On the vast grassland, there are thirty-four ancient Tang Dynasty members gathered and dispersed.

The ethnic composition of the ancient tribes of the Tang Dynasty was extremely complex, including: Han, Xi, Bohai, Shiwei, Zubu, Goryeo, Dangxiang, Uighur, Jurchen...

They were all prisoners of war captured by the Liao Kingdom and the people of all ethnic groups looted by the Liao Kingdom!

After a series of rule, they were gradually placed south of Yinshan Mountain and north of Shanxi, with the main purpose being used by the Liao Kingdom to prevent the Western Xia. (The ancient Tang tribe also existed in Jilin and the ancient tribe of Liaoning, and was regarded as the Jurchen tribe by the Jin Kingdom.)

Over the past hundred years, prisoners of various races have gradually merged and have been collectively called the ancient tribes of the Tang Dynasty.

And some Khitan tribes were mixed in the territory of the ancient tribes of the Tang Dynasty.

At the beginning, the Khitan tribes monitored and ruled the tribes of the ancient Tang Dynasty, and gradually the civilian intermarriage became frequent. Until the Liao Kingdom declined, the Jin Kingdom occupied this place, and through the messy alternating migration, even the leaders of the grassland tribes could not understand the situation.

Now, they are called "Tang Gu/Khitan tribes".

A pile of loose sand, extremely weak in strength, superficially surrendered to the Jin Kingdom, and secretly preserved his power.

Before the snow on the grassland melted, a team of horses set out from the north of the desert. They passed through the territory of the Zubu tribe and soon entered the grasslands of the Tang Gu tribes.

These Tang Gu tribes who surrendered to the Jin Kingdom actually welcomed the people from the northern desert and reminded them how to avoid the grasslands controlled by the Jin people.

When passing by Meigusi tribe (one of the 34 tribes of the Tang Dynasty), Ma Kuo was drinking goat milk to satisfy his hunger. Suddenly, a young man came on a horse and asked in a very strange accent: "Are you Han people?"

Ma Kuo was very surprised and asked, "Are you also a Han Chinese?"

The young man replied: "My father told me that my grandfather's grandfather's grandfather was a Han Chinese living in the Tang Dynasty. More than a hundred years ago, his ancestors were caught on the grassland and migrated several times before they arrived here."

Yu Yunwen also heard this strangely and asked, "What's your name?"

The young man replied: "The Khitan name is Hu Dugu, and the Chinese name is Cui Fangshu."

Ma Kuo had no special reaction to this, but Yu Yunwen said: "Xian Yun and Fang Shu were fighting against the enemy, and Man Jing Laiwei. My father also read the Book of Songs?"

This young man named Cui Fangshu quickly spoke a long list of contents, and the Chinese dialect was mixed with Khitan dialect: "My father said, what is the Qinghe Cui family in my ancestors? Several generations of ancestors taught their descendants to read, but they were suffering from the lack of books. The Book of Songs was obtained by my great-grandfather who followed the army to fight against Xixia. I now have this book in my family. My grandfather and my father all used the Book of Songs to give the name of the Chinese name."

Yu Yunwen was shocked: "I have never forgotten the Han family for more than a hundred years. I am a pure filial piety, loyal and righteous man!"

Ma Kuo asked, "Is your father the leader here?"

Cui Fangshu said: "My ancestors have been recruiting officials in the southwest of the Liao Kingdom. Now there is no official position, but there is still a pasture that manages hundreds of herdsmen. My mother tribe is also a small tribe under Meigusi's tribe, and they also have hundreds of people."

"Can you take us to see Lingzun?" asked Ma Kuo.

Uncle Cui Fang said happily: "I know Lingzun is a respectful title, and finally someone has spoken to me like this. I was sent by my father, so please come and be a guest."

Ma Kuo immediately nodded to Yu Yunwen and Zhu Xiaozhong.

Zhu Xiaozhong put down his food and stood up, holding his weapon to lead the war horse.

Zhu Ming's chief adopted son has become stronger now and has fought two battles with Yelu Dashi before.

The Ming envoys returned south this time and also brought Yelu Dashi's envoys.

They went to Uncle Cui Fang's tribe together and did not arrive until the afternoon of the next day.

"This is my father Cui Youzhi!" Uncle Cui Fang introduced enthusiastically.

He didn't know what it means to avoid his father's name, and he said Chinese and white language.

This middle-aged man named Cui Youzhi also has Chinese in Chinese with white and white language, and from time to time he has Khitan dialect.

It is estimated that in one or two generations, they will completely forget Chinese.

The two sides greeted each other, and Ma Kuo asked about the situation here. Cui Youzhi said with a serious expression: "After the destruction of the Liao Kingdom, the Jin Kingdom disrupted the tribes here and migrated them. At first, there was no official government. The tribes attacked and annexed each other. Now the Meigusi tribe is the strongest, Jie's tribe, the second tribe, the third tribe of the Hidden tribe, and the fourth tribe. My small tribe was also forced to surrender to the Meigusi tribe."

"How is the Jin people now controlled?" Ma Kuo asked.

Cui Youzhi said: "The Jin people restored the Southwest Recruitment Division the year before yesterday and also sent troops. Last year, the troops were ordered to follow the army south. I will not hide it. I also went there. I took more than a dozen tribe warriors and followed the leaders of the Meigusi tribe to fight and belonged to Wanyan Loushi."

"You have arrived in the Han area?" Zhu Xiaozhong said in surprise.

Cui Youzhi said: "I can't fight Taiyuan first. The more than ten warriors I brought were organized into several other teams of light cavalry to investigate in the valley southeast of Yu County, and then I was lucky enough to escape back to the grassland. The son of the leader of the Meigusi tribe heard that he died in battle with his subordinates (actually surrendered)."

Ma Kuo finally understood that the man named Cui was afraid of being beaten, and the grassland was in chaos and wanted to hold the Ming Dynasty's thigh.

Cui Youzhi took the initiative to provide information and said: "The tribes of the ancient Tang Dynasty were defeated and now they are even more dissatisfied with the rule of the Jin Dynasty. The Jin people asked for more horses than the Liao Dynasty before. If this continues, how can the tribes of the ancient Tang Dynasty stand it?"

Ma Kuo pointed to the herdsmen in the distance and asked, "How many descendants of Han people do you have in your tribe?"

Cui Youzhi replied: "I can't explain it clearly. More than ten tribes have been intermarried for more than 100 years, so how can we tell if they are Han people?"

These tribes, which were fused by various captives, were even classified as Seme people in the Yuan Dynasty.

The next day, Cui Youzhi took Ma Kuo and others to visit the leader of Meigusi tribe.

As soon as the other party met, he inquired about his son's whereabouts. He didn't know that his son was thrown away by Wanyan Loushi, so he decisively led his troops to surrender Chen Ziyi, who was chasing him closely.

When Meigusi's troops surrendered, there were only about one hundred people, and the main surrender was the Khitan cavalry further east.

Ma Kuo wandered around the grasslands of the ancient tribes of the Tang Dynasty for more than ten days and visited the leaders of several tribes.

Suddenly someone came to report the news, saying that the Jin people learned of their existence and sent troops to block the way forward.

Ma Kuo, Yu Yunwen, and Zhu Xiaozhong, with their cavalry and Western Liao envoys, set off and headed further west.

They entered the Xixia territory without any fear, went to the capital of Xixia to visit Li Ganshun, and then rode back to Kaifeng at full speed.

When everyone returned to the capital, it was the fourth day of rewarding the heroes.

"Are you a descendant of the Cui clan of Qinghe?" Zhu Ming looked at the boy in front of him curiously.

Uncle Cui Fang also came with him, and he wanted to recognize his ancestors.

The body of this young man not only has the inheritance of the Han people, but also the bloodlines of seven or eight ethnic groups including the Xi people, Uighurs, Dangxiang and others.

Uncle Cui Fang knelt down: "Keep to the Prince of Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Ming encouraged him a few words, then sent the boy away and said to Ma Kuo: "Tell me in detail."

Ma Kuo said happily: "Since the Jin Dynasty was defeated last year, Tang Gu and the Khitan tribes had a rebellion. They had originally hated the Jin Dynasty's excessive tribute, but they were just afraid that the Jin soldiers would be forced to surrender. Once the royal army broke through Yunzhong (Datong) and went north, the tribes in the south of the desert would definitely rise up and respond. If the Jin Dynasty dared to force the tribes to fight south, as long as they showed their defeat, they would turn against each other in front of the battlefield!"

"Are you sure?" Zhu Ming asked.

Ma Kuo said: "I visited the leaders of two large tribes and seven small tribes. They all revealed their dissatisfaction with the Jin Kingdom. Originally, I wanted to connect with more tribes, but unfortunately the Jin soldiers came to fight after hearing the news. Fortunately, there were reports from the tribes to escape."

Zhu Ming asked again: "Yelu Dashi knew that the Jin soldiers were defeated last year?"

Ma Kuo replied: "It was because he received the news that he sent an envoy and a servant to come back. Yelu Dashi said that in the next one or two years, he would lead his troops to attack Linhuang Prefecture and recover the former land of Shangjing (Balin Left Banner) of the Liao Kingdom. He hoped that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would launch troops to attack the northern expedition as soon as possible, and attack the Jin people from both sides of the north and south. After the destruction of the Jin Kingdom, the sixteen prefectures of Youyun belonged to the Ming Dynasty, and the grasslands in the south and north of the desert belonged to the Liao Kingdom. From then on, the two countries would always be brothers."

"He thought about some good things." Zhu Ming smiled.

Ma Kuo said, "Yelu Dashi's words should be sincere. He heard that the Jin soldiers were defeated and guessed that the king's army was extremely brave and did not dare to take Youyun back."

Zhu Ming asked: "How prestige is he in Mobei?"

Ma Kuo said: "There is still insufficient prestige for the time being. Some strong tribes only follow their prestige on the surface. However, after several games in the past two or three years, Yelu Dashi has been winning and his prestige is continuing to increase. Once he is allowed to recover the Linhuang Mansion of the Liao Kingdom, he may really become the co-lord of the grassland."

"It's also a big concern." Zhu Ming couldn't help but sigh.

Ma Kuo reminded: "The ancestors of the tribes of the ancient Tang Dynasty were captives of various tribes from the Liao Kingdom. They were slaves for a long time before they were placed in the northeast of the Western Xia during the reign of Emperor Shengzong of Liao. They merged with the nearby Khitan tribes, and now they cannot tell which tribe they belong. As long as they can enthrone the leaders of the four major tribes of Tang Dynasty, they can drive them to fight for the Ming Dynasty. These people, no matter what Yelu Dashi!"

Zhu Ming said: "Zhang Guangdao fought against the Jin people last year, and the grassland cavalry left behind by Wanyan Loushi, put down his weapons and surrendered a lot. You go to Shanxi to see, have more contact with the prisoners, and then release them all through the Western Xia. Just say that if I destroyed the Jin Kingdom in the Ming Dynasty, I will definitely treat the grassland tribes well, and those who help me destroy the Jin Dynasty will be rewarded!"

"Yes!" Ma Kuoying promised.

Zhu Ming smiled and said, "You have worked hard on an envoy. You can spend more days with your wife and children when you go home. You don't have to rush to Shanxi."

"Thank you for your understanding." Ma Kuo was inexplicably moved.

Zhu Ming said: "A few days ago, the vassal states sent many tributes. You can pick a few for your wives and concubines. As for those who follow you to serve, I will also ask the Ministry of Rites to reward you."

Ma Kuo followed the eunuch to the warehouse, picked a few gadgets, and then went home happily.

Zhu Ming met Yu Yunwen and Zhu Xiaozhong again to teach them whether they can make progress.

It was not until the evening that Zhu Ming walked back to the East Palace. Today, the Yinchuan princess Li Qinglu of Xixia officially entered the palace.
Chapter completed!