Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1096 Northern Strategy
Charles II stayed in the palace until the afternoon before leaving, and even had his lunch in the Yangxin Palace. This treatment was extremely generous for a foreign monarch who had just arrived in the Ming Dynasty. The emperor's gift of food was not something that ordinary people could enjoy. Even if this meal was just ordinary, the key was the attitude and treatment.

When leaving the palace, Zhu Shencui agreed to Charles II's request and gave him permission to move freely, live and study in the capital. Not only that, Zhu Shencui also gave him the qualification to audit the Imperial College in the capital. As for Charles II's request to understand the military system and combat of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Shencui did not immediately agree to it because the army was not as good as the Imperial College, but he did not object either.

In addition, Zhu Shenzhu also made arrangements for Charles II's residence and life in Beijing. Since Charles II would stay in Ming Dynasty for a year or even longer, the Ten Princes' Palace where he was currently living would not be suitable.

In the next few days, Zhu Shenzui will ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs to arrange a new residence for Charles II, and all benefits will be allocated according to the provisions of the Prince of the Ming Dynasty, so that his living needs in the Ming Dynasty can be met.

After leaving the palace, Charles II ran into Princess Catalina who was sent out from the harem at the gate of the palace. Seeing Princess Catalina's expression was as excited as himself, it seemed that her meeting with the Queen was very smooth. In addition, the Queen also rewarded Princess Catalina with many gifts, which were loaded in a carriage beside her.

After the couple met, they left the palace together as they did when they came and returned to the Ten Princes' Palace.

Two days later, the residence arranged by the Ministry of Internal Affairs was ready, and Charles II and his wife moved out of the Ten Princes' Palace and moved into the new residence prepared for them. The new residence was the best in terms of living conditions and location, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs also arranged a dozen servants for Charles II and his wife. After moving into the new place, Charles II was very happy, and the official who sent them to the new residence specially gave him a waist badge, telling him that with this waist badge he could freely enter and leave the Imperial College to study, which made him even more satisfied.

Charles II stayed in the capital for a while and started his studies at the Imperial Academy. Zhu Shenzhui had already started preparing for the war against Liaodong.

Many years had passed since Zhu Shenzhui led his troops into the capital in the name of pacifying the rebellion, and later served as regent and ascended the throne.

Over the years, the war between the Ming Dynasty and Liaodong continued, but apart from the initial Battle of the Great Wall and the Siege of Jinzhou during the reign of Huang Taiji, there were actually not many real major battles.

Zhu Shenzui was very cautious about the war in Liaodong. Unlike Emperor Chongzhen, he did not act hastily about the war situation in Liaodong, nor did he expect to completely resolve the Liaodong issue in a short period of time.

The Jiannu were able to rise from the time of Nurhaci, the old slave, and defeated the Ming army in the Battle of Sarhu, thus establishing the Later Jin regime until today's Qing Dynasty. The Jiannu were not easy to deal with.

Zhu Shenzhui was very clear-headed. He knew that in terms of the national strength of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty naturally had an absolute advantage. Whether it was the number of troops or equipment, or the land area and population, or even financial resources, the Ming Dynasty far surpassed the other side.

But war is not as simple as one plus one, and the real strength comparison between the two sides is not that whoever has stronger national strength is destined to win. Otherwise, everyone can just sit down and compare resources, the weaker country will surrender directly, and the stronger country will become the winner directly. Why would there be a war?
Although the Ming Dynasty was powerful, it also had many problems.

Because of the global mini-glacier climate, the Ming Dynasty had suffered many years of natural disasters before. Coupled with the then Emperor Chongzhen's messing around, huge problems arose within the Ming Dynasty. This problem was finance and rebellions in various places. Both dragged the Ming Dynasty directly into the abyss. In addition, Emperor Chongzhen was not a truly wise monarch. He held a large number of chips in his hand but played a bad hand. There was also a civil service group headed by the Donglin Party that was holding back. The situation in the Ming Dynasty was really worrying.

If Zhu Shenzui had not appeared out of nowhere, the Ming Dynasty would have ceased to exist long ago. Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian would have hanged himself with a rope on the crooked tree on Coal Hill north of the imperial palace and committed suicide. How could he still be living and well in the palace?
After Zhu Shenzhui entered the capital, he placed the emperor under house arrest, first taking control of the government in the name of regent, and then began to restore order and rebuild the country.

It took several years for Zhu Shenzhui to first stop the Jian Nu in Liaodong with his troops, and then solve the problem of bandits in the Ming Dynasty one by one. At the same time, he also eased the financial situation of the Ming Dynasty by opening up border trade and foreign trade. However, these were only temporary solutions, and Zhu Shenzhui knew clearly that as long as the Jian Nu in Liaodong was not completely solved, the financial situation of the Ming Dynasty would not be reversed, and all the results would be short-lived.

To this end, Zhu Shenzui carried out a series of reforms. His reforms were different from those of Zhang Juzheng back then. Zhu Shenzui did not carry out the reforms in a drastic manner, but instead took another approach to slowly implement them.

When a person has been ill for a long time, taking strong medicine at this time will not only fail to cure the person, but will kill the person. This is the problem of the Ming Dynasty. It was not caused in one or two years, but accumulated over the past two hundred years. Moreover, the civil service group has been deeply rooted in the Ming Dynasty's political system, and even the emperor cannot directly change this situation. In order to solve these problems, Zhu Shenzhui's reforms are targeted, and the means used are not drastic unless necessary. Re-support the nobles, control the military power, change the administration of officials through the imperial examination, and then win over the gentry group and the emerging merchant group, use interests to divide and disintegrate their support behind the civil service group, and at the same time carry out military system reforms. In addition, Zhu Shenzhui was more ruthless and decisive in some events that happened later, so that he gradually changed the previous predicament of the Ming Dynasty.

At present, the Ming Dynasty has gradually emerged from the quagmire, and the whole country has a faint sense of revival. But this is not enough. The main problem is that the enemies in Liaodong still exist. As long as the Jiannu are not dealt with, the Ming Dynasty will still face the threat of foreign enemies. Zhu Shenzhu must not turn a blind eye.

Regarding the Jiannu issue, Zhu Shenzui has been adopting the policy that Sun Chengzong initially adopted in Liaodong in recent years, taking a steady approach by taking defense as the basis for offense, while at the same time imposing a double military and economic blockade on the Jiannu. In addition, he also ordered the Tenger brothers in Mongolia to attack northward and eastward, gradually bringing in the northern desert and eastern Chahar regions, thereby eliminating and disintegrating the alliance of the Mongolian tribes against the Qing Dynasty.

Now the progress in Mongolia is quite smooth. Tenger leads his troops northward to attack Mongolia in the northern desert.

During the previous invasion of the south by Mobei, Chaoktu Taiji of the Khalkha of Mobei was defeated by the Tumed tribe, Gushri Khan and the Dzungar lord Batur Hongtaiji. After he was killed in the battle, the Mobei, which had just been formally unified, collapsed in an instant.

After Chao Ketu Taiji's death, Tenger set his sights on Mobei. With Zhu Shenzui's instructions, he soon launched a war against Mobei.

After several battles, several tribes in northern Momo were defeated and subdued. The tribes in northern Momo, which had been divided after the death of Chao Ketu Taiji, could not withstand the attack of Tumed at all. They could only retreat step by step, form alliances to resist or send envoys to beg for mercy and negotiate.

Considering the specific situation in Mobei, and the fact that the territory of Mobei is large and poor, although Tenger's army is large, it is impossible to completely occupy the entire Mobei. For this reason, Tenger agreed to negotiate with the tribes in Mobei after gaining an advantage in the war. The negotiation lasted for more than a year, during which the two sides fought several times. Tenger used force to completely crush the opponent's luck. Not long ago, the tribes in Mobei finally bowed their heads and admitted defeat, willing to respect Tenger as the Khan, and took the initiative to hand over hostages and kneel down to pay tribute. Tenger met with the leaders of various tribes in Mobei in the name of the Khan, and re-divided the grassland territories of the Taiji and lords in Mobei. Only then did he return to Tumed with rich spoils and population.

The war in Mobei was over. Although Tumed failed to completely annex the entire Mobei, he achieved the desired result. And for Zhu Shenzhui, this result was also the best result. Although Tengger was his eldest son, Zhu Shenzhui was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. From Zhu Shenzhui's point of view, whether it was Tengger or Agudamu, although they were both his sons, he did not hope that they could truly unify Mongolia and replace the previous Mongolian Khan to reproduce the glory of the Mongols.

The era of the Mongols has long passed. In the future, whether in northern or southern Mongolia, it is absolutely impossible for a figure like Genghis Khan to appear again, even if he has the blood of the Zhu royal family. The future Mongolia must also be divided and ruled, with each taiji and lord controlling a part of the grassland and people, rather than forming a unified one. This is most beneficial to the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, Zhu Shenzui's order to the Tengger brothers was also based on this consideration. In the future, Tengger would be in the west and Agudamu would be in the east. The two brothers would each use Tumed and Chahar as their bases to assist the Ming Empire in controlling the various tribes on the grasslands and form a barrier in the north of the Ming Empire. This was exactly what Zhu Shenzui wanted.

In addition to Tengger's achievements in the northern desert, Agudamu's progress in Chahar in the east was also smooth. With the support of his brother and the Ming Dynasty, Agudamu quickly gained a foothold in Chahar and gradually extended his influence to the east and northeast.

Chahar was originally the territory of Ligdan Khan and the location of his headquarters. However, after Ligdan Khan was defeated in the war with Huang Taiji and suffered betrayal from various Mongolian tribes, Chahar became the sphere of influence of the Qing Dynasty.

Those Mongolian tribes who betrayed Ligdan Khan and defected to the Qing Dynasty were all minions of Huang Taiji. Whether it was the Yi Yi Rebellion or the subsequent wars against the Ming Dynasty, these Mongolian tribes followed the Eight Banners to fight and committed numerous blood debts.

To solve the Liaodong issue, we must first defeat the outer forces of the Jiannu, cut off their minions, and prevent the Jiannu from getting military and material support from Mongolia. Therefore, the policy of Agudamu's eastward advance was also determined by Zhu Shenzhu. In the future, Chahar must be controlled by Agudamu. Only in this way will the various Chahar tribes behave themselves. The Khorchin tribe, which has the closest relationship with the Qing Dynasty and is even a family, will be forced by Agudamu's military threat and will not be able to fully assist the Qing Dynasty as before.

(End of this chapter)