Jinyi Town Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 117 Going to the Prairie

The guard of honor of He Liu's imperial envoy came to the East Gate of Datong.

A guard in brocade clothes shouted loudly: "The imperial envoy is going out of the city to inspect the defense of the Zuoge and Youge garrisons! Open the city gate quickly!"

Thousands of gatekeepers on the tower shouted: "The governor has an order! In order to prevent Tatar spies from entering the city, close the eight gates of the whole city!"

The Jinyi Lishi shouted loudly: "Blind your dog's eyes! The imperial envoy is sitting in the carriage! How dare you stop the imperial envoy even if you are a small gatekeeper?"

Unbeknownst to the guards in Jinyi, there was a person standing next to Qianhu guarding the gate—it was the governor Wang Tingshu.

Wang Tingshu whispered to the gatekeeper Qianhu: "Tell him that the city gate is closed for the safety of the imperial envoy! If you want to leave the city, let the imperial envoy come to the governor's yamen to find me!"

Thousands of households guarding the gate shouted down the city: "Our governor Wang closed the city gate for the safety of the imperial envoy! If the imperial envoy wants to leave the city, you can go to the governor's yamen to find our governor Wang!"

Hearing this, the warrior in brocade had no choice but to order the imperial guard of honor to return home.

Datong South Gate.

More than a dozen soldiers in mandarin duck battle jackets drove two carriages to the city gate.

A town caregiver stepped forward and asked, "Who are you?"

The leading "soldier" is He Liu.He cupped his hands: "Two of our brothers died of the plague! The governor is afraid that the corpses of these two will spread the plague to the robes in the city, so let us go out of the city and find a place to bury the bodies!"

Hearing this, Zhenfu covered his mouth and nose with disgust: "Let go. Go, go!"

Inside the carriage, sat Li Hu and Zhao Kui.Zhao Kui was bound by Wuhuada, and a rag was stuffed in his mouth.

He Liu and his party left Datong City.

Old Hu said: "Lao Liu, your tricks are really effective! I can't see that you are quite proficient in the art of war. You should not be the inspector of Jinyiwei, but should be a general who leads the army in Datong City! "

He Liu smiled: "Then Governor Wang, if he finds out that we got out of Datong City, he might be so angry."

A group of people walked for two or three hours and arrived at the third camp of Zuoge.

The person on duty at the police tower of the Zuoge Third Battalion happened to be Fu Hanling, the Fu Hanling of the camp.Fu Hanling recognized He Liu at a glance, and quickly ordered his soldiers: "Open the camp gate!"

He Liu entered the gate of the camp and found Yang Shoubei.

He Liugong cupped his hands: "As Yang Shoubei said that day! There are Tatar spies in the city of Datong! Those spies want to kill me, so I have no choice but to come and join Yang Shoubei for you!"

Yang Shoubei was furious when he heard the words: "Tartar spies want to kill Liu Ye? Is there any law? I will take brothers to arrest those spies!"

He Liu waved his hand: "Those spies, you really can't catch them! I entrust you with two things. First, I will go to the grassland recently to investigate the truth of the collusion case. I have two people who need to be entrusted to you One is Li Hu, the former general of Datong, and the other is Zhao Kui, the current general of Datong! You must take good care of General Li. That Zhao Kui is the spy who opened the northern gate for the Tatars! You don’t have to treat him as a Man! Don't let him die until I get back!"

Yang Shoubei cupped his hands: "Don't worry, Liu Ye! I will take care of these two people for you."

He Liu told Yang Shoubei again: "Remember, anyone who comes to you to ask for—or rob these two people, don't hand them over!"

Yang Shoubei said: "My Zuoge [-]rd Battalion didn't get hurt in the battle of Datong, and the [-]st Battalion was full of [-] soldiers. If anyone dares to rob someone, ask the Zuoge [-]rd Battalion [-] Paoze's sword for the answer." No promise!"

He Liu nodded in satisfaction: "Okay, there is one more thing. Who among your subordinates has seen the real face of Governor Zhao Jianzhi?"

Fu Hanling said: "Governor Zhao inspected Zuoge's Third Battalion four months ago, and came to the stables to inspect the horses. I was feeding the horses in the stables, so I met him once."

He Liudao: "If you see him again, will you recognize him?"

Fu Hanling was a little surprised: "Didn't Governor Zhao set himself on fire?"

He Liu shook his head: "Don't worry about it, just tell me, if you see him again, can you recognize him?"

Fu Hanling thought for a while and replied, "I can recognize it."

He Liu turned to Yang Shoubei and said, "Fu Hanling is the governor of the battalion, lend me a few days."

Yang Shoubei nodded: "It's all according to Liu Ye's orders!"

He Liu took out his Jinyiwei waist badge again and handed it to Yang Shoubei: "If the Governor Wang of Datong City uses his official position to pressure you and force you to hand over someone, just tell him: The imperial envoy has an order, and no one is allowed to do so." Take away Li Hu and Zhao Kui! The badge of Jin Yiwei is the proof!"

Yang Shoubei said: "Don't worry, Liu Ye. You are an imperial envoy, and your order is the emperor's order! Don't say that Governor Wang is here to ask for someone, even if Governor Xuanda comes, I still won't hand him over!"

He Liu asked Yang Shoubei to prepare more than a dozen empty carts, and asked his guards in brocade clothes to pretend to be cart drivers.He pretended to be a businessman who went to the grassland to buy fur goods, and went straight to the northern grassland.

There are many tents of Tatar people on the grassland.Ming and Tatar are enemy countries, but the people of Tatar are not hostile to the merchants of Ming.

He Liu found a Tatar guide and took them to Bator.

After walking for seven or eight days, He Liu's "fur caravan" finally arrived at Bator.

Suddenly Bator was the largest trading town in Tatar.He Liu saw many Ming businessmen setting up stalls on the street.

Lao Hu said with emotion: "The two countries meet each other with swords and soldiers, but the merchants still go back and forth to do business between the two countries. Those Tatars are closer to our businessmen from Ming Dynasty than they are to their brothers."

He Liudao: "It's not surprising! We merchants from Ming Dynasty brought them porcelain, tea, and silk necessary for life. For the Tatars, these merchants from enemy countries are friends."

"Brother, are you also here for business?" A middle-aged man with a Shanxi accent walked up to He Liu and asked.

He Liudao: "We're here to collect some fur goods! Dare I ask you brother?"

The middle-aged man said: "My lord, Huang Jingui! He is from Yizhou Prefecture, Shanxi! He has been traveling between Bator and Yizhou, doing some tea business!"

He Liu cupped his hands: "It's our first time to do business in the grassland, and we are not familiar with the place, so I ask Brother Huang for advice. Let's go, I'll buy you a drink!"

Huang Jingui said: "It's easy to talk about. We are all Han Chinese. It is not easy to do business on this grassland. We should take care of each other."

He Liu, Lao Hu, Fu Hanling and Huang Jingui found a "restaurant" to eat and drink.

This "wine shop" is actually a big tent, supplying beef, mutton and kumiss for passing merchants.

The four ate a few lamb legs.He Liu asked Huang Jingui, "Brother, is the business here at Huerba Tuo okay?"

Huang Jingui sighed: "Oh, let's be honest. We do business with the Tatars. To put it bluntly, it is smuggling! We are risking our heads to make money! More than half of the money we earn should be tribute to Soldiers at the border checkpoints! A few years ago, my business was decent, and I could barely save some interest. But recently, Bator suddenly came to a new tax collector! The business tax has been increased by [-]%!"

He Liu asked, "How big is the tax collector?"

Huang Jingui said: "You don't know, among the magistrates of the Tatars, the biggest and most powerful is the tax collector! Suddenly, the Bator tax collector is equivalent to the prefect of our Ming Dynasty! He has jurisdiction The right of the locality, and the right to levy taxes. In the past, the tax collector of this place was a Tatar nobleman. I don’t know what happened. They actually sent a Han Chinese to replace the nobleman."

After hearing this, He Liu asked: "Han people? Are you a tax collector for the Tatars?"

Huang Jingui nodded, "It's nothing new for Han people to serve as officials in the territory of the Tatars. Zuo Pingzhang in my Khan's tent is Han."

He Liu asked: "Suddenly, what is the name of Bator's tax collector?"

Huang Jingui said, "It's called Zheliewu."

He Liu asked again: "Is this his Tatar name? What is his Chinese name?"

Huang Jingui shook his head: "I don't know about that. When Han people become officials of the Tatars, they always hide their original names and change their names to Tatars."

He Liu and Lao Hu looked at each other: Could this new tax collector who suddenly came to Bator be the former Datong governor Zhao Jianzhi who "self-immolated and died for the country"?
(End of this chapter)