stubborn thief

The territory of the Keshiketeng tribe is located on the western foot of the Greater Khingan Range and on the banks of the Xilamulun River.

The various troops that Daiqing Gulun led on this expedition gathered here, and the commander of the army was Prince Ajige.

Huang Taiji was ultimately not blinded by anger. He did not order an attack on Ningjin, nor did he lead an army to personally attack Yang Qi.

He only let Wuying Prince Ajige lead the troops, but the strength of the soldiers and generals was not weak.

First there were eight banners. After Huang Taiji ascended the throne, he added a Mongolian Gushan Ezhen to each of the eight banners, which made sixteen banners. All sixteen Gushan Ezhen were mobilized to participate in this battle.

The Manchu headquarters of these sixteen banners did not send many troops, but they assigned Mongolian soldiers named New Chahar to serve as subordinates under each banner. In fact, they were prisoners captured and recruited in the process of pursuing Ligdan Khan.

In addition, there are two separate flags including the left and right wing vanguard flags of Bayala, one flag of armored infantry Bochichaoha, one flag of Han army artillery Wuzhenchaoha, one flag of the remnants of Harashen, one flag of Wang Lama, and one flag of Dongtumed.

The Dong Tumed Banner is the descendant of Gumu Taiji, who surrendered to the Later Jin Dynasty and is a descendant of Altan Khan. His great-grandfather was Xin'ai Huang Taiji, the second-generation Shunyi King. He was a brother of the same generation as Omubu, the Tumed Shunyi King in the west.

Wang Lama was a Han Chinese whose real name was Wang Sanji Bazang. In his early years, he was used by the Ming Dynasty because he could travel freely among the Mongolian tribes and the Later Jin Dynasty just by using his reputation. He played an important role in intelligence and diplomacy.

It has been highly praised by Yan Mingtai, Sun Chengzong, Yuan Chonghuan and others.

However, the attitude of the Ming upper class towards monks was very complicated, which left them with less and less room for diplomatic maneuver. Especially when the emperor hated Ligdan Khan and Tiancong Khan so much, their diplomacy was no longer needed, and the Ming Dynasty simply refused to let them in.

Wang Lama became the spokesperson of the Later Jin Dynasty in terms of missionary work in Mongolia, and was now also granted the title of Jasak.

This time, the troops were divided into 23 flags with a total strength of more than 20,000. The characteristic of not paying attention to the number of troops, but using strong generals leading elite troops was very obvious.

The reason why there are not many troops is because of Daiqing Gulun's geographical location, which makes him an enemy all over the world at this time.

To the northeast, they never stopped fighting against the Walkha, Heizhen, and Solon tribes of the Donghai Jurchens on the Ussuri River to plunder their population.

Just before the troops were dispatched, they had looted 2,800 men and women, 417 cattle and horses, and more than 5,000 furs of various kinds from the northeastern tribes.

To the west there is the thawed Liao River. If the whole country marches westward, they will most likely be robbed. The Yalu River to the south has not thawed yet. Although North Korea is weak, there is still the Pi Island nearby, so they have to be careful and guard against it.

Huang Taiji was unable to mobilize all his troops to launch a western expedition.

But sending 20,000 troops to the south of the desert can be said to be an all-out war.

During this expedition, Emperor Chongde's will was very clear. He restrained himself under pressure and was not controlled by the setbacks and anger.

Without causing trouble for Yang Qi or looking for trouble with Gao Qiquan, Ajige must be allowed to enter the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

One is to show off one's strength, and the other is to test one's strength.

If the capital area is devastated by the troubles caused by Liu Chengzong and the bandits, and there are no soldiers available, he can rest assured to deal with Korea this year and teach it to change from being fraternal to filial and to recognize him as its father.

As for Yang Qi and Liu Chengzong who were further away, Huang Taiji decided to suffer a loss for the sake of face first.

Once Korea is dealt with, we can remove Pi Island and then cut off the arm of Guanning, leaving the Ming Dynasty with no room to maneuver in the Liaodong direction and only able to defend. Then we can send troops to the south of the desert to compete with Liu Chengzong.

At this time, on the banks of the Xilamulun River, the Later Jin army had just left the Greater Khingan Range.

Prince Wuying Ajige summoned the Gushan Ezhen of the 23 banners to convey the instructions of Emperor Chongde.

Before the expedition, Huang Taiji had lectured them many times, reminding them that after entering the border, they should attack the city if they can, and not attack if they cannot. They should not be lazy at the end and should always remember the military orders.

Ajige was like a giant, wearing white armor, holding the imperial edict and smiling at everyone, saying: "In Shengjing, my brother gave us many instructions, asking us to think carefully about the previously destroyed cities after entering the border. We should attack if we can, and not attack if we can't. We should not be lazy and never forget the military orders."

"I just came out and didn't walk too far when my brother's imperial edict came again. Let's see what he wants to remind me of next!"

After Ajige finished speaking, many Gushan Ezhen in the sixteen banners laughed, except for the people in Wuzhen Chaoha Banner who did not dare to laugh.

Wuzhen Chaoha was a bannerman of the Han army and had just been punished before going to the expedition.

Under the command of King Gongshun Kong Youde, there was a man named Liu Changsu, who was formerly known as Liu Chengzu in the Ming Dynasty. He was from the Guanning Army and went to Shandong when the new army was being trained. He served as the deputy general in charge of ships under Kong Youde.

The Wuqiao mutiny was a rebellion of determination, but it was very unhappy about crossing the sea and surrendering to the Later Jin.

When he surrendered, he said he would go back to recruit his younger brother, but he did not come out at the agreed time, resulting in many of the civilians being taken back by the Ming army.

Since he had just surrendered, it was not appropriate to dwell on this matter, so he found an excuse to avoid punishment.

When Huang Taiji ascended the throne and was rewarding his men according to their merits, he remembered this incident and demoted him from the deputy general-level Melezhangjing to the third-class Jialazhangjing, which is a guerrilla general.

He was not convinced in the first place, so when his name was called when it came time to reward him with silver, he didn't say a word.

The matter was reported to Huang Taiji by the civil officials, and King Sanshun quickly reported it, drawing a clear line in the sand, saying that he had already tied up the bastard and was deliberately slow to act, which was definitely not ordinary negligence and he should be killed.

Afterwards, Huang Taiji said that King Sanshun was right and he deserved to be put to death, but he did not commit the crime of treason. Moreover, considering that he had returned with you across the sea, he was also a meritorious person and could be pardoned.

Although Liu Changsu was acquitted of his crimes, the people of the Han army banner were very scared. Who could tolerate a Han civil servant telling tales?

The most frightening thing is fellow villagers selling out fellow villagers.

So even at this moment, when everyone else is very relaxed, they dare not act rashly, for fear of being reported again. After all, the three hairs on their heads will not speak up to protect them.

Then Ajige held the imperial edict and read: "Kuan Wen Ren Sheng Khan issued an order: When marching, do not make noise and do not leave the flags. If the packs are tilted and need to be adjusted, all flags should stop and wait for them to be adjusted."

"After the troops enter the pass, if one or two soldiers leave the team to plunder and are killed, their wives and children will be arrested, and the commander in charge will also be guilty."

"Do not destroy temples, do not kill pedestrians at random, only kill those who resist, and keep those who obey; do not undress captives, do not separate couples, even those who cannot be captured, do not undress them or violate them, and do not rape women."

"Do not let the captives guard the horses. When you go to get food, if one or two of them rob without permission and are killed, the crime is the same as leaving the team to rob."

"Also remember not to eat the food cooked by others, and don't drink the wine of the Han people. This is because during the last expedition, our army overate, and the wine and food were poisoned by the Han people. Now those people are beyond help."

"At night, we camped. We finished cooking before sunset and pretended to camp on the spot. After dusk, we moved away from the cooking place and camped ten miles away."

"I am afraid that you may be careless about this matter and think that the enemy cannot reach here. So camp where you dismounted your horses during the day. At night, do not unload your bows or clothes, and make sure your horses are saddled."

"If you enter the Ming border and capture any captives, immediately send one minister from each flag to lead one Niulu armored soldier to bring the captives back immediately. Do not refuse to return the captives because the captives are few. Even if the captives are few, how could they be less than 10,000? Even if 10,000 people enter our country, it is insignificant. The goal of the war is not these, remember."

"If you violate this order, you will be punished."

After Ajige finished reading the imperial edict, he was quite annoyed. He put the book away and muttered quietly, "It's all these nagging things again."

Afterwards, he said to all the Gushan Ezhens: "We have noted down what the Khan said. This time, we will attack Tumed first, send letters to Datong and Guihua, and send a part of the troops to the south of the desert to attack Guihua."

"Then the army rushed into Xuanfu and quickly plundered the cities from the capital of Ming."

"In order to prevent Yang Qi from sending troops to the south of the desert, we should wait for an opportunity to leave the border and return to Shengjing in Zunhua and Yongping, places we are familiar with, within one month at the latest."

When Ajige said this, everyone nodded in agreement, except Gulusiqibu of the Harashen Banner, who looked surprised and asked, "Your Majesty, that Chahar leader Tu has repeatedly sent troops to invade our tribe. Are we just going to sit back and watch him wreak havoc outside Zhangjiakou?" Ajige immediately shook his head.

Before the arrival of Daiqing Gulun's army, you, Cantu Taiji, were wreaking havoc outside Zhangjiakou. Now that the arrival of Daiqing Gulun's army, you, Cantu Taiji, are still wandering around outside Zhangjiakou. Is that appropriate?

What's more, although they came to conquer the Ming Dynasty, they also needed to do business with the Ming Dynasty.

A crucial point here is that the Kharashen tribe of Gulusqibu wanted to do business with the Ming Dynasty at Shahukou in Datong in the name of this tribe.

So he said: "Don't worry, if that Tutu dares to take a step out of Tumote, we will surround and annihilate him and cut off Yang Qi's arm!"

But in his heart, Ajige hoped that Qintu Taiji would know when to advance and when to retreat, and not come to cause trouble while he was leading the troops.

After all, Huang Taiji treated Gulusiqibu kindly, and that was Huang Taiji's business. He looked down on Harashen, who had only 800 soldiers.

For him, the most important thing this time was to attack the capital of the Ming Dynasty without any mistakes. After all, his good brother the Emperor had already agreed on the disciplines and announced the rewards and punishments many times, laying a hundred minefields.

Agreed discipline sounds good.

But as for their army, they are not allowed to kill pedestrians, strip people's clothes, violate women, leave the team to plunder, and just send the stolen items back...is it possible?

Ajige didn't care about these things at all.

He felt that now was a time of chaos, with God sending down droughts and floods, and the nobles of various tribes having no time to take care of the living, and people unable to live and work in peace, and it was a time of chaos with indiscriminate killing and massacre.

If you meet someone and they don't obey you, you should kill them all.

Those in Liaodong should be killed, as should the Donghai Jurchens and the Wild Jurchens in the Tumen River and Ussuri River, the Fish-skin Tartars and the Deer-herding Tartars, the Koreans should be killed, and the Ming people should also be killed.

Prevent them from rebelling, prevent them from joining the Ming Dynasty, and prevent them from coming to kill me.

If we kill them all, the world will belong to Manchuria.

It's not that there was something wrong with him, or that he deliberately wanted to go against Huang Taiji, but that he grew up in such an environment. He was accustomed to the Jurchens abusing and killing the Han people in Liaodong, as well as the Han people in Liaodong poisoning and killing the Jurchens. He was even more accustomed to conflicts between the two countries and the death toll filling the city and the fields.

To them, Huang Taiji, whose mind was full of political influence, was the one who was wrong among them, and even Dorgon, who followed suit, was also wrong.

So for Ajige, these disciplines were just to scare him.

When he returns, there will be more than 20,000 people, and everyone will be guilty. If Huang Taiji doesn't want to deal with those people, he will just pretend nothing happened; if he wants to scare those people, he will list their crimes and then pardon them.

If you want to punish someone, just list their crimes one by one.

No matter who is to blame, Ajige can't escape.

But even though he knew the outcome of this matter, Ajige had no complaints against Huang Taiji.

Because he was like that by nature, and so were others, the nobles of the Eight Banners were robbing and killing themselves every day.

Moreover, most people know what their problems are, but knowing it is useless. Knowing and doing are two different things.

Therefore, they must have a smart brain like Huang Taiji to be the Khan so that they can survive.

Anyway, he was guilty and all he would be punished with was a fine, a horse, or other people, or at most a demotion from his official title.

Ajige didn't care much about those material things.

He only cared about his own prestige, so it didn't matter whether the soldiers of the 23 flags violated military law, but they had to go deep into the capital of the Ming Dynasty and win the battle.

As for the current battle, leaving aside the matters within the border, Ajige felt that there would be no major problems within the border wall. Their army was small but elite enough. They could just run around like bandits and find a place to escape from the border wall before the Ming army's reinforcements to the capital arrived.

It was troublesome not to be able to leave the border. At that time, the Ming army had the strongest combat effectiveness, but after looting, their fighting spirit was the lowest.

The biggest variable outside the border is Yang Qi from Guihua City.

However, Ajige did not take Yang Qi seriously.

Before going on the expedition, he talked with his brother Dorgon and learned that the reason for last year's empty-handed return was, firstly, that Yang Qi was too cowardly and stayed in the city and refused to come out; secondly, Dorgon's target last year was Mongolia and he did not bring any cannons.

So although Ajige did not plan to fight Yang Qi this year, he still brought twelve red cannons to prevent any accidents.

When necessary, Guihua City can also be attacked.

Moreover, based on Yang Qi's timid nature, Ajige sent Yang Qi a letter of challenge, saying that he would soon attack Guihua City, or if he was brave enough, he could lead his army to the north of Zhangjiakou to compete with him.

Ajige believed that this letter of challenge should be enough to make Yang Qi quiet down and stay in Guihua City to build fortress towers, dig trenches and construct fortifications in order to prepare for the next battle.

After all, abandoning the existing fortifications and running over to fight him in the field, no matter how you look at it... it's somewhat foolish.

At the same time, the two flags of his vanguard camp had also marched westward along the Ming border wall, rushing all the way westward, making tentative attacks on many border walls and forts along the way, and making preparations to march westward and attack Datong.

The army then reorganized at the Xilamulun River and marched south.

Ajige's real goal was to divide his troops into three routes, from east to west: Xifengkou in the north of Yongping Prefecture, Luo Wenyu in the north of Zunhua, and Dushikou of Kaiping Wei in the north of Yunzhou.

His target is the capital area!
However, just as Ajige's army was attacking the Ming border wall in three directions by concentrating its forces against its dispersed ones, he received the news he least wanted to see.

Taiji Xiantu of the Mobei Military Governor's Office rushed out from Jining and, with courage unprecedented in Chahar, took the initiative to attack the more than 500 cavalrymen of the left wing vanguard flag with an advantage of 3,000 troops.

Although the vanguard battalion did not suffer too much loss, they were the Bayala directly under Huang Taiji, with the most elite soldiers and the best armor. They fought with Huang Tu Taiji and both sides suffered casualties, and then retreated.

But the fact that Qintu Taiji would take the initiative to attack did shock Ajige.

The key point is that as soon as the battle in the west was over, a reply was sent from Guihua City.

Guihuacheng actually replied!

The letter was very short and contained Chinese characters, which Ajige could not understand, so he went to find Gushan Ezhen Buyandai of the Bordered Red Banner Mongolian.

Buyandai’s old cavalry captain, Boshiku, was proficient in many languages ​​and was promoted by Huang Taiji to be Qixinlang. The current cavalry captain is the young Boshiku, who is also proficient in Chinese.

Boshiku is both a person's name and an official title. He was a local official under Niulu, in charge of collecting grain.

Unexpectedly, little Boshiku was shocked when he saw the letter. He looked at Ajige, then at the letter, and then turned back to look at his own commander-in-chief Buyandai.

Buyan Dai was so angry that he kicked him on the buttocks and said, "Tell me what the letter says. What are you looking at? If you don't know it, just say you don't know it!"

"In this letter, Nikan asked you to..."

"Your Majesty, please forgive me!" Little Boshiku swallowed his saliva, knelt down and kowtowed to Ajige, then he mustered up the courage to say: "The Nikan is calling you, wait, don't run." (End of this chapter)