"Thank you, Great Khan!" Ahmat sat down on a sheepskin and crossed his legs, trying to make himself comfortable. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info Shuolei smiled and waited for Ahmat to sit down: "Say, what does Liu Cheng want to do, and what can I get from it?" ”

Ahmat looked at the other party's face, and finally decided to test it first: "My lord hopes to open up a trade route to the Jurchens in the East China Sea, you know that since the Jurchens and the Ming Kingdom started a war, Liaodong goods such as fur fur and ginseng have been cut off, and the price is ridiculously high!" ”

"Hahahaha!" Shuo Lei bared his teeth and gave Ahmat a rather hideous smile: "Don't say stupid things, Liu Cheng is willing to give me bird guns and gunpowder for fur and ginseng?" Do you think I'd be stupid enough to believe a lie like yours? Truth be told, if you want something from me, you should trade it for something, not a lie! ”

Ahmat lowered his head, trying to avoid Shuo Lei's gaze, he wondered what would happen if he revealed Liu Cheng's plan and discernment. Is it possible for Shuo Lei to tie himself up and hand it over to the Jurchens? This is unlikely, after all, Huang Taiji can't get any benefits, compared to what Liu Cheng can give, but what he needs to do is much less.

"Okay, Lord Jinong is planning to instigate a rebellion against the Jin Kingdom in the Jurchens of the East China Sea, and I went there this time to open a road!"

"Rebellion? Road? This time it sounds more like the truth! Shuo Lei looked Ahmat up and down, and suddenly laughed: "Merchant, I really can't understand your behavior. You can find a mirror to look at yourself: your hair is gray, you have rings on your ten fingers, gold and silver, and you are full of precious stones, you are dressed in the finest furs, you have a belly as big as a pregnant woman, and you will be tired from walking thirty miles on the best horses and camels. Tell me, why are you taking such a big risk for that Liu Cheng? For money? You're not short of money, don't tell me you don't know what kind of guys those brutes are, compared to them, my people are just a bunch of showmen, and if you're unlucky, you'll be sliced and made into their dinner! ”

Ahmat hesitated for a moment and said with a smile: "Great Khan, let's put it this way, we merchants are afraid of danger, but we are even more afraid of not being able to make money, Lord Jinong has given me a chance to monopolize a trade route to an unknown land, which means a river flowing with gold." Yes, I am rich, but I have four wives, fifteen sons, and more than a hundred grandchildren, and I want each of them to live a prosperous life! ”

"Fifteen sons, more than a hundred grandchildren?" Shuo Lei laughed: "That's a good reason, say, what am I going to do according to the agreement, what can I get?" ”

"Allow our caravans to pass through your lands and make sure they are not attacked by your men!" Ahmat's voice was not loud, he did not want to be heard by the people outside the tent: "And you can send two caravans to Naturalization City every year, where you can trade and tax free, and you can buy so many firearms every time at a price twenty percent lower than the market price." ”

"Can you buy so much every time?" Shuo Lei's eyes lit up, since last year's war, although the losses of the Chechen Department were not large, and Liu Cheng's army quickly retreated to Monan, but the balance of Mobei was still slowly tilting towards Chechen Taiji. The reason is very simple, Chechen Taiji was able to obtain firearms from Liu Cheng's side, even if the Mobei tribes were more inclined to Shuolei Khan culturally and emotionally, but no one wanted to stand on the side of the loser, it is not difficult to imagine that unless he took refuge in the Jurchens, the only way to die was waiting for Shuolei Khan.

When Ahmat came out of his tent, he noticed that it was beginning to rain in the sky, which was a rare time for the late spring grasslands. He looked at the grassland in the distance, and as the wind grew stronger, the grass waves were rolling, and the rain hit his head and flowed down his neck into his underwear, making him shiver.

"You must go back to your tent at once and make a fire, or you will definitely get sick!" Ahmat said to himself, he made the way, his tent was at least half a mile away, but the servant did not know where it was, and with him the horses were missing, and he gritted his teeth and ran in the rain.

"Father Ahmat, why are you like this, your servant? And what about horses? Acton looked at Ahmat in amazement, growing long enough to fit an egg.

"To hell with them!" Ahmat scolded angrily: "Acton, have you been immobilized by the devil? Get me some dry clothes, and a brazier! Fast! ”

"Yes, yes!" Actun, who had just woken up from a dream, hurriedly helped Ahmat into the tent, and while taking a few dry clothes, he asked the servant to bring the brazier, Acton changed his dry clothes, and roasted in the brazier for a while before relieving himself, the cold wind in Mobei is not a joke, even hail in midsummer is commonplace, and it is common to lose his life by the wind and cold wind in the rain like this. Seeing Ahmat sitting by the brazier with a cup of hot ginger tea, panting heavily, Acton relieved himself and asked, "Ahmat Daddy, how did that Shuo Lei Khan reply?" ”

"How did you reply?" Ahmat sneered: "The things were accepted, and the conditions were agreed, but what he said was a lively word, saying that the grassland is different from the Central Plains, there are no walls and no roads, and a good man who rides a fast horse and draws a hard bow always has a way to support his family, he can only guarantee that the Chechen Ministry will not touch it, and he can't guarantee it from other tribes." ”

"Isn't that the same as not saying?" Acton smiled bitterly: "Whoever comes to rob will not use the banner!" ”

"Not really! I also know that this is not so easy. Ahmat put the horn cup back on the small wooden table and asked, "After all, this trip is mainly for you, what do you say should be done?" ”

Acton didn't speak, he went to the tent, took out a bamboo tube, took out a roll of sheepskin from it and unfolded it on several cases, but it was a map, he pointed to the map and whispered to Ahmat: "Look, Daddy, we passed through the Basang Ulan Mountain three days ago, and it should be in this position now. I plan to stay here in Chechen Khan for about half a month, first, to raise horses and fat, and second, to sell all the goods and go into battle lightly; In early summer, when the water in the Krulun River is deeper, we can prepare a dozen rafts, load our luggage and goods on the rafts, and follow the Krulun River eastward, all the way to Hulun Lake. First, it is more convenient to move, and secondly, you can also raise horsepower, if you encounter an accident on the road, it is easy to deal with. ”

Ahmat looked in the direction of Actun's finger, the Krulun River that Acton just said is also called Gonglushui and Yuqu River, which originates from the eastern foot of today's Kent Mountain in Mongolia, stretches all the way to the east and finally flows into Hulun Lake, compared with the land route, although the road will be slower, but it is much safer.

"When you get to Hulun Lake, how are you going to go?"

"It should be June when we arrive at Hulun Lake, there are many elms there, and there are fish in the lake, we can cut wood and build ships there, leave half of the people to set up a stockade over there, and the other half of the people will go by the Hailar River, and then take the Erguna River and finally enter the Heilongjiang River, and then turn to the Ussuri River to Xingkai Lake."

Ahmat looked at the map for a while, did not speak for a while, and finally sighed: "Acton, you have not been able to walk this way!" ”

"Yes!" Acton smiled: "There is no way, the villain's hometown is full of forests, even if the old hunter accidentally enters it, he can't get out, the only way to walk is the waterway, but even the waterway is frozen in winter, in fact, there is only half a year to walk, so we have to hurry." ”

"Okay, it's up to you to decide this matter, I'll open tomorrow and process the goods as soon as possible, and you also have everything you need, and we'll hit the road as soon as the time comes!"

"Yes!"

The situation in the spring of the seventh year of Chongzhen was like a huge seesaw, when the war between Liaodong and Xuanda temporarily subsided, the Jurchen and Ming sides seemed to have fought five rounds of boxers, each returning to the corner of the rope ring to drink water and rest, looking at each other's situation, waiting for the next round of deathmatch, and the situation in the pass has undergone subtle changes. Under the command of Hong Chengchou, the officers and troops won several victories in eastern Henan and northern Anhui in succession from the summer of last year, forcing the peasant army to move westward and retreat to the vast mountainous areas of western Henan, southern Shaanxi, and eastern Sichuan. Hong Chengchou, who won one after another, did not look forward to the long-awaited title of Shangshu of the Ministry of War (he was originally the military governor of Shaanxi, Henan, and Shanxi as the squire of the Ministry of War), but Chongzhen's urge to promote the troops and eliminate the thieves as soon as possible. This made him feel a little resentful in his heart, and later Yang Sichang relied on Liu Cheng's strength to win and Lingle and then entered the cabinet to worship the prime minister, and became the first assistant minister of the Ming Dynasty, which made Hong Chengchou's heart full of sourness and regret - I think that Liu Cheng was also his own general, if Lin Dan Khan did not send this person to save him when he besieged Ningxia, but left him under his command, I am afraid that he will now be the first assistant to enter the cabinet.

Out of this subtle mentality, Hong Chengchou did not speed up the march as Chongzhen requested, but wrote a statement. Of course, the reasons are also very good: many armies are not paid, have suffered many casualties in previous engagements, and are demoralized; Moreover, the mountainous areas of western Henan, southern Shaanxi, and eastern Sichuan are difficult to move and supply, and if they rashly lead a large army into it, once they are defeated, the overall situation will be ruined. Therefore, Hong Chengchou suggested that the Sichuan, Henan, and Shaanxi official armies should be allowed to guard the passes, recuperate and recuperate, wait for the change, and wait for the next year's summer grain harvest before launching a large-scale attack. After getting Chongzhen's approval, he put his trip in Luoyang, where he spent the winter of Chongzhen's sixth year and the early spring of the seventh year.

The majestic Qinling Mountains are like a galloping dragon, traversing central China from east to west, starting from Baishi Mountain in the north of Lintan County, Gansu Province in the west, and entering Shaanxi through Maiji Mountain in the south of Tianshui in the east. It is divided into three near Tongguan at the junction of Shaanxi and Henan, the north branch is Yanshan, the north branch is Kunshan, and the remaining veins extend eastward along the south bank of the Yellow River, commonly known as Pishan; The middle branch is Bears Ears Mountain; The southern branch is Funiu Mountain. The Yangtze River and the Yellow River, the watershed of the two mother rivers that fed the Chinese ancestors, have significant differences in temperature, climate and topography between the north and south foothills of the mountain range, and the line of the Qinling Mountains and the Huai River has become the dividing line between the north and south regions of China. The Nanyang Basin is located in the south of the Funiu Mountains, the east of the Daba Mountains, the west of the Tongbai Mountains and the Dabie Mountains.

Nanyang, Zhenwu Temple.

The rising sun passed through the shade of Huai in the courtyard and shone on the stone bench in the courtyard, and Xu Hecheng had already finished moving his hands and feet in the courtyard and began to practice boxing and swordsmanship. This is his habit since he was a child, no matter how windy or rainy, he has never relaxed in the morning and evening. He practiced two sets of boxing techniques, and practiced a sword all the way, feeling a thin layer of sweat oozing from his forehead, and his whole body was slightly hot, and he was blown by the morning breeze of late spring, which was indescribably happy. He was about to wipe his sweat, but he heard someone say in a sarcastic tone: "Big brother is still the same, get up early in the morning to practice swords!" ”

Xu Hecheng turned his head and saw his younger brother Xu Wancheng standing on the steps of the door, leaning on the door frame, looking at himself, with unconcealed disdain on his face. Xu Hecheng didn't answer, wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead, put the sword into the sheath, and drank two sips of water before saying: "I've been used to it for so many years, and I itch all over my body if I don't understand it for a day, what, do you want to come and play too?" ”

"Don't!" Xu Wanqian sneered: "I'm not as diligent as you, I get up early in the morning and toss myself." You've got hundreds of people under you, and you're still practicing this thing all day, virtue! ”

"Let's eat breakfast in the yard!" Xu Hecheng instructed his subordinates on the side, sat down on the stone bench, and said with a smile: "What's the matter, don't you run away?" ”

Xu Wanqian snorted coldly, and also sat down on the stone bench, waiting to bring breakfast. It turned out that Xu Hecheng accepted Liu Cheng's suggestion a few days ago and took more than 200 people to Zhejiang, preparing to replace Zhao Youcai. He grabbed this younger brother in his hands, and he couldn't do it, so he had to take him with him to cross the Qinling Mountains, and then went east along the Han River to Nanyang, preparing to go to Zhejiang along the Han River, the Yangtze River, and the Jiangnan Canal. At first, Xu Wanqian still wanted to escape, but after running twice, he was caught by his brother's subordinates, and he slowly became honest.

At this time, breakfast was served, with millet porridge, baked cakes, pickles, and half-sealed sauce meat. Xu Wancheng took a piece of two roasted cakes, sandwiched some sauce and meat and replied vaguely while eating: "Run, I have also figured it out, where can I run?" When the time comes, you poke the thing I did in Jingshi outside, I will be a criminal of the imperial court, even if I can survive, I will be guilty, it is better to eat and drink with you, and I don't have to worry about those. (To be continued.) )