"There is a letter from the master, asking us to hold on for twenty days no matter what. The master is gathering the troops. Prepare food, grass and ammunition. We must keep the foothold we gained on the grassland with great difficulty."
An Sanxi said to Huang San while looking at the map.
At this time, the city that had been named Duolun by the master had begun to take shape.
This is the upper reaches of the Luan River. In addition to the imitation Bastille Castle on the east bank, dense residential areas have also been built next to the pier on the west bank, and earth walls have also been built outside the residential areas.
It's just that it's not covered with bricks. After all, it's difficult to bake bricks on the grassland. And the transportation capacity is limited, and the Bastille has been built with cement.
Because once a fight breaks out, there must be a strong fortress. So Duolun had to make do with rammed earth walls.
After all, there is a lack of trees on the grassland and it is impossible to manufacture siege weapons on a large scale.
Several military camps are scattered around, including the cavalry regiment directly under An Sanxi and the Baiyin Cavalry Regiment formed after the merger of the Baiyin tribe.
There is also a regiment from the original guard directly under Prince Tumut. They brought their families, cattle and sheep to seek refuge in Ansan River. An Sanxi organized them into the Tumut Cavalry Regiment.
Huang San's infantry regiment was stationed at the docks and the Bastille. as a defensive force.
Each of the four regiments has a full strength of 3,600 men.
Yang Fan immigrated 6,000 farmers and a population of more than 30,000 refugees. They concentrated in Duolun and were responsible for reclaiming the surrounding land. The land here is fertile and it is close to the upper reaches of the Luan River. There are many small tributaries suitable for growing rice.
Millet, corn and potatoes can also be grown on dry land.
Although the frost-free period is short, there is still no problem in planting crops for one season. Yang Fan has seeds with a short maturity period.
This year the land has been divided and the crops are almost mature. Looking around from the tower of the Bastille, everything is covered with green gauze tents.
An Sanxi could only pray that God would give him time to harvest crops before the war began. Otherwise, he would be reluctant to let so many crops be robbed by the Mongols.
Now there are nearly 50,000 soldiers and civilians in the Duolun stronghold. If I rely entirely on the master to transport food from Zunhua, it will be a huge sum of money and will seriously affect Yang Fan's finances.
In order to redeem his brother Alabayan, Haraqintaiji finally exchanged 3,000 war horses for 5,000 strong oxen after repeated bargaining.
These cattle were transported back to Yang Fan's land and distributed to his tenant farmers as cattle.
Now, his brother is back. Haraqintaiji immediately turned his back. He came forward to organize an alliance, summoned various forces in Duoyan, and linked up with the Tumut people west of Duolun in an attempt to attack from both sides.
The Tumut people were naturally willing to join the alliance, because they had all heard that Prince Zhebie had returned and threatened to deal with them. Do the math for the year.
They know very well what they did during Lin Dan Khan’s Western Expedition last year. Zhebie has been missing for ten years, and then he appears again out of nowhere.
Thinking of his reputation as a magical arrow on the grassland, everyone broke into a cold sweat.
Some of those who do good deeds may be confused.
But everyone who does bad things is a sensible person, and they are very clear about the nature of what they are doing. Know the extent of your own wickedness.
The bad guys are all sensible people, not a single fool.
The prince's family is in ruins, and Zhebie will not spare them.
The prince ran to the Zhungeer tribe. It was too far away and he would not pay attention to it for a while.
But Narenbaat'er shot the tiger to death and saved the prince's life. He was left by the prince to command the guards. With his feelings for the prince, he would never spare them.
From the moment he reappeared on the grassland, the revenge came so violently, like a storm, it was simply outrageous.
With his army, he has conquered more than a dozen tribes, large and small, killed Taiji, the herdsman, and Nayan, and distributed the land, cattle and sheep to the slaves.
He also declared that in the future the grasslands would be shared by all and there would be no so-called nobility.
This is to dig their ancestral graves.
These nobles must be completely eliminated.
This is going to change the sky on the grassland.
He is crazy, must be crazy.
His master is gone, and none of you can think of being his master.
Let everything return to zero.
The Taijis were all afraid.
How crazy does a person have to be to do such crazy things.
Nairen Bat'er does not want revenge, he wants to destroy the grassland.
Tumut and Duoyan hit it off immediately. The reason why the war has not started yet is because the two sides are still arguing about the number of troops to send and the distribution of spoils.
However, it is only a matter of time before war begins.
I heard that the Qing Dynasty also planned to send a cavalry of 3,000 people to participate in the war. The emperor of the Qing Dynasty also had a grudge against Nairen Battelle, but the details were not very clear.
This new city on the grassland blocked the trade channel between Shanxi merchants and the Qing Dynasty. The caravans coming out of Zhangjiakou would be robbed by An Sanxi's cavalry as soon as they came out of the Mote tribe's sphere of influence. The Qing Dynasty had already Zhangjiakou's trade was interrupted for three months.
Originally, the Qing Dynasty was suffering from a serious famine. There was a shortage of food, salt, iron, cloth, silk, porcelain, liquor, and farm tools. Now, due to this new group of horse bandits on the grassland, the economy was about to collapse.
Huang Taiji couldn't bear it anymore.
Representatives of Shanxi merchants were originally invited to come to Shenyang, but an agreement had just been reached, but the road was cut off again. All in vain.
The limited camel caravans that reached Shenyang took a long way from Khalkha, crossing the Greater Khingan Mountains and Nenjiang River from Chechen Khan, arriving at Nenhorqin and then Shenyang from the north.
Fortunately, Horqin and the Manchus were related by marriage, so the only trade route was preserved.
In this way, we can't transport too many supplies. After all, the journey is too far. Even when the goods arrive, the price is scary enough.
"If it doesn't rain in the past two days, we will organize a rush to harvest. The crops are already ripe. The harvested crops, plus the livestock harvest, will be enough for us to eat for two years." Huang San continued.
An Sanxi nodded, this was the only priority at the moment.
It is said in the art of war that war should be started before the crops are harvested, so that the enemy's crops can be harvested.
Up to now, those idiots in Haraqin are still arguing, which just gives them time to grab the harvest.
The next day, the sun was shining brightly.
An Sanxi and Huang San were very happy after returning from the field inspection. It will most likely be sunny in the coming period, allowing harvesting and drying.
The crops are finally ready for harvest. All the sorghum outside the city is ripe. Others are also in these two days.
In Duolun Tucheng, the sound of gongs clanged loudly early in the morning.
On a quiet morning, the sound travels far.
Every household hurriedly got up, which was a signal for the production team to gather in the morning.
They were all refugees in Hebei, and were sent here after being rescued by Yang Fan.
At first, they were terrified, fearing that the Mongols would come and take them away as slaves.
However, they soon discovered that there were more than 3,000 cavalry and more than 3,000 infantry of the master here. There are also two Mongolian cavalry who are also our own.
The surrounding Mongolian tribes were simply weak. If you don't attack them on your own side, they will burn incense. They didn't dare to harass me at all.
There are tens of thousands of Mongolian herders in the city here. Some are people from both tribes. There are also the Mongols captured by the surrounding Mongolian tribes that were conquered by Master An Sanxi some time ago.
Han Chinese and Mongolians lived together in the city of Duolun. Soon, everyone discovered that this kind of mixed living was actually beneficial to everyone.
Farmers among the Han people could farm, Mongolians herded horses and sheep, and Mongolians could exchange dairy products, furs, and meat for food.
The Mongolians are very aware of the preciousness of food, and they can save a family's life just in time for a famine.
Food is so rare. In the past, we had to rob it or be exchanged for cattle and sheep at a high price by those evil Shanxi merchants. Now living with farmers, can be exchanged at any time.
Han women also weave cloth, so they can wear cloth clothes in summer. It’s so cool, which I couldn’t even imagine before.
There are all kinds of craftsmen among the Han people. As long as they exchange, they don't have to risk their lives to attack the Great Wall.
The Han people are also very happy. The grain, cloth, and handicrafts they produce can be sold, and their income is much higher than in the mainland.
Fur is what they need, and women and dolls also have meat and dairy products to eat, which is something the mainland cannot even think of.
People of the two ethnic groups lived together in the same city. In order to trade, they began to learn each other's languages. As they gradually integrated, they even began to intermarry.
Hamule was a Mongolian, and his tribe was moved to Duolun City by Ansanxi.
He was just a herdsman at first. Unexpectedly, he became a free man after being captured by the hero of the grassland, Jebeneren Bater of Tumote. It was also given to a wife.
Because he is a master at herding horses and raising horses well, he is now the captain of the animal husbandry team. His wife is a beautiful little daughter.
During the Jebe Annexation War, her father died in the battle, and she was captured and given to the Jebe soldiers.
She also accepted her fate. Isn't this how generations of women on the grassland lived.
Fortunately, although Hamule has changed from a herding slave to a horse herding captain, a person's concept is not easy to change. He loves his wife very much and still treats her as a young lady. She has never been beaten or scolded.
"Master, why are the agricultural production teams beating the gongs so early? Everyone hasn't woken up yet. The genius has just dawned."
"Yesterday I heard from Rex Rabbit, who was driving a cart to transport water to the city, that the sorghum outside the city was ripe. The Han people were about to start harvesting."
"Great. I heard that in addition to handing over the public rations, the production team will also leave a lot of rations. We can use the skins beaten last year to exchange for some. Keeping some food at home will make you feel more secure. There is enough at home. We no longer have to worry about food being wasted."
Hamule laughed loudly and said: "Only when you live in the city do you know what comfort is. The market in this city has everything. I heard that the briquette factory is about to open. From now on, coal will be used for cooking and heating in winter. Food. You can buy this stuff at the grain store anytime in the future. Don’t worry.”
The neighbors around Hamule were all Han Chinese. They stood in line in the street with great excitement. The production captain yelled at their names and checked one by one to see if they had brought their tools. Then one group after another drove out of the city.
The sorghum fields outside the city were a fiery red, blowing by the wind like a red ocean with undulating waves.
"I heard that wheat, rice, potatoes, and corn are about to ripen. I don't know what kind of grain they are." Hamuler's wife murmured.
In the past, I was happy to get some miscellaneous grains, but now it seems that all kinds of grains are available. This made her feel a little dazed and unreal.
"Yes, the next ten days will be the days when the Han people rush to harvest. It's great. In the past, we always fought with the Han people, and so many people died. If I had known that everyone could live together, we would graze and hunt, and they would grow food. And workmanship, how good it is, everything is available in the market, why bother, it was so stupid back then. Zhebie is right, Mongolians and Han people are brothers, there is no conflict in the first place, they are all princes, herders, Taiji They instigated them for their own interests. Zhebie said they were all big mosquitoes on the grassland and wanted to eliminate them."
His wife continued: "I went out on the street yesterday and saw a huge new windmill built at the entrance of Dongda Street. It is said to use wind power to drive the millstone to grind flour. From now on, white flour will be sold in that mill. Boss, from now on you can let go When you come back, I can make you some pancakes and some mutton soup noodles."
"Hahaha, you know what else sorghum can do besides making food, it can also make wine. Sorghum wine is sweet and very delicious. Hahaha"
And there are no Mongolian men who don’t drink.
Hamule likes the new life here, and he does not want to go back to the past. This is also the thought of all the Mongolians who voted for Ansanxi. They do not want to go to war with the Han people.
I thought of the recent news that the gentlemen of Tumut and Duoyan were going to unite to eliminate the heretics on the grassland. Hamule spat on the ground, bah, these wolves thought they could fool us. Now the Mongolian herdsmen have woken up. If they come, fight them. You would rather die than go back to the past. , live the life of a slave.
