Chapter 1,227 Monthly Pass for the Land of Bogda Khan)
On October 11th, Shu Shu and his party traveled sixty miles and rested in the afternoon.
On the twelfth day of the 10th month, we traveled ninety miles. We set out relatively early and arrived at the inn before sunset.
On the morning of October 13th, the group arrived at their destination.
Along the official road, there is a palace built in the early years, called the Kalahe Tun Palace, which is the place where you stay when you go to Mulan Paddock.
The main body of the palace is composed of several connected houses and a barracks with a martial arts training ground, where everyone is accommodated.
After a brief lunch, the general manager led the way, got off the official road and walked eastward for more than thirty miles, taking everyone to a place surrounded by mountains in the north.
After climbing over the blocked mountain road, you will see a mountain canyon crisscrossed by rivers, with clouds and mist swirling above it.
There are mountains all around.
That line said in the main pipe: "This is the border between Manchuria and Mongolia. There are no civilians. There are only a dozen families of Mongolians who make a living here by fishing and hunting."
This is the junction of the Aohan, Karaqin and Wengniute tribes of Monan Mongolia. In the early years, the three tribes dedicated Mulan Paddock to Kangxi, including the Rehe area bordering Manchuria.
When Brother Jiu saw it, he couldn't help but feel distressed and said: "It's such a pity that such a big place is neither cultivated nor grazed."
Zhang Tingzhan and Cao Yueying also followed, looking at the canyon in the distance.
Not to mention anything else, just seeing that there are many rivers and there is no shortage of water, it should be more livable.
It's far away now, so everyone has to go down the mountain road to get there.
No wonder this place is called Rehe.
It turns out that the water vapor in the clouds and mist is the water vapor brought out by dozens of hot springs upstream.
Everyone was wearing big sweaters, but when we got here, we felt the difference.
Perhaps because of the mountain canyons or the vapor from the hot springs, the temperature here is much hotter than on the hillside. The vegetation along the river is still a little green and has not withered away.
Except for the withered and yellow grass at the foot of the mountain, many trees on the mountainside are still green, probably evergreen pines and cypresses all year round.
From a distance, I saw several small boats on the river bank, and someone was casting a net.
I saw dozens of riders arriving, and the people on the boat were also whispering to each other.
After a while, an elderly fisherman came to the place where everyone was staying in a canoe.
When I got closer, I saw a Mongolian man, wearing a Mongolian robe made of sheepskin. His face was dark and red, and his face was full of wrinkles.
"Distinguished guests, welcome to Rehe..."
The old man had a loud voice, spread his hands, and said "Gulu Gulu" in Mongolian.
Zhang Tingzhan and Cao Yueying were dumbfounded. Both of them were familiar with Manchu, but Mongolian was not good here.
Brother Jiu didn't ask anyone to reply, but said to himself: "Which herdsmen are you from? Aohan, Kalaqin or Wengniute? Which prince, Taiji, are you a member of?"
The old man shook his head and said: "We have lived here for generations, and we have also gone to the tribes mentioned by the nobles to go to market, but we are not their subjects."
When everyone looked at the mountainside just now, they did not see any villages gathered together.
These people should maintain the living habits of herdsmen and live scattered in the canyon.
Brother Jiu asked: "Since you are old households here, do you know how many families live in the canyon here?"
The old man pondered for a while and said: "There are still twenty households. It was twenty-one households earlier, but the old grandmother of the Agula family died of diarrhea last month, so there are only twenty households left."
Brother Jiu was very satisfied after hearing this.
In this way, the entire canyon can be planned arbitrarily without worrying about disturbing residents' land.
Next, it depends on where to choose the location.
It is necessary to choose a land boundary formed by mountains and rivers, and take advantage of the force of nature. In this way, you can simply build a house and save a lot of money.
There should also be open space in the surrounding area to build garrison barracks and horse stables.
Since the territory was prepared for the Mongol princes to come to court, it was also necessary to set aside camps for the Mongol princes.
It seemed like they needed a lot of space in total, but the huge canyon was enough for them to choose from.
The ninth elder brother said to the old man: "Bogda Khan is the emperor outside now, and his land is all under the sky. He will build a palace here. You can tell the local herdsmen that there will be a royal horse farm and a palace here."
If you know how to choose royal herdsmen, your young men can come and receive a royal commission, and your children and grandchildren can all receive a share of money and food."
When the old man heard about the lake, he looked confused.
For this kind of retail investors who have been thriving for hundreds of years, listening to these words, I can only vaguely understand the general meaning.
Brother Jiu didn't say anything else and asked everyone to turn around and leave.
It takes half an hour to get out of the canyon, and more than half an hour to get from the canyon to the palace.
It's getting late.
There were dozens of riders in a group, coming and going in a hurry.
On the river, the herdsmen who had only dared to watch before rowed canoes to the old man.
The old man was the leader of these people. He once brought dried fish to the surrounding Mongolian tribes to exchange for sheep and salt tea cloth.
He also understood what Bogda Khan was, a ruler among the Mongols.
He is the lord of the world.
The pastures for hundreds of miles to the northwest are all royal pastures.
Because of this, their journey to the market was extended by more than 200 miles.
He was telling these herdsmen who had never been out of the canyon what Bogda Khan was, what the royal ranch was, what the emperor's mission was...
*
Shu Shu and his entourage hurried slowly and hurriedly, and only returned to the palace at dusk.
Together with the mountain road, it is equivalent to a round trip of eighty miles.
When Brother Jiu dismounted, his legs couldn't close together.
He ignored his own discomfort and looked at Shu Shu worriedly, because he was worried about Shu Shu's hard work.
Shu Shu thought it was okay, but her body felt damp.
We had stayed in the valley for three-quarters of an hour before. The temperature was high, our clothes were thick, and we were all sweating.
This is true for Shu Shu, let alone Ninth Brother, who is slightly weaker in physical strength.
The couple was not in a hurry to eat and ordered hot water first.
The dining room had been prepared in advance. The two of them not only washed their bodies but also washed their hair before they felt alive.
Brother Jiu was still thinking about what he saw in the afternoon, and lamented: "I still don't have enough money, or else I will lose everything."
Shu Shu wiped her hair and didn't want to follow him.
She asked: "I will be drawing tomorrow, will you come over?"
I thought that when I encounter a hot spring, I don't need to take a bath, just soak my feet and feel comfortable. This is a wonderful thought, but in fact there is no road in the canyon.
Nowadays, the grass and trees are withered, and everyone walks around casually, but it is still incomparable to having roads.
Brother Ninth immediately shook his head and said: "No, let's rest in the palace and walk around nearby. Let Zhang Tingzhan and Cao Yueying go. We can't go out in vain. We have to give them a chance to make contributions!"
Shu Shu couldn't help but laugh.
Only Brother Jiu can describe laziness in such a fresh and refined way.
However, the couple went out just to relax, and they didn't intend to devote themselves to their work.
The key is that the temperature fluctuates from high to low, making it easy to catch a cold.
Thinking of this, Shu Shu ordered some walnuts and said: "Ask the kitchen to make ginger soup, add more ginger, and let everyone drink a few bowls, especially Mr. Zhang and Mr. Cao are about to deliver it."
Ninth Brother has a crispy skin, and those two don't look very strong either.
Walnut went down and gave orders.
After a while, Xiaotang brought someone to prepare a meal.
Tonight is mutton soup, a total of six sheep were killed.
Shu Shu and Jiu A Ge use lamb, a milky-white lamb bone soup with chopped lamb in it and a lot of pepper. There is also a plate of grilled lamb chops, a plate of lamb sausage, and a platter of lamb blood sausage.
, a plate of fried bracken, a plate of cabbage stewed in mutton soup, and a plate of fried mutton with dried beans.
The two of them were hungry after running around all afternoon.
Shu Shu is okay, the lamb chops are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, the bracken is a local specialty, the dried beans were bought in Miyun, and taste good, the cabbage is made from leaves, and the stew time is short, so it is still sweet when you eat it.
Brother Jiu frowned. After taking a bite, the bracken felt hard and the dried beans felt greasy.
He stared at the only fresh vegetable, Chinese cabbage, and complained to Shu Shu: "In the next ten and a half days, we will only be able to eat cabbage all day long, right?"
Shu Shu said: "I'll deal with it first, and tomorrow I'll ask someone to make vermicelli cabbage or sesame cabbage, then I'll feel refreshed."
Brother Jiu frowned and said, "Tomorrow I'll send someone to the canyon to buy fish and shrimp. If there's no vegetables, I'll make do with fish. This guy always gets pimples on his forehead from eating mutton."
Shu Shu nodded and said, "You can also collect some mushrooms for other purposes."
Right now, there are no boundaries here. It is 400 miles away from Mulan Paddock, 400 miles away from the capital, and 400 miles away from the Karaqin tribe, so there really is no place to go for supplies.
Brother Jiu asked Walnut for tea, rinsed the greasy cabbage and ate it with rice.
Seeing this, Shu Shu knew that he would definitely not be able to drink the mutton soup, so she asked Walnut to serve him a large bowl of ginger soup.
Shu Shu drank the mutton soup here. The effect of the pepper made her sweat, which made her feel very comfortable.
Brother Jiu ate half a bowl of cabbage with rice and drank a large bowl of ginger soup. His face was rosy and he felt hot from the inside out...
*
In the courtyard across the palace, Zhang Tingzhan and Cao Yueying also finished washing and sat down to eat.
There were four dishes for two people, but one less dish than Shu Shu's was grilled lamb chops and stir-fried lamb with dried beans.
The two of them ate without saying a word, finished the meal quietly, drank the still hot ginger soup, and drank until they were full.
Although they didn't speak Mongolian, they asked Erhe and Fu Qing about it on the way back.
Both of them were educated in Qi and learned Manchu and Mongolian, so they told the two adults about the conversation between Brother Nine and the old man.
Now that this matter was mentioned, Zhang Tingzhan told Cao Yueying: "Jiu Ye is kind enough to enclose land and build a palace, so he must first consider the livelihood of these herdsmen."
Cao Yueying has been walking in front of the emperor for more than ten years. He has always been cautious in his words and deeds, and he thinks more about it. He said: "When it comes to the emperor's mission, it is considered a permanent lack. The ninth master should not be the one to do it himself. He still needs to ask for an edict."
Zhang Tingzhan said: "There are only twenty households in total, so it is relatively easy to relocate. If you ask for a special order, it will seem like making a fuss out of a molehill. Master Jiu has been on duty for three years, not just when he was in the Ministry of Internal Affairs."
Cao said to Yingdao: "The emperor has been in charge of the government for many years and has long been accustomed to being arbitrary."
Zhang Tingzhan was silent.
The emperor still likes the new and hates the old.
In his early years, his father was highly regarded, and just like Ma Qi today, he held many positions and was very popular.
Whether it's the master of the East Palace or the Zhan Shifu of Zhan Shifu, they are all arranged by the emperor.
As time passed, all that remained in the emperor's eyes was pickiness and displeasure.
This is true for ministers, and it is also true for princes.
Maybe Cao Yueying is right, and you can never make a big mistake if you are careful...