Han Khan

Chapter 72: The Han general left home to defeat the remaining bandits
The Burgan River runs across the Golden Mountains of the Gobi Desert. It breaks free from the shackles of ice on the Golden Mountains and becomes noisy as it falls down the mountain, and is about to spread green to both banks with its rushing momentum.

Unexpectedly, in front of the arid Gobi Desert, the pace slowly slowed down.

All I saw were shrubs dotted across the Gobi Desert, with some slender, yellow leaves struggling and trembling in the wind.

Looking around, except for the green Bulgan River at your feet, everything in the distance is light yellow.

This is the grazing ground of the Xidan tribe. At this time, the Xidan tribe camp, which has long been deserted, maintains a quiet environment.

Look, a few gazelles slowly walked to the stream in front of the camp, bent down and drank the water slowly.

The young gazelle didn't want to drink water, so it snuggled up to its mother's belly like a spoiled child, and used its little head to touch and caress its mother's nipple.

Suddenly, the flock of birds in the grass ahead were startled, and in the distance there came the sound of dense horse hooves and heavy human footsteps. The gazelles hastily raised their necks and ran back to the Gobi Desert.

The sound gradually came closer and closer. At this time, a large migrating army of 40,000 to 50,000 people appeared at the Xidan tribe camp.

When they arrived at the place where the yellow sheep had just drunk water, the leading warrior riding a black horse pulled the reins, slowed down his pace, and took a quick look at the traces of dismantling in front of him.

He turned to the guard beside him and said, "How far is this place from Jiluo tribe?"

"Your Highness, we are very close! From here, go north along the Bulgan River and you will reach the Jiluo tribe in about 100 miles. There are pastures and water supplies along the way."

Hearing this, the leader turned to the two people beside him and said, "Uncle Zhongxian, Uncle Xibao, give orders to the guards and the tribesmen. Everyone must not stop and continue to migrate. We must reach the Jiluo tribe in the middle reaches of the Bulgan River today."

The speaker was a leader whose voice sounded young, but whose age could not be seen due to his thick beard.

I saw that he was wearing a shiny black iron helmet on his saddle, a crown on his head, and two bangs on his forehead fluttering in the wind. On his temples, chin and under his nose was a beard that had not been trimmed for a long time, extending all the way to his chest.

He was wearing a black tight military uniform with a gray-yellow fox fur collar, a gold-decorated leather belt with an eagle carved on it, a mottled long horizontal sword hanging on the left side of his waist, and a carved bow and a pot of arrows on the right side of the saddle.

He was wearing brown high leather boots and a short outfit, and with the handsome warhorse under him, he looked elegant and brave from a distance.

Looking closely, he has sharp eyebrows and phoenix eyes, which reveal a wise yet restrained light. He is the leader of the Jinhan tribe and the emperor of the Holy Religion—Zhang Sheng.

Now, Jinhan's troops have moved to the headquarters of Xidan's troops and are marching towards Jiluo's troops.

The further north you go, the more arid the Gobi Desert disappears and the wider the grassland becomes.

But what Zhang Sheng saw along the way felt very familiar.

They have not yet walked out of the mountains, but have just climbed over one mountain and rushed to the next one. Looking up, there are mountains; looking down, there are also mountains. There are both towering mountains and low hills.

On the way, they met more than ten scattered tents of herdsmen. Seeing that the Jinhan tribe did not plunder, they approached with joy and asked for shelter.

In fact, they were fugitive slaves who were expelled from various tribes and could not survive due to oppression, or they were Tatar nomads from the east. They seemed to have nothing and were only one straw away from despair.

"Your Highness, won't you expel them?"

Zhang Xibao rode his horse forward and asked Zhang Sheng.

Zhang Sheng frowned slightly and replied: "It's okay, let them stay in the tribe, and in the future there will be all kinds of herdsmen who will take the initiative to come and submit to Jin Han.

In this way, the population of Jinhan can also be increased.

Without the protection of a powerful tribe, these people would definitely not be able to survive.

Send someone to ask if you can get some information from them."

"As you command, Your Highness."

"Uncle Zhongxian, please continue!" Zhang Sheng said to Zhang Zhongxian beside him. He really wanted to hear what the most knowledgeable person in the Jinhan tribe thought about the future of the Jinhan tribe.

Zhang Zhongxian nodded and continued:
"Your Highness, the richest place on the grassland is the area near Yanran Mountain in the east. Powerful tribes such as the Xiongnu, Turks, and Uighurs relied on that vast grassland to conquer and rule the entire desert.

If we in Jinhan can have 100,000 people in tents, we can gather tens of thousands of brave and fearless warriors. By then, unifying Mobei will be a piece of cake. "

Hearing this, a gleam of light flashed in Zhang Sheng's eyes, but when he turned around and saw those tired tribesmen, his confidence was dampened again.

Moreover, he knew the future. In a few years, the Khitans would move westward along the desert and conquer the city of Beiting in the Western Regions. The entire desert would then be under the rule of the Khitans.

Even if the small Jinhan tribe conquered the entire Jinshan Mountain, it would still be unable to resist the Khitan army with the more than 3,000 guards under its command.

"Uncle Zhongxian, my Jinhan tribe is now in the desert. Apart from the more than 2000 tents and more than 1 Han people in the tribe, only the generals know some elegant language!

So, after my Jinhan tribe conquers those tribes in the Great Lakes Basin that betrayed my uncle.

I will send people to build several temples dedicated to the Lord of Heaven and the Holy Religion around the Great Lakes Basin.

The temple is not only the residence of the priests, but also a place for the Jinhan tribe to pray, to the Jinhan people, Haotian God and the followers of the Holy Church, and to report weddings, funerals and other matters;

At the same time, it can also provide medical treatment for believers, comfort their hearts and relieve their worries.

Only in this way can more and more people believe in the Holy Religion and the Lord of Heaven."

Zhang Zhongxian nodded repeatedly when he heard this and praised: "Your Highness, this is a brilliant plan. As long as the people of Jinhan believe in the Holy Religion, we can unite the people and strengthen the strength of the Jinhan tribe."

Zhang Sheng heard this and smiled. Isn't this the purpose of religion? He continued:
“In the future, I will turn this place into the center of the Jinhan tribe in Mobei and Jinshan to spread the great reputation of Lord Haotian. I will send our priest groups to the surrounding areas to convey the will and prestige of Lord Haotian to the barbaric Hu people and make them convert to the holy religion.

If they refuse and are unwilling to listen to reason, then the holy warriors of Jinhan will use force to make them understand the will of the God of Haotian.

The more crucial point is that the chief priests must educate and train more priests for the Jinhan tribe who are proficient in rituals and rites and are proficient in elegant language.

In this regard, you should learn from Priests Hui Neng and Ben Zhengyuan."

"Yes, my emperor!" Zhang Zhongxian replied.

"Nowadays, the number of Hu people in my Jinhan tribe is increasing, and it will be the same in the future. As long as the Jinhan tribe wants to grow stronger, we cannot stop it.

However, I don’t want the Han people in the Jinhan tribe to be assimilated by the Hu people and become barbarians speaking Hu language and following Hu customs because of the increase in the number of Hu people under my command.

And this requires the tribal priests to play a role.

The Jinhan tribe urgently needs a large number of priests to train more priests.

Let them guide the people, spread the holy teachings, and teach the believers to learn and use the elegant language bestowed upon mankind by the God of Heaven so that they can communicate with the gods.

At the very least, in the future, we must ensure that every camp has a priest." Zhang Sheng said.

Zhang Zhongxian helplessly explained to Zhang Sheng:
“My Lord! Since leaving Dunhuang, I and several other chief priests have migrated all the way here. Every day we baptize the people, save lives and cure diseases, hold weddings and perform ceremonies to pray for the souls of the dead…

Although many people in the tribes are not fluent in the language, or can only understand a few words, there are more than 30,000 believers now. Because of your miracles, our preaching, or the simplicity of the Hu people themselves and their fear of the gods, they have converted to the Holy Religion and the Lord of Heaven. We have never stopped. "

Zhang Sheng also said ashamedly:
"I was anxious. These things cannot be completed at once. Thank you for your hard work, Uncle Zhongxian!"

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Sheng turned to Zhang Xibao and said, "Uncle Zhongxian, after the Jinhan tribe conquers the Great Lake Basin and builds the Holy Church, select more smart and clever children and send them to the Holy Church to study."

Zhang Zhongxian nodded, "Yes, Your Highness."

Zhang Sheng looked towards the north, his heart full of expectations. He knew that there was still a long way to go to build a huge Holy Church and a Jinhan nation...

(End of this chapter)