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

Chapter 350 Northward
When Zhu Shenzui decided to send troops according to Ligdan Khan's order and join forces with Ligdan Khan to attack Bushitu, the entire tribe immediately began preparations.

Three days later, Zhu Shencui personally led the army to the battle. This time, Zhu Shencui brought several tribal leaders including Burigude and their troops, as well as cavalry directly under the tribal headquarters, and two patrols of the new army led by Li You, in addition to the firearms and other equipment provided by the new army.

Lu Yisheng led the remaining new troops to stay in the tribe, in addition to nearly a thousand elite troops under Tana to ensure the safety of the tribe after the expedition.

In Zhenlu Fort, Hatulig was in charge, and with the assistance of people from Hengtong, border trade did not stop. Although it was slightly affected by the war, the impact was not that great.

In addition to the new army and five hundred elite guards, the tribe directly mobilized three thousand cavalry. In addition, there were nearly four hundred herdsmen who drove cattle and sheep as logistical support for the tribe. The total number of people reached more than five thousand.

A war mobilization of this scale is not a small amount for the Tenger tribe. You should know that the entire Tenger tribe now has a population of no more than 25,000. Based on this population base, 5,000 troops account for one-fifth of the tribe, and these are all the best and strongest men in the tribe. The number of troops that Hadan Bater followed Ligdan Khan to the northern desert was not so large.

In addition, Wang Hai was also taken away directly by Zhu Shenzhui and thrown on an ox cart to travel with the army.

In Zhu Shenzui's words, since Wang Hai opposed the war, then let him see with his own eyes that he would win. After winning the battle and the army marching into Guihua City, this blind slave Wang Hai would be able to see who is right. Then he would chop off Wang Hai's head and boast about his martial arts as a punishment.

Seeing the miserable state of Wang Hai lying in the ox cart with the army on his way, many people were secretly happy, and even praised Zhu Shenzhui's wisdom. However, many people in the army sympathized with Wang Hai. After all, although Wang Hai was only a centurion, he had been in charge of the position of a thousand households for Zhu Shenzhui in the past two years. Most of the elites in the tribe were Wang Hai's subordinates. They had a lot of complaints about Wang Hai's experience, but in the current situation, many people did not dare to show it, but just felt sad in their hearts.

On the day when the decision to send troops was made, Zhu Shenzui sent someone to deliver a message to Ligdan Khan, stating that the tribe had obeyed Ligdan Khan's order and was heading north as a vanguard.

A few days later, Lindan Khan laughed happily when he received the news. This was the best news for him. The Tenger tribe had already sent troops to the north, and it would not be long before they would fight with Bu Shitu. The end of this old guy Bu Shitu was approaching. He had looked down on himself, the Khan, and had joined other tribes to oppose him. This time, he must chop off his head and use it as a wine jug.

As for the Tenger tribe, there is no need to mention it. Although Tenger was a Jinong and Wanhu appointed by him, Lindan Khan did not regard the Tenger tribe as his own people at all. This was the case when he let Hadanbaatar cover the retreat during the battle in Mobei. In his eyes, except for the tribe under his control, other tribes were outsiders no matter how close they were to him.

Moreover, the Khan, Ligdan Khan, had already heard about the profits made by the Tenger tribe from the Ming Dynasty over the past year. Countless wealth from the Ming Dynasty flowed into the tribe, greatly increasing the strength of the Tenger tribe in a short period of time.

These treasures made Ligdan Khan jealous. Although Ligdan Khan had formed an alliance with the Ming Dynasty long ago and had the right to border trade, he was not a businessman at all. In addition, he had always gone back on his word and his lack of trust had long made the Ming Dynasty dissatisfied. Moreover, Ligdan Khan only cared about enjoying himself and did not pay attention to the development of his tribe. The benefits brought by border trade over the years were not optimistic, and most of them were squandered by Ligdan Khan. Coupled with his warmongering, the Mongolian headquarters did not have an easy time.

If he could use this to destroy Bushitu on the one hand and severely damage the Tenger tribe on the other, then Lindan Khan would be able to lead his troops directly into the Tumed grassland and directly annex the two tribes.

By that time, the population, wealth of Guihua City and everything owned by the Tengger tribe would all become Ligdan Khan's possession.

Then, Ligdan Khan can directly command the entire Tumed grassland, and the twelve Tumed tribes can be merged with the Chahar headquarters. In this way, Ligdan Khan's strength will inevitably increase greatly, and he will no longer have to worry about the future. After taking down Tumed, he will turn around and deal with Khorchin. After getting rid of Khorchin, he will then attack Inner Khalkha and Outer Khalkha. In a few years, the grassland will be basically unified. At that time, Ligdan Khan will inevitably reproduce the glory of Genghis Khan and rebuild the Great Mongol Empire.

Upon learning that the Tengger tribe had sent troops, Lin Danhan's subordinates were also overjoyed, because everyone saw the possibility of annexing Bu Shitu in one fell swoop. At this time, someone suggested to Lin Danhan that he send troops at the same time as promised before, and go straight to Bu Shitu's rear from east to west, cutting off Bu Shitu's escape route to Mobei, and at the same time playing a role in cooperating with the Tengger tribe.

But at this time, Lin Dan Khan smiled and said that there was no need to go through so much trouble. There was no rush to send troops. Let the other two Tumed tribes do this first. As for the troops of the Mongolian headquarters, they just needed to be prepared for the time being. It would be in time to send troops when the two sides were almost fighting. By then, the problem could be easily solved, and the opportunity could be taken to completely take over the Tumed grassland. When Lin Dan Khan said this, everyone was speechless for a while, and their expressions were strange and abnormal. Everyone had followed Lin Dan Khan for a long time, and they all knew what kind of person this Khan was. This was not the first time that Lin Dan Khan had done this. The earliest war between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Jiannu was like this, and later the Later Jin attacked the Chaohua tribe like this. The same tricks were used countless times, but each time it sounded good, it actually never achieved a good effect.

And now Lindan Khan has started to use this trick again. Some people really want to dissuade him and tell him not to do this all the time. If he continues like this, his reputation will be ruined. Moreover, he has failed more than once before. What if he fails again?
However, seeing the smug Lin Danhan, everyone swallowed back the words that were about to come out of their mouths, because everyone knew that saying these things now would be equivalent to spoiling the Khan's mood. Don't everyone know what kind of personality and temper the Khan has? If you make him unhappy, he will make you unhappy for the rest of your life, and it is possible that he will chop off your head. Who dares to offend the Khan at this time?
It would take about ten days for a fast horse to travel from the Tenger tribe to Guihua City, but the army moved slowly, so this time would naturally be much longer.

In addition, there are several small tribes between the two tribes. These tribes are backed by large tribes, and some tribes are even under the protection of Bushitu. From this point of view, they can be regarded as hostile tribes.

For the sake of safety, Zhu Shencui did not advance quickly, but took a steady approach. Every day during the march, he sent out scouts far away to ensure that there were no problems before setting off. Even when encountering a small tribe in the enemy camp, Zhu Shencui did not adopt the Mongols' tactics of coming and going like the wind, but was extremely cautious, sending out a large force to cut off the enemy's retreat and then sending several times more cavalry to fight.

Most of the cavalry sent out to fight were led by the leaders of the tribe, and the elite troops of the tribe were just there to hold the line. In the words of Zhu Shenzhui, it was better to be cautious as the war was imminent, and take this opportunity to train more soldiers and let them gain some merits, so that they could be rewarded according to their merits after the war.

On the surface, there is nothing wrong with this arrangement. Moreover, Zhu Shenzui also said that this would also buy time for Lindan Khan's army. After all, they set out early, and by attracting Bu Shitu's attention in this way, the pressure on Lindan Khan's side would be greatly reduced. While Bu Shitu's attention is focused on himself, he can mobilize his troops to go straight to the north. When Lindan Khan's army arrives, the two sides will attack from the north and the south, and Bu Shitu will be trapped by then.

As soon as this argument was put forward, everyone felt it made sense. Moreover, Zhu Shenzui also promised that after defeating these small tribes, the tribal finances would be at everyone's disposal, which made everyone even more excited.

These leaders may not have the courage to lead their own people to fight against the Bushitu, but they are eager to fight these small tribes. Generally, there are only a few hundred people in a small tribe, and the larger ones are only a thousand people. The young and strong men who can be mobilized are at most a few hundred.

Facing an army of 5,000 including his own herdsmen, wouldn't such a war be easy to win? Destroying these tribes would not only bring military merit but also financial benefits. Only a fool would not do it.
In this way, they stopped and walked along the way. When they met the leaders of the tribe, they could not help but lead their troops to fight. Relying on the strong backing and their own military advantage, they defeated the enemy in a few seconds. After the battle, they chopped off the enemy's head, and then looted property and women. After a few battles, the harvest was really gratifying. There was even so much property that they could not take it away. They could only send people to transport it back to the tribe in a mighty ox cart. Then they continued to move forward happily, sweeping towards Guihua City like locusts.

Half a month later, the army had not even completed half of the journey, but no one seemed tired or dissatisfied. On the contrary, they were extremely excited by the huge harvest and were eager to continue the sweep.

However, the Mongols on the grassland were not stupid. After several small tribes were destroyed, the news spread quickly. The tribes in the north were so scared that they packed up and ran away overnight. Who would dare to stay there and wait for the army to sweep over?

In this way, in the next few days, the army still maintained the original speed, but never encountered any tribes. This disappointed the leaders who had just eaten a lot of greasy food. They suggested that Zhu Shenzhui speed up, so as to prevent the tribes in front from running away. It would be better to arrive before them to get enough benefits.

But this request was rejected by Zhu Shenzhui. He told everyone that they were almost halfway there and not too far from Guihua City. They must not be careless at this time because no one knew whether Bu Shitu's army would appear.

Bu Shitu is not a fool. Even the tribes along the way know the news of the army. Bu Shitu must have also learned the news. If Bu Shitu leads his troops to fight, although the army is not afraid of the enemy, there may be trouble once the troops are divided, especially if the vanguard troops are surrounded by Bu Shitu, it will be disastrous.

Zhu Shenzhui's opinion poured cold water on everyone, calming them down. But in the following days of marching, Bu Shitu's troops did not appear at all, and the scouts reported the same. The march was unusually stable every day, which made them start to get restless again, wondering if Bu Shitu was really scared? He didn't dare to come out and hide in Guihua City to defend it? If that was the case, what was there to worry about? If they didn't take this opportunity to grab more things, it would be a waste of time.

(End of this chapter)