On the winter solstice in the forty-fifth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, there was a place called Hetuala City in the vast snowy plains of the northeast. The Jurchens had not yet developed the habit of paying attention to this solar term, which the Han people called "winter solstice as big as the year."
However, today, many bannermen still flocked to the Khan's palace to watch a ceremony as if it were a festival.
Not a sacrificial ritual, but a killing ritual.
The owner of the Khan Palace, the fifty-eight-year-old Jianzhou Chief Nurhachi, was sitting in the hall he named the "Khan Palace Yamen". His indifferent eyes passed through the not spacious hall door and fell on the snow in the distance. in the crowd.
The palace where he was sitting was made of brick and wood structure, but the two-story roof was made into an octagonal shape based on the shape of a tent.
If the arrogant civil servants and generals in the arrogant and huge empire to the west saw it, they would definitely laugh at it. This kind of building, which is more like a resting pavilion, is not only as nondescript as its name, "Khan Palace Yamen", but also extremely shabby. .
Equally shabby are the small row of tile-roofed houses to the east of the "Octagonal Pavilion". The layout and area are similar to those of an ordinary carriage shop in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, but it is the entire space for Nurhaci, the "King of Khans", from living and sleeping to receiving guests and offering sacrifices.
However, Nurhaci, who had been to the capital to pay tribute and had seen the glorious Forbidden City, was now very satisfied with his little Khan's Palace and did not feel inferior at all.
In his understanding, in the history of the Han people, "Tang was seventy miles away, King Wen was a hundred miles away", and Liu Bang conquered the world from a pavilion in Surabaya, which all indicated that he would also rise from the small town of Hetuala in the northeast corner. Step by step towards the west and south to realize our grand plan.
However, the "carriage and horse shop" style bedroom was indeed a bit cramped, so that only Nurhachi's concubine could squeeze in with her husband and sleep on the kang inside.
Other women of the Great Khan, those who came to Hetuala due to marriages with other Jurchen and Mongolian tribes due to Jianzhou, all slept in the simpler kang houses in the surrounding areas.
Now, these women were finally temporarily released from their cages and came to the snow between the Khan's Palace and the Khan's Well, where they merged into the crowd watching the killing.
The one who was about to be killed was also a woman.
As a shaman, this woman once allowed this woman to accept the worship of believers in the house called "Tangzi" built by the tribe, just like Nurhaci accepted the surrender of the Eight Banners soldiers.
Tangzi and shaman are the spiritual pillars of the Jurchens. Each tribe has different halls and shamans, and the statues they worship and the words they praise are also all kinds of strange.
But in the hands of a conqueror like Nurhachi, both the tangzi and the shaman had the same destination: destruction.
As the chief wolf of the Jianzhou Jurchens, Nurhaci would burn the local temples and kill the shamans as spiritual leaders wherever he went when he was conquering the various Jurchen tribes in Haixi.
The reason why the shaman of the Ula tribe who was kneeling in the snow at this moment did not die three years ago was because she was spotted by Nurhachi's fifth son Mang Gurtai when she was young. Mang Gurtai was not willing to kill her at that time, but hid beside him.
However, his younger brother Huang Taiji found out about this and reported it to his father Nurhaci.
The cruel and superstitious alpha wolf can save the lives of those who surrendered, but he will never spare the shamans.
The ultimate means of genocide is to destroy their beliefs. Just like how Nurhaci’s descendants used the same tactics against the nation in the western empire many years later.
A Bajala warrior wearing armor made of iron, like a bear covered in silver lin, walked up to the witch.
To deal with prisoners who have been tightly bound, there is no need to wear the equipment of charging into battle, but strong men, in order to enhance their arrogance, often need to supplement it with a solemn and comic sense of ritual during execution.
"ah……"
"Why……"
"Yo yo yo..."
The crowd either screamed or cheered, and as the beautiful head was separated from the frail body, as the steaming blood spurted onto the white snow, it erupted without any suspense.
The Bajala warrior leaned down, lifted the head, and walked back to the Yamen of the Khan Palace not far away.
Mang Gurtai, who was sitting at the meeting table of Baylor, stared at the strings of blood beads falling on the snow, stretching from far to near, until Bagala entered the hall, and the blood beads gathered together at his feet. beach.
Nurhachi looked at Mang Gurtai, and then at Huang Taiji, who was sitting opposite him and also had no expression, and said to the major Baylors and the ministers: "This should be the last shaman of the Ula tribe."
Then he stared at his son Mang Gurtai and said: "Wubaile, you secretly hid the shaman of the Ula tribe and had children with her. Fortunately, I was discovered by this Khan in time, and both mother and son were eliminated. I will punish you by depriving you of a cow record and giving it to All other flags.”
"Niulu" was originally a collective formed by the Jurchens in the early days for hunting in groups. After Nurhachi reformed the Eight Banners military system, he fixed the number of each "Niulu" at 300 people. Only the Khan King could decide the number of Niulu. Allocation and trading.
Mang Gurtai stood up and knelt beside his woman's head, not caring that the skirt of his cotton armor was stained with blood.
He raised his arms in salute and said sternly: "I will obey the Great Khan's punishment."
Nurhachi waved his hand, motioning for his son to sit back in his seat, and asked Bagala, who was executing the execution, to carry the head and leave.
Huang Taiji turned slightly to his father and said respectfully: "The Great Khan, the Haixi Jurchens, and the Hulun tribe are the only ones left now. It won't be long before all the Jurchens can only worship us Aisin Gioro." Tangzi."
Mang Gurtai let out a "chi" and said teasingly: "When Babeile usually hunts, he likes to go after tigers and bears. Why, when it's time to attack a city and capture territory, his eyes only focus on the shaman and the Tangzi."
Huang Taiji pursed his lips indifferently, and his loud voice did not imply any dispute: "Wu Beile is right. To capture a city, you must not only look far, but also make a choice about the sequence. Today, we are here to listen to the Khan Decide on the big plans after spring."
Nurhachi twisted the prayer beads in his hand.
Since building the "Seven Great Temples" in his royal city and incorporating Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and even Lamaism into the Jurchen ethnic group, Nurhachi often touched Buddha beads on strings in public discussions, and at the same time deliberately expressed his respect for Confucius and Guan Guan in his speech. The second master’s habit.
He crossed the Buddha beads for a while, opened his eyes and said: "Sage Kong didn't think that he should think twice before doing anything. He said, again, it's okay. I thought about it twice last night and decided that after Ye He and Ye He Between Fushun, let’s fight Fushun first.”
…
Five hundred miles away, Daming City, Liaoyang City.
"Shilang Zhang, Miss Zheng, Mr. Wu, the winter solstice is as big as the New Year. Today, we have the New Year's dinner in advance. Mao, let's drink this cup first."
In front of the large iron pot on the charcoal stove, Mao Wenlong personally held the spoon and turned the stewed goose with bean paste in the pot several times, then picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp.
Zhang Quan, the Minister of War, who was sitting at the top, had a humble look on his face. After drinking the wine in the glass, he said to Zheng Haizhu, who was sitting at the bottom: "This wine is very strong, Miss Zheng, just do as you like."
Zheng Haizhu raised his body and gave a blessing ceremony.
Her face turned slightly red, not because of the baking in the charcoal hot pot or the effect of the strong liquor, but because of excitement.
She did not expect that one month after arriving in Liaodong, she would meet Zhang Quan, the Minister of War, at Mao Wenlong's place.
In Zheng Haizhu's opinion, this Ming military official who had just become Qin Liangyu's in-law and Ma Xianglin's father-in-law was the second trustworthy military expert in Liaodong besides Mao Wenlong.
