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

Chapter 764 No poison, no husband

Apart from this reason, there was another important reason that made Wuerte make this decision, that is, the resentment and dissatisfaction of the Niulu Zhangjing of the Zhenglan Banner towards Huang Taiji.

The leader of the Zhenglan Banner was originally Manggurtai. As one of the four great beiles during the Nurhaci period, Manggurtai had always been one of the most powerful figures among the Eight Banners. The Zhenglan Banner was extremely powerful at that time, and it could be said to be the largest and most capable one among the Eight Banners.

But after Nurhaci's death, all this changed. With Manggurtai's failure in his bid for the position of Great Khan, things became different after Huang Taiji ascended the throne with the support of Grand Beile Daishan and others.

After Huang Taiji came to power, he quickly adjusted and suppressed the various Eight Banners, among which Manggurtai's Zhenglan Banner was the main target. Huang Taiji not only found a reason to eliminate several Niulu of Zhenglan Banner, which weakened the strength of Zhenglan Banner, but also strengthened the power of the two yellow banners under his control through a series of means such as changing flags and adding sand.

As one side gained strength while the other side lost strength, the Zhenglan Banner was seriously damaged by the constant fighting. That was not all. Huang Taiji was afraid that Manggurtai would pose a threat to him, so he still did not let Manggurtai go. After several attacks, Manggurtai was overwhelmed by Huang Taiji. In the end, Huang Taiji brought up old scores and directly seized Manggurtai's position as the banner owner, and handed the Zhenglan Banner to Manggurtai's brother Degelei.

Although Degelei is Manggurtai's younger brother, he has always had a bad relationship with Manggurtai and is always obedient to Huang Taiji. In the eyes of the Wuertes, he is just a dog raised by Huang Taiji.

After Dergelei took control of Zhenglan Banner, he eliminated dissidents within the Banner and constantly suppressed the old people promoted by Manggurtai. As Manggurtai's confidant, Wuerte naturally suffered a lot. Over the past year or so, Wuerte has suffered a lot. If it were not for his seniority and solid foundation in Zhenglan Banner, Dergelei would not dare to kill him. Otherwise, let alone his title of Niulu Zhangjing, he might even lose his life.

Not long ago, Manggurtai suddenly died, and the Wuerte were furious when the news came. Huang Taiji and the Dergelei were really too much. It was clear that Manggurtai had lost his title and the title of flag owner, and all his power had been taken away, and he could no longer pose a threat to the other side, but they still refused to let him go.

What exactly is the so-called sudden death? Anyone with a little bit of brains can guess that this is clearly to cut the grass and root it out! Now that Manggurtai is dead, the Zhenglan Banner is even more of an existence that is not loved by uncles and grandmothers. As Wuerte, who has always been a confidant of Manggurtai, will have a good life in the future?

Wuerte and several old men from the Zhenglan Banner are now full of complaints and hatred towards Huang Taiji and others. They wish Huang Taiji would die. How could they possibly work for Huang Taiji?

Moreover, the Niulu of Wuerte was stationed in Jinzhou. They had no food, no silver, and no supplies. They were completely marginalized and neglected. Even their daily survival required Wuerte to find ways to survive on their own. How could Wuerte not feel resentful under such circumstances?

The brothers of Niulu were all his own people. Would he risk his own lives to serve Huang Taiji? Only Wuerte would do that if he was out of his mind. That was why Wuerte left without hesitation after hearing that the Ming army had landed and knowing that the Ming army was most likely the new army he knew. Anyway, if Jinzhouwei, a remote place, was lost, it was none of his business.

Furthermore, if the Ming army was really capable and took over Jinzhou Wei and then headed north to attack Shenyang, Wuerte would agree with it wholeheartedly. He hoped that the Ming army could reach Shenyang in one breath and give Huang Taiji a tough time, so that he could vent his anger.

But then again, fleeing without a fight would be troublesome. Even if Wuerte was dissatisfied with Huang Taiji, he would not succeed unless he broke off relations with him. After all, he was already the emperor, and the current leader of the Zhenglan Banner was a Derge. If this group of people came to trouble him for the loss of Jinzhou, it would be no joke.

If Manggurtai, who was on equal footing with Huang Taiji, could be killed, what about him, a mere Niulu Zhangjing? So after Wuerte left Jinzhou, he had planned his way out. He neither sent anyone to Fuzhouwei to report the news, nor did he send anyone to report the news of the Ming army landing in Dalan back to Shenyang. He simply concealed the information. When he walked north to Xinjin, Wuerte turned around and headed northeast, directly to Chengzitan.

Because Huang Taiji had previously reshuffled the garrison areas of each flag, the area around Fuzhouwei was the garrison of the Bordered Blue Flag, while further towards Gaizhou was the garrison of the Two White Flags.

Both the Bordered Blue Banner and the Two White Banners had a bad relationship with the Plain Blue Banner. The original leader of the Bordered Blue Banner was Amin. Like Manggurtai, Amin was forced to lose his position as leader by Huang Taiji. Afterwards, Manggurtai originally planned to take the Bordered Blue Banner into his hands, but in the end Huang Taiji was one step ahead of him and not only failed, but also lost his position as leader of the Plain Blue Banner.

Today's Bordered Blue Banner has become a vassal of Huang Taiji, not to mention the two white banners. The two white banners were originally the two yellow banners, which originally belonged to Huang Taiji. Later, Huang Taiji changed the two white banners, which were originally stronger, into the two yellow banners, thus becoming the most powerful force among the Eight Banners in one fell swoop.

The ones who currently control the two white flags are the Dorgon brothers, and the Dorgon brothers are not good guys either, especially Dorgon, who has always been a lackey of Huang Taiji. This spineless guy doesn't even care about the revenge for his biological mother, and he only knows how to kneel and lick Huang Taiji, wagging his tail like a dog.

Wuerte had always looked down on Dorgon and despised his shamelessness. So he concealed the news of the Ming army's landing, hoping that the Ming army would first attack Fuzhouwei after taking Jinzhou, and then go north to attack Gaizhou, causing trouble for the two white flags and the bordered blue flag.

Going to Chengzitan was something Wuerte had planned to do when he evacuated. Not only was there a Niulu of the Zhenglan Banner in Chengzitan, but the Niulu Zhangjing of this Niulu and Wuerte were both close confidants of Manggurtai. The two had a good relationship and were considered to be real people of the family. Nothing would happen to him if he went there. He just had to stay in Chengzitan and watch the Ming army take over Jinzhouwei and then head north.

After walking all night and covering a hundred miles, the team was a little tired. Around noon, looking at the weather, Wuerte ordered the team to take a break and eat some dry food.

After the order was issued, the people who had been tired for a long time breathed a sigh of relief, and under Wuerte's arrangement, they found a place to rest and took out the dry food they brought with them to eat. "Go! Call Asiha to me!" Sitting on a rock, Wuerte was not in a hurry to eat. He glanced at his subordinates who were sitting on the ground not far away, and gave orders to the young man.

"Yeah!" The young man responded and went to look for someone. After a while, a man named Asiha came hurriedly.

"master!"

Wuerte nodded slightly. Asaha was his bannerman and also his most trusted subordinate. When he saw him arriving, Wuerte stretched out his hand to him, and Asaha understood and moved closer.

Wuerte whispered something in his ear in a voice that only the two of them could hear clearly, but no one knew what he said. Asaha's face suddenly changed slightly, revealing a surprised expression.

"You take people to handle this matter. Remember! It must be done cleanly and neatly, without any traces." Wuerte said in a cold voice.

"Master, do this..." Asiha hesitated and couldn't help but want to persuade.

"What? Don't you want to go?" A cold light flashed in Wuerte's eyes.

Asiha shuddered instantly and shook his head quickly, saying, "I understand. I will arrange it right away. I promise to do everything for my master."

"Well, go ahead. Be careful and don't let anyone see it."

"Whoo!"

Asiha nodded his head and replied, then retreated. After Asiha left, Wuerte took out his dry food slowly and started eating it as if nothing had happened.

After eating the dry food and resting for a while, the team continued to move forward. It took them another half a day. When the sun was about to set in the evening, they were about 150 miles away from Jinzhou Wei. They had been traveling for more than ten hours since last night. Not to mention the Han troops in the team, even the Eight Banners soldiers like Wuerte were exhausted.

It was impossible to continue walking that night, so Wuerte ordered to set up camp and rest. The camp was quickly set up, and then pots were set up to boil water and cook. They had only eaten dry food along the way, so they had to eat something hot when they rested.

That night, the troops in the camp had a good meal. In order to relieve everyone's fatigue, Wuerte even took out the wine he brought with him and shared it with everyone, which made everyone even happier.

After eating and drinking, most people, except the Eight Banners soldiers in charge of guarding, went to rest early because of fatigue. By the middle of the night, almost everyone in the camp was asleep, with only the light crackling sound of the campfire and the rustling sound of the wind.

I don't know how long it was, but Asaha and a dozen Eight Banners soldiers suddenly walked out from the darkness of the camp. They were bent over and standing on tiptoe, fully armed, holding shining knives in their hands, and they came to the Han army tents in the outer circle quietly like demons suddenly emerging from hell.

With a gesture, Asiha and his men went straight into a tent. After a while, a low groan was heard from the tent, and then the sound stopped abruptly. Not long after that, Asiha and his men walked out of the tent, with knives dripping with blood in their hands, and they continued to move towards the next tent...

After repeating this several times, in less than half an hour, hundreds of Han soldiers stationed in the outer circle were killed quietly in their sleep. After dealing with these Han soldiers, Asaha specially led people to make sure that no one escaped and no one survived.

At dawn the next day, Wuerte suddenly announced in front of everyone that the Han soldiers had intended to rebel last night, but he had discovered it in advance and dealt with them. When they learned that all the Han soldiers were killed, the Eight Banners soldiers did not take it seriously at all. In their eyes, these Han soldiers were no different from cattle and sheep, and they could die if they died. But the young man was shocked and thought about it secretly. The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became.

After dealing with the Han army, Wuerte had the heads of the Han army chopped off and collected, and also took away all the armor and weapons of the Han army. These things were of great use to him, because he voluntarily abandoned Jinzhou, fearing that Huang Taiji would settle the score with him later, so these Han army heads, armor and weapons were the best "captured spoils". He could completely say that he was defeated by the Ming army and lost Jinzhou, and these heads and captives were the best proof that it was common for the Ming army to kill innocent people and claim credit, and the same was true for the Eight Banners soldiers. Borrowing a few Han army heads was nothing to him.

(End of this chapter)