Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 509
After a while, Batu harnessed two Lele cars and came in to greet the guests to set off.

Batu's wife has filled everyone's water bags with milk tea, and asked her husband if he would like to bring some milk skin and milk tofu.

Batu smiled and nodded. Batu's wife found a leather bag, filled it with milk and food, handed it to Xiaoman, and said some words in Mongolian to wish them a safe journey.

Xiaoman thanked and took it, and Cao Yong got up to say goodbye to Batu's mother.

The old man picked up the prayer wheel and got up to see off the guests.Batu's daughter, named Qimuge.

The little girl's eyes were sharp, and she took out the purse that Cao Yong had just tucked in from behind the tube stand, and sent it to Cao Yong, saying in Mongolian that the guest had left something.

Cao Yong took it with a smile, looked at Batu's mother, hesitated for a moment.

In order to arrange for them to avoid the snowstorm, the Batu family killed more than 20 sheep, and their livelihood was in trouble. It should be this time, so thank you very much.

But Mongolians love to save face, and it is their tradition to entertain every guest who passes by the yurt.Will accept gifts, but not gold or silver, or feel insulted.

Seeing the eyes of the old man with insight into the world, after Cao Yong hesitated, he still put his purse back into his sleeve for the time being.

He first took off the bunch of bodhi seed bracelets on his wrist, put his hands in front of the old lady, and said: "Good old lady, please accept the guest's gift, don't let the guest go on the road with regrets in their hearts."

In the middle of the bracelet, there is a piece of carved coral the size of a thumb.The white bodhi seeds are paired with blood-red corals, which is very eye-catching.

Seeing Cao Yong's face full of sincerity, the old man nodded with a smile and accepted Cao Yong's gift.

Cao Yong also asked Xiaoman to take a pair of brand new deerskin boots from his luggage, and gave them to Na Risong, Batu's son.

Na Risong looked at his father, saw his father nodded, took the boots, and thanked Cao Yong.

According to the custom of the Mongolians, the mascot is the thing with the mouth facing upwards.Among all kinds of gifts, besides hada and five animals, boots are the favorite gifts of Mongolians.

Cao Yong's retinue has been to Beyond the Great Wall several times, and he also has Mongolian friends, so he knows this.

After the big and small ones were finished, Cao Yong bent down and pulled out a dagger from his boots.

Although this dagger looks plain and not inlaid with gold and silver like the popular ones nowadays, it is made of fine steel and is very sharp.

He handed the dagger in front of Batu with both hands, and said in Mongolian: "I don't want to thank you for your kindness. I will remember this life-saving grace on the grassland forever. This dagger is for me to use with me. It is not my thank you, but A gift for Mongolian friends."

Batu listened to the front and waved his hands with a smile, but when he heard the back, the straightforward Mongolian man didn't know how to refuse.

He "hehe" laughed twice, and happily accepted Cao Yong's gift, and at the same time took out the Mongolian knife he carried with him, and gave it back to Cao Yong.

Cao Yong took it solemnly and hung it on his waist.

Only then did he take out two ingots of five taels of silver ingots from his purse, handed them to Batu and said, "We are all men in this line of business, and there is no meeting gift that can be given to my sister-in-law and Muge. If you don't think it's shabby, Batu Brother, please accept this bracelet for sister-in-law and Muge to fight against each other."

Although the Mongols had no reason to accept money from guests, Cao Yong sent a circle of gifts, which made Batu a little confused.

After waking up, the Mongolian man shook his head like a rattle. In a hurry, he stumbled out a sentence in Chinese: "Silver...don't..."

Cao Yong also shook his head and said: "It's not for big brother Batu to spend, nor is it used to ruin big brother's enthusiasm, it's for making jewelry for Qi Muge, it's not good for her to call me uncle for nothing. Could it be , Brother Batu doesn’t regard me as a friend?” At the end, he already frowned with a bit of annoyance.

Although Cao Yong usually doesn't like to talk too much, but his words are practiced in Beijing. How can Batu, a simple and honest Mongolian herdsman, resist?
If this is not accepted, it will offend the guests.

Although he didn't feel very good in his heart, Batu hesitated for a while, but still took it, and handed it to his wife to keep it.

The whole family received Cao Yong's gifts, Batu was a little embarrassed, and whispered something to his wife.His wife came to the side, pulled out a bundle from the wooden box, and handed it to Cao Yong with a smile.

Seeing that Batu and his wife were looking at him earnestly, Cao Yong couldn't accept it, so he took it.Through the cloth, it felt soft, probably some kind of fur.

Among the adults, gifts were sent back and forth, and Qi Muge stared at them with round eyes.

Although the little girl is only in her teens, Mongolians marry early to save trouble.She also saw that her father and mother received heavy gifts from the guests, especially the last money, which was specially given to her and grandmother.

The little girl thought for a while, and took off a leather chain from her neck, with a wolf tooth under it.

She went forward, not allowing Cao Yong to refuse, and stuffed the wolf tooth necklace directly into his purse, then ran behind her grandmother with a grin to watch.

Cao Yong had the nerve to accept the gift from the little girl, just as he was about to take it out of his purse, the little girl pouted, looking as if she was about to cry.

Cao Yong had no choice but to thank him with a smile.

Only then did the little girl smile, she helped her grandmother out of the felt bag, and watched Cao Yong and others leave together with her mother and elder brother.

Among the crowd, the four whose horses froze to death got into the Lele cart driven by Batu.

Although there were two chariots, both of which were drawn by horses, Batu was the only one driving the chariot.The rear bridle is tied to the front cart, so no one needs to worry about it.

The snow on the road was more than a foot deep, and because the Lele cart was a high-wheeled carriage, it wasn't too slow to pull it up.

When the sun was westward, the group arrived at Yandengtu Station.

Batu was worried about his family and didn't stay long, so he sent Cao Yong and the others here, exchanged the two frozen sheep he brought for two packs of salt and half a pack of tea, and drove back first.

The post here is simple and simple, just a yard with two entrances.As soon as you enter, there are horse sheds and car sheds on the left and right. The left side of the middle room is used by Yicheng, and the right side is used as a warehouse.

After entering, there are a row of houses on three sides, with a total of about twenty rooms.

Not only is the house simple and simple, but the staff here is only one postman, one cook, and two grooms.

Although it is simple, it is not as good as the station in Kou Nei, but at least there is a house to accommodate, and you can eat hot meals.

Everyone has been running in the snow for two days, and it is enough to be able to do this now.

The post station is located here, which is to connect the Eight Banners Ranch and Taipusi Ranch.Knowing that it was the chief officer of Taipu Temple's yamen who had arrived, the postman was very attentive.

Wei Hei has been paying attention to the movements of Nalan Chengping and others. The Eight Banners Ranch is west of the Taipusi Ranch.

After passing the smoke lamp, go northeast to Taipusi Ranch, and go north and northwest to Baqi Ranch.

I asked Yicheng, the officials from the Ministry of War arrived yesterday afternoon, and they have already gone to the pasture this morning.

Wei Hei was thinking about the manpower over there, if there were no one following secretly, it would be about the same.

There was a Lang Zhong accompanying him, who was Nalan Chengping's chief officer, so he would somewhat take care of him.

As long as there is nothing wrong on the road, there is no need to be wary when we get to Taipusi Ranch.

Although the kitchen here is simple, except for a bowl of fat chicken and a bowl of roast mutton, the rest is cabbage, tofu and vermicelli, but everyone eats it deliciously.

In any case, everyone is not used to using milk and meat as the staple food. Eating this kind of food whets the appetite of everyone who has been exhausted for several days.

After eating, we brewed a pot of strong tea, Cao Yong and Wei Hei talked about the adventure of last night and Batu's hospitality.

Although I have been to the grassland a few times, most of them came when it was warm. This is the first time I have encountered this blizzard.

Not to mention anything else, let’s just talk about the white-haired wind that blew all night last night, or the warm-hearted Batu, the group of them couldn’t even find a shelter from the wind on the snow field, and they would have frozen to death several times. indivual.

The Yandengtu post station is eighty miles away from the Sankeshu post station in front of it. Fortunately, the journey is good, and it will start in the morning and arrive in the afternoon.

However, there is a distance of 120 miles between Sankeshu Station and Taipusi Ranch. It still depends on the weather. Otherwise, if there is a delay on the road due to wind and snow, the thrill of yesterday will happen again.

When it was getting dark, people came to the post station again.

The yard of this post station is small, when Xiaoman went out to the front yard to bring hot water to Cao Yong, he met his father head-on.

Except for Cao Fang, there are seven or eight strong and strong men following behind. Except for Zhang Yi, the others are all face-to-face.Everyone rode alone and in pairs, and came in from the gate of the post station.

Seeing Xiaoman was overjoyed, Cao Fang immediately asked, "Where is the uncle?"

Xiaoman nodded, a little unsure, rubbed his eyes, and asked loudly: "Father, why are you here? This is..." Speaking of this, looking at the men following behind his father, there was nothing on their faces. It is doubt.

Cao Fang had already dismounted from his horse, he didn't care about returning to Xiao Man's words, and asked, "Which room is the uncle in? Take me to see the uncle!"

Seeing that his father was in a hurry, Xiaoman didn't dare to talk too much, so he turned around and led his father to the backyard.

But he said that Yicheng was drinking in the house, and when he heard the commotion in the yard, he came out to check.

Seeing that the pedestrians were all on double horses, Yicheng thought they belonged to some yamen, so he hurried forward to greet them.

Zhang Yi took out an ingot of silver from his bosom, stuffed it into Yi Cheng's hand, and said: "We are not from any yamen, but are the private family of Mr. Cao, we were delayed on the way, so we just arrived."

The postman secretly weighed it, guessing that it was around ten taels of silver, immediately with a smile on his face, he led everyone to the stable to tie up the horses.

So what if you don't have a rank, the seventh-rank official in the prime minister's concierge, the slave of this powerful family, has more weight than the sesame mung bean official...

*
Backyard, upper room.

Cao Yong was also very surprised to see Cao Fang and Zhang Yi.

He couldn't help but "thump" in his heart, thinking of Cao Yin and Li Shi, he immediately stood up and asked: "Why are you here, but what happened in the mansion, how is the master and wife?"

Cao Fang and Zhang Yi greeted Cao Yong first, and then Cao Fang leaned over and said: "Master, it was the master who sent the younger ones to chase him. The master and wife are in good health..."

Listening to the front, Cao Yong was just about to breathe a sigh of relief, then he heard Cao Fang say again: "...It's just that Master Zhiran is in trouble, and the little ones were arrested and sent to Shuntian Mansion when they left Beijing..."

Having said that, he explained the reason why Zhiran was detained.

After hearing this, Cao Yong clenched his fists vigorously, anger growing in his heart.

Zhiran is a person from outside Fang, and when he arrived in the capital, there were only a few people he usually communicated with, so why did he offend anyone?
Although Cao Fang only gave the general idea, as long as he is not a fool, he can see that something is wrong.

It seems that someone is behind the scenes, and the target is the Cao family, maybe it is Cao Yong, otherwise Cao Yin would not have sent Cao Fang out with a few guards who usually don't show up.

He wished he could fly back to the capital right away, search for clues, and drag the person behind him out, saving so much trouble and making people worry.

But it's just empty talk, how can he return to Beijing with endless errands?

There is still Cao Yin in the capital, and Cao Yong also trusts his old father quite a lot.However, even though he knew in his heart that with Cao Yin and Mr. Zhuang around, the little monk would not suffer any grievances, but he still couldn't help but worry.

The little monk grew up in Buddhism since he was a child, and he didn't know the sufferings of the world. For him, this ordeal was too heavy.

Not to mention anything else, if the crime of "killing someone" is real, how will the little monk who is devoted to the Buddha deal with himself.I'm afraid he's going to be confused because of his own size, and he's full of demons...

*
Beijing, Drum Tower Street, Shuntian Mansion Yamen.

In the living room of the second hall, Wang Yi looked at the fourth elder brother who was drinking tea, feeling a little confused.This prince has always been cold-faced and has no good popularity. The master who only works hard on weekdays, why did he think of coming to Shuntian Mansion today?

In the past few days, nothing major has happened in the city. Except for a monk who lived in the Cao's mansion, "the case of assaulting someone", everything else in the yamen is miscellaneous.

This cold-faced prince has always been famous as a Buddha, and I heard that he is the most pious. Could it be that because he locked up a monk, Aiwu and Wudi meddle in other people's business...

(End of this chapter)