stubborn thief

In Monan, the Hou Jin army is advancing.

During this expedition, although Huang Taiji judged that a decisive battle would not break out in Monan, the lineup of generals sent out was still very strong.

The commander is the 23-year-old Dorgon, the official minister of the Jin Kingdom. Although he is very young, he is already a battlefield veteran who has followed his brother Huangtaiji in the military for seven years.

The Jin clan members who participated in the expedition also included Huang Taiji's eldest son, Heshuo Beilehaug; and Daishan's third son, Saha Lian, the Minister of Rites of the Jin Kingdom.

In addition to them, there are two major leaders in this army, namely Gulu Siqibu of the Harashen tribe, and Jinong Badali, the leader of Nenjiang Horqin, who is the son of Oba Khan.

As early as when Oba Khan was still the Taiji of the Horqin tribe in Nenjiang, he was attacked by Lin Dan Khan and received reinforcements from Nurhachi. He then went to Shenyang to meet with Nurhaci and swear an alliance.

The alliance between the Nenjiang Horqin tribe and Houjin was extremely important to Nurhaci. Oba arrived in Kaiyuan very soon, so Nurhachi asked Mang Gurtai and Huang Taiji to arrive in Kaiyuan three days in advance to welcome him, and he even went ten miles out of Shenyang to welcome him.

Subsequently, there was a marriage alliance between Oba and Houjin, and Nurhachi supported Oba in claiming Tushetu Khan.

In this alliance, the wise Khan Nurhachi, who had strong soldiers and horses, naturally had the advantage, but Tushetu Khan Oba was also an equal, but he was married as his grandson-in-law.

Oba died last year, and his son Badali not only inherited his father's Khan title and Nurhachi's granddaughter, but was also canonized as Mongolian Jinong by Huang Taiji.

Nenjiang Horqin has become a powerful part of Hou Jin Dynasty. Badali is not only a small khan belonging to Nenjiang Horqin, but also the Jinong of the entire Mongolia.

As the niece-in-law of Huang Taiji, he had a very high status among the Houjin nobles, ranking second to Dorgon and higher than Hauge and Duoduo.

The title of Jinong is naturally a wish. After all, the real Mongolian Jinong Erlinchen is still alive and well with Liu Chengzong.

Moreover, Erlinchen had a very high sense of presence, leading 20,000 Mongolian cavalry to sweep through the Harashen tribe like a hurricane.

It was as if they were putting eye drops on Hou Jin, telling them that this Jinong was fake and a fake Jinong!

In any case, Badali was very satisfied with the pie drawn by Huang Taiji.

After all, Nenjiang Horqin has tied himself to Hou Jin's chariot ever since he formed an alliance with Nurhachi.

If Houjin is a little stronger, they will have strong support as allies.

After the Jin Dynasty became very powerful, they became vassals and could occupy a place.

If Houjin is gone and Mongolia becomes stronger, Nenjiang Horqin will be forever nailed to the pillar of shame as a traitor who colluded with foreigners!

But Badali is very dissatisfied with the current situation.

I originally thought that this western expedition was very simple, but I didn't expect that just halfway through, Harashen, who was serving as a strong reinforcement, was raided and lost his troops.

At the edge of the sea at the foot of the volcano in the northern suburbs of Jining, as soon as the army stopped to rest, Badali saw Bajala running towards him, saluted Qian'er and said, "By the way, Jiu Beile invites you to discuss matters."

Jiubele is Dorgon.

Pegatron Baylor is the highest title in the post-Jin era.

Dorgon was the fourteenth son of Nurhaci, but Beile of Houjin had only eight during the Nurhaci period.

They are Daishan, Amin, Mang Gurtai and Huang Taiji.

Among these eight people, Dorgon is only older than Duduo, so based on age, before Huang Taiji called Tiancong Khan, Dorgon was Qibele.

However, after Huang Taiji became Khan, he also granted the title of Nurhaci's seventh son Abatai and tenth son Degelei. Dorgon became Jiubele in order of eldest son.

Dorgon was the commander-in-chief of this Western Expedition. Although Badali was a descendant of Nenjiang Horqin, he did not dare to neglect. He quickly put on the armor he had just taken off, got on his horse, and rushed to the royal tent of Dorgon, the Chinese army.

Outside the king's tent, Badali saw the eldest son of Houjin Khan, Hauge, accompanying him at a glance among the many bagaras.

There is no way, Hauge's personal entourage is very eye-catching.

Now everything in the Hou Jin Dynasty is in the process of being formalized. Last year, Huang Taiji ordered that the Mongolian troops affiliated with the Eight Banners should also use the Jin Kingdom's helmet tassels, helmet guns, flags, and tassels to facilitate unified command.

In fact, Huang Taiji wants to do more than that, as well as armors and weapons, all of which he hopes to become standard.

But lofty ideals cannot exist independently of objective reality.

With their current productivity, not to mention Eight Banners Mongolia, even Eight Banners Manchuria cannot equip all armored soldiers with standard armor and weapons.

So we can only think of solutions from the helmet and tassel.

Fortunately, this kind of order is not a heavy burden for the vassal Mongolian nobles. After all, when they go on an expedition, a small tribe only needs to send out one Taiji and a hundred cavalry.

In this case, Bagala wearing Japanese armor appeared outside the king's tent, and people had to pay attention to it.

Bagaras were more common during the Nurhaci period. At that time, there were three hundred strong men and one hundred armored soldiers per Niulu. There were ten white bagaras and forty red bagaras. These people were both elite cavalry and accompanying the generals. Mobile cavalry, similar to servants.

It is equivalent to one-sixth of the size of a cow.

They occasionally entered the battlefield like the main cavalry simply because their commander was Nurhachi.

However, in the Huang Taiji era, the gold content of Hou Jin's bagaras increased significantly, because Huang Taiji only left white bagaras. As bagaras, the ratio quickly dropped to one-thirtieth of the fine knights.

In other words, if Niulu Zuoling is regarded as a feudal noble, Bagala is a knight under the noble.

The men under Haoge who wear Japanese armor are not Japanese warriors, but warriors wearing ancestral trophies.

As soon as Badali entered the tent, he saw that the atmosphere in the tent was a little tense.

The Mongolian lamas and Han banner slaves who accompanied the army carefully drew the map of Jining.

Young Dorgon sat in the tent, frowning slightly, and looked at Hauge: "What exactly did you say to Mr. Liu in Qinghai? Why did Liu Manzi from the Marshal's Mansion suddenly become our country's mortal enemy?"

To be honest, this matter has almost become Dorgon's inner demon.

On the army table in front of him was a report of Mongolian losses calculated by Sakhalian, the Minister of Rites. After he checked the report and filled in the gaps, he would order someone to submit it to Shenyang and give it to his brother Huang Taiji.

This report records that after expelling Lin Dan Khan and Hou Jin occupied Monan, Huang Taiji ordered the Mongolian population to be incorporated into the Eight Banners.

Only in the two major tribes of Tumut and Harashen, apart from the blind and the disabled, there were a total of 9,123 strong men under the age of sixty and over eighteen.

These strong men were all organized into the Eight Banners, and their wives and children meant a population of more than 30,000, which could support two 10,000-scale military operations within ten years.

But now the Tumote tribe rebelled, and the Harashen tribe was brutally robbed and killed.

Sakhalian counted during this Western Expedition that out of the 9,123 registered Mongolian men, only 1,140 could be found today.

This also included the five hundred cavalry led by Grusqibu when he met the army.

Not even a battle was fought, so there were nearly 8,000 strong men missing, and 30,000 women, children, old and weak men were also gone.

To be honest, Dorgon was afraid that his brother Huang Taiji would be angry to death after seeing this report.

But Hauge was also very wronged. He spread his hands and said: "No, Fourteenth Uncle. In Xining, Mr. Liu treated me very kindly. When he mentioned my father Khan, he was even more respectful. He praised my father Khan more than once as a dragon and a phoenix among men. He was afraid that I would catch smallpox, so he sent me away."

Hauge was so anxious that he almost jumped up. This Uncle Fourteen, who was three years younger than him, had a real heart. He was about to slam such a big shit basin on his head when he opened his mouth.

"I even invited them to unite their clans and call them Manchuria, and Mr. Liu didn't refuse."

Hauge really didn't feel that Liu Xiangyu rejected his suggestion to call all Manchuria together at that time.

Because what Liu Xiangyu said back then was that it was too early to talk about this matter now, and that he would have to wait until he succeeded to the throne of the Jin Kingdom, but Hauge definitely couldn't say this to others.

"If it hadn't been for the smallpox epidemic, he would have wanted to talk to the Great Khan about calling China China."

Hauge just didn't say that he had to be the one to do this.

As for you... Mr. Liu doesn't even know me, so I can't afford to talk to you that much.

Mrs. Liu just likes me!

In response to Hauge's response, Dorgon slowly shook his head.

wrong.

He still felt that something was wrong.

If there was no problem with Hauge, then something must have happened after Hauge left, otherwise the attitude of the Marshal's Office should not have changed so quickly. After all, the Marshal's Mansion is a thing... In Dorgon's opinion, Hou Jin is obviously a perfect match!

Militarily, the two countries have a common enemy, the Ming Dynasty.

Geographically, the Shuai Mansion is in the northwest, and the Kingdom of Jin is in the northeast, separated by mountains and rivers, moving like a merchant.

Economically, the Marshal's Mansion has more utensils but less gold and silver; the Jin Kingdom has more gold and silver but less utensils.

In terms of population, the population of the master of Shuai Mansion is composed of barbarians from the Great Wall, while the population of the master of Jin Kingdom is composed of Tatars from outside the border wall.

No matter how he looked at it, Dorgon felt that the Marshal's Mansion should be a natural ally of Hou Jin, and he should also be a die-hard ally like Harashen and Horqin.

Even if he exhausted his imagination, he could think of the worst possible relationship between the two countries, which was nothing more than passing documents, each claiming the title of king, not seeing each other, and just being superficial brothers.

It's not worth going to war.

Dorgon doesn't understand, I really don't understand.

Even if Liu Chengzong may have obtained the imperial seal and the inheritance of the Chahar tribe, he could be called Daiqing Khitan Khan.

This Khan's name had no impact on the Hou Jin Kingdom except that the name Dai Qing was very nice.

Because Huang Taiji was a Sinicized ruler who focused on centralizing power and was anti-fishing, hunting, and anti-nomadic.

Who is Khan? Does this title still hold any value today?

At this time, there was already a trend of thought in Manchuria to persuade Huang Taiji to proclaim himself emperor.

It’s just that no one wants to enter the pass at this time. Even the more radical Dorgon, with the maximum imagination, can only rush into the pass every year when the millet is ripe, destroy the castle, besiege Beijing, attack the reinforcements from all directions, and consume the Ming Dynasty. country's national strength.

This was the most difficult time for Hou Jin. The bluffing national power could not support such a huge ideal as entering the customs.

So he never imagined that there was any irreconcilable conflict between Hou Jin and the Marshal's Mansion.

Why did that little bastard Hauge go to Qinghai, and the Marshal's Mansion sent a large army to Monan in the blink of an eye, and became our mortal enemy?

No matter how stupid you are, you won't be unable to understand these principles.

He even felt that Liu Chengzong did not know how to make progress, and your goal should be to unite with Hou Jin to charge for the throne of the Great Emperor of the Central Plains Dynasty.

Why are you fighting with us when you are full? There is a hole in the brain!

They call you Hanhan, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with them.

Dorgon really wanted to crack open Liu Chengzong's head and see what was inside.

"It's a good thing that we all call ourselves China, but look at what they're doing now, do they seem to have this plan?"

Dorgon sighed.

Emotionally, in fact, not only him, but most Manchurians, including Huang Taiji, are willing to accept this statement.

But in objective reality, this sounds like talking in a dream.

Because no matter what they say together, they can't solve the problems they are facing now.

If there is enough food, a warm environment, and the existing interests of the vast majority of officers and civilians are protected, the Marshal's Mansion may be able to cease war with the Ming Dynasty in the blink of an eye.

The same principle applies to the Hou Jin Kingdom. If there is food, warmth and the protection of the existing interests of the vast majority of nobles and tribesmen, Hou Jin can immediately have a good relationship with the Ming Dynasty forever.

During the Xuanda campaign last year, Chongzhen had an imperial edict offering a reward left in the North Tower of Yingzhou. It began with the words: "Manchuria was originally ours, but now it has rebelled and invaded our borders. If we send troops deep into the territory in this hot sun, we will be punished by God."

Huang Taiji wrote back, "I saw the emperor's letter saying that 'Manchuria is our vassal country' and other words. This is not just what the emperor said, but I would not take it personally. The emperor is the great king who unified the world, and we were originally your vassal country."

"The ministers in Liaodong were bullied and complained many times, but the officials in Liaodong couldn't understand it. I think that in this situation, the hatred is deep and it is difficult to express it. The only way to go to war is to ask for the reason. What does the emperor want to do? Officials in Liaodong have deceived them for more than ten years without even asking a question, and the war has continued. If the emperor had sent people to investigate earlier, the war would have stopped long ago."

These words are not entirely true, or they are true words, but they do not represent Huang Taiji's true thoughts.

Just like the letter Liu Chengzong wrote to Chongzhen.

It's too late.

Some followed their own tribes and even established their own countries.

Almost all the people in Jianzhou have died in this war. There are only winners and losers. This road can no longer be stopped.

Badali saw the opportunity where Dorgon was stunned, so he took the opportunity to step forward and salute, and asked: "Jiubele summoned, what is the military order?"

"Tuxie Tuhan has been invited to come. I would be very grateful."

When Dorgon saw Badali, he quickly put away his emotion and stood up to return the salute. Then he said a few polite words and then asked: "How are the moods of the Horqin tribesmen?"

Badali sighed, shook his head and said: "Halashen was attacked, our army is in danger of running out of food, and several Taiji have begun to think of withdrawing."

Dorgon's face was smiling, but his eyes were extremely cold: "Can you really retreat?"

He didn't mind withdrawing the army. Anyway, the situation at home and in Monan had deteriorated to this point. He led the army on an expedition and returned without success, only to be punished and suppressed by his brother.

But Horqin is miserable. When people can't survive, the first thing they consider must be themselves. At that time, the worst thing is that Manchuria will no longer want it and start killing each other. In the end, those who survive must be their Jianzhou people.

Badali also understood this truth, but it was difficult to decide whether to move forward or retreat at the moment.

He looked at the map of Monan behind Dorgon, raised his hand and said, "Where do Jiubele think we should march to win?"

Their current location is not good from the preset battlefield location.

"To the west of Jining is the Yinshan Mountain, which protects Guihua City; to the south is the Xuanda border wall of the Ming Dynasty."

Badali said: "I heard someone said that the emperor was very dissatisfied with last year's war and prepared a special army in Xuanda just to deal with us."

"You heard that too?"

Dorgon also heard about it. He even knew more about it than Badali through the Harashen Department.

There were two generals in that army, surnamed Wang and You respectively, with about 10,000 troops. The emperor spared no effort in supporting them, and responded to their requests with horses, rewards and equipment, but he didn't know where they were stationed now.

Dorgon said: "This is the cornering force."

After that, not only him, but also Hauge and others laughed when they heard this word.

The Hou Jin army never used the cornering force.

Because Nurhaci, who relied on half of the Three Kingdoms to conquer the world, found that in that military book, the power of turning the corner has never won.

This strategy is the same as whoever treats Lu Bu's adoptive father, Cao Cao's attendant, or Zhang Fei's soldier will die. Whoever uses him will lose.

But after smiling, there was deep worry on Dorgon's face.

Because at this moment, he could feel the pressure brought by the force of the corner.

Just like the origin of the word, the so-called antlers do not refer to the antlers of a deer.

But in the Spring and Autumn Period, in the twenty-fifth year of King Xiang of Zhou Dynasty, Jin and Qin fought in Guo. The Jin State seized the deer's antlers, and its vassal Jiang Rong seized the deer's legs, and together they overturned the Qin State's army to the ground.

Dorgon could feel that the Ming army in Xuanda might indeed grab his leg at any time.

However, after many years of fighting with his brother, Dorgon was very confident. He stood up and said: "The march needs to be decisive. If you hesitate for too long, it will not help the troops, and you may miss good opportunities."

"If we advance in a hurry, the enemy's defense will be equally hasty, so don't think about retreating."

He drew a line to the north on the map: "To avoid being attacked by the Ming army and to bypass Yang Qi's defense in the west, we marched westward from the northern foot of Yinshan Mountain and attacked Ordos west of Guihua City. Grab the food, grass and baggage, and plan to fight again!"

"Starting from today, we will travel one hundred and twenty miles every day. In eight days, we will gather on the north bank of the Yellow River in Ordos and march!" (End of this chapter)