Light Dance Jiajing

Altan said to Meng'er, "We will soon reach my Khan Court City. You will like Meidaizhao. You can stay here without worry." At this point, Meng'er had no choice but to follow him. It was easy to come, but it might not be so easy to leave. She felt a little regretful. She might as well stay in Datong. If she was caught, there would always be someone to save her. But if she ran here, her fate would really be in the hands of others.

Meidaizhao Khan Court City is located in the north of the Yellow River west of Fengzhoutan. It was an ancient garrison castle left over from the early Ming Dynasty at the foot of Baofeng Mountain in the Daqing Mountain area. It was rebuilt as the Khan's residence and was called Meidaizhao.

There was already a well-preserved city wall here, and Altan reinforced it. From a geographical point of view, this was also the first choice of the Khan's court. First, it was backed by the Baofeng Mountain, which could block the cold northwest wind in winter. Second, it had abundant water resources. Although it was backed by the Daqing Mountain, the groundwater was only eight meters deep. The Meidai River flowing from the Daqing Mountain in the east had abundant water flow, which could meet the drinking water needs of a considerable number of people and livestock. Moreover, the ravine led directly to the Daqing Mountain. In the event of a major incident, one could directly enter the Mongolian Plateau along the steep ravine. It was a carefully selected strategic location that was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

There was still some distance to Meidaizhao, so after a brief rest, they set out again. This time they were not in a hurry to travel. They let their horses run freely and chatted and laughed as they walked. At this time, several riders came running towards them. Altan pulled the reins and waited until they came closer. They turned out to be soldiers from several tribes. They reported to Altan: "Great leader, there are more than a hundred Han people coming from the north. We have stopped them. They said they came to seek refuge with the great leader and that they are familiar with Qiu Fu."

Altan was not surprised that Han people came to surrender. In recent years, Han people often came to surrender with their families. Now there are 50,000 Han people living in Tumed, and they live in Bansheng City. There are four main sources of Han people. The first is the population brought back by Tumed during the looting. Every time the Mongols looted, in addition to gold and silver, they killed all the strong men and took women, children, and craftsmen back as slaves. Because they were forced to come, these people often resisted and fled, so they were not trusted. They lived in Bansheng City. Women did some work such as sewing, making wine, kneading leather, milking, tying up the account room, and packing luggage, while men went to graze, pick up manure, carry water, and chop firewood, and sometimes they were "sacrificed" and killed. The second type was mainly the White Lotus Sect members who surrendered after the failure of the anti-Ming movement. They were the organizers and backbones of Bansheng City and were quite trusted by Altan. The third type was the recruited people. Many of them had skills and were also the backbones of Bansheng City. The fourth type is people who have fled here due to exploitation, oppression, famine and accidents. In recent years, in addition to border wars, droughts and crop failures, rampant corruption among officials, and a large number of farmers losing their land, the huge military expenditures and various exorbitant taxes have caused famine in all counties of Shanxi, especially Taiyuan. No chickens can be heard for more than a hundred miles, and fathers and sons and couples have to trade with each other to get enough food. The young men who cannot make a living become bandits, and the old and weak can only wait to die. The Ministry of Revenue still blames the government offices for arrears. In such a famine, rent, taxes and corvée labor cannot be avoided. Altan saw the opportunity and ordered people to go to the border to recruit people to farm outside the border. Naturally, a large number of Han people near the border fled to Tumed.

The people who came to surrender this time were a group of White Lotus Sect members, led by Zhao Quan, the leader of the White Lotus Sect in Yanbei. He brought his concubine, younger brother, children, several capable subordinates such as Wang Tingfu and Wang Jue, and some elite members of the White Lotus Sect. The reason why he came to the desert was because he was preaching in Yanbei but the government leaked the information. He hid for a while, but this time the government was chasing him closely, and the Jinyiwei were cavalry everywhere. As a last resort, Zhao Quan simply fled from the Ming Dynasty with his confidants.

The pass they passed through was the same as Altan's, only half a minute later than Altan, but their pace was a little slower. In addition to Zhao Quan's followers, there were two people who joined temporarily. They were a young couple. Zhao Quan treated them very politely, but his concubine Qin Xiang was wary of the beautiful lady. It was only because of Zhao Quan's warning that she should not offend the two of them. Qin Xiang was in her forties, smart and capable, had followed Zhao Quan for many years, and was his right-hand man. She had seen all kinds of women, but Zhao Quan couldn't take his eyes off the woman when he saw her, but the woman didn't avoid him. Qin Xiang observed for a few days, and sneered in her heart, "You are really not a good person. I'll keep a close eye on you and see what tricks you can play."