Gansu! Silver!

It snowed last night, and the sky and the earth were covered with snow. The snow reflected in the sun, and it was bright white. On the white snow, there were a series of claw marks left by unknown animals. Look at their appearance.

, there are footprints of chickens, rabbits, mice, and of course bobcats, foxes, and wolves.

To the west are the remaining mountains of the Qilian Mountains, and to the east is the daunting Tengger Desert. If there was no silver, no one would come here to eat sand.

Silver is produced in this place, which sounds like a jingle. But this place is indeed a famous silver mine in the northwest. Silver mines were discovered here as early as the Zhu Hongwu period. After more than two hundred years of collection, the silver mines have gradually been exhausted.

The city that was born because of the mines quickly fell into desolation. People left for other places to make a living, and seven out of ten people who stayed behind were old and weak. They lived by farming and shepherding, and because they were on the border, the court exempted them from taxes. Although they were not rich

He comes from a wealthy family, but his life is still pretty good.

Early in the morning! Ge Erdan was walking on the snow wearing an old sheepskin coat. He had set a trap last night. Maybe he could trap some game and come back! In winter, it is the most wonderful thing to trap some game and come back for the tooth festival. His mind was thinking

I fantasize about whether I can catch a hare or a chicken. If I can catch a yellow sheep that has not yet migrated away, that would be so happy.

In the early years, the Tubo people were very violent and often came to rob. The imperial soldiers fought several battles with the Tubo people. Although the outcome was deceived, the Tubo people and the Ming Dynasty could not afford it, so they gave up the idea of ​​continuing the invasion and focused on

Operated in Xining.

In the past few years, the Mongols have been making troubles, but they are all in Yinchuan. It is said that the fight with the imperial soldiers was earth-shattering. Many Mongolians died, and many imperial soldiers died. However, as a small city behind Lanzhou,

Bai Yin had never felt threatened by the Mongols, and Ge Erdan had never even seen what Mongolian soldiers looked like.

The snow stepped on the feet, making a "crunch" and "crunch" sound.

Ge Erdan tried his best to identify the direction and walked towards the lone old elm tree. Farther away was the vast Tengger Desert. Walking in, one would almost have a narrow escape from death. Ge Erdan's trap was very clever.

It is placed on the soil slope under the big elm tree. As long as an animal passes by, it will definitely not be able to escape.

With a puff of white air blowing out of his mouth, Ge Erdan finally climbed up the slope. When he saw the situation below the slope, he almost fainted.

There was a black war horse clamped on a clamp under the earth slope. A few meters away, there was a corpse nestled in it.

The head of the corpse was weirdly bent to the side, and the body was hunched like a shrimp. The body had already been frozen to the bone, and there was no possibility of being rescued.

Ge Erdan was so frightened that he almost screamed. The man was wearing a khaki military cotton-padded jacket and khaki military cotton-padded trousers. There was a bayonet hanging on the back of his buttocks, and there was a rifle in the war horse trousers. His hat fell out.

I don't know where it was blown by the wind. His black hair was frozen on his face, and a few strands that were not frozen were swaying in the wind.

This is the Liao soldiers, the Liao soldiers under Marshal Li.

Since the Mongols made trouble, the border troops here have been replaced by Liao soldiers. I heard that the main force of the Liao army was fighting the Mongols in the north. These people are just ordinary border troops.

There was a "buzzing" sound in Ge Erdan's head. It was obvious that the Liao army fell off his horse and died. The culprit that caused him to fall off his horse was the trap he set. With his eyes closed, he could think of the snowy day.

A man and a horse were galloping in the snow. The horse suddenly stepped on the harness, and the man on the horse fell out and broke his neck.

The trap was set by himself, which is a heinous crime. It is said that Marshal Li is a very protective person, and the Liao soldiers and generals under him are all murderous people. Now he actually killed the Liao soldiers, and it seems that he is still a member of the Liao soldiers.

The cavalry will be in big trouble. They may be ransacked by the vicious Liao soldiers.

The first thought in Ge Erdan's mind was to run, and he didn't know how many times he fell down along the way. The old sheepskin coat was covered with snow, and Ge Erdan didn't have time to pounce. He knocked open the door of his house and hit it.

The pendulum climbed onto the kang.

"Erdan! What's wrong with you? You don't take off your shoes even when you get on the kang!" Erdan's mother looked at her son strangely. Could it be that he met a leopard? It's impossible. All the leopards in this winter have entered the Qilian Mountains. It's very difficult.

Don't wander around this place where there are people. Could it be that you encountered a wolf? God, it's a blessing from our ancestors that we can come back alive.

"Mom! I got into trouble, big trouble." Ge Erdan shrank into the kang, and the snow on his old sheepskin coat fell off, soaking the kang mat.

"What's going on! Tell me!" Erdan's wife slapped Erdan anxiously. This child is not a timid child. Why is he so scared today? What happened to him? Could it be that he met a Tibetan person?

"Mom! The trap I laid was stepped on by the Liao cavalry. The cavalry fell to death, fell to death. Marshal Li will definitely kill me by beheading me!" Ge Erdan cried.

"What?" Erdan Niang was dizzy and almost lost her breath. She never expected that her son would cause such a big disaster by trapping prey.

"Mom! I don't want to die, I don't want to die!" Ge Erdan hugged my mother's arm and shook it hard.

"What should we do? Your father went to Lanzhou to deliver mountain goods. This..." Erdan Niang had no idea for a moment.

"Mom, Marshal Li's soldiers will definitely come to catch me. They will kill me!" Ge Erdan cried and shouted.

"Your uncle can read and digit, and he has many ideas. Wait, mother will call your uncle. Let him help us come up with ideas!" Erdan Niang suddenly thought of her brother, who can read and digit, and also has many ideas.

He has passed the examination and is a famous figure in eight villages. If he comes up with ideas, he can definitely help his family escape disaster.

Erdanniang ran all the way to her brother's house and took her brother back to her own home.

"Erdan, tell your uncle if you have anything."

"Uncle, I killed the Liao soldier. I didn't mean it. His horse stepped on the harness and he fell off the horse and fell to death. I didn't mean it, I really didn't mean it." Erdan grabbed his uncle.

Crying and shouting.

The uncle frowned. He had no good impression of the Liao soldiers. They were just rough guys who insulted the gentlemen and slandered the saints. I heard that half a year ago, Marshal Li ordered the Liao soldiers to kill many scholars in front of the Meridian Gate. Among them, my uncle was the most popular.

Dear Mr. Xu!

The more these damn Liao soldiers die, the better. No one will sympathize with them.

"Erdan, don't panic, take uncle to have a look. Carrying the hoe, if there is no one around, we will bury the person. No one will know that a Liao soldier died without anyone noticing." Uncle.

After walking around on the ground twice, he suddenly stood still and said in a deep voice.

"The child is his uncle, is this okay?" Erdan Niang was a little hesitant. After all, this was the Liao soldiers. Legend has it that the commander of the Liao soldiers had the ability to penetrate the sky and the earth. He knew astronomy from above and geography from below. He knew what he knew five hundred years ago and what he would know later.

Five hundred years ago, he was a god-like figure. If he found out, why not kill his whole family?

"What are you afraid of? In this snowy day, who has nothing to do to go to the countryside? While it's still early, let Erdan follow me with a hoe. Bury the body without anyone noticing." The uncle looked at the sky outside.

, urged.

"Erdan! Follow your uncle quickly, otherwise no one can save you." Erdan's mother shouted, got on the kang and pulled Ge Erdan, who was shaking all over.

Ge Erdan led the way with a hoe on his shoulder, and his uncle followed behind with a hoe on his shoulder. In winter, the ground was frozen hard and difficult to plow, so bringing two hoes would make the plowing faster.

Fortunately, no one went out today.

Arriving under the old elm tree, Ge Erdan pointed at the corpse on the ground and did not dare to speak.

The uncle walked down the slope and used a hoe to pull up the body. Seeing that the body was frozen solid, he shook his head helplessly. It looked really dead.

This Liao soldier was different from other Liao soldiers. There was a leather bag hanging outside his military cotton-padded jacket. My uncle opened the backpack and saw something like an official document inside.

"Erdan, hurry up and dig the hole and bury the dead man. Dig deeper. It won't be fun if someone digs it out." The uncle ordered and took out the official document.

After just a few quick glances, my uncle's face turned pale.

"Erdan! Stop digging and go home." The uncle pulled a handful of Erdan and trotted back without even using the hoe.

"Uncle, if you don't bury the body anymore, what will you do if someone sees it?" Ge Erdan was a little confused. A minute ago, this uncle was in a hurry.

"If you can take care of these things at this time, hurry up and go home. If you are late, it will be too late." The uncle put the official document in his pocket, took Ge Erdan and threw away the hoe, turned around and ran back.

Ge Erdan didn't know what was going on. When he saw his uncle looking more nervous than himself, he immediately became nervous. He followed his uncle and ran home in one breath. As soon as he entered the door, Ge Erdan sat on the kang and gasped for air.

After running twice in a while, Ge Erdan felt that his heart was going to pop out of his chest.

"What's wrong with the child, uncle? Why did he come back so quickly? Did he fake the corpse?" Erdan Niang was surprised, and she actually thought of fake corpse.

"Old sister! Pack your things quickly, the Mongols are coming." The uncle grabbed Erdan Niang's hand and said eagerly.

"What! Mongols, aren't they blocked in Yinchuan in the north by the commander's soldiers?" Erdanniang asked in confusion. In fact, she didn't know where Yinchuan was. From birth to now, he couldn't even reach outside Baiyin City.

I haven't been to anywhere within ten miles.

"My old sister, the Liao soldier who died was a messenger. He had an official document in his hand, saying that it was our detailed investigation that the Mongols were sending a large army to Xining. Then they set off from Xining and went straight to Lanzhou City. The letter also said

, I want the garrison master of Lanzhou City to be prepared and report it to the imperial court at the same time."

"Lanzhou? Then why did he come to Baiyin?" Although she had never left the courtyard, Erdanniang still knew which direction Lanzhou Mansion was.

"We got lost because of the heavy snow, so we came to Baiyin. Unfortunately, the horse was caught by Erdan's harness, and he would have frozen to death lying on the ground all night. Pack your things quickly, and let's go to Guanzhong

Escape. It has been a few days since the messenger came out, and soon it will be too late. Do you think we have to wait for the Mongols to chop your head off?" said the uncle in a hurry.

"Erdan Daddy hasn't come back yet, should we wait for him for a few days?" Erdan Niang thought of her husband, who was still delivering mountain goods to the warehouse in Lanzhou City. She took advantage of the cold weather to dig up some Cynomorium cynomorium. This thing is for men.

The treasure can be sold at a good price in Lanzhou drug stores.

"How many days? My old sister, it won't work for a few hours. Pack your things quickly and run away, otherwise when the Mongols come, you won't be able to run away even if you want to. A two-legged one can't run as well as a four-legged one anyway."

."

"Oh...! Okay...!" After hearing what her brother said, Erdan Niang had no idea. She just wanted to pack her things at home while being at a loss.

After my uncle finished speaking, he ran away and was probably packing at home now. Fortunately, both families had carriages, and they had been building roads over the years, so the carriages did not appear to be weak on the official road.

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"Has the news been notified to Lanzhou Prefecture? This news is from our inside line. We risked our lives to get it back. We don't dare to delay it." Lv Zhu looked at the heavy snowfall outside the city and asked with some uneasiness.

"When I got back to my lady, I had already sent a fast horse to Lanzhou. It was snowing heavily at this time and there were no reliable carrier pigeons in the west, so I didn't use flying pigeons to send messages."

Luzhu shook his head helplessly. Even if there were homing pigeons, they might not be able to deliver them to Lanzhou. The northwest has always produced eagles, especially the golden eagle, which is called a sacred object by Tibetans and is the overlord of the sky.

We had experimented with cultivating some homing pigeons before, but after they were released, they all seemed like nothing. Needless to say, it was obvious that those eagles must have hijacked the homing pigeons halfway and turned them into dinner. The rest of the letterheads and other things were nothing to those beasts.

Don't know what that thing is.

"Hey...! I hope Lanzhou can escape this disaster. Have the fast horses sent to Yinchuan and Xi'an been sent out?"

"Go back to the girl! We have already sent a fast horse to deliver the message. I believe that Master Cao in Yinchuan City has received the girl's handwritten letter by now. But it is estimated that we will have to wait two days from Master Cao in Xi'an. It is snowing these days and it is difficult to walk on the road.

, the messenger may not arrive on time."

Lv Zhu looked at the heavy snow like goose feathers and sighed helplessly. The news had been sent out, and she could only wait for fate.

This news was delivered in a hurry, which shows that this matter is kept very confidential among the Mongols.

The Mongols gave up attacking the fortified Yinchuan, and instead targeted Lanzhou, which was lax in defense. According to the news from inside, the Mongols did not intend to occupy Lanzhou, but just wanted to grab it.

Lanzhou is an ancient city and an important town in the northwest. All mountain goods transactions in the northwest are conducted in Lanzhou. The imperial court exempted the entire province of Gansu from taxes, but Lanzhou can collect commercial taxes that are more than the agricultural taxes in the entire province.
Chapter completed!