Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 434 I Allow You to Bet on Both Sides

The recovery of Hanzhong enabled the Ming and Qing dynasties to achieve a strategic balance in the southwest, and Sichuan no longer had to worry about a sudden attack by the Tartars from the leaky Shu Road.

According to common sense, at this point Zhu Cilang could leave all the finishing touches to Fan Yiheng, and he himself should go downstream to deal with the various complexities of Yingtian.

But those who do not consider the overall situation are not qualified to plan for a corner, and those who do not consider the general trend are not qualified to plan for the moment.

The intervention of the Khoshut tribe gave him the opportunity to get in touch with the various tribes on the grassland. It would be a pity if he missed the opportunity.

In the eyes of ordinary people, the Manchus seemed to have been blessed by heaven since Nurhaci started his rebellion, and they continued to advance rapidly until they took control of the Central Plains.

But the actual situation was not so. For a long time after the Battle of Sarhu, the Later Jin was in an extremely passive position strategically.

With Korea to the east and Khalkha to the west, coupled with the strict blockade of the Ming Dynasty, Nurhaci was not only forced to steal food from the beggars in Dongjiang Town, but also to introduce an inhumane "no food" policy.

This situation lasted for several years, and Nurhaci, knowing that he was in a state of slow death, had to crash into the solid Guanning Defense Line again and again.

It can be considered a rebound. After the old slave died, his son, who was considered a great leader, finally took control of the government.

Afterwards, he immediately changed Nurhaci's strategy, and gradually resolved the strategic disadvantage of the Later Jin Dynasty with a series of insidious and effective methods.

The most critical of these measures was to change the positioning of various tribes on the grassland.

During the Nurhaci era, the various tribes on the grassland were rivals of the Jurchens. For limited survival resources, the two groups of bandits constantly fought each other, allowing the Ming Dynasty, which sat on the sidelines and watched the fight, to reap the benefits.

When Huang Taiji came to power, he overturned all of Nurhaci's strategies and positioned the various tribes on the grassland as allies that could be won over.

As for the method of winning over, it is simple.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty's defense focus was on the Guanning line, but it did not pay much attention to the Xuanda line to guard against various grassland tribes. After gaining a certain degree of mutual trust with them, the Later Jin army made a big circle and entered Pingjin from Xifengkou.

It is not difficult to imagine what will happen next, and everyone can see the logic of who gets to eat the meat.

Since the first invasion in the third year of Tiancong, not only did the tribes in the south of the desert completely turn to the Later Jin, but even the tribes in the north of the desert also secretly colluded with it. The last Khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty was completely abandoned by the tribes on the grassland, and the strategic desperate situation of the Later Jin was reversed.

To Zhu Cilang, these events were just bits and pieces buried in his memory, but as luck would have it, the Khoshuts actually intervened in the Battle of Hanzhong, and this memory was brought back by Dayan.

"Your Majesty, Dayan is here."

Following a report, the dejected Dayan appeared outside the big tent. When he saw Zhu Cilang sitting in the center of the military tent, he knelt down without any hesitation.

"Dayan greets His Majesty!"

After so many days, the sounds of musketry still continued to echo in his mind. When he saw the young emperor again, Dayan finally put his mind at ease.

To be honest, he was not worried about his own life or death.

After all, the Emperor Ming could kill more than 10,000 cavalrymen at will. If he really wanted to take his life, he wouldn't have dragged it out until now.

But then again, keeping it locked up like this isn't a big deal.

His brothers are not easy to deal with. If they are really imprisoned for a year or two, will those tribes still be under his rule?
Fortunately, after more than ten days of worrying, he was finally summoned by the Emperor Ming. If nothing went wrong, it would be time for him to go back.

"Your father sent someone to say that he would send me two thousand elite cavalry and fifty thousand cattle and sheep as an apology."

When Dayan heard these words, his heart surged with excitement, but his face still showed an expression of deep regret, making people think that he was a naive person who fell into the trap of bad guys.

Over the past few days, he has carefully recalled the entire process of this war, and he knows that there were serious mistakes in the decision-making.

This is not to say that he should not have responded to Hauge's call and come to fight against the Ming army. The key point is that he should not have fought so hard without knowing the enemy's situation, and in the end he was used as a target to attract fire from others.

Now that I have been captured, I don’t know where to make up for the loss.

"This time, I mistakenly believed what Hauge said, which eventually led to a big mistake. Dayan is guilty!"

The thoughts in his mind did not delay Dayan's actions outside. As soon as Zhu Cilang finished speaking, he knelt on the ground, as if he had endless regret in his heart.

If it were someone else, they would probably just pretend not to know and send it back with a few casual words. However, Zhu Cilang still had other thoughts and waved his hand before he could finish his words.

"Everyone knows what happened. There's no need to talk nonsense in front of me."

"Your Majesty"

Hearing this, Dayan was shocked, but when he was about to explain, he saw the Emperor frowned slightly, and then the words that were about to come out of his throat suddenly came back, and his face turned red.

"I know the difficulties you and the Khoshuts face. The lamas are difficult to deal with, so you have to seek external help to consolidate your position. You have been struggling in Kham and Tibet for so many years, you can't just do nothing." Zhu Cilang glanced at Dayan, who looked serious, with a half-smile. Seeing that he had no intention of interrupting, he continued, "You ran into a wall on your first mission. In the end, the real boss ran away and you were left to take the blame. You can't ignore this loss. After all, the Ming Dynasty is not as soft as the legend says."

"Your Majesty, please spare my life! Your Majesty, please spare my life! My father and I will definitely abide by our duties from now on. If you dare to harm the Ming Dynasty again, please ask the Buddha to send me to the eighteenth level of hell!"

Zhu Cilang's words were so heartbreaking that Dayan even thought his life was in danger.

After all, the Central Plains dynasty has always been particular about seeing through things but not speaking them out loud. Saying things to this extent was almost equivalent to breaking off relations with the Khoshut. But to Dayan's surprise, while he was kowtowing continuously, the faint voice of the Emperor Ming could be heard again.

"I have no intention of killing you, and I have never seen the Buddha. I only know that you are more afraid of self-generated guns than those illusory things."

After hearing this, Dayan couldn't help but stop. Then the sound of gunfire seemed to echo in the big tent again, making Dayan's heart tremble.

As the eldest son of Gushri Khan, he naturally knew that those things were only for the convenience of ruling. At this time, Emperor Ming put the Buddha together with the flintlock rifle, which made him wonder how to deal with it. "I have already agreed to your father's conditions, but after thinking about it for the past two days, I always feel that I should give the Khoshut a chance."

Give Hoshut a chance?

When Dayan heard the words, he suddenly felt confused. Then he raised his head, and when he saw that the Emperor was looking at him, he prostrated himself on the ground again.

"You can go back directly with the envoy, or you can go to Ming Dynasty for a year or two. After all, your father is still in his prime, so it won't delay anything."

Go to Daming for a visit?
As Dayan heard the Emperor's words, his mind began to race.

He knew that the emperor of the Central Plains kept his word and would never regret it, but he thought about it for a long time but still couldn't figure out what "going to the Ming Dynasty" meant. After a while, he could only take the risk and try it out.

"Your Majesty, Dayan has always admired the Ming Dynasty, but you also know what happened on the grassland. If I stay away for a long time..."

"It's okay. Since I invited you here, I will stand up for you if you don't agree." Zhu Cilang paused and looked at Dayan's slightly raised head before continuing, "You need to know that I am not forcing you to stay in Ming. If you want to return to Kangzang, you can leave safely at any time."

Having said this, everyone could see that what the Emperor said was sincere, but at this moment Dayan seemed to have figured something out, and he bowed heavily to the ground before the Emperor finished speaking.

"With your majesty's promise, Dayan is willing to go through fire and water. May I ask where my father's envoys are? Dayan will ask them to go back and report!"

Seeing the other party's performance, Zhu Cilang had no objection. Then Dayan bowed three times again, and then went out of the tent under the leadership of the general.

He had been trying to survive in the cracks with Gushri Khan since he was young, and he had his own understanding of the art of diplomacy.

Although the Emperor only invited him to the Ming Dynasty this time, Dayan understood the other party's true intention after some testing.

The Khoshut were a real outsider. Although they had become a powerful militarily powerful after eliminating the Chotu and Zangba tribes, they still had to rely on the support of the Qing court to maintain their position when facing the lamas inside and the Yarkand and Dzungar tribes outside.

Of course, all the Qing court could give was political support, but all the Eastern Mongolian tribes were beaten into submission, and the political support alone was enough to make all the forces fearful.

In the original history, the Khoshut persisted in Kangzang for a long time relying solely on this spiritual support. Even though their real power had been gradually eroded by the lamas during Dayan's generation, they still managed to hold out until the complete rise of the Dzungar Khanate before being destroyed by it.

But here, the Ming Dynasty won victory after victory in the war against the Qing Dynasty, and the little support from the Qing Dynasty seemed to be unstable. If the cost of changing allegiance was not too high, even Gushri Khan would have to think carefully.

Under such circumstances, the Ming Emperor invited the future Khan of Khoshut to visit the Ming Dynasty and made it clear that he would ensure the stability of his position.

What does this mean?
This meant that the Ming Emperor allowed the Khoshut to hedge their bets when the situation was unclear.

This means that if the Emperor Minghuang did not have the upper hand, he would force others into a desperate situation.

After understanding all this, Dayan knew that the Ming Emperor possessed enough political wisdom and tolerance, and he was willing to build good relations between the Khoshut and the future victor in advance.

A moment later, Dayan finally saw the messenger with foam at the mouth in a military tent. Without waiting for the other party to speak, he said directly: "You go, I want to answer the emperor's call."

The envoy was a staunch supporter of Dayan, and it was for this reason that Gushri Khan sent him to the Ming Dynasty to redeem the people. When his own Taiji Fang showed such behavior upon meeting him, the envoy was stunned for a moment and then shouted at the top of his voice: "Didn't the Emperor of Ming Dynasty agree?! How can he go back on his word?!"

"Don't make a fuss. I don't want to go back."

After hearing this, the messenger stared at Dayan carefully, as if he wanted to see whether Gushri Khan's most outstanding prince had his brain damaged by the Ming army.

After seeing the other party's appearance, Dayan took a step back impatiently, and then said: "The Tartars will not be able to hold out for long. If I and Shuote do not have the support of a strong country, we don't even need Dzungar and Yarkand, those lamas will kill us without a burial place."

When the envoy heard these words, he was immediately certain that his own Taiji had suffered a brain injury.

All in all, the Tartars relied on tens of thousands of Eight Banners soldiers to drive the Ming Dynasty back to the south of the Yangtze River. Even if there were occasional setbacks during the period, it was understandable.

At this time, our wise Taiji is actually relying on the Ming Dynasty for this battle. If this is not a sign of mental disorder, what else could be the reason?
Even if the Ming Dynasty really has the potential to revive, such a double-betting matter would be done by a less important Taiji. How could it be possible to let the most powerful Dayan do it?
Dayan could guess what the envoy was thinking.

In essence, they only knew that the Qing army had been defeated twice, but they did not know much about the details. If he had not suffered such a defeat, he would not have thought that the Qing Dynasty would not last long.

"I've learned a lot during this trip south. The Ming army's cavalry is not much inferior to Gustav's dragoons, and the infantry phalanxes are also equipped with flintlock rifles." At this point, Dayan paused, and it was unclear whether he was organizing his next words or was still dominated by fear. "I heard that the Ming army's flintlock rifles are all self-produced. The Tartars have been doing this for a few years."

After the words fell, there was no more sound in the tent. It was obvious that the envoy was also a man who had seen the world. After hearing this sentence, he accepted the opinion of his own Taiji. However, Dayan came to chase him away, and before Taiji could come to his senses, he started asking again on his own.

"Your Majesty Ming did not make any more conditions?"

"Oh, it's open. The Emperor Ming asked us to inform the other tribes and tell them that anyone who dares to help the Tartars to go south will be cast into a Jingguan."

"Domineering! He is the Son of Heaven after all!!"

Dayan shouted with a little excitement, but the messenger's expression was a little strange.

After all, those who were cast into the Jingguan were all people brought by Dayan, but he seemed to be just watching the fun, not afraid that the news would spread and damage his reputation.

Having said this, Dayan had achieved his goal. But when he was about to turn around and leave, he seemed to have thought of something. When the messenger looked at him with a little curiosity, he spoke directly.

"Go back and ask my father Khan to send more troops. We can't let those cavalry generals look down on me, the Khoshut."

After saying this, Dayan left the military tent directly. Then, led by the soldiers, he returned to Zhu Cilang's central military tent. He stood outside the door, straightened his clothes, and then bowed down directly.

"Your Majesty, I have sent the messenger back to report. God bless you, from today on, I, Dayan Ozier, will be your most loyal warrior!"

(End of this chapter)