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

Chapter 1150 Stealth
The Tengger brothers quickly resolved the problem. Only one day later, the tribal leader suddenly died. According to his son and close guards, he died suddenly because of an acute illness caused by excessive drinking. He died to see Changshengtian before he could be treated.

Since there was no "murderer" and it was just an accident, and there were testimonies from his sons and guards, even the other tribal leaders who had some suspicions about the incident had no choice but to accept this fact. Moreover, after Tengger petitioned the Ming Emperor, Zhu Shenzhu immediately issued an order to confer a title on the heir of the tribal leader, that is, his eldest son who followed him to the meeting.

According to the size and strength of this tribe, the original title should be at most the second-class Taiji, but the Ming emperor directly gave it the title of first-class Taiji. Although the division of territory and other conditions remained the same, the promotion of the title still made many tribal leaders jealous. The matter ended after the other party accepted the title, and did not affect the formal signing of the subsequent alliance.

Without the trouble of jumping up and down, the signing of the alliance went very smoothly. On the last day of the alliance, the alliance finally came to an end. According to the results of the previous discussions, the Mongolian tribes re-divided their regions, and the Ming Dynasty also conferred titles on each of them. In addition, the Ming Dynasty and the Tumed and Chahar tribes had some favorable conditions, which could be said to be extremely beneficial to most Mongolian tribes.

Even though a small number of Mongolian tribes did not get more benefits, they were forced to do nothing. Moreover, some smart people could figure out what happened to the tribal leader who "died suddenly" even without evidence, so these people did not dare to make trouble until the end and signed the covenant in peace.

After the meeting, the tribes left Guihua City and returned to their respective territories. At this time, Zhu Shenzhui was also preparing to return to Daming. Before leaving, he accompanied Tana for two days. It was unknown what the couple had said in private. On the day of departure, Tana did not see him off. Zhu Shenzhui did not want to experience such a separation. After getting up early in the morning, Zhu Shenzhui sat by the bed and stared at Tana's face in her sleep, as if he wanted to deeply engrave her appearance in his mind. He said nothing, looked at her for a long time, and finally got up and left.

When Zhu Shenzhui left, Tana opened her eyes slightly and looked at his departing figure. She didn't say anything, nor did she try to stop Zhu Shenzhui. She had a smile on her face and a sparkling look in her eyes.

Zhu Shenzui and his entourage left Guihua and returned to Ming Dynasty just as they came.

At this time, Dorgon, far away in the northeast, was leading his men towards Khorchin. They had finally survived the cold winter. To ensure their safety, they did not leave their hiding place immediately after the arrival of early spring. Instead, they continued to disguise themselves as locals and lived in the occupied small tribe with their men.

If you are not familiar with Dorgon now, you will not recognize him at all. This uncle of the Qing Dynasty, the regent, who once controlled the entire Qing government and army, and whose power was even three times stronger than that of the emperor, now looks no different from a hunter in the local tribe.

He was wearing a leather jacket that was so greasy that the color could not be seen clearly. The braid on his head had long been out of shape. His forehead and the sides of his head, which had been shaved, had grown quite long hair. As he had not had his hair trimmed or washed for a long time, all the hair had tangled together like a tangled mess.

He was wearing a tattered fur hat and his face was very dark. If you didn't look closely, you would think he was a completely different person. They hid here during the winter, and only came out cautiously in March when the temperature in the north gradually warmed up, and also looked for prey to supplement their supplies.

Dorgon originally planned to leave this place as soon as possible and go to Khorchin to look for Bumbutai and the young emperor Fulin. But just as he was about to leave, the Ming army in the south once again went north to search for their traces.

In order to avoid being exposed, Dorgon could only continue to stay here patiently. After all, although the conditions here were poor, as a small tribe's base, life was still fine. Moreover, using this as a cover, it would not be easy for the Ming army to discover them. Once these people left here, even to Khorchin, their whereabouts might be discovered and they would be pursued.

Dorgon now only hoped that the Ming army's search would be fruitless, thinking that he had died in the deep mountains and forests because he could not survive the winter, and finally returned empty-handed. After all, the northern territory is so large, and it is extremely difficult for the Ming army to find him in such a large territory. Dorgon has enough patience and considerable confidence. He knows that the Ming army's search cannot continue forever. As long as there is no result, the Ming army will definitely retreat. Waiting until this time is his chance to leave here and go to Khorchin.

As expected, from March to May, which was a full two months, the Ming army was unable to find Dorgon's whereabouts at the beginning. However, there were risks as a small group of Ming army troops happened to search near where they were hiding and discovered the existence of their tribe.

But with Dorgon's calm response, the small Ming army unit that was searching did not recognize their identities. In addition, their appearance and behavior were just like those of ordinary local tribesmen. There were also many women and children in the tribe. In this case, the Ming army left after a simple interrogation, which allowed Dorgon to escape luckily.

By late May, the Ming army began to withdraw after their search failed. However, Dorgon did not leave immediately to ensure that everything was safe. Instead, he continued to wait until June when the weather began to get hotter. After sending people to inquire, Dorgon confirmed that the Ming army had returned to the south. Only then did he feel relieved and decided to leave.

When leaving, Dorgon showed no mercy and ordered an indiscriminate massacre of the survivors of the tribe. In fact, when occupying the tribe, Dorgon had already killed all the men in the tribe, leaving only some young women and a few children who couldn't even speak properly. The reason why these people were kept was that Dorgon considered that they could be used to better conceal the whereabouts of his people and make outsiders look more like a normal tribe. For the local tribes, no matter how big or small a tribe is, it is impossible for all men to be in it. A tribe without women and children looks fake at first glance. Dorgon would not make such a low-level mistake. He was very careful.

Secondly, these children are fine, but these women have other uses. After all, Dorgon and his subordinates are all men, and the long-term hiding and escape are very stressful. In addition, men have normal needs, and they can't live without women around them.

Therefore, these women can not only warm the bed and serve, but also serve as tools for them to vent their emotions on weekdays, so they are naturally useful. But when Dorgon and others were ready to leave, these women and children were useless. With Dorgon's cruelty, he would certainly not let them go. Could it be that they kept their lives and secretly reported to the Ming army, thus exposing their whereabouts?

Dorgon would never make such a mistake, even though he had slept with several women. He still had to take action when it was necessary. However, considering their "dedication" over the past few days, he instructed his subordinates to sharpen the knives faster so that he could kill them quickly.

After killing the remaining women and children in the tribe, Dorgon no longer had any worries and set out for the Khorchin grassland with his men.

The place where they had been hiding was located northeast of the Gan River, where the Oroqen tribe was located. The Oroqen was one of the three tribes of the Solon tribe, living in an area further north than the Jurchens. It was not a short journey for Dorgon to go from this place to Khorchin, and the straight-line distance was a full thousand miles.

Moreover, their horses had long been lost during their escape, so they could only walk on their own. In addition, they had to guard against possible searches by the Ming army, so Dorgon dared not take the main road and could only walk through remote places.

In this way, their journey to Khorchin would be longer. According to Dorgon's plan, they would first cross the Gan River, then head northwest, and then head towards Sanhe.

When they got there, they would see what the situation was. If there were no Ming troops or Solons there, they would cut down trees to make rafts and then head along the river towards Hulun Lake. Once they reached Hulun Lake, they would be not far from Mongolia. If they continued to head southwest, they would be able to reach the Horqin grassland directly.

If it was impossible to reach Hulun Lake via the river from Sanhe, Dorgon could only take the second route, which was to continue walking northwest, bypassing the Sanhe area to the Onon River area, then turn back from north to south, cross the Kent Mountains, and finally reach the Horqin grassland.

The latter road is certainly not as easy as the former one, and the Kent Mountains are not so easy to cross, and the risks encountered along the way are greater. However, Dorgon had no choice. He had few options. He had to find a way to go to Khorchin. Only when he got to Khorchin and found Bumbutai and the little emperor, as well as Ebilun, who he had arranged to be with them, would he have a chance to regroup and find a way to turn things around.

After three months, from May to August, Dorgon and his entourage finally arrived in the Sanhe area.

The journey was not easy, and they experienced many dangers, most of which came from various accidents on the road, including attacks by wild beasts.

Dorgon already had few men left, and they lost several more in accidents along the way. By the time they arrived in Sanhe, there were only eight people left with Dorgon, including himself. At this time, the supplies they carried were almost exhausted. If they could not go directly to Hulun Lake from Sanhe, they would have to continue northwest to the Onon River area. Even Dorgon did not have the confidence that he could survive to reach his destination.

Fortunately, no trace of the Ming army was found in the Sanhe area, and even the trace of the Suolong tribe did not appear. In addition, due to the summer, the water level of the rivers in the Sanhe area rose a lot, and it was completely possible to go to Hulun Lake along the river.

Seeing this, Dorgon was overjoyed and quickly picked a suitable place to cut down trees and make a raft, then boarded the raft and headed for Hulun Lake. When he got on the raft and his men paddled the raft towards Hulun Lake, Dorgon finally breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but smile, because as long as they reached Hulun Lake, they would not be far from Horqin, and the hard days would finally be over.

(End of this chapter)