As Ablin was reminiscing about his erroneous trip a few months earlier, a familiar accent came from outside his tent, Mongolian, of course, one of the two foreign languages he was proficient in - the other, of course, Moscow.

"Distinguished guest, our chief wants to see you!" And with it, the form of the fierce Mongol. Because I don't have to say any polite nonsense of "please come in", the person who came would have opened the curtain and stepped forward.

"Oh, well, can you return the letter from the Emperor of your country this time, so that we can embark on our journey home as soon as possible? You must know that the geese have flown to the south, and we have been away from home for a long time, and it is time to go back and kiss the land of our hometown. Ablin replied respectfully, and learned the same rhetoric as all Mongol poetry, in order to gain the favor of the soldier.

"Hehe, distinguished guest, please." The visitor just laughed, and bowed down to lift the curtain of the tent for himself, but his words were still concise, just like his performance during this time!

"Okay!" Ablin had no choice but to give in. He has always been afraid of this Qing soldier who "captured" himself and his entourage a few months ago, although he has long been much more pleasant than he was back then.

As he hurried behind the soldier named Unki, Ablin continued to recall the scene when he encountered him.

The "summer-like" steppe is unusually hot, even though it should have already entered autumn! Finally, with the help of the people appointed by the Mongolian Taiji, we finally crossed the vast Gobi, and the coniferous forests in the distance were already in sight. But the Mongol restranded the dwarf Mongol horse under his crotch, beat his chest with his right hand, and said:

"Distinguished guests, we can only send it here. May the Eternal Heaven bless you all! After saying that, they turned their horses' heads and disappeared into the scorching sun of the Gobi Desert.

The Cossack "warrior" Yaryzhkin was obviously a little timid, but he pretended to be calm and said: "Don't worry, let's walk through the taiga and walk northeast along Lake Baikal for a few days, and we will reach Barguzin Castle." Let's move on, warriors! ”

A bunch of stupid people who don't know the height of the sky! Please Allah must punish them!

We had just entered the dense taiga, and we had not yet yet adapted to the dim light of the forest. There was a "whoosh" in the silent air. It must have been the sound of a bow and arrow slicing through the air, I'm sure of it. Yaryzhkin was finally able to really show his Cossack warrior demeanor, and after shouting "be careful", he simply jumped out on his horse.

I don't think that bow and arrow was meant to kill us. Because it plunged straight into the dirt in front of the horses of the Cossack soldiers who opened the way. But the reckless Yaryzhkin paid the price for his alertness - a rope suddenly crossed in front of him! Thereupon. He had to fall heavily from his mount. Watch his athletic Donhippo gallop away.

While Ivanov's "noble honor" was shouting and panicking, about twenty soldiers dressed in blue and red cotton robes and with copper nails on their chests gathered around from all sides, holding bows and arrows and sabers of the same style. And, of course, the unnamed arquebus. As someone who has been to Khan Bali City, I naturally recognized it immediately - this is the army of the Emperor Bogda!

They spoke in a language I couldn't make out for a while, but the meaning was clear—dismount and surrender. For this request, Mr. Yaryzhkin did it in advance. And that Ivan immediately did the same.

Fearing that the lives of those who were traveling with me would be threatened, I hurriedly shouted in Mongolian: "We are merchants!" We are here from your imperial capital! Don't shoot arrows! Fortunately, after shouting this two or three times, a man who looked like an officer came out of the soldiers, and he was the one who was now walking ahead of me, which means "loyalty" in Mongolian! Judging from his behavior since he captured me, and up to now, this man is indeed worthy of his name.

"You're from Jingshi?" Unqi also asked me in Mongolian.

"Great, honorable officer! We came from Beijing to do business in the walled city on the shores of Lake Baikal. "Of course I didn't know Wuenqi's name at the time, but I knew that if I wanted to deal with Chinese, I had to keep a low profile. As I spoke, I warned Ivanov next to me and Yaryzhkin on the ground with my eyes, signaling them to let me negotiate and not talk too much.

"Oh? Are you a Rakshasa or something? The officer nodded and asked. At the same time, he motioned for his men to come forward and inspect the cargo in our caravan. In the face of the same number of Qing soldiers, the twenty Cossacks who acted as escorts never mustered up the courage to resist a little, but they were right. Because I later learned that in the dim woods around me, there were seventy or eighty Bogda soldiers hiding, aiming at us with bows and arrows or muskets!

"I am a merchant from Bukhara, and my name is Abrin." I answered truthfully.

"Aren't you a Rakshasa man?" The officer continued.

"No ......" Before I could finish my negative answer, the stupid Ivan next to me actually shouted in Russian:

"I am a close minister of the monarch of all Rus', please don't hurt me! The goods behind me can be given to all of you, dear gentlemen! ”

O Allah, why don't you let him die of thirst in the Gobi Desert? He must have heard the Russian pronunciation of "Rakshasa", but he regarded these Bogda soldiers as bandits! But he is also a person who has gone to Khan Bali City to see the world, why is he still "stupid and unclear" about the dress of the Qing soldiers? Maybe in the palace in the city, we see soldiers dressed in yellow, but in front of us are in blue uniforms? Alas! Damn Peter. Ivanov!

Sure enough, this croaking Russian sentence gave "Unqi", an officer who was "loyal" to the Emperor of Bogda, reason to raise his sword - because a hunter in Mongolian robes next to him whispered a few words to him.

"You all come down for me! You Rakshasa bandits! I understood this Mongolian sentence very well, so I had to translate it into Russian and tell the Cossacks behind me.

Just as we were dismounting, Ivan made a mistake about the situation - he pointed to my satchel and shouted in Russian: "We are the guests of the Emperor Bogda, we have a letter from the Emperor Bogda!" ”

I immediately went up and strangled him, this damned infidel! How can this letter be said casually? As long as you don't say it, I can still say that you are a Rakshasa who does business with me, and at best you will be allowed to lose some of your finances. The military discipline of the Bogda soldiers is excellent, which is the heartfelt feeling of my Khan Bali City and his party.

But you have revealed the most valuable letter to "your" Tsar in advance, and my plan to disguise myself as a merchant and get out as soon as possible is over!

So, after some body searches and inquests, we were politely taken into the barracks. The only news I have been able to get in the past few months is that almost all the Russian walled cities on the shores of Lake Baikal have disappeared. This was deliberately revealed by Uenqi in order to dispel my desire to flee.

I don't know if I will see the young officer today, who seems to be in charge of the barracks. Judging by his age and the number of soldiers at his command, he would have been a "centurion" - according to the Tatar [Manchu] language I had just learned from Khan Balicheng...... Niu Lu Zhangjing! [In the seventeenth year of Shunzhi (1660), it was renamed Zuoling]

Almighty Allah, please let this "Niu Lu Zhangjing" let us go west today! And, of course, the letter from the Emperor Bogda......

*

*

The small castle doesn't have to go too far. Soon, Ablin was led to the Central Tent, which he was already familiar with.

"Distinguished guests, please wait." When Unqi turned back and said something in Mongolian, he stopped paying attention to him, but stepped forward and shouted a Manchu phrase, as if the people in the tent could see him through the curtain. Then another Manchu sentence came out of the tent, and he respectfully turned around and said:

"Please!"

"Thank you!" Ablin pressed his right hand to his chest to express his gratitude to Unki, and then stooped through the curtain and entered the tent.

The bright autumn sun shines through the windows of the tents on both sides, illuminating the inside of the tent very brightly, which makes Ablin see at a glance that it is the young "centurion" sitting in the center, "Niu Lu Zhangjing"!

"Honorable Niu Lu Zhangjing, Bukhara merchant Shaitkul. Ablin asked Allah to grant you health and happiness! Ablin greeted the young man in Mongolian and gave a fist salute like the Chinese.

"Haha, please be seated!" The young officer, after hearing from the interpreter beside him, politely pointed to a seat under him.

"Thank you for your kindness!" Ablin thanked the interpreter and took his seat carefully.

(To be continued in this chapter) (To be continued......