stubborn thief

Chapter 257
In the southeast of Nangqian, more than a dozen fast horses are galloping in the valley of Gaiqu.

Immediately, four people were carried, with blood on their bodies and many scars on their armor. The only young man without armor was named Danba. He was wearing a brocade robe with bare shoulders and a flustered expression.

The four masters and servants turned a blind eye to the village where Chaba lived in the valley, and went straight to the manor on the mountain.

This is a fortress with a mixed style of Han and Tibetan. It was built in the Yuan Dynasty and was once the tuqianhu yamen under the jurisdiction of Longdawei in the Ming Dynasty.

However, since Yang Yinglong in Bozhou started the war with the imperial court, Sumantu Qianhu who lived deep in the hinterland of Duogan no longer paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

The slaves in the manor knew Danba and knelt down to salute.

Danba asked where Master Mingsumang was, threw off the reins, and ran into the manor by himself.

On a stone wall on the second floor of the manor, there is a chime clock as high as the roof.

The chubby Mangsu sits in a rocking chair opposite the chiming clock.

He was wearing a brocade gown with dark patterns and a beeswax dzi bead pendant. He held a pipe in his left hand and stroked a wine bowl in his right, staring at the chiming clock with a fascinated expression.

"Uncle, what time is it, you still look at your thing, how many years have you been looking at it!"

Master Su Mang raised his eyebrows, raised his eyes, and said cheerfully, "Every time you come here, you always laugh at my clock. You didn't laugh today... what happened?"

Danba sighed.

This self-ringing bell was sold by the Portuguese to the Indian nobles, and then went to Shigatse. Su Mang went to Tibet to worship the Buddha when he was young, and bought it at a high price.

Danba, who is a nephew, always laughed because Danba was still young when the big clock was brought back. When he saw a few words engraved on the base of the clock, he asked his uncle if he didn’t know him, but the uncle vomited when he saw it.

I really vomited, it was written in Chinese characters, and it was made in Foshan.

I have been slaughtered three or four times for no reason, and I will vomit on anyone who puts it on.

But the clock itself is really good, and even now it still represents the world's first-class handcraft quality, with a daily error of a quarter of an hour.

If you want it to tell the time on time, you have to adjust it every day or not for three months.

Danba sat on a chair, his body slamming, he stood up and took it out of his pocket, leaving a small package on the table.

Su Mang frowned and said, "What is so heavy?"

Ten catties of gold nuggets.

"Gama is back."

Danba leaned on the back of his chair and said: "With the support of the mountain, he sealed a slave boy and came to take revenge on us."

"So fast?"

Su Mang sat upright. He knew that Gama would go to the north to rescue soldiers, but he didn't expect to come back with the army so soon.

After thinking for a while, he quickly asked, "Should I just hit you, or sweep away all those who surrendered to Dunyue Dorji?"

Danba said: "He will take away all the noble lands that surrendered to Baili!"

Most of the nephew's surrender to Dunyue Dorji was his suggestion.

In this place, Su Mang's territory is Nangqian in the northwest and Baili in the southeast. They have been caught in the middle for a long time without offense, and they have lived in peace.

All through the ages, when Dunyue Duoji wanted to conscript soldiers, Su Mang also let him conscript, and those who sent troops to the left and right were also those who were poor.

Duiqiong and Chaba are the two classes of serfs.

There are only two kinds of people here.

One is monks and nobles, the status between them can flow, nobles can be monks, monks can also be nobles;
The other is Chaiba, Duiqiong and Langsheng, and their status can also flow among them. Chaiba can become Duicong, and Duicong can also become Langsheng.

If the people here are divided into one thousand, then there are about five big monks and nobles, and 45 young monks.

The remaining 950 people are 250 Chaba, [-] Tuipong, [-] slaves and Langsheng.

It is the duty of those Chabadui poor to pay the lord an ulah.

Chai Ula is the name of the servant, and there are two types, one is Gang Zhuo, which means walking with feet, and the other is La Dun, which means taking out with hands.

The former is forced labor, and the latter is expropriation in kind, both of which are free obligations, requiring both poor support and money and food.

Su Mang is a kind nobleman, he doesn't like to serve monks, and he arranges few Chaura for the people.

Other nobles usually let serfs pay half a Chaura every year and work for 180 days without pay.

But in his territory, only one-third of the serfs were allowed, that is, 120 days. People called him the kind-hearted Master Su Mang.

When Bai Li Wang Dunyue Duoji called, whether he should join Nangqian to resist the murderous Bai Li army, Master Su Mang had a calculation.

Most of his territory is grazing land, and there are only eight manors. Every year, the fields cultivated by Chawula have six kilograms of highland barley, and the rented land harvests three kilograms, with an income of [-] shi.

There are six cattle farms with [-] yaks and two sheep farms with [-] sheep.

Every year, [-] catties of ghee and [-] catties of milk dregs are collected.

Coupled with the extra manual work and debt income, in fact, Su Mang should have lived a pretty good life.

But every year, five or six hundred lamas pass by his territory, come to chant scriptures, stay for a month and a half, and even eat and take food.

Adding in the enshrining of the Three Treasures five times a month, serving tea to the temple twice, and paying tribute to the great temple in Tibet every year... half of the income is gone without anyone noticing it.

King Baili who brought the troops here was different, he was very understanding.

He didn't ask any questions, and drove all the monks away without saying a word. All four temples in the territory got their own torches and burned them clean, like a living Bodhisattva who saves suffering.

For such a hard work, King Baili only asked for a tribute of five hundred cows.

Five hundred cows was a lot to him, but this tribute would not be handed in every year. At that time, what Su Mang thought was that when the monk Gama moved back to rescue the soldiers and drive away the Bai Lijun, this place would still be his land, and There are no monks.

Compared to this benefit, five hundred cows are insignificant.

So Su Mang surrendered very quickly, and even dragged the nephew next door to surrender together, so that Bai Lijun's bodhisattvas could also go to do some work.

But he never expected that Monk Gama would want to take back all the land of the nobles.

The chime clock on the wall rang.

Su Mang squinted his eyes and thought about the countermeasures. When the bell stopped, he stared and said, "You can stay here with peace of mind. I'll see who dares to step over Gaiqu, the slaves."

"Monk Gama, it's nothing more than regaining the lost land, and you still want to swallow me?"

Danba felt that his uncle was too optimistic. Although it was no longer Nangqian's territory after crossing Gaiqu, he didn't think Gama would stop.

He ran over from the northwest, and he really took his life. He shook his head and still had lingering fears: "Uncle, you didn't see that every Lang Sheng in the village is overwhelmed, and those who are poor and poor , I found myself serving as a soldier for others."

Danba snorted, eyes like a trapped animal: "It's as if the boy named Basang can be the master, and they can be the master too."

Su Mang opened his eyes wide, and after thinking for a while, narrowed his eyes and said cautiously: "The monk is greedy, Gama can't do this."

"Yes!"

Danba nodded resolutely: "I see, it's probably because of his backing, those Han people's ideas... It's going to change."

Su Mang took a puff of cigarette on the chair, shook his head and laughed while holding the cigarette stick: "Be a fart."

After finishing speaking, he raised his foot and kicked Lang Sheng who was kneeling on the side with the silver plate, and knocked: "Go and find the housekeeper."

When Lang Sheng left, Su Mang said to his nephew: "Only those foreigners don't need to send Ula, they don't need to send Ula, and people in all the lands adjacent to Nangqian will oppose them. You said that in this land, you want to avoid sending Ula There are many people, or are there many people who want to send Ula?"

He snorted, "Gama is asking for his own death."

"But slaves will run to them."

Danba was really scared of being beaten. He said, uncle, you didn't see it.

"The Mongolian cavalry surrounded my village. The slaves threw stones and rushed in with torches. My musketeers couldn't climb the wall of the Bianma. I finally got the courage to climb up a hundred steps. Four or five muskets flashed outside, and he couldn't stop getting angry, howling ghostly and howling like wolves, so frightened that no one else dared to go up."

As he spoke, Danba lifted his bare-shoulder robe and the cotton padded jacket inside, revealing the bloodstains on his arms, and said, "More than 20 people ran out on horseback, Mima and the others died, and my two horses also died."

Su Mang thought for a while, and he had never seen such a scene.

He has seen Mongolian herd soldiers, slave soldiers, and the Han army in the west of Changhe, but he has never seen the three armies united in battle.

"You're right, slaves want to run, but who made them run?"

Su Mang raised his hand and knocked on the table: "What if the sheep run away? Of course, let the dogs run after them. Anyone who dares to run away will be skinned. If you get a few good skins, who else will dare to run away?"

"Uncle, don't be picky all the time."

Danba squinted his eyes and looked disgusted: "After peeling off the skin, the cubs will be gone. The three cubs have one tongue and one eye, and they can still plant a gram of land without delaying breeding."

"what!"

There was no cruelty on Su Mang's face, so he wanted to say that eating meat tonight was as usual, and praised: "You're right, take me out for a walk every day, and see who dares to run away!"

Not long after, the butler with only one hand walked quickly in a satin jacket, bowed and asked, "Master is looking for me?"

Danba knew the housekeeper. This man was a cavalry soldier raised by his uncle at home when he was young. Later, he lost his hand in a battle and became a big chaba in charge of a single manor, and later became a housekeeper.

"Send people to give orders to the eight Zhuangzi, pick Ding to bring weapons to protect the official village, send shepherds to keep an eye on the other side of the river along Gaiqu, catch slaves or Mongols running around, and report them quickly."

When the housekeeper took the order to leave, Danba still shook his head and said: "Uncle, wolves that eat whole horses, and sheep can't fill their stomachs. They will come here sooner or later, and they have to make more preparations."

"I know, you're talking about looking for Bai Li who is on the frontline of Qamdo?"

Su Mang turned around and pointed at Danba and asked, "Have you ever thought about why the Han army wanted Gama to confer slaves? They can obviously take Timba from Gama, but Gama has no slaves, and they can't give them anything. What good is it for them?"

Danba froze for a moment, then shook his head.

He didn't think about it, he was only thinking about running for his life all the way, and he didn't care about thinking about it at all.

Now when the uncle said it, he recalled it: "Yeah, what good does it do them?"

Master Su Mang was confident, and asked again: "Have you seen the Han army?"

Danba shook his head, then nodded again: "I saw some officers, wearing helmets and cotton armor, in the cub team."

"That's why I didn't see the army."

"I didn't see it." Danba thought for a while, and added: "But it must be the Han army who fired a few muskets in the forest? Where did Gama and the Mongols get muskets? Even if there are muskets, they may not be able to shoot."

"now it's right!"

Su Mang raised his hand and tapped twice on the table, saying convincingly: "Slaves can serve as soldiers for them, but the Han people can't stay in Amdo...they don't have enough troops!"

Danba stretched his neck and stared wide-eyed: "Uncle, how long has it been since you went out? The whole Kham area has gone crazy. The leader of the Han people is called Liu, who is known as the Grand Marshal. He led [-] Han troops and [-] Mongols to enter I'm full of pockets."

This time it was Su Mang's turn to stare.

It is true that he has a territory that he has not been out of for a long time. The last time he went out was to Ganden Monastery two years ago.

But [-] Han troops and [-] Mongols?
"There are only 2 people in the whole bag. Where can I get rations for 6 people? I have already rushed to loot all the manors. It is impossible to bring so much food from the Han area."

Su Mang continued to analyze along this line of thought. The so-called [-] soldiers are definitely deceiving. Even if the Han army can have [-], it is impossible for the Mongols to have [-].

The entire Qinghai can also organize [-] Mongolian troops.

What the Mongols and Taijis have not done, how can a Han military leader who has just arrived can unite the Mongolian nobles who are scattered in the sand?
impossible.

"But they do have a lot of Mongols."

"The Mongols belong to the Mongols. They want to go to Tibet. It is impossible for them to come all the way here just to regain the lost land for Monk Gama."

Danba asked, "Then what does Uncle plan to do?"

"Just like you thought, please ask Bai Li's army to help. Now we know that the number of Han troops is not large, so we have been dragging on and encouraging the slaves to serve as soldiers for them."

Su Mang said with a smile: "They are smart, now we know that if King Baili can be persuaded to use troops, the battlefield will be at Gaiqu River. They thought they were going to deal with hundreds of us, but in fact they were going to deal with King Baili's tens of thousands of troops. "

He shook his head: "Let me think about it, how can I persuade King Baili to move the army over and ambush them once."

Danba was overjoyed: "Then, my territory?"

"Anyway, there is no other way. If you want to get back the land, you must participate in this battle, and you must stand by King Bailey's side and fight hard. When the war is over and King Bailey wins the war, the land will naturally belong to you."

Su Mang exhaled, shook his head and said, "If Gama wins, you will really lose your land."

"Then let's do this! I'll listen to you." Danba nodded one after another, raised his hand and slammed the table heavily: "Then fight, just as all the slaves in the house are dead, take advantage of this battle to capture more prisoners and bring them back Farm for me!"

The two slave owners, uncle and nephew, discussed carefully, made a comprehensive plan, and soon prepared a gift for Baili Wang Dunyue Duoji.

Of course, the two of them didn't forget to find out the information, and sent a few trustworthy Lang Sheng to cross the Gaiqu River to find out the news in the direction of Nangqian's army.

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)