The interior of Northeast China has always been bitterly cold and the winters are extremely long. Even the tribesmen in the northern Xinjiang who are accustomed to this climate complain quite a bit.
During the Dading period, the imperial court sent Yeluzi, Minister of War, as an envoy to the Song Dynasty to congratulate the emperor of the Southern Dynasty on his birthday. It was still mid-October, and the ministers of the Southern Dynasty expressed condolences that it was extremely cold in the north at this time. Yelu Zijing said frankly that the cold was unbearable.
October is already extremely cold, and by the time the ground thaws and turns to slush in February or March of the following year, you can’t do anything for six months of the year. You can only hide in a shack filled with urala grass and shivering. What can you really do with it? , only six months in summer and autumn.
Li Yun wanted to quickly expand the business network belonging to Ding Haijun in such a vast land, so naturally there would be no delay.
He was also really a bold man, and he didn't take the previous attack by the wild Jurchen into his heart. Now that he had reached an agreement with Heshi Liehuanduan, he left Zheng Rui to station at Hesihan Pass, waiting for the support sent by Guo Ning. He then loaded up several carriages with the goods he planned to sell, but still only received a few. Ten subordinates continued north.
Wang Bao'er, on the other hand, worried about this for a while. In the end, in addition to carrying an extra armor and a strong bow, he also felt that Ado's hot air balloon was really useful, so he prepared a car and took Ado and the entire set of parts with him. , ready to play tricks at any time.
The group first went to Gaizhou to meet Wendy Hanqinggu, who was stationed here, and the guests and hosts had a pleasant conversation.
Although this gentleman has lost his knowledge of Guangning Prefecture, he was born in the 30th Jurchen surname. He has been active in the Northeast for a long time and has a high reputation. Li Yun saw with his own eyes that he led only a few followers and freely moved in and out of many surrounding Jurchens, wild Jurchens, and even other tribes of Xi, Shiwei, and Bohai people.
Even the chiefs or powerful leaders of other tribes were respectful and respectful in front of him and did not dare to go overboard.
After meeting Wendy Hanqing Gou, the group went to Chengzhou.
Here in Chengzhou, there have been no military and political officials guarding it since last year. However, there is a local Bohai man, Meng An, who still has strength. Meng An Bo Ji Lie, whose surname is Gao, has a good relationship with Wendy Han Qing Gou. Of course, being able to stay within a stone's throw of Guangning Mansion meant that he also had friendships with the Khitan people.
When the Liao Dynasty fell, the Han people in Tokyo and the Bohai people had grudges and killed each other. However, after the killings, all the Han and Bohai people became obedient subjects of the Jurchens, and the old events of that year were gradually no longer mentioned.
Chengzhou was depleted of resources due to war and the shortage of materials became even more urgent. One ingot of silver was exchanged for four or five stones of rice. Li Yun and others stayed in Chengzhou for several days. They promised several carts of grain and rice for the next month and were entertained with good wine and meat. They also negotiated some business with Bohai people and recruited several Bohai people to protect them.
As we continued our journey, we saw fewer and fewer people and more and more ruins of villages, and the roads became less and less like roads. After the road surface collapsed, knee-deep grass grew from time to time.
According to the premise agreed with Heshi Liehuanduan, the navy would not do business with the Khitan people, so the caravan had to avoid being discovered by the Khitan sentries. The group of people rested for an extra three hours during the day and rushed on the morning and evening.
As far as the eye can see, there are either grasslands, swamps, overgrown shrubs, or continuous dense forests, and across them are complex terrains intertwined with mountains, river beds, and valleys. Sometimes after walking for two or three hours, there are not many residents in sight.
Occasionally, you can see a few city ruins left over from the Liao Dynasty to this day. Tucheng is dozens of miles in circumference, with hundreds of houses and official houses with three rafters, which is not as big as a small town in Shandong. Outside Tucheng, there are almost no traces of farming. In some places, you can vaguely distinguish soil ridges and ash piles, and you can also find stone mortars and stone mills, but the only ones covering them are burnt black wood. , or the bones bitten to pieces by wild beasts.
Along with the caravan, there were several scribes responsible for drawing maps and recording the surrounding environment. At this point, they could only sigh and draw a mark representing abandonment on the map.
Normally speaking, the rest of the journey would take two journeys to Xianping Prefecture, and then eleven journeys to Huining Prefecture in Shangjing. Counting the rest on the way, it would take a month.
However, also because of the agreement with He Shi Liehuanduan, the group chose the longer route on the eastern front. They turned east in Shenzhou, expected to enter Guizhou Province first, then enter Posu Road, go upstream along the Huifa River, pass the pass on the east side of Qingling Mountain, and go north along the Huolun River to enter Shangjing.
This route requires a total of twenty-one miles, which is much further than the previous one, and the road is also difficult to walk.
But Heshi Liehuanduan had already said it before: Pu Xianwannu of Xianping Prefecture was ambitious and was completely rebelling. He would not allow the navy to interact with Pu Xianwannu under any circumstances to increase his strength. Therefore, he specially sent a Qianhu monk named Monk Otunma to accompany him to ensure that Li Yun's whereabouts would not get out of control.
Li Yun had already found out that this monk Aotunma was the one who led the army to burn and kill the wild Jurchen villages. Later, the wild Jurchens besieged the caravan station and killed many people. Monk Otunma was the culprit.
But Heshi Liehuanduan didn't take this seriously. Li Yun was in Liaodong and he just wanted to do business and make profits. Apart from that, he couldn't be too demanding. Then, Monk Otunma came as soon as he came. Since he was watching closely, Li Yun worked harder and went east.
As a result, a group of people trudged for half a day through the mountain ravines in Guizhou Province. Before they had gone twenty miles, the wheel hub of a large vehicle fell into the ravine and burst open on the spot.
Li Yun and others tried to repair it and thought of many ways, but in the end they all failed. In desperation, he had no choice but to lead people to unload the goods and spread the materials on the large truck to other vehicles.
Those supplies are quite delicate and cannot be thrown away casually. Many items need to be re-weighed according to weight and size. Sometimes they are arranged and bundled inappropriately and have to be untied and rearranged.
This work was not easy. The group of people worked hard for half an hour. Everyone was sweating profusely, but they couldn't take off their clothes and fan themselves... The mountains were full of mosquitoes, and the sound of flapping wings was like thunder. When everyone was on their way, Everyone wears heavy clothes. Once the clothes are taken off, the blood will be sucked dry!
They were hot, tired, and irritable, and several people's faces became increasingly ugly. However, the monk Otunma and a few cavalry were wandering around leisurely. Sometimes he would look at the people in the caravan working and make a mocking expression.
Today's Dinghai navy is considered a strong army in Shandong. The soldiers calculated on their own, and they always felt that it was enough to be called a strong army in the world. But most of the Jurchens in the Northeast are rough and violent, and their vision is very narrow. They are like frogs at the bottom of a well. They always look at everyone with a little contempt.
Previously, they were thinking about dispatching horses and making money, so everyone could tolerate it for a while and allow this man to be arrogant. Now seeing that he was still so arrogant, the dissatisfaction in the hearts of the soldiers was hard to suppress.
A young soldier believed that he was standing far away and was separated from a cart full of supplies, so he spread his hands and secretly drew his bow and shot an arrow. Then he opened his hand, blew a whistle in his mouth, simulated arrow clusters flying through the air, and shot the Jurchen Qianhu to death.
This action was a bit funny, and everyone including Li Yun laughed.
Li Yun smiled and waved his hand: "Okay, okay, just pretend, don't take it seriously."
The young soldier was a little proud, so he whistled extra loudly.
But no one expected that his whistle was still lingering, and the air actually erupted with a violent roar of arrows streaking through the air!
"Get down! Avoid the arrow!" Wang Bao'er shouted, holding down Li Yun and A Duo with both hands, and pushed them both under the car.
But right in front of Wang Bao'er, Monk Aotunma's head suddenly sank, his body tilted and he fell on the saddle. I saw an arrow hit the back of his neck, and the arrow penetrated straight into his brain. Blood flowed from the corners of Monk Otunma's mouth, his hands and feet twitched slightly, and then he died.
At the same time, several cavalrymen accompanying Monk Otunma were even worse. Almost all of them were hit by 17 or 18 arrows, and they were like hedgehogs sprouting blood out of thin air. They staggered on their horses for a long time and slowly rolled to the ground.
When they fell to the ground, the footsteps of hundreds of people sounded loudly. Behind the high slope where these cavalry were standing, several rows of archers appeared, everyone with their bows and arrows ready, looking down at the convoy.
Li Yun struggled, stood up straight from under the car, and asked, "Who is coming?"
A military attache came out of the archer queue: "When the subordinates of the Xuanfu Envoy from Shandong arrived in Liaodong, they deliberately avoided the Xuanfu Envoy from Liaodong. This is not the courtesy of a guest. The Xuanfu Envoy from Liaodong, Pu Xian, and Wannu's subordinates were all under the command of Pu Xianjian. Come out, I am specially here to welcome the distinguished guests, and invite them to go to Xianpingfu."
"It turned out to be a subordinate of Ambassador Pu Xian? How disrespectful!" Li Yun's expression did not change: "We are in a hurry to go to Beijing. Can we meet with Ambassador Pu Xian on our way back?"
"No." The man bowed slightly.
"Why?"
"Judge Li learned that three days ago, the Khitan army Yelvliu Ge raised 100,000 troops and went out to attack and plunder. They will fight with other armies from all over the country. The front of the Khitan army has arrived in Shenzhou and will continue to advance eastward at any time. Cut off the waterway of Huifachuan River. For everyone’s safety, please come with me to Hampyeong Province for temporary refuge, otherwise, I’m afraid an unspeakable tragedy will occur.”
(End of chapter)
