Chapter 15: The Vow (Part 2)

  When Zhe Yan Chong and others rushed into the Wugudalai tent, Muliya had not had time to leave. Alu Man gave a loud shout, raised the wolf-toothed club forged by Zhang Lao Yu for him, and struck him with one blow, causing him to **lie flat on the ground in all directions.

  This great chaos came down, Wugu suffered heavy casualties and lost a lot. The crowd had not yet found Xiao Ang, when they heard the sound of horseshoes coming from the west, Zhe Yan Chong said: "Puli Gadan is back!"

  Cao Guangyi said: "We are outnumbered and can't win! Let's retreat first! To the south!"

  Ouyang Yizhi said: "Ying Qi and the others are going east, why should we go south?"

  Cao Guangyi said, "Ying Qi's group has too many wounded men and can't escape quickly. If we catch up with them and are caught up by the Tartars again, then everyone will die together! We're heading south to lure them away!"

  Ouyang Shidao said: "But the Yang brothers have too few people under their command. If they are discovered, even if Boluo Taiji only sends a small team, they will still be in danger of being wiped out!"

  "Hebuli shouted: 'Stop arguing! You go east, I'll go west!'"

  "That's impossible!" Zhang Yan shouted.

  "Don't worry! The Wuhuan people can't stop me! I'll lead them away! You hide in the Da Xianbei Mountain to recover from your injuries first, and come find me at the Wudan River after you've recovered!"

  The sound of horseshoes was getting closer and closer. Zhe Yan Chong said, "Everyone is a good man, I won't say much! Hulunbuir answered, take care!"

  "Take care! Next time we meet, we'll formally become sworn brothers!"

  They didn't know that when they met again, it would be hard to remain brothers.

  Zhe Yan Chong drove the cattle he had plundered from Wugu to the east, and reunited with Yang Yingqi. The sound of killing came from the west, Zhe Yan Chong frequently looked back to the east, Xiao Tienu said: "Don't worry, what is Boluo? Can't hold down Helu."

  "Exactly!" exclaimed Zhe Yan Chong.

  At this time, the southern country had already met spring, but the northern country was still cold. However, the ice and snow on the Da Xianbei Mountain were gradually opening up. Di Yu pointed to the crowd to enter the mountain forest and find a hidden valley. The Da Xianbei Mountain is rich in products and its conditions are much better than that dead and dull Plague Valley. They have iron and fire, it's not difficult to settle down.

  Cao Guangyi led a group of thirty or so people to gallop out in several directions. In the west, they set up a vanguard post to prevent Uighurs and Khitans from making a surprise attack, while in the east, they were scouting out the road.

  Arumai led thirty-odd people out hunting with bows and arrows, supplementing their food.

  Yang Yingqi and others were in charge of resettlement and medical treatment. Most of the wounded gradually recovered, but due to lack of medical care, seven people died from their injuries. The crowd buried their dead companions and secretly vowed: We must avenge them!

  After this disaster, there were only 361 people left in the group, including 18 new horse thieves who had joined with Xiao Tienu. Compared to the number of people who were originally driven into the plague valley, less than two-tenths remained! However, the crowd went through hardships and became more and more resilient!

  Half a month later, nearly three hundred people were able to move around. Zhe Yan Chong redeployed them, dividing them into two groups: soldiers and civilians.

  The Ministry of War organized the soldiers into groups of five, with the one with the highest overall ability in each group as the leader - this person was not only the leader but also the teacher of the other four. Two groups formed a team, and the leaders of the two groups served as the captain and deputy captain respectively. One team had ten people. Zhao Yun and others selected the best from the rest, and only 160 people were selected, forming sixteen small teams. Each person was equipped with two to three war horses.

  The organization of the Ministry of People is similar, but the number of small teams is not so strict. It mainly manages affairs such as forging, making clothes, and feeding horses. The Ministry of People is not as elite as the Ministry of War, but in peacetime they also need to participate in training, and when encountering an emergency situation, everyone can go to war on horseback.

  More than three hundred people, twenty-three of whom were women - very few women were killed in the disaster of Wu Gu, because they were all northern women who had survived the plague, not a single one was weak and feeble, but precisely because of their "coarse hands and feet", they also avoided being insulted by Xiao Ang and others.

  After resting in the valley for a month, they began to discover the tracks of the Wuhu people in the west. Zhe Yan Chong said: "It seems that these Wuhu people are not dead yet! Should we send out a small team to harass them?"

  Yang Yingqi opposed: "Wanting revenge isn't urgent, besides, if we expose our tracks and provoke a bigger counterattack from them, it won't be good." They immediately broke camp and moved to another mountain valley.

  Zhe Yan Chong said: "Hiding in the deep mountains and old forests like this is not a solution either. We are not wild people of the mountains, we must go out of the mountain eventually."

  Di Yu said, "Going west, we must cross the Wugu and Di Lie tribes to reach the territory of Mongolia. However, the Liao State has set up the Wugu Enemy Lie Army, and this time we have provoked the son of the Khitan Lanling King and burned down the old home of Tuo Laigan, which is a bit too much, I'm afraid that both the Khitans and the Wugus will not be able to tolerate us. Going east, it's just the territory of the Jurchen people."

  Yang Kaiyuan said: "Aru is also a Jurchen, can we use him to establish ourselves there?"

  "It's not possible. Those are the Sheng Nü Zhen, and our Hui Suo Guan is the Familiar Women's Truth. According to the laws of the Great Liao Kingdom, we are not allowed to have private contact with the Sheng Nü Zhen, so there is very little connection."

  Yang Yingqi said, "The Northeast region is vast, and we are not many in number. As long as we have a small piece of land, it's enough for us to make a living. The Jurchen people's customs fall between hunting and farming, compared to the Mongols, they seem closer to our habits."

  "You really understand a lot."

  Yang Yingqi smiled and said, "I've only heard about it, I'm not very sure. However, under the current circumstances, it's unrealistic to try to force our way through the Wugou tribe that is full of hostility towards us."

  Ouyang Zidao said: "We have traveled north for several thousand miles, and it's still the same!"

  "That's the same!" Yang Yingqi said: "Before we defeated Xiao Ao, no one took us seriously in all aspects. It was because they didn't take it seriously that we were able to escape. Now the situation has changed greatly, and Wugu has been sending scouts to approach our hiding place, it seems they haven't given up on pursuing us - and the Khitan people are also likely to be searching for us. So it's impossible for us to travel thousands of miles like before entering the Great Wall as if we were in a deserted land."

  Zhe Yan Chong asked Xiao Tienu: "What's your opinion?"

  "As long as I have a horse, arrows and a sword, I can survive anywhere!"

  "Good! That's settled then. We'll continue eastward. But before we leave the Da Xianbei Mountains, we must sharpen our swords and fatten up our horses!"

  On this road, Zhang Lao Yu has already brought out several high-level apprentices - these craftsmen originally had a good foundation and now have a clear teacher, their forging skills are even more advanced. Yang Yingqi attaches great importance to forging and specially assigned 25 people to specialize in this matter. If they encounter busy or special situations, they will mobilize the manpower of other departments to fully support them.

  That day, Zhang Lao Yu went out to find coal and iron, but unexpectedly found a small gold mine. Zhang Lao Yu laughed and said: "If this gold mine were in the Central Plains or Nanjing, it would be dazzling! But being born here, what's the use?"

  Yang Yingqi said, "Not so! We will always have a time to go out, and these things will be very useful for us in the future!" After being busy for more than half a month, they excavated all the gold mines that could be opened, refined them into gold bars, with a total of over 1,000 catties. They allocated a small portion and distributed it, while the rest was used as military funds.

  On this day, the weather was fine and clear, already early summer. Zhao Yan had been feeling impatient for some time, so after meeting with several leaders, he gathered everyone together and announced the news of their departure from the mountain. Everyone who heard the news was overjoyed.

  "Brothers and sisters! After traveling thousands of miles, although we have gone through countless hardships, the leaders among us can still say with a clear conscience: We will never abandon you!"

  Hundreds of people shouted in unison: "Don't leave! Don't abandon!"

  "Before I left the mountain, I made a vow with you all!" Zhang Yan shouted loudly. "From now on, we leaders will continue to stand by you as before! If I abandon you, then you can also abandon me!"

  "No matter when, no matter where, I hope to lead everyone to build a country like this: No one worries about not having clothes, everyone wears the same attire; no one worries about not having enough food, everyone eats together! Those who have merits will be rewarded, those who have faults will be punished! When you are young, let you have the opportunity to use your strength to strive for more wealth and higher status. When you are old, then everyone takes care of you together! Your children, everyone comes together to cultivate and educate them. Let them understand martial arts, so they won't be bullied by savage people. Let them know literature, so they won't be deceived by cunning people!"

  "If our strength is too small to establish a nation, then we can attach ourselves to some other nation, but we need them to be able to make guarantees that guarantee our tribe will have what we fight for!"

  "We don't need others' charity, we will fight for it ourselves! But we also absolutely won't allow what we fought for to be plundered by others!"

  "Whoever wants to join us, we welcome, whether he is Han, Khitan, Jurchen, Mongol or Goryeo! But whoever wants to conquer us, sorry! We do not want to be slaves!"

  "Brothers and sisters, those who are willing to follow me in pursuit of such a nation, raise your fists!"

  Hundreds of fists rose together.

  "From now on, we will give ourselves a name! We are no longer just Song people! Because in our team, there are Jurchen brothers! There are Mongolian brothers! What are we? We are the Han tribes wandering outside the Great Wall, we are the border barbarians who refuse to be slaves!"

  "The Long March" is over, please look forward to the second volume "The Founding of a Nation"