In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 33 Dorgon’s Contempt
Lin Rui and five girls were able to reach the bottom of the valley from the mountain col with only a knife.

The area of ​​​​the small valley is obviously not large, only a few dozen acres. It only took nearly half an hour for everyone to look around, during which they also discovered several creeks and a small lake.

After looking around, Lin Rui estimated that the small valley and the large valley outside were originally connected together, but a landslide later broke them in half, forming a mountain col in the middle.

"Sir, look..."

Everyone wandered around the valley, and a girl suddenly pointed at a group of goats under the stone wall in the distance and said in surprise.

Several other people also had the same eyesight, and they took off the crossbows behind them, loaded the arrows.

Lin Rui waved his hand to stop their actions, because he found that the goats were licking the rock wall, but the rock wall was bare and bare.

Although everyone was puzzled, they did not dare to disobey the order and step forward to shoot. Lin Rui looked at it for a long time, then his face showed surprise, and then there was a huge surprise. Then he made a gesture and took off the crossbow.

The five people then slowly approached the group of goats with their crossbows in hand, and did not stop until they were fifty steps away.

This group of goats had obviously never seen humans before. Although they had noticed Lin Rui and the others for a long time, they did not run away. Instead, they looked at them curiously.

But what greeted them was five gleaming crossbow arrows. Lin Rui's arrow hit a goat in the head, knocking the goat to the ground on the spot.

Two of the remaining four people missed, and the other two shot two goats in the buttocks and belly respectively.

The two goats just screamed and fled with the other goats. The two girls who were shot immediately took out their daggers and chased after them.

The two girls who missed the shot had no choice but to hang their heads, looking ashamed and not daring to look at Lin Rui who was standing aside.

"Practice more frequently in the future!" Lin Rui did not scold him, he just said one sentence and walked towards the rock wall.

He knew that these girls were not comparable to Sister Niu. Although they had only trained for more than a month, they basically had to practice hundreds of arrows a day at that time.

In addition to practicing crossbows every day, these girls also practice archery, riding, and close-quarters assassination. In addition, they also have to look after thousands of livestock. The workload in a day is no less than that of the adult men and women who dig trenches and ram soil, but it is relatively Be more relaxed.

The two girls were relieved when they saw that the young master did not scold him. They hurriedly followed him and picked up the rain arrows they had shot.

Lin Rui took out his dagger and dug into the rock wall, then picked up a small piece and put it in his mouth, licked it, and said happily: "It is indeed salty."

"Ah, sir, do you think there is salt in this rock wall?"

The two women were stunned, and then shouted in equal surprise.

Although the meat they ate every meal this month was rich in salt, they also understood the importance of salt on the grassland, almost more important than food and iron tools.

"Not bad, and the salt content should be quite high, but the salt must not be eaten directly."

Lin Rui licked it again and said.

Although it cannot be used directly, after roughly refining it, it should not kill anyone. At worst, let the Tatars try it first. If it is really edible after refining, they will no longer have to worry about salt in the future.

"Here, dig out a bag and take it back to check the content."

Lin Rui greeted quickly, completely ignoring the goat at his feet.

The two women also quickly took out their daggers to help dig.

"Sir, we caught him..."

After a while, two other girls also ran over happily carrying a goat.

"Don't worry about the sheep for now, come here and help." Lin Rui shouted without looking back.

Although the two women didn't understand why the three of them were digging into the rock wall, they immediately abandoned the sheep and ran over to help.

Obviously, after nearly a month of training, they have become accustomed to obeying orders first, regardless of the reason.

After a lot of hard work, the five people finally dug out a small bag, which weighed about forty or fifty kilograms. It was getting late, so everyone carried the sheep and carried the rock mine back to the col.Back at the col, the other two groups of people had also returned early.

"Sir, do you see what we found?"

Seeing Lin Rui coming back, Xiaocui immediately rushed forward, took out a black stone, and said excitedly.

Unexpectedly, Lin Rui was even more excited than her. He immediately threw away the bag on his back, rushed forward, and snatched the black stone from her hand.

"It turned out to be coal. There is coal in this mountain. Where did you find it?"

"Sir, this is not coal, this is coal. It was found on the mountainside over there. The mountain wall over there is all black." Xiao Cui quickly explained.

"Well, it is indeed coal, but this thing can also be called coal."

Lin Rui nodded and followed her hand and found that the place she mentioned was on the mountainside on the left.

I immediately understood that it must have been the landslide that exposed the coal mine buried in the mountain. Thinking of this, I became even more excited.

In other words, as long as they dig along that coal wall, they can easily mine the coal they need.

Coal often contains sulfur, and nitre is not difficult to obtain. In addition, there are many trees here that can be used to burn charcoal, and the conditions for making gunpowder are fully met.

With gunpowder, their strength will be greatly enhanced, especially in defensive battles.

"These Tatars are really sitting on a mountain of treasure and don't realize it!"

Thinking of the salt mine discovered in the valley, Lin Rui sighed and decided to search carefully to see if there were any other surprises.

So in the next few days, everyone once again divided into groups, climbed over the mountains and ridges, and explored everywhere.

While Lin Rui was looking for treasures in the mountains, a huge team in the northeast of the station also passed through the mountains and slowly came towards the south.

The number of people in this team is close to [-], and the carriages exceed [-]. They stretch for nearly ten miles, and most of them are Jurchen cavalry wearing white cotton armor.

"Master Beile, the Naiman tribe is ahead. The army can camp there tonight."

It was Kashgar, the leader of the Kashgar tribe, who spoke.

Riding a tall horse next to him was a young man with a heroic appearance. He was wearing a white cotton armor studded with iron nails. Except for his face, his whole body was wrapped in it. He nodded and then asked. He said: "Where are the Han people? How far away are their stations from here?"

After asking, a look of disdain appeared on his face, obviously he looked down on the people in Kashgar.

"Back to Mr. Beile, the Han people's station should be more than two hundred miles away from here." Kashgar replied quickly.

This handsome-looking young man is none other than Nurhaci’s 14th son, Beldorgon, the great master of the Later Jin Dynasty.

At this moment, when he heard that there were still two hundred miles left, he frowned and said impatiently: "Let's do this. Ben Beile gives you an order. You go to several nearby tribes, gather people, and destroy that group of Han people. Then Help the Fan family rescue their third son, and from now on, the pastures of the Chake tribe will belong to you."

Dorgon didn't even pay attention to the dozens of Han horse bandits, and he was unwilling to waste time. If Bago hadn't specifically told them, he wouldn't have bothered to take care of them.

This time, Bago sent him and Yue Tuo to lead the army mainly to the Hetao area to recruit the remnants of Chahar to surrender, not to eliminate a mere group of horse bandits.

Although the Chahar tribe was beaten to pieces by them last year and most of the tribesmen surrendered, Lindan Khan's wife and son escaped.

Although there are not many people left, as long as Lin Dan Khan's son does not surrender, there will always be hidden dangers in the Monan tribes. Moreover, it is said that the Han people's traditional jade seal is also in the hands of Lin Dan Khan's wife.

Because of this, Bago asked him and Yue Tuo to make another trip, and brought tens of thousands of Jurchen warriors with him to intimidate them.

"Don't worry, Mr. Beile, if that group of Han people hadn't used despicable means to sneak attack, how could they be the opponents of our Kashgar warriors? This time I will definitely destroy them and rescue the third son of the Fan family."

Kashgar hurriedly patted his chest and assured that he also knew that it was unrealistic for Dorgon to lead the army to annihilate the Han people, but it would be enough as long as Dorgon was willing to let him temporarily command several other tribes.

(End of this chapter)