Chapter 1999: Chapter 1461: Manjing Guard Deputy Commander, Zuwaro

North latitude 52 degrees, Heilongjiang River.

The majestic White Mountain, the vast Black Water, and the endless deep forest all stretch across the desolate lands of Outer Northeast. The overcast sky is heavy with layered clouds, wet and seemingly ready to drip water. The expansive Heilongjiang, during this August flood season, shows off its fierce and turbulent currents without restraint!

"Wow! Wow! Wow!..."

Three long-headed oar-sail ships are slowly paddling upstream along the broad river. On the flagship, the Great Snow Wolf, forty strong tribal warriors are rowing fiercely, sweat beads on their necks. And the Kingdom’s Warriors and Jurchen Armor Soldiers, dressed in leather armor and carrying greatbows, are densely seated on the deck, matching the number of the rowers.

In fact, when this batch of rowers becomes too fatigued, the Samurai will take over the rowing, continuing the strenuous journey. Moving from downstream to upstream on the Heilongjiang is indeed this arduous. And the sail on the oar-sail ship barely catches any wind. However, no matter how difficult the waterway, it’s still much easier than traversing through deep mountains, dense forests, and swamps!

At the tail end of the barbaric 15th century, in the Outer Northeast area of three thousand miles, waterways are the most convenient, even the only large-scale passage roads! And the fish catch, irrigation, and herds brought by the rivers make almost all the large tribes settle around the river channels.

Of course, the camps of various tribes are usually at a distance from the dangerous great river, or simply built on the hilltops along the river. Because each time in spring, midsummer, and late fall, the multiple ice drifts and floods in the Heilongjiang River Basin are not something to be trifled with; they can truly be life-threatening!

"Manjing Guard Deputy Commander seal... awarded... awarding what hidden monitoring?... Ministry of Rites made it... Ten Years of Yongle?... Yongle, again Yongle, just like the Yongle on that Temple Stele!..."

Zuwaro, wearing leather armor, sitting between the sturdy Hu Nu and Xiong Da, is holding a square brass seal, carefully discerning the inscription on it. He is contemplating the countless traces left by the southern Empire on this vast Northern Land. And the true appearance of the Empire seems to become clearer and closer as the fleet heads southward.

"Zhu! You’re still looking at this inscribed copper block? What’s there to see? The tribe passing down this copper block, ’Mang Achan’, is said to have been a leader with a title from the powerful southern Great Ming, once flourishing for a time... but now, hasn’t the ’Mang Achan Tribe’ weakened to an unrecognizable state?"

"According to the words of the captured elders, they were raided by batches of southward tribes and encountered one white disaster after another... Their population dwindled, not even daring to settle by the river, fleeing into the deep mountains... And in the end, didn’t we discover and joined forces to conquer them?... It’s just a pity that such a big-named tribe only has more than two hundred people. After all the effort to defeat them, only a little over a hundred tribespeople were captured, and forty or so strong men, and I have to share half with you..."

"Aguda, after annexing this ’Manjing Tribe’, there’s no longer any threat to our Great Tribe within a hundred to two hundred miles of Maha! I helped you with a lot, even giving you all the captured iron blades, iron armor, and the tribe’s food! I only want half of the twenty strong men, half of the four horses, and most of the tribeswomen and children you don’t want... The big bargain is all yours, what are you complaining about?..."

"Alright! Alright! Zhu, my brother-in-law, we’re in this together. No matter which tribe grows strong, it will bring us more!"

Hearing Zuwaro’s response, the robust Maha Aguda rubbed his nose and nodded embarrassingly. Zuwaro provided him with food, weapons, and equipment and even dispatched soldiers to help him fight, sending priests to manage it, and only asked for some population and horses in return... No matter how you look at it, Zuwaro is his best ally and family, the most loyal and intimate kind! This brother-in-law is truly someone you can count on!

"Cough! Zhu, you weren’t quite right just now. It’s not ’Manjing’, it’s ’Mang Achan’. In our tribe’s language, it means ’refined key bow’, it’s the ’river lock’ at the lower reaches of the great river! Therefore, the location of this tribe must have originally been by the river. However, they became timid and cowardly, having the good weapons and armor given by the Great Ming, but still migrated and fled into the mountains... Haha!"

"River Lock? ’Mang Achan’?... Manjing?"

Zuwaro blinked at the Great Ming Official Seal in his hand, repeating it again. Given his current level of the Man Language, trying to impersonate an enfeoffed Jurchen Chief to see the situation of the southern great country... could it be too easily exposed?

"Hmm... Let’s take a look and explore south, for now. If we encounter anything, we’ll turn back... The upper reaches of this great river will have to be slowly opened up... As for this ’official seal’, it’s only a serendipitous gain..."

Zuwaro was somewhat in a daze, recalling his experiences over the past two months. It was early June when he set sail with three longships from Divine Kutadai Port. Then, the fleet entered the broad mouth of the Heilongjiang River at the end of June, and after a few days of sailing, they reached the Maha Tribe of Nurgan.

Along the way, he encountered some Nivkh Dog Tribe, recruited a few guides, and gave some practical ironware gifts. Originally, he thought of attracting a few Dog Tribes to migrate south to settle around Divine Kutadai Port. But the level of trust between both parties was obviously not enough. The leaders of the Dog Tribe politely declined with a smile and disappeared with their dog packs into the seaside dense forests. And the Nivkh Tribe within the dense forest is such that no one can find them, let alone capture them...

When the Kingdom’s fleet arrived at the Maha tribe, both sides celebrated for several days! After nearly a year, the Maha tribe had once again absorbed several small tribes that moved southward, expanding from around two hundred people to over four hundred.

Under the leadership of the extraordinarily brave tribe chieftain, Maha Agudah, the entire Maha tribe could mobilize up to one hundred Shengshu Jurchen bowmen and more than twenty Shengshu Jurchen cavalry. In these dense forest rivers at the lowest reaches of the Heilongjiang, it could be considered a great tribe! 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

However, what limits the scale of Jurchen tribes at the lower reaches of Heilongjiang is never the source of population, but the supply of food. This time Zuwaro arrived later than agreed. By the time he arrived, the Maha tribe was already very short on food, preparing for collective action to plunder!

The fleet’s arrival brought over a hundred stones of rice, greatly relieving the Maha tribe’s food pressure. However, Maha Agudah did not want to eat this winter food that is durable to store. So, after both sides had celebrated, he put on the iron armor brought by Zuwaro, and with the brave bowmen of the tribe, invited the other side to join forces! Both sides gathered over two hundred armored warriors and jointly attacked the "Mang Achan Tribe," a plundering target personally scouted and selected by him, over a hundred miles away in the southwestern mountain!

Next was the march through the forest, followed by the attack after more than a hundred miles of dense forest. "Mang Achan Tribe" built a fortress in the mountains and raised many hunting dogs, extremely vigilant, making it impossible to sneak attack. The group could only rely on thick armor and twice the number of heavy bowmen to carry out a strong attack. More than two hundred people fought from morning until afternoon, with seven or eight warriors dying and more than ten injured, before breaking through the heavily guarded "Mang Achan Tribe."

And the key to breaking through in that battle was Agudah and Hu Nu, leading dozens of vanguard warriors, braving the iron arrows of "Mang Achan Tribe," climbing the low wooden fortress walls. Agudah swung his great hammer, knocking down several blocking warriors under Hu Nu’s heavy blade cover. Then, he roared like a tiger to mark his target, charged forward wearing double armor, and raised a twenty-pound heavy hammer, smashing to death the only fully iron-armored Shushu Jurchen chieftain!

With the chieftain killed, warriors dead in battle, and enemies climbing the fortress walls... the entire "Mang Achan Tribe" completely lost their fighting spirit, kneeling in the mud like a wolf pack that lost its alpha, surrendering to the new wolf king of the forest. According to the tribes’ merger rules, from then on, they became people of the Maha tribe...

What both "tribe chiefs" who sent troops did not anticipate beforehand was that the elders of Mang Achan Tribe, in order to survive, also presented a few pieces of worn brocade colored clothes, a thick parchment edict of sealing, and this huge "Manjing Guard Deputy Commander" copper seal. These were the "Mang Achan Tribe’s" generational heritage, obtained from offering tribute to the Great Ming Dynasty in the past, seals and rewards! And those brocade colored clothes, which were clearly not produced from the dense forest, the strange-looking edicts and official seals, are remnants of the Empire’s century-long rule over the vast White Mountain Black Water...

"Ancestor! Where is your Divine Eye Glasses? Use your mana and lend them to me!..."

Maha Agudah’s loud voice interrupted Zuwaro’s memories. Zuwaro put aside his emotional thoughts, muttered a few "spells," and handed the Divine Eye Telescope to Agudah. Then, he bowed his head again, studying the Great Ming official seal, pondering over the characters on it.

"Deputy Commander... this seems to be an official position? Generational succession, sealed in successive generations, allowed to offer tribute once every three years... Is this position equivalent to a hereditary noble in the Kingdom? Why is it ’allowed’ to offer tribute once every three years? It seems that offering tribute is not only not Great Ming demanding tribute, but rather a form of reward by Great Ming?"

"Oh Chief Divine! How does the Southern Great Ming Han Tribe Alliance actually govern the borderlands? Why do they not only not demand tributes and sacrifices from the subjugated border tribes, but instead give rewards? Then what use do these subjugated tribes have for them?"

"Manjing Guard, Mang Achan Tribe... a tribe of more than two hundred people... Hmm, even if it once consisted of seven or eight hundred people... can they still become hereditary nobles of the Great Ming? Or rather, this position of Deputy Commander is just a common small official, not at all comparable with the real hereditary nobles within the Great Ming Alliance?"

Zuwaro pondered for a long time and still couldn’t figure it out. The more he understood about Great Ming, not only did he not see clearly, but more fog appeared in his mind. Maybe, with his origin and experience, and the education he received from Divine Power University, understanding the complex Ming Dynasty requires more information, prolonged time, and contact. Or perhaps, he needs to find someone who truly understands Great Ming, to try going further south, to encounter the colossal Great Ming from the prophecy...

"...! With Chief Divine’s blessing! What’s that over there? Smoke? Burning smoke? This season for harvesting, burning smoke?!... Roar!..."

Amidst the roaring river water, Maha Agudah standing at the bow suddenly let out a warning roar while holding the "Divine Eye’s Magical Artifact," that could be heard by all the three oar-sailed longships!

"Chief Divine bless, everyone, stay vigilant! Put on your armor, ready your bows and arrows!"

"South of the river bay, there are large groups of tribes fighting!"

"Listen! The sound of fighting in the wind, and dogs barking! There’s no mistaking it!..."