The Ming Dynasty took an unconventional approach

This is the border between the Oirat and the Nogai Khanate, and also where the Oirat troops were stationed.

The Ming Dynasty had very little interaction with this area. The area to the west belonged to the Nogai Khanate, and further north was the Siberian Khanate. There were only a few caravans traveling between the people, and there was basically no political exchange.

It was completely unexpected that the Ministry of War would have spies here.

During the Yongle reign, the emperor always wanted to eliminate the problem of invasions by the Northern Hu, so he launched military campaigns against the Northern Hu on several occasions.

At that time, the Ministry of War sent many scouts into the grasslands, one of whom disguised themselves as a caravan and roamed the grasslands.

After years of wandering and hardship, having experienced sandstorms and tribal wars, I ended up here in a daze.

Tielianguti was too far from the Ming Dynasty, and they had to send three groups of people back before they were able to contact the Ministry of War.

The rest of the people are already old, and they can never go back in this lifetime.

So they married and had children here, or took on apprentices and taught skills, thus cultivating a new generation of scouts.

They maintained intermittent contact with the Ministry of War, occasionally sending them news about the Oirat Mongols, and the Ministry of War would try to send them money and goods in return.

In fact, both sides knew that with thousands of miles separating them, their messages were no longer of value to the Ming Dynasty, and the cost of sending them back would be too high.

However, one side couldn't go back, and the other side wanted to leave a glimmer of hope for the Chinese people, so they kept in tacit agreement to keep in touch.

The address and list that Yu Qian gave her were updated by the Ministry of War eight years ago.

In other words, the last time the two sides contacted each other was eight years ago.

Pan Yun, Miao Zhen, and the other two appeared on the desolate Gobi Desert. As they looked at the city not far away, the round sun on the horizon turned orange-red, turning the entire sky into a colorful display.

Miaozhen looked back at the way they came and couldn't help but say, "If it weren't for Junior Uncle, we probably would never have made it here in our entire lives."

Pan Yun: "That's not necessarily true. With perseverance and your abilities, anything is possible. Think about Tang Sanzang. He went to the Western Paradise to obtain the scriptures all by himself, and he made it."

The distance between Tirangut and Chang'an was roughly the same as the distance from ancient India to Chang'an.

"But you're right, it's quite difficult for caravans to get here. It would be much better if transportation were more convenient."

Pan Jun wanted to build railways and trains even more.

I wonder how the Ministry of Works' research is going; I'll have to ask them later.

Pan Yun led the three towards the city gate, but they were stopped at the gate.

The soldiers looked at their faces and clothes and asked them for travel permits and customs documents.

An Chen had prepared everything for them long ago. The Northern Garrison Command was quite reliable in this regard, and the travel permits and customs documents for the four of them were flawless.

Because there was absolutely nothing wrong with them, the four were arrested.

The soldiers escorting them back to their tent complained to their comrades in their tribal language: "They actually have seals on every gate; this is definitely not right."

During his personal campaign, Pan Jun learned the languages ​​of various Oirat tribes. Although he was not fluent, he could understand them.

She understood, so she remained silent and couldn't help but ask in the Oirat language, "Are we wrong about the seal?"

The soldier shoved her hard and yelled, "You forged a travel document and you still dare to talk back! Our Oirat tribes have many passes, and we're currently at war. How did you manage to get here in three months?"

Pan Yun: "Where is there a war? I've traveled here without any trouble at all!"

Her words were righteous and confident, leaving the two escorting soldiers bewildered and unable to help but wonder: "Wasn't there a battle on the way?"

“No!” Pan Jun said firmly, “We traveled westward safely and peacefully. We didn’t even see any bandits, let alone any war.”

"That's not right. Dayan Khan and the Tatar tribes have both rebelled against the Khan. The caravans that came before us all said that there has been fighting along the way. How come you haven't encountered any?"

Pan Yun: "Maybe it's because we didn't bring any goods?"

The two soldiers then realized something was even more amiss and immediately held their knives to their necks, asking, "You're not merchants, who are you? What are you doing here?"

Pan Yun said, "We are here to find relatives and to study."

Soldier A: "Looking for relatives?"

Soldier B: "Study abroad?"

So Pan Yun carefully pointed to her sleeve and said, "I have a piece of paper in my sleeve. May I take it out?"

Soldier A moved the knife aside so she could take it.

Pan Yun immediately took out a piece of paper with an address and a name written on it.

Pan Yun then took the paper and began to tell them a story.

A fantasy story.

Their great-uncle had loved traveling since he was a child. After he came of age, he went out with a caravan and was never heard from again until eight years ago when his family received a letter from him. It turned out that he had been in the border region for so many years.

"He traveled with a caravan all the way here, became fascinated by the scenery, and, being short of money, decided to settle here."

Soldier A rushed to the soldiers who had gathered around to listen to the story and said, "I have no money to go home, so I can only stay here to get married and have children."

Pan Yun pretended not to hear and said with deep emotion, "Although my great-uncle could not go home, his longing for his hometown never stopped. He sent letters home through the passing caravans until eight years ago when his family finally received a letter from him."

“My grandfather, oh, the older brother of the person who wrote the letter, also missed his younger brother. He was worried about him until his death. We grew up under our grandfather’s care and vowed to find our great-uncle from a young age, to tell him about our grandfather’s longing for him, and to give him the soil from our hometown that our grandfather’s father dug up.”

Tao Yanbai immediately replied, "The soil of our hometown is in the baskets you confiscated."

That was a large basket they specially brought out when they decided to go to the city. In addition to soil from their hometown, it was also wrapped with several bolts of cloth for camouflage.

As a result, all their travel documents were confiscated when they entered the city.

Soon, a soldier came over carrying a jar of soil: "I've checked it, this jar really does contain soil."

Soldier B brandished his knife and asked, "What's this 'study tour' thing?"

Pan Yun then said, “In our Great Ming Dynasty, there is a Taoist academy called the Academy. The four of us are all disciples of the Academy. Because we have reached the age to travel and study, we chose this place.”

Pan Yun said, "We can find our relatives and complete the academy's mission at the same time, so why not? We've had a smooth journey, but we were captured when we arrived at our destination. Brothers, please have mercy and let us go. We must find our great-uncle and give him our grandfather's letter and the soil from our hometown. Otherwise, our grandfather will not rest in peace even in death."

Pan Yun wiped away her tears.

Miaozhen, wiping away her tears, said, "Grand-uncle can't rest easy either~~"

Miaohe covered her face: "Our lives are so miserable~~"

Tao Yanbai: "We'll give you everything in the basket except this jar of soil. Please, sirs, let us go. We just want to find someone."

"You can't survive here without money."

“As long as we find our great-uncle, that will be enough,” Pan Yun said. “Even if our great-uncle is penniless, he wouldn’t let us starve to death, would he?”

What's impossible about that?
How many people have starved to death in this city?
After a brief discussion, the soldiers felt their story was believable and didn't seem like they were just talking. They concluded that the three men were likely just lucky and hadn't been carrying any goods, which was why they hadn't encountered the rebels. So, after a quick discussion, they released the four men.

In the end, the four men left the military tent empty-handed, except for a jar of soil from their hometown.

Standing on the bumpy dirt road, the four of them looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief.

The city's houses are mostly built of stone and mud.

The house was square but low, with a small door and small windows, but it was decorated with strange animal patterns.

Everything here is gray and earthy yellow, so brightly colored fabrics are very popular.

The cloth that Pan Jun and his men had placed in their baskets was not valuable, but it was brightly colored, so the soldiers couldn't take their eyes off it once they opened it. Since they had no powerful backers and there were indeed suspicious points in the customs documents, it was confiscated.

When leaving the military tent, Pan Yun didn't stand on ceremony and directly asked the soldier for directions to the address on the paper.

The city wasn't big; even a small town in Jiangnan was a bit bigger. So she was certain that these four unfamiliar faces would attract attention no matter which family they visited. Since that was the case, there was no need to bother hiding them; they might as well just show themselves openly.

Sometimes, the more open and honest you are, the more outsiders will think you have no problems.

The soldiers had just searched all the people's belongings, and hadn't even put down their baskets yet, so they felt embarrassed not to answer.

In addition, this was the first time they had ever seen someone as bold as Pan Yun, who dared to ask them for directions after being released.

So the soldiers gave them very careful directions.

The four of them found a low and narrow house before it got completely dark.

Pan Yun knocked on the door, and the person inside slammed it open. A bearded man with a fierce expression asked, "Who are you looking for?"

Pan Yun quickly asked, "Does Zhao Shizhu live here?"

"I don't know you, I won't stay here!"

After saying that, he was about to slam the door shut when Pan Yun quickly reached out to support it, and the door slammed into his palm with a loud bang.

The bearded man narrowed his eyes, noticing that her arm hadn't trembled at all and her expression remained unchanged. He tightened his stance, staring intently at her, and asked, "What do you want to do?"

Pan Jun smiled and said, "Brother, we've come here to find our relatives. He must have lived here a few years ago. Think about it again, Zhao Shizhu, a Han Chinese, where is he now?"

A woman wearing an apron cautiously appeared behind the man and whispered, "Are you looking for Uncle Zhao?"

Pan Yun immediately pushed open the half-closed door and went in. The bearded man's pupils trembled, and he reached out to stop Pan Yun, but she pushed him away lightly.

The bearded man appeared to have been pushed only lightly, but he stumbled back three steps and slammed against the wall behind him with a thud, his arm numb.

Pan Jun seemed oblivious, smiling as he stepped forward and gently asked the woman, "Uncle Zhao? Do you know him?"

The woman glanced quickly at the bearded man, nodded, and said, "He sold the house to us and moved away six years ago."

Where did he move to?

The woman hesitated and didn't speak, looking at the bearded man.

Pan Yun also turned her head, thought for a moment, and then stepped forward with a smile to support the arm of the bearded man, saying happily, "Brother, you should have said earlier that you knew my great-uncle. We're all family."

"Who's family with you?" The bearded man was angry, but the arm that Pan Yun was supporting was going numb. He was a little scared and had no choice but to give in, saying, "He lives at the end of this street, in a wooden house. You'll see him when you walk to the very end."

Pan Yun looked at the woman.

The woman nodded repeatedly.

Pan Yun then released the woman, and he and Miao Zhen left the house.

As soon as they stepped out, the door slammed shut, and a chorus of curses and swearing came from inside.

Miao Zhen was furious and couldn't help but step forward, but Pan Yun stopped her: "Unless we can give her a better future, we can't interfere."

Miaozhen: "She's injured, that man will beat her."

“We’ll find a way to make it up to her another day,” Pan Jun said. “He won’t hit her tonight, and he won’t hit her about this after tonight.”

Miaozhen frowned.

Miaohe said, "Junior Uncle sealed the acupoints on his hands. He will feel a sharp pain whenever he raises his hand and will be unable to move it."

Tao Yanbo: "A man who hits a woman, humph, do you think she'll leave him?"

“It’s difficult,” Pan Jun said. “Didn’t you notice? The winters here are very cold. Every house we’ve come through has a man in it. If she doesn’t have enough ability, she can’t survive the winter here.”

Miaozhen lowered her eyes and pondered for a moment before saying, "This is their wisdom for survival, not necessarily weakness."

Pan Yun nodded. This was not the era she lived in, where women could live without men, and as long as they were willing to work hard, they could live even better.

According to the soldiers guarding the city, the rules here are very lax, so it would be difficult for a woman who is not strong enough or intelligent enough to defend a house and survive here.

When the four of them reached the end of the street and saw the thatched hut standing in the cold wind, they became even more certain.

This was a thatched hut only as tall as a person, with the doorway reaching just above Pan Jun's head. Layers of dry grass were piled on top, and the cold wind seeped in through the cracks in the wood. If it weren't for the sounds of breathing coming from inside, Pan Jun would have almost thought there was no one inside.

The four felt a pang of sympathy, and Tao Yanbai jogged over and knocked on the door.

The breathing inside paused, and no one uttered a sound.

Tao Yanbai knocked again, and suddenly a curse and the sound of something being smashed erupted from inside.

They were cursing "thief, robber" in very vulgar Oirat language.

Tao Yanbai was taken aback and turned to look at his junior uncle.

Pan Jun stepped forward and called out through the door, "Senior, I am Pan Jun from Sanqing Mountain, and I have come to pay my respects."

The room fell silent.

A moment later, there was a rustling sound from inside, and then the shaky wooden door was pulled open, and a disheveled, graying head poked out, with two bloodshot eyes staring intently at the four people in front of the door.

Without them saying a word, the old man could tell from their clothing that they came from the Ming Dynasty.

Without uttering a word, tears streamed down his face, and the old man was almost sobbing uncontrollably.

A withered hand pushed the man aside, and a head even whiter and more wrinkled than his emerged, its cloudy eyes staring intently at the four of them. After a long pause, it stammered in Chinese, "Who are you?"

Pan Yun glanced at the two men and said, "I am here on the orders of Minister Yu of the Ministry of War."

It took the two of them a while to realize that the familiar local accent was right there.

The two men stepped aside to let the four people in. An old man pulled out a tinderbox, lit the stove, and moved it in front of them before carefully examining the four people by the firelight.

The four of them curiously examined the thatched hut, which was no more than ten square meters in size. (End of Chapter)