The north wind whistled, blowing away the heat of the sun. In the frozen world, Mo Chengshan, wearing an animal leather jacket, held a wooden stick in one hand and a long-haired horse in the other, and led the horse team to walk towards the settlement where smoke was rising in front of him.

They walked in the snow, with trees frozen into rime on both sides, and the snow on the ground was very deep and almost exceeded their knees, so the group was moving very slowly.

It's morning now, and the sun has already come out, but the temperature is very low, about minus 30 degrees Celsius. The sun shines on your body and you can't feel the warmth at all.

They walked out of the woods and came to a huge blue ice field. The ice field was beyond the limit. The blue ice crystals shone brightly under the sunlight. From a distance, they looked like a huge sapphire.

However, this sapphire is not clear and smooth. It is actually a large area of ​​frozen lake water, in which a large number of bubbles are frozen and accumulated layer by layer, forming countless ice.

It is February now, and the ice and snow have melted in various parts of the Central Plains, but here is still in winter, and there is still some time before the ice and snow melts.

There were many sheep moving slowly on the mudflats by the lake. Mo Chengshan looked at the flock of sheep and then the bare wooden stick in his hand. Suddenly he remembered the story of "Su Wu Sheep" that he had read in the book.

It was during the former Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of Han sent Su Wu to lead more than 100 people to the Xiongnu envoys, and escorted the Xiongnu envoys who were detained in the Han Dynasty back to his country, and gave Shanyu a generous gift to thank Shanyu.

As a result, civil strife occurred in the Huns, and the Han envoy was implicated and detained by the Shanyu. He also asked the Han envoy to surrender to the Huns and surrender to the Shanyu.

First, he promised to be a high-ranking official and generous salary. Seeing that there was no effect, he put Su Wu into the dungeon, and was hungry and cold.

Su Wu refused to treason and refused to eat the soft and hard. The Xiongnu Khan was moved by his integrity, but he wanted to surrender even more and more. So he exiled Su Wu to the Beihai Sheep and said that he would not return to the Central Plains until the Yang gave birth to a son.

The North Sea was bitter and cold, and it was difficult to survive. The Xiongnu Khan did this to force Su Wu to surrender.

But Su Wu did not surrender and just came to the Sheep in the Beihai and endured it hard.

His envoy, all the yak tails on it, turned into bare poles, but Su Wu still carried it with him and endured it for nineteen years, finally returning to the Central Plains.

When Mo Chengshan listened to the clerks telling this story in the army, he was impressed by Su Wu's integrity and felt that although this general was not a military general who was on the battlefield, his bones were harder than iron, and he was really a good example.

Now, he and his colleagues are on the North Sea where Su Wu shepherded sheeps, and have been in this extremely cold place for several years. Even if he misses home, he has no regrets at all.

As the "no night to be collected", the court needed them to go deep into the enemy's border to explore the enemy's situation. This is north of the north of the North Sea, the hinterland of the Eastern Turkic Khanate. The court was not familiar with this place before.

So they need to live here for a long time and understand the local situation.

Mo Chengshan looked at the blue ice and made up his mind: In the future, the railway will be built to the North Sea, and I will take my son here to fish!

He saw many men and women running towards him cheering at the settlement, and hurried forward with his companions, starting to trade with this kuril cadre.

In the Beihai area, there are a large number of nomadic tribes living with their own surnames, but outsiders collectively call them "Bone Li Gan" or "Bone Li".

There is a vast area west of the North Sea. It is said that it was the place under the jurisdiction of the Han general Li Ling after surrendered to the Huns. The name of Jiankun (or Gekun) is recorded in the Han Dynasty.

There are "Uighurs" in the southern part of Jiankun Kingdom (southwest of the North Sea). Together with some other tribes, they were previously regarded as "Gaoche" clan by the Central Plains.

"Gaoche" is actually a synonym. Because tribes on the grassland live by water and grass, they often migrate. When they move, they put their felt tents and other household items on horse-drawn carriages. Some tribes are good at making high-wheeled cars with tall wheels, so they are called "Gaoches".

After training, Mo Chengshan knew that the clan term "Gaoche" refers to, probably the "Di Li", "Dingling", "Chi Le" (during the Yuan and Wei dynasties), "Tiele" (now), etc., which are all names formulated by the Central Plains based on their pronunciation.

Therefore, in the Qibei grassland area south of the North Sea, most of the living tribes can be classified as "Tiele tribes". The language is somewhat similar, similar to Turkic language, and some subtle differences.

The languages ​​of the Guligan tribes living in the Beihai area are generally similar to those of Turkic language.

Mo Chengshan and his companions, who are proficient in Turkic language, have no problem communicating with this Guli Cadre. Their current identity is a tribe from a large tribe. Because they can get some daily necessities produced in the Central Plains, they are very popular among Guli Cadres in the northern part of the Beihai.

If it weren't for this, they wouldn't have survived in this area where the strong prey on the weak. After all, even if tribes fight openly and secretly, they all need products such as iron needles, scissors and even iron pots. Only they can transport some of this kind to everyone.

Of course, Mo Chengshan and his group used pseudonyms, otherwise they would not be able to conceal their identity.

The enthusiastic tribal chief was entertaining Mo Chengshan and his party in the dilapidated tent. The guest and host were considered old acquaintances, so they quickly started a conversation.

The Khan of the Eastern Turks (Chuluo Khan) moved the royal court northward and set up the Yudujin Mountain on the Jibei grassland, strengthened its control over the Jibei and Beihai areas. As subjects of the Khanate, the Guli cadres also paid an increase in the tribute.

The Beihai area is very cold and life is not easy. Originally, life is very tight when the khans are good at tribute. Now that Khan is adding tribute, everyone is unwilling to do so, but they dare not refuse to pay.

Each Guli Cadre tribe has its own chief, and the big chief above the chief is called "Qijin", which is the common name for the grassland in Jibei. Currently, there are two Guli Cadre tribes, who are respectful to the Khan.

Not only that, the Khan had asked Gu Ligan to wait for the Jin to rectify his troops. After the winter, he went south to wait for the dispatch, as if he was going to attack somewhere. However, the envoy brought news two days ago that he would not send troops for the time being.

It is said that the big country in the south seemed to send troops north, so the Khan strictly prevented it and had no intention of doing anything else.

Hearing this, Mo Chengshan felt a move in his heart. He did not exchange eyes with his companions, but pretended to be careless and said: "Since that's the case, will the chief still walk north in summer?"

"Oh, I don't know, I'm afraid that if I go far, Khan will summon him and cannot come back. That will be punished."

The chief complained that Mo Chengshan continued to chat with the other party, as if the words he had heard had never mentioned before.

But he was thinking in his mind: Could it be that the government army was expeditioning the north?

It seems unlikely...

Mo Chengshan found out last year that he learned that the Turkic Khan moved the royal court (Ya Tank) north to the vicinity of Yudujin Mountain in Jibei. However, he felt that the government army would have to prepare for a few years to fight the north, because if it crossed the Dali Northern Expedition, the logistics would be too difficult.

Last year, the Luo Khan moved north and the imperial court made an expedition in the north just one winter. It was too hasty and was impossible.

So, was it because a small group of cavalry went to the grassland in Jibei to test, and the result was that Luo Khan was in a panic?

Mo Chengshan thought about it, and looked at the old chief with a vicissitudes in front of him, and couldn't help feeling a little sympathetic: This ghost place is indeed too difficult.

He stayed in this area for a long time and found that in addition to the cold winter, the days and nights are long in summer and autumn.

Especially in summer, in June and July, the sun sets in this ghost place until 21 o'clock in the evening, and it will be dawn at four or five o'clock in the morning.

The outside was bright at night, which made Mo Chengshan and his comrades very uncomfortable. It took him a long time to get used to it. The reason for this situation was that he felt like what the teacher said in the training class:

In high latitude areas, the phenomenon of long day and short nights or short day and long nights are prone to occur.

By measuring the latitude, Mo Chengshan knew that the latitude of this area was about fifty-six degrees, while the latitude of Chang'an was about thirty-four degrees.

There is no doubt that this is a higher latitude area, and Mo Chengshan and his comrades went north with these kids in summer, and witnessed an unforgettable scene in higher latitude areas:

At night, there were strange gauze-like lights in the night sky.

The light was illusory, but it was hanging in the night sky, which was impressive and made Mo Chengshan always dream in his dreams.
Chapter completed!