More than ten li southeast of Saer Hu, the winding Suzi River had scoured out a stretch of riverbank between the mountain ridges. Gula Hill was located within it. This place was originally used as a base by Nurhachi's maternal grandfather, Wang Gao. He led his troops to build a castle and used it to invade the Ming's borders. Later on, the Ming Army counterattacked and destroyed this place.
Now, Gula Hill was a trading hub for Daming and Hetuala. Ma Chengta, who was in charge of trade, was stationed here. Recently, everything had not been going his way and he was in a bad mood. At this moment, he was standing in front of a wooden hut, watching coldly as two strong Jurchen men whipped a female slave. The female slave screamed pitifully. The whip quickly turned bright red. Blood dripped from the whip and splashed all over the ground.
She was just a slave, and her life was worse than that of an animal. Animals only suffered when they died, but they still had to be fed well while they were alive. Slaves, on the other hand, had to suffer as long as they were alive. They had to suffer endlessly.
This was the rule of the Jurchen. Masters were supreme and controlled the life and death of their slaves. The greatest hope of a slave was to become a higher level slave, and they controlled a few lower level slaves. If they received any grievances from their masters, they would vent them on the lower level slaves.
A slave society was an evil society, destined to be a cannibalistic society. Masters who did not know how to exploit their slaves were not good masters. They would not live long, and one day, they would become slaves. Only the fiercest, most savage, and most violent masters could become masters of everything.
Ma Chengta was the master who controlled everything in Gula Hill Village. Or rather, he was the slave with the highest status here, because he had a higher level master. But now that his master was angry, his days were not going to be easy.
In the Jin Kingdom, there were many slaves with high status. Ma Chengta wasn't the strongest, nor was he the most famous. However, he could be considered to be the one who had the best days. This was because his talent was in business. Among the Jurchen who liked to burn, kill, and plunder, he was a rare talent.
Ma Chengta liked to earn money and spend money. Seeing large amounts of tea leaves and cloth being transported into Hetuala and seeing large amounts of money flowing out of his hands, he felt very happy. This allowed him, who didn't have a strong cultivation, to have a very high status among the female daoists. He also became the role model of many female daoists. But just as he was about to reach the peak of his life, trouble came.
Ma Chengta withdrew his gaze from the distance and looked back at the female slave in front of him. The woman had already been whipped to the point where she didn't even look human, her limbs twisted. The whip marks on the ground were filled with her blood. Her entire body was lacerated and there was not a single piece of flesh that was unharmed. However, she still had a few breaths left. The executioner withdrew his blood-stained whip and reported to Ma Chengta, "Master, the one hundred lashes have been used."
"You may leave."
"Yes."
The female slave was still convulsing for the last time. Ma Chengta took a few steps forward and looked at the woman who could only be called a pile of flesh on the ground with disgust. He sneered coldly, "You still dare to escape? Do you still dare to encourage the others to escape? Do you still want to escape back to Fushun? A Han slave like you doesn't know how to be grateful for your master's kindness. I've bought your life, so you have to work obediently. If you don't listen, I'll whip you to death. "
After Ma Chengta finished speaking, he swept his gaze around. There were still a dozen or so unkempt slaves nearby. They immediately felt as if they had been struck by lightning, their souls leaving their bodies. He was very satisfied with his power. But the dying female slave on the ground used her last breath to say, "Just you wait. We Han people won't be willing to be slaves. Sooner or later, someone will stand up and wipe out you barbarians. "
Ma Chengta's pupils immediately shrank. He first flew into a rage, and then he shouted to the Jurchen next to him, "Go get an iron hook and pierce through this nun's tongue. Hang her up. I want all the slaves to see that this is the result of going against their master. "
The strong Jurchen quickly took care of this matter. The fear and wailing of the slaves made Ma Chengta feel a little better, but it couldn't completely drive away his worries. Ever since Zhou Qingfeng returned to Fushun, no one had been able to restrain him, especially after Li Yongfang had fallen under his control. The entire Fushun had fallen under his control. This greatly affected Ma Chengta's business.
No, no, no … It was not just business.
Ma Chengta knew more than others. He was a smart person and thought more than his fellow clansmen who only knew how to fight and kill. He knew a secret, a secret that no one knew. Even many of the higher-ups of the Jin Kingdom did not know. Great Khan Nurhachi was in big trouble, a huge disaster. It was an almost unmitigated and constantly worsening danger that threatened the entire Jin Kingdom, where Jianzhou was the main city.
When people talked about the Jurchen, they all thought that she was a group of barbarians who liked to fight and kill. But did the Jurchen really like to fight and kill? That's not it. The Jurchen also wanted to live a good life. Fighting and killing was only a means of survival, not a goal.
In order to live a good life and to fight for enough survival resources, the Jurchen fought and killed. The leaders of the Jurchen rose, declined, rose again, and declined again through fighting and killing. After more than two hundred years, the one who rose was Nurhachi.
But now, even though Nurhachi was the strongest among the Jurchen, he still could not solve the tribe's problem of survival. The Jurchen did not know how to farm, did not know how to smelt, and did not have enough land. When Nurhachi gathered enough power through fighting and killing, he found that he no longer had enough resources to reward his unruly subordinates.
This was Nurhachi's big crisis. The Jin Kingdom had just been established. Everyone was amazed at its strength, but it was also at its most dangerous when it was at its strongest. As the leader, Nurhachi had racked his brains to find a way to balance the lack of resources, but he still found that he was on the verge of collapse.
Years of fighting had created a powerful war machine. More and more masters could enjoy special privileges, and the slaves were being squeezed more and more. But all this was to no avail. The slaves had been boiled to the last drop of oil, but the masters wanted a better and more comfortable life. In comparison, Zhou Qingfeng's problem could only be called scabies, not worth mentioning at all.
How did Ma Chengta know this? Because he was a businessman. The Jin Kingdom could take out fewer and fewer goods to trade, but they needed to buy more and more things.
Everyone was greedy. If this conflict could not be solved, the power of the Great Khan would soon collapse. After all, a leader who could not bring benefits would not be trusted, and the subordinates would abandon Nurhachi like dog shit.
What to do?
In the past, the Jurchen tribes solved this conflict by fighting and killing among themselves. But now, with the exception of the Yehe tribe, Nurhachi had subdued most of the Jurchen tribes.
Ma Chengta had certainly not heard of the phrase 'internal conflict can be solved externally', but he knew that there was only one way for the Khan to go. There was no more profit to be gained from within the Jurchen tribes. The only solution was to invade the Daming Kingdom and plunder the Han people's territory. Just like Nurhachi's grandfather Wang Gao sixty years ago, this was the only way out of the cycle of reincarnation.
The Jin Kingdom had the idea of first dealing with the Yehe tribe before invading the south. The Khan had also seriously considered it and almost carried it out. But the Yehe tribe was also very poor. They had nothing but some horses. They were like a piece of meat without any meat. In addition, in the past six months, Zhou Qingfeng had provoked them many times. The Khan had changed his mind and wanted to conquer the fat meat of Fushun first.
More slaves, more food, more cloth, more tea leaves, and more wealth that he had never enjoyed before. Even Ma Chengta was excited by the Great Khan's decision. No one in the Jin Kingdom had ever looked directly at the Ming Kingdom in the south. They did not think it would be difficult to conquer it. Everyone was rubbing their hands in glee. They were waiting for enough people to kill their way over and snatch it.
As for facing the wrath of the Daming Kingdom after the robbery, no one cared. Or it could be said that no one in the Jin Kingdom thought highly of the Daming Kingdom's army and thought that they were all useless.
But four or five days ago, the Jurchen spies sent along the Hun River encountered some trouble. They traveled smoothly along the river, but when they approached the city of Fushun, they found that there were hundreds of people working on the empty riverbank. The spies naturally went to see what was going on.
At first, it was quite smooth. When the Jurchen warriors drew their bows and swords, the weak Han people began to run. But when the warriors led their horses ashore from the rafts, a group of southern barbarians with spears came to them. They had never seen such fearless Han people. They dared to take the initiative to find trouble with the Jurchen masters. They were not afraid of swords and arrows, and they fought their way to the Jurchen masters.
Someone was stabbed to death on the spot. The others hurriedly mounted their horses and fled. They only stopped after running for a few miles. These Jurchen spies were all sent by Ma Chengta. After the incident, he questioned them one by one and found out that the southern barbarians had swarmed them like a swarm of bees. Their disadvantage in numbers led to their defeat.
"It was indeed unlucky to be attacked with spears when we just came ashore. But the problem is, who would be so daring? "Ma Chengta was angry. Fortunately, only one person died on their side, so it was not a big loss. But he did not understand what the spies meant when they said that there were hundreds of people working on the riverbank. The fog of war not only shrouded Zhou Qingfeng, but also the Jurchen.
Compared to Zhou Qingfeng, who had never fought in a war, the Jurchen, including Ma Chengta, had a better psychological endurance for the chaos of war, death, and the unknown. He did not think that one failure was a big deal. So the next day, he sent people again along the river. Even the number of people and the route were the same.
This time, the situation was terrible. The Fushun side set up an ambush. First, it was a rain of arrows, followed by a dozen talismans. Two of the Jurchen who were ambushed died on the spot, and another was shot dead as they tried to escape.
Of the two who managed to escape, one was seriously injured and died on the way. In the end, only one with a broken arm collapsed after reporting the news. Even this last one could not be saved. His wound had been inflamed these past two days, and his body was burning hot. He had begun to babble nonsense and probably would not make it.
After two consecutive failures, Ma Chengta had no choice but to be more cautious. But in the past two days, a few Han slaves had escaped from the Guli Mountain stronghold. In order to intimidate the other slaves, the captured female slave was whipped a hundred times. But this slut was still stubborn even in death.
The sky gradually darkened, and torches began to be lit in the stronghold.
Ma Chengta was still standing outside, looking at the pitch-black night sky or at the slaves moving grain. The grain transported from Suzihe was being stored here, to supply the Ming for the upcoming southern invasion.
"In a few more days, just a few more days, and the Great Khan will lead the army to attack. As long as we take down Fushun, the Jin Empire will have an endless supply of slaves and food. At that time, our days will naturally be better. If one or two slaves dare to rebel, we'll whip them all to death. " Ma Chengta tried his best to calm himself down, but he kept feeling restless that night, as if something was about to happen.
What could it be?
Ma Chengta could not sleep until late at night. He paced back and forth in the stronghold. Even though he was very sleepy, his mind kept going wild and he could not stop. He couldn't help but hit his head with his hand, but suddenly in the dark of the night, there was the sound of a cannon …
The sound of a cannon in the dark of the night was very shocking. Ma Chengta's drowsy mind suddenly woke up, and he abruptly raised his head to look in the direction of the cannon. It seemed to be the cannon on the outskirts of the Guli Mountain stronghold, used to warn of an enemy attack.
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