The Twentieth Section: Affairs of Mongolia

  Summer has passed, green grass is gradually turning yellow, the sky is high and the clouds are light, a cool breeze is coming.

  On this day, Yuxue was guiding the people of "Nà Zhé Dào Mén" in their cultivation. Hei Ri, although nominally a master, was actually just a guardian; Yuxue, as the senior sister, was the true master. At first, everyone was puzzled and wondered why it was always Yuxue who transmitted the teachings. Later on, they gradually got used to it and didn't dare ask too many questions, sometimes showing even more respect towards Yuxue than Hei Ri. Hei Ri had always been easy-going and was helping Yuxue carry out this plan of hiding in plain sight, not caring about anything else.

  Jade Snow suddenly realized that there were people from her tribe riding horses and coming from outside the valley, running very quickly. It was clear that something big had happened in the tribe. She exchanged a glance with Huang Jin Hei Ri and went out to meet them. The arriving person saw them, dismounted quickly, bowed first, and then told them what had happened.

  It turned out that Li Shi Qiu had brought a merchant group! And he even moved his whole family here!

  Yu Xue repeatedly reminded the cultivators that they must never reveal their skills in front of outsiders before returning to the tribe.

  Arriving at the tribe, all that can be heard are human voices and horse whinnies, a scene of unprecedented bustle. Outside the tribe, dozens of large ox carts and hundreds of pack horses are parked, this is a large merchant group of four to five hundred people. Yu Xue is puzzled: why would such a large merchant group come to this small and remote Zhebu tribe?

  They ran into Amur and Li Shiqiu coming over. Everyone entered the tent and sat down. Only then did Yuxue learn the reason.

  At this time, Genghis Khan had passed away and ordered his third son ?gedei to succeed him. ?gedei was not present at the time and went west to handle the funeral of Genghis Khan's eldest son Jochi, so he let his fourth son Tolui supervise the country. Later, when he received the news, ?gedei was deeply afraid that the officials in the capital would support Tolui, and rushed back overnight to ascend to the throne. This matter laid down a calamity for Tolui.

  After ?gedei Khan ascended to the throne, he continued to fulfill Genghis Khan's will to reorganize the army and prepare for war. In the second year of his reign, he personally led a campaign against the Jin Dynasty. At that time, Western Xia had already been destroyed by Genghis Khan, and the Jin Dynasty had lost many counties in the northwest, including Shandong and Hebei. When the Mongol army arrived, they were caught off guard and quickly lost control of Shaanxi Province. Tolui led a detachment through what was then still Southern Song territory in Sichuan, marching east to threaten the Jin capital of Bianjing (modern-day Kaifeng). The war seesawed back and forth, with each side attacking and retreating. ?gedei Khan soon grew impatient and left the main army behind, returning to the capital and the forest.

  Woguatui Huhe and Lin Weijiu suddenly contracted a violent illness, with tightly closed eyes and no consciousness. A shaman was summoned, claiming that the emperor had offended the mountain god and must have a close relative or brother to die in his place in order to recover. Coincidentally, Tuo Lei came to visit the sickbed. Woguatui asked him if he was willing to die in his place. Tuo Lei, who had always been loyal and filial, readily agreed to die. He drank a cup of water given by the shaman and died that night. Before his death, he begged Woguatui to take good care of his orphaned children and widowed wife. After his death, Woguatui's illness was suddenly cured. There are many suspicious points in this matter, but the secrets within are unknown to others.

  After the death of Tolui, Wanyan Zongbi fled east and left behind the Empress Dowager and consorts. Bianjing was besieged several times, and with no food or supplies left, a plague broke out. Without a leader, they had to surrender to the Mongols. Notai immediately killed the two princes who were guarding the city and plundered gold, silver, and treasures within the city walls. He also took all the consorts, including the Empress Dowager, and sent them to Anding along the way, suffering greatly. History seemed to be playing a joke at this point. In the past, when the Northern Song was destroyed by the Jin dynasty, Emperor Huizong of Song and Emperor Qinzong of Song were also taken captive by the Jin, with blood and tears everywhere. Now, it was the turn of the Jin capital to be broken, and they were treated in the same way by the Mongols - truly a case of "what goes around comes around"! The Jin emperor fled and regrouped his remaining troops to try to restore his country. However, the Mongols joined forces with the Southern Song and attacked from two sides. The Song and Jin had been sworn enemies for generations, and now they saw an opportunity to take revenge. Upon hearing the Mongols' proposal, they were overjoyed and immediately sent their armies to attack. The northern and southern routes of the army launched a fierce attack, and the Jin emperor fled without a place to hide and hanged himself to death. The Jin dynasty was thus destroyed, but this event occurred in the sixth year of ?gedei's reign. At this time, it was only the third year of ?gedei's reign.

  At this time, Tuolei had already died. When Wugoutai first came to power, he still did a few practical things. As time went on, he became more and more indulgent. Soon, he was dissatisfied with the fact that there were only hunting grounds in Helin and no palaces to visit. So he started building palaces on a large scale; widely selecting beautiful women to fill his harem. He conscripted one million civilians to work day and night to build palaces, regardless of strong winds, scorching sun, heavy rain or extreme heat, they were not allowed to rest. Not long after the construction began, countless people had already died. Then he forcibly conscripted more civilians, and extorted them, causing families to be broken, and people to be separated from their loved ones. Helin is a dry and barren land in the north of the desert. He also wanted to divert rivers, build ponds, and make it look like a small Jiangnan outside the pass. The difficulty of the project can be imagined.

  Li Shi-qiu last time came to the Department of Philosophy, Mu Nai-wu gave him many gifts. After returning to He Lin, he had his old classmates taking care of him and sometimes followed the business team, so his family was frugal and could still make ends meet. At this time, civilians were being recruited everywhere. At first, he bribed his way out with the help of his old classmates, but later when the situation became severe, he wasn't a Mongolian, and couldn't escape, so he took advantage of business as an excuse to flee with his whole family.

  At that time, there was a merchant caravan heading west, and the leader of the caravan was an old acquaintance and friend. Although he was nearly fifty years old, he spoke all the languages of the northern tribes and was good at accounting, so the leader had always valued him highly. He entrusted all his remaining gold and silver to the leader in exchange for a letter of introduction and sold all his household goods at a low price, exchanging them for many necessities that the caravan needed. With a single-minded desire to rely on the caravan, he boasted to the leader about how the Nuzhen tribe was a paradise on earth, how they were rich and good at doing business, and so on. His eloquence and people skills had won over the leader, who followed him without fear of the remote location or difficult road. Although they had sold goods all along the way, more than half of them remained when they arrived at the Nuzhen tribe, and they hoped to sell them at a good price here. The leader was delighted to have finally found this place, seeing that although the tribe was not large, it was indeed strong and prosperous, and he liked it very much. He immediately took Almuer to look at the goods.

  Li Shi Qiu introduced his family to Yu Xue sisters. His wife passed away two years ago, leaving behind two sons and two daughters. The eldest son is 30 years old, already married with a wife and a three-year-old boy. The second son is 25, also married but without children. The remaining are a pair of twin sisters, only 14 years old, just like Yu Xue sisters in age. The older one is called Si Lian and the younger one is called Si Hui. They look gentle and weak, obviously well-read and educated at home. At this time, the four people quickly became close, calling each other sisters. Si Lian saw that Yu Xue sisters were white and beautiful, knowledgeable in Chinese literature, and couldn't believe they were Mongolian girls from a harsh and cold place. Although she had heard her father mention it before, she was still surprised.

  Li Shi Qiu was delighted and hastily asked his eldest son to move a trunk, saying it was a gift for Yu Xue's sisters. Upon opening the trunk, they found many stationery items and books, and the sisters thanked him repeatedly. This was truly a case of "snow sending charcoal". He also gave some fabric to Sang Zhu, and everyone was overjoyed.

  That night, Amur's tribe entertained the merchants with a feast of slaughtered cattle and sheep, and they drank together until everyone was happy.

  The next day, Yuxue led people to set up three tents on the empty land in the tribe for Li Shiqiu's family to live in. From then on, they settled down here as a family. Soon, it felt like they had really arrived at a utopia. The folk customs were simple and honest, the materials were rich, and they didn't have to worry about food or clothing, nor did they have to pay taxes. They lived and worked in peace and contentment, truly considering themselves members of the Zhebu tribe.

  Ah Mu'er was worried at this time. Those goods were all things that his tribe urgently needed, such as salt, cloth, grain, wine, and iron, but the quantity was too large and the price was too high. If he didn't buy them, he didn't know when he would be able to get these things again. The leader of the merchant team said that even in the west, they were at war now. In Huihe, Muhammad's son Zhalan Ding was gathering a crowd to avenge his father and causing trouble in the western regions under Mongolian rule. Mongolia was currently busy fighting against Jin and had no time to spare for other things. The route north of Tian Shan, which he used to take with his merchant team, was now extremely unsafe, so they took this southern route this time. After doing this business, he planned to rest for two years before coming out again. Ah Mu'er felt a sense of urgency upon hearing this, thinking that if he missed this opportunity, there would be no more chances. The cow and sheep hides from his tribe were worthless, but the leader was very pleased with those newly domesticated wild horses. However, even if he gave him all of them, it still wouldn't be enough, and besides, these horses were meant to be kept as breeding stock, which he couldn't bear to part with.

  The worried and bitter Amur had no choice but to go find Hei Ri for advice. But unexpectedly, Hei Ri only said a sentence that left him bewildered:

  "What's wrong with you! This trivial matter has made you so worried! Just go find Yuxue and tell her you're out of money, ask her to take out some of the trash she's been collecting!"

  A Mu went inexplicably but still followed her words to find Yu Xue. Sure enough, Yu Xue listened and understood, she smiled and said:

  "Dad, don't worry, you just entertain the merchants well and leave the money matters to me. You only need to put on a confident appearance when inspecting goods and bargaining."

  That night, the golden light was shining brightly inside the jade snow tent. She ordered the four little ones to guard the door and not let anyone in. She took out a large bronze basin that her father had asked for and poured out the pearls and gold from the乾坤袋 (a type of bag) into it. Together with Huang Jin, they picked out the pearls mixed in with the gold sand, then poured again and picked again. After picking for a long time, Huang Jin cursed loudly: "Dead old dragon! Doesn't even know how to separate the pearls from the gold, making us do hard labor here! Hmph! He's having a good time drinking and enjoying himself!" The two of them finally managed to pick out a full basin of gold. Yu Xue was still worried that it wasn't enough, so she picked out another large wooden bowl of the smallest bright pearls from the乾坤袋, each one as big as a thumb.