Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 183 The culprit is the powerful and wealthy behind the scenes
Zhu Houzhao nodded and patted Zhang Cong on the shoulder:

"You've lost weight. Tell me about the current situation of Yulin County's farmland, population, mineral resources, etc. And tell me about your practical experience in building Yulin City so that Zhang Lun and others who are also from the Imperial University can listen carefully!"

Zhang Cong replied "Yes!" and glanced at Zhang Lun, the eldest grandson of Duke Yingguo.

Although Yulin City is now quite large, the buildings in the city are still all thatched roofs, and only the county government office is a brick and tile building.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao and a number of court officials could only rest in the county government office temporarily.

In this world without electricity, Zhu Houzhao could only sit beside a pit with 145 candlesticks and a burning bonfire and listen to Zhang Cong's report.

The chief minister of the cabinet Jiao Fang, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department Liu Jin, the governor of Datong Feng Junyan and others could only stand in the room, crowded around. The higher-ranking officials stood closer to the fire, while the lower-ranking officials stood directly at the door to block the cold wind.

Those without official positions could only stand in the snow and ice, with the fire warming their front sides and the wind blowing on their backs.

After listening to Zhang Cong's report, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but ask Shen Lu of Jinyiwei: "Where are the tribes now?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the cavalry of the Yongxie and Ordos tribes have already started to set off, but the Chahar tribe has not shown any signs of moving yet," Shen Lu replied.

Zhu Houzhao could not help but ask Zhang Cong to take out the map he had drawn before he followed Ma Wensheng to the border. He was a little surprised when he saw it:
"The Chahar tribe is the farthest from Yulin among the Mongolian right wing. They should have set out earlier. Why have the cavalry of the Tushe and Ordos tribes already set out, but his Chahar cavalry has not yet set out!"

"I am also puzzled. I have sent someone to ride back and ask our spy. Let's see what he says then."

As Shen Lu was talking, he heard the sound of horses whinnying outside and heard a soldier shouting, "Report! Looking for Lord Shen, the deputy governor of the Imperial Guard!"

Zhu Houzhao signaled to Shen Lu and asked him to go out and see what was going on.

Not long after, Shen Lu came in again and reported to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty! The Chahar tribe has set off."

The chief minister of the cabinet, Jiao Fang, couldn't help but relax a little. Now that His Majesty the Emperor was outside the Great Wall, he was really afraid that something unexpected would happen and the incident of the 14th year of Zhengtong would happen again. Although the Emperor was not going to conquer the little prince and would return to Datong City tomorrow.

But Jiao Fang was still worried that if the Chahar tribe did not come, it might mean that the Chahar tribe would change its mind halfway and would be unwilling to form an alliance with the Ming Dynasty, or even collude with the little prince to harm the Ming Dynasty.

Now that he heard that the Chahar cavalry had set out as promised, he naturally felt a lot more relieved.

In fact, Zhu Houzhao and Jiao Fang were worried about the same thing, so when he heard that the Chahar tribe had not set out, he asked Shen Lu another question very carefully.

Now that he knew that the Chahar tribe had already set out, Zhu Houzhao also breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Zhu Houzhao could not ignore the fact that the Chahar tribe set out later than the Tushe tribe and the Ordos tribe, and he could not help but ask the civil and military officials present again.

"Gentlemen, why do you think the Chahar cavalry set out the last?"

Except for Jiao Fang, Liu Jin and Zhang Cong, most of the officials present had led troops in border towns. They had already started thinking about it without Zhu Houzhao asking.

At this time, Qiu Yue said, "In my opinion, the Chahar tribe may want to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight."

"Tiger? Who is the tiger?" Zhu Houzhao asked.

"Your Majesty, it is of course my Great Ming and the little prince." Liu Jin of the Imperial Household Department just said this, and Datong Governor Feng Jun directly refuted:

"That's not right. Datong now has a guard army and a border army, with a total of no less than 100,000 soldiers and horses. The little prince has not yet unified the right wing of Mongolia, but the left wing has 30,000 households and only tens of thousands of cavalry. If Datong comes, it will not have enough strength to fight a decisive battle with our Ming Dynasty! And now, according to your majesty's brilliant plan, the right and left wings of Mongolia will fight each other, and our Ming Dynasty is just a planner."

Datong Governor Feng Junyan was an official with rich experience in leading troops in border towns and he grasped the key at once.

"According to Governor Feng, this tiger fight is a dispute between the left and right wings of the Mongols, and the Ming Dynasty is just watching the show?"

Zhang Cong said with a smile.

Zhu Houzhao pondered for a while and asked Shen Lu: "Does the person who came to report know the direction from which the Chahar cavalry set out?"

Shen Lu bowed to Zhu Houzhao, then left the Yulin County Office to ask again, and then came back: "Southwest!"

"Southwest! No! The southwest is farther and farther away from Yulin City. It is the retreat route of the Tuxie and Ordos tribes! The Chahar tribe is going to cut off the retreat route of the Tuxie and Ordos tribes!" Qiu Yue was worthy of being a famous general of the time. He immediately pointed out the possible motives of the Chahar tribe.

Before Zhu Houzhao could react, Qiu Yue hurriedly bowed to him and said, "Your Majesty! Now you and the elders need to make a new decision! This little prince is not targeting our Ming Dynasty! I'm afraid that he has been preparing to unify the entire Mongolian Yuan Dynasty! Intent on destroying the right wing!"

Zhu Houzhao didn't react. Seeing Qiu Yue so excited, he couldn't calm down and analyze the situation carefully.

The Prime Minister of the Cabinet Jiao Fang and the Seal of the Imperial Household Liu Jin were also bewildered. They knew very little about Qiu Yue, who was a hereditary deputy governor. They only knew that His Majesty had the Ministry of War transfer this man to Beijing for some unknown reason to train a group of Jinshi and children of nobles from the Imperial University of Peking. Soon he was in charge of the training of the entire Guards, and now he was the commander of the First Division of the Guards, appointed as the deputy general, and concurrently served as the left vice minister of the General Staff of the Guards.

But in fact, everyone still looked down on this military officer to some extent, and thought that His Majesty just liked him.

And now, Qiu Yue’s performance naturally surprised them.

Zhu Houzhao had no choice but to wave his hands and said, "Wait, Qiu Qing, are you saying that the little prince's goal now is still just to eat up the right wing of Mongolia and unify Mongolia?"

"That's right. If my guess is correct, the little prince has no intention of becoming an enemy of the Ming Dynasty. First of all, the Ming Dynasty's border defenses are now very complete. Secondly, he, the little prince, does not have enough strength yet. The little prince should first encircle the Tuxie and Ordos tribes. The Chahar tribe may have agreed to form an alliance with the Ming Dynasty, but has already surrendered to the little prince and wants to work with him to eliminate the Tuxie and Ordos tribes in order to unify the entire Mongolia!"

Qiu Yue said, "Your Majesty, the unification of Mongolia is ultimately disadvantageous to the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Taizong enfeoffed Alutai and other Mongolian lords as kings, allowing them to divide and rule, which made it possible for the Yongle Dynasty to be free from border troubles. After Yesen's father Toghan unified Mongolia, Yesen dared to attack the Ming Dynasty after he succeeded to the throne! Now the little prince also wants to unify Mongolia! How should the Ming Dynasty deal with it? Please make your decision, Your Majesty!"

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but hold his forehead: "I killed his son, and even tortured him to death! I even asked all borders to ban his salt and tea trade! Shouldn't he not come to be an enemy of our Ming Dynasty?"

At this time, there was another sound of horse neighing outside.

Then, the soldiers on guard shouted, "Report! Looking for Lord Shen, the deputy governor of the Imperial Guard!"

Shen Lu retreated again, and then came back to report: "Your Majesty! This is the news sent by Jinyiwei's spy in the little prince. There are two reports:
1. The little prince said that his son Urusbolot was killed by the Right Tushe tribe's Yibula Taishi and Ordos' Mandulai Agulehu, so he decided to mobilize all the left wing tribes to attack the right wing rebels! On November 18, he set out from Weininghai!

2. The Little Prince's tribe has obtained 30,000 kilograms of salt and 20,000 kilograms of tea!
Zhu Houzhao really didn't expect that the little prince would blame the Mongolian right wing for the death of his son Urusborot.

"This is revenge for the murder of my son! Why doesn't he come to seek revenge from me? This little prince is really a man. He can endure this. He is worthy of being a real man!"

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but laugh.

The cabinet chief Jiao Fang could not help but nod his head: "This minister is also incredible. Now it seems that it is also because of your majesty's awe-inspiring power that even the little prince dare not easily offend our Ming Dynasty!"

"Stop flattering me!"

Zhu Houzhao retorted to Jiao Fang and looked at Qiu Yue, who had foresight on the war situation: "I roughly understand what you mean. The little prince now wants to destroy the Tuxie and Ordos tribes first, and the Chahar tribe has undoubtedly surrendered to the little prince. As long as the little prince destroys the Tuxie and Ordos tribes, he can unify the whole of Mongolia! Now the news from the Jinyiwei is consistent with what you said. The little prince blamed the Mongolian right wing for the crime of killing his son, but did not mention the Chahar tribe."

Zhu Houzhao said and looked at the others: "But I still have a question. The second piece of information revealed by the Jinyiwei said that the little prince had obtained 30,000 kilograms of salt and 20,000 kilograms of tea! The Ming Dynasty's blockade of his salt and tea failed?! How did he get it?!"

Zhu Houzhao did not directly say that it might be that some officials in the border towns of the Ming Dynasty were secretly colluding with the little prince, but his tone had become somewhat stern at this time, which naturally allowed the officials present to guess.

The cabinet chief Jiao Fang said hurriedly: "Your Majesty! For this matter, we can only issue a letter to Ma Wensheng and Cai Kuan to investigate in detail who is secretly trading with the little prince."

"Approved! You can immediately draft an imperial decree to question these two people!"

Zhu Houzhao said.

Preventing Mongolia from unifying and growing stronger was something the Ming Dynasty had to be vigilant about, and preventing border town officials from colluding with foreign invaders in order to maintain the Ming Dynasty's ability to exercise economic control over foreign invaders was also something that needed to be constantly vigilant about.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao was also very concerned about the second piece of news and was even a little angry.

If his strategy of using the Mongolian right wing to get rid of the little prince fails this time, then those powerful gentry who secretly colluded with the little prince and even exported important supplies to the little prince will be the culprits!

Zhu Houzhao was secretly certain that if these people were found out, they would be severely punished!

Otherwise, if the Jurchens really rise in the future, will the Shanxi merchants still be able to export strategic resources to foreign enemies without restraint, and will the commanders fighting on the front line also dare to do so? !
But now we can only blame Ma Wensheng and Cai Kuan who are in charge of the border town.

Zhu Houzhao glanced at Feng Junyan, the governor of Datong who was also the commander of the border town, and asked again: "Now let's talk about how our Ming Dynasty should deal with the current changes."

(End of this chapter)