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

Chapter 1140 North to the Grassland
"The sky is vast, the wilderness is boundless, the wind blows the grass low and you can see cattle and sheep...!"

The Yongming Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Shenzui, drove out of the Great Wall, and tens of thousands of people marched towards the Tumed Grassland.

This was the first time that Zhu Shenzui left the capital since he started the Jingnan Rebellion and came to the Tumed grassland he was familiar with.

Looking at the familiar scene before him, Zhu Shenzui couldn't help but sigh and recited this poem.

Zhu Shenzhu stayed in the capital not because he didn't want to leave the capital, but because he couldn't leave. At the beginning, when he first came to the capital and took over as regent, Emperor Chongzhen was still in power. Even though he controlled the capital, there were still many people in the whole Ming Dynasty, especially in the south, who opposed Zhu Shenzhu. Some even led troops to the capital to defend the emperor.

If Zhu Shenzhui had not decisively sent troops to defeat the northern reinforcements, and then used the emperor's power to command the world, and had the support of Concubine Li, it would be hard to say whether Zhu Shenzhui could have stayed in this position.

Later, he gradually stabilized the situation and completely controlled the government, but at that time the domestic bandit problem was not solved, and the Jiannu in Liaodong were eyeing him covetously. After experiencing the Central Plains Bandit War and the Battle of the Great Wall in the north, Zhu Shenzhui barely solved the internal troubles and eased the external pressure. Then, through a series of measures and easing policies, the northwestern provinces, including the Central Plains that were swept by the war, gradually recovered their vitality. In addition, the financial stability also allowed the Ming Empire to temporarily escape the crisis of standing on the edge of the cliff.

After that, various events happened one after another, making Zhu Shenzhu busy with government affairs. At that time, he had just ascended the throne from the position of regent to the emperor. At this time, his throne was not stable, and the hostile forces, including the civil service group in the court, were still strong. Zhu Shenzhu could be said to be walking on thin ice every day, fearing that he would be doomed if he was not careful. In this case, how could he leave the capital? He had to stay at the center, only in this way would those evil spirits dare not act rashly.

Now these problems no longer exist. After several purges and rectifications, the political situation in the Ming Dynasty has stabilized. Those civil service groups, including the gentry groups, that opposed it have been divided and disintegrated through Zhu Shenzhu's various tactics.

Even the military of the Ming Dynasty was almost completely replaced, not to mention the cabinet, which was full of Zhu Shenzhui's people. With local stability, the development of people's livelihood, the rise of foreign trade and the establishment of foreign port cities, the entire Ming Dynasty was rejuvenated and had the atmosphere of revival.

Especially not long ago, the Ming Dynasty finally solved the problem of Jiannu in Liaodong that had troubled it for 30 years. Jiannu was destroyed, Liaodong was recovered, and the Ming Dynasty won an unprecedented victory. This battle not only made all the people of the Ming Dynasty proud and happy, but also made Zhu Shenzhu's prestige reach its peak. The recognition of the Yongming Emperor by the Ming Dynasty was unprecedentedly high, and the Ming Dynasty had not won such a great victory since the three major expeditions of Wanli. Such a victory made everyone proud and proud, and made Zhu Shenzhu's position extremely stable.

Except for a very few people, no one in the Ming Dynasty now misses the previous Emperor Chongzhen. Not only the common people, but also the gentry group and the current civil servant group are like this. Under Zhu Shenzhu's rule, how did they live, how did their business go, and were their officials comfortable? These are clear after a comparison. Who would want to live a life of fear and uncertainty when they can live in peace?
In fact, after the victory of the Liaodong War, Zhu Shenzhui had the idea of ​​leaving the capital to go out for a walk. However, unlike Kangxi and Qianlong in history, he did not want to go to the south of the Yangtze River, but to visit the Mongolian grasslands.

After all, the Mongolian grassland, especially the Tumed grassland, is of special significance to Zhu Shenzui. You should know that Zhu Shenzui's initial capital was in Tumed, and he met Tana through the original Ashil Timur tribe, and thus continued to grow based on the tribe.

It can be said that without the Ashitemur tribe back then, there would be no Zhu Shenzhui today, and it would be even more impossible for the Ming Dynasty today to exist.

Moreover, he had another family in Guihua City. His wife, his son, his niece, his disciples, and his grandchildren were all there. After so many years, he had never seen them again except when he had just ascended the throne and Tana brought the Tenger brothers to Beijing to meet him.

The emperor is also a human being, with seven emotions and six desires. Zhu Shencui's longing for them naturally never diminished in the slightest, and it became more and more intense as time went by.

To be honest, Zhu Shenzhui still feels the same as he did at the beginning, and at the same time he feels deeply guilty. Because of the Ming Dynasty, he had to be separated from Tana for so many years. In his heart, he wanted to keep Tana by his side, but Tana was determined to stay in Mongolia and was unwilling to live in the Ming Dynasty palace. According to her, she was a free eagle on the grassland, and the grassland was her hometown. Although the Ming Dynasty was good, it was not the grassland. The grassland had her family, her children, and everything she was familiar with. If she came to the Ming Dynasty, even if her life was superior, she would lose all of this and become just a canary in a cage.

Zhu Shenzhui respected Tana's choice and did not force her. Moreover, he knew that it would not be a good thing for Tana to stay in Ming Dynasty with her personality. However, the two of them were far apart, and Zhu Shenzhui's longing for her never stopped. He always wanted to go back to the grassland to see her, the Tenger brothers, Wang Hai, Qiao'er, who he had raised, and the subordinates who had followed him to fight in the grassland.

This time, he decided to leave the capital and go to the grassland, partly because of this reason, and partly for the future control of the entire Mongolia by the Ming Dynasty. At present, the Jiannu in Liaodong has been dealt with. Although Bumbutai, the little emperor and Dorgon have not been caught, to be honest, they can't make any waves. They are just a few stray dogs. It only takes time to catch them. It won't cause any harm. On the contrary, the stability of the Mongolian grassland is more important.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia have been fighting each other on and off, and the war time is much longer than the peace time between the two sides. This situation did not really change until Zhu Shenzhu unified the Tumote grassland and supported Tenger to become the leader of the tribe.

According to Zhu Shenzhu's plan, one of the Tengger brothers controlled the southern and western Mongolians based on Tumed to the west, while the other controlled the southern Mongolians based on Chahar to the east and north, including the Khorchin grassland area.

In addition, in addition to the joint suppression of the two Mongolian brothers in the northern desert, they also had to guard against the Dzungar tribe and other tribes in Central Asia further west, and even the Western Tsarist Russia's covetousness for the eastern territory.

In this way, the area occupied by the two brothers basically covered the northern territory of the Ming Dynasty, forming a northern barrier for the Ming Dynasty. As long as their rule was stable and the territory was divided in this way, at least a hundred years of stability in the north of the Ming Dynasty could be guaranteed. After all, both Tengger and Agudamu were the sons of Zhu Shencui and Tana. Although they were the Shunyi King and Shunning King of Mongolia, they were actually the bloodline of the Ming Zhu family and the princes of the Ming Dynasty.

But this is still not enough. Time will dilute everything. It would be a big mistake to sit back and relax just because the Tengger brothers are in charge of the grassland. The Ming Dynasty must show its strength on the Mongolian grassland and tell all Mongolians that the Ming emperor is the real master of Mongolia. The so-called Khan era of Mongolia is completely over. In the future, whether Mongolians or people from other tribes are all citizens of the Ming Dynasty, and the whole of Mongolia is also the territory of the Ming Dynasty. There is no doubt about this.

Compared with the policies and relations of the Central Plains dynasties towards the northern nomadic peoples, except for the Yuan Dynasty, only two dynasties did a good job. One is the Tang Dynasty, and the other is the Qing Dynasty, which will never appear again. Perhaps the suppression of the grassland nomads during the Liao Dynasty's rule in the north was successful, but unfortunately the Liao Dynasty coexisted with the Northern Song Dynasty at that time, and in the eyes of traditional Han people, it could not be regarded as a true representative of the Central Plains dynasty.

The reason for this is because of ethnicity. Although the Li family who founded the Tang Dynasty called themselves Han Chinese, they had the blood of the northern nomadic peoples. In other words, in the eyes of the nomadic peoples, the Li Tang was more like a combination of two ethnic groups. It was also for this reason that the Tang Dynasty was able to suppress the northern nomadic peoples. At the same time, the emperors of the Tang Dynasty, especially Taizong Li Shimin, were called "Heavenly Khan".

Of course, this is also related to the Tang Dynasty's strong military power. After the Tang Dynasty declined after the Anshi Rebellion, its control over the northern nomadic peoples was no longer as strong as before. After the Tang Dynasty was destroyed, the northern territory was occupied by the Liao Kingdom, and the south was divided into several countries, which were finally unified by the Northern Song Dynasty.

As for the Qing Dynasty, it goes without saying that during the Nurhaci period, it had won over the Mongols for its use. After Huang Taiji came to power, he established the Eight Banners of Mongolia, integrating the Mongols and Manchus into one, and vigorously promoted the idea that the Manchus and Mongols were one family.

Taking advantage of the civil strife in the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng entered the capital. After Emperor Chongzhen was hanged on Coal Hill, although the Ming Dynasty still had half of its territory, the north had been lost. At this time, the Qing Dynasty took advantage of the situation and defeated Li Zicheng in Yipianshi, seized the capital, and thus occupied the Central Plains.

Later, when the Southern Ming Dynasty was constantly consuming itself in internal strife, Dorgon led his troops south to completely destroy the southern regime, and the Qing Dynasty unified the whole of China and became a new dynasty. At this time, the Qing Dynasty's policy towards Mongolia not only continued to implement the policy formulated by Huang Taiji, but also strengthened its relationship with Mongolia through continuous marriage.

In addition, the Qing Dynasty also adopted the method of divide and rule. It forcibly separated the Mongolian tribes by enfeoffing taijis and leaders in Mongolia, and then used the means of supporting one side and attacking the other, and attacking whoever showed up, to tear the originally powerful Mongolia into pieces, thus completely losing the ability to compete with the Central Plains dynasty.

It has to be said that this policy of the Qing Dynasty was quite well implemented. In the more than 200 years of Qing history, the Mongols in the north never posed a threat to the Central Plains dynasty again. Instead, the Mongolian tribes were used by the Central Plains dynasty, and the Mongolian cavalry helped the Qing Dynasty to conquer all directions.

In order to show their loyalty and respect to the Qing Dynasty, the Mongolian tribes also called the Qing emperor "Bogdachechen Khan", which means the sacred and great Khan, to show their submission.

(End of this chapter)