Ming Dynasty: The Jingnan Rebellion has just been successful, and Zhu Yuanzhang has been resurrected

Chapter 167 The Peril of Liaodong
"What's going on? Has the Grand Tutor had a conflict with the Great Khan?" Dorjibo asked in surprise.

However, given his low status, he was not qualified to participate in such a struggle, so he did not interrupt.

Mahmud thought for a moment and said, “Great Khan, Yingtian Prefecture is far from Beiping. Even if the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty knows that we will set off immediately after heading south, we will still have plenty of time.”

Others may not know, but he is very clear in his heart that the main reason Arughtai is targeting Benyashiri is because of him.

Of course, his act of stepping forward to offer Benyashiri a way out was not without ulterior motives; he wanted to further escalate the conflict between Benyashiri and Arughtai.

With no hope of advancing south, the Tatars and Oirats would revert to their previous state of antagonism, where they frequently clashed.

Of course, most of the time, the Oirat were the ones who suffered losses.

The Tatars were stronger than the Oirats, and they also had the title of Great Khan, Benyashiri. What could the Oirats possibly use to fight the Tatars?
However, despite being constantly on the defensive and being attacked, the Oirats or Mahmud never compromised, and no matter how badly they were beaten, they never submitted to the Tatars.

"Hmm?" Arughtai's gaze sharpened upon hearing Mahmud's words, and his expression turned hostile.

However, his purpose was merely to put Benyashiri down and make her understand where she should stand; he did not intend to escalate the conflict between the two.

He knew very well that if he and Benyashiri fell out, it would only benefit the Oirat for nothing.

“Indeed, I didn’t think things through before. Since there is still plenty of time, let’s do things as the Grand Tutor wishes.” Benya Shiri said with a smile, trying to sound relaxed.

Although he was smiling, he was furious inside.

That damned Arughtai, how dare he embarrass him in public!

However, while he was angry, he was also clearly aware of his own inadequacy.

He was placed on the throne of Khan by Arughtai, and his forces were very weak.

Everyone respected him before because Arughtai supported him. If Arughtai no longer supports him, who will still take him, the Khan of the Northern Yuan, seriously?

His gaze swept over Mahmud beside him, and he pondered to himself, "Is Mahmud trustworthy?"

He dared not gamble on this!
Even if Mahmud is trustworthy, so what?

The Oirat were not as strong as the Tatars. If he fled to the Oirat, Arughtai would never recognize him again.

At that time, Arughtai will most likely elect a new Northern Yuan Khan, and may even send troops to conquer him in order to maintain the legitimacy of the new Khan's position.

And this is still a relatively good situation.

Even worse, Mahmud is not trustworthy, and his fate will be even more tragic.

No matter how you look at it, it's not a good thing for him to fall out with Arughtai now.

“We must retreat without letting the Northern Yuan know, otherwise, if they send troops to harass us, we'll be in trouble,” Arutai said.

The Ming emperor was advancing his troops with great momentum. Under these circumstances, going south was simply impossible, as it would lead to certain death.

Unable to advance south, the Northern Yuan had to make certain adjustments, namely, they needed to target the Liaodong region; otherwise, they would gain nothing from this southward advance.

The new tactical arrangement was to plunder Liaodong and abandon Beiping.

However, this raises a question: will Beiping realize their intentions and send troops to harass them?

They weren't afraid of Beiping before because they thought Beiping didn't have any outstanding generals.

They knew the fighting strength of the Beiping troops.

The situation is different now. With Zhu Quan in charge, the fighting power of the Beiping troops can be fully utilized, which means that Beiping is now a tough nut to crack.

If Zhu Yunwen hadn't led his troops to Beiping, the pressure on the Northern Yuan wouldn't have been so great.

Although Zhu Quan's Beiping troops were troublesome, the Northern Yuan were not afraid of them.

However, with Zhu Yunwen's rapid advance and the presence of a formidable army, the situation became somewhat different.

The Northern Yuan absolutely cannot be entangled with the Beiping troops, otherwise their plans to plunder Liaodong will be greatly restricted.

Even worse, if Zhu Yunwen catches up with them, the Northern Yuan will be in big trouble, and things will completely fall apart.

“The Grand Tutor is right. We must leave some people behind so that the Beiping side does not realize our intention to retreat,” Benyashiri said.

Arutai turned his head and glanced at Benyashiri, a smile spreading across his face. He knew that his actions to suppress Benyashiri had worked.

That's more like it. I finally managed to put Benyashiri on the throne, but he has no real power and is already playing the game of checks and balances as an emperor. Isn't that ridiculous?

After thinking for a moment, Duoerzhibo stepped forward and said, "Grand Tutor, I am willing to lead the army to cover the rear."

Arughtai waved his hand and said, "You've just returned from Beiping and need to rest. Leave the matter of guarding the rear to Prime Minister Mahmud."

"Whoosh!" Upon hearing this, Mahamu, Tuohuan, and the others' expressions darkened.

In theory, there is not much risk in covering the rear, since Beiping has been on the defensive from beginning to end, and no matter what loopholes the Northern Yuan shows, Beiping has turned a blind eye.

However, who knows if Beiping will take the initiative to attack if it knows that the Northern Yuan is going to retreat? After all, Beiping knew that the Northern Yuan would not retreat, so it did not consider going out of the city to attack.

In particular, after learning that Zhu Quan was now in command of the Beiping troops, covering the rear was an extremely dangerous task.

"Grand Tutor, what do you mean by that?" Taiping asked, his face grim and his expression extremely unpleasant.

Arughtai remained calm and said indifferently, "What? The Prime Minister has no objection yet? You're already backing out? But since you asked, I'll tell you, and let everyone hear it properly, so you don't feel like I'm targeting the Oirat."

"During the previous attack on Beiping, my men were the main force. Now that we are retreating, isn't it normal to have the Prime Minister's men cover the rear?"

Mahmud, Toghon, and others were filled with immense anger upon hearing this.

They all clearly understood that they had been tricked by Arughtai.

During the previous siege, the Oirat had always wanted to attack, but Arughtai had always disagreed.

The reason is also very simple.

At the time, everyone thought that there were no outstanding generals in Beiping and that Beiping could be easily taken.

Those who achieve the feat of capturing a city will receive a larger share of the spoils at the end.

In addition, once the besieging troops enter the city, they can carry out the first round of looting.

As everyone knows, the first raid always yields the highest rewards.

When good things happen, Arughtai forbids them from taking action, but now he's bringing them out himself, all while acting all righteous and awe-inspiring. It's utterly disgusting.

However, circumstances are beyond our control, and we can only suppress our dissatisfaction.

"Damn it, you old dog Arughtai, one day I'll kill you."

"You shameless old dog, Arutai, you just wait!" "Damn it, you really deserve to die! When there's something to gain, you want to swallow it all up yourself, but when danger comes, you push us out the door. Arutai, you old dog, you're a real scoundrel!"

"."

Mahmud, Tuohuan, and the others had cold eyes and felt extremely aggrieved.

Filled with anger, Mahmud and the others turned to look at Benyashiri standing to the side.

If Benjamin had spoken up for them at this point, at the very least they could have gotten them to have a chance to argue with Arughtai.

"Ahem. Prime Minister, since the Grand Tutor has already sent people, it's only right that you send some as well." Benyashiri coughed twice and said awkwardly.

Having been warned by Arutai before, he now realizes Arutai's importance and dares not cause any more trouble.

Before he could fully consolidate his power, he had to win over Arughtai; otherwise, he, the Khan of the Northern Yuan, could become a puppet at any time.

He had thought it over carefully. Although Arughtai was quite domineering, he treated him fairly well and did not treat him as a puppet. He would often maintain his dignity and carry out his orders.

Mahmud felt a pang of bitterness in his heart upon hearing Benyashiri's words.

At this moment, he realized something: Benyashiri was completely unreliable, and that Benyashiri had only tried to win him over to spite Arughtai.

He could never be truly trusted by Benjamin; at best, he would just be a pawn!
"Sigh," Mahamu sighed deeply, his face expressionless, and said, "I will only cover the rear for one day, and then I will retreat."

Now that things have come to this, all he can do is compromise. At this moment, he regrets agreeing to go south with Arughtai.

Arughtai is an old dog and not trustworthy.

He was blinded by greed before.

If we think about it calmly, given the current strength of the Northern Yuan, even if there is turmoil in the Ming Dynasty, the Northern Yuan probably wouldn't be qualified to re-enter the Central Plains.

Times have changed.

Rather than swallowing up the Ming Dynasty and regaining control of the Central Plains, dominating the grasslands is a more realistic option.

The thought crossed his mind, and a cold glint flashed in Mahmud's eyes as he looked at Arughtai and Bunyashiri.

The glory of the Golden Family is long gone!

"A day?" Arutai frowned; that was a rather short time.

However, the next second he saw the determination in Mahmud's eyes and said, "Okay, but it has to start from dawn. You will retreat tomorrow night."

Although the time was a bit short, it was almost enough.

More importantly, now he is asking the Oirat to cover the rear, but he can't push the Oirat too far, otherwise what if the Oirat just quit?
In the current situation, pursuing profits is the fundamental priority; as for settling scores with the Oirat, there will be plenty of time later.

“Okay!” Mahmud nodded.

Staying an extra day is somewhat dangerous, but as long as we are careful, it shouldn't be a big problem.

In addition, one of the reasons he agreed was that there weren't many cavalry in Beiping, which meant that even if things went wrong, he could escape immediately.

"Sigh, we're having a bit of bad luck. We didn't expect there to be a Zhu Quan in Beiping. Otherwise, after we captured Beiping, our strategic layout would have been much more expansive." Benyashiri shook his head, his heart filled with bitterness.

Of all the people, he was undoubtedly the one who was the most distressed.

If he succeeds in heading south, his situation will change dramatically, and he will become a true emperor, instead of being at the mercy of Arughtai as he is now.

Unfortunately, Zhu Quan was left behind in Beiping, which caused all the plans to collapse.

Arughtai, Mahmud, and the others looked at Benyashiri, speechless.

Even at this point, people still think it's just a simple matter of Zhu Quan.

To put it bluntly, even without Zhu Quan, it wouldn't be easy for them to take Beiping now. In fact, before they could even capture Beiping, Zhu Yunwen would have already arrived with his troops.

However, since things had already come to this point and the decision to retreat had been made, no one was willing to say anything more.

It's pointless to talk about those things now.

at the same time!

Peking City.

Zhu Quan approached Zhu Gaochi and asked, "Gaochi, what brings you here?"

Zhu Gaochi waved his hand and said, "Seventeenth Uncle, sit down!"

Zhu Quan found a seat and sat down, looking at Zhu Gaochi with a puzzled expression.

Zhu Gaochi looked at Zhu Quan with a wry smile and said, "Seventeenth Uncle, the Northern Yuan may have to withdraw its troops."

"Huh?" Zhu Quan was stunned when he heard Zhu Gaochi's words, his face full of astonishment.

Although the frequency of the Northern Yuan's attacks has decreased a lot recently, surely they don't have to retreat directly?

Zhu Quan frowned and said, "Gao Chi, I haven't been defending too aggressively lately."

Zhu Gaochi waved his hand, interrupting Zhu Quan, and said, "It has nothing to do with you, but our information blockade against Beiyuan is probably going to fail."

"Has the blockade of information from the Northern Yuan failed?" Zhu Quan asked, somewhat bewildered.

What is all this? He didn't understand anything at all.

Zhu Gaochi said, "Seventeenth Uncle, have you heard about the Northern Yuan bandits who tried to infiltrate the city tonight?"

Zhu Quan nodded, looking puzzled: "I've heard about it. What does this have to do with the failure of the Northern Yuan's information blockade?"

“I suspect that someone had already infiltrated the city before, and as for Bei Yuan’s actions tonight, it may be to cover the departure of those who came in earlier,” Zhu Gaochi said.

At first, he didn't realize what was happening, but the fact that Bei Yuan had sent out dozens of people at once didn't seem like they wanted to gather information at all; rather, it seemed more like they wanted to create chaos.

Why does the Northern Yuan want to create chaos when everything is fine?

Following this line of thought, it's highly likely that someone had already infiltrated Beiping City before.

"This..." Zhu Quan was taken aback. The next moment, he frowned, his expression extremely solemn, and said, "If our information blockade against the Northern Yuan fails, wouldn't the other cities in Liaodong be in danger?"

Zhu Gaochi remained silent, unsure how to resolve the current situation.

After a long silence, he said softly, "I have already sent a message to His Majesty!"

(End of this chapter)