Di Ming

Chapter 16 Mingqi
The three rode out of the old forest and headed south along the Wanyan River.

After traveling several dozen miles, it meanders westward along a tributary of the Dong'e River.

Fortunately, Zhu Yin had already been trained in horsemanship, and he had been practicing archery and horsemanship every day during this period. Although he was not even nine years old, he was already able to ride a horse at full gallop.

The vast, sparsely populated, and desolate Northeast China gradually unfolded before Zhu Yin. The harsh, cold winds of the desolate land filled him with a profound sense of loneliness.

Zhu Yin imagined Ning Caiwei's precarious fate, his heart burning with anxiety, yet his expression remained calm as ice.

But for her sake, he rode his horse into the wolf's den.

He served as Ning Caiwei's personal bodyguard for two years. How could he really have no feelings for such an outstanding woman as Ning Caiwei?

He's not bent.

Spies are human beings, not plants or stones.

During this period, the two tacitly agreed to spend time together day and night, even sleeping on the same kang (heated brick bed) at night. Even if they were not yet deeply in love, they could be considered to be supporting each other through thick and thin.

Now that Caiwei has been kidnapped, Zhu Yin feels an unprecedented sense of panic, and only then does he realize how important she is to him.

That was an unbearable loss.

Zhu Yin looked around at the vast emptiness, his once innocent eyes now filled with worry. He couldn't help but softly recite:

A desolate place where the snow had not yet melted.

The spring breeze in February is still sharp as a knife.

Three horses rode side by side on the icy riverbank.
Looking around, the horizon stretches endlessly.

After reciting this self-composed doggerel, Zhu Yin whipped his horse and accelerated forward once again.

Mech and Niman could neither hear nor understand. But the infant in the swaddling clothes in front of Zhu Yin heard it clearly.

When Ning Qingchen heard the poem and saw the poet's melancholy eyes, her nose tingled, her lips trembled, and she felt like crying.

She understood the bewilderment and sorrow in the poem. She understood his concern for his sister.

If he really became his brother-in-law, wouldn't that be a good thing?
Thinking of his tender body, not even nine years old, carrying me on his chest, riding a horse in the cold wind to find his sister, it must have been very hard for him.

Ning Qingchen suddenly felt a pang of heartache.

Well, just a little bit.

However, she rarely felt sorry for anyone, not even a little bit.

Ning Qingchen held back her tears, but her stomach started to churn again.

Soon, bubbles started coming out of her little mouth.

So hungry!

I miss Jilan's mom so much!

But now she was on her way to save her sister, and she couldn't delay everyone's journey, so she had to endure the hunger.

The baby's crying threshold was too low. Ning Qingchen used immense willpower to suppress the baby's physiological urge to cry from hunger.

Zhu Yin sensed something unusual about the baby in his chest. Looking down, he saw that Ning Qingchen was already bubbling up like a little crab.

"Are you hungry?" Zhu Yin asked gently, looking at the pitiful baby.

Zhu Yin found it somewhat absurd.

He found it hard to connect this soft, adorable, and sweet-smelling little guy with the domineering and aloof Miss Ning.

Ah, she was so cute and harmless when she was little. How come she became so annoying when she grew up?
Ning Qingchen shook her head, indicating that she wasn't hungry.

But her pitiful eyes completely betrayed her.

Zhu Yin knew that she didn't want to delay their journey.

But babies really can't go hungry, it has a huge impact on their physical development.

"Meh! Niman!" Zhu Yin called out, "Let's rest for a while, my sister needs to nurse!"

"Yes, sir!" The two huskies got off together and skillfully tied the horse to a tree.

Zhu Yin, carrying Ning Qingchen, dismounted with a grimace.

In just half a day, the sides of his thighs were chafed raw.

The two hus took out some dry rations, while Zhu Yin took out a wine pouch from his satchel.

The wine sac wasn't filled with wine, but with Jilan's milk.

Before leaving, Jilan, worried that Ning Qingchen would go hungry on the road, squeezed out all her breast milk, which weighed a pound.

This shows how good they were to this breastfeeding girl.

However, this pound of breast milk was only enough for Ning Qingchen to drink for one day.

I'm already worried about tomorrow.

Zhu Yin sat on a rock under the tree, slowly feeding Ning Qingchen.

It smells so good!
Ning Qingchen drank the familiar breast milk and couldn't help but giggle with joy.

After being mentally transformed into an infant, Ning Qingchen experienced far fewer adult troubles.

Take now, for example. Her older sister has been kidnapped. Although she is anxious, she is not as anxious as Zhu Yin.

It's not that they're heartless; it's that after becoming infants, their minds can't bear too much weight.

Seeing Ning Qingchen's smug, almost obsequious smile, Zhu Yin couldn't help but shake his head with a wry smile and say:
"Such a carefree little baby, still able to laugh."

Meanwhile, Meh was also helping Zhu Yin feed Black Tiger with mare's milk. Black Tiger had already opened its eyes and would be weaned in a month.

The three of them ate some dry rations, and it was getting dark.

“Master,” Meh said, “it’s getting dark. Are we traveling through the night? If we travel through the night, the horses will probably get exhausted.”

Zhu Yin's eyes turned leaden gray. "They are all cavalrymen with two horses each, and they left half a day ahead of time. There is no way we can catch up with them."

"Let's drive another twenty miles and then find a place to spend the night."

Zhu Yin was a very calm person, and he was less likely to act impulsively, especially in critical situations.

Calmness is a fundamental quality of a secret agent.

Niman took off his hat, touched his bald head, and said thoughtfully:

“Ezhen, it’s at least 200 li to Nurhaci’s tribe. We’re on horseback, it will take us two days. Little Princess will definitely be weaned by then.”

Zhu Yin frowned. "We can't worry about that now. Let's find a place to stay and tend to the horses tonight."

"Then we went to find horse feed and milk sources. Any kind of milk will do."

"Are there any settlements of the Dong'e tribe ahead? We should be able to find supplies there."

He had long since changed into Jurchen deer-hide shoes, but he hadn't thrown away his old shoes.

He took out the pair of slightly worn red dragonfly leather shoes and said, "Look, how much silver can these boots be exchanged for?"

"Once we have silver, things will be much easier for us."

The two men stared at the leather shoes, marveling at them.

"Are these Han Chinese boots? They're wonderful! I never knew there were such fine shoes."

"It will definitely be worth a lot of silver, but poor Jurchens rarely have silver, they mainly have copper coins, while only nobles have gold and silver."

“In our Jurchen lands, ginseng, pearls, and sable fur can all be used as money; it doesn’t necessarily have to be gold, silver, or copper coins.”

Zhu Yin was not surprised at all. At that time, commodity currency was still very common among the Jurchen tribes, and barter was still prevalent.

Ginseng, salt, sable fur, and pearls were the oldest forms of currency in Jurchen society and still function as currency today.

So, these leather shoes might not necessarily be exchanged for gold or silver, but they could be exchanged for ginseng and mink fur, which could then be used as currency.

The three continued their journey. After twenty li, they finally found an abandoned village.

This was a fence belonging to the Dong'e tribe, yet it was eerily silent, like a ghost village.

The fence has been destroyed, and many birch bark houses have been burned down.

It seems this happened not long ago.

The three men rode into the village with grim expressions. There wasn't a single person, not even a dog.

After examining the area, Zhu Yin said with certainty:
"Just today, a large cavalry force came here, captured everyone in this fence, and took them to the west."

"They must be Nurhaci's subordinates."

"In order to expand his power, he constantly plundered people and livestock from the surrounding tribes of the Can clan."

He knows history; how could he not understand that this was Nurhaci's strategy to annex the Jurchen population?

Wild Boar Skin is very cunning. He dares not offend the Ming Dynasty now, nor does he dare to go south to plunder Han people into slavery, but he urgently needs people, so he can only plunder the surrounding tribes.

He would relocate people from other tribes to his territory, and they would become his subjects.

That night, the three of them found a room in the abandoned fence, heated a kang (a traditional heated bed), and spent the night in the abandoned courtyard.

Zhu Yin was worried about Ning Qingchen, so he could only keep her by his side and sleep with her.

Having lived two lives, this was the first time he had ever slept with a baby.

Don't worry too much about it. You're afraid it will get crushed, you're afraid it will get cold, and you're afraid it will be ruined by rats.

After being breastfed, Ning Qingchen fell asleep beside him.

In the middle of the night, Ning Qingchen was suddenly awakened by the urge to urinate, but she couldn't relieve herself and could only cry loudly.

Zhu Yin was woken up and knew the baby needed to urinate, so he had no choice but to hold her and let her urinate directly on the floor of the room.

The house is abandoned anyway, so it doesn't matter.

Ning Qingchen was a baby and felt no shame at all; all she wanted to do was pee!
If you don't care, I'll pee on the bed!

After emptying the baby's diaper and feeding him again, Zhu Yin was so busy that he was wide awake.

Taking care of children is really not easy. Anyone who has done it knows.

He could only go out for a smoke and then come back to take a nap.

The next morning, before the group had even left the fence, they heard the thunder of hooves, as if a vast army of horses was galloping towards them.

The three were shocked. Could it be Nurhaci's large cavalry force?
Zhu Yin climbed to a high place and saw a large, dark mass of cavalry not far away, estimated to be two or three thousand men!
He immediately realized that these were definitely not Nurhaci's cavalry.

How many soldiers did Nurhaci have? How could he possibly send so many cavalry here?

Just as they were wondering what was going on, they saw a tall flag fluttering in the wind, with a prominent character "明" (Ming) on ​​it, along with sun and moon patterns.

It's the Ming army!
Ming Dynasty Cavalry!

“Ejon! These aren’t Nurhaci’s men!” Niman said, his expression changing drastically. “They don’t look like our Jurchen cavalry!”

Just then, several fast horses charged towards the fence, and the riders shouted in Chinese:
"General Li Rubai of the Ming Dynasty is on patrol here! You all hurry to greet him! Prepare the horse feed!"

(End of this chapter)