The winter of the 25th year of the reign of Wanli was exceptionally cold. This severe cold did not affect anyone. The heavens very equally rewarded the severe cold to everyone in the north, from the emperor to the common people, Han, Mongols, and Jurchen. There was no exception.
According to past customs, the Han would spend the winter in the cities, the Jurchens would spend the winter in the mountains, and the Mongols would spend the winter in Mongolian yurts.
The Han ate stored rations, the Jurchens ate stored rations and game, and the Mongols ate slaughtered livestock. Everyone lived in harmony. If they could avoid going out, they tried not to cause trouble.
Of course, this was based on the fact that everyone had enough rations to survive the winter and could enjoy the good life in the coming year. If something went wrong, then no one would be able to enjoy the good life.
Unfortunately, there was a big problem last year and this year.
Starting last year, for some unknown reason, the weather suddenly became much colder than usual. Heavy snow fell on the grasslands beyond the Great Wall. The Inspector-General of Datong, Mei Guozhen, submitted a memorial to the imperial court, requesting for the opening of a grain exchange in Guihua City so that they could sell enough grain to the Tummote tribe under the Third Lady's faction and help them survive the winter until the next spring.
At that time, Zhao Zhigao was still in the mood to do things and allowed Mei Guozhen's request. Of course, he knew that the Ming court befriended the Tumers under the Third Lady's faction in order to use them as a barrier for the Daming's grasslands to defend against other tribes from the north who were not friendly to the Ming court.
They did not care about the survival of those tribes, as long as the Tumers insisted on standing on the Ming court's side.
Fortunately, the Tumers produced a strange woman who admired the Daming and the Han culture to the point of insanity. That was how the Tumers became the Daming's staunch ally in this period of time. With the Daming's support, they successfully survived the difficult winter and helped the Daming kill three waves of invading enemies.
But this year, the situation changed again. The cold was even worse. The important areas that the Ming court relied on to provide rations for the three towns of Datong, Taiyuan, and Xuanfu were all hit hard by the cold, resulting in a large area of crop failure.
A large number of farmers went bankrupt and lost their land, becoming refugees. Most of these refugees were organized and thrown to Myanmar, but there was no food.
It was already very difficult for the Ming court to move food from Jiangnan and other places to the north to support the garrison. There was no more food to support the Tummer tribe.
Therefore, even though Mei Guozhen had submitted three petitions to the imperial court, Zhao Zhigao was too exhausted to help Mei Guozhen.
Xuan Fu, Shanxi, and the other places all had their own difficulties, and no one could help. Mei Guozhen himself could not even protect himself.
The rations in the army were barely maintained, and they did not know when the next batch of rations would arrive. How could they allocate any rations to support the Tumert Tribe that had suffered another disaster, with large tracts of farmland and a large number of cattle and sheep freezing to death?
For this reason, the wife of the leader of the Tumert Tribe, Talik, who was respectfully called Third Lady by the Han people, had come to Datong to request for rations for the third time.
At this moment, Third Lady, who was in her forties and dressed in a Han woman's attire, was sitting in Mei Guozhen's residence. She looked at the distressed Mei Guozhen and the solemn Ma Gui. She felt very uneasy.
She admired the Han culture, and admired it even more. In the dead of night, she hated that she could not become a daughter of the Han family. She could enjoy the beauty of Jiangnan, but she had to go through cruel training in the bitter cold of the north.
Therefore, she thought, if she could repair her relationship with the Han people and befriend them, could she be reincarnated in the land of the Han in her next life, become a daughter of the Han family, and enjoy the privileges of a daughter of the Han family?
Because of this idea, Third Lady, as the only elder sister of A Da, single-handedly pushed for the reconciliation between the Tumert Tribe and the Ming court after his death. She became the only exception for the extremely stubborn country of the Daming, who would never befriend the tribes in the north.
In the Ming Dynasty, the Ming court had never befriended any of the nomadic tribes in the north. This was because of the lesson of the Song Dynasty. The Ming people generally believed that marriage was a humiliation, and that exchanging women for peace would not end well. Therefore, even when the Mongols attacked Beijing, they still organized their troops and fought back bravely.
When they were strong, they took the initiative to fight back. When they were weak, they used tribute and trade in exchange for the withdrawal of the other party's troops. In short, no matter what happened, they never had marriage, let alone befriending. They had always looked down on the Mongols in the north with a superior attitude. This kind of attitude had never been seen in the history of China.
The Daming had this kind of historical burden that he could not let go. However, Third Lady made an exception. Only this legendary woman could receive the goodwill and friendly treatment from the court of the Daming. Only a woman like her could make a tiny crack in the stubborn Daming.
In the twenty years that she held power, the Tumert Tribe had basically achieved the goal of guarding the border for the Ming court. She liked to communicate with the Han people and make friends. She had a good relationship with the military officers and civil officials of the Ming court guarding the border.
Especially in the town of Datong, both the military and the government had a very good impression of Third Lady. When Wu Dui was the inspector-general, he treated her like a daughter. When the great scholar Xu Wei traveled to the north, he wrote many poems for her. The official history books gave special mention to this extraordinary woman, which showed how much the people of the Ming court admired this extraordinary woman.
It was also because of this that the name Third Lady became a pass that both the Ming and the Mongols recognized in the border area. She was an important and even the only link that maintained a friendly relationship between the Ming and the Mongols.
In order to maintain this bond, she married three "Princes of Shunyi". The current one was the grandson of her first husband.
At first, she was unwilling, but under the guidance of the Ming Court, who only recognized Third Lady, Third Lady accepted her fate. She stood up and married Prince Shunyi three times in a row, using her body as a woman in exchange for more than twenty years of peaceful coexistence.
In Guihua City, which she presided over, one could often see the Ming and Mongols trading with each other in a friendly atmosphere. Even in Guihua City, Han Chinese and Mongols Chinese could be seen everywhere.
However, such an extraordinary woman, an extraordinary woman whose handwriting was more reliable than that of Prince Shunyi himself, was forced by the bitter cold to come to Datong City in person to ask for help from her trusted allies.
It was not that she was willing to come, but that she was forced to do so. Even the Han people had a hard time in the past two years of bitter cold. How could they, who lived further north, have an easy time? How could the wild wolves in the further north have an easy time? The economy of the grasslands had never been able to support such a large population.
In the course of history, the alternating warm period and little ice age had dominated the direction of China's history to a great extent. The large population accumulated during the warm period would become a huge burden during the bitter cold period. The further north one lived, the heavier the burden.
Once the little ice age arrived, the land would become unable to produce food for a period of time. The power of the Han people would shrink towards the south. In order to survive, the nomads in the north had no choice but to shine their sharp blades and move south.
The previous war between the Han government and the nomads in the north could basically be classified as a war of survival caused by the weather.
At this moment, the war of survival was about to arrive again.
Xiao Ruxun did not know what kind of impact his arrival would bring to this era. He felt that it might or might not have. But his own arrival was a mysterious thing, and the impact it would bring would be unpredictable.
He wanted to change the direction of history, but history also wanted to change his direction. From the moment he arrived, everything was destined to be different from what he remembered.
Mei Guozhen of course knew that if things had not reached a very serious stage, Third Lady would not have personally come to Datong City to ask for help. Third Lady had personally come because the situation of the Tumers was so bad that it could not be resolved and was on the verge of collapse.
Having been on good terms with the Ming court for decades, most of the Tumets, who were used to peace, were not willing to start a war again. They lived with the Han people and learned how to farm and build houses, living a peaceful life like the Han people.
A considerable portion of them did not want to return to the past, so the mainstream moderate faction had no choice but to push out Third Lady, the leader, to ask for help from the Ming court.
It was the same last year. They had survived safely, but this year was harsher than last year. They had no choice but to ask for help from the Ming court again. Third Lady did not expect that the Ming court could not even protect themselves. Under the situation of a poor harvest, the Ming Army soldiers had to eat porridge to survive, let alone take out food to support them.
"Mei Futai, is there really no food to be taken out?"
Third Lady was still unwilling to go back empty-handed. She knew very well that if she went back empty-handed, the Tumers would be in complete despair, and the impact of this despair would be fatal.
She knew very well that her policy of befriending the Ming Dynasty and leaning towards the Ming Dynasty was supported by many people. However, there was a very important hidden danger, and that was her third husband, the current King of Shunyi, Tualik.
Because of his great prestige and fame, coupled with the strong support of the Ming court, he could replace her husband as the actual ruler of the Tumers. However, her husband was still the most legitimate holder of power in the legal system.
Her husband was not that willing to take the Daming's side. There were even a few times when he was on the verge of betraying the Daming, but she pulled him back. Because of this, he still complained to this day.
Unlike her, who admired Han culture, her little husband had the thinking of a wolf.
Even though all the soldiers listened to her orders, and she even had her own ten thousand elite cavalry, this was built on the basis that she could obtain benefits for everyone, obtain the support of the Ming court, and obtain large amounts of rewards. This was her reputation, the foundation of her rule.
However, when it came to a very special time, such as when everyone was starving, would the nomads be willing to learn from the Han and become refugees, or would they listen to her little husband's orders, and once again ride on the back of a horse and brandish their steel knives for a way out?
She did not want to know.
But Mei Guozhen knew very well.
"Third Lady, it is not that I am unwilling to help you. If I was unwilling, at this time last year, I would not have strongly supported the Tumers with large amounts of food to help you get through the cold winter. It is just that this year's cold is too severe, and a large amount of food has been harvested in the north of Guanzhong. The court has sent food from Jiangnan to support us, and the soldiers can only survive on porridge. Where would there be extra food?"
Mei Guozhen gave a long sigh.
As long as he could help, he would definitely be willing. But …
"Third Lady, to tell you the truth, not to mention the army, the Ma family has guarded Datong for generations, and our family's land is quite abundant. But last year and this year's consecutive cold winters, and most of our food has frozen to death. In the past, when the Cang Tou Army under my command lacked food, I could give them some aid, but right now, my own tenant farmers are barely getting by."
Third Lady covered her face with her hands in agony.
If there was food, then there was still a chance, but if there was no food, then everything would be over!
"Even if it is just a little, it can give the people some hope, so that they can at least continue to survive and not fall into despair. Once the people fall into despair, it will be very difficult to control!"
Third Lady did her best to explain her situation.
How could Mei Guozhen and Ma Gui not know this? They were not rookies who had not experienced war. Ma Gui was a veteran general, and he had a good understanding of the Tumers beyond the Great Wall.
Even Mei Guozhen had stayed at the northwestern frontier fortress after experiencing the Ningxia campaign a few years ago. His many years of experience had made him well-versed in frontier affairs, and he was a brave civil general.
If there was no food, then it was tantamount to pushing the Tumers to the brink of collapse. The Ming court's decades of efforts to rope them in would all be for naught. Third Lady, this extraordinary woman, would also no longer exist, and the reigniting of the flames of war at the frontier would consume more than just some food.
Even if he had to squeeze through his teeth, he had to let Third Lady go back to report and pacify the Tumers. Even if it was temporary, he had to make sure they were stable, at least for a few days. The soldiers and officials here would have to bear with it for the time being. Mei Guozhen decided to lead by example, and Ma Gui decided to at least donate some food.
After that, Third Lady left with a batch of food after thanking him profusely, leaving behind Mei Guozhen and Ma Gui with solemn and troubled expressions.
The Tumers were the Daming's allies and had helped the Daming avoid many disasters. Third Lady spared no effort to help the Daming resolve disputes, and some disputes that could have developed into wars were also settled by her.
The Daming could not afford to lose such an extraordinary woman. It was precisely because of the existence of the Tumers that Ma Gui was able to deploy troops to Ningxia to quell the rebellion, and did not have to worry about the safety of the Datong.
These necessary investments were very, very worth it, and even worth it.
But now that the Daming could not take out any food, and he was about to starve to death, where would he have food for them? If he continued to give them, before they could fight for food, the soldiers on his side would start a mutiny, and that would be the end of them!
"Futai, in the current situation, shouldn't we quickly ask the court how long it will take for the food to arrive? This batch of food can at most last three to five days, and we won't have another one. "
"Of course I know. Commander Ma, go pack up and accompany me to visit a few people. If we succeed, perhaps there will be a turn for the better."
Ma Gui understood in his heart.
"Futai, those people …"
"It doesn't matter. The country is in trouble, and they can't just stay out of it. At this moment, they should be able to see clearly that if we can't hold on, they will also be finished. They won't be muddle-headed in this matter."
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