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

Chapter 270 Escape in embarrassment

Even though Lindan Khan's prestige has declined and his strength has suffered in recent years, he is still the Great Khan of the Mongols and the common ruler of all Mongolia.

A lean camel is bigger than a horse. Perhaps a big tribe like Khorchin is not afraid of Ligdan Khan, but the Delibortaiji tribe is not Khorchin. Not to mention Khorchin, it is not even as good as the Chaohua tribe.

The entire tribe had less than 10,000 people, and less than a third of them could mount horses and fight. If the old and weak were excluded, it would only be half. For a tribe like this, even if Delibor Taiji had the blood of the Golden Family, what would it matter? Could he compete with the powerful Ligdan Khan?

These cavalrymen who attacked the tribes were well-equipped and killed without blinking an eye. What was even more terrifying was that they were equipped with firearms such as cannons. Among the various Mongolian tribes, who else could have such a powerful killing power except the elite troops of Ligdan Khan's headquarters?

As the shouts continued everywhere, coupled with the rumbling sounds of artillery fire, many Mongols in the tribe had already believed that this was indeed the elite cavalry of Ligdan Khan. It was true that the Khan was dissatisfied with Dilibor Taiji and sent troops to attack Taiji. Under such circumstances, how could the Mongols who had just mustered up the courage to resist have the courage to fight the Khan? They were all Mongols, and the conflict between the Khan and Taiji was also an internal problem of the Golden Family. Why should ordinary herdsmen like them get involved? It would be better to kneel down and beg for surrender than to lose their lives in vain.

The Mongols have always been like this. When the Mongol Empire was conquering all directions, if you voluntarily surrendered to the Mongols, they would not do anything to you. They would even appease you and reuse you afterwards. There were many examples of other tribal nobles who surrendered to the Mongols eventually becoming high-ranking officials of the Mongol Empire.

But it will be different once you put up a desperate resistance. The more fiercely you resist, the more fiercely the retaliation will be. When the war is over, it is common for the defeated side to be killed without leaving a single soul. How could the Mongols not know this?

Frightened, many Mongols dropped their weapons and knelt down to beg for surrender. With their voluntary surrender, the pressure on Zhu Shenzhui's cavalry was greatly reduced, and their troops were directly approaching the enemy's tent.

"Idiot! Idiot!" Dilibor Taiji had been awakened long ago. Shortly after the cavalry rushed into the camp, Dilibor Taiji received the news that the camp was attacked. Although Dilibor Taiji was not young anymore, he was a famous warrior in the tribe who had experienced many battles when he was young.

After putting on his armor and leaving the tent, Dilibor Taiji was not as panicked as one might imagine. He immediately mobilized the troops in the big tent to intercept the enemy's attack. At the same time, he mounted his horse to summon the people in the camp to prepare for a counterattack.

But just at the beginning, as shouts were heard from the front, when the Mongols in the tribe heard that it was Ligdan Khan who was coming, they actually threw down their weapons and surrendered. This scene was seen by Dilibor Taiji, who was so angry that he gritted his teeth and cursed.

"Abu! Hurry! Go quickly!" At this time, Batu, the eldest son of Delibor Taiji, rushed over. Seeing that his father was still near the big tent, he hurriedly told him to run west quickly.

"What are you afraid of! These are definitely not the Khan's troops! The Khan's headquarters is in Chahar, how could they come here silently?" Dilibor Taiji pointed forward.

"Abu, what's the point of saying this now? The enemy is coming with great force and numbers. Let's not talk about whether we can stop them. What will you do if we can't stop them? Moreover, they have firearms. Listen, these firearms are fierce and powerful. Our people are no match for them. Abu! There is a saying among the Ming people: "As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood." You are the Taiji of the tribe, and your safety is the first priority. As long as you are in the tribe, you will be there. Go quickly, and I will help you to cover your retreat."

After saying that, Batu swung his whip and whipped Dilibor Taiji's horse hard on the butt. The horse could not help but neigh in pain and ran to the west. At the same time, Batu shouted to Dilibor Taiji's personal guards, asking them to catch up with Taiji immediately and ensure Taiji's safety.

Then, Batu and his men shouted and instead of retreating, they advanced head-on towards the direction from which Wang Hai and his men were coming.

Although Dilibor Taiji was unwilling in his heart, he still ran away. He broke out from the west of the camp with a dozen of his bodyguards in a panic. After running out of the camp, he looked back and saw the camp was still filled with the sound of killing. He wanted to turn his horse around and go back to have a look, but the bodyguards around him stopped him. It would be a life-or-death situation for them to go back with so few people. Now that they had escaped, they might as well run away. Batu was in the tribe. If Batu could stop them, the tribe could still be saved. If Batu couldn't stop them, then the tribe would be gone, and there would be no point in going back.

Now the only way of survival left for Dilibor Taiji is to continue running westward, all the way to the West Sea to join the main branch of his own tribe, that is, the Zhentaiji tribe that migrated westward that year.

As long as they got there, even if they were far away from the Tumed grassland, they would be able to survive. With the protection of their tribe, even Ligdan Khan would not continue to cause trouble for them. Although they would lose their tribe, at least their lives would be saved.

With the escape of Dilibortaiji, the Mongols in the tribe completely lost the idea of ​​resistance under the pressure of the so-called army of Lindan Khan. Although Batu and his people fought desperately with Zhu Shenzhui's cavalry, the gap in strength between the two sides was too great. The strength of just a few dozen people was no match for the cavalry of the other side that was several times larger than the other side. Moreover, Zhu Shenzhui's cavalry was well-equipped and had a powerful weapon like the Portuguese. They were defeated in two rounds. Even so, Batu still refused to surrender until the Portuguese fired a cannon and Batu was injured and fell off his horse, which completely lost the ability to resist.

After Batu was captured, the tribe's resistance gradually weakened. When daybreak came, the battle with the Delibortaiji tribe finally ended.

The battle was won quickly and decisively. More than 200 people from Delibortaiji's tribe were killed and more than 300 were injured. Most of the ordinary Mongols either surrendered voluntarily or gave up resistance when they saw that the situation was hopeless.

Zhu Shenzhui lost 17 men in the battle and less than 50 were injured. Judging from the ratio of casualties on both sides, this was a great victory.

After the war, Zhu Shencui had all the disarmed Mongols rounded up, but none of the nobles in the tribe, including the relatives and family members of Dilibor Taiji, escaped. All of them were brought over and knelt in front of Zhu Shencui one by one.

Looking at these Mongolian nobles who were usually high and mighty, Zhu Shenzui's eyes swept over them one by one. Beside him, a Mongolian whispered explaining the identities of these people, and this Mongolian was the envoy sent here by Zhu Shenzui.

The envoy was very happy while explaining the identities of these people to Zhu Shenzhui. He had been humiliated here before, but now he had completely vented his anger. He had not expected that Zhaluhuchi would lead the cavalry to win such a battle. This battle was totally unexpected. You know, this is a big tribe. How could the fighting between the Mongolian tribes be so easy? It was common for many tribes to fight for several years or even more than ten years. However, Zhaluhuchi actually defeated the Dilibortaiji tribe in less than half a day. Except for Dilibortaiji and a dozen of his personal guards who fled in panic and disappeared, none of the other family members escaped.

This battle made the envoy admire and worship Zhu Shencui from the bottom of his heart. The Mongols have always respected the strong. Although Zhu Shencui was a Ming man, he was not only the biological father of Taiji, but also the Zhaluhuchi of the tribe. With such a Zhaluhuchi leading the tribe, the tribe will surely become stronger in the future. The envoy's previous worries about the future of the tribe due to the internal strife in the tribe were swept away at this moment.

Listening to the messenger's description of these people's identities, Zhu Shenzhui sat there with a calm look on his face, but in his heart he was thinking about how to deal with these people.

It was impossible to kill them all, although the wars between Mongolian tribes were very brutal, especially in the early days of the Mongol Empire, that is, before Genghis Khan unified Mongolia. The outcome of the tribal battles represented the survival of the tribe. All the people and cattle and sheep of the defeated tribe were taken away, and the men of the tribe were either killed or taken prisoner, especially the nobles of the tribe. No man taller than the wheel could survive.

This was what happened to Genghis Khan back then. The young boy almost died in the massacre. If he had not been so young and not taller than the wheels, there would have been no Mongol Empire, and the Golden Family would not have existed.

And now, there were more than a hundred captured elders, leaders and clansmen of Delibortaiji, excluding those who died in battle. These people, old and young, male and female, knelt in front of him, waiting for him to deal with them.

If they followed the Mongolian custom, there would be no problem, but the consequences of doing so would be very serious. After all, although the Tumed tribes had internal conflicts, they were still a whole. This time they suddenly sent troops to win the battle. If Zhu Shenzhui was a Mongolian, there might not be any criticism, but he was a Ming person. If a Ming person did this, it would not be a good thing if it aroused a strong reaction from the other Tumed tribes.

Zhu Shenzhui's purpose of sending troops was to suppress the tribe inside and outside, so as to ensure the stability of the tribe in the Tumed tribe, including the stability of Tana and Tenger. Especially after the internal strife of the tribe, when other tribes were eyeing the tribe covetously, using such a victory to warn other tribes and to win the support of Ligdan Khan for the tribe was the most important purpose.

But if killing aroused resentment, it would deviate from Zhu Shenzhui's original intention. After consideration, he decided not to kill them for the time being and locked them up first. However, this was only a punishment for the elders and leaders of the tribe, not including the family of Dilibor Taiji. The punishment of Dilibor Taiji's family was not so easy. These people would be a nuisance if they were kept, and Dilibor Taiji had fled the tribe. If these people were kept, there would be trouble in the future.

With a wave of his hand, he ordered the elders and leaders to be taken away for imprisonment first, and the only ones left behind were the family members of Dilibor Taiji.

Dilibor Taiji had several wives, three of whom are still alive. He also had many children. Apart from Batu, who was seriously injured but not dead, there were five others, the youngest of whom seemed to be only four or five years old.

(End of this chapter)