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

Chapter 563 Planning for the Future
Zhu Shenzhui was a Ming Dynasty person, not a Mongolian, and he was also a member of the Ming Dynasty royal family.

Although he married Tana and had two sons with her, his eldest son Tengger not only got the title of King of Shunyi, but is now also the nominal leader of the Tumed Grassland and has the title of Jurchen Khan.

Even so, for Zhu Shenzhui, the Ming Dynasty is his foundation. At present, the Ming Dynasty is in chaos, with rebellions breaking out in various places and rebel armies rising up.

In Liaodong, Huang Taiji, a man of great talent and strategy, pressed forward step by step, took the initiative to attack, and made the Ming Dynasty suffer terribly.

As for the current emperor, Emperor Chongzhen, let alone him. Although this emperor is as diligent as Zhu Yuanzhang in the history of the Ming Dynasty and is also extremely frugal, he has neither political wisdom nor political means, and his character is extremely flawed. Not to mention Zhu Yuanzhang, he is far inferior to his brother, Emperor Tianqi. It would be better if such a person were just a decoration when he was the emperor, but the problem is that he wants to take care of everything but can't manage anything well, and he makes more and more mistakes. After only a few years on the throne, the situation of the entire Ming Dynasty has become what it is today.

Zhu Shenzhui understood better than anyone what would happen to the Ming Dynasty under the rule of Emperor Chongzhen. Once the Ming Dynasty fell, Zhu Shenzhui, as a member of the Ming Dynasty royal family, would have a predictable fate. Even if he managed to escape, Zhu Shenzhui was unwilling to be ruled by a foreign race, and his descendants would have to bear a pig's tail behind their heads and become slaves of a foreign race.

Zhu Shencui had started preparing many years ago. At first, he just wanted to protect himself and his family when troubles came. But later, due to various things, especially after the civil strife in the Ashe Timur tribe, Zhu Shencui had to bite the bullet and take risks to resolve the rebellion, and then took over the entire tribe for Tana and his son.

So many years have passed in a flash, and now Zhu Shenzhu is already quite powerful. Not to mention that he basically controls the entire Tumote grassland, he can mobilize more than 20,000 Mongolian cavalry. This force is considered very strong in Mongolia. You should know that these 20,000 Mongolian cavalry are not so-called string-wielding soldiers. Nearly half of them can be said to be professional cavalry, and the rest are also carefully selected from various tribes.

If all the males who can go to the battlefield in each tribe are added together, the available military force can be doubled. This force is enough to decide the fate of many tribes on the grassland.

Even in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Shenzhui also had a powerful armed force, which was his new army. Although the overall size of the new army was not large and the number of people was far less than that of the Mongolian cavalry, its combat effectiveness was second to none. In addition, Zhu Shenzhui's new army had not only experienced many grassland wars in recent years, but also fought a direct battle with the Jiannu in the previous campaign to support the king. Its combat experience was rich enough to fight ten enemies at once.

If Zhu Shenzhui started an army now, he might be able to attack the capital directly like Huang Taiji did in the past, and turn the whole world upside down.

However, it is not a good time now. As the saying goes, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Although the Ming Dynasty is now in decline, it still has strength. The hundreds of thousands of border troops and millions of garrison troops across the Ming Dynasty are not vegetarians. If Zhu Shenzhui fails to capture the capital in a short time, he will be under pressure from all sides and ultimately fail.

Even if he managed to take the capital, Zhu Shenzhui was not sure that he could control the entire Ming Dynasty. His foundation was too shallow, and the Ming Dynasty still had some hope for Emperor Chongzhen, and the entire situation had not yet reached the stage of complete corruption. In addition, there were various deep-rooted problems in the Ming Dynasty for so many years, including the conflicts between the civil service group and the local gentry, as well as the conflicts between land annexation and the people, and many other situations. If he took over the Ming Dynasty now, Zhu Shenzhui would face too many problems, a big mess, and it would be extremely difficult to solve.

In this case, the best solution is to destroy it first and then rebuild it.

When a house has fallen into disrepair and is in a state of disrepair, it is very difficult to repair it. The cost of repair is much higher than rebuilding, and there is no guarantee that the repaired house will be as good as before.

In this case, it would be more appropriate to tear down and rebuild directly, completely overturn everything old, use other people's hands to eliminate the many hidden dangers, and then rebuild a new house on the original ruins. It would be better to start all over again.

Of course, Zhu Shenzhu would never be the one who pushed down the house, let alone the one who destroyed the original order. Because his identity had both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage was that he was a royal family member, the legitimate bloodline of Zhu Yuanzhang, and was fully qualified to take over the collapsed Ming Empire. The disadvantage was also due to this identity. Once he did this, he would be attacked from all sides, which was not conducive to his subsequent rule.

In other words, Zhu Shenzhui is now both established and in need, and he is ready to officially step onto the stage at a critical moment to gain the greatest benefits. Now is not the right time to come forward, and Zhu Shenzhui needs to wait patiently for this opportunity to come.

In any case, Zhu Shenzhui's ultimate goal was to conquer the Ming Dynasty and eventually replace it. Once successful, Zhu Shenzhui would be able to rule the Central Plains and become the new ruler of the world, and the Ming Dynasty would be able to continue in another way.

After completing this step and solving the internal troubles of the Ming Dynasty, the next step is to face external problems. The first to bear the brunt is the Jiannu in Liaodong. It is necessary to destroy the Jiannu and recover Liaodong. Zhu Shenzhu also has absolute confidence.

When the Jiannu problem was solved, the next thing to go was the Mongolian grasslands. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the Mongols have always been the enemy of the Ming Dynasty. The two sides have been fighting for more than two hundred years, and there has never been real peace. The reason for this is the existence of the Mongolian Khan. Although the Golden Family has lost the throne after the demise of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the title of the Mongolian Khan is still the common leader of all Mongolians and can still influence the Mongolian tribes and ordinary Mongolians.

In other words, as long as the Great Khan of Mongolia existed, there would be no real peace between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia. Only without the Great Khan of Mongolia could Zhu Shenzhui completely conquer Mongolia and make it a part of the Ming Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty did a good job in this regard. Through various political means, such as marriage, division, and demarcation of tribal boundaries, coupled with absolute military suppression, it continuously weakened the strength of the Mongolian tribes and finally solved the Mongolian problem that the Ming Dynasty had never been able to solve in history.

But the reason why these practices of "our Great Qing" were successful, apart from the means mentioned above, was another important factor. That was that after the Jiannu entered the Central Plains, the Mongolian Khan no longer existed on the Mongolian grasslands. The common leader of the Mongols for hundreds of years disappeared, and the Mongols became a loose sand, so they were naturally much easier to deal with.

So from this point of view, once Zhu Shenzhui married Namu Zhong and supported her son to take the throne, the title of the Great Khan of Mongolia could continue, and it would not be so easy to solve the Mongolian problem in the future.

In addition, there are several other problems that are difficult to solve. One of them is that although Zhu Shenzhui made huge profits in the short term after marrying Namu Zhong, and could command the Mongolian tribes in the name of his stepfather the Khan, there are many hidden dangers in doing so.

In history, powerful officials have never had a good ending. Even if they were powerful for a while, the final result was extremely bleak. In the past, there was Huo Guang, and in the recent past, there was Zhang Juzheng. If history does not change in the future, there may be Dorgon as well.

When they were alive, they were all powerful and glorious, and even the emperor had to obey their orders. But the reckoning after their death was extremely cruel. Whether it was Huo Guang or Zhang Juzheng, or Dorgon who had not yet become the "imperial father regent", their families all ended up being exterminated or in a miserable end.

If Zhu Shenzhui became the stepfather of the Mongolian Khan, then his status would be similar to those people in history. Controlling the young Khan, he would naturally be able to get whatever he wanted, and he would be able to better control the Mongolian tribes.

But children will grow up, Zhu Shencui will also grow old, and many possibilities will happen in the future. Once this possibility develops in the most terrible direction, the consequences will be quite serious.

Apart from this problem, there is also the overall problem of Mongolia. If Zhu Shenzhui enters the Central Plains, he must start to solve the Mongolian problem. He will not allow Mongolia to become a powerful enemy of the New Ming Dynasty, let alone the existence of a complete Mongolia with a common master.

Tenger and Agudamu are both sons of Zhu Shencui and Tana. Although they have Mongolian blood, they also have the blood of the Ming royal family. Zhu Shencui and Tana may continue to give birth to other children. When they grow up, Zhu Shencui will find a way to make them the leaders of other tribes, thus replacing the original leaders to rule the tribe.

This was also another plan of Zhu Shenzhui. By using this method to gradually control the various Mongolian tribes, and using other means to divide and win over other Mongolian tribes, a hundred years later, the Mongols would naturally be no different from the Ming people, and the integration of the two sides would become a fact. The Mongolian problem that had plagued the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years could be solved.

So after much consideration, Zhu Shenzhui finally gave up the idea of ​​marrying Namu Zhong. Although the temptation was indeed great, rejection was the best outcome in the long run.

When Zhu Shenzui patiently told Tana his thoughts, Tana listened carefully and did not speak for a long time. She was lost in thought with a complicated expression.

"What? Do you feel it's a pity?" Zhu Shenzhui asked softly, hugging Tana's shoulders.

Tana nodded and sighed, "It's a pity. I thought you would get many benefits by marrying Namu Zhong, but now it's a trouble. But you are right. You Han people have a saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch. We Mongolians have a similar saying, which is that when a stranger gives you wealth, be careful of the knife in his hand behind his smile."

"Yes!" Zhu Shenzhui said, "Short-term interests often blind people's eyes. An eagle can only see farther if it flies higher. I have thought about this for a long time and made this decision. If I swallow this piece of fat meat now, it may become a deadly poison one day. You and I may not have too many problems by then, but what about our children? What about their descendants? For the sake of long-term stability, I must not marry Namu Zhong, and I must not let the title of Mongolian Khan continue."

(End of this chapter)