Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 157 Slave Frontier
"These two people?"

"It's them!"

Hadanbaatar brought Zhu Shenzhui to a place in the tribe. This place was much dirtier and there was an unpleasant smell in the air.

Dozens of slaves were busy because the soldiers had just returned and many things needed to be sorted out. In addition to the slaves, there were also several Mongolian warriors guarding with sabers hanging around their waists and whips in their hands. If any slave did not work properly, they would be whipped without hesitation.

Most of these slaves were Mongols and other ethnic groups plundered from other places, even including the high-nosed Eastern Slavs in the west.

The Mongols have a long history of using slaves. Long before the rise of the Mongols, nomadic peoples were slaves. After Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire, the Mongols still did not get rid of the concept of slavery.

It was not until Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty that the Mongols gradually transformed from slavery to feudalism, but this transformation was not thorough.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and the heroes fought for supremacy. In the ever-changing situation, Zhu Yuanzhang finally had the last laugh. The Yuan Dynasty was also driven out by the Ming Dynasty, lost the territory within the Great Wall, and fled back to the grasslands in embarrassment. This is the origin of the Northern Yuan Dynasty today. When the Mongols lost the Central Plains and returned to the grasslands, they once again became a nomadic people, and slavery once again replaced the imperfect feudal system of the Yuan Dynasty.

The Mongolian tribes on the grasslands have always had the habit of enslaving people, including in tribal wars, it is also common for the loser to become the slave of the winner. Take Wang Hai for example, Wang Hai's parents became slaves in this way, and he was born a slave. If he had not met Zhu Shenzhu, he might have been a slave for life until his death.

Following the direction of Hadanbaatar's finger, Zhu Shenzui noticed two people among the group of slaves, one old and one young. The old one had a big beard and the young one looked haggard. Both of them were dressed in rags and looked no different from other ordinary slaves.

But Zhu Shencui could tell them apart from other slaves by careful observation, because firstly, their hairstyles were those of Ming people, while Mongolian hairstyles were different from those of Ming people, and this could be easily distinguished if they were not wearing hats. Secondly, although their clothes were tattered and dirty, they could still be identified as Ming people's clothes by careful observation, which was also different from Mongolian clothes.

"What are their identities? How did they become slaves?" Zhu Shenzhui asked.

Hadanbaatar told Zhu Shenzui that the two slaves were captured by other tribes on their way back from the withdrawal. According to the captain of the tribe who captured them, the two were soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. No one knew how they got to the grassland. Maybe they lost their way or were very hungry. Several Ming Dynasty soldiers sneaked into their temporary camp to steal things and were accidentally discovered.

After being discovered, these Ming people did not surrender, but resisted with weapons and tried to escape. In the end, except for the old man and the young boy, the rest were all hacked to death. Originally, the captain who captured them was going to chop off their heads to vent his anger, but it happened that Hadan Bater and his men ran into them on their way back to the tribe.

In this expedition, each tribe suffered heavy losses, including Hadan Bater's. However, with Zhu Shenzui, at least they can now obtain supplies from the Ming Dynasty, which makes them much better off than other tribes.

It was also because of Zhu Shencui that Hadan Bater stopped the centurion when he saw him about to chop off the heads of the two Ming people. After all, his brother-in-law Zhu Shencui was a member of the Ming royal family. Since Tana and Zhu Shencui got married, Hadan Bater's feelings towards the Ming people became different from before. Moreover, he was the heir of the tribe, and compared with ordinary Mongolians, he had deeper considerations in some aspects.

After stopping the other party from doing so, Hadan Bater inquired about the situation. When he learned that the two men might be Ming soldiers who had lost their way on the grassland, Hadan Bater thought about it and directly asked the other party to buy the two men.

Faced with Hadan Bater's request, the other party naturally could not refuse. Not to mention that Hadan Bater held the position of a thousand households and his military rank was much higher than his. In addition, Hadan Bater was the heir to the big tribe and the future Taiji. If nothing unexpected happened, after Ashi Temur returned to the Eternal Heaven, he would not only inherit the position of the leader of Ashi Temur's tribe, but also become a Wanhu and Jinong of the Right Wing of Mongolia.

How could the other party refuse such a small request from such a big man? Even when Hadanbaatar asked for money to buy the two people, the other party refused to accept the money, and said with a smile that since Hadanbaatar liked these two people, such a small thing was nothing. He would give them to him, and thus the two people became Hadanbaatar's slaves.

After accepting the two men, Hadanbaatar handed them over to his subordinates for care and directly incorporated them into the slave team accompanying the army, and followed the main force back to the tribe.

On the way back, the two were used as ordinary slaves. Hadanbaatar didn't care about this arrangement. After all, it was not a big deal. He just spared their lives on a whim. He even forgot about it after a long time. It was not until he returned to the tribe and saw Zhu Shenzhui that Hadanbaatar suddenly remembered that there were two such people in his team.

After listening to Hadanbaatar's story, Zhu Shenzhu finally understood how these two people became slaves. He asked curiously, "Did you not ask about their origins?"

"If I hadn't seen you today, I would have almost forgotten about such a small matter. Besides, there were so many things to do on the way back, how could I care about this?"

Zhu Shenzhui smiled in silence. That was true. As the commander-in-chief during the withdrawal, Hadanbaatar was fully responsible for all matters and naturally had no time to pay attention to such trivial matters. Besides, among these Mongolians, only Burigude knew some Chinese. Hadanbaatar could only say a few simple greetings in Chinese. It was difficult to communicate with them on a daily basis, not to mention interrogation.

"So, these two guys?"

Hadanbaatar waved his hand and said generously: "Here you go!"

"Thank you, Aha." "Hahaha, why be polite to one another? This is just a small matter. You have the final say on how to deal with them next. Okay, I have to go first. Abu is still waiting for me. I'll have someone come to find you later. Let's have a good drink together."

"Okay!" Zhu Shenzui agreed with a smile, then Hadan Bater got on the horse, turned the horse's head, squeezed the horse's belly, and rode away. After he left, Zhu Shenzui looked at the old man and the young man again.

Half an hour later, Zhu Shenzhui was chatting with Tana in his yurt when a voice came from outside. A sturdy Mongolian walked in, bowed to Tana first, then to Zhu Shenzhui, and called them masters.

"Report to the master and the baron, the two slaves have been brought here."

"Go and bring them in." Zhu Shenzhui said.

The Mongolian responded quickly and turned to leave. Tana curiously asked Zhu Shenzhui what was going on. Zhu Shenzhui briefly told her about the two slaves. As soon as he finished speaking, the door of the yurt was opened and three Mongolians escorted the two slaves inside.

After entering, the leading Mongolian was the one who reported earlier. He saluted respectfully to Tana and Zhu Shencui again, then turned around and pointed at the two slaves escorting behind him. At this time, seeing that the two slaves were still standing, the Mongolian shouted in displeasure, and the other two Mongolians who were escorting raised their feet and kicked the two slaves behind their knees. The two were caught off guard and were kicked to their knees in the direction of Zhu Shencui.

That was not all. The Mongols grabbed their arms with one hand and pressed their heads hard with the other, forcing them to kowtow to Tana and Zhu Shenzhui.

The younger of the two slaves struggled hard, seemingly unwilling to do so. On the contrary, the older slave lowered his head towards Tana and Zhu Shenzhui, and shouted to the young man, "Zhong'er!"

"father!"

"kowtow!"

"father!"

"knock!"

Hearing the older slave's growl, the young man looked angry and grief-stricken, but gave up resisting. Like his father, he lowered his head and knelt down towards Tana and Zhu Shenzhui.

Torches and candles were lit in the yurt, and the light was still bright. Zhu Shenzhu looked at the two people carefully, and after a moment he asked in Mongolian: "What are your names? Where are you from?"

After the words fell, the two did not respond and continued to kneel. Zhu Shenzhui frowned slightly, it seemed that they did not understand Mongolian.

"Let them go." Zhu Shenzhui waved his hand at the Mongols.

"My male master..."

"It's okay, let them go." Seeing the Mongolian hesitate, Zhu Shencui knew that he was afraid that if he let them go, the two slaves would suddenly attack and hurt people. But Zhu Shencui didn't care about that? Regardless of his own skills, it would not be difficult for him to take down these two. What's more, Zhu Shencui and Tana were carrying muskets. At such a distance, no matter how capable the other party was, they could not avoid the shooting of the muskets.

As if they remembered the rumor that Zhu Shenzui had defeated the tribe's first warrior, the Mongols released the two slaves.

But even if Sobo was released, the two men had no intention of getting up and still remained kneeling.

"You, raise your heads!" Zhu Shenzhui said.

When these words came out, the two of them were stunned and subconsciously raised their heads. They didn't expect to hear such fluent Chinese. When they looked up at Zhu Shenzhui, they also saw Zhu Shenzhui and Tana sitting not far away and looking at them.

The man and woman were dressed gorgeously, like Mongolian nobles. The man who was speaking was a little different from ordinary people. His face was not as weathered as that of Mongolians. In contrast, his face was pale and rosy, and his appearance was quite majestic. He had a broad forehead, a square face, big ears, eyes as black as lacquer, and a black and shiny look. He had a short beard under his lips. He had a good-looking appearance.

(End of this chapter)