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

Chapter 852: Sauron News
Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

In a blink of an eye, it has been nearly three months since Zhu Shencui ascended the throne. Today is not a court meeting day. Zhu Shencui met with the cabinet elders as usual, discussed state affairs, arranged the cabinet work and then sent them away. As soon as the cabinet elders left and Zhu Shencui had just taken a sip of tea, Zhou Anmin, the commander-in-chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, arrived.

"Your Majesty, the people who went to the Solon tribe are back." Zhou Anmin, with a happy look on his face, hurriedly reported after seeing Zhu Shenzhui.

"Oh, have you contacted the Soran tribe?"

"That's right!" Zhou Anmin said, "We just received a message from a fast horse today. The people I sent to Nurgan have found the Suolong tribe and met their leader, Dular Bomubogor."

As he spoke, Zhou Anmin handed over the letters he brought. Zhu Shenzhui took them and looked at them carefully. There were two letters. One was a reply from someone Zhou Anmin sent, which carefully described the situation of going north to search for the Solon tribe, as well as the details of how they found the Solon tribe and met their leader.

As for the other letter, it was from the leader of the Solon tribe, Dular. Bomubogor, to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. In the letter, he first expressed his gratitude to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, then expressed the Solon tribe's willingness to respect the emperor of the Ming Dynasty as their leader, and hoped that the Ming Dynasty would support the Solon tribe so that the Solon tribe would have the strength to resist the Jurchens in the south. If the Ming Dynasty could do this, then in the future the Solon tribe would follow the Ming Dynasty's lead and become an absolutely loyal vassal tribe of the Ming Dynasty in Nurgan in the north.

After reading these two letters, Zhu Shenzhui was very happy. You know, it has been more than two years since he planned to send people to contact the Solon tribe, but he had not been able to contact the Solon tribe before. The Jinyiwei sent several waves of people but were unable to cross the vast Liaodong and Mongolian areas and go deep into the Nurgan area to find the other party.

The situation was not improved until Zheng Hongkui and Li You crossed the sea to the north to attack Liaodong and Jiannu. After they recovered Pi Island, which originally belonged to Dongjiang Town, the road to Nurgan by sea was opened.

Therefore, the Jinyiwei immediately adjusted their route. They no longer took the great risk of continuing to cross from Mongolia and Liaodong as before. Instead, they first arrived at Pi Island by sea. After arriving at Pi Island, they took a boat to bypass the Korean Peninsula, and then went north along the coastline north of the Korean Peninsula, crossing the Sea of ​​Japan and the Tatar Strait between Sakhalin Island and the mainland, and finally arrived at the Nurgan area.

This route is much safer and more convenient than the land route. However, this route is only available for a limited time each year, because the further north you go, the colder it gets. Some places are affected by the climate for nearly half a year, and the sea surface may even be frozen. The Strait of Tartar is particularly narrow, and once the sea surface is frozen, the ship cannot pass. In addition, due to the ocean currents, the navigable time each year is less than half a year.

Just like this time, although the Jinyiwei arrived in the Nurgan area and contacted the Suolong tribe, the navigation can only be opened after the ice and snow melt next spring. But no matter what, being able to contact the Suolong tribe is a good thing. As long as the Suolong tribe can be used by the Ming Dynasty and help the Ming Dynasty resist the Jiannu, then Huang Taiji will not be able to annex his tribe and use the Suolong tribe as a vanguard.

The Solon tribe was of great significance to Huang Taiji. Ever since Huang Taiji became the Great Khan, he had set his sights on the Solon tribe and had always wanted to annex it for his own use.

The Solon tribe is a collective name. In fact, broadly speaking, it is the three Solon tribes, mainly composed of the Ewenki, Daur and Oroqen ethnic groups. But if we divide it more carefully, we will find that the Solon tribe actually has nearly ten tribes. These tribes are integrated together to form the current main body of the Solon tribe.

The Solon tribe lived in Liaodong, which was further north than the Jurchens. Due to the harsh climate and the difficulty of survival, the Solon tribe, which relied on fishing and hunting for a living, was extremely powerful. The people of each tribe were excellent hunters and the best soldiers. Although the total population of the Solon tribe was not large, their combat effectiveness was extremely strong. In history, after the Solon tribe was finally annexed by the Jurchens, it became a weapon for the Jurchens in foreign wars. Any war involving the Solon tribe’s army never suffered a defeat. Even in the later Qing Dynasty, there was a saying that there could be no army without Solon people, and they also enjoyed the reputation of "Invincible in the East".

The reason why the Qing Dynasty was able to win so many wars in later generations, such as the pacification of the Three Feudatories and the Battle of Dzungar, was that the Solon tribe played an important role in them. If there were no powerful Solon tribe to help the Jurchens fight, it is still unclear whether the Jurchens could have firmly established their rule over the world.

Because he coveted the powerful fighting power of the Solon tribe, Huang Taiji always wanted to take over the Solon tribe for himself, but the problem was that the leader of the Solon tribe, Dural Bomubogor, was a very clear-headed man. He understood Huang Taiji's intentions very well and did not want the Solon tribe to become a killing weapon in the hands of the Jurchens.

Dular. Bomubogor had no good feelings towards Huang Taiji, and was extremely wary of the previous Later Jin, which is now the Qing Dynasty. However, although the Solon tribe was strong, it had a small population and low productivity. Compared with the Jurchens, the Solon tribe was not an opponent, although it could fight. In order to avoid being annexed by Huang Taiji, Dular. Bomubogor could only take a compromise approach. On the one hand, he took the initiative to pay tribute to the Jurchens, and on the other hand, he sent gifts to please them, hoping that the Jurchens would give up the idea of ​​annexing the Solon tribe because of his obedience. Unfortunately, Huang Taiji was not so easy to deal with? Huang Taiji had long wanted to swallow the Solon tribe in one bite, and even if Dular. Bomubogor was humble, he would not let him give up the idea of ​​annexing the Solon tribe. Therefore, the outbreak of war between the Jurchens and the Solon tribe was inevitable. Not long after Dular. Bomubogor paid tribute to Huang Taiji, Huang Taiji found a reason that was not a reason to send troops and led the army to attack the Solon tribe.

The Solon tribe had good fighting power, but low productivity. Facing the Jurchens who were armed to the teeth, the Solon tribe only had bows and arrows made of stone and bone, and swords that were not very sharp. They could not even put together a few pieces of leather armor. Even if the Solon tribe was good at riding and shooting, it was useless because their weapons could not break through the enemy's armor protection. Not only did their tenacious resistance fail to defeat the fierce enemy, but they were beaten back step by step. In order to avoid the attack of the Jurchens, Dular. Bomubogor could only lead his people to retreat northward, all the way to the present Nurgan area.

Huang Taiji could not help but feel a little regretful for not being able to annex the Solon tribe in one go, but he also knew that it was not so easy to swallow the Solon tribe in one go. After defeating the Solon tribe and forcing it to retreat northward, Huang Taiji appropriately slowed down the attack on the Solon tribe and instead adopted the method of luring them.

Unfortunately, Dular. Bomubogor didn't buy his tricks at all. Dular. Bomubogor knew clearly that Huang Taiji's current posture was just a delaying tactic. If he really believed the other party, he would be a fool. Dular. Bomubogor still showed a gesture of submission to the Jurchens on the surface, but in fact he was always secretly vigilant about the actions of the Jurchens and was ready to continue the war at any time to prevent the Jurchens from making a comeback.

If there had not been the previous war in Liaodong, or if Zhu Shenzui had not sent Zheng Hongkui and Li You to attack Liaodong in the north, causing chaos in the rear of the Jiannu and eventually winning the Battle of the Siege of Jinzhou, perhaps after taking Jinzhou, Huang Taiji would have prepared to turn around and attack the Solon tribe, launching the final battle to annex the Solon tribe.

But precisely because the situation has changed, and coupled with the rebellion of the Zhenghong Banner, one of the Eight Banners of the Jiannu, Huang Taiji is now unable to take care of the Solon tribe in the north. He is now busy suppressing the internal affairs of the Eight Banners and ensuring the stability of his regime.

But everyone can see clearly that once Huang Taiji solves the internal problems and has time, he will definitely attack the Solon tribe. By then, the Solon tribe will have no way to retreat and can only fight a final battle with the Jurchens. Judging from the strength comparison between the two sides, the Solon tribe cannot beat the Jurchens at all. Once defeated, the entire tribe will be completely annexed by Huang Taiji.

Dular. Bomubogor understood this very well. He was always worried that the Jurchens would come again. He knew that he could not stop the Jurchens with his own strength. But as the proud leader of the Solon tribe, Dular. Bomubogor absolutely did not want to succumb to the Jurchens, and he was even more unwilling to see his tribe become a weapon in the hands of the Jurchens.

Just when Dulal Bomubogor was extremely anxious and almost lost confidence in the future, an envoy of the Ming Dynasty's Jinyiwei suddenly appeared in the Nurgan area, and raised the banner that they were ordered by the emperor to contact the Solon tribe. This made Dulal Bomubogor overjoyed.

Although the Suolong tribe was far away from the Ming Dynasty, it was not unfamiliar to the Ming Dynasty. You should know that the Nurgan area was originally the territory of the Ming Dynasty. The Nurgan Dusi was set up here a long time ago. It was only because the Jurchens rebelled against the Ming Dynasty during the Wanli period that the Liaodong Dusi broke away from the control of the Ming Dynasty. With the outbreak of the war, the Nurgan Dusi, which was farther away, directly broke away from the Ming Dynasty. Over the years, the Ming Dynasty has basically lost control of the Nurgan Dusi.

But even so, the Solon people living on this land are, after all, the subjects of the Ming Dynasty. Now that the Ming court has sent people to contact them and has taken a gesture to win them over, how can Dular Bomubogor not be happy?

The Ming Dynasty was the most powerful country in the world. Even though the Jurchens were so strong, they could only stay in Liaodong and could not defeat the Ming Dynasty. Although the Solons were far away, there was a lot of news from the south. Last year, Huang Taiji was repelled by the Ming Dynasty. Not only did he not gain anything, but he also suffered a lot of losses. It can be seen that the strength of the Ming Dynasty is still not comparable to that of the Jurchens.

If they can get the support of the Ming Dynasty, not to mention other things, just the support in terms of military equipment, the combat effectiveness of the Solon tribe will increase rapidly. You should know that although the number of Solon tribe members in the war between them was not as large as that of the Jurchens, their combat effectiveness was not inferior at all, and they were even stronger than the strongest white-armored soldiers of the Jurchens. Under the leadership of Dular Bomubogor, the Solon tribe had won several battles against the Jurchens.

The reason why the Solon tribe could not defeat the Jurchens was not because of their poor fighting power, but because their equipment was too bad. With simple weapons made of stone and bone, how could they possibly defeat the Jurchens who were armed to the teeth? If they also had these equipment, the Jurchens would be nothing at all. Unfortunately, the Solon tribe had no way to obtain these equipment, and because of this, they were defeated by the Jurchens again and again.

(End of this chapter)