weaving

Chapter 1557 The Tartars... What are their intentions?
Although Turgh captured Yanzhou and took Zhu Yipai, the Prince of Lu of the Ming Dynasty, he achieved this great feat with the full support of Abatai and by using almost two-thirds of the captured bandits.

However, Turgh also lost over a thousand enemy cavalrymen at the gates of Jining. Therefore, now that Abatai has arrived, his attitude toward continuing the attack on Jining has become quite delicate.

Turgh subtly indicated in his words that he did not advocate continuing the attack on Jining, but he left room for maneuver and did not make any definitive statements.

In this way, if Abatai insists on attacking Jining City and captures it, Turgh will also be involved and will have some merit. If the city continues to suffer losses, it will be the result of Abatai's insistence, and he will not have supported it. It will be entirely Abatai's arbitrary decision.

However, how could Abatai not see through Turg's little scheme?

After all, the slave chieftain Huang Taiji wouldn't entrust more than half of his elite warriors to a fool to command!

"Jining is no longer fighting."

Abatai made the final decision, and his tone left no room for doubt.

After scanning the crowd, he continued, "Regardless of whether this Luo is a soldier or a bandit, he is currently relying on a fortified city to defend himself. He has a large army and abundant supplies. If we attack him with all our might, we may be able to break through the city, but the casualties will be heavy, and it will be a complete loss."

"Don't forget why we came here. Wouldn't it be better to use this time to conquer more cities, seize more wealth, grain, and women?"

Turgh curled his lips and was about to speak when Abatai continued, "You guys should be smarter. We've now reached the heart of the South, just like Sun Wukong entering the belly of the White Bone Demon."

Naturally, we should seize the weakest points first. If we encounter a well-defended city, we must never launch a direct assault, lest we needlessly lose the lives of our Qing warriors. We should bypass it first and then seek an opportunity to deal with these stubborn southern dogs.”

Abate's words were extremely unpleasant to Turgh, but since Abate was the commander-in-chief, he couldn't openly refute them and could only grunt inwardly.

“Zu Zerun, you and this Luo guy are both Han Chinese, so it should be easier for you to communicate. I'll have you write a letter to him, explaining that we've given him face by letting Jining City go.”

Tell that man surnamed Luo that if he surrendered to the Southern Kingdom against his will, why not seize this opportunity to rise again? Not only will we not attack him, but we'll also give him some money, provisions, and armor. We can then divide the territory and each take what we need.”

Zu Zerun clasped his hands in greeting and said, "Yes, sir."

Abatai glanced at Turg again, a slight smirk playing on his lips, before saying in a deep voice, "Don't waste time. We'll break camp early tomorrow morning and split up our forces."

"How do you divide it?" Turger couldn't help but ask.

"We'll bypass Jinxiang and head towards Fengxian and Peixian to see if we can fight them; if not, we'll turn back. We'll then head towards Tengxian, Yixian, and Tancheng. If all goes well, we'll head south to Huai'an. I've heard it's a very prosperous place."

Before anyone could respond, Abatai continued directly, "Turghugshan, you will be in charge of these two groups of people."

Turgh was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, but then smiled and clasped his hands in a fist, saying, "Yes, Your Excellency. Please rest assured, I will certainly live up to your expectations and make a trip to the Ming Dynasty's Jiangnan region before returning."

"Hahaha..." A burst of laughter came from inside the tent.

After everyone finished laughing, Abatai continued, "The remaining warriors will split into three groups: one will go to Jiaxiang and Juye, and attack villages that refuse to submit within the territory of Yanzhou; one will go to Jinan Prefecture, taking the route through Xintai and Laiwu; and the other will go to Feixian and Yizhou, taking the opportunity to enter the territory of Qingzhou."

He concluded by emphasizing, "I will personally command the entire journey to Qingzhou."

“Turghug Mountain, if the Jiangnan region in the south isn’t that fun, you can turn back to Qingzhou.”

"Whoo!"

...From the seventh day of the twelfth month until the twelfth, the number of Jurchens outside Jining Prefecture was constantly changing, sometimes gathering and sometimes dispersing, but never falling below ten thousand, and always maintaining a threatening posture towards Jining Prefecture.

Moreover, the Jurchens continued their daily sieges, though the intensity of their attacks was not as fierce as before. Even so, Luo Rucai and Han Guangcang dared not slacken their efforts, lest they be taken advantage of by the Jurchens.

However, starting from the 12th, groups of Jurchens rode off again, heading to who-knows-where. By the afternoon of the 13th, there were less than 5,000 Jurchen cavalry left outside Jining City.

On the morning of the 14th, the remaining 5,000-odd cavalrymen also disappeared without a trace. Apart from the occasional scouts of the bandits that appeared in people's sight, there were few traces of bandits outside Jining City.

At this time, Jining City had been besieged by the Jurchens and had long been cut off from the outside world. They were unaware of the fall of Yanzhou City and the capture of Prince Lu, Zhu Yipai, by the Jurchens.

Although the Jurchen army outside the city had retreated, Prefect Han Guangcang still dared not open the city gates, fearing that the Jurchen cavalry would suddenly rush back to seize the gates and plunder the city.

However, Luo Rucai was not afraid of the Jurchens. Moreover, the Jurchens even took the initiative to show him goodwill, sending him not only the letter from Zu Zerun but also two large boxes of jewelry and jade.

"Old Ji, do you think the Jurchens are trying to bribe us?"

Luo Rucai looked at the two open chests. The jewelry and jade inside shimmered with dazzling starlight under the candlelight. The yellow, green and white colors were colorful and truly delightful.

"I think... it's more like instigation."

"Instigation?" Luo Rucai laughed. "Then tell me, how credible is the Tartar's claim that we will draw a line between ourselves and fight for our own territory, and never attack each other?"

"At least seven points, maybe even nine points!"

"Oh." Luo Rucai was also quite surprised: "You trust these Tartars so much?"

Ji Gui smiled slightly and said calmly, "Although the Tartars are cruel and inhumane, they are not entirely without integrity."

"Then tell us why it's believable."

Ji Gui did not speak directly, but carefully looked at Luo Rucai. Seeing a playful look in his eyes, he felt relieved and said, "This depends on the Tartars' intention to break through and invade our Great Ming."

"What are the Tartars' intentions?"

"The Tartars truly harbor the intention to destroy our Great Ming Dynasty, but they also know that the fate of our Great Ming Dynasty is not yet over. They will not dare to attack our capital until the Shanhaiguan Pass is breached."

That is why they repeatedly broke through the pass and plundered the people and wealth of our capital region to strengthen their power, destroy our foundation, ruin the imperial aura of our Great Ming Dynasty, and undermine the morale of officials, gentry, and common people.

This is like "a small knife chopping down a big tree." Although it cannot seize the throne in one fell swoop, it can continuously erode and destroy the foundation of our dynasty, and gradually strengthen its prestige and military power.

As for the barbarian chieftain Huang Taiji, he is said to be quite ambitious, having united the Mongols in the north and controlled Korea in the south. Now, he only has our Great Ming Dynasty as his enemy, so we can focus on conquering him.”

Having said a bit too much, Ji Gui paused to drink some water before continuing, "Since the Tartars consider the Ming Dynasty as their only enemy, they will naturally treat all those who oppose the Ming Dynasty as friends."

"Only by joining forces and wreaking havoc on the Ming Dynasty can we quickly exhaust the imperial power of this behemoth, allowing the Jurchen barbarians from beyond the Great Wall to take its place!"

"Oh. You mean... if we help the Ming Emperor, we're his enemies, but if we go back to being bandits, we'll become his friends?"

Ji Gui was startled, but still calmly replied, "That is exactly what I meant."