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Chang Wei and the six walked very slowly, and it took three days to wander to the largest city outside the Saiwai - Naturalization. When the pen www.biquge.info arrived here, Chang Wei clearly felt the difference between Saiwai and Daming.

The Great Wall called the border wall of the Ming Dynasty created a barrier to isolate China and foreign countries, and within the side wall was the capital of Shaanxi, Shanxi and Beizhili Prefectures under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, although there were natural and man-made disasters, corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and people who were not able to make a living, but the overall trend was order. But beyond the border wall in July, the Hetao grassland, known as the south of the Yangtze River, is chaotic and disorderly.

In the sixth year of Longqing (1572), the Tatar Altan Khan and the three ladies who were stationed in the Tumo River gathered the skilled craftsmen of all ethnic groups to imitate the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, and built a majestic city with eight buildings and glazed gold and silver halls in the yin of Daqing Mountain and the Yellow River.

This city made of green bricks is reflected in the green hills of the mountains, looking at a piece of cyan in the distance, revealing a group of lush vitality, the Tatars call it "Kuku and Tun", the Chinese translation is "Hohhot", which means "the city of blue". In the third year of Wanli, the city was completed, and the Ming court gave the name of the naturalized city.

In the ninth year of Wanli (158l), the three ladies built a magnificent outer city. In the seventh year of the Apocalypse (1627), Lin Dan Khan was naturalized in the city, and in the tenth year, Huang Taiji defeated Lin Dan Khan and set fire to the city.

Therefore, at this time, the city of Naturalization was dilapidated, chaotic and decadent, and outside the outer city, many messy felt tents and low earthen houses were built, camels, horses, cattle and sheep ran all over the ground, and the smell of dung was everywhere.

In the dilapidated outer city, the market is chaotic but also lively, and there are horses, cattle and sheep, furs, medicinal herbs, green and white salt, and many other products on the grassland, which are everywhere in the eyes of the nomads, and are not rare. But in the Central Plains, these are all in-demand commodities, and the price difference between the two places is very considerable.

On the contrary, the Central Plains cloth, wine, tea, sugar, silk, porcelain, handicrafts, rouge gouache, ironware, handicrafts and other goods that need to be carefully processed are very scarce by the nomads, who are willing to exchange their not rare items for the scarce Central Plains goods.

In the eyes of businessmen, business has no borders, and where there is a difference in price, the figure of the businessman will appear. This kind of differential trade gave birth to many commercial immigrants, a large number of merchants shuttled through the Central Plains and grasslands, looking for various opportunities to make money, and frequent trade exchanges formed a trade network, and along the network also gave birth to scattered settlements, villages and towns, which is the evolution of the economy and ecology in the natural state.

Before and after the enthronement ceremony of the Later Jin Emperor Taiji, more than 3,000 pieces of silk were consumed for rewarding the Eight Banners and Mongolian princes and making official uniforms. Among them, only 16 were rewarded, such as Horqin and Zalut, and more than 300 silk horses were awarded to 50 Mongolian princes. In the Central Plains, in the south of the Yangtze River, this is just a small workshop for a year's output, which is nothing, but for the grassland and Liaodong, which do not produce silk, it is a rare treasure, a hard currency, and a huge expense.

The largest merchant group that imported these commodities was the Jin merchants, who not only did nine-sided business in the Ming Dynasty, but also had close trade contacts with Mongolia and Houjin, not to mention silk, tea, even iron, grain, weapons, and even muskets and artillery and other contraband.

Outside the naturalization city, there is the Dazhao Monastery established by Altan Khan for the third great lama, Sonam Gyatso, as well as the Hongci Temple and the Silver Buddha Temple, so it is really as Han Chai said that the flow of monks and Taoists is very popular here.

Therefore, Chang Wei and the six people did not encounter anyone to check, crossed the outer city, wanted to enter the inner city to go around, but were stopped by the guards at the gate of the city, the inner city is the place where the Tumut tribal ruler Balsbot Khan and the Tumut nobles live, no entry and exit tokens are not allowed to enter the ****** city, and it is not much use to stay in the naturalization city, so they simply choose to settle on the edge of the green mound at the south gate of the naturalized outer city, which is the confluence of the Xiaohei River, the Haraqin River and the Dahei River.

The grass in the north is white, but the grass grows green on the tomb of Zhaojun, so it is called the green mound. Here is buried the ancient woman Wang Zhaojun.

With Qingzuka as the center, there are more than 10,000 Mongolian, Han, Tibetan, Hui, Wuer and other ethnic groups living nearby, these people are half farming and half herding, and are led by hundreds, thousands and ten thousand households of the Tumut tribe respectively.

This time he came to the outside of the plug secretly, Chang Wei only carried 30,000 taels worth of gold beads and silver tickets, and he didn't bring muskets, swords, sweat and blood horses, and even the secret agents of the Jinyi guard on the plug didn't dare to use them, and they all relied on these people around him.

After buying a few felt tents to live in, several people used the identity of monks to wander around the neighborhood for three days, got in touch with the Seven Sons of the Big Dipper and others, and gathered information to learn that many Han Chinese were either captured as slaves by the Tatar cavalry, or evaded rent, or ran businesses, and a large number of people flowed into Mongolia.

Fengzhou, east of the naturalization city, has more than 50,000 Han people living in it, and the house is tenants, and the name of the earthen city is called Bansheng. In the last years of Jiajing, under the careful management of the three ladies, the relationship between Tatar and the Ming Dynasty was very good, and the horse market was extremely prosperous.

After the rise of Jin after the end of Wanli, in order to win over the Tatars to resist the Houjin, the relationship between the two families became more and more harmonious.

The wealth of the Tatar lords increased significantly, and their coins and livestock were in the tens of thousands, especially in the Ordos, Tumut, Chahar and other provinces, and with the spread of advanced production technology in the Guannai, agriculture and handicrafts, and even smelting and casting products increased significantly.

However, in recent years, due to the five Khalkha divisions in Mobei and the six Korqin divisions in eastern Tatar were conquered by the Later Jin, and the Chahar Lindan Khan bordering it lost another battle, so the eastern territory of Tatar has been lost, and now there are only four sets of areas of the Yellow River in their hands, and then it will become the territory of Warat to the west.

As soon as Lin Dan Khan died, the Tumut, Etuoke, Ordos, Wushenqi, and Jungar ministries did not recognize the successor of Lin Dan Khan.

Chang Wei smiled shamefully: "Don't be that stupid, in order to pass on the jade seal of the country, he lost a lot of manpower in Zhenyuan Pass, and now it's strange that others don't clean him up, but what's going on with Alxa and Hang Jinqi? ”

Tang Jinyi glanced at him strangely and said, "This is thanks to Ebe's mother, the Great Blessing Jin Sutai, who is in charge of the ten thousand households of Hana Tumen, this woman is the granddaughter of the last Yehena Rabel Jintaishi." ”

"Jintaishi?" Chang Wei immediately became interested when he heard the name, "But Yehenala Jintaishi, who uttered the words 'Although there is a woman in my descendants, it will also cover Manchuria' before he died?"

Huang Taiji's biological mother, Yehenara, is the younger sister of Jintaishi, so Jintaishi also called Nurhachi his brother-in-law, but in the sixteenth year of Wanli (1588), Yehenara and the nine allied forces conquered the Jianzhou Jurchen, and were defeated by Nurhachi, and Yehebeleb Zhai was killed. Nurhachi personally cut Buzhai's body in half and sent it back to Yeh, and the two sides formed a bitter enmity.

Buzhai's son, Jin Taiji, had allied with the Ming Dynasty, and after the defeat of the Ming army in the Battle of Salhu, he was forced to turn to the defensive. After that, Nurhachi conquered the Yehenala clan, and when his nephew Huang Taiji failed to persuade him to surrender, Nurhachi's Jianzhou army was victorious, and Jintaiji was hanged.

Emperor Wanli heard that the city of Yehe was broken, and ordered people to look for the descendants of Yehe outside the Saiwai, and found that Su Tai, the granddaughter of Jintaiji, married to Mongolia, and gave 2,000 gold, and the ministers of the Ming Dynasty also asked for the temple to build a temple for Jintai stone, and tried their best to win over.

After receiving Tang Jinyi's affirmative reply, Chang Wei said excitedly: "Then let's support Su Tai and Ebi, and take this opportunity to call on the remnants of Yehenala to rebel against Houjin, which is a matter of killing two birds with one stone!"

Han Chai smiled and said, "Senior brother, you're not crazy, are you? You cut off the head of other people's men with your own hands, and you still want to borrow other people's power?"

"I support Master Zongkang's idea. Hu Wenqing answered Han Chai's question, "The steppe people of Houjin and Tatar are very different from our Han people in the Central Plains, they only submit to the strong and force, although Jin Taishi died at the hands of Nurhachi, but his son, Sutai's father Nyaha invested in Houjin to become an official, this strategy is feasible!"

Fang Huan'er smiled and said, "Master Zongkang, how does this strategy work, we can't send it to the door and tell Ebei and Su Tai that this is Lord Qin Guogong's plan, right?"

Chang Wei said confidently: "Ebei's position is unstable now, and he may be killed at any time, if he can get the support and canonization of the imperial court, his strength will immediately increase, and we will have an excuse to intervene in the grassland and conquer the rest of the tribes!

"Then you can go on it yourself!" Tang Jinyi seemed to have been planning for a long time, "Su Tai is a rare beauty, now that a man is dead, you just take advantage of the weakness to enter, killing three birds with one stone, isn't it beautiful? Anyway, you are the best at dealing with women!"

Everyone laughed and applauded again and again, but Chang Wei glared and said, "It's good to send you, you look more beautiful, and women like you more!"

Tang Jinyi waved his hand and said: "No, I won't coax women, what's more, what women on the grassland like must be brave and fierce warriors like you!"

Chang Wei rolled his eyes and said, "The young master is a scholar, not a butcher. ”

Tang Jinyi was even more energetic, "That's better, both wise and brave, just to be the backbone of Su Tai!"

Hu Wenqing said seriously: "It's best to let Su Tai give birth to a son to the adult, and in the future, get rid of the forehead and replace it!"

Hiss!

This made everyone gasp, such a ruthless old man, such a sinister calculation! However, this is indeed a long-term strategy!

Chang Wei snorted, "Old Hu, since you have a bad idea, let's go through it yourself and be a lobbyist." ”

Hu Wenqing said happily: "We are sure to do what we want! However, we need a reasonable excuse. ”

"That's right!" Fang Huan'er covered her mouth and smiled, "You can't just run to someone's felt tent and say that we are here to show off our beautiful man's tricks." ”

Now everyone was a little embarrassed, and said a few plans such as offering gold jewels, but they all felt that the traces were too obvious and would make people suspicious.

In the end, Chang Wei decided that everyone would first go west through Yunnei and Wuyuan Ancient City, and then arrive at Houtao, and observe Ebei and Sutai on the spot.

All the way to the southwest to the Qin and Han Jiuyuan, Jiajing before the Yunnei City, here is only a ruin, from this place along the Yellow River to the west of the Wuyuan City of three hundred miles, everywhere ringing horse bandits, it is simply a paradise of crime.

These bandits include Han, Mongolian, Hui, Tibetan, and Wei bandits, ranging in number from a few dozen to several thousand, and some are armed merchant groups, who rely on forced buying and selling, or monopolize some industries with violence to make profits.

Strangely, many serious farmers and herdsmen and handicraftsmen also look like horse bandits in dress and speech.

Along the way, Chang Wei and others met people of various nationalities with non-wolf hair accessories, or big shoulders and round waists, or thin monkeys, carrying scimitars at their waists, tattoos all over their bodies, and looking high-spirited.

But after careful inquiry, this kind of bandit appearance is not a ringing horse at all, many of them are fruit and vegetable hawkers, cooks, coachmen, cloth sellers, and ironsmiths, they just like this shape, and feel that this image is more ruthless, more domineering, and can make people afraid!

To put it simply, this is a kind of self-preservation, and to go deeper, this phenomenon itself shows that the worship of violence in this place is a kind of reckless order, a kind of chaotic order, and whoever has the biggest fist can claim the king and hegemony, and there is absolutely no legal order and contract spirit.

In addition, the Yellow Sect in these places is really popular, and the Yellow Sect is the Tantric Yellow Cloth School. In his later years, he believed in the Yellow Religion and named the Yellow Sect monk Sonam Gyatso as the third great lama, Sonam Gyatso reciprocated the peach, and served Altan Khan as the Khan of the Heavens, after decades of imperceptibility, from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, from the south of the desert to the north of the Houjin, a large area outside the land of the Ming Dynasty all believed in the Yellow Religion.

The reason why Lin Dan Khan is unpopular is not only because of his limited talent and lack of prestige, but also because the Red Sect he believes in is not in harmony with most of the herdsmen and lords.

Since the Yellow Sect is so popular, Chang Wei naturally wants to borrow it, so Zong Kang of the Black Sect converted to the Yellow Sect, relying on his ability to speak various languages in Mongolia and Tibet, and no one embarrassed them along the way, Han chased the three Taoists and Dao Gu directly said that they were Quanzhen Sect, you must know that Genghis Khan was back then, but he regarded Changchun Ziqiu as a national teacher, and the Quanzhen Taoist people did not suffer on the grassland.

However, when I got to the vicinity of Wuyuan, I couldn't eat this set!

Wuyuan Castle is located at the junction with the Yellow River, which is an important place that separates the front and back sets. Wuyuan City is located at the junction of the five major tribes of Tumut, Hangjinqi, Ordos, Etuoke and Alxa, and the terrain is extremely dangerous. Each family wanted to hold it in their hands, but none of them succeeded, because, no matter who occupied Gohara City, they would be besieged by the other four.

Over time, this place has become a borderless land, and now it is a group of horse thieves who dominate Wuyuan City, the most famous horse thieves in the Hetao grassland! The leader of this group of horse thieves is called Ma'er, Liema, and his name is Ma Lie!

Counting this Ma Lie and Chang Wei are fellow countrymen, although they are both Fufeng people, but Fufeng Ma is much more famous than the Chang family, the Fubo general Ma Yuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ma Teng and Ma Chao of the Three Kingdoms in the late Han Dynasty are all after the Fufeng Ma family.

When he was ten years old, he followed his family to do business outside the Saiwai, but his family was killed by horse thieves, and he himself became a horse thief's riding slave.

Ma Lie as a lowly slave in a foreign land, but endured humiliation and burden, at a young age began to refine the art of riding and archery, and finally practiced the superb ability of the arrows without missing shots, and bravely crowned the superb ability of the three armies, and then followed his lord, the thousand households went around to fight, in the Tatar military camp that admired warriors, with a skill to be promoted to centurion.

He followed Lin Dan Khan's Eastern Expedition to Houjin, and made many military exploits, but unfortunately the general trend of the world was not something that he could change by a small person, Lin Dan Khan was defeated again and again, and his subordinates also lost a seven, seven, eight, eight

After living on the steppe for nearly 20 years, Ma Lie not only knew the way of nomadic cavalry, but also knew the location of the activities of various tribes and the internal grievances of the people. Therefore, with this ability, he can maneuver between the five major tribes and become the master of Wuyuan City.

Thirty miles outside the city of Wuyuan, where Wuliangsuhai meets the Yellow River and Yinshan, there is a checkpoint called Wuhaiguan. The people guarding the checkpoint are all dressed as Han Chinese, and what they say is also the dialect of Shaanxi Guanzhong, "Those monks and Taoist priests have listened! This place is under the control of my general Ma, if you want to pass the customs, you need to pay road tax, ten taels of silver or equivalent goods per person, and Tong Su is not bullied!"

Interestingly, these people have a lot more rules than horse thieves who rob and kill along the road!

Chang Wei also replied in the standard Guanzhong dialect: "We are monks, and no one has received money along the way. ”

Shut up the little boss and snorted, "Who are you from?"

Chang Wei said: "Shaanxi Fufeng people. ”

The leader smiled: "I actually met the township party here, then okay, I won't charge your road tax, don't tell others!"

Chang Wei thanked him repeatedly, and when he entered the pass, he said: "I heard that your General Ma is a fellow countryman, we want to go and see us, please lead me a way, I have a little bit of broken silver here, it is not a respect, you military masters take it to buy wine and drink." ”

"Excuse me, don't say that we are fellow villagers, and it is not good to ask for your silver, so I will say that our General Ma has strict military discipline and never allows us to take bribes privately, otherwise we will have to peel off the skin if we don't die with thirty whips. ”

Chang Wei and the others looked at each other, but they were a little uncomfortable. Not to mention the horse thieves and bandits encountered along the way, even Naturalization City did not have such well-behaved soldiers, and even the Ming Dynasty did not have a few troops with better military discipline than these people.

This time Chang Wei is more interested, after asking the road, go straight to the old city of Wuyuan, originally thought that this place must be more dilapidated than the ruined Yunnei City (Baotou), but to the vicinity of Wuyuan City only to find that the city wall is repaired completely, the city wall is also around the Yellow River water as a moat, the people of all ethnic groups nearby or farming or animal husbandry or industry or business, the order is complete, self-satisfaction, it is really a rare scenic spot in the Hetao Plain.

Chang Wei said with emotion: "This general Ma is actually a capable man who manages the army and the people!"

Entering Wuyuan City, I saw that all industries on the street were thriving, and the four cities all had soldiers in black clothes and with knives and guns patrolling, and the public security was good, and there was no banditry in the three hundred miles from Yunchuan to Wuliangguan, but it was like a county seat near Xi'an.

"This person has great talent!" Chang Wei immediately made a statement with everyone.

When I arrived in the north of the city, I saw a plaque of 'Wuyuan County Ya' hanging in front of the door of a three-entry courtyard, and four soldiers dressed in black were guarding the door.

After a while, the soldiers invited the six people in, and on the hall sat a man of nine feet tall and as strong as a mountain, this man was about thirty years old, with a white face and beard, a majestic face, a grim expression, eyes like knives, a silk shortcoat, six beautiful orchids in front of him, and a glass in his hand sipping wine as red as blood.

Chang Wei bowed and saluted: "Grape wine luminous glass, good Yaxing!

"I'm Ma Lie!" Ma Lie played with the wine glass and said: "This wine cup is a product sold by a merchant from Jiangnan in his hometown, and a set is worth three hundred taels of silver, which is really expensive." ”

Chang Wei took the opportunity to say: "This set of glasses is in Jiangnan, and it is only worth three taels of silver. ”

Ma Lie's eyes moved, and he sat up straight and said, "The great monk has been to Jiangnan?"

Han Chai said: "We have not only been to Jiangnan, but also have a good relationship with the owner who created this wine glass. ”

Ma Lie's eyes widened, and he said in a condensed voice, "The owner of the wine glass, what do you call it?"

Chang Wei opened his mouth, looked at the left and right orchids, Ma Lie got up proudly, raised his hand and said, "Everyone, please come with me!"

When he arrived at a quiet room in the backyard and sat down, Han Chai said: "Xiaodao Zhongnan Mountain is empty, his real name is Han Chai, and he is the senior brother of Chang Wei, the Duke of Qin. ”

Ma Lieden's eyes were blazing, and he clasped his fists and saluted: "It's rude! I don't know what the Duke of Qin sent to see me?"

With such a shrewd mind, Chang Wei said with a smile: "Why did the general say that we were sent by the Guogong?"

Ma Lie looked up at the south and said, "Qin Guogong beheaded Lin Dan Khan in Zhenyuan Pass, and now he is stationed in Fugu, obviously with the intention of Hetao. is not talented, although there are only 3,000 knights under his command, but he is still a little famous on the grassland, if Qin Guogong is really a hero, sooner or later he will contact a certain family!"

"General Gaojian!" Chang Wei praised and asked, "What does the general think of Lin Dan Khan?"

Ma Lie's eyes showed disdain, "A reckless man, without any heroic posture, not worthy of the position of Khan!"

Chang Wei asked again: "What kind of people are Ebei and Su Tai?"

Ma Lie said: "Ebei is just a fourteen or fifteen-year-old hairy child, impulsive and willful, how can he be enough? Su Tai is a woman who is far better than men. ”

Chang Wei nodded and asked again: "Between the generals, if the prince wants to plot the Hetao, how should he act?"

Ma Lie said in a deep voice: "I have three strategies: upper, middle and lower. ”

Chang Wei said solemnly: "I want to hear it in detail!"

"Under the plan, Guogong rode out of the fortress and captured Wushenqi and Etuoke; I sent troops to capture Hangjin Banner, and the two armies joined forces in Dongtao to exterminate the Ordos Department; and then Qi Qi sent troops to the northeast to capture Guihua City with the border army of Killing Hukou. ”

Chang Wei asked expressionlessly, "How is the middle strategy?"

"Zhongce, Guogong traced the river from Zhenyuan Pass, I went west from Wuyuan, attacked from two ways, and destroyed Ebei and Sutai in one fell swoop, occupied Houtao, and then slowly mapped it to the east!"

Chang Wei asked again: "What about the best policy?"

Ma Lie's eyes flashed: "The best policy, send someone to contact Sutai, ask the imperial court to canonize the crown as the Khan, Sutai as the queen mother, and then support its power, collect the Alxa Banner and Hangjin Banner as arm help, plus Sutai's Hana Tumen Ten Thousand Households, it is enough to consolidate the territory of the Houtao." ”

At that time, Guogong dispatched the Ningxia Weibian Army, squeezed twice, and the wavering Etuoke Department will definitely come to vote, and at that time it will attack from the west, north, and south of Yansui Town, and surrender to the Wushen Banner; From now on, immigrants will be on the real side, attacking and threatening the Houjin side, and defending the country to get 100,000 elite horsemen, which is really a miracle through the ages!"

Chang Wei high-fived and exclaimed: "What a clever plan!"

Chang Wei had thought about these plans before, but the details were not perfect, and Ma Lie had been outside the Sai for a long time and was familiar with the relationship between the various ministries. Knowing which one is the wall grass, which one is the diehard, who to beat and who to pull, the goal is clear, and to act according to this plan is really twice the result with half the effort!

Chang Wei said in his heart: "This plan is so detailed and complete, it is obviously not a whim of the general, and it must have wasted a lot of thoughts, right?"

Ma Lie said awe-inspiringly: "I was ten years old, my family was killed, and since then I have become a slave and have been humiliated. In the past 20 years, I have been devoted to my homeland, and I want to serve the country all the time and subdue the Hetao. In recent years, he has traveled all over the grassland and desert, drawn a detailed topographic atlas, and carefully studied the relationship between various tribes. Fortunately, the emperor lived up to it, and he had to meet such a determined person as Qin Guogong, and he had to meet all the princes, and he was able to express the plan in his heart, which was really happy!

Speaking of a thick stack of maps and records of the population, soldiers, generals, pastures, and cattle of various tribes, the details of the data are truly breathtaking.

Chang Wei leaned over and fell to the ground, he still had to use the 'beautiful man trick' to not report his real name, so he could only express his gratitude in this way.

"The general is really a strange man, he should be worshiped by me! I will immediately send someone to report to the Duke of Qin, asking him to secretly play the emperor and seek an official position for the general!"

"If you haven't made an inch, how dare you ask for an official?" Ma Lie helped him up and asked, "What is the plan of Qin Guogong?"

Chang Wei smiled: "I'm about to enter the back set and go to find out the intentions of Su Tai and Ebe. There's something to ask the general for help right now!" )