The Military Governor in Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 132 Seeking One's Own Death

"The Western Expedition?" Jia Chen was taken aback.

"In his westward campaign against the Tumed and other tribes of the Later Yuan dynasty, Ligdan Khan sought to unify all the tribes of the Later Yuan. It is said that he mobilized 100,000 troops!" Zhao Zheng said.

"One hundred thousand?" Jia Chen scoffed. "The Chahar tribe can't possibly have that many men? Their entire population is only around three hundred thousand, right?"

Hearing Jia Chen's words, Zhao Zheng smiled and said, "I'm afraid it's less than 300,000. The claim of 100,000 is clearly an exaggeration by Lin Dan Khan, intended to intimidate the right-wing tribes. However, Lin Dan Khan is truly determined this time, and the number of troops he has mobilized is probably no less than 50,000."

Jia Chen nodded. Fifty thousand was a reasonable estimate; it was roughly all the troops Lin Dan Khan could muster.

Of course, if we really want to spare no expense, an army of 100,000 men is not out of the question, including both young and old men, making the whole nation a soldier.

The Chahar tribe has always considered itself the legitimate successor to the Later Yuan dynasty, and in recent years, the left wing of the Later Yuan, where Ligdan Khan was located, has faced immense pressure from the Later Jin.

Many tribes on the left wing have broken away from the control of the Chahar tribe and joined the Later Jin, such as the Khorchin tribe.

This resulted in a continuous decrease in the population that Ligdan Khan could control.

While Ligdan Khan's western expedition was said to be aimed at unifying the Later Yuan dynasty, Jia Chen believed that this was only one of the reasons.

The real reason is probably the immense pressure from the Later Jin.

Lin Danhan is probably looking for a way out for himself.

If he could not resist the Later Jin, he could only move west or flee west.

The western side is now dominated by the Tumed tribe, which forms the right wing of the Later Yuan dynasty. Therefore, he must first force the right wing to submit.

"He's courting death," Jia Chen muttered.

"Huh? Sir, what did you say?" Zhao Zheng didn't hear Jia Chen's words clearly for a moment.

"I said Lin Danhan is courting death," Jia Chen said.

"My lord, even if the Tumed and other right-wing tribes of the Later Yuan Dynasty joined forces, they couldn't muster 5 combat-ready troops. For years, they've been suppressed by the Chahar tribe. With Ligdan Khan's army marching west, the right-wing tribes are likely in grave danger. When Ligdan Khan unifies the Later Yuan tribes, his strength will undoubtedly increase significantly. For Ligdan Khan, the situation is extremely favorable. So why do you say that Ligdan Khan is courting death?"

Listening to Zhao Zheng's analysis, Jia Chen couldn't help but smile.

Most people would think that unifying the Yuan dynasty was indeed a prestigious title.

However, the current Houyuan is not the same as the previous Houyuan, and the population of each tribe is constantly decreasing.

Even the most powerful Chahar tribe had no more than 300,000 people.

The Tumed tribe had even fewer, less than 100,000 people. The combined strength of all the right-wing tribes was probably less than that of the Chahar tribe. At most, they had 30,000 to 40,000 men capable of fighting.

Even if Ligdan Khan had unified the various tribes, the total population would probably still be less than a million.

If there is time to rest and recuperate, there may still be a chance.

However, the rise of the Later Jin was driven by a desire to annex the various tribes of the Later Yuan Dynasty. This was not only to strengthen their own power but also to prevent the Later Yuan from attacking the Great Hong Dynasty from attacking them from behind.

Although Ligdan Khan's Great Hong Dynasty repeatedly broke its promises to send troops to the Later Jin, his existence meant that the Later Jin could not feel at ease.

In this way, the Later Jin would never give Ligdan Khan a chance to recuperate and grow stronger.

Furthermore, the Great Hong Dynasty did not trust Ligdan Khan, so his final fate was destined to be unfavorable.

This is all under ideal circumstances, where the westward expedition will bring all the right-wing tribes to submission.

However, Lin Dan Khan's current strength clearly does not allow him to do so.

He is only slightly stronger than the right wing united, not with an absolute overwhelming advantage.

This means that even if the right wing is defeated in the end, there will be huge casualties.

Moreover, it will not only fail to subdue the right wing, but will also make the right wing more hostile.

Therefore, the Chahar tribe's ability to defeat the right wing will not ultimately allow it to grow stronger; instead, it will be weakened.

Of course, Jia Chen also understood that if Lindan Khan did not launch a western expedition and continued as it was, he would eventually be dealt with by the Later Jin.

In Jia Chen's view, the best option for Lin Dan Khan is to try his best to regain the trust of the Great Hong Dynasty.

Instead of threatening the Great Hong Dynasty by actively dealing with the Later Jin and causing them various troubles, we should actively confront the Later Jin and instead use methods such as raiding southwards.

If he gains the trust and support of the Great Hong Dynasty, he will have the opportunity to grow stronger and, at the same time, to truly unify the various tribes of the Later Yuan Dynasty.

Logically speaking, it was unlikely that the Great Hong Dynasty would have seen the unification of the various tribes of the Later Yuan Dynasty.

But the situation is different now; the Later Jin dynasty has risen too quickly and too strongly.

The various tribes of the Later Yuan were too weak; even if they were unified, they would still be far inferior to the Later Jin.

As long as Ligdan Khan acts as the vanguard of the Great Hong Dynasty, the Great Hong Dynasty will certainly satisfy him in many ways, even if it means unifying the various tribes of the Later Yuan Dynasty.

Unfortunately, Ligdan Khan clearly could not accept becoming a pawn of the Great Hong Dynasty, a pawn used to deal with and restrain the Later Jin.

He always wanted to gain the benefits first, or rather, he wanted to be the player, not someone else's pawn, but he just didn't have the ability.

Perhaps this is a bit of arrogance in the Golden Family, an inability to let go of their pride.

Therefore, he had no choice but to choose the westward expedition route. While opening up a westward retreat route for himself, he also wanted to deal with the right wing and strive to strengthen his own power.

After Jia Chen explained these things to Zhao Zheng, Zhao Zheng immediately understood: "Sir, according to you, the Chahar tribe is really doomed. Then the Later Jin will definitely not let go of such a good opportunity, right? Over the years, the Later Jin has been trying to annex the various tribes of the Later Yuan, and the Chahar tribe is its biggest target."

"Yes, it's very dangerous," Jia Chen sighed. "But we can't control these things, nor do we have the power to do so. For us, the next thing to worry about is whether the Chahar tribe will suddenly change course and head south. Even if they send a portion of their forces to raid, it will cause huge damage to Datong. We have to be on guard."

Zhao Zheng nodded.

"Does the Tumet tribe know about this?" Jia Chen asked.

"They have spies among the Chahar tribe, so it's impossible they didn't know," Zhao Zheng said. "Moreover, Ligdan Khan didn't intend to hide this mobilization from the Tumed tribe. I suspect Ligdan Khan might be trying to subdue his enemy without a fight?"

"You're overthinking it," Jia Chen laughed. "The Chahar tribe has had significant conflicts with the right wing in recent years. Do you think the Tumed tribe would submit just because of Ligdan Khan's so-called 100,000-strong army's westward expedition? They know the Chahar tribe's true strength. If that were the case, they would have submitted long ago. Why wait until now?"

"Pass down the order: Qianshan Fort and Juqiang Fort must strengthen their defenses. The production of firearms at Huobao Fort must be accelerated," Jia Chen added. "Send someone to deliver a message to Lord Ye of Zhenqiang Fort so that he can prepare in advance. I guess the Tumed tribe will soon send an envoy to Datong Prefecture to request assistance."

"Yes, I'll inform them right away," Zhao Zheng said. "Sir, do you think Datong will send us to provide assistance? Our Beidong Road is the closest to Guihua City of the Tumet tribe."

Zhenqiangbao and Juqiangbao are the northernmost points of the Northeast Route. If we were to send people to rescue them, it would most likely be them, or perhaps the Northwest Route as well.

"How will we rescue them? On foot?" Jia Chen asked.

Zhao Zheng gave a wry smile. "That's true."

The Da Hong Army is doing alright in defending the city, but if they go out to rescue it and face a cavalry charge in the open, they will definitely be wiped out without any suspense.

Although they were not afraid of open battle at the fortified position, they still had too few soldiers.

Facing Ligdan Khan's massive army, once surrounded, there was no chance of survival; at most, they would just kill more northern barbarians.

"Besides, if the Tumed tribe sends someone to say that the Chahar tribe will attack them, do you think the people in Datong will believe it?" Jia Chen laughed again. "Even if it were true, the imperial court would probably be more willing to see them fight each other."

"That's true." Zhao Zheng nodded.

Jia Chen's guess was not just wild speculation.

Even if they knew that the Chahar tribe was really going to attack the right flank, given the situation of the border towns of the Great Hong Dynasty, they would be powerless to come to the rescue.

Furthermore, the imperial court had always relied on the checks and balances among the various tribes of the Later Yuan.

If they were to attack each other, that would be something the court would actually like to see.

This would allow the various factions of the Later Yuan Dynasty to weaken themselves.

"Just protect our city and ensure the safety of the people; that's enough. We don't need to worry about anything else," Jia Chen said.

As for what was happening with the Tumed tribe, Jia Chen certainly didn't have the ability to care.

Fortunately, some time ago, Emubu traded a lot of cattle and horse hides for goods from the Sun family's caravan.

The cattle and sheep hides have been transported to the mainland through Lin Heqing's channels, and some of the hides have even been sold in places like Jiangnan.

If Lin Danhan had acted sooner, it would have been difficult for me to convert these assets into cash.

Although Lin Heqing could sell some items from the caravan directly, these items wouldn't be worth much on the mainland.

Only by selling to various tribes on the Houyuan grasslands could a huge price difference be generated.

Especially when the other party is exchanging cattle and sheep hides, the price can be driven down significantly, resulting in a profit of more than ten times.

Jia Chen quickly convened a meeting with Wang Baisheng and the others, and Liu Cheng from Qianshanbao also attended.

Now that they had received news of Ligdan Khan's westward expedition, they had to prepare for the worst-case scenario: the Chahar tribe might raid southwards.

Zhao Zheng explained the situation to everyone.

Unlike other members of the Great Hong Army who trembled with fear at the news of the Northern Barbarians' southward advance, the soldiers trembled with excitement.

warmongers like Wang Baisheng clamored for the northern barbarians to hurry south, and he even wanted to cut off more of their heads.

Seeing everyone so excited, Jia Chen felt very gratified.

His men had no fear of the Northern barbarians and even had a psychological advantage over them.

This is good.

However, one must not be arrogant or underestimate the enemy, as that is a major taboo.

Cough~~~

Jia Chen coughed lightly.

The room immediately fell silent, and everyone's eyes fell on Jia Chen, awaiting his command.

For them, every time the northern barbarians invaded from the south, it was a good opportunity for them to make meritorious contributions.

"Although we cannot yet determine whether the Chahar tribe will advance south, we must remain vigilant," Jia Chen said. "All the major fortresses and watchtowers must be reinforced with enhanced defenses, and the deployment of firearms and detonators must be increased—"

Jia Chen recounted the precautions one by one.

Jia Chen was not too worried about the military defenses of the major fortresses.

His biggest worry right now is what to do with the winter wheat.

The timing is a bit awkward. Winter wheat won't be ripe enough to be harvested until May at the earliest. Right now, the wheat grains are obviously not plump enough and are still green, so they can't be harvested.

It's mid-April now, and it will take at least another month to harvest the wheat. It's in an awkward, in-between situation.

Ligdan Khan's western expedition could not be delayed for too long.

If the northern barbarians were to invade from the north at this time, they could very well destroy all the wheat in the fields.

"Master Lu, production at Fire Fortress should be prioritized. Just ask for any manpower you need. I need more muskets and more cannons!" Jia Chen said, finally turning to Lu Dahai.

To protect the crops in the fields, one must become stronger and possess greater combat capabilities.

To achieve this, Jia Chen would need more sophisticated firearms.