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

Chapter 254 Shocking Change
Hadan Bater had two thousand elite cavalrymen, which was the most powerful cavalry in the Ashitemur tribe.

In the war to the north of the desert, Hadan Bater's men suffered little loss, and the supplies he carried were more abundant than those of other tribes, and his equipment was better.

This is related to Zhu Shencui. With the deepening of trade between Zhu Shencui and the tribe in the past two years, the Ashi Temur tribe has developed well. Not only has it obtained a lot of supplies from the Ming Dynasty, but even the tribe's cavalry equipment has become much stronger.

All these also made Hadan Bater's two thousand elite cavalry much more powerful than those of other tribes, but no one expected that it was for this reason that Ligdan Khan gave the task of covering the retreat to Hadan Bater. On the one hand, Hadan Bater's cavalry was well-equipped and good at fighting. On the other hand, in Ligdan Khan's eyes, although the Ashitemur tribe was one of the tribes supporting the Mongolian headquarters, it was different from the tribes directly under the Khan. In order to preserve the strength of his own headquarters, it was best to let Hadan Bater's people cover the retreat.

After the order was issued, Hadanbaatar could not believe his ears. He never thought that he would become a sacrifice in Ligdan Khan's attempt to withdraw the army and be responsible for the task of covering the rear.

Deep down, Hadan Bater did not want to take on this task, but he could not refuse the Khan's order. Besides, Lindan Khan's golden tent was not far away and the messenger was also in front of him. If Hadan Bater refused directly, then Lindan Khan would definitely not forgive him given his temper.

At that time, Lin Danhan would directly regard their troops as rebels, and no one could escape once the army surrounded them. It would be fine if he lost his life, but what about the two thousand warriors of the tribe?
What's more, if this happened, his tribe would be completely finished. Lindan Khan was not a man who was easy to talk to. When the army approached, the entire tribe would suffer a devastating disaster.

Faced with such a situation, Hadanbaatar had no choice but to agree even if he was reluctant. In this way, he and his men became the team that covered the rear of the army.

Being the rear guard for the army was an extremely dangerous task, and Hadanbaatar certainly understood this, but now he had no choice at all and could only pray that the Eternal Heaven would grant him luck.

Unfortunately, both warring parties were Mongols, and Changshengtian might have no choice but to close his eyes and let them decide their own fate.

In the following month, Hadanbaatar and his cavalry encountered continuous battles while they were left behind. Although they were braver, more elite and more powerful than their opponents, they were too few in number after all. Moreover, because they were left behind, they lost the advantage of cavalry that could move like the wind and could only fight passively.

After several battles, the two thousand elite cavalry suffered heavy losses. At this time, Hadan Bater could only hold on hard. He held on until Ligdan Khan's army finally retreated to Chahar. Only then did Hadan Bater relax and began to break out to the south.

But who would have thought that it was too late. As troops from various tribes in Mobei arrived one after another, an encirclement had been formed. Hadan Bater's retreat was cut off by the enemy, and he had no reinforcements. If he wanted to break out, he had to fight his way out.

The final breakout began, and Hadan Bater led his remaining cavalry to break out, but how easy was it to face the siege and interception of several times the number of Mobei cavalry? The continuous fighting made his cavalry exhausted, and coupled with the continuous losses, their combat effectiveness was also weakened accordingly.

The battle was so brutal that Tana told Zhu Shenzhui that only less than 200 of the 2,000 elite cavalrymen of the tribe managed to break through, and all of them were injured. Her brother Hadan Bater was not able to break through, and died on the way to break through, and even his body could not be found.

The news was received not long ago. When the news came, Ashitemur could not withstand such a blow and fell down.

As a tribal leader, Ashi Temur was a qualified leader, and Hadan Bater was his chosen successor. Now that the successor died in Mobei, and the tribe suffered such a huge loss, how could Ashi Temur, who was already over 60 years old, withstand such a heavy blow?
After Ashe Temur fell, the whole tribe was in panic. The leader was seriously ill and there was no heir. Some people in the tribe couldn't help but have thoughts, including Tana's brother, Xurigan.

Xu Rigan is the second oldest child. In his opinion, now that his eldest brother is gone and his father is seriously ill, he should be the next heir.

In order to become the heir, Xurigan went to consult with the third brother, Galiba, in an attempt to gain the support of his younger brother. At this time, Galiba did not object to Xurigan becoming the heir, and showed his full approval and support for his second brother. Under Galiba's suggestion, the simple-minded Xurigan ignored the serious illness of Asitemur and ran directly to his father and shamelessly asked his father to announce himself as the next heir. At this time, Asitemur, who was sad about the death of his eldest son, was furious. He struggled to get up and grabbed the whip to teach his bastard son a lesson.

But who would have thought that Xurigan would dare to fight back. Perhaps in his eyes, he was the sure successor. His eldest brother was gone, his father was seriously ill and might soon go to see Changshengtian, and the third brother, Galiba, supported him. At this time, who else could be the heir of the tribe if not himself?
Moreover, Xurigan had drunk a lot of wine before he went to see Ashitemur. In addition, his brain was not very good to begin with. When he saw Ashitemur was going to whip him, he actually plucked up the courage to fight back. Unexpectedly, this fight back led to a result that he regretted deeply. It was not that Xurigan had the courage to hit his father. In fact, his fight back was just to forcefully take the whip from his father's hand, and at the same time he said some arrogant words. Unexpectedly, the seriously ill Ashitemur was so angry that he vomited blood on the spot and died of anger at this rebellious son.

Seeing his father dead, Xu Rigan, who had sobered up from the alcohol, came to his senses. Although he wanted to compete for the heir, he never thought of killing his father. But now his father was angered to death by him, what should he do?
Xurigan was so anxious that he thought for a long time and ran to consult with the third brother, Galiba. After learning that Asitemur was angered to death by Xurigan, Galiba suggested that Xurigan should go with the flow, have the news blocked, and directly take over as the leader of the tribe in the name of the successor.

As long as this step is completed and Xu Ri becomes the next leader, then the previous things can be covered up. Besides, after taking the position of leader, will he still investigate the cause of Ashe Timur's death in the future? All problems will no longer be problems.

After hearing this, Xurigan thought it was a good suggestion and immediately discussed it with Galiba. After discussion, the two decided to gather all the tribesmen early the next morning to publicly announce the news that Ashil Timur had returned to Changshengtian due to serious illness, and at the same time strongly promoted Xurigan to be the leader of the tribe.

Everything seemed so perfect, but Xurigan never expected that when he summoned the elders and leaders of the tribe the next day to announce this matter and then become the leader of the tribe, Galiba, who had been secretly prepared, suddenly attacked on the spot.

Galiba tore off his own face and denounced Xurigan for patricide in front of everyone. He revealed everything Xurigan had done in public and told everyone that a man like Xurigan was not worthy of being the leader of the tribe, but was a sinner of the tribe. He deserved to be trampled into a pulp by thousands of horses for what he had done.

When the truth was revealed, Xurigan, who was dreaming of becoming the tribal leader the moment before, was stunned the next moment. He never expected that his good brother Galiba, who had always been in the same boat with him, would actually betray him.

Faced with the irrefutable evidence and the accusations and scoldings from the crowd, Xu Rigan was furious. He cursed Galiba as a venomous snake. It was clearly a matter between the two of them. Why did he put all the blame on him? After all this time, the previous support and suggestions were all fake. Galiba's real purpose was to have set his sights on the position of tribal leader. In order to get rid of Xu Rigan and replace him, he pretended to be nice and let himself fall into the trap.

But who would believe a man who killed his father at this time? And everyone in the tribe knew what kind of person Xu Rigan was. He was just a brainless and reckless man. No one was surprised that Xu Rigan could do such a thing. For a while, all the accusations were pointed at Xu Rigan, making it difficult for Xu Rigan to defend himself.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Xurigan intended to resist, but Galiba had already made arrangements. Because Xurigan trusted Galiba before, he asked Galiba to help arrange the manpower near the big tent. But now these arrangements became a poisonous trick to take his life.

But even so, Xurigan still fought hard. He was not willing to surrender, and he knew very well that even if he did not resist, Galiba would never let him go.

A gunfight broke out. Xu Rigan and several of his personal guards resisted Galiba's men, who were several times their number. However, even though he was very powerful, he was still no match for Galiba, who had a thorough plan. He watched his men fall one after another, and he himself was injured. If this continued, it would not be long before Galiba would chop him into pieces.

Seeing that he was about to die, Xu Rigan became anxious and shouted loudly to the tribal elders and leaders beside him, revealing a shocking secret.

Xurigan told everyone that the attack on Zhu Shencui's caravan on the grassland was not done by anyone else, but by him and Galiba together. Moreover, the person who came up with this idea was none other than Galiba, and his intention was to eliminate Zhu Shencui's caravan and weaken the influence of Zhu Shencui and Tana in the tribe. It would be even better if Zhu Shencui could be killed in this way.

The reason is simple. Because of Ashil Timur's love for Tana and his high regard for Zhu Shencui, as a married daughter, Ashil Timur actually gave Tana a relatively high status in the tribe, and also assigned part of the tribe's population to Tana and her son.

As for Zhu Shencui, it goes without saying that a mere Ming man actually married the most beautiful Tana on the grassland. Moreover, everyone knows how much Ashil Timur valued this son-in-law in the past two years. If this continues for a long time, Zhu Shencui's status in the tribe will even surpass Xurigan and Galiba.

In addition, Tana and his wife have a very good relationship with Hadan Bater and have always supported Hadan Bater. So how will Xurigan and Galiba, the second and third sons, deal with it?
When these words were spoken, there was a great uproar, especially Tana who was present, she was extremely shocked. She never thought that the mastermind she and her husband had been looking for was actually her two brothers. No wonder the tribe had not been able to find the whereabouts of those who attacked the caravan. If this matter was really as Xu Rigan said, then all the explanations made sense.

(End of this chapter)