By mid-September, the grass on the grasslands had withered, and the herders could no longer graze their cattle as they had in spring and summer, and now they were more likely to hunt around, shooting all the wild animals they could see, and surviving the long winter season with these harvests and the previous grazing results. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Ti Lao Mo was one of the many herders who hunted everywhere, and with him were several young men from the ministry. They walked slowly, their eyes swept over the surrounding grass like falcons to shoot arrows, and whispered gossip to make the hunt that lasted so long a little more interesting.

Just as they noticed a hare not far away, and at the same time shot it with an arrow, one of the companions pointed to the convoy that was faintly approaching ahead and said, "Who is that?" ”

Ti Lao Mo looked up and saw a convoy of hundreds of people slowly coming in his direction. Although the two sides were still far apart, he could still feel the pressure of the team. This was not only because of their large numbers, but also because of the extremely strong unity and coordination of the cavalry around the convoy.

At a glance, you can see that the convoy is surrounded by sturdy knights on horseback, hundreds of knights no matter where they are, their eyes are always scanning the surroundings, and their forward speed is almost the same, always protecting the carts full of goods in the middle, so that people dare not have any contempt. Moreover, these knights were still wearing fine armor that was extremely rare in the grassland, and I was afraid that even the most powerful archers could not be sure that they could shoot through their bodies with an arrow.

"These people are ......" someone next to him looked at the convoy in front of him curiously, with a hint of greed in his eyes. For he had seen what was on board in some of the carts—brand-new iron pots, sacks of grain and salt...... These things alone are enough to make many tribes on the grassland red-eyed.

Ti Lao Mo glanced at this companion and said in a tone of admonition: "You'd better not even have the idea of beating them, otherwise it will only bring us endless trouble." ”

"Of course I know, looking at the posture of these guys, it's obviously not easy to mess with. How dare we fight their ideas? ”

"I'm not referring to how many escorts they have, but the forces behind them."

"Huh? Do you know whose good stuff these good things belong to? ”

"If my guess is correct, these are all gifts from the Ming people to the Chahar Ministry. In the past few years, at this time of year, they have sent a batch of gifts to the Chahars, and this year will obviously be no exception. ”

"Was it a Chahar?" A companion sighed with envy: "They are almost the most powerful and wealthy tribe on our grassland, and with the big backer of the Ming Kingdom, I'm afraid it won't be long before the big brain can replace me." ”

"It's hard to say, but these good things are real." Ti Lao Mo also glanced at those things with some envy again, and then rode past the convoy that had come to the front, not daring to stop for the slightest, as if he was afraid of arousing the suspicion of the other party.

Passing by these herdsmen, Jiang Hao, who was sitting on the horse, unconsciously showed a disdainful chuckle on the corner of his mouth. Since entering the grassland, he has seen countless herders who have developed envy for the goods in the cart behind them, but none of them dare to come close, let alone rob them. Because these herdsmen know where these goods are going, and if they rob them, not to mention that these guards are not easy for them to defeat, even the Chahar tribe will not spare them.

It's just that this way, the journey is too boring. Jiang Hao, as the most powerful foreign steward of the Li family in Taiyuan, originally did not need him to go out personally for this kind of errand to send things, but this time the Li family and several other major families in Shanxi wanted to ask the Chahar Department to send troops to help, so he was the foreign steward who was very measured in his work and brought things in. This is partly to befriend the Chahars, and partly to convince them to do things for themselves as much as possible.

Thinking of this, Jiang Hao's mouth showed a contemptuous smile again, this court is really too incompetent. It's been nearly half a year, but they still don't have much to do with the rebels. Those rebels didn't know who they had helped, so they hid in the foothills of Taihang Mountain, leaving the Shanxi officials and soldiers who were only good at defending at a loss, let alone suppressing them, and it was very difficult to find them.

In desperation, the governor Liu Yingji thought of asking the Tatars who were good at attacking to help, hoping to use their hands to eliminate the rebels. However, the government did not have so much face to mobilize the Mongols, and in the end, several major families could only come forward and ask the Chahar people to send troops on their behalf. Of course, the cost of this dispatch of troops will inevitably be expensive, and presumably with a big brainy shrewdness will not fail to see the benefits.

"Shen Jie, how far are we from the Chahar Ministry? Why did you only see herdsmen in twos and threes along the way, but you didn't see any larger tribes? Could it be that they moved somewhere else and you don't know where? After another journey, Jiang Hao looked at the sun that was gradually sinking in the distance, turned around and asked. He knew that the grassland tribes had the habit of living in pursuit of water and grass, and once the original grass and trees were sparse and the water source was insufficient, they would move the tribe to other places to continue their lives.

A slightly wealthy man hurriedly stepped forward and replied, "If you go back to the chief, we will travel for about a day or two, and we will be able to reach the foothold of the Chahar Department." At least this year and next, their tribe will not migrate to other places, as Brain Mao told me at the time. And if they do move elsewhere, they will definitely bring us a letter, and they know that we will bring things here at this time. ”

"Hmm." Jiang Hao nodded approvingly, and then continued to hurry up with the people, hoping to get to the place earlier and go back after completing the errand. To be honest, during the period of entering the grassland, he really felt a little unaccustomed, especially the inability to bathe due to insufficient water sources, which made him often itchy and uncomfortable.

After more than a day's journey, in the distance, they could see a large stretch of tents. From a distance, these tents look like a large patch of mushrooms growing on a withered yellow meadow.

"Chief, ahead is the headquarters of the Chahar Ministry." As Shen Jie spoke, there was already a hint of relaxation in his expression. If something really went wrong and he couldn't find out exactly where the Chahar Ministry was, he would be guilty of a lot.

Jiang Hao actually didn't need him to say that he already knew that he was there, so he also smiled: "Thank you for your hard work, wait for the things to be handed over to them, and then finish the matter, and then we will go home." This time the work has been done, and everyone has done a great job, and your reward is indispensable. ”

The knights, who had been on guard all the way, fearing that the uncivilized herdsmen would rob the cart because they coveted the goods on it, showed a relaxed smile on their faces, and said words of thanks, and at the same time urged their horses forward with a much faster speed.

But just as they were gradually approaching the Chahar tribe's settlement and were about to enter, Shen Jie's expression was stiff, and he hurriedly shouted: "Everyone slow down." ”

"Huh?" Jiang Hao and the others were stunned when they heard this, but they still subconsciously stopped their horses and looked at him, wanting to hear what he thought.

Shen Jie's fat face looked a little dignified at the moment, and his eyes flashed with worry: "There is something wrong here, there used to be a lot of herdsmen in this area, why are there no half of them here today, only a few cattle and sheep are grazing." ”

was reminded by him like this, and everyone immediately noticed that the situation was different. It was noon, and there was no smoke rising from the tribe, and if you looked closely, there was no figure walking around, as if the camp had been empty.

An uneasy mood quickly spread in the hearts of everyone, and many people hesitated, not knowing whether to lean over or not. I don't know what's going on inside the Chahar Ministry, everything seems a little weird.

After a long time, Jiang Hao made a decision: "Jia Lao Liu, you take the two brothers to lean over and take a look, remember to be careful." ”

Although the knight whose name was named was also hairy, since he was doing this business, he could only bite the bullet. So he casually ordered the two brothers, then drew his knife in his hand, and rode quickly towards the Chahar garrison, which was three or five miles away.

As for the others, they were also busy setting up in a defensive circle, in case someone and the enemy appeared at this time.

Jia Lao Liu and the others moved quickly, and in a blink of an eye, they had rushed into the seemingly empty Chahar station, and after entering it, the expressions of several people became even more ugly. There was no one here, but there was a familiar smell wafting through the air, it was blood.

"Not good!" Jia Lao Liu is worthy of being a person who has been walking on the grassland for a long time, and he has already sensed the danger at that time, and he hurriedly turned his horse and walked back. But before he could turn his horse's head back, a cold arrow from a tent not far away had been driven into his throat.

And after this cold arrow, dozens of arrows rained down on the knights in all directions. Although these knights also had a wealth of combat experience and had fought many fierce enemies, there was never a situation like this today when they were shot head-on without even seeing the enemy's face. Suddenly, they were in a hurry and fell off their horses, and they couldn't even make a parrying move.

At the same time, Jiang Hao and the others, who were outside the camp, had also seen this amazing scene. Jiang Hao deserved to be the person entrusted with the important task by the Li family, and when he saw that the situation was wrong, he hurriedly ordered: "Go, leave here quickly!" ”

But it was too late, and there was a sudden sound of horses' hooves on their left and right, and the two cavalry teams shouted as if they were descending from the sky......