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

Chapter 397 Great Cleverness

Although Yuan Chonghuan did not intend to intervene in Huang Taiji's military operations against Ligdan Khan, he was not idle. He took advantage of the moment when the Qing Dynasty turned its spearhead toward Mongolia to strengthen the defenses of Ningyuan and Jinzhou. He used the same method that Sun Chengzong used back then, building strong cities to strengthen defenses.

In addition, Yuan Chonghuan also brought out his original suggestion to Emperor Tianqi, which was to carry out military farming in Liaodong and implement the policy of using military farming to support war.

Although Yuan Chonghuan had never been able to answer the questions that Emperor Tianqi had asked him, and could not ensure the consequences of military farming, Yuan Chonghuan still did it. You could say he was too confident or that he underestimated the Qing Dynasty. Anyway, he was now the governor of Liaodong, and the military and political power of Liaodong was in his hands.

In addition, since the Emperor Tianqi fell ill, his health had been up and down, and all affairs in the court were basically handled by Wei Zhongxian. Wei Zhongxian thought that Yuan Chonghuan's opinion was worth a try. Since then, Yuan Chonghuan mobilized tens of thousands of Liao people in Liaodong and launched a vigorous military farming policy.

Winter is coming soon. In recent years, winter has come earlier and earlier, and the weather in the north has become colder and colder. In theory, winter is not suitable for sending troops, but Huang Taiji did the opposite. In the winter of the sixth year of Tianqi, Huang Taiji, who was well prepared, personally led the elite troops of the Eight Banners to attack Chahar.

When he went on the expedition, Huang Taiji also brought his two younger brothers, Dorgon and Dodo, with him. The reason for bringing them along was naturally because he was worried that there would be hidden dangers if the two brothers stayed in Shenyang while he went on the expedition.

Taking advantage of Nurhaci's death, Huang Taiji forced the Queen Mother to be buried alive with him without hesitation, thus avoiding the power struggle after he succeeded to the throne. In addition, he also eliminated the threat posed to himself by the three Ajige brothers who had too much power within the Qing Dynasty.

This expedition was extremely important to Huang Taiji, who had just transformed from the Later Jin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor. Once Ligdan Khan was defeated from Mongolia, the blockade of the Qing Dynasty by the Ming Dynasty would no longer work. Moreover, conquering the Mongolian tribes would greatly increase the strength of the Qing Dynasty. More importantly, it could also obtain a large amount of supplies and troops from the Mongolians, thus preparing for the subsequent war with the Ming Dynasty.

The purpose of bringing Dorgon brothers with him was to avoid any accidents after the expedition. As for Ajige, he had already been under the control of Huang Taiji, and the three brothers had a very good relationship. As long as the Dorgon brothers were in his hands, Ajige would not be able to cause any trouble.

At the end of the year, when everyone thought that Huang Taiji would not send troops until the beginning of next spring, Huang Taiji suddenly sent troops.

This time, Huang Taiji's target was the Chahar headquarters of Ligdan Khan, but he did not attack Ligdan Khan's main force directly, but targeted the Dorlot tribe of Chahar. The elite troops of the Eight Banners moved swiftly, marching directly westward from Inner Khalkha, braving the wind and snow for hundreds of miles, and their main force suddenly appeared in the Aomulun area.

The unprepared Dorote tribe realized the bad situation only after the arrival of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty. They hastily gathered their troops to fight the enemy. However, the Dorote tribe, which had no time to organize itself, was almost defeated at the first touch of the Eight Banners cavalry of the Qing Dynasty, which was better equipped and more powerful, and was able to defeat the unprepared.

More than 20,000 troops of the Dorote tribe were defeated by Huang Taiji's elite Eight Banners, with 10,000 casualties and more than 12,000 captured. The battle lasted only a few days from the start to the end. In one battle, the Dorote tribe was directly defeated by Huang Taiji, causing shock among the Mongolian tribes.

This battle was called the Victory of Aomulun. After the war, Huang Taiji bestowed the title of Mergendaiqing on Dorgon and the title of Erkechughul on Dodo in recognition of their military achievements.

These two titles mean "wise general" and "brave general" respectively. Huang Taiji also announced that Dorgon and his brothers must be addressed by these two titles in the future to show his respect and favor to them.

To outsiders, Huang Taiji and Dorgon brothers seemed to be very friendly and had a very good relationship. But in fact, Huang Taiji's titles given to the Dorgon brothers were simply a trick. He called them "smart generals" and "brave generals" and announced that everyone must call them that. It was nothing more than a trick to fool them.

In the great victory of Aomulun, Dorgon and his brothers led the way and made great contributions. It stands to reason that they should be given some actual rewards given their status as brothers. Even if they are not given the title of Beile, they should at least return the title of Heshuo Ezhen that Dorgon had previously held, right?

However, they were not given any actual positions, and even the two yellow flags originally held by the three Ajige brothers were "replaced" after Huang Taiji ascended the throne. Now the two yellow flags have become two white flags, and the Niulu in their hands are not as good as before. Now that they have made great contributions, they have not received any benefits at all, but only given so-called titles.

Besides, this title is just a verbal compliment. The so-called "Morgan Dai Qing" sounds good, but the real translation into Chinese is no different from "great wisdom".

Dorgon inexplicably became known as the smartest man, but his younger brother Doduo was not much better. The Chinese translation of the words "brave general" is no different from "iron ox, evil wolf" and so on. It is really laughable that the two brothers were given such titles.

After the victory of Aomulun, Huang Taiji withdrew his troops to Liaodong for repairs. Soon after returning to Shenyang, he found an excuse to punish Ajige. He directly removed Ajige from his position as the leader of the Bordered White Banner on the grounds that Ajige did not consult Huang Taiji and presided over his brother Duoduo's wedding without authorization. After removing Ajige, Huang Taiji did not take the Bordered White Banner for himself for the sake of internal stability, but deliberately pushed Dorgon to the position of the leader of the Bordered White Banner. In this way, Ajige had no way to make trouble. After all, Dorgon, who succeeded the leader of the banner, was his younger brother. He couldn't object to letting his younger brother take over, right? In this way, Ajige could only swallow his anger and endure it.

Huang Taiji dealt with Ajige with one hand and lifted up Dorgon with the other.

After appointing Dorgon to succeed Ajige as the leader of the Bordered White Banner, Huang Taiji made a special statement to Dorgon, which meant "I love you more than any other sons and daughters, and I only give you good horses, fresh clothes, and delicious food..." as if to show how good he, as an elder brother, was to Dorgon. Dorgon was not stupid, and he knew the purpose of Huang Taiji's doing this. However, in front of Huang Taiji, Dorgon still put on an expression of gratitude and kowtowed to thank Huang Taiji for his grace.

Shortly after returning to Shenyang, Huang Taiji sent people to negotiate peace with Kharchin. At the same time, he contacted the troops of Khorchin, Kharchin, Aohan, Naiman and Khalkha, preparing to attack Chahar again.

Although he won a great victory in the last battle against Chahar, Huang Taiji was very clear that although the Dorlot tribe was defeated, his real enemy, Ligdan Khan, was still powerful. If the Qing Dynasty wanted to subdue the Mongolian tribes and use the whole of Mongolia for its own benefit, Ligdan Khan, the nominal Great Khan of Mongolia, would be a stumbling block. If the problem of Ligdan Khan was not solved, the Qing Dynasty would not be able to completely conquer Mongolia, let alone deal with the Ming Dynasty.

The war against the Dorote tribe was only the first step. Huang Taiji's real target was still Ligdan Khan.

After the victory of Aomulun, the prestige of the Qing Dynasty increased greatly, and its reputation in the Mongolian grasslands was extremely loud. In addition, when Nurhaci was in power, he adopted the means of winning over and intermarrying with the various Mongolian tribes. Over the past few decades, many Mongolian tribes had become close to the Qing Dynasty. In addition, the atrocities committed by Lindan Khan in Mongolia in recent years made the Mongolian tribes very disappointed with this Khan. In the view of Huang Taiji, now is the best time to deal with Mongolia.

The Battle of Aomulun was just the beginning, not the end. The war between the Qing Dynasty and Mongolia was about to break out, and once the war started, there would be only one winner between Huang Taiji and Lin Danhan.

When Zhu Shenzhui received the news, Ajige had been convicted and thrown into the position of leader of the Bordered White Banner. He keenly realized the brilliance of Huang Taiji's tactical application this time. Moreover, after the Battle of Aomulun, Huang Taiji did not pursue the victory and go straight into Chahar to fight a decisive battle with Ligdan Khan. Instead, he took advantage of the opportunity and withdrew before Ligdan Khan could react. On the surface, it seemed that the battle was over, but in fact, the war had just begun.

Huang Taiji was a smarter man than Nurhaci. He was clearly aware that Lindan Khan could not be defeated easily. If he only relied on the military force of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty, even if he could defeat Lindan Khan, the losses he suffered would inevitably be considerable.

Now, Huang Taiji, like an experienced boxer, retracted his punch and accumulated strength to wait for the opportunity to throw a stronger punch. At the same time, by attacking the Dorlot tribe, Huang Taiji sent a signal to the Mongolian tribes, which was the strength of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty and the incompetence of Ligdan Khan. Next, he would continue to win over the Mongolian tribes and promise them more benefits. Then, more and more Mongolian tribes would stand on the side of the Qing Dynasty. Relying on the power of these Mongolians for his own use, Huang Taiji could strike again with a heavy punch and KO Ligdan Khan in one fell swoop.

Although Zhu Shenzhui understood this, he was completely powerless because he could do nothing now.

First of all, now can be said to be the best opportunity for the Ming Dynasty against the Qing Dynasty. As long as the Ming Dynasty can do something appropriately in Liaodong and tie down the rear of the Qing Dynasty, it will prevent Huang Taiji from concentrating his forces to deal with Ligdan Khan. In this way, as long as Ligdan Khan can still be his Khan in Mongolia, the Qing Dynasty will not be able to obtain the full support of the Mongols, let alone break through the Ming Dynasty's blockade of the Qing Dynasty from Ligdan Khan's side.

Secondly, when the Qing Dynasty sent troops to Mongolia, the Ming Dynasty also sent troops to attack Shenyang in a resolute manner, thus achieving the goal of besieging Wei to save Zhao.

These two methods were not difficult to implement for the Ming Dynasty, but during the period from the first time Huang Taiji sent troops to the time he returned to Shenyang, the Ming army in Liaodong did not make any moves. Yuan Chonghuan kept his troops in place and immersed himself in his military farming strategy, as if he did not care at all about the war between Liaodong and Mongolia.

As for Mongolia, even if Zhu Shenzhu controlled the Tenger tribe, it would not have much effect. Zhu Shenzhu knew Lin Danhan very well, and he would never save Lin Danhan at the cost of the safety of the Tenger tribe.

Besides, even if they rescued Lindan Khan, what would happen? With Lindan Khan's behavior, he might even punish the Tenger tribe.

So even if he understood everything, Zhu Shenzhui could do nothing, which made him feel very helpless.

(End of this chapter)