It was about three or four miles away from the Menghan mission, on the edge of the forest on the west bank of the Luan River, where the Jurchens camped.

The little Belle of the Blue Flag, Derge, looked at the Han people in front of him, quickly piled up a miniature stove with a few stones, threw a lot of dry horse dung cakes into it, and lit it.

The Han people's name is Dong Wang, because they have been doing business in Zhangjiakou, and they are fluent in Mongolian and Jurchen.

followed his brother Mang Gurtai to rob the Derge class in the west, and met Dong Wang on the snowfield outside Zhangjiakou a few days ago.

Dong Wang took three or four domestic servants and drove a packed mule cart and two pack horses.

Such dikes and cattle undoubtedly became the target of the Houjin robbers.

Dong Wang hurriedly identified himself as a businessman, and begged Niu Lu Ezhen to take him to meet the army commander.

The sharp-toothed merchant swore to heaven that if the Jurchens let him go and let him redeem his daughter-in-law from the Mongols, he would definitely give more of his property to the banner owner as a token of gratitude, and he was willing to use his status as a border trade in Zhangjiakou to convey important news about the military situation of the Ming Kingdom to the Later Jin Tong.

Niu Lu Ezhen reported to his boss "Jia La Ezhen", and Jia La Ezhen, who understood the temperament of the master, pushed Dong Wang to the horse of the small flag master Dege.

Derge was the youngest son of Nurhachi. He and Mang Gurtai, one of the four great Baylors of the Later Jin, are half-brothers.

Their mother, Fuchagundai, was originally the great fortune of Nurhachi. The Fucha clan was old and decrepit, and he couldn't fight the youthful and charming Menggu Zhezhe, and was snubbed by Nurhachi.

At the beginning of this year, someone reported to Nurhachi that the Fucha clan had an adulterous affair with the Great Beldaishan, and Nurhachi had just decided to imprison his wife, who had accompanied him through more than 30 years of ups and downs, and the Fucha clan died violently in Mang Gurtai's home.

Under the hint of the Four Beyler Emperor Taiji, Derge went to his brother Mang Gurtai to ask about the cause of his mother's death, but Mang Gurtai didn't bother to talk to him at all, and was anxious to report to his father Nurhachi.

As a result, Derge became more and more suspicious that Huang Taiji had guessed correctly, that it was the ferocious and eager to please his father, who killed his mother.

The brothers had a rift.

This time, they went out to plunder, and the two who looked like each other were separated, and after passing the Horqin Department, they parted ways and robbed their own.

Derge's conceit is not as stupid and simple as Mang Gurtai, but he is closer to the shrewd Huang Taiji on weekdays, especially for Huang Taiji's skill in secretly spreading spies in the Ming Kingdom.

Derge heard Huang Taiji say that among the Jin merchants in Zhangjiakou, there were already people like the Tong family in Liaodong who worked hard for Houjin.

The ambitious Derge class also wanted to have his own Ming informant, so he asked Dong Wang with a pleasant face.

Dong Wang made a statement, saying that he returned to Zhangjiakou from the Tiger Pass, and only then did he know that his beautiful daughter-in-law was robbed by the Mongolian Taiji, who was sent by Lin Dan Khan to get a New Year's reward.

Derge was making fun of Mingguo's nest, and thousands of taels of silver could not keep the peace of the people, but Dong Wang's next words surprised him.

It turned out that this year, the Mongolians got the New Year's reward of silver, not a few thousand taels, but increased to 30,000 taels!

There were also truckloads of cloth and tea.

When Derge's heartstrings trembled, he heard Dong Wang say in a tone that seemed to have come to his senses: "Why don't you take the warriors and simply rob Lin Dan Khan's old rewards and bring them back to the east?" ”

Little Baylor was moved.

The elder brother Mang Gurtai turned his face and didn't recognize people, and took away most of the Baya Lajia soldiers, and his own strength couldn't compete with the soldiers of the Mongolian Taiji or the Xuanda army of the Ming Kingdom, so why not turn the horse's head and pick up a big money bag?

Anyway, his father Nurhachi had already fallen out with Lin Dan Khan, and as the tiger son of the Jurchen hero, he scratched Lin Dan Khan's claws fiercely, taught this Mongolian Khan king who dared to ally with the Ming Kingdom, and brought back rich spoils to Houjin, and his father might see himself as a great prince as Sibeile, and make himself the banner master faster.

At this moment, the heat of the horse manure burning quickly made the Derge class discover that in the cold grassland dusk, Dong Wang's frozen face could begin to make expressions again.

There is a hideous pride in the joy.

"Nikan," Derge used the Jurchen habit of calling Han Chinese, looking at Dong Wangdao, "What are you thinking?" ”

Dong Wang bowed down and lay in front of the horse manure stove: "Master, the slave has been worried all the way, afraid that he will not be able to find Lin Dan Khan's mission, and he will not be able to get the woman back. Finally found them today! ”

Derge pouted: "No, you don't look like you're relieved, but more like you're ready to breathe." ”

Dong Wang's prostrate figure moved, he raised his head slightly, gritted his teeth and said: "It's true that the slave feels so energetic for the first time." The slave is so bad, year after year, he pays business taxes and pays money to the Ming court, but as a result, at the door of his own house, there is still a large wharf for the guards and battalions, and the mother-in-law was taken away by the Mongols. Minion, this hate! Fortunately, God gave the slave a great creation, and the slave was picked up by the master. ”

Derge threw a piece of roe deer jerky into his mouth, and said coldly: "You are indeed quite familiar with the border wall of the Ming Kingdom, when you finish robbing things this time, you also find your mother-in-law, I will take you to the Great Khan to ask for a reward." Do a good job for us Jurchens, the day we occupy the northern land, you maybe, you can enter my blue flag, be a little master, and have your own coat and land. ”

"Thank you, master!"

After Dong Wang kowtowed, he diligently picked up horse manure and added it to the stone pit.

The last trace of sunset on the horizon has disappeared, and the narrow and obscure stone pit, in Dong Wang's eyes, has suddenly been magnified dozens of times, and has become a pile of corpses like the mouth of a giant beast.

The location has also changed from the current Monan grassland to Liaodong.

Dong Wang saw himself like a small ant, lying on the hard and dry ground and crying bitterly.

His wife's uncle, Xu San, was like another ant, moving and pulling in the pit with difficulty.

Finally, Xu San picked up a small corpse and walked to Dong Wang to put it down.

"My nephew."

Xu San went back to the pit, took out a large body, took off the cotton clothes on his body, wrapped the naked corpse tightly, and staggered back.

"My sister."

After Xu San spit out these two words, he fell to the ground like a shelf, and like Dong Wang, he cried.

The eldest sister is like a mother, Xu San was raised by her sister, and she joined the army strongly.

My sister was afraid that the court would default on military salaries, so she froze her younger brother, so she deliberately asked her brother-in-law Dong Wang, who was going west to do business, to get good cotton and cloth and sew two sets of thick winter clothes. Dong Wang sent clothes to Liaoyang, Xu San told his brother-in-law that he would stop fighting and would take care of the business for General Mao, and he happened to be free, so he and his brother-in-law would bring his sister and nephew to Liaoyang, and his brother-in-law would be his helper in the future.

The two men happily drive back to their hometown, dreaming of a better life ahead of them until hellish scenes appear before them.

Dong Wang hugged his wife and children, who were separated from his yin and yang, and his hoarse crying voice could only make a "hiss" sound of air leakage.

He heard his brother-in-law repeating "Tartar, brute" over and over again.

It was the winter of the forty-sixth year of Wanli.

Just half a year ago, in the middle of spring, the Ming army had just won a great victory in Fushun.

And before this winter passed, Dong Wang, who had buried his wife and children, took a small iron box containing the hair of the mother and son, followed Xu San, and left his hometown that had been looted by the Tartars.

(End of chapter)