Zhang Han nodded lightly...... People in areas inhabited by the Han Chinese have no way of imagining what it would be like in winter on the grasslands and other places. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The endless grassland has become a vast and silent snowy field, with no animals, no birds, no meadows and no water, only hills and hills made of snow, and sparse trees, and it is really difficult to find a leaf as far as the eye can see. It is normal for people to have no shepherds for hundreds of miles, and when the snow is over people's knees, they can walk a maximum of twenty miles in a day, and at most three days, people will lose all their strength in the severe cold and snowdrifts, and eventually die of cold and hunger.

Even the strong transportation and passage capacity of the Hutchison soldiers is not able to work on the grassland in heavy snowy weather, in the usual winter, the convoy is not snowy or the snow is very shallow, if the previous supply station informs that the snow is too deep, you can only wait or find a place to pass and detour, when approaching the peak of the cold winter, the convoy can generally only be suspended, the brigade will stop for at least two to three months, only a few convoys will continue to transport tasks when the weather allows.

In the hinterland of the grasslands controlled by Heyusheng, this situation has been greatly mitigated.

Roads had been built long before the forts and the strategic points of the military stations, and there were also small roads between the farms and forts.

These roads are not very densely networked, but they are barely connected.

Several trunk roads are like coarse blood vessels, no matter what the situation will keep the road smooth, for this reason in the winter at least every day there are people on the road guard, heavy snow days are snow stopped and began to clean, for this to pay a lot of manpower and material resources, later control several salt-producing salt mines on the verge of the Hetao area, began to use a large amount of salt to melt the snow, the effect is good, saving a lot of manpower, as for the loss of coarse salt, the upper echelons of the military division do not care......

"The roads will be built more and more." Zhang Han also took the opportunity to slap his gloves, and his hands were already frozen. He said to the silver ingot: "In the future, the pastoral area will be divided according to the direction and A, B, C and D, and the roads will be built first in each major section. ”

The silver ingot said: "Wenlan, what you are doing is actually a great cause to conquer Mongolia, I am a Mongolian, but I am willing to follow you, because I feel your personality and the benefits of following you, if I can make more shepherds can return to their hearts like me, in the words of the Han people, it is the merit of the Han and Tang Dynasties, whether it is Qin Shi Huang or Han Zu Tang Zong, it is far from being comparable to you." ”

"Silver ingot, you've really read a lot of books in the past few years." Zhang Han said with a smile: "The sycophants are all up to a good level." ”

"We're friends." Silver Ingot Zhengse said: "What I say is from the heart, not flattery. ”

"Hmm." Zhang Han nodded and said: "I still have the same attitude as before, those who offend me will have to pay the price, even if it is killing, and those who obey me are the same as inside Hutchison, even if it is for myself...... In this way, there will be long-term peace and stability. ”

……

The piers in front of them raised their flags one after another, and the trumpet guns were fired again. This time it was obviously a salute, the bunker and the military platform were full of soldiers, they let out bursts of cheers, Zhang Han waved to these soldiers as he rode by, and the cheers on the pier were even louder.

Crossing the Duntaibao post area, there was a more desolate feeling ahead, a sense of barbarism and loneliness came to the face, and the Mongols began to pay attention to the road such as silver ingots...... Although there is no decent road between the pastoral areas, but because there are often herdsmen riding horses to and fro, the movement of the pastoral area is not small, and they are all following a certain road forward, the days are long, of course, there are traces remaining, the pastoral area is generally divided into summer and winter and other permanent points, there are also some temporary grazing points, if it is not the people of the headquarters, you must pay attention to these subtle traces, you can find the right road in this wilderness where you can not see anyone in a radius of dozens of miles.

In the dull sound of horses' hooves, the weather gradually darkened, Jiang Yi and the others were a little anxious in their hearts, today is a temporary outing, there is not much preparation in advance, tonight must be in the pastoral area for the night, if you can't find the pastoral area before dark, it means that the team has to spend a long cold night in the wilderness, this challenge is very difficult for the soldiers who have undergone hard training, and it is quite difficult for Zhang Han's identity, and if this kind of thing really happens, in the assessment at the end of this year, Jiang Yi is ready to be severely recorded as incompetent.

"When we arrive, there are still three or four miles ahead."

Everyone didn't find any signs, but after the silver ingots and the others looked at it again and again, they were quite sure that there was a sizable pasture ahead.

"This is the ranch of Ayushi Taiji." A little further forward, the silver ingot introduced: "Over there is the pasture of Hanggaotaiji and Gulugetaiji and others, and a little farther is the pasture of Toboktaiji. ”

These names are quite familiar to Zhang Han, Tobok opposed Ah Cheng's self-reliance early on, and later Ombuhong succeeded to the king of Shunyi, he led his troops to return, but he did not live in Qingcheng, so he led his troops to live on his own pasture, obviously in the name of retaining strength to support the king of Shunyi.

For Taiji like Tobok, there are quite a few people at the top of the military department who want to solve it by force as soon as possible, these people are not as reliable as the silver ingot Taiji, they are equivalent to their own people, and they are not as knowledgeable about current affairs as Baiyin Taiji, and they can be used with confidence, let alone ordinary Taiji who have lost most of their strength, they are already wasted, and if they are kept, it is very likely that there will be chaos in the future.

However, Zhang Han has no intention of moving these people for the time being, they are already frightened birds, and they will flee at the slightest disturbance, and there is also a Chotu Khan in the northwest direction who supports the Red Sect and the Chahar people in Mobei, and the position of Tobok and others can run to Chotu Khan at any time, and Chotu Khan borders the Oirats, although the Trans-Khalkha people in Mobei and the Oirats have always been hostile to each other, but if they are really in a hurry, the possibility of Tu Khan and Tobok and others throwing themselves into the Oirats is not completely impossible. And now the Oirats and the Russians began to look at each other, and the time point of the appearance of the Russians in Mobei is about the same, at this time the Oirats who dominate the western steppes and Xinjiang and other places also ushered in the first batch of Russian colonists, and the Mongols in Mobei are different from the vigilant attitude, the Oirats have a very welcoming attitude towards the Russians, and after a few decades, they began to challenge the Qing Empire with the support of the Russians, and the result has been fighting for a hundred years, In the end, more than 100,000 quasi-men were completely slaughtered to end this hegemony struggle.

With the opening of the trade route, Heyusheng's forces will further penetrate into Mobei, attract a large number of herdsmen with commercial means, and use methods to improve their lives to make the annexation easier......

"Ayushi Taiji doesn't have many people left." The silver ingot introduced: "It seems that there are only two or three hundred dings here, more than a thousand people, there are few herds left, and there are few horses, so Ayushi Taiji stayed in Qingcheng and did not live here, because the worship is too simple, even if the herdsmen are forced to death, there is no way to restore the previous state." ”

In the past, the Mongolian tribes, of course, were the most comfortable group of people, they lived in a large yurt that could accommodate dozens or hundreds of people for banquets, served every day, there was plenty of food and tea in the felt bag, there were beautiful maids to serve, according to the largest tent, the periphery was a herdsman's tent, the herdsmen were scattered around the pasture like stars in the sky, and like the white clouds in the sky, floating on the green grassland, that was a symbol of wealth and enjoyment, every day they either drank and feasted or hunted with herdsmen and hunting dogs, Play is the main theme of life, and they live more easily than the Han landlords, because their pleasures are completely based on legal principles, and the shepherds have been completely tamed, and no one dares to resist, not even a voice of doubt.

In the past, the time when they were most troubled was the heavy snowstorm, and the next year was a difficult spring, and as the master, they had to try to keep the shepherds and herds alive, otherwise they would become rootless trees, and if it was normal, Ayushitaiji should be with the herdsmen in such weather anyway, and try to change the field after the beginning of spring, and he should prepare enough food and hay for the herdsmen and herdsmen before the beginning of spring.

However, now that most of the tribe of Ayushi Taiji has been lost, this Taiji simply hid in Qingcheng and left the herdsmen to fend for themselves.

After walking for two or three miles, small yurts finally appeared in front of me.

These yurts were originally gray-white, and although the herdsmen kept beating the snow after the snow, a considerable amount of snow remained on the top of the tents, and it looked like a round white snowdrift.

If it weren't for the guidance of the Mongols who knew the way, it would not be easy to find such a small settlement within a radius of dozens of miles. Especially when the sky is dark and there is a vast white snow field on all sides.

There was no whistling, no cries of panic, no cries of shepherds, no horses and gallops, no warnings or the cracking of bowstrings, and nothing that had been expected happened.

The more the weather like this, the more you have to watch out for hungry and panicked horse thieves and wolves...... On the grassland, all the tribes that are careless and careless have long disappeared in the long river of history, and those who remain are adapted to all the rules of this world, including all kinds of natural and human hardships, and survive, and the wisdom of life is much deeper than the wrinkles on the faces of the old people of the tribe, because the price of not understanding is too heavy, and there is even no way to regret it.

Zhang Han's heart slowly sank...... Because he often walked to the Mongolian tribes, he knew very well what the situation of the tribes was, not only was there no perimeter guard, but even the tribe was defenseless, there were no cows and sheep barking, no dogs barking and horses neighing, it seemed to be a silent dead place, if it were not for the large yurts standing, it almost made people suspect that it was uninhabited at all.

As we approached the periphery, I finally heard the chirping of some herding animals.