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

Chapter 346 The Leaders' Attitudes
Tana understood this, so she hurriedly sent people to Daming to contact Zhu Shencui. It happened that Zhu Shencui had just arrived at Weiyuanwei at that time and directly met the messenger sent from the tribe.

After reading the letter, Zhu Shenzhui knew the situation was urgent and did not dare to delay for a moment. He rushed to the grassland for several days and returned to the tribe shortly after the envoy of Lindan Khan left.

With a frown on his face, Zhu Shenzhui was thinking. He had to make a choice as soon as possible: either obey Lindan Khan's order and serve as a vanguard to attack Bushitu, or refuse Lindan Khan.

But no matter what they did, it would not be a good thing for the Tenger tribe. Although the edict of Lindan Khan sounded high-sounding and the envoys he sent spoke in a grandiose manner, Zhu Shenzui knew very well what kind of person Lindan Khan was.

Although Lin Danhan had great ambitions, he was incompetent, cunning, cruel, and capricious. If there is any historical figure that can be compared to him, Yuan Shao from the Three Kingdoms period is probably the closest.

The comment on Yuan Shao in the Records of the Three Kingdoms is "Shao is a hawk in Hebei, but he is generous on the outside and cautious on the inside. He is good at making plans but not decisive, has talents but cannot use them, and hears good things but cannot accept them..."

The same was true of Lindan Khan. As the overlord of Mongolia, he, the Great Khan, possessed the most powerful army and the most fertile grasslands on the grassland, but in reality he was unworthy of his position. He was arrogant and cunning, lacked firm decision-making and execution capabilities, could not listen to the advice of his subordinates, had an erratic personality, and was often suspicious of his subordinates. The two were very similar.

It is not easy to work under such a master. It is precisely for these reasons that Lin Danhan not only failed to achieve his goal of unifying the grassland during these years of fighting, but also encountered setbacks everywhere and caused widespread complaints.

When the Ming Dynasty was in alliance with the Jiannu, the Ming Dynasty would not have suffered heavy losses in the several wars with the Jiannu if Lin Dan Khan had cooperated with them. Lin Dan Khan's actions were the best in his eyes. He could sit on the mountain and watch the fight between the Ming Dynasty and the Jiannu. No matter who won or lost, both sides would suffer losses. In this way, Lin Dan Khan, whose strength was intact, became the biggest beneficiary, thus weakening his opponent while preserving his own strength and continuing to unify Mongolia by force.

Although Lin Danhan's cleverness seemed clever, he actually lost the big picture. As an ally, Lin Danhan broke his original promise and lost his most precious reputation. As an opponent, he did not take the opportunity to attack the Later Jin Jiannu, thereby achieving the goal of truly consuming the opponent's strength. Instead, he allowed the Later Jin Jiannu to rapidly expand its power after defeating the Ming Dynasty.

The same was true not only in the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin and Jiannu, but also in the war between the Later Jin and Jiannu and the various Mongolian tribes. Every time, Lin Danhan adopted this strategy, intending to suppress other tribes with the help of others, and then come out to clean up the mess afterwards and become the fisherman after the fight between the snipe and the clam.

Unfortunately, once or twice, Lin Dan Khan had to watch helplessly as the Mongolian tribes were reconquered by the Later Jin Jiannu. As a result, when the humiliated Lin Dan Khan tried to lead his troops to punish the other side, the other side had already joined forces with the Later Jin Jiannu and turned around to beat Lin Dan Khan badly.

People say that falling into a pit once is an accident, but falling into a pit twice is a sign of stupidity. But it happened to Lindan Khan once, twice, or even three or more times. This cannot but make people wonder if there was really something wrong with Lindan Khan's IQ?
Now that Lin Danhan has come up with this, it is obvious that he has the same idea. Let the Tenger tribe and Bushitu fight each other, and he will watch quietly from the sidelines. After both sides are defeated, he will come out to clean up the mess and become the biggest winner.

Zhu Shenzhui was not a moron, how could he possibly believe in the promise of Lindan Khan? He was not Ashi Timur. Zhu Shenzhui remembered clearly how Hadan Bater died when Lindan Khan conquered Mobei. If he really believed Lindan Khan's lies, he would have to sell him out completely.

But if they did not respect the orders of Ligdan Khan, it would not work. After all, everyone knew that the Tenger tribe was one of the tribes supporting Ligdan Khan, and the previous tribal taiji Ashi Temur was a direct subordinate of Ligdan Khan. Even Tenger's position of taiji and the titles of Jinong and Wanhu were granted by Ligdan Khan.

Once they went against the will of Ligdan Khan, it would be tantamount to showing their attitude of parting ways with Ligdan Khan. In this case, the Tenger tribe would lose their moral integrity. As a tribe supporting Ligdan Khan, such a choice would inevitably arouse Ligdan Khan's anger. Given Ligdan Khan's character, he might even directly launch an attack on the Tenger tribe out of anger.

Moreover, the Tengger tribe had already forged a feud with Bu Shitu, so it was impossible for them to turn to Bu Shitu. If they did so, the Tengger tribe would become a target of public condemnation and would eventually face an even more dangerous situation.

Neither this nor that works. Zhu Shenzhui was in a dilemma. He didn't sleep well that night. Although he was very tired after rushing all the way here, he thought about it all night. When the sun rose the next day, Tana saw Zhu Shenzhui's red eyes and haggard appearance and felt very distressed. She comforted him that if it really didn't work, he should follow Lindan Khan's wishes to send troops. With the current strength of the tribe, even if they couldn't win the battle against Bushitu, at least they would have no problem protecting themselves.

"It's not that simple." Zhu Shenzhui shook his head and smiled bitterly. Once a war breaks out, there will be losses, and victory or defeat on the battlefield is not like math. Even though the Tenger tribe has greatly increased in strength, Zhu Shenzhui still has a battalion of new troops transferred from the Ming Dynasty, plus the cavalry he has trained in the past two years, but he is still not sure about dealing with Bu Shitu.

As the nominal leader of the Tumed, Bu Shitu had a large army under his command, and his people were stronger than the Tenger tribe. In addition, Bu Shitu also had the Kharachin and Yongshebu tribes as allies. The combined strength of the three tribes was such that even Lin Danhan dared to challenge them. Zhu Shenzhu had no absolute confidence that he could defeat Bu Shitu. Besides, whether it was the new army or the cavalry trained by the tribe, Zhu Shenzhu had spent a lot of money and effort to train them. Putting these elite troops into such a war would not be worth the loss even if he won in the end.

Once these elite troops were lost, all Zhu Shenzui's efforts over the past few years would be in vain. How could he possibly do that?

"Notify everyone and ask Wang Hai and the others to come to the big tent to see me." No matter how difficult it is, he has to make a choice. Zhu Shenzhui has little time left. The Tengger tribe cannot delay any longer and must make their attitude clear. Zhu Shenzhui spoke immediately.

Tana responded, walked out of the tent to convey Zhu Shencui's order, and then returned to the tent to help Zhu Shencui wash and change clothes.

A quarter of an hour later, Wang Hai, Burigude, Lu Yishen, Li You and several other leaders of the tribe came to the big tent one after another. After everyone arrived, Zhu Shenzui sat on Tana's left hand, and Tana and Tenger sat in the main seat. He swept his eyes over everyone and then began to talk about the matter.

Many people had heard that Lindan Khan's envoy had come to the tribe, but most people did not know the real purpose of his visit. When Zhu Shenzui told everyone the Khan's order in front of everyone, there was a sudden commotion in the tent. Everyone showed surprised expressions, and then they all had different expressions.

Among them, Burigude and several other leaders looked eager to try. Because of the previous Zhenlubao incident, the tribe had an extremely averse attitude towards Bu Shitu. Although the matter was eventually left unresolved, everyone knew that Bu Shitu was the mastermind behind it. These Mongols, who were straightforward and revengeful, had long been dissatisfied with Bu Shitu. When they heard that Ligdan Khan was preparing to raise an army to attack Bu Shitu, they all became excited.

Lu Yisheng had been training the new army in Zhaowuling and didn't know the situation of the tribe. It was also his first time in the tribe. He was dragged to attend this meeting without even knowing everyone except Wang Hai and Li You. He didn't understand the situation of Bu Shitu and Lin Danhan at all.

Wang Hai and Li You had different expressions. Compared with the excited Burigude and others, they seemed much calmer. After listening to Zhu Shenzui's story, their brows immediately frowned. It seemed that they also realized the difficulty of this matter. It looked simple on the surface, but it was not that easy in reality. If they failed to deal with it properly, the tribe would probably be in big trouble.

"Sir, is there any need to say this? The old fellow Bu Shitu should have been taught a lesson long ago. This time the Khan's plan to attack Bu Shitu is a perfect opportunity. As long as we destroy Bu Shitu, who among the Tumed tribes will dare to look down on our tribe? Then our tribe will be able to take their place and become the leader of the Tumed!" A leader could not help but speak out.

As soon as he said this, everyone nodded. Burigude smiled and said, "Bu Shitu has offended many people over the years because of his arrogance. The Khan gave him a severe lesson last time. He has been honest for a few years, but he did not change his bad habits last year and secretly attacked us. He should have been taught a lesson long ago. This time the Khan ordered to attack Bu Shitu. I want to see how long this old guy can get away with it? After we kill him, wouldn't it be a good thing to take over Guihua City?"

"That's right!" Another leader's eyes sparkled, and he immediately added: "Destroying Bu Shitu will not only help us to show our respect in front of the Khan, but will also intimidate other tribes. There is another benefit as well."

"What benefits?" everyone asked anxiously.

The leader said proudly: "Don't forget that Bu Shitu still has the title of King of Shunyi. If Bu Shitu is destroyed, who do you think will be given the title of King of Shunyi?"

"Yes!" Everyone slapped their thighs and became excited. The King of Shunyi was conferred by the Ming Dynasty. This title is very honorable on the grassland. The reason why Bushitu is the nominal leader of Tumed is not because of the heritage and title passed down from his ancestors?

Once Bu Shitu died, the title of King of Shunyi would naturally fall to Tengger. Don't forget that Tengger was the Dragon and Tiger General second only to King of Shunyi. In addition, with the close relationship between the tribe and the Ming Dynasty, it would be just a matter of time before he could get the title of King of Shunyi from the Ming Dynasty.

For a moment, everyone became excited, as if Tenger was about to become the King of Shunyi. Even Tana couldn't help but be moved. If Tenger could really get the title of King of Shunyi, then the Tenger tribe would become the nominal leader of the Tumed, and she would probably be able to become someone like Sanniangzi as she had always dreamed of. By that time, she would move into Guihua City and recreate the glory of Sanniangzi's leadership over the Tumed tribes. Just thinking about it made her very excited.

(End of this chapter)