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

Chapter 263 Alia

Zhu Shenzhui finally agreed to Tana's request. Although it was a little unexpected, Zhu Shenzhui's reason told him that this was indeed the best choice. Moreover, it was not a bad thing for him to have Tana and her son control the tribe. With this big tribe as a backing, Zhu Shenzhui could do a lot in the future.

Zhu Shenzhui was just a little surprised at first, but he was relieved after he figured it out. In addition, Zhu Shenzhui also considered a problem, that is, the Ming Dynasty would become increasingly unstable in the days to come. Although he had already started to make plans in the Ming Dynasty, many things could only be done in private because of his status. Now that this tribe fell into his hands, the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia would work together, and it would be much easier for him to do things.

Besides, who can tell what the future will be like? If such a day really comes, what difference does it make whether Tana and the children are in the grassland or in the Ming Dynasty?

On the second day after the two people finished their discussion, the tribe held a funeral ceremony for Ashi Temur and others. After the funeral was completed, Tana, who was dressed in gorgeous clothes, held the hand of Tenger, who was also dressed in gorgeous clothes but could not even walk steadily, and announced the decision in front of everyone in the tribe.

The decision was that Tenger, as the blood heir of Ashi Temur, would serve as the next Taiji of the tribe, and Tana, as the mother of the underage Taiji, would name herself Aliya, which means guardian in Chinese.

When this decision was announced, no Mongolian from any tribe raised any objection. All of them loudly praised Eternal Heaven and Alia, and knelt down before Tana and her son to express their submission.

With this, Tana and her son officially became the masters of the tribe, and not only that, Zhu Shencui's position in the tribe was also established. Due to Zhu Shencui's special status, Tana specially appointed Zhu Shencui as Zhaluhuchi, or judge, in the name of Taiji.

This official position is an old title used by the Mongols during the time of Genghis Khan. Originally, the judge had great power and was responsible for deciding life and death and miscellaneous affairs. After Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty and reformed the official system, the judge was changed to the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan, and his power was greatly weakened.

Considering that Tenger was only a taiji of the tribe and not a prince, and that Ashi Temur was originally only a Jinong and a Wanhu of the Right Wing of Mongolia, as Tenger's biological father, it would be inappropriate to give Zhu Shenzhu any other position. Instead, the position of judge in the early days of the Mongol Empire was more appropriate.

After careful consideration, Tana gave this position to Zhu Shencui. From this point of view, Zhu Shencui became a big figure in the tribe on par with Tana after taking the position of judge, and he had power almost equivalent to that of a regent and a grand tutor.

Although some Mongols were not comfortable with the fact that a Ming man became the tribal judge, they also thought of the fact that Zhu Shenzhui was the biological father of Taiji, and his wife Tana was Alia. In this way, it made no difference whether he was the judge or not, it was just a title.

Thinking of this, the Mongols felt relieved. After paying their respects to Tana and Tenger, they bowed to Zhu Shenzui who was standing next to the mother and son, thus acknowledging that Zhu Shenzui had become the tribal judge.

After the ceremony, everything was settled, and the power of the tribe fell into the hands of Tana and her son. But there were still many things to do. On the one hand, there were problems within the tribe. Because of Galiba's perverse actions, the tribe suffered a lot of losses, and most of the elders and leaders of the tribe either died at Galiba's hands or surrendered to Galiba. The former was fine, but as for the latter, although they were let go for the sake of stability, it did not mean that they would continue to be reused.

The Mongolian tribes were a loose political system, which was different from the Ming Dynasty. Although Kublai Khan made adjustments according to the Han system after establishing the Yuan Empire, after the Yuan Dynasty lost the Central Plains, the Mongols who returned to Mongolia began to gradually restore their original customs, including tribal composition and political structure.

The taiji is the highest leader of the tribe. Below the taiji are the nobles who directly manage the military power of the tribe, such as the thousand households and the hundred households. These people are usually the most trusted people of the taiji, such as the taiji's brothers and sons. Just like in the past tribes, Hadanbaatar was a thousand households, Xurigan and Galiba were both hundred households, and Tenger was also appointed as a hundred households by Ashe Temur at that time, but his mother Tana actually held the title of hundred households on his behalf.

All of these people are direct descendants of Timur, and their role is to control the foundation of the tribe, that is, the military force, in order to ensure their own status.

In addition, there are elders and leaders in the tribe. These people are somewhat similar to the thousand households and hundred households, but they are only responsible for the tribal affairs, such as the management of herdsmen, and assisting the Taiji in handling miscellaneous affairs including religious and sacrificial matters.

In other words, one is the military and the other is the political. The elders and leaders are the civil servants in the tribe, and the Taiji manages the entire tribe through them. Galiba killed so many people in the tribe. Now that Galiba has been dealt with, both the military and the political need to be adjusted. The military is better. After studying the current situation of the tribe, Zhu Shenzhui and Tana discussed and re-established eight hundred households in the tribe. These eight hundred households are Wang Hai and the other three Mongolians who have followed Zhu Shenzhui and Tana for a long time, and the last one is Hatulig.

Speaking of Hatulig, he is an old friend of Zhu Shenzui. Zhu Shenzui met Hatulig when he first came to the grassland. At that time, Hatulig was still a herdsman from a small tribe, and his father Eris was the elder of this small tribe.

Later, Ershi died and the grassland was hit by a disaster, causing heavy losses to the tribe. In order to survive, Hatulig led his tribe to join the Ashitemur tribe and became a member of the Ashitemur tribe.

Before, Ligdan Khan had gathered troops several times. As the heir of the tribe, Hadan Bater participated in the wars between Ligdan Khan and Inner Khalkha, Khorchin and Outer Khalkha. Hatulig also participated in the first two wars. Fortunately, Hatulig did not participate in the last war, otherwise he might have stayed in the northern desert forever like Hadan Bater.

When Galiba rebelled, Hatulig, as an ordinary member of the tribe, did not participate. Later, Galiba killed all opponents and controlled the tribe. As an adult of the tribe and a veteran who had fought in wars, Hatulig was naturally incorporated into the army.

When Zhu Shencui led his men to attack the big tent and fight with Galiba, Hatulig, as a centurion, was only defending the outer perimeter of the big tent in the camp and did not participate in the battle with Zhu Shencui. This was mainly because Hatulig was not Galiba's confidant, and Galiba would not trust his safety to a Mongol like Hatulig who had originally followed Hadan Bater to the expedition.

When Galiba was shot to death by Wang Hai and his head was chopped off, Hatulig, who learned the news, was the first Mongol outside the tent to lay down his arms and surrender. After all, Hatulig knew Zhu Shenzhui and had followed Hadan Bater on two expeditions. He had no good feelings towards Galiba in his heart, and Galiba would not trust them. Now that even Galiba is dead, what's the point in him continuing to risk his life?

After getting rid of Galiba, Zhu Shenzhui was able to stabilize the tribe so quickly because Hatulig and others helped a lot, saving a lot of trouble. Zhu Shenzhui also knew Hatulig, and now was the time to use people, so he simply promoted Hatulig and made him one of the eight centurions.

Not only that, even Hatulig's son Tuzhigen was appointed as the captain of ten men. When the order was given and he went to the big tent to officially receive the order, Hatulig's face was full of excitement and surprise. He never thought that he would be promoted to a centurion in one step, and his son Tuzhigen also took over the position of captain of ten men. He was filled with immense gratitude to Zhu Shencui.

Zhu Shenzhui was appointed the position of Qianhu himself. He had considered letting Wang Hai take the position, but after careful consideration, he gave up the idea. Although Wang Hai was also a Mongolian, Galiba died at Wang Hai's hands, and Wang Hai made a great contribution this time.

Unfortunately, Wang Hai's background was not good. He was born a slave, and everyone in the tribe knew this. In addition, Wang Hai was too young. There would be many people in the tribe who would not accept his promotion to the position of a thousand households. For these reasons, Zhu Shenzhui gave up the idea and only appointed Wang Hai as a centurion. However, his centurion was different from other centurions. Wang Hai was a centurion directly under Taiji, and he controlled the most elite troops in the tribe. In addition, Zhu Shenzhui could not stay in the tribe for a long time. Whenever he was not in the tribe, Wang Hai took over the position of a thousand households in the name of a centurion. In this way, except for the lack of a formal title, Wang Hai was not much different from a centurion.

Zhu Shenzui and his wife have absolute trust in Wang Hai, and Wang Hai has proved this with everything he has done over the years. This arrangement is the most appropriate and will also reassure Tana.

After the military personnel were settled, the next thing to do was to deal with the elders and leaders of the tribe. Zhu Shencui would not touch the two elders and leaders who had changed their minds before. Although they had surrendered to Galiba, it was understandable given the situation at that time. Moreover, both Zhu Shencui and Tana needed their surrender to manage the herdsmen.

It is also impossible to reuse them. If they do something once, they will do it again. No one can guarantee whether they will change their minds next time. Zhu Shenzhui kept them just to stabilize the tribe, which does not mean that he can really trust them. Therefore, Zhu Shenzhui and Tana discussed and reappointed several new people to the elders and leaders of the tribe.

After doing all this, the overall framework of the tribe has been basically established, but Zhu Shenzhu will continue to make adjustments in the future. The looseness of the Mongolian tribe still has disadvantages for absolute control. As a judge, Zhu Shenzhu will gradually take power back from the elders and leaders in the future, and then use official positions to determine the rule of the tribe, thereby strengthening the centralization and cohesion of the tribe.

(End of this chapter)