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

Chapter 973 Korchin Seeks Help

More than a month later, Agudamu left Guihua City and headed for Chahar with his large group of followers and troops.

As a result of several previous wars, half of the Chahar tribe had actually been controlled by the Tengger tribe, especially the areas close to the west and the central region, which were either directly affiliated with the Tengger tribe or expressed their intention to become the Tengger tribe's sphere of influence.

Now, Agudamu, as Tengger's younger brother and a prince appointed by the Ming Dynasty, led the people separated from their original tribe to Chahar. This was tantamount to announcing to the entire Mongolia that Agudamu would be the master of the Chahar tribe in the future.

That is to say, the Mongolia south of the desert will be divided into two parts, based on the two major grasslands of Tumed and Chahar. The Tumed part includes the territory of the Tenger tribe to the west, and Chahar and the territory of Agudamu to the east. The two brothers divided the entire grassland south of the desert, and the two tribal alliances became a powerful force that could not be ignored.

There were both happy and worried people on the grasslands about Agudamu's going to Chahar. Those who were happy were those who were originally worried that the Tenger tribe would continue to grow and eventually become the next Ligdan Khan, intending to unify Mongolia.

Although the Mongolians still yearn for and cherish the memory of the Mongol Empire, they are unwilling to have another figure like Genghis Khan in Mongolia to unify the many tribes of Mongolia. The reason is simple: the glory of the ancestors belongs to the ancestors, but the wealth of the present belongs to oneself.

The history of the Golden Family is over. Now Mongolia has long been divided into many parts and each of them is governed by their own government. How comfortable would it be to be a Taiji or a chieftain? Why should we be someone else's dog and wag our tails to beg for food in front of our masters?
Therefore, in some tribes, when they learned that Agudamu had left Tenger, they secretly rejoiced, thinking that the strength of the Tenger tribe would be weakened, making it even more impossible to unify Mongolia, and thus their own wealth and glory would be preserved.

But some people were worried about it, and these worried people were mainly some tribes in the eastern Chahar region, including the eastern Chahar tribes that had previously been dependent on the Qing Dynasty, as well as many Khorchin and Inner Khalkha tribes.

Because of the rise of Nurhaci and the repeated expeditions by Ligdan Khan, these tribes voluntarily surrendered to the Later Jin Dynasty. After Huang Taiji became the new Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty, they joined forces with Huang Taiji to expel Ligdan Khan, thereby dividing up Ligdan Khan's grasslands and population and becoming local emperors.

In recent years, with the rise of the Tenger tribe and the great changes in the Ming Dynasty, they suffered heavy losses after several defeats in the subsequent wars. When the Tenger tribe moved eastward and occupied almost half of the central and western parts of Chahar, they became even more frightened, fearing that one day the Tenger tribe would join forces with the Ming Dynasty in the south to move east again.

However, as Chaoktu Khan moved south from the northern desert and a war broke out in the direction of Qinghai in the western desert, the momentum of the Tengger tribe's eastward advance began to weaken, and these tribes gradually returned to calm, thinking that the Tengger tribe might not plan to continue advancing eastward due to its own reasons, and this way they could ensure their own safety.

But now the situation has changed. The Agudamu tribe suddenly split from the powerful Tengger tribe, and the two brothers made a division of the southern steppes of the desert and directly gave Chahar, including its eastern area, to Agudamu as his territory.

This change caught these tribes off guard. As Agudamu began to become the ruler of Chahar, he would definitely find a way to unify the Chahar tribes first. In other words, the brief independence of the eastern Chahar tribes would no longer exist. Whether they voluntarily submitted to Agudamu or were conquered by Agudamu by force, the unification of Chahar was inevitable.

Once the entire Chahar is under Agudamu's control, it is very likely that Agudamu will continue to move eastward and attack Khorchin and Inner Khalkha. What will they do then?
For this reason, the eastern Chahar tribes and the Khorchin and Inner Khalkha tribes suddenly panicked, especially the Khorchin leader Qitat. Compared with other Mongolian tribes, Khorchin was quite different from these Mongolian tribes, because once Agudamu moved eastward, the leaders and taijis of other Mongolian tribes could voluntarily surrender or become Agudamu's subordinates, but Qitat could never do that.

This is because of the special status of Khorchin in Mongolia. As early as the Nurhaci period, the Khorchin tribe had been flirting with Nurhaci, and the two sides had intermarried many times and formed an alliance. Moreover, whether it was the Later Jin Dynasty or the later Qing Dynasty, Khorchin was the most supportive force among the Mongols. It was also because of Khorchin's full support that Lin Danhan was later expelled from Chahar, and Huang Taiji bypassed Mongolia to attack the Ming Dynasty, plus the subsequent Battle of the Great Wall against the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty's several attacks on various Mongolian tribes.

In other words, the Khorchin tribe was nominally a Mongolian tribe, but in reality it had long been a lackey of the Qing Dynasty, and the relationship between the two was inextricably linked.

In addition, during the many marriages between Khorchin and the Qing Dynasty, many women married into the Qing Dynasty. The three most famous among them were all married to Huang Taiji. One of them is the current Empress Dowager Zhezhe of the Qing Dynasty, another is Bumbutai, the mother of the current Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty, and the other is Hai Lanzhu, Huang Taiji's most beloved concubine at that time.

Except for Hailanzhu who passed away long ago, Zhezhe and Bumbutai are now the most noble women in the Qing Dynasty. Because the emperor is young, the prince assists in the government, but as the two actual queen mothers, they still have a lot of say in the Qing Dynasty. Bumbutai is fine, but Empress Zhezhe, the current empress dowager, is politically sophisticated and has a high prestige. Even though Dorgon's power is growing, he still dares not act presumptuously in the face of Empress Dowager Zhezhe. Many things in the court are still discussed with Empress Dowager Zhezhe, which is enough to show her status in the Qing Dynasty. Speaking of the relationship between Qitate and Empress Dowager Zhezhe, it is more complicated. Qitate is the grandson of the former Khorchin Queen Mother, and Zhezhe is the daughter of the Khorchin Queen Mother. From this point of view, Qitate, as the current leader of Khorchin, is the nephew of Empress Dowager Zhezhe and the cousin of another Empress Dowager Bumbutai.

In addition, this is not all. After the death of her husband, Korchin's grandson Qitate remarried her according to Mongolian customs. Qitate thus became Huang Taiji's cheap father-in-law and his aunt's stepfather.

After the Queen Consort of Korchin died of illness, Qitate specifically asked Huang Taiji to marry Princess Gulun Duanjing, the second daughter of Empress Zhezhe, as his wife. In this way, he directly became a son-in-law from a cheap father-in-law and stepfather. This extremely complicated relationship is really incredible.

In any case, there is no doubt that the Qitat and the Qing imperial family are not only real relatives, but also allies. So in this case, other Mongolian tribes can have different choices, but the Qitat has only one way to go, that is, to continue to follow the Qing road to the end, find a way to counter and stop Agudamu's eastward advance, and stop him from unifying Chahar.

For this reason, Qitat quickly sent people to deliver news to the Qing Dynasty, hoping to obtain the Qing Dynasty's military support to join forces with Khorchin to send troops to Chahar. While the Chahar tribes were still waiting and watching, they would unite and launch a war against Agudamu to curb the opponent's eastward advance plan.

The news soon reached Shengjing in Liaodong and was delivered to Dorgon. Dorgon was now the real leader of the Qing Dynasty. Although he failed to win the throne in the previous battle for the throne, he prevented Hauge from ascending the throne as the first heir. He also used the mentality of two women, Zhezhe and Bumbutai, to win over the other party, and then the two sides jointly deprived Hauge of his qualification to succeed the throne.

Later, Fulin, who was still a child, ascended the throne with the support of most people and became the second emperor of the Qing Dynasty after Huang Taiji. Dorgon also gained a lot of benefits from it, and together with Prince Zheng Jirgalang, he became the only two regent princes, assisting the emperor in governing the country when he was young and temporarily unable to rule.

With the title of Regent Prince, Dorgon's status rose instantly. In addition, Dorgon already had considerable influence within the Eight Banners. In addition, the three Dorgon brothers together controlled almost half of the military power of the Eight Banners. In addition, Dorgon's political means were also quite superb. In just less than a year, he, the second-ranked Regent Prince, surpassed Jirgalang and became the most powerful minister.

After initially taking control of the government, Dorgon continued to suppress Hauge. After all, Hauge was not only his opponent, but also the main target he had always been on guard against. Although Hauge had lost his right to inherit the throne, he was the eldest son of Huang Taiji and the elder brother of the current emperor. As long as Hauge was alive, Dorgon had to guard against Hauge's possible counterattack. Once he was careless and failed, all his current power and wealth would become a thing of the past.

Dorgon knew this very well, and he also understood the truth that there is no such thing as being a thief for a thousand days. As long as Hauge was alive, Dorgon would not be at peace. To resolve this worry, he had to get rid of Hauge first. If he didn't kill Hauge, Dorgon would not be able to sleep well.

For this reason, Dorgon tried every means to attack Hauge, constantly looking for reasons to weaken the Eight Banners power in Hauge's hands, and even fabricated some charges to suppress Hauge. Hauge was also miserable. Although he relied on his own strength to fight hard, the advantage was in Dorgon's hands. How could he, an ordinary prince, compete with a regent prince? In addition, even the Queen Mother Zhezhe secretly joined forces with Dorgon. Although she did not intervene in the fight between the two on the surface, she actually stood on Dorgon's side.

Zhezhe is not an ordinary woman. As the queen of Huang Taiji in the past and the empress dowager now, Zhezhe is not a decoration, otherwise she would not have agreed to support Fulin to ascend the throne instead of standing on Hauge's side.

In Zhezhe's opinion, the advantages of choosing Fulin are far greater than Haoge. Although Haoge is the eldest son of Huang Taiji and his nominal son, the problem is that Haoge is not Zhezhe's son, and Haoge has already reached adulthood. He is older than Zhezhe in age, and Haoge has a bad temper. His relationship with Zhezhe was very ordinary before. Once Haoge ascends the throne, Zhezhe will have the title of empress dowager, but will completely lose her political status in the Qing Dynasty. At best, she can only live out her retirement in the harem.

A woman in her thirties would end her life like this? Zhezhe was naturally unwilling to accept this. But choosing Fulin was different. Although Fulin was not born to Zhezhe, he was born to Bumbutai, and she and Bumbutai were aunt and nephew. In this sense, Fulin was no different from her own son.

Moreover, Fulin was young, and it took more than ten years for Fulin, who ascended the throne as a child, to rule the country. During such a long period of time, Zhezhe, as the empress dowager, naturally had a certain say in state affairs, thus her position was preserved.

Compared with the two, anyone would choose Fulin over Haoge, which is why Zhezhe finally joined forces with Dorgon to support Fulin. When Dorgon became the regent prince and continued to suppress Haoge, Zhezhe also maintained a tacit attitude, which made Dorgon even more arrogant, while Haoge's life became more and more difficult.

(End of this chapter)