with the intricate relations between the Eastern Mongolian tribes.

This exploration also basically proved their previous judgment, Naiman and Ao Han and the tribes further north not only betrayed Lin Dan Khan, but also turned away from the Ming Dynasty, and now they have taken refuge in Houjin. This is definitely a very red flag.

On the 10th day of the first month of March, Chen Renxi, who had been running around the Eastern Mongolian grassland outside the western border wall of Liaoning for almost a month, finally took Cao Wenzhao and others through the Nuruer Tiger Mountain and entered a more open steppe. This place is the southern area of Chifeng in later generations.

Soon after the group entered the Karaqin grassland, a group of more than 100 cavalry appeared on the distant horizon, galloped towards them, and finally stopped at a hundred paces away.

These more than 100 knights, holding scimitars of different shapes in their hands, were dressed in dirty and tattered clothes, and were said to be iron-armoured, most of them did not even have leather armor, and only some of the knights had saddles on horseback.

Chen Renxi ordered to stop, and after a while, two horsemen came out of the opposing cavalry, and said a call, Chen Renxi and Cao Wenzhao of course couldn't understand it, but Wang Zhenyuan and Chen Guowei around him all knew Mongolian, at least the Mongolian language commonly used in all parts of Eastern Mongolia, they could understand and communicate smoothly.

Wang Zhenyuan said to Chen Renxi: "The man who came out from the other party claimed to be the leader of this cavalry, named Qinggeltai, and asked us who we were and what we were doing here. ”

Chen Renxi then asked Wang Zhenyuan to bring someone to negotiate and explain his intentions. After a while, Wang Zhenyuan came back and said that he had made his intention clear to the other party, but he needed to wait for the other party to report back to Taiji before deciding on the next move.

The group waited in place for an hour or so, and the person sent out by the other party to report finally returned.

The man, named Qinggeltai, made another call, and then turned around and galloped west with his knights. Wang Zhenyuan said: "They have reported to Burhatutaiji, confirmed that we are friends of Karaqin, and asked us to follow him." ”

Chen Renxi looked at Cao Wenzhao with an inquiring gaze, and Cao Wenzhao nodded. So Chen Renxi led the group and followed the back of the Karaqin rangers and ran to the depths of the grassland. After more than half an hour, after walking for about twenty or thirty miles, I finally saw a series of yurts after turning over a small hill, which was the big tent station of Jibul Hatu in Karaqintai.

Chen Renxi and his party followed Qinggeltai down the hill to the edge of the depression where the yurt was located, and saw a group of people waiting in the distance surrounded by a man in a fur hat and dressed in gorgeous clothes.

Chen Renxi knew that it was Taiji Burhatu of Karaqin, so he drank everyone, dismounted from a distance, walked over, stood still at a distance of more than ten steps, and arched his hand and said: "Chen Renxi, the imperial history of the Ming Liaodong Town Supervisor, came to visit Burhatu Taiji. ”

Wang Zhenyuan, who was accompanying him, hurriedly translated. I saw that the man in brocade clothes who was surrounded by his entourage in the middle like the stars holding the moon set aside the entourage beside him, took a few steps forward, and said in Chinese with correct words: "I am the Taiji Burhatu of Karaqin, Lord Chen has worked hard from afar, if you can trust my loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, please follow me to the big tent to meet and talk." ”

Chen Renxi was also happy when he heard that the other party could speak official words, nodded to Cao Wenzhao, and then took Wang Zhenyuan, Chen Guowei, and Hu Yikui, the official of the hundred households of Jinyi Wei, who had been accompanying him since he went to Liaodong, and followed Burhatu to the big tent in the center of the camp.

The camp was littered with mud and sewage from melting snow and ice, as well as human and animal manure, dilapidated yurts, unkempt herdsmen, and scrawny cattle and sheep in the enclosures, all of which showed the poverty of Karaqin today.

However, the poverty of the Karaqin herdsmen does not seem to affect the luxurious life of Burhatu Taiji, and when they enter the big tent of Burhatu deliberations, the furnishings inside are very luxurious, in the middle is a large fire pond, and on the opposite side of the entrance of the big tent is a couch decorated with tiger skin, and on the east and west sides of the fire pond, there is also a row of Ming-style seats covered with deerskin, and the ground is also covered with deerskin, and under the deerskin is a layer of thick wooden planks, and the big tent is surrounded by bows and arrows and scimitars.

Although there was an unpleasant smell everywhere, Chen Renxi still sat down in the first position on the left hand in the big tent according to the rules, and Wang Zhenyuan, Chen Guowei, and Hu Yikui stood behind him.

After the two sides sat down, Burhatu said: "I heard that Lord Chen is the Tanhualang of the Ming Dynasty, and when he came to my big tent today, the Karaqin Department can be regarded as stained with the light of Wenqu Xing, which can be called a flourishing flower." ”

Chen Renxi said: "Taiji is polite, although I am a Tanhua, but there are countless people like me in the Ming Dynasty, and a Tanhua is nothing." Today was ordered to come to Karaqin to visit Taiji, in fact, because before your tribe fried flowers, Guiying and other tribes knocked on the side to ask for rewards, please open the market, your ministry reported that the winter grassland snow disaster was serious, the difficulties of the departments are abnormal, the imperial court sent me to visit and condole, if the disaster is true, the imperial court will never sit idly by, since the money and food, to give relief. ”

After hearing this, Burhatu looked at the other old man standing behind him, and said, "This is the wisest Bilegnayan in Karaqin, and he knows the disaster in Karaqin best, so let him tell your envoy." ”

The old man in the felt robe standing behind Burhatu bowed his body and said in official dialect: "Tanhualang of the Ming Dynasty, you are a wise person, and now you have come to my Karaqin, and you have seen everything you should see along the way." Since the spring and summer of last year, there has been no rain on the grassland for several months, all the pastures have died, and after the winter, there is a white plague that has not been seen for decades, and the slaves and livestock of all departments have frozen to death.

"It has been a hundred years since I returned to His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and for more than a hundred years, His Majesty the Emperor has been rewarded with money and food for all white disasters. Now sending people to knock on the side to ask for rewards is to abide by the convention, and I hope that Tanhualang will truthfully tell His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty that he will give money and food as soon as possible to help Karaqin survive the spring famine. If this is the case, the Karaqin tribes will inevitably be loyal to His Majesty the Ming Emperor, and there will be no two hearts. ”

The information revealed in this Bileg words is very rich, if the Ming Dynasty gives money and food, Karaqin will be dependent on the Ming Dynasty, if it is not given money and no food, then Karaqin will have to consider whether to continue to rely on the Ming Dynasty.