"That’s how it is! My Nu’er Ha’s wild boar nose is the most sensitive! Right now, along the northern Great River, there’s still a village here, and another one by the southwestern Great River, both hard bones to chew!... However, this time, the combined Wuzhe tribes have finally broken this great village, allowing us to live peacefully for two years! As for that great village on the southwest side, who knows if the southern Forest Tribe has managed to take it..."

"What! The Fushan Guard three hundred li southwest is also besieged?..."

Listening to the cannibalistic shouts of these Wild Man Chiefs, the Harman Guard Chieftain Ali trembled all over, his face showing despair.

"Ancestor! It’s completely over now! Once the Fushan Guard is besieged, the nearest support troops will have to go six hundred li south, to the Yierguli Guard! As for the Zhe Tie Lie Mountain Guard in between, it’s already been attacked and looted once by the rebellious Valka Donghai Jurchen Tribe!"

Thinking about this, Ali lowered his eyes and sighed deeply. It was known that in the entire lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River, the only two remaining garrisons that had been enfeoffed were the Harman Guard and the Fushan Guard!

As for this Wild Man fleet self-proclaiming as "Manjing Guard," it had either been broken by the Wild Men, or it was Mongolians in disguise. Or perhaps even worse, the Wild Men and Mongolians had joined forces, broke it, and then disguised themselves...

And similar terrifying scenes have been playing out continuously in the past fifty years, ever since the official army of the Ming Dynasty formally retreated from Outer Northeast!

When did the climate in Outer Northeast start to get colder? Perhaps sixty years ago, or maybe eighty years ago. But it’s unquestionable that the abolition of the Nurgan Metropolitan Authority happened after the climate turned cold and northern order collapsed, as a result rather than a cause.

The increasingly cold climate, like a pair of cold, heartless large hands, drove the Wild Man Tribes from the north a thousand miles southward. And the brief warm periods only allowed the tribes to swell their population once, making the next wave of southward pressure even more ruthless and heartless!

In the cold, harsh northern mountain forests, a long tribal migration often lasted several generations, even more than a dozen generations! The initial start was just a few scattered Wild Men stepping out of the forest, forming into tribes of dozens, migrating, fighting, intermarrying, and merging. And the brutal natural survival environment, like layers of targeted screening, only let the strongest survive, head south, and gather more tribes!

Then dozens of people gather into hundreds, continue migrating, fighting, intermarrying, and merging, screening out the strong among them like breeding insects, continue heading south, seeking warmer camps, seeking more food and prey, engaging in more fights!

For now, arriving at this Heilongjiang River Basin, the scale of the Wild Man Tribes has expanded to several hundreds. These tribes of Wild Men, like fierce moose running for survival, are determined to break through the settled tribes’ villages even if they shatter their own antlers, acquiring more food!

Thus, wave after wave of Wild Man Tribes heading south, from streams converging into rivers, rivers converging into great rivers, surging southward. And as long as they break villages and hamlets, they will sweep up more "Wild Men," temporarily pausing for several years, then again to survive and obtain food, dragging their unmanageable tribes further south!

"Ancestor! After resting for seven or eight years, a new wave of Wild Man southward tide is about to start again? Then this time, what garrisons can still hold? Yierguli Guard? Xishen Guard? If they pass Xishen Guard, the entire Wusuli River Basin will become chaotic! No! Since the Valka Tribe’s rebellion, it has already been chaotic!..."

Reflecting on years of chaotic fighting, the Harman Guard Chieftain Ali bit his lip, utterly confused. He couldn’t understand why the situation in Outer Northeast had become increasingly chaotic, and why so many Wild Men died, yet they haven’t died out; instead, their scale keeps growing!

Ali didn’t know that during favorable warm spell, the Wild Man’s southward "flood" might temporarily pause for several years, perhaps even start farming, and transform into Shushu Jurchen.

But will the Wild Men each tribe restrain their reproduction, reduce tribe population, to adapt to the carrying capacity of the environment? No, impossible! Each tribe must race against time, proliferating more populace, to strengthen the tribe and have a better chance of surviving the tribal mix-up fights!

As a result, when the cold Da Bai disaster arrives, the original region can’t sustain so many tribes, and the planted barnyard grass all fail. The "flood" can only accumulate greater waves, bring more tribes seeking survival, and surge southward again!...

As for the end of the southward journey, what it ultimately is, if there is a way to survive, the migrating Wild Man Tribes, some don’t know, some do, but none care. Their sole certainty is that only by going south, only by fighting, can they have food, can they have sustenance, can the tribe have a chance to survive!

"Holy Emperor above! The illustrious Northeast Chenghua Plowing Court was just 27 years ago! But why, after killing so many tribes, killing so many people... Then just after one generation, all northern garrisons fell, and southern tribes’ rebellions rose one after another?"

"Where must the mighty Ming Dynasty retreat step by step, to stabilize? And where must we loyal Jurchen Tribes migrate to, to truly take root and guard our own territory?..."

"Damn it! If only we had been like the Haixi and Jianzhou Tribes, when paying tribute, asked the Holy Emperor for internal submission! No matter if we had to exhaust all wealth within the tribe, bribing Liaodong Governor adults, bribing Military Supervisor eunuchs, to request an internal submission opportunity!..."

For all the roots, the Harman Guard Chieftain Ali couldn’t find answers, only full of regret. His tribe had already been broken by the Wild Men, such exploring was actually too late!

But Ali could be certain, the Chenghua Plowing Court expedition spent so much money and grain, mobilized such a large army, yet it didn’t solve the constant southward advance of the Wild Men, nor did it quell intrusions between tribes. At most, it only barely extended the Empire’s situation in Northeast for a few years, offered contentment to the next wave of Wild Man invasions, took up tribe vacancies..."

Then, it was the Great Ming Court’s large-scale abandonment of northern garrisons, constructing more border walls in Liaodong. Then, accommodating those loyal Shushu Jurchen Tribes, as outer killing buffers. And as long as southward Shengshu Jurchen Tribes were willing to pay tribute and return, regardless of what they did before, the Ming Dynasty would generously reward and appease!

Fundamentally, the arrival of the great cold period permanently reduced the Northeast Asia mountain forest’s population ceiling, triggered barbarian invasion-like chain waves. And the cold-driven Tungusic Wild Men, wave after wave, like gathered flood waters, constantly clashed southward. Even if eventually smashed to pieces, they wouldn’t care. And dispatching Liaodong Official Army to quell these fierce poor Wild Men, only to waste money and grain, damage troops, fundamentally no gains!

Indeed! Individual Wild Man Tribe members might fear death. But for tens of thousands of fundamentally unsustainable Wild Man Tribe groups, slaughter has no meaning to them! These unsustainable people are destined to die, just what way of dying!

And before dying, life will find a path, like floods find routes. Tungusic Wild Men won’t find hunger freeze to death being safe; they’ll only mimic locusts devouring, flying south in swarms, pouncing on the Empire’s borderlands...

As for the current situation, Dayan Khan revitalizes Mongolia, the threat grows larger. The Great Ming Court abandons Outer Northeast, concentrating efforts to build Liaodong, West Liao border walls. Perhaps Chenghua Plowing Court’s expedition will never happen again... And after the Empire’s sun set from the vast Outer Northeast land, only endless darkness and chaos remain, knowing not when where there’s dawn~~