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

Chapter 275 Grassland’s reaction

This was the second time that Emperor Tianqi saw Yuan Chonghuan's name. The first time he saw this name was when Sun Chengzong had just gone to Liaodong to serve as the commander-in-chief. At that time, after Liaodong was defeated, Sun Chengzong took the initiative to volunteer to go to Liaodong to serve as the commander-in-chief. Emperor Tianqi agreed with his teacher Sun's idea and issued an edict.

Not only did he give Sun Chengzong the post of commander of Liaodong, but he also transferred some people from the Ministry of War in Beijing to Liaodong to serve as Sun Chengzong's subordinates in order to replace the original group of officials in Liaodong. Yuan Chonghuan was the head of the Ministry of War at the time and was one of the candidates selected to go to Liaodong.

When Yuan Chonghuan left Beijing, he submitted a memorial to Emperor Tianqi, who read it. He was deeply impressed by it because Yuan Chonghuan wrote a lot about his views and judgments on the situation in Liaodong, which were vaguely consistent with what Sun Chengzong had said to him. In addition, a mere military official had such an understanding of the situation in Liaodong. It can be seen that Yuan Chonghuan had made a lot of preparations for going to Liaodong and had certain ideas. Therefore, Emperor Tianqi remembered this person.

Now, Sun Chengzong mentioned Yuan Chonghuan again in his memorial, which reminded Emperor Tianqi of the impression he had when he first read Yuan Chonghuan's memorial. On the one hand, he had the previous impression, and on the other hand, Sun Chengzong's recommendation, so Emperor Tianqi considered it for a while, wrote down Sun Chengzong's suggestion on a piece of paper, and then drew a circle, ready to implement the matter according to Sun Chengzong's suggestion.

After finishing all this, Emperor Tianqi put the memorial back, pinched his sore brows with his hand, looked once again at the other memorials that he had not finished reading, took a sip of ginseng tea, perked up, picked up another one, and continued to read it carefully in the candlelight...

A few days later, with the approval of the cabinet, the reward for the Tenger tribe was finally decided. The Ming Dynasty conferred the title of Dragon and Tiger General on the Tenger tribe's Taiji and the title of Lady Zhongshun on his mother Tana, and also gave them silk, satin, gold and silver.

After the matter was settled, the next thing was for the Ministry of Rites to send people to the grassland to confer awards. Wei Zhongxian had someone in the Ministry of Rites, and secretly instructed his people to take over this job. This matter was not difficult to handle, and it was not a place to confer awards. If it was to go to Jiangnan, it would definitely be a good job, and even if it was to go to other places, it would not be a bad job. But this was different from going to the Mongolian grassland. Those Donglin Party members were not stupid. The grassland was a barbarian land for the Ming Dynasty. The Mongolians were always poor and had to buy even iron pots from the Ming Dynasty. Going to the grassland to confer awards was not profitable at all and might even be risky. Who among the smart Donglin Party members, including other civil servants, would be eager to grab such an assignment? They did not have the awareness of being Su Wu, so there was no obstacle at all for Wei Zhongxian's people to take it.

When the news came, Zhang Xijun hurriedly wrote a letter and sent it to Caoyuan, wanting to tell Zhu Shenzhui about this as soon as possible.

At this time, Zhu Shenzhui had already dealt with the aftermath of the Dilibor Taiji tribe and began to lead his people back to his own tribe.

This old fellow Dilibor Taiji ran faster than a rabbit. Hatulig and his men chased him for two days but failed to catch up. They could only watch the old fellow run to the West Sea. The risk of continuing to chase him was too great, so they had to return.

For Zhu Shenzhui, it would be good to capture Dilibor Taiji, but it didn't matter if he couldn't. Anyway, Dilibor Taiji's tribe had been captured. Without the tribe, Dilibor Taiji would be just a stray dog.

A decision was also made on how to deal with the Delibortaiji tribe. Zhu Shenzhui took away nearly half of the herdsmen and most of the cattle and sheep of the Delibortaiji tribe. As for the rest, he kept them directly and let several captured elders take over the tribe. He told them that the Delibortaiji tribe would no longer exist in the future, and the remaining herdsmen of the tribe would be their people from now on. It would be up to them to decide what the tribe would be like in the future.

This arrangement made the elders and leaders ecstatic. They originally thought that their lives might be in danger this time. According to the Mongolian tradition, they would be enslaved if they didn't die. Who would have thought that such a good thing would happen? They immediately swore that they were all loyal to Ligdan Khan and drew a clear line between themselves and Delibor Taiji. It was Delibor Taiji who offended Ligdan Khan and had nothing to do with them. Now that Delibor Taiji had escaped, as a member of the Mongolian people, they would naturally continue to support Ligdan Khan and follow the lead of the Tenger tribe in the Tumed grassland.

Zhu Shenzhui didn't care what these people were thinking or how much truth they said. Anyway, he didn't expect these people to be of the same mind as him.

The reason for this arrangement is that Zhu Shenzui wanted to save some trouble. He could certainly raise his butcher knife and massacre the people in the tribe, or directly swallow up the entire tribe, but the impact of doing so was too great. Not to mention whether the tribe of nearly 10,000 people could be absorbed by the Tengger tribe, but also had to consider the ideas of other Tumed tribes.

In addition, keeping these people and giving them half of the tribe's herdsmen was also for future considerations. As long as they had the ability to control these herdsmen, then even if Dilibor Taiji ran back from the West Sea in the future, it would be wishful thinking for him to take back the tribe.

People are selfish. Being the elder and leader of a tribe is not as good as being a Taiji. Once he sits on this position and controls the people of the tribe, Dilibor Taiji will have no chance to take back the tribe. In addition, the location of Dilibor Taiji's tribe is to the west of the Tenger tribe. Once it is completely annexed, the large grassland to the west will be without an owner. At that time, the Tenger tribe will also lose its western barrier. If Dilibor Taiji borrows the power of the Xihai branch to fight back, their existence will be very beneficial to the Tenger tribe.

After arranging these, Zhu Shenzhui led his people back to the Tenger tribe, including not only the captured people, cattle, sheep and horses, but also the captured family members of Dilibortaiji and several other tribal elders and leaders. Except for the ordinary herdsmen, cattle, sheep and horses, which would be incorporated into the Tenger tribe, the rest would be sent to Chahar and handed over to Ligdan Khan for disposal. After all, the fight against Dilibortaiji was in the name of Ligdan Khan, and the expedition was against the disloyal tribe. As one of the direct tribes of the right wing of the Mongolian Tumed, supporting Ligdan Khan, there was nothing wrong with doing so.

On the way back, the news about the war with the Delibortaiji tribe quickly spread across the grassland. By the time Zhu Shenzhui returned to the Tenger tribe, the matter was also known to the Tumed tribes.

For a moment, all the Tumed tribes were horrified. They never expected that the Delibor Taiji tribe would be destroyed so easily. Except for Delibor Taiji himself who escaped with a dozen guards, all his family members fell into the hands of the Tenger tribe. The originally powerful Delibor Taiji tribe was wiped out. Although nearly half of its tribe still existed, after those elders and leaders took over, would this still be the original Delibor Taiji tribe?
It was originally thought that after the death of Ashe Temur, his tribe was seriously damaged by the civil strife. Now a two-year-old boy was found as the taiji, and the taiji's mother, a woman, was in charge of the tribe. It seems that the weakening of the Tenger tribe is inevitable. Moreover, until now, the Tenger tribe has not been officially recognized by Ligdan Khan. The title of Jinong and the position of the right wing Wanhu belonging to Ashe Temur are vacant, which can't help but make other tribes have thoughts.

In the eyes of other tribes, even if Tana supported Tenger to take the position of Taiji, it would be useless. The tribes with greatly reduced strength would no longer be qualified to take over the positions of Jinong and Wanhu. At that time, these tribes would have the opportunity to replace him. Under the surface calm, undercurrents were surging, and each of them was looking for a suitable opportunity to take action.

But who would have thought that before they could make a move, the Tenger tribe took action first. Under the banner of conquering the rebellious for Ligdan Khan, they suddenly launched an attack on the Delibortaiji tribe, and defeated the Delibortaiji tribe in one battle.

Although the Delibortaiji tribe did not perish, it was now no different from actual extinction. Nearly half of its people and cattle and sheep were transferred to the Tenger tribe, and the rest became the subjects of the original tribal elders and leaders. What was the difference between this and extinction?

The result of this battle was shocking. No one expected that the severely injured Tenger tribe would still be so powerful. Everyone knew that although the Dilibortaiji tribe was not one of the strongest tribes among the twelve Tumed tribes, it was also one of the tribes with medium to low strength. With the strength of the Dilibortaiji tribe, it would not be easy for the Bushitu tribe to defeat it so easily.

But the Tengger tribe did it, and faced with this result, other tribes had to pay attention to the Tengger tribe again. Several tribes that were originally ready to make plans against the Tengger tribe gave up their plans and instead sent envoys to congratulate Tengger Taiji on his succession, showing the willingness of both sides to live in harmony.

A few days after Zhu Shenzui returned to the tribe, Tana received several envoys from other tribes.

"These people are such despicable people. If we hadn't won this time, how could they have such faces now?" Facing these tribal envoys, Tana displayed the dignity and magnanimity of an Alia. It can be seen that the perfect person returned to her yurt. Facing Zhu Shenzhui's questions, Tana snuggled in her husband's arms like an ordinary woman, narrating the scene just now with a beaming face, and at the same time couldn't help scolding these people.

"Haha, it's human nature to seek benefits and avoid harm. These tribal taijis are not fools. They are just like the hungry wolves on the grassland. When a tiger is majestic, these hungry wolves will bow down to it. But when the tiger is injured and has lost its previous strength, these hungry wolves can't wait to rush forward and tear the tiger's flesh and blood."

"We have proved our strength with military force, so they naturally dare not act rashly. It is normal for them to come to you and me to please us now. And can you guarantee that their current expressions are what they really think? Maybe these hungry wolves have other thoughts and sent envoys for other purposes."

"I understand. You mean they came here to show their attitude and to test our background?" Tana asked thoughtfully.

Zhu Shenzhui nodded. He wanted to tell Tana that this was the truth. Even though they had reversed the previous predicament and intimidated the Tumed tribes by attacking the Dilibortaiji tribe this time, it did not mean that they could sit back and relax in the future.

No matter if they are from the Ming Dynasty or the Mongols, as long as they are big shots who hold power, they cannot be underestimated, especially these Taijis, none of whom are easy to deal with. They appear honest on the surface but are greedy and cruel in their hearts. The Mongolian grasslands have always been a place where the strong prey on the weak. Once they discover that the Tenger tribe is strong on the outside but weak on the inside, and that Tana is a woman who is easy to fool, then no one can guarantee what they will do in the future.

(End of this chapter)