On the morning of March 27th, Lu Chaoran entered the customs from Datong with the caravan, and he officially set foot on the land of the Ming Dynasty, or set foot on it again.

As an envoy from the Mongolian royal court to the Ming Dynasty, he initially prepared an envoy of more than 300 people for him, but in the end he declined the request for a simple reason - he was afraid of death.

Although the two countries are at war without killing the envoy, he is different. He is not an authentic Mongolian, but a serious member of the Han family. Every nation always hates traitors far more than its enemies. As a Mongol envoy,

It may not be possible to save the life of a traitor, even with the addition of 300 guards.

He also expressed his understanding of this first, so he let him make his own arrangements and only sent three guards to accompany him.

"Back again." Lu Chaoran took a deep breath. There was no shame in his heart, only pride and pride.

After ten years of hard work, he failed repeatedly. In the same ten years of being put on the grassland, he enjoyed wealth and splendor, and now he is "returning home in splendor". As for face, how much money is worth worth of face?

The caravan that was traveling with them was settled when they arrived at Datong City, sold their goods, and then prepared to continue walking to the grassland. So Lu Chaoran took three guards and separated from the leader of the caravan, and he had to rely on himself on the next journey to the capital.

Already.

He randomly found a restaurant and led three guards in the private room, ordering a large table of dishes and eating for a while. Lu Chaoran raised his glass and saluted: "From now on, I will all rely on these three."

The three guards glanced at him and said nothing, making the atmosphere slightly awkward.

Lu Chaoran didn't care. He drank the wine and the smile on his face became brighter. It didn't matter if they didn't want to see him, as long as they could fulfill their duties and protect him, it was enough.

These three guards, one old and two young, are said to have a master-disciple relationship. They have been getting along with each other for a month now and have not communicated much. Lu Chaoran only knows that the three of them are master-disciple, and the older one is the master. His name is

I don’t know, I don’t seem to know Chinese. One of the two apprentices is named Manduga and the other is Tolkan. They can speak Chinese, so Lu Chaoran talks to them in daily communication, and then the two of them

Then translate it to their master.

Lu Chaoran himself can also speak Mongolian, but he is not very fluent. He really has no talent in the language.

After drinking for three rounds, the older one of the three guards suddenly murmured a few words to his apprentice, and then Tolkan translated: "Hey, my master wants to ask you, should we go directly to the capital like this? Then

How can we find the whereabouts of the young prince Xining?"

Lu Chaoran himself felt dissatisfied when he mentioned this matter. You guys drove Xi Ning away to the Ming Dynasty, but now you realized something was wrong and wanted to find him again.

The world is so big that if you want to find a person's whereabouts, you won't hesitate to look for a needle in a haystack. What can you do? But he also gave him a death order first. It doesn't matter how he talked with the Ming Dynasty court. Xi Ning must be taken care of at all costs.

If he were to find him, he would have to see his body alive and dead, otherwise he would not have to go back to Mongolia.

Lu Chaoran thought about this matter all the way, and now he probably has some ideas. He originally wanted to talk to the three of them, but they happened to ask about it, so he replied: "The world is so big, I want to ask the little prince Xining to give me some advice."

It's definitely not possible with just the four of us, we have to borrow some help. The Dongchang and Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty have spies all over the world, and I'm going to ask them to help. If they can't find them...then we can only do the worst.

Planned."

Tolkan translated for his master for a while, then turned around and asked: "Young Prince Xining has a distinguished status. If the Ming Dynasty finds out, will it be used as a blackmail?"

"Whoever talks about it will do the work." Lu Chaoran said with a proud smile: "The Han people are all weaklings, and the officials in the Ming Dynasty are even more precious about their lives. So we will be tougher when the time comes, as long as we They don't want to start a war with me, Dameng, so they can only send the young prince Xining back obediently. When the time comes, we will take the young prince Xining back to the grassland. It will be up to the Great Khan to decide whether to fight or not. "

"Now that you have an idea, just do as you say."

Lu Chaoran continued: "However, the Han people's rangers in the rivers and lakes don't know how to advance or retreat. Once they know our identity, they will come to us and cause trouble regardless of life and death. Please protect me along the way. As long as you enter In the capital, everything else will be easy to handle."

"I know." The other person replied coldly.

Objectively speaking, what Lu Chaoran said cannot be said to be completely unreasonable. The collision between civilization and barbarism will always be at a disadvantage in this era of cold weapons. After weighing the pros and cons, it is natural for the Han people to hate war.

Xu Bao knew this, so he did some cleaning in the court and got rid of those big mouths who only knew how to talk. The effect was good, at least after the news of the coming Mongolian mission was made public, the situation was calm. , there is no support or objection. This is enough. As long as they keep their mouths shut and do not cause trouble, Xu Bao is already very satisfied.

Xu Er went to Dongchang yesterday. As he said, he just walked around in the dungeon and then returned to his house. He said nothing and did nothing. He didn't even say he would meet his son. This morning At that time, Xu Er and Zhang Mao went into the palace together to meet the emperor. Of course, they actually went to see the queen mothers of the two palaces, probably to say goodbye.

After Xu Bao got the news, he went to Xu Min's house to wait for him to come back. After not seeing each other for such a long time, he still had to meet before leaving. There is an old man in the family, and there are treasures. Some things should be discussed in person. .

"With the Ming Dynasty's current national strength, there is no problem in fighting the Tatars. The chance of winning is at least 60%."

“Then where does the remaining 40% fall?”

"The rivers and lakes, the civil servants, and God's will." He threw a handful of bait casually, and the koi carp in the lake gathered in groups. Xu Yan sighed, and his eyes became deeper: "You should tell me, what happened back then Or you know better."

"Actually, there's nothing to say. One rat's droppings ruined the whole pot of soup." Zhang Mao's face also darkened. The memories of the past were obviously not so pleasant: "Warriors, generals, soldiers, food and grass, to put it bluntly. Those are the three things. In the battle of Tumubao, the late emperor personally led the expedition, and there were thirty to fifty generals who had fought in hundreds of battles. The army of four hundred thousand was also an elite force. Do you know where we lost?"

"Grain and grass?" Xu Bao was a little confused.

With the Ming Dynasty's national power, there should definitely not be any problem with the supply of food and grass to support the 400,000-strong army, especially the emperor was among the 400,000-strong army. But there seems to be no other explanation for the meaning behind Zhang Mao's words.
Chapter completed!