The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

Galdan, who had already prepared to form a contingent of servants to join the army, immediately sent his personal guard commander to negotiate. He said that a direct attack on the city from all sides would quickly break through, but there would be casualties, which was not worthwhile and there was no need to waste troops.

Galdan's personal guard commander was a Tibetan Mongol, seventeen or eighteen years old, with a high nose and sunspotted skin, not much different from other Tibetan lads. His name was Batu Buhe, and Galdan later gave him the Han name Liu Xin.

Liu Xin was only average in horsemanship and archery, and even struggled to command five hundred personal guards. However, his loyalty was unmatched because he was a traitor to the lama.

They are people who are born to be executed.

Galdan, as a Living Buddha, secretly raised him for five years in a way that kept him hidden from view.

Liu Xin stood unarmed beneath the fortress, speaking in a devoid of emotion.

"Let your Niru Ejen come out and speak."

"Or let me in!"

Wanyan Wu witnessed the whole thing and knew that after being ruthlessly abandoned by the Manchus, he was even more unwilling to die and even wanted to take revenge on Kangxi and the other seven banners. So he ordered the basket to be lowered.

Liu Xin wasn't afraid at all. He took a step into the basket, grabbed the rope, and was hoisted up.

"Speak, what did I send you here for?"

Entering Wanyan Wu's territory and acting so arrogantly is simply lawless, so Wanyan Wu's attitude was extremely bad.

"My Emperor has sent me to ask you: Our Great Han is marching south with an army of 100,000, and Beijing is within reach. Does your Plain Blue Banner want revenge? Does it want to wipe away this humiliation?"

Wanyan Wu looked surprised when he heard this, because the unfair treatment they received from the Plain Blue Banner was something that few people outside of the Eight Banners knew about.

However, since this point has already been raised, regardless of how others found out, the Zhenglan Banner people are determined to do it.

"I want it! I dream about it!"

"But why should we believe you?"

Liu Xin stretched out his hand, turned it around, and pointed north.

"With an army of 100,000 besieging the city, how can your 300 or so men resist? Why would we lie to the dead?"

Yes, with their army right in front of us, why would they want to pull any tricks? They can just invade first.

Thinking of this, Wanyan Wu's face hardened. "Please wait a moment, envoy, while I go and inform my brothers."

After Wanyan Wu finished speaking, he walked out of the hall and directly struck the gathering drum outside the door. The sound of the drum echoed throughout the fortress.

In less than a quarter of an hour, all 360-plus soldiers of the Zhenglan Banner had gathered in front of the Qianhu Office hall.

Wanyan Wu didn't hesitate. He stood directly in the middle of the crowd, unfastened his cotton armor collar, revealing a scar on his shoulder, clearly caused by a spear.

"Our Zhenglan Banner is half Mongolian Baturu and half descendants of the Liaodong Han Army. Even I, Wanyan Wu, am a former royal of the Jurchens, and have been suppressed for many years."

"This scar was inflicted on the imperial court during the pacification of the southwest, but the rewards given were less than 30% of those given to other banners."

"While the other banners were enjoying their comfortable lives in Beijing, we, the Plain Blue Banner, were assigned to the border, where we had to fight and risk our lives every now and then."

"Are you truly convinced in your hearts?"

From the moment Wanyan Wu uttered his first line, "Mongolian Baturu," a large number of bannermen were stirred up. By the time he finished speaking, all the bannermen were already at the height of their emotions.

If Emperor Kangxi were alive at that time, he would definitely be dismembered.

One of them, a man with a round face who was clearly Mongolian, stepped to the front.

"Commander, just say it!"

"What should we do?"

"I've been unhappy with the Three Banners for a long time!"

Upon hearing about the Upper Three Banners, the other banner soldiers also objected and echoed the sentiment.

"Yes, yes, we'll listen to the colonel!"

Seeing that the situation was settled, Wanyan Wu spoke frankly.

"The 100,000-strong army outside the city is actually the Dzungar Mongols. Their leader has now called himself Tengri Khan and established the Great Han Kingdom based on the bloodline of Liu Bang. I am prepared to join them and fight my way back to Beijing."

Upon hearing this, the Mongols, though second-generation bannermen, felt their blood surging and looked eagerly at Wanyan Wu, as if asking, "What are you waiting for?"

The others were equally impressive.

Following anyone means constant fighting and killing.

After settling the internal affairs, Wanyan Wu led all the bannermen and Liu Xin out of the city through the north gate, carrying nothing but banner armor.

Not long after, Wanyan Wu entered Galdan's temporary tent alone. Upon seeing Galdan in his black robe and his imposing presence, he immediately knelt down, kowtowed, and cried out.

"Wanyan Wu pays his respects to His Majesty the Emperor!"

"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

Commanding hundreds of thousands of troops and accustomed to making decisions unilaterally, Galdan naturally exuded a different aura. He raised his hand, and after Wanyan Wu stood up, he carefully examined him.

"Wanyan Wu, Wanyan?"

"Are you from the Wanyan clan, the royal family of the Jin Dynasty?"

When Galdan asked about the Jin dynasty's royal family, Wanyan Wu told the truth: the Wanyan royal family had been wiped out by the Mongols back then.

"Your Majesty, the Wanyan royal family of yesteryear has been wiped out. I belong to the Wanyan tribe, which lives in the wilderness of Liaodong."

Galdan remained silent upon hearing this, and only stood up after a full quarter of an hour, revealing an indifferent expression.

"You're a smart man, so I won't beat around the bush. I entered the pass as the legitimate ruler of the Han Dynasty. Based on what your Eight Banners have done, you're practically headless ghosts by now!"

"However, your Plain Blue Banner is already an empty shell. I am unwilling to commit more killings. From now on, the Plain Blue Banner will be incorporated into the Han servants' army. All the Eight Banner prisoners captured in the future will be handed over to you, Wanyan Wu, to lead. But I want to see how useful you are."

Galdan's words were quite clear: in those days, servants who joined the army were just cannon fodder, meant to fill in the gaps, especially given the enmity between the Mongols and the Eight Banners.

That means the more Eight Banner prisoners left, the more guilty they are; the fewer prisoners, the more meritorious they are. If they can achieve great things, then they will be even more meritorious.

Wanyan Wu was not a pushover; he was ambitious. He simply did not want to remain a mere Niru Ejen in the Zhenglan Banner, which is why he chose to surrender.

"This humble general, Wanyan Wu, guarantees to complete the mission, even if it means leading my servants into the army, I will expand Your Majesty's territory!"

Galdan greatly admired Wanyan Wu, who was ambitious but didn't hide it.

Unlike Sima Yi, who harbored lofty ambitions but kept them hidden beneath his fingernails, making him impossible to guard against.

"Okay, you're very good!"

"Go down, the entire army will be heading to Zhangjiakou soon!"

……

The Xinghe Garrison Command, not far from Zhangjiakou, did not divide its troops this time, but instead marched in a grand procession.

After passing through Yefuling, the terrain changes from grassland to undulating meadows, or canyons that are hundreds of meters long.

Fortunately, the Han infantry also rode horses, and their supplies were tied separately to their warhorses or draft horses. They arrived at the Zhangjiakou Gorge as the sun was setting.

The area is surrounded by uneven mountains on both sides, with the Qingshui River flowing swiftly nearby. Zhangjiakou is located right next to it, giving the terrain an advantage where the only option is to attack from the south.

If it is a typical nomadic people from the grasslands.

There were no dozens of 2,000-pound red-coated cannons.

This obstacle is the meat grinder.