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

Chapter 419 Chongzhen Takes Action
Although Zhu Shenzui won the battle, he also suffered losses. After all, the enemy had 30,000 elite cavalrymen and they still had some combat effectiveness.

After the war, the losses were counted and it was found that Zhu Shenzui's new army had 15 deaths and 216 wounded. These casualties mainly occurred when facing the enemy head-on, which was completely bearable considering the overall damage situation.

As for the cavalry, the casualties were slightly higher, reaching more than 680 people, most of whom were caused by close combat between the two sides.

Adding the casualties on Wang Hai's side, the total casualties were nearly a thousand, which was nearly tenth of Zhu Shenzui's total military strength.

Compared with the casualties, the results of this battle were huge.

In three battles, more than 20,000 of Ligdan Khan's 30,000 elite cavalrymen in the south were either killed or captured, and more than 5,000 were killed on the spot, not to mention the wounded and captured. Even the commanding general Intertabunang died at the hands of Wang Hai in the last battle.

Zhu Shenzhui showed no mercy to the captives and killed them all.

It's not that he didn't want to use these captives for his own purposes, but the problem was that these captives could not be used by him at all. They were all elite cavalry of Ligdan Khan and warriors of the Khan's own tribe. Their families were all in Ligdan Khan's hands. Even if they were captured, they could not truly become his own people. In addition, although the Mongolian tribes were of the same nationality and language, their habits and customs were different. Moreover, these people all came from Chahar, while the Tengger tribe was a Tumed tribe. It would be impossible for the two to merge in a short time.

Leaving these people behind would not only bring no benefit, but also hidden dangers. Once a mutiny or rebellion occurred, Zhu Shencui would lose sight of the big picture. So after considering it, Zhu Shencui simply decided to slaughter them directly. Keeping them would be troublesome, and releasing them would be impossible. The only choice was to send them to see Changshengtian.

Nearly 10,000 people escaped. No one knew where these cavalrymen who fled the battlefield went. Some fled to Fengzhou and returned to Ligdan Khan, bringing with them the news that the Southern Route Army had been annihilated. Some were caught by Bu Shitu, who also let Bu Shitu know that Ligdan Khan's Southern Route Army had been annihilated. More people fled in all directions after leaving the battlefield. Some ran towards Chahar, intending to return to their hometowns. Some ran wildly without caring about the east, west, south, or north, and eventually disappeared.

Some small groups of cavalry were left with nowhere else to go and eventually became horse bandits on the grassland, surviving by looting small tribes. But that’s a story for later.

After the war, Zhu Shenzhui cleaned up the battlefield and rested. The war only came to an end after Wang Hai's troops returned.

Zhu Shencui did not go to Fengzhou, nor did he go east to Chahar, but led his troops to retreat southwest. In a blink of an eye, the army disappeared on the grassland, and no one knew where they went. Even Tana and her son who stayed in the tribe could only learn the direction of her husband's movement through the scouts coming and going.

After the southern army was destroyed, Lin Danhan kept his troops inactive for several days before deciding to go to war with Bushitu.

But at this time, Bu Shitu had taken advantage of this gap to complete the harvest of grain in Fengzhou and withdrew all the grain and people westward to Guihua City.

Without any worries, and with the destruction of Ligdan Khan's southern army, Bu Shitu's pressure was greatly reduced. Although his strength was still no match for Ligdan Khan, he could at least deal with him now.

When the war started, Lin Danhan led his army out with great force, intending to defeat Bu Shitu in one battle. But how could Bu Shitu let him do so? He couldn't win the fight head-on, and Bu Shitu was not stupid. He couldn't fight Lin Danhan head-on when he knew he was inferior to him.

After solving the worries about Fengzhou, Bu Shitu had more room to maneuver. He cleverly launched guerrilla tactics with Ligdan Khan, dividing the main force to avoid the sharp edge, and using the cavalry to attack Ligdan Khan's weak points. After several battles, both sides suffered losses. Although Ligdan Khan had the upper hand, he was still unable to completely defeat Bu Shitu, which made Ligdan Khan very uncomfortable.

In the blink of an eye, it was October, and Lindan Khan still failed to defeat Bu Shitu. As the war continued, Bu Shitu became more and more adept at dealing with it.

Although the losses were not small after several battles, Lindan Khan did not get away with it. More importantly, Guihua City was still in the hands of Bu Shitu. With the help of Guihua City, it would take time for Lindan Khan to completely defeat Bu Shitu.

The war on the Tumot grassland has just begun, but the war on the Chahar grassland has ended.

As Ligdan Khan voluntarily gave up his Chahar headquarters after moving west to Tumed, the coalition forces of Huang Taiji and various Mongolian tribes won a great victory and directly occupied the Chahar headquarters that originally belonged to Ligdan Khan.

After taking Chahar, the Qing Dynasty's reputation reached its peak on the grassland, especially after Huang Taiji fulfilled his previous promise after the war and distributed the entire Chahar grassland to the Mongolian tribes that followed him to the battlefield, greatly increasing their strength and the area of ​​grassland they owned.

Such a result made the Mongols even more grateful to Huang Taiji and strengthened their belief in standing with him. Huang Taiji was actually very smart to do this. The reason why he attacked Chahar was not to occupy Chahar, but to deal with Lin Danhan.

The Manchus were not Mongolians. Although Huang Taiji had been advocating that the Manchus and Mongolians were one family and brothers since he ascended the throne, everyone knew in their hearts that how could the Manchus and Mongolians be true brothers? It was even more impossible that they were the same ethnic group.

Being as close as brothers is just talk, and at best it is a means of united front. In order to solve the worry of Ligdan Khan, Huang Taiji had to borrow the power of various Mongolian tribes. He could not do it alone. Moreover, even if Chahar was taken, the Qing Dynasty could not directly replace Ligdan Khan to rule the Mongolian grasslands.

Although the Mongols are now divided and the nominal Khan, Ligdan Khan, is no longer worthy of the title, it is absolutely impossible for an outsider to rule Mongolia. If Huang Taiji really planned to replace Ligdan Khan, then his allies might turn against him immediately.

Since it is impossible to replace it, then support agents, stir up conflicts among the Mongolian tribes, and use marriage and other means to win over the Mongolian tribes, which can also achieve one's own goals.

Huang Taiji had this in mind, and generously distributed the grasslands of Lin Danhan directly to his subordinates. After doing these things, Huang Taiji did not stay in Chahar for long, but led his troops directly back to Liaodong. This gesture made the Mongolian tribes give a thumbs up and praise Huang Taiji, the leader, for being really considerate.

However, before returning, Huang Taiji met with the leaders of various tribes, coordinated and divided the power ranges of both sides, and proposed that each tribe should select some of its capable and brave warriors to join the Qing Dynasty.

According to Huang Taiji, since we are all brothers, and you recognize me as your leader, then we are our own people from now on. The Qing Dynasty had eight banners, which were the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. As our own people, Huang Taiji decided to establish the Mongolian Eight Banners on the basis of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty as a preferential treatment for Mongolians to join the Qing Dynasty family. As long as the Mongolian tribes agreed to this request, then everyone would be our own people.

Faced with Huang Taiji's statement, the Mongolian tribes quickly agreed, especially the Khorchin tribe, which had long been flirting with the Qing Dynasty and had formed a ties with it through marriage, and they agreed with both hands.

In this way, each tribe selected warriors from their tribes and handed them over to Huang Taiji. On this basis, Huang Taiji formed the Eight Banners of Mongolia and at the same time completely pulled these Mongolian tribes onto his chariot.

After doing all this, Huang Taiji returned to Liaodong. Through the Battle of Chahar, the Qing Dynasty not only gained the support of various Mongolian tribes, but also formed the Eight Banners of Mongolia, which greatly increased the political and military strength of the Qing Dynasty.

In addition, Lindan Khan's westward migration also helped the Qing Dynasty get rid of a major threat. At least without the war maniac Lindan Khan around, Huang Taiji could completely free up his hands to do other things.

While conquering Chahar, the Qing Dynasty also obtained a large number of cattle, sheep and other supplies from Mongolia, which improved the shortage of supplies in the Qing Dynasty. After returning to Liaodong, Huang Taiji set his sights on the three northern Solon tribes. Now the opportunity to deal with the three Solon tribes is ripe. As long as the three Solon tribes are taken down, the Qing Dynasty can not only solve the hidden dangers in the Heilongjiang River Basin, but also subdue the warlike Solon tribe to fight for itself, which is simply killing two birds with one stone.

Huang Taiji shifted his focus from the west to the north and began to plan to conquer the three tribes of Solon. At this time, the Ming court in the south also changed. Emperor Chongzhen had been on the throne for more than a month. With the stable transfer of power, Emperor Chongzhen also began to consider dealing with Wei Zhongxian's party. At this time, Wei Zhongxian also felt that the situation was not good.

After ascending the throne, Emperor Chongzhen showed a calmness beyond his age. He did not take action against Wei Zhongxian immediately. Instead, when tested by Wei Zhongxian and his cronies, he pretended to continue to trust him in order to paralyze his opponent.

After several attempts, Emperor Chongzhen achieved his goal, causing Wei Zhongxian and the eunuch party to relax their vigilance. However, at this time, Emperor Chongzhen had secretly united with the non-eunuch party members of the court's civil service group to start action. His purpose was very clear. He did not directly target Wei Zhongxian, but first took action against Wei Zhongxian's left and right arms, namely Cui Chengxiu and Tian Ergeng.

As for the Jinyiwei, Emperor Chongzhen did not immediately take down Tian Ergeng, but instead appointed a reliable person as the commander-in-chief, thereby dividing Tian Ergeng's power and also taking control of some of the functions of the Jinyiwei.

Then, Emperor Chongzhen instructed the censor Yang Weiyuan and the historian Yang Suoxiu to impeach Cui Chengxiu. The two Yangs were originally members of the eunuch party, but they joined the eunuch party later. In fact, they had been secretly communicating with the Donglin Party and others. In other words, they were complete fence-sitters and traitors.

They, instead of the Donglin Party, could avoid overt party disputes and at the same time provoke internal fighting within the eunuch party. This method was privately suggested to Chongzhen by the civil servants of the Donglin Party. Chongzhen thought this method was good and agreed immediately. He told the two Yangs to lead the impeachment. As long as the impeachment was successful, Emperor Chongzhen would not pursue their previous status as eunuchs. Not only would they be blameless, but they would also be rewarded for their merits and would definitely be reused in the future.

With the emperor's promise, the two Yangs became excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood. At the two court meetings on September 16 and September 19, they publicly impeached Cui Chengxiu and listed various charges.

After the impeachment, Cui Chengxiu was very nervous and asked Emperor Chongzhen to go home to observe the mourning period. This was the most normal procedure for officials after impeachment, and it was generally a way to avoid suspicion. But unexpectedly, Emperor Chongzhen did not play by the rules at all. He did not try to retain Cui Chengxiu at all and directly agreed to Cui Chengxiu's request. This stunned Cui Chengxiu. He suddenly went from being a high-ranking official to an ordinary person without an official position, and lost all his positions.

(End of this chapter)