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

Chapter 796: Changes in the Grassland

Wang Hai reported the situation of the tribe to Tana. Although the tribes suffered some losses after the two snowfalls, the losses were not great. Moreover, the current Tumed is not the same Tumed as before. With the deepening of trade with the Ming Dynasty, the Tumed has become the strongest tribe in Mongolia.

Needless to say, when Zhu Shenzhui was in power, he integrated the previous Ashi Timur tribe, and then used the profits from border trade to strengthen the power of the Tenger tribe. In the subsequent wars, the Tenger tribe annexed several tribes one after another, and became one of the most important tribes in Tumed.

After Lindan Khan was defeated in Chahar and expelled from Chahar, his tribe moved westward and fought a fierce battle with Bu Shitu in Tumed. At this time, Zhu Shenzui made good use of this opportunity. He not only helped Bu Shitu weaken Lindan Khan's power, but also used Lindan Khan to inflict a lot of losses on Bu Shitu.

While the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman benefits. At that time, the Tengger tribe was the fisherman. After Ligdan Khan failed to take Guihua City and finally fled west, although Bu Shitu won the war by chance, his life also came to an end.

When Bu Shitu was seriously ill, Zhu Shenzui began to plan for Tumed. As soon as Bu Shitu died, the Tengger tribe took over Guihua City, thus swallowing up Bu Shitu's original tribe like a snake swallowing an elephant, and became the strongest tribe in Tumed.

Afterwards, Zhu Shenzhui used a series of measures to gradually unify the entire Tumed, which led to its current prosperity.

The Tumed tribe is now completely controlled by the Tenger tribe. With its growing strength and rich heritage, the damage caused by the heavy snow is no longer a big deal. In addition, the Tumed tribe has been expanding outwards over the years, including extending its influence to Chahar in the east in cooperation with the Ming Dynasty.

If Zhu Shenzui had not considered that once Chahar was taken, the Tengger tribe would directly border the Jiannu in Liaodong, which would lead to an uncontrollable full-scale war between the two sides, it would have been safer to keep the eastern part of Chahar as a barrier between the two forces.

In addition, the fact that the Tenger tribe is too powerful is not a good thing. This is just as Zhu Shenzui and Kang Youfu said before, the system of nomadic peoples such as the Mongolian tribe is fundamentally flawed, and this flaw is irreparable.

When a tribe controls a small area and does not control too many people, the management and operation of the tribe is not a problem. However, when this situation changes, especially when it continues to expand outward, the tribe will initially generate strong centripetal force and cohesion due to the benefits brought by the expansion, causing the tribe to prosper in a short period of time. This is just like the birth of the Mongol Empire. However, as long as it encounters resistance or slows down in the future, internal conflicts will immediately intensify, leading to a rapid decline.

There is a saying in the Central Plains that goes, "Everything that rises must fall", and this principle is most applicable to the Mongols. From this point of view, the Mongolian system can only remain stable when the tribe reaches a certain level. Once it expands too quickly and the grassland area under its jurisdiction is too large, the defects of the system will be exposed, resulting in many problems.

This is why small and medium-sized Mongolian tribes are more stable and last longer than large tribes. As long as there is no war or natural disaster, the probability of survival and continuation of small and medium-sized tribes is much higher than those short-lived large tribes.

Apart from these reasons, Zhu Shenzui himself did not want the Tenger tribe to become too powerful. Although the Tenger tribe was supported by Zhu Shenzui, Jurhan Tenger of the tribe is now Zhu Shenzui's eldest son, and Tana, who controls the tribe, is also his wife. The relationship between the Tenger tribe and the Ming Dynasty is very close, but once the Tenger tribe becomes too strong and too large, it will inevitably conflict with the Ming Dynasty in the future, and even lead to war.

There is no kinship in the royal family, even between father and son, or brothers. The overly powerful Mongolian tribes are not suitable to be neighbors of the Ming Dynasty. From the beginning, Zhu Shenzhu positioned the Tenger tribe, that is, the entire Tumed, as an ally and helper of the Ming Dynasty. He used the Tumed to help the Ming Dynasty ensure the stability of the nine borders, especially from Shaanxi, Shanxi to the capital area, and also used the Tumed to attack and divide the various tribes in the grassland, including dealing with the Jiannu in Liaodong. In the future, the Tumed should exist under the control and influence of the Ming Dynasty, rather than becoming an opponent of the Ming Dynasty, let alone a re-emerging Mongolian Empire.

This must be done, even if it is his wife and children who control the tribe. Zhu Shencui is a Ming man after all, and he is now the regent. He may soon become the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. In this case, it is extremely disadvantageous for the Tumed to be too powerful, and Zhu Shencui does not want to see a situation of fratricide.

After Wang Hai finished talking about the situation of the tribe, Tana nodded slightly with a calm expression. The tribe is now completely different from what it used to be. A few heavy snowfalls would not have any impact on the tribe at all. Moreover, the development of border trade has greatly improved the living conditions of the tribe. In the past, the Mongols lacked everything. Tea, salt, ironware and even iron pots for eating were all pitifully scarce. In addition, the Mongols relied on grazing for a living, and cattle, sheep and horses were their foundation. Often a snowstorm in winter would lead to the destruction of the entire tribe because a large number of cattle and sheep froze to death. But now it is different, because of the development of border trade with the Ming Dynasty, the living conditions of the Tumed tribes, especially the Tengger tribe, are no longer so single. The large amount of supplies obtained from the Ming Dynasty through border trade, even including food and other materials, can enable the tribe to strengthen its resistance to the risk of natural disasters. In addition, the plain area east of Guihua City is originally more suitable for reclamation and farming, and farming also brings income to the tribe, which reduces many worries for the tribe.

"How are the people in the east?" Tana asked. The people in the east she was asking about were not the Mongols from Chahar, but the Ming people who were farming on the plain east of Guihua City.

The Mongols have been cultivating land to the east of Guihua City for a long time, even when Guihua City was first built. Many Ming people who fled to the grassland from the south for livelihood reasons were taken in by the Mongols. These Ming people were not suitable for grazing, but were suitable for farming.

In the era of Sanniangzi, in order to encourage these Ming people to plant crops, Sanniangzi specially allocated a large area of ​​land suitable for planting in the east of Guihua City. But after Sanniangzi's death, this policy gradually died out. Although there are still Ming people and a small number of Mongolians planting crops in this area, the scale and output are not as good as those in the most prosperous years.

After the Tenger tribe became the master of Tumed, Zhu Shenzhui decided to re-implement the policy of Sanniangzi, reclaiming a large area of ​​land for planting in the east of Guihua City and recruiting people from all households. However, there were not many Ming people in the grassland at that time. After several generations and continuous wars, the number of Ming people who could settle down and farm here was less than one-tenth of the original number.

The grasslands were not short of people, but they were short of people who could farm. The Mongols knew how to herd, but it was difficult to get them to farm. Except for a small number of semi-Sinicized Mongols who cultivated the land together with the Ming people, most Mongols could not even tell the difference between wheat and grass, let alone pick up a hoe to farm.

So after the restoration of this policy, the development of land reclamation and cultivation there was somewhat unsatisfactory. However, this situation began to change more than a year ago because of the defeat of King Gao Yingxiang, which led to the annihilation of his troops and countless prisoners.

In order to deal with these captives, Zhu Shenzhui instructed Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting to sell all these people to Mongolia, that is, to the Tenger tribe. Originally, Hong Chengchou planned to kill them all to eliminate future troubles, but when he learned that there was this solution, Hong Chengchou immediately agreed with both hands. After all, no matter how sufficient the reasons for killing were, it was too cruel to kill tens of thousands of people. Human heads are not leeks. They can grow again after being cut. It is not a good thing to bear the stigma of a butcher. Since there is a better way, why not do it? What's more, selling them to the Mongols can not only solve the problem of these people, but also make profits from them to supplement military supplies. It is simply killing two birds with one stone.

In this way, in six successive transactions, a total of more than 40,000 people were "sold" to Mongolia and became the property of the Tengger tribe.

These people were unstable factors if they stayed in the Ming Dynasty. You have to know that they were all Gao Yingxiang's subordinates, and even those who were coerced were bandits. If they were released to their own places, what if someone raised their arms and called for a rebellion? No one could be sure whether this would happen, which was why Hong Chengchou planned to raise the butcher knife from the beginning.

But it was different when they went to the grassland. They left the Ming Dynasty and went to the grassland. They were unfamiliar with the place, and the grassland was so vast that they could not tell east from west and south from north. They could not escape even if they wanted to. In addition, the Mongols did not care who you were. The Mongolian system was originally a slave system and semi-feudal system. They had a complete set of management for prisoners. Otherwise, how could the big tribe swallow up the small tribe?
After Wang Hai got these people, he discussed with Burigude and decided to teach them a lesson first. They randomly picked out dozens of them and killed them in public without any reason. This bloody method directly intimidated most of the people.

Then, these people were reorganized according to Mongolian rules and arranged according to specific circumstances. Some of them, about 3,000 able-bodied men, were organized into an army. Of course, this army was not an ordinary army, but a slave army. The Mongols had always used slaves as their army. The most famous slave army in history was the Mamluk Army encountered during the Mongol Western Expedition.

Mamluk means slave in Mongolian. The army was first established by Saladin, the enemy of the Mongol Empire. The Mamluk army defeated the invincible Mongol cavalry during the Mongol invasion of the West, causing the Mongols to suffer a lot. Later, the Mongols followed Saladin's example and formed a similar army to the Mamluk army, using slaves as soldiers to fight against the enemy, and gave them a name called "Bo'ole".

Some people were organized into Bo'ole troops, and were governed and commanded by the Tenger tribe's hundred and thousand households, and were managed according to the rules. As long as they could gain military merits on the battlefield, they could escape from the lowest status of Bo'ole and enjoy the treatment of lower-level herdsmen, but it was difficult to do so. You should know that Bo'ole were usually cannon fodder on the battlefield, with extremely high danger and mortality rates. Only a few could survive a battle and gain military merits. But even so, it was a way out for these captives.

As for most of the ordinary captives, they were all sent to open up wasteland and cultivate the land. The bandits were originally farmers, and farming was naturally a familiar job for them. Moreover, the Tengger tribe also lacked people who could farm, so it was most appropriate to settle them in this way.

But their identity is still that of slaves, and to change that requires achievements and time. Although this is more difficult than being a Bo'ole, after all, farming will not kill people. As long as there is hope, these captives who are originally peasants are willing to do it.

(End of this chapter)