Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 569 Bastards and Smuggling

"By the way, Sana Zhezhe." Amin put down the porcelain bowl of goat milk and used his small knife to press down on a piece of plump, long strip of otter meat. Before the blade even began to move and cut, the mouth-watering fat overflowed.

Huifa Nara Sanazhezhe stopped what he was doing, turned his head and looked at Amin quietly.

"Sana Zhezhe, do you have any living brothers?" Amin poked the small piece of otter meat he had just cut with the tip of a knife in one hand, and with the other hand he took out a handful of fine white salt from the salt jar and sprinkled it on the crispy skin of the otter meat.

Sana Zhezhe was startled at first, then instinctively panicked. "Second Prince, why did Second Prince suddenly ask this?"

"I'm just asking casually," Amin put the small piece of meat sprinkled with salt into his mouth, and then pressed the blade against the meat. "Why are you shaking so much?"

"I, I'm not shaking." Sanazhezhe shook her head insincerely.

"Humph, you're just shaking." Amin rolled his eyes at Sana Zhezhe. "You can't fool me, I can hear it with my ears."

"I," Sana Zhezhe, was not only panicked, but also terrified. Amin's unexpected question seemed to bring her back to that terrifying afternoon. At that time, Sana Zhezhe was still Shuerhazi's concubine.

"If you don't want to talk about it, forget it. Let's eat. Just pretend I didn't ask." Amin reached out and picked up a piece of buttered white flour bun, and stuffed it into his mouth together with the freshly cut piece of meat, chewing it.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you," Sanazhezhe's voice trembled with fear. "I only have two brothers at home, and they were killed by the Khan a long time ago. That afternoon, the Khan even asked me to look at a head. How could there be any living brothers?"

"Then why did I hear that a man claiming to be an orphan of the Huifa tribe escaped to the Ming Empire?" Amin turned his head and looked at Sana Zhezhe with a smile. "Do you know what this is about?"

"How should I know!" Sanazhezhe suddenly got excited. She growled and asked back, holding the meat-cutting knife tightly in her hand.

"What are you going to do?" Amin looked at Sana Zhezhe calmly, then moved his gaze to the tip of the knife.

Sana Zhezhe curled her lips and tears rolled down her cheeks. She stood up suddenly, threw the knife in her hand in front of Amin, and cried, "I've been with you for more than ten years. What else do you doubt? If you don't trust me, just kill me!"

"I'm tired. Stop yelling and crying here. What do I suspect you of?" Amin frowned and glared. "Aren't you afraid that these servants will laugh at you?"

The servants around panicked upon hearing this. They all knelt down, resting their heads on the ground, trying to lower their bodies as much as possible, fearing that they would be implicated in the quarrel and suffer some unforeseen disaster.

Sana Zhezhe didn't respond, but just looked at Amin with a wronged look on her face.

"You're such an unreasonable woman!" Amin picked up the knife Sana Zhezhe had thrown in front of him, gripped the blade, and held the handle toward her. "Just a moment ago, you were screaming so cheerfully on the kang, and now you're throwing a tantrum and crying all over me because I just asked you a question. It's totally incomprehensible."

Sanazhezhe felt a warm feeling in her heart, but then she suddenly felt ashamed, her face turning pale and red. She gently took the knife and lowered her head.

"Sit down and eat. Don't embarrass yourself there." Amin turned around and took a sip of goat milk. Then he raised his head slightly and glanced at Sana Zhezhe. "Otherwise, I will whip your butt tonight!"

Sana Zhezhe calmed down a little, and with a feeling of shame and resentment, she sat down feeling aggrieved.

"Everyone, get up," Amin lowered his head and continued to enjoy the delicious otter meat. "If you see a joke, just keep it to yourself and don't gossip about it outside. Do you understand?"

"Yes." The servants finally breathed a sigh of relief and kowtowed as they stood up.

Sana Zhezhe sat in silence for a long time, and Amin did not speak to her anymore, but dealt with the food in front of him.

Suddenly, Sanazhezhe spoke up: "If there really is such a person, then it is possible that he is the offspring that Big Brother left behind in the Yehe tribe."

"How do you put it?" Amin continued slowly, as if it was just a casual question.

"More than twenty years ago, my father sent my eldest brother to the Yehe tribe as a hostage. He stayed there until he came of age before returning. Perhaps during that time, he fathered a bastard," Sanazhezhe said, a look of fear still lingering between her brows. "But this is just my guess. Not long after my eldest brother returned, my father sent me to Jianzhou. He never told me if this happened."

"Why didn't you say that earlier? You have to embarrass yourself like this." Amin still didn't look up.

"I..." Sana Zhezhe was speechless. "I was wrong."

"That's good." Amin turned around, smiled, and gently patted Sana Zhezhe's cheek with his salt-stained hand. "Like you said just now, you've been with me for over ten years and even gave birth to a daughter for me. How could I doubt you? You're just imagining things, and your mind is always full of inexplicable things."

"I, I..." Sana Zhezhe looked at the plate of meat, her pupils trembling. "I'm just scared."

"What are you afraid of?" Amin interrupted her, picking up the last piece of otter meat and putting it into his mouth. "Your father, Baindari, has brought this upon himself, just like my father. As long as you remain loyal to the Khan and to our Great Jin like I do, you won't have to fear anything." He chewed the otter meat hard in his mouth, leaning over to pick up the linen cloth on the table and wipe the grease off the knife. "I think you're just bored. Go to Xindian again today and urge Kalkan and the others to quickly put up those watchtowers for me. It's been a few days, they should be up by just nudging them with your nose."

There are several small paths connecting to the Wei River west of Xindian. Although they cannot accommodate a large army, scattered spies can easily penetrate deep into the hinterland through these paths.

Sana Zhezhe shook her head and sighed softly: "They don't have enough manpower, I told you before." Sana Zhezhe has been helping Amin with his work. Not long ago, she went to see the places that Amin mentioned.

"Don't explain for them. Even if we're short-handed, it's impossible to build a watchtower in several days. We're not asking them to ram earth and build a fort. Those dogs must have gone hunting secretly," Amin stood up. "The southern barbarians have been very aggressive lately. If we sneak up on them and stab them twice, they'll realize how powerful we are."

"Okay, then I'll keep watching them today." Sanazhezhe also stood up.

"Sit down and eat your meal. You can leave after you finish eating." Amin put away the knife and pushed Sana Zhezhe back. "Where is the Second Prince going today?" Sana Zhezhe looked up at Amin.

"You have a really good memory. Didn't I tell you yesterday?" Amin said without looking back, "Those smugglers have already reached Longzhuagou. You also asked me to bring you some rare goods. I have to go meet them."

Sana Zhezhe looked at Amin's receding back, and somehow her eyes began to moisten again.

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The so-called Longzhuagou is actually a branch road in the northwest direction of Kuandian Plain. Because it looks like a dragon's claw when viewed from a high place, it has long been called Longzhuagou by local residents.

The Longzhuagou area is dotted with numerous small settlements, including Liujiabao, Xujiabao, Shaojiabao, and Fengjiabao. Their names alone suggest that these areas were once home to many Han Chinese military households stationed there. However, today, most of these settlements are deserted, their land abandoned, and only a vast expanse of white ruin remains.

The core of the Longzhuagou area's defenses wasn't Longzhuagou Village, nestled in the middle of the road, but Xujiabao, further south. Xujiabao was about twenty miles from Kuandianbao City and was the only way from north to south across the Yihe River into the Kuandian Plain.

When Amin and his entourage approached the simply repaired Xujiabao, the Blue Banner Niulu Ezhen, who was assigned to guard the area, had already taken most of his Jin soldiers and lined the road to welcome them. As soon as Amin appeared, Niulu Ezhen immediately took the lead and knelt down.

"Your servant kowtows to the Second Beile!" Niulu Ezhen kowtowed halfway when he saw Jirgalang was there, so he quickly added, "Your servant kowtows to Jirgalang Taiji!"

Jirgalang was Amin's sixth brother, born in the 27th year of the Wanli reign. He was now 22 years old, thirteen years younger than Amin. Although at the age of daring and fighting, he had not yet had the opportunity to achieve success and thus had never been granted a title. The title of Taiji was merely a respectful title bestowed upon Jirgalang by the Bordered Blue Banner out of respect for Amin.

"Get up." Amin pulled the reins of the horse and looked down at Niulu Ezhen condescendingly, with no intention of getting off the horse.

"Thank you, Second Prince." Niulu Ezhen banged his head on the ground again before slowly getting up.

"Where are the smugglers?" Amin asked.

"I am waiting to see you at the trading house," said the Niulu Ezhen, stepping forward, head bowed and in a flattering manner, "Please allow me to lead the horse for the Second Prince."

"Haha," Amin smiled softly, leaning down slightly to pass the reins to Niulu Ezhen, "Ledutai, good servant! Lead the way."

"Yes." Ledutai smiled, held the reins and walked forward slowly.

"How much did they bring this time?" Amin stretched lazily on the horse.

"More than last time, six mules and three horses. The accompanying laborers also carried things." Ledutai gloated secretly. As usual, Amin would definitely reward him with some rare goods. Maybe refined salt, maybe sugar. If he was lucky, maybe even a piece of patterned cloth.

"Hmph, it seems this business is quite good. You're even raising the price for me." Amin asked, "Have we prepared everything?"

"It's all ready. As you ordered, three thousand kilograms of ginseng, two hundred sable skins, six hundred miscellaneous skins, and two hundred taels of silver have all been prepared. It's enough even if the price is raised further." Le Dutai replied.

"Don't they know about our stock?" Amin asked again.

"How dare I let them know." Le Dutai shook his head quickly. "As soon as they came, I took them to live in the tent. They didn't even leave the tent all night." The last person who dared to accept benefits from the Han people and reveal the inventory before the transaction was chopped by Amin.

"Yeah." Amin nodded and stopped talking.

Soon, Amin and Jirgalang were brought to the trading house by Ledutai.

This so-called trading house was actually just a few large tents set up near the fortress, surrounded by a wooden fence. Back when the Ming Dynasty still controlled Kuandian, there was a small market here, often open for trade between the surrounding Yi and Han peoples. Decades ago, when the imperial court's policies were at their most transparent and Nurhaci was at his most inactive, this place was once bustling.

But last year, like other places in Kuandian, it was burned to the ground by Hu Guochen. Shortly before Amin arrived with his vanguard troops, this old market was reused as a place to trade with smugglers.

Amin and Jirgalang dismounted at the entrance of the trading post and were led by Ledutai into the largest vacant tent.

After sitting down, Amin and Jirgalang waited for another half a quarter of an hour before the four smugglers, who had changed their clothes but did not shave their heads, were brought over by Ledutai.

Amin's eyes quickly swept over the four people and finally stopped on a strange face.

"I am Tobo," the leading merchant said, lifting his robe and kneeling down, speaking in a standard Jianzhou Jurchen accent. "I kowtow to Amin Beile, and to Jirgalang Taiji!" Since Ledutai had already greeted the man calling himself Tobo, he also kowtowed to Jirgalang.

The other three people did the same without any hesitation.

"Hahahaha!" Amin sat still for a moment, then suddenly stood up, laughing as he walked over to the smugglers. "Yanwei, long time no see! Why are you bowing? Hurry up and get up." Instead of speaking Jurchen, Amin greeted the leading smuggler in fluent Chinese, albeit with a Jurchen accent.

The Jin Dynasty officially rebelled in the 46th year of the Wanli Emperor's reign. Before that, Nurhaci's family could be considered canonized Ming officials. To learn Chinese, Nurhaci even employed a man named Gong Zhenglu from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, as a Chinese tutor for himself and his children and nephews. Therefore, from Nurhaci onward, every powerful figure in power spoke and knew some Chinese.

"I dare not, I dare not. How can I accept the fact that Amin is so honoring me?" The man who called himself Tuobo, but was called Yanwei by Amin, stood up. He stood up with a servile look and immediately bowed to Amin.

"Hey, we're old acquaintances, why bother being so polite?" Amin turned to look at Jirgalang and introduced him in Chinese: "This is Zhou Sen, courtesy name Yanwei. He often does business with me. The jade hanging around your waist was given to me by him, and I'm giving it to you."

(End of this chapter)