Chapter 1                          

The desert is yellow sand, vast. This is everyone’s impression of the outside world.

Of course, it cannot be said correctly.

There are different scenery outside different passes. The yellow sand in the desert is the scenery outside Jiayuguan or Yumenguan. Zhou Mengchen vaguely remembers that in the severe case, the gate of Jiayuguan could no longer be opened because of the continuous desert. However, outside Juyong Pass, it was not like this.

I really want to talk about it. Outside Juyong Pass, it is actually still in the urban area of ​​Beijing in later generations. Although sometimes sandstorms are bigger, they are not as good as deserts.

However, it is indeed two different worlds from Guannei.

Although it was also ravaged by the Tartars near Beijing, after Zhou Mengchen's governance, it has recovered for more than half a year, and now it has improved greatly. It feels like a whole lot of waste is prosperous.

The biggest problem within the entire Shuntian Prefecture was that the refugees gathered in Beijing were dealt with by Zhou Mengchen. Although Zhou Mengchen did not have any specific guidance to the county magistrates below, it was just that Beijing was the best place under the emperor's feet and had a strong foundation. Zhou Mengchen did not need to intervene much at all. There was no order to reverse the car, and each place would have its own recovery rhythm. But it was fast or slow.

Overall, the fastest recovery near Beijing City, which Zhou Mengchen directly managed, has long covered all the traces of war.

There are generally various traces of restoration south of Juyongguan, such as restoration of farmland, repaired houses, or occasionally some traces left by war. For example, the houses that were burned and unrenovated were thought to be dead.

But overall, these traces of war will be covered in the next one or two years and will never be there again.

Outside Juyong Pass, it is another scene.

From the perspective of plants and vegetation, it seems that there is no difference between it and the inner city. However, in terms of people, it is a world of difference.

Let’s talk about outside Juyong Pass first. Zhou Mengchen clearly saw the traces of the army stationed. From the traces of the stationing, it can be clearly seen that these were traces left by the Mongols. Several camps covered a large area of ​​flat land outside Juyong Pass.

Zhou Mengchen only looked at the traces.

In an instant, I returned to the days when I was in the Jin Zhan and Iron Horse.

Looking at the empty camp, what appeared in his mind were large groups of Tartar cavalry, Tartar infantry, and behind the camp, a large number of captured spoils, as well as Han people.

As soon as he closed his eyes, Zhou Mengchen could hear the sound of shouting, the sound of horse hooves, and the sound of a woman screaming.

It seems that for hundreds of years, war has never been far away from this land.

Zhou Mengchen only felt that his feet were hard, as if he had stepped on something. He looked down and pulled open the weeds under his feet and got a hairpin. A very rough copper hairpin seemed to have turned green copper rust out under the wind and rain.

This hairpin is not worth much money.

Zhou Mengchen took a deep breath and couldn't bear to think about it.

There is nothing else, the hairpin is a woman's thing. Judging from the traces, this thing was left behind when the Tartars were stationed here. What will happen if a woman appears in the Tartar camp? Death is worse than life. Every one is miserable and even worse.

Zhou Mengchen took out a handkerchief from his arms and wrapped the hairpin in his sleeves.

He wanted to remind himself at all times what kind of world he was facing and what kind of Datong he was facing. The political ecology of the frontier was completely different from that of the capital, and the capital was still very literary. Even if Zhou Mengchen hated Yan Song very much, Yan Song wanted to kill Zhou Mengchen. When the two met, they still had to speak politely.

Now Datong is definitely different.

Zhou Mengchen had already made mental preparations before this, but he felt that this mental preparation was not enough at this moment.

Zhou Mengchen felt even stronger from Juyongguan along the post road to Datong.

In ancient times, transportation was always carried out along the post road. The post road was not only controlled by the imperial court, but also the place where the king's law extended. Where there were no post roads and post stations, it was deep mountains and forests. In those places, if a person died alone, I don’t know why. But there were post roads, post roads, people were inhabited, and there were also king's law. Of course, many trivial matters may not be said much. However, if a whole caravan disappeared on the post road and was robbed, the local governments could not pretend to be deaf and dumb.

Therefore, the stations are located in prosperous places. The post roads are usually crowded.

But now, it is definitely different.

Apart from the inn, there are very few people.

Zhou Mengchen passed by outside Juyong Pass, Tumubao Post, Jiming Post, and arrived at Wanquandu Office, which were all under the jurisdiction of Xuanfu. Not far from Wanquandu Office, you will reach Datong Town.

In the Xuanfu territory, Zhou Mengchen easily discovered that these post stations were rebuilt. Even Zhou Mengchen could see some old blood stains on some traces of the post station. This was not the scene of the murder case. Now, the people at this post station were dead. Now, the people sent by the Xuanfu government again took over the place.

In addition, the original earthen wall outside the station was reinforced again.

It seems that the inn is to be reinforced into a castle.

Apart from the post station, Zhou Mengchen had never seen many people. He did not walk alone on the road. Even if he met some people, there were dozens and hundreds of strong men who acted together, and they all looked like they were carrying weapons. Zhou Mengchen didn't know what they were doing. But it seemed like they were going to fight.

I met Zhou Mengchen's large group of troops. They all avoided them from afar and did not dare to get close.

It is not like the people encountered by the government, but rather two strange armies met from afar.

Zhou Mengchen clearly saw that the temperament of these people was murderous aura.

This made Zhou Mengchen not know whether to be happy or unhappy.

The vitality of the people is the strongest. As long as they can survive, they will work hard to survive. No matter what life will ravage them, it seems that the people of Xuanda are strong. Even if they are six-foot-foot children, they still practice swords and weapons. As long as they are adults and strong men, they do not need to be trained, they are all good soldiers on the battlefield. Compared with the weak folk customs in Jiangnan, I don’t know how many times stronger.

Just when I thought that such a folk custom was screened under the Iron Tatar cavalry. That is, those people who could not and dared not resist tenaciously were killed by the Tatars.

Although the Tartars sent hundreds of thousands of troops, if they spread out the plunder, there would not be many people. After all, plundering also costs a lot. The spoils they can bring back to the grassland are limited. Therefore, if they dare to resist tenaciously and can kill the Tartars in large quantities, the Tartars will also weigh the pros and cons, and will not plunder, or if they hand over a sum of money, they will not plunder.

Practicing the art of killing swords and weapons is the responsibility of every man in the frontier.

Zhou Mengchen was a little better in Xuanfu. As soon as he entered Datong, he realized that the situation had collapsed to this point.

First of all, Zhou Mengchen discovered that there was no post station.

The post station has turned into ruins. The original post station staff all escaped to some extent, and at least they have not recovered yet.

In this way, Zhou Mengchen and his party could only sleep in the wilderness.

In fact, in this era, it is difficult to receive thousands of inns and hotels. Before that, there were inns, and only Zhou Mengchen and other people with status could live in the inns. The rest of them camped outside the inns. But basically this way, the inns can also supply the most basic things, such as food, water, firewood, camping places, etc.

This also saves a lot of trouble in the military.

Now they can only come by themselves.

Of course, Zhou Mengchen doesn't need to be busy with these things. Naturally, Li Ru and Qi Jiguang were involved.

Soon, Zhou Mengchen heard Li Ru's roar and said, "What's going on?"

Zhou Mengchen looked over in a blink of an eye.

But Li Ru scolded at a soldier and said, "I can't do anything small?"

"General, it's not that he is a young man who refuses to do his best. He is really the unruly people who don't make any progress, and there is no right or wrong at all." The cavalry complained: "I have said that we are under the command of the governor of Datong and are going to take office in Datong. They still refuse to accept anything, even-----"

Li Ru said: "Even what?"

The cavalry said, "Fuck you guys everything."

Li Ru said with great enthusiasm: "Lawless."
Chapter completed!