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

Chapter 412 Change
"Wei Zhongxian is finished..."

On the Mongolian grasslands, Zhu Shenzui received an urgent letter from Zhang Xijun in the capital. After reading the letter, he couldn't help but sigh.

Witnessing history with his own eyes, Zhu Shenzhui was not only filled with emotion, but also with deep helplessness. He originally thought that his appearance would change the history of the Ming Dynasty, but who could have thought that the young Emperor Tianqi would die? Moreover, according to Zhang Xijun, the death of Emperor Tianqi was very bizarre, from his falling into the water to his illness, to his sudden illness after recovery, until his death, there was conspiracy everywhere.

But Zhang Xijun had no way of judging the truth. After all, he was a limited figure in the capital. Although Zhang Xijun had a good relationship with Wei Liangqing and others, he had been carrying out tasks assigned to him by Zhu Shenzhui since the day he arrived in the capital. He also knew his responsibilities very well. He was just wandering on the edge of the power center, delivering messages to Zhu Shenzhui and solving some problems.

Now that Emperor Tianqi has passed away and Emperor Chongzhen has succeeded to the throne, the series of operations he has taken after his succession seem to be fine on the surface, but in Zhang Xijun's view, they are full of crises. Zhang Xijun has already sensed that things are not going well. In his view, both Wei Zhongxian and the eunuch party will not have much time left. The current calm is just the calm before the storm. When the time is right, Emperor Chongzhen will definitely take action against Wei Zhongxian. Once Wei Zhongxian falls, the eunuch party that depends on him will naturally collapse.

A gentleman should not stand under a dangerous wall. Zhang Xijun was a very perceptive person and had already realized that the situation was not good. At the same time as sending this letter, Zhang Xijun said goodbye to Wei Liangqing on the pretext of returning home to visit relatives, quietly sold his property in the capital, and slipped away.

Regarding this arrangement, Zhang Xijun also explained to Zhu Shenzhu in the letter. Zhu Shenzhu was not angry about his decision because Zhu Shenzhu had given him freedom of action before and told Zhang Xijun that if he found that the situation was not right, protecting himself was the first priority and everything else could be put aside.

Although Zhang Xijun ran away, he still had people left in the capital.

A cunning rabbit has three burrows. Zhang Xijun had already made arrangements over the years. In addition to himself, he had gathered a lot of people in the capital over the years, and these people were all found and trained by Zhang Xijun with great effort. Among these people, there are all kinds of people, even low-level officials of the court. Although their positions are not high and they look inconspicuous, it is because of them that Zhang Xijun can thrive in the capital.

Now Zhang Xijun has left the capital, but everything in the capital is still running, except that he has changed from direct control to indirect control. After selling his property in the capital, Zhang Xijun kept the people he trusted most, through whom he could still get news from all aspects of the capital. For safety reasons, he went directly to Zhaowuling after returning to Shanxi and settled there temporarily, so there was no problem with security or other things.

When Zhu Shenzhui received this letter, Zhang Xijun should have arrived at Zhaowuling, which also made Zhu Shenzhui feel relieved.

Over the years, Zhang Xijun has done a lot for himself, and his ability is enough to be trusted by Zhu Shenzhui. In addition, Zhang Xijun's reliability has been confirmed in practice. If such a talent is involved in the turmoil in the capital, it is something Zhu Shenzhui does not want to see.

After closing the letter, Zhu Shenzhui knew that Wei Zhongxian was about to be finished. Once Wei Zhongxian died, the prelude to the chaos in the late Ming Dynasty would truly begin.

But it is still a bit far-fetched to say all this now, because Zhu Shenzhui has to face the problem on the grassland right now. Just when Emperor Tianqi had just passed away, Huang Taiji, with the troops gathered from various Mongolian tribes, had already attacked Chahar.

In this attack on Chahar, Huang Taiji mobilized his most elite Eight Banners forces, and added cavalry gathered from various Mongolian tribes to form a joint army of tens of thousands to solve the problem of Ligdan Khan in one fell swoop.

Judging from the military strength, Lin Danhan's military force was actually not weak, and his number of troops was much larger than that of the Qing Dynasty, but the combat effectiveness of both sides was far apart. Huang Taiji's Eight Banners soldiers were brave and well-equipped, and the Mongolian cavalry sent by the alliance were not bad either, and were all elite.

On the other hand, although Lindan Khan had a large number of people, their fighting power was far inferior to that of Huang Taiji. In addition, Lindan Khan's perverse actions in recent years had caused disunity among the Mongolian tribes, especially the recent betrayal of the Naiman and Aohan tribes, which made the tribes under Lindan Khan even more uneasy.

In this situation, Lindan Khan's strength was just a false appearance, while Huang Taiji was truly strong. The war between the two sides was about to break out. Huang Taiji personally led his troops straight into Chahar, and his vanguard troops soon came face to face with Lindan Khan's cavalry.

The first battle was not large-scale. Huang Taiji had only less than 4,000 cavalry vanguards, while Lin Danhan had more than 10,000 Mongolian cavalry. But after the war started, the result was surprising. Lin Danhan's Mongolian cavalry, which had more than twice the number of troops, was defeated at the first blow. They were defeated by the cavalry composed of the Eight Banners and Mongolian cavalry.

In this battle, Lin Dan Khan lost nearly 6,000 cavalry. Of course, not all of these 6,000 cavalry were destroyed by Huang Taiji. In fact, only 1,000 were killed or injured. The remaining Mongols resisted a few times and then scattered like beasts, fleeing everywhere and disappearing. In the end, less than half of them escaped back, and even Lin Dan Khan didn't know where the others went. Seeing this result, Lin Dan Khan was furious and immediately mobilized troops to continue fighting with Huang Taiji. The second war was larger in scale, but the result was still the same. Lin Dan Khan's army still couldn't beat the Eight Banners led by Huang Taiji and the Mongolian coalition, and suffered serious losses. Faced with this situation, Lin Dan Khan was scared and sweated. He didn't expect that Huang Taiji's Eight Banners were so fierce. If he continued to fight like this, let alone him who was known as the lord of 400,000 Mongols, even the lord of one million Mongols would probably be finished.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Lindan Khan planned to avoid it. He felt that the Eight Banners were too strong and it was not a good idea to confront them directly. If he continued to fight like this, the losses as the Khan would be too great. Once he lost his army, he would not be able to keep his position as the Khan.

Just as Zhu Shenzui had judged before, Lindan Khan had the idea of ​​moving westward and was ready to abandon Chahar and move westward to Tumed.

You can't go east, north, or south, the only way is west. And Tumed was the headquarters of the Mongolian Khan, so it was natural for the Mongolian Khan to move from Chahar to Tumed. In this way, you can avoid the threat of Huang Taiji's Eight Banners and use the Tumed tribes to regroup. Anyway, the Mongolian grassland is very large, and as the Mongolian Khan, it doesn't matter whether you stay in Chahar or Tumed.

As for Tumed's old enemy, his cousin Bu Shitu, this was not a big problem for Lin Dan Khan. Bu Shitu had united various tribes to fight against Lin Dan Khan, and Lin Dan Khan easily defeated Bu Shitu and even snatched the golden seal from Bu Shitu.

In Lin Danhan's view, Bu Shitu was no match for him. He admitted that his Mongolian cavalry could not defeat Huang Taiji, but how could they not defeat Bu Shitu? Once Bu Shitu was solved, he would directly annex his tribe and integrate the Tumed tribes. He, Lin Danhan, would still be the leader of the Mongols. When he had the opportunity in the future, he could still lead his troops eastward to take back Chahar.

With this idea in mind, Lindan Khan quickly made up his mind and began to prepare for the westward migration.

He sent a part of his force to contain Huang Taiji's army, and he himself took the herdsmen, cattle, sheep and main forces of various Mongolian tribes and began his plan to advance westward.

After Lindan Khan made such a move, the Tumed people got the news quickly, especially Zhu Shenzhui, who got the news earlier. After all, the Tenger tribe was one of Lindan Khan's direct tribes, and nominally the Tenger tribe was still Lindan Khan's subordinate. Since Lindan Khan was coming to Tumed, he would certainly not forget the Tenger tribe, so Lindan Khan sent people to the Tenger tribe to deliver the Khan's will, asking the Tenger tribe to cooperate with Lindan Khan to attack Bu Shitu, and also made a promise that as long as Bu Shitu was defeated, Lindan Khan would definitely reward the Tenger tribe heavily.

Just listen to these words, Zhu Shenzhui will not believe a word of it. Lin Danhan has gone back on his word more than once, his credit has long been bankrupt. Before, he wanted to borrow Bu Shitu to kill people and pit the Tengger tribe, but Zhu Shenzhui saw through it in advance and failed.

Now the old trick is repeated, and it is really a miracle to believe him. Moreover, Zhu Shenzhu had expected this and was prepared. On the surface, he agreed immediately, but in fact, he found all kinds of excuses to shirk, using the stone rabbit as an excuse to talk about a lot of difficulties and try to delay time.

In private, Zhu Shenzhui quietly sent the news to Bu Shitu, and reminded Bu Shitu through other people to be careful of Ligdan Khan. At this time, Bu Shitu also received rumors that Ligdan Khan was preparing to move westward. After learning about this, Bu Shitu was terrified. He knew very well that once Ligdan Khan came to Tumed, the first target to be dealt with would be him.

There was only one way for Bu Shitu, that is to use his best ability to stop Ligdan Khan from advancing westwards and never let him control Tumed. Once Ligdan Khan entered Tumed, he, the nominal ruler of Tumed, would be dead in name only. As the Great Khan of the Mongols directly controlled Tumed, where would Bu Shitu go?

Besides, the two sides had a grudge against each other, and Lindan Khan had long wanted to kill him. This time the attack on his tribe was a foregone conclusion. If Bu Shitu wanted to protect himself, his tribe and his status, he could only rise up in resistance and have a decisive battle with Lindan Khan.

Upon receiving the news, Bu Shitu immediately took action. In the name of the leader of Tumed, he began to gather various tribes and prepare troops to fight against Ligdan Khan.

However, due to various reasons, Bu Shitu's military preparations were not smooth. Apart from his own tribe who could barely gather 30,000 cavalry, there were not many tribes that could really stand on his side to fight against Ligdan Khan. He finally assembled less than 40,000 troops by piecing together their numbers. These troops seemed to be numerous, but they were far from the more than 100,000 cavalry in Ligdan Khan's hands.

(End of this chapter)