"Chief Divine bless us! May we smoothly head south and trade with the Ming Dynasty as prophesied by His Majesty, to gain the craftsn and doctors that the Alliance urgently needs... We co with goodwill and gold! If five hundred pounds of gold isn't enough, we have five thousand pounds, but we'll have to wait for the subsequent fleets to arrive..."
Zuwaro prayed in Yongning Temple for a long ti. On the altar of the Buddha, he placed a gold talisman of the Chief Divine. Then, after glancing at the stone tablet in the corner, he turned and left the temple. He was filled with confusion and urgency. And when he found Chieftain Maha Agudah, his first question was about where the Great River led to.
"Where does the Great River lead?... Uh... doesn't it lead to the south?... What? You're asking where it ends? How would I know?... I ca south from the North, I only know about the northern lakes!"
Maha Agudah was puzzled, looking at the sowhat excited "boat-using shaman chieftain," unsure of what vision the other had seen in the ritual for the Mountain God.
The Jurchen Tribes always had the habit of divination during sacrificial rites, eating so poisonous mushrooms, and then shouting excitedly. Unfortunately, as barbaric Shengshu Jurchens, there were few shamans among the Fish-Skin Tribes, and the migration battles were so brutal that the shamanic heritage couldn't be preserved...
"Boat-using one, don't continue south! The south is in chaos, with people killing each other everywhere... Let tell you, with your small group, you'll be eaten up as soon as you reach the south! Those tribes that went south before were not as easy to talk to as I am! ... Hiss! It's so hot! This iron pot cooks porridge really fast!"
Maha Agudah laughed heartily, taking big gulps of freshly cooked at porridge, while nibbling on spicy peppers. He had completely forgotten how "kind" and "easy-going" he had been earlier this morning when they first t, swinging a twenty-pound stone hamr.
"Maha Agudah, I saw the stone stele left by the Southern Great Tribes! They arrived here by waterway and established this settlent... If we keep following the waterway, we'll definitely encounter them!"
"Ha! Follow the waterway south? Boat-using one, our Maha tribe doesn't have small boats, but other tribes do! And even without small boats, many tribes are skilled at swimming and climbing!... Even if you stay on the river overnight, you'll have to fight with those tribes!"
Maha Agudah gulped down the porridge and wiped his mouth, much like a tiger or leopard that had just finished its prey. He then sneered at Zuwaro, loudly mocking him.
"Boat-using one! You know nothing of the brutal battles in the dense forests and the Great River, like a seal climbing ashore, thinking ahead is as flat and easy to swim as the lakes!... Do you think that powerful Southern Great Tribe left because of the endless cold of the North and the battles, which even they couldn't endure, nor could any tribe withstand!"
"Do you know how many tribes from the northern forest sea, carrying weapons and horses, have co south since I was aware of things? Do you know how many years of migration and how many tribe battles have occurred, and how many people have died?"
"You know nothing! The cold Mountain God drives us like winter birds flocking south! Every forest here is filled with the blood and bones of tribes!... Except for the Dog Tribe hiding in seaside corners, there's not a single tribe that can stay a generation in one place steadily! Those tribes that went ahead south, long ago like a raging bear, smashed all tribes in front of them to bloody pieces, along with themselves!"
"Haha! Head south? Ask those captured local tribe slaves what a terrible sight of endless fighting it is in the south?... The southward tribes kill the local tribes, taking their territories and hunting grounds. But only a few years later, another wave of tribes heads south, over and over again!... In the end, everyone is wrapped together heading south, all heading south!"
"And those original local tribes, with little braids, who fard more than hunted, have long been terrified by the tribes moving south from the North, driven who knows how far southward!"
Zuwaro widened his eyes, listening to Maha Agudah's detailed account, slowly feeling a chill. The chaos and battles on this vast land had only now revealed a glimpse to him...
Indeed! At the close of the fifteenth century, it was just like the more than a thousand years ago during the Two Jins, marking the beginning of the Little Ice Age, a ti of severe cold and a great migration era of barbarian invasions!
Just a few years ago, Dongguan of Ming once again saw snowfall. The stable snow line had already reached the Pearl River Basin in Northern Guangdong. Even though there was occasional slight warming in between, the overall trend was a continued cooling. It reached its peak over a hundred years later during the Chongzhen Period, with temperatures plumting to extres. Exiled scholar-officials in Hainan could witness snowfall in Sanya every year...
anwhile, in the frigid North, across the vast Tungusic lands, with the retreat of the Great Yuan and Great Ming order, a terrifying great chaos period had descended! The entire Outer Northeast had beco barbarized. The Shushu Jurchen Tribes originally from the middle and lower Heilongjiang River were utterly undone by wave upon wave of barbaric Tribal Kin moving south and truly fierce Shengshu Jurchen Tribes. They were nearly driven to migrate southward as the front vanguard, continually heading south to Ming's Liaodong territories, seeking Ming's protection, transforming into the 'Haixi' and 'Jianzhou' major Jurchen race groups...
As for the once glorious in Northern Land Great Ming, sixty years ago during the Xuande Era, it contracted significantly for the first ti. Ming abandoned the Nurgan tropolitan Authority, relocating its governance to Kaiyuan in the middle reaches of the Liao River, controlling the Liao River Bend and Hun River region. Yet Ming retained the critical 'shipyard' Jilin as the starting point of managing the Nurgan area.
However, the dreadful cold not only drove countless Shengshu Jurchen southward but also drove the Mongolian tribes of the Northern Desert madly southward to the Southern Desert. Under the disaster of cold, the Mongolian tribes were forced to coalesce into an alliance, seeking a large 'tribute' remuneration from the prosperous southern Great Ming Empire...
This was fundantally a matter of extre survival pressure, which compressed the inherently divided Mongolian tribes into one. They either conducted 'tribute trade' with the South to gain essential survival resources or waged 'war' to secure survival goods, consuming the excess tribes... Subsequently, Ming rejected the 'outright demands,' and a cruel war of unprecedented magnitude since the fall of the Yuan Dynasty comnced...
The outco of the war forty-four years ago changed everything with Yingzong's northern expedition. Ming eternally lost Hetao Mongolia, forced to build the long Border Wall Great Wall. Simultaneously, the Mongolian Oirat Tribes, those forr Duoyan Sanwei, advanced eastwards, consistently invading Ming's Liaodong in tandem with the northern Shengshu Jurchen Tribes.
The second contraction began during the Zhengtong Era. Under the encroachnt of the Mongolian Oirat Tribes, Ming lost the Liao River Bend, contracting further to today's Liaoning. Using Liaodong Town Liaoyang as the governnt seat, combined with the remnants of the Nurgan tropolitan Authority, Ming started fort construction and wall building. In the west, Guangning was the pivotal town, building the Great Wall to defend against the Mongolian 'various Hu.' In the north, Kaiyuan served as the key town, relinquishing the shipyard further north in Jilin, handing it over to the south-migrating Shushu Jurchen Tribes...
At this mont, the forced south-migrating Shushu Jurchen Tribes officially beca part of Ming, settling from the middle and lower reaches of the Liao River and Hun River in Jilin area, to the north of Yalu River east of Fushun, beginning to accept Sinicization control. The Shushu Jurchens migrating into the Jilin area gradually ford the Haixi Jurchen Tribes. As for those migrating east of Fushun, north of Yalu River, and upstream of Songhua River, they beca the Jianzhou Jurchen Tribes...
The history of the Southern Jurchen Tribes thus entered a period of rapid Sinicization, swiftly absorbing Ming's systems and technology, serving as loyal and unyielding rcenaries for Ming...
This was the state of affairs in the Northeast and Outer Northeast when Zuwaro arrived. However, at this mont, he knew nothing of all this, only striving to persuade Maha Agudah to send a few tribal guides to lead him south, until he provoked the other's anger.
"Damn! Boat-using one, have you been possessed by spirits during your sacrificial rites?! What on earth are you trying to find with that Southern Great Tribe?... Aren't you plotting to conspire with them to take over this place? To seize our Maha tribe's territory?!"
Maha Agudah's expression turned fierce once again as he pulled out his large hamr, standing up like a big bear. He shouted sternly at Zuwaro, deftly swinging the twenty-pound hamr and ferociously striking it forward.
"Speak! Or I'll beat you to death!"
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