Free Web NovelChapter 2136: Chapter 1555: Du’erbi River Guard Deputy Commander, Maha Aguda!
The ancient cold fir trees towered high, with heavy branches intertwining, as a sinister curtain descended from the sky, enveloping the forgotten resting place. Weathered bones hung from the treetops, decaying ropes entwined with the Sorrel Tree Pillar, empty eye sockets gazed down from above, all emitting the mournful whispers of the dead.
Among the many bones of the Jurchen tribes, there was one skeleton clad in dark red Han attire. After hanging on the tree for two generations, it finally fell into the dust. At this moment, he lay on the damp mossy soil, his hands in an embracing posture, empty eye sockets deeply gazing at those who came to collect his remains. Unfortunately, in this forgotten land, the arrivals weren’t the Great Ming Official Army, which he yearned for, but his same clan and descendants, who had already become barbarian-like in this vast Forest Sea!
In this vast and profound Northeast Forest Sea, the light of civilization has always been as transient as a flower, long vanished with the snowflakes into the distance. Cold darkness envelops thousands of miles, following the path of the departing light, stepping towards a more brutal and chilling future.
For centuries, the boundary between hunting and farming, between wilderness and civilization, seems never to have changed. It only fluctuates occasionally, like the ebb and flow of the tide over hundreds of years, warming the Bohai Kingdom enough to produce rice, then sending a thousand-mile snowfall over Hainan Island. And in this rise and fall, the fates of countless living beings are like billions of grains of sand, struggling desperately in the relentless torrent, until finally buried.
"Old wise one... The radiance of the sun and moon, is gone forever!..."
Chief Ali of the Harman shed tears and sighed. He gazed at the deceased Deputy Commander, who also came from the eternal Land of the Dead, giving him a gaze through the ages. The two, one standing and one lying down, looked at each other for a long time, separated by the forty years and two generations of death, and the fading Heilongjiang over thousands of miles. Until a gust of eerie wind blew, making the treetops emit a long wail, Zuwaro sighed, patting Ali’s shoulder comfortingly.
"May the Chief Divine guide his soul! Ali, stop dazing... Currently, there are two Guardhouse copper seals, what exactly is the identity of Wu Xiong’s Grandpa Mafa? Is he from the Du’erbi River Guard, or the Turuting Mountain Guard?"
"...Ancestor High Priest, he is the Chieftain of the Du’erbi River Guard. He wears the Secondary Third Grade tiger-embroidered military officer’s attire, therefore he is the Deputy Commander of the Du’erbi River Guard. While the Deputy Commander of Turuting Mountain Guard holds the same position as I, the Deputy Commander of the Harman Guard, both being of proper Fourth Grade, whose attire would be the leopard pattern, unlike this official uniform..."
"Secondary Third Grade, proper Fourth Grade? That is, equivalent to the kingdom’s honor or hereditary nobility?..."
"Not the same! In the Ming Dynasty, officials do not hold substantive enfeoffment, only having ranks, grades, and duties. Of course, the commanders of the Border Army garrisons, especially those outside the border, indeed inherit positions and duties for generations... Specifically, the Deputy Commander of our Jurchen Guard Station belongs to the Liaodong Town’s Dutong Office, that is, the Liaodong Governor. This Deputy Commander of the Outer Border Guard, although nominally Secondary Third Grade, is not of the same status as the Secondary Third Grade of the Great Ming Inner Border Guard Station, let alone comparable to the Central Court’s five military commander’s office at Secondary Second Grade!"
"For instance, at present, the Deputy Commander of Liaodong Town is affiliated with the Central Court, responsible for the Court’s established army, a significant figure above mere hundreds of thousands in Liaodong Town! Though the title sounds the same, just one grade lower in rank, the central and local officials, inside and outside the border officials, cannot be compared at all! That is a disparity as different as clouds and mud, and whether one can enter the Emperor’s ear..."
Chief Ali of the Harman looked around with aged eyes, describing the complex political structure within the Empire, Zuwaro listening with a frown in thought.
Of course, even if the "Secondary Third Grade" military officer is inflated, it is indeed "Secondary Third Grade," undoubtedly a mid-upper-level officer in the Ming Army. If Wu Xiong’s Grandpa Mafa manages to lead the Du’erbi River Guard’s tribe southward, the court will, regardless of anything else, carve out a land from Liaodong for his tribe. Just like in the past fifty years, the court carved out areas around Jilin and east of Kuandian to settle the inner-attached Haixi and Jianzhou Tribes.
"Huh? You say my Grandpa Mafa migrated from the lakes east of the valley to this riverside forest land? What happened in between? Why didn’t he head for the warmer south, but ended up in this secluded village? What about the original tribe in this village, what about the Turuting?"
"Chief Divine! Wu Xiong, you are the Chieftain of the Du’erbi Tribe, you’re your grandpa’s grandson! You know nothing, yet come to ask us? What the hell do we know!... Who knows what happened in between? Two such large Great Tribes, in the end, just left over a hundred people, and you, this simpleton Chieftain!..."
Maha Agudah, grumbling, raised his hand to give Wu Xiong a flick on the forehead. Then, he squatted down, reached out to touch the bones on the ground, muttered.
"Great Divine Spirit witness! Let me see how he died! The corpse doesn’t lie..."
"Hmm... The head is intact! Can’t see obvious wounds on the body either, clothes are worn neatly, possibly he died of illness? Judging by the teeth, he probably wasn’t very old, about the same as you, Ali! Chieftains generally can eat well, usually healthy... so maybe it was some soft tissue injury, an infected wound that led to death. It’s one of the most common causes of death indeed!..."
