In the second year of Chongzhen - the sixth day of October, Qin Feng left Baichengzi with Mouse, Han Shanjun and the first battalion of the Tianwei Army in the name of "camping and training", and headed eastward via the wilderness path...
Many of the soldiers in the first battalion were adapted from sand bandits. They had killed people, seen blood, and had rich robbery experience, so they were most suitable for this mission.
Eight days later, the group arrived at Dongsheng City.
To be more precise, we came to Dongsheng City, which has been abandoned for more than two hundred years. Now there are only a few broken city walls left, which are covered with grass as high as half a person, and there is not even a single resident.
Why was Dongsheng City abandoned?
It’s a long story!
In the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang personally issued an order: a large-scale army was signed from Shanxi residents, and then Dongsheng Guards were set up on the west bank of the Yellow River and the southern end of the Hetao Grassland, and a Dongsheng City was built.
Later, Yulin, Yunchuan, Zhenlu, Xuande... several guard posts were set up in the surrounding areas, and military households were constantly moved and cities built.
Lao Zhu has only one purpose in doing this: to manage the Hetao grassland and completely integrate this fertile land into the territory of the Ming Dynasty!
Unfortunately, before this plan was completed, Lao Zhu passed away.
Next, the King of Yan, Zhu Di, launched the Jingnan Campaign and drove away his nephew, Emperor Jianwen. He became the Emperor of Heaven, then abandoned Nanjing and moved the capital to Beijing. An emperor came to guard the country!
The problem is that the Battle of Jingnan lasted for four years, and the Hebei area was the main battlefield. It was devastated by the war. The people fled and fled, and there was not much left.
Now that the capital has been moved to Beijing, there is not much population around it, which is not conducive to the development of the country. What should we do?
So Zhu Di issued an order to abandon the Dongsheng, Yulin, Yunchuan, Zhenlu... several guard posts in the Hetao area and move them all inland to the vicinity of Beijing to enrich the military strength and population of the Gyeonggi area.
As for the management of the Hetao Grassland, due to the serious shortage of troops and population, we can only put it aside for the time being.
In the 22nd year of Yongle, Zhu Di died during the Northern Campaign. The subsequent emperors Hongxi, Xuande, and Zhengtong thought of re-operating the Hetao grassland, but it was too late.
After decades of cultivation, the Mongols became stronger again and continued to attack the Ming Dynasty. Especially in the battle of Tumubao, the three most elite battalions of the Ming Dynasty were completely destroyed. Even the orthodox emperor Zhu Qizhen was made a prisoner. From then on, he could only If we adopt a defensive stance, we will no longer be able to manage the Hetao Grassland.
On the bank of the Yellow River, only Dongsheng City was left, which gradually turned into ruins despite the wind and rain!
…
On the second day after arriving in Dongsheng City, Han Shanjun took ten soldiers, disguised as ordinary merchants, and crossed the Yellow River eastward to Shanxi.
Golden Eagle—Lightning goes with him!
Qin Feng led a large group of troops to stay in Dongsheng City. While waiting for news from Han Shanjun, he did two major things:
The first thing is to check the terrain around Dongsheng City and consider how to rebuild the city, reclaim wasteland, divert water for irrigation... and how to defend against enemy attacks!
As a time traveler, Qin Feng deeply knows that we are now in the Little Ice Age. For a long time in the future, the drought in the northwest will not disappear, but will become more and more serious. Huguang, Henan, Shanxi, Shandong... …even the entire world will be affected, with food production severely reduced.
At that time, there were not millions of hungry people, but tens of millions!
There is simply no way to relieve such a large number of hungry people. Many, many people will starve to death, and even larger-scale civil uprisings will occur, until the Ming Dynasty is completely destroyed!
Is there a way to change this?
Yes, one is to plant new crops with high yield and drought resistance and produce more food, and the other is to immigrate and cultivate land!
The problem can be solved by moving the hungry people in the Central Plains to a place with fertile land, sufficient water, large enough space, and a very small population, and then reclaiming wasteland and producing food.
Looking around Daming, there is only one place that meets these conditions, and that is the Hetao Grassland.
As the saying goes: The Yellow River is full of harm, but only one set of benefits!
The Hetao grassland is large enough, rich in water and grass, suitable for farming and grazing. If it is fully developed, it will not be a problem to accommodate a population of 10 million.
Qin Feng's plan is to rebuild Dongsheng City when his strength is strong enough, and then use this as a stepping stone to regain the Hetao Grassland bit by bit, and then realize his immigration plan!
In this way, the people will benefit and the merits will be immeasurable!
…
The second thing Qin Feng had to do was to borrow some money.
Someone asked, Dongsheng City is surrounded by ruins, and there is not even a trace of a person. Who can I borrow money from? Is it possible to borrow money from ghosts?
That’s right, you’re borrowing money from a ghost!
In order to eliminate the sand bandits, Qin Feng used the discovery of the ancient tombs to deceive the leader, Hou Wanjin, and killed him unprepared.
In fact, Qin Feng did not lie. To the east of the Mu Us Desert is Dongsheng City. There are really ancient tombs here. They are the ancient tombs of the Xiongnu nobles more than 1,400 years ago.
The Xiongnu were once a powerful nomadic people on the northern grasslands. In the late Qin, Han and Jin Dynasties, they sent troops south many times and occupied the Hetao area with rich water and grass. They left behind countless stories, countless ancient tombs, and numerous grave goods.
Those priceless burial objects have been sleeping underground.
It was not until the end of the 20th century that a shepherd accidentally picked up a Hun crown, which attracted the attention of the archaeological community. After some careful exploration, the ancient tombs of the Hun nobles were found near the Dongsheng City ruins. A large amount of gold and silver treasures were unearthed inside.
Qin Feng happened to have seen this news that caused a huge sensation, and that's why he came up with the idea of 'borrowing money from dead people'. To put it bluntly, it was tomb robbing!
Tomb robbing is detrimental to moral integrity!
But for the sake of the world's great plan, and to create a way for countless people to survive, they had no choice but to do things that were detrimental to their moral integrity.
Besides, the Xiongnu were the enemies of the Han, and digging their enemies' graves was a good thing in their conscience.
"Mouse, come here!"
"Brother Feng, what are your orders?"
"It's your turn to show off your skills. Immediately bring a dozen people with you to investigate the area around Luoyang City. We must find it."
"Brother Feng, what are you looking for?"
"Tomb!"
ah!
Mouse was a little dumbfounded. Dongsheng City was surrounded by flat grasslands. There were no seals, no tombstones, no ancient monuments... It didn't look like there were ancient tombs at first sight.
But he knows that Qin Feng never talks empty words, and he must be sure of it. In this case, let's find out!
So, Mouzi took a dozen soldiers and set off with Luoyang shovel, exploring everywhere, looking for traces of the ancient tomb.
…
Three days later, Mouse came back excitedly with his body covered in dirt: "Brother Feng, you are really amazing, what you said is absolutely right... we found ancient tombs, many ancient tombs!"
"Oh, I found it. Where is it?"
"Thirty-five miles northeast, under a piece of grass!"
"Okay, let's take a look!"
Under the guidance of Mouse, Qin Feng led a large group of people and quickly arrived at their destination.
This is a large grassland, very lush, and there are many small trees growing there, less than a foot tall, with lush branches and heavy bunches of purple-red fruits, which makes people look very appetizing.
Several greedy soldiers wanted to pick the fruits, but Qin Feng immediately shouted loudly to stop them. At the same time, he ordered everyone that no one was allowed to go near those small trees, let alone pick the fruits from them.
Others don't know it, but Qin Feng knows it. This small tree is called mulberry tree, also known as 'Millennium Red'. It looks very beautiful, but it is actually highly poisonous. Once people eat its fruits, they will feel nausea, vomiting, dizziness, Diarrhea...even death.
This plant is relatively drought-tolerant and is distributed in the northwest region. There are not many people, so few people know it. I didn’t expect that there is such a large area near Dongsheng City!
As for the grass, there is nothing unusual on the surface. However, when it is dug down with a Luoyang shovel, the soil brought up has traces of tamping, indicating that there are ancient tombs underneath, and they are not small in size and in large numbers. Some of them have been identified. There are more than twenty, and there must be more ancient tombs under the surrounding grass.
That’s right, it’s here, the ancient tombs of the Huns from more than a thousand years ago!
The Xiongnu were nomadic people. They originally practiced sky burial, which meant that after a person died, the body was placed in the wilderness to be 'destroyed' by wild wolves and eagles.
After that, the Huns continued to go south. While fighting with the Han people, they also learned a lot of Han culture, especially some great Chanyus and nobles, and began to build tombs and bury them!
Different from the burials of the Han people, after the Xiongnu nobles were buried, no fiefdoms were built, no tombstones were erected, and no traces were left. Tens of thousands of horses were also driven to trample the ground into a flat ground. When lush green grass grew, it would be completely integrated with the surrounding environment. It blends into one, and there is no sign of a tomb at all from the surface.
Without leaving traces, how can future generations worship their ancestors?
The Huns had a way. They would find a pair of mother and child camels, then kill the young ones and bury them next to the tomb.
When it is time to worship ancestors, the female camel is brought to this grassland and allowed to walk freely. If the female camel suddenly stops, kneels on the ground and keeps whining, that is the location of the tomb.
This secret burial method is still used by Mongolians today. There is a folk song "The Lonely Little Camel Lamb" on the grassland, which is the embodiment of this kind of thing.
"Mouse, are these ancient tombs easy to dig?"
"Don't worry, I tried it out, and it's easy to dig. Even a layman can dig up these ancient tombs!"
Although the Huns learned about burial, they did not learn the exquisite anti-theft techniques of the Han family, such as hidden arrows, flaps, quicksand, and dragon-breaking stones... none of them.
As a result, Mouzi commanded the soldiers and was about to attack one of the ancient tombs, but was stopped by Qin Feng, who then gave him a three-part agreement:
First, tomb robbing is allowed, but the overall structure of the ancient tomb is not allowed, the coffin is not allowed, and the body of the deceased is not allowed to be desecrated.
Second, only the gold, silver and jewelry from the funerary objects should be taken away. The rest of the ceramics, ancient paintings, ironware, bronzes... are not allowed to be touched!
Third, after removing the gold and silver jewelry, re-seal the hole to protect the contents.
Qin Feng's meaning was very clear. He couldn't finish things completely, he had to leave something for future generations to use for archeology.
This is a bit difficult to do. We have to take out the gold, silver and jewelry without damaging the tomb. What should we do?
"Well, I have it!"
Fortunately, he comes from a family of tomb robbers, and his skills are quite high. After thinking about it for a while, the mouse immediately came up with a good idea - the kite turning method!
