Dressed as a widow, raising cubs, farming and building infrastructure in Ming Dynasty

Chapter 48 Talezhara

The terrain here is much flatter.

Old Man Lou looked at the sheepskin map in his hand, pointed to the distance and said, "That's the ruins of Yuan Shangdu, where Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, established the capital."

Qin Liu raised his eyebrows.She remembered that this place was called Zhenglan Banner in modern society, and it was only half a day's drive from Beijing.

And they set out from Huailai outside the pass and rode for several days before arriving here... In ancient times, horses and carriages were very slow, so I won't be fooled.

Qin Liu asked: "Isn't this place not far from Duolun Lake?"

Old Man Lou and Little Mute both looked at her in surprise.

Qin Liu smiled sheepishly: "Duolun Lake is quite beautiful, and there are many coal mines underground nearby. It's really a good place."

Old Man Lou was the first to return to normal, pointed to the west and said: "150 miles to the east, we will reach Dolennore. If we hurry up, we can get there in one day, but it's just not the same as our destination. The shopkeeper Are you sure you want to go take a look?"

Qin Liu was stunned for a moment and shook his head: "I just mentioned it casually."

Old Man Lou had told her before that they were going to the Chahar tribe near the court of the Mongolian Khan to buy horses, and they had to go all the way north.If they can get permission from the royal court, it will be much easier for them to continue selling horses in the future.

Qin Liu was worried that he would encounter Tatar soldiers who wanted to kill them on the way?

Old Man Lou shook his head and said with a smile: "Mongolian tribes do often fight with each other, and Mongolian soldiers often rush into the pass to rob. But they will let go of caravans who take the initiative to do business on the grasslands, and will try their best to provide protection. The Ming Dynasty The imperial court has banned caravans from coming to the grasslands to do business. If the Mongols continue to rob, their grasslands will be even more lacking. They risk their lives to enter and rob, just to grab some daily necessities."

Old Man Lou told her that this place was under the jurisdiction of the Mongolian royal court. As long as there was no conflict with the local herdsmen, safety was guaranteed.

Old Man Lou asked: "Why is the shopkeeper so familiar with the grassland? Does he also know Duolun?"

Qin Liu felt a little guilty: "I saw it in the book. You still don't take it seriously when I ask you to read more books on weekdays. Are you showing cowardice now?"

After beating the snake seven inches, Old Man Lou said nothing.

But the little mute asked: "How do you know there is a coal mine there?"

Qin Liu prevaricated: "Of course I read it from the book!" Can she say that she has traveled through time? !

The little mute looked at her like an alien, and it took him a while to recover.

After walking for another day, they saw the first family of their trip.

There are cows and sheep grazing at the door of the lonely yurt, and a little boy of six or seven years old is busy.

The little boy's hair was disheveled, his clothes were dirty, and his face and hands were black. He stared at the group of them warily with a pair of big black eyes.

The little mute went to chat with the little boy in Mongolian for a while.

It turned out that their tribe had moved away before last winter. Because only their grandmother and little boy depended on each other, their family could not afford to move, so they had to stay.

It is considered a family abandoned by the tribe.

The little boy's grandmother was sick and was lying in the ger. The little boy was taking care of everything inside and outside the house.

Qin Liu looked at the little boy who brought them goat milk in a sensible way, feeling filled with emotion.

She thought of the elder man at home.

You have to take care of the housework at a young age, live alone in this vast place, fight against the cold of winter, and may have to face wolves and other wild animals.

How did he and his grandmother survive?

Old Man Lou asked the doctor who was following him to check on the little boy's grandmother and left some medicine.

"It's not a big deal, it's just a disease caused by a long-term lack of salt and tea." Grandma's face was covered with wrinkles, she was listless and weak, her eyes were unfocused, she had a lot of canker sores on her lips, and the skin on her body didn't look right.

Old Man Lou left a bag of salt and a piece of tea cake for the grandfather and grandson. The group took a brief rest here and prepared to leave.

Before leaving, the little boy, holding a piece of white hada in his hand, timidly left the yurt and walked to Qin Liu, who had not yet mounted his horse.

Qin Liu knelt down and asked the little boy to wrap the hada around his neck.

She hugged the little boy and kissed his little face.

The little boy's childish voice said: "Talezhara!"

Qin Liu's eyes fixed.

Talezhhara means "thank you" in Mongolian.

Herdsmen have wild vegetables and berries in summer to supplement their vitamins.During the seven-month long winter on the grasslands, the herdsmen could only rely on tea from the Han region to supplement their vitamins and maintain their health.Grassland residents not only face a harsh living environment, but also face health problems caused by material shortages.

The Ming Dynasty closed the door on the city, just to form a material blockade on the grassland peoples, and to subjugate them without a fight, right?

As everyone knows, the first ones to fall ill were not the strong and brave Mongolian cavalry, but the old, weak, women and children who were struggling for survival.

Qin Liu gradually lost his fear of the Tatar soldiers and gradually gained some sympathy for the grassland herders.

After walking for more than a day, a puff of white smoke floated in the distance not far ahead.

The group of them quickly reined in their horses and formed a circle. Old Man Lou quickly issued orders and stood ready with a solemn face.

Qin Liu knew that a large-scale Mongolian cavalry might be coming.

However, unexpectedly, what was approaching was only a group of horses, among which one or two Mongolian men holding long harness poles rode across the middle of the group of horses.

The horses are galloping, majestic, and the sound of horse hooves is approaching and going away like thunder. It is overwhelming, overwhelming, and very shocking.

Qin Liu watched the horses disappear into the sky and lamented that such heroic momentum could only be seen on the grassland.

Old Man Lou was so passionate that he couldn't resolve it, so he sang a song without any lyrics at the top of his voice.

The melodious and majestic melody complemented the vast early spring scene of the grassland. Everyone galloped their horses full of pride in the melody.

Magnificent, mountains, rivers and grasslands!
Beautiful, free!
When they were lighting a bonfire to cook in the evening, someone played the matouqin and sang a distant tune at the top of their lungs, as if they were also a group of herdsmen grazing on the grassland.

Qin Liu sat by the campfire, took a sip from the wine bag handed over by the little mute and sighed: "This is the taste of freedom! How beautiful!"

The little mute looked at the bonfire and smiled: "Freedom comes with a price."

Qin Liu raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to continue.

The little mute rarely spoke more, and said in accented Chinese: "The sky is high and high on the grassland, and you can ride a horse. But it is also sparsely populated, and survival is difficult. You Han people think that life in Shabaozi Town is hard, but compared to the grassland, that It’s a warm and comfortable paradise. When it’s cold, you can hide in the house and burn the kang to keep warm.”

Qin Liu looked at the little mute and said, "Actually, you can also build a house and burn a kang for warmth..."

The little mute sneered: "What are you burning? Are you burning branches? Look, how many trees are there on the grassland? Everyone is burning kangs to keep warm. In less than a year, there won't be a single tree on the grassland!"

"So, this is why you prairie people often go south to plunder?"

The little mute asked: "Robbery?! If you can live a good life, who would be willing to risk beheading and cross the Great Wall to rob something? To rob food, rob women, rob an iron pot or even an iron hoe?!"

(End of this chapter)