The Tribute Route, All Garrisons Come to Court, The Glorious Ming Dynasty, The Emperor Will Surely Be Pleased!

"Tributary vassal Ya'erkadai, Regional Vice Commander of Shilimian Guard, offers twenty prime Red Fox pelts! Ten tubs of linden honey! Five dan of pine nuts! A pair of yellow hawks!"

"Tributary vassal Nimachimu, Assistant Regional Commander of Yilu River Guard, offers fifty prime sea otter pelts! Ten walrus tusks! Five dan of sturgeon sinew! One hu of eastern pearls!"

The succession of Yi'erguli Guard was no more than a small interlude, and the tribute ceremony at the garrison headquarters continued. Zuwaro mingled among the Jurchen chieftains, keeping some distance from the clustered Jianzhou and Haixi Jurchen chieftains. He observed carefully. The Jianzhou chieftains wore tighter clothing, stood very straight, and their bearing clearly showed traces of sinicization. The Haixi chieftains, however, wore loose garments and stood bow-legged; no matter how one looked at them, they carried the flavor of a herding tribe. And when the Eastern Sea Jurchen chieftains entered, their wholly sun-darkened faces and especially developed arms again revealed the traits of fishing tribes.

"Ya'erkadai, Nimachimu! How are the Eastern Sea tribes along your Asu River? Why haven't the guards of the downstream tribes come?"

"Replying to my lord! The Wuzhe Wild men followed the Huntong River south and poured into the lower Asu River, then colluded with the Agu River Guard that had rebelled before. The downstream tribes are now killing one another in a tangled mess, hunting one another. We are on the upper Asu River and truly cannot endure the harassment, and we also lack food. We have already migrated south twice, all the way to the edge of Qinghaizi. This time, we have come to beg my lord to allow us to submit inward and move into Jianzhou!"

Ya'erkadai and Nimachimu, the chieftains of the two Eastern Sea Jurchen guards, knelt together and petitioned the