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

Chapter 221: Take one step at a time

Although Astemur's tribe was not small and its fighting power was not bad, the entire tribe had only more than 3,000 Mongolian cavalrymen who could fight. If the old and weak who could fight were also counted in, they could barely gather 6,000 to 7,000 cavalrymen.

This military strength may not seem weak, but who can compare it with? You should know that the weakest of the five major Mongolian forces, Inner Khalkha, had 15,000 cavalry in its heyday, and the force in the hands of Ashi Temur was less than one-third of that of Inner Khalkha at best.

Lin Dan Khan was so angry that he would not listen to any advice. He would kill even his ministers, not to mention the tribal leader, Ashi Temür. If he refused to gather troops, Lin Dan Khan would definitely think that Ashi Temür had ulterior motives. He might not attack Outer Khalkha first, but would lead his troops to deal with Ashi Temür first.

At this time, Lindan Khan was very sensitive. After suffering a series of betrayals, he could hardly trust anyone. Ashitemur did not want him to think that he was also someone who intended to betray Lindan Khan. If he did so, not only would Ashitemur's own life be in danger, but the entire tribe would probably be wiped out from the grassland by Lindan Khan.

Choosing the lesser of two evils, whether Ashi Temur was willing or not, obeying the order of Ligdan Khan was the best choice to save himself and the tribe. On the grassland, the strong prey on the weak, and many times it is not what you want to do, but you have no choice.

After listening to Ashitemur's explanation, Zhu Shenzui could only sigh. He could not help much in this matter and could only comfort Ashitemur with a few words.

The father-in-law and the son-in-law were both in a bad mood when they talked about this, so they temporarily changed the topic and talked about other things.

They could not change the fact that Lindan Khan was gathering troops, and they could only take it one step at a time. Putting this aside for now, Ashe Temur asked Zhu Shenchui to pay more attention to the subsequent transportation of materials from Daming to the grassland if it could be increased. This time, the troops were gathered to the north to fight, and if things went wrong, there would be great losses, and no one knew what this winter would be like. In order for the tribe to survive, the tribe must be well prepared for supplies, otherwise what would happen to the tribe next year?

Zhu Shencui expressed his understanding of Ashil Timur's request. He told Ashil Timur that he would find a way to arrange it. However, he also mentioned the previous attack on Ma Shizhou's caravan. This matter has not been clarified yet. No one knows whether a similar situation will occur in the future. If such a thing happens again, neither Zhu Shencui himself nor Ashil Timur can bear it.

"I have asked people to investigate this matter, but there is no news at all." Ashi Temur said to Zhu Shenzhui depressedly. Ever since Ma Shizhou's caravan was attacked, Ashi Temur sent people to the scene of the attack to investigate.

Not only did he go there to investigate, he also checked almost all the tribes in most of the Tumed grasslands. But just as he said, there was no news at all. Those horse bandits seemed to have fallen from the sky and their origins were unknown. Where did they go and how did these people know the whereabouts of the caravan? No one knew.

The loss of the caravan was not only Zhu Shencui's loss, but also Ashe Timur's loss. Ashe Timur was very clear about this. Moreover, attacking the caravan not only violated the rules of the grassland, but also slapped Ashe Timur in the face. You know, the caravan traveled on the grassland not only under the banner of the caravan, but also under the banner of Ashe Timur's tribe.

"Abu, do you think it's not a tribal problem, but someone's doing it privately?"

"I've thought about this, too. There are all kinds of people, and there are always people who are blinded by greed and have such thoughts." Ashe Timur nodded and said, "But the leaders of each tribe have also investigated and found no one doing such a thing privately. Besides, this is no small matter. Attacking a caravan has always been a taboo on the grassland. If people know about this, they will be severely punished. Who has such courage?"

Zhu Shenzhu had also considered this question. These horse bandits came and went without a trace, and they had such a good grasp of the time and place. It was definitely premeditated. But who would have the courage to do such a thing? Originally, Zhu Shenzhu planned to get some information about the caravan being attacked from Ashi Temur, but now there is still no news. It seems that this matter can only be investigated from the Ming Dynasty. I hope there will be good news when I return to the Ming Dynasty.

In Ashetemur's tent, Zhu Shencui and Ashetemur drank from noon until the evening. When leaving the tent, Zhu Shencui was half drunk and staggered back to his yurt.

Seeing Zhu Shencui coming back drunk, Tana didn't say anything. She asked someone to boil some water, and personally helped Zhu Shencui wipe his face and hands, then fed him some tea.

After drinking the tea, Zhu Shenzhui felt much better in his churning stomach. He lay down and looked at Tana who was sitting cross-legged beside him, and his son who was sleeping soundly beside him. He couldn't help but smile.

"You're still laughing. You've drunk so much. Didn't I tell you before we left? You know how much my Abu can drink. Why did you drink so much with him?" Tana patted him lightly and blamed him.

"Haha, will Abu let me go if I don't drink to my heart's content? Besides, your man can drink quite well, he's not completely drunk."

"Even if you can drink, you can't drink like this. Look at you, you don't even have the strength to drink. I've been waiting for you here for a long time..." Tana rolled her eyes at him and said angrily. Her expression made Zhu Shenzhui's heart move. Zhu Shenzhui immediately understood what Tana meant. He reached out and held Tana's hand, pulled her into his arms, and said something in her ear in a voice that only the two of them could hear clearly.

"Hate it, the child is still here..." Tana's little face turned red instantly, and she looked at her son who was sleeping beside her and hesitated.

"My son is still young, what can he understand now? Besides, isn't he asleep? Hasn't he been waiting for me? Now is the right time, come on!" Zhu Shenzhui said with a grin, and with a force of his hands he hugged Tana in his arms. Looking at her pretty face, he couldn't help but turned over and leaned down...

After the storm, the yurt returned to peace. Zhu Shencui and Tana leaned against each other, their faces full of tenderness. Beside them, Tenger was still sleeping soundly. This kid was really carefree. He didn't wake up even after such a big noise. Zhu Shencui felt that his son, who was not even one year old, had the demeanor of a general who was not afraid of the storm. He would definitely be a promising child in the future.

After the intense exercise, Zhu Shenzhui, who was sweating, was no longer drunk. He talked with Tana and mentioned the content of his conversation with Ashe Temur today, which included matters about the Mongolian headquarters and Ligdan Khan.

After listening to Zhu Shenzhui's story, Tana sighed and said, "Abu can't do anything about this. He is the Taiji of the tribe and cannot go against the will of the Khan. Even if he doesn't want to, he must obey the Khan's order, unless..."

Tana didn't say the rest of the words, but Zhu Shenzhui understood the meaning. As a Mongolian, especially a Mongolian nobleman with a large tribe, Ashi Temur had few choices. He only had two choices at the moment. One was to follow Lin Danhan, and the second was to turn against Lin Danhan and leave the Mongolian headquarters.

The latter is absolutely impossible. Once he does this, Ashi Timur will bring disaster to himself and his tribe. As for the former, it is not a good choice either. This time, Lin Danhan wants to fight a war, which he cannot win at all and will suffer losses. Ashi Timur is unwilling to do it, but he can only bite the bullet and do it.

"Let's take it one step at a time. You don't have to think too much. Abu told me that this time, Aha will lead the troops again. You know Aha's ability. With him around, even if the tribe suffers losses, it won't be a big deal. As for what happens next, we'll see how things turn out. If it doesn't work out, how about we persuade Abu to surrender?"

"Submission?" Tana repeated the word, thought for a moment and shook her head, "It would have been fine if it was a dozen years ago, but it's not a good idea to submit now. The Ming Dynasty is no longer the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty has been defeated in Liaodong, and the Later Jin Dynasty is powerful. You, the Ming Dynasty, will never offend the Khan at this time."

"If the tribe submits now, the Khan will definitely be angry at Ming. If Ming refuses to submit in order to please the Khan, the tribe will have no chance of surviving on the grassland."

Tana's words made sense. As she said, if it was in the past, surrender might be a solution, but now the situation is different. The possibility of surrender is not great. Even if Zhu Shenzhu persuaded Emperor Tianqi to agree to the tribe's surrender through Wei Zhongxian's relationship, what about the officials of the Ming Dynasty? What do they think?

Just as Tana said, with the rise of the Later Jin and Jiannu, the Ming Dynasty was in a desperate situation in Liaodong and lost all the territory east of Shanhaiguan. The court's primary enemy was the Later Jin and Jiannu, and the war with the Later Jin was also the most important thing now.

Under such circumstances, the Ming Dynasty would certainly further win over Ligdan Khan and unite with Mongolia to deal with the Later Jin. At this time, if the tribe submitted, it would be tantamount to offending Ligdan Khan. Compared with the powerful Ligdan Khan, Ashil Temur's tribe was nothing at all. Given the traditional ethics of Ming officials, it is possible that Ashil Temur and the tribe would be sold directly at that time.

Nodding, Zhu Shenzhui said: "You are right, I was thinking wrong just now, this thing really can't be done now."

Tana sighed. They had no way to deal with this matter and could only take it one step at a time.

Then the two talked about the caravan attack. Facing Tana, Zhu Shenzhui spoke more casually and was not as cautious as he was in front of Ashi Timur. While talking to Tana about this matter, he also told Tana his judgment and opinion on the matter, and also told her that he had already found someone in Ming Dynasty to investigate the matter.

Tana felt that Zhu Shenzhui's analysis and judgment made sense. Although there was no evidence to prove whether this judgment was correct, judging from what had happened, Zhu Shenzhui's analysis was likely to be true.

(End of this chapter)