Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 21 Lin Dan Khan wants to move west
On the first day of September, the first day of the lunar month, Zhu Youjian held a lunar day in Huangji Hall.

This day was the anniversary of the death of Emperor Mingguangzong Taichang. Zhu Youjian worshiped at the Fengxian Hall. According to Wang Tiqian's recommendation, he ordered Fengcheng Marquis Li Chengzuo to pay homage at the Qingling Mausoleum. Then go to Huangji Hall and sit on the throne.

As soon as he sat down, Zhu Youjian received a report from Yang Chao, the eunuch guarding Taolinkou:

"Insert a Chinese tiger into a rabbit to make him drunk, and then stab the woman to death in Hatun."

Zhu Youjian frowned upon hearing this, passed the report to the courtiers, and asked:

"Where is Tao Linkou?"

"Who is Huduntu?"

"Who is Fuhatun?"

Cui Chengxiu, Secretary of the Ministry of War, took over less than two months after Huo Weihua resigned. He had never held a position in the Ministry of War before and had no contact with the military. How could he know the names of these people and places? Hearing this, he said nothing and turned a blind eye to Zhu Youjian's gaze.

Deeply disappointed by this, Zhu Youjian could not tolerate that in this situation of internal and external troubles, his Minister of the Ministry of War was a fool who only knew how to exercise power, and he turned to other people in the Ministry of War. Tian Ji, the left minister of the Ministry of War, and others didn't know whether they really didn't know, and they were also speechless.

In the end, it was Guo Yunhou, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance and the former left minister of the Ministry of War, who said:
"Chahan is the name of the tribe. During the Jiajing period, due to the strength of the Ada Khan, they moved from outside the Xuanfu fortress to live on the grasslands to the west of Guangning."

"Taolinkou is west of Shanhaiguan and is a Great Wall pass in Lulong. News from the grasslands to the north can be obtained."

"Hatun is also called Hadun, which is equivalent to the princess. One of the names of the third wife, Mrs. Zhongshun, is Hatun."

"The meaning of this sentence is: Hu Duntu of the Han tribe was drunk and was stabbed to death by his princess."

Feeling a little confused, Zhu Youjian asked again:

"Who is Hu Duntu?"

"The leader of the Han tribe?"

Guo Yunhou explained:

"Hu Duntu is Khan's name, the full name is Hu Duntu Han, also known as Ling Danhan."

Hearing this name, Zhu Youjian finally understood who Hu Duntu was——

It turned out to be Lin Dan Khan, the last great Khan of Mongolia who had the same name as the famous badminton player.

He once got to know this person specifically because of this name.

Thanks to his clear memory, Zhu Youjian recalled Lin Danhan's deeds, and when he looked it up, he discovered a key piece of information:
"In October of the seventh year of Tianqi, Lin Dan Khan led his people to move westward. 』

Looking at the reasons for moving westward, the Horqin tribe of Mongolia took refuge with Houjin and the five inner Khalkha tribes were destroyed. Lin Dan Khan's Chahan tribe, that is, the Chahar tribe, could not stop Huang Taiji's infiltration. Two of the eight Otuok tribes under his command Jin betrayed him and surrendered.

Lin Dan Khan rebelled and separated from his relatives, so he was forced to move westward, hoping to annex the right-wing tribes and obtain the rewards given by the Ming Dynasty to the descendants of Anda Khan, that is, the Shunyi kings.

It seems that Hou Jin has already conquered many Mongolian tribes. As long as he conquers the tribes north of the Great Wall, he can bypass the defense line in Shanhaiguan and attack the Great Wall north of the capital.

No wonder two years later, during the Jisi Incident, Hou Jin bypassed Shanhaiguan and broke through the Great Wall to reach the city of Beijing.

Aware of the crisis, Zhu Youjian immediately realized that the news received at Taolinkou might have been released by Lin Dan Khan to confuse the Ming Dynasty when he was preparing to move westward. So he immediately said:

"Not good! The tiger and the rabbit are going to run away!"

"Order the area around the Great Wall to be on guard, and send people to the grasslands to find out the news."

"Remind the tribes such as King Shunyi to be careful of being attacked by the tiger and the rabbit."

The ministers didn't know why, and they didn't understand why the emperor thought that Hu Duntu was about to run away after Hu Duntu was stabbed. Only those who were familiar with grassland affairs, under Zhu Youjian's reminder, suddenly understood why such a strange news came from Taolinkou:

"I said that the great Khan of Hu Duntu was assassinated by Madam."

"It turned out that Hou Jin was forcing him to no longer be able to hold on. He wanted to use this news to confuse others so that he could escape easily."

“Your Majesty figured it out so quickly, it’s so obvious!”

Some officials said so, but some did not think so, but believed that Hu Duntu was really assassinated.

They did not think that the emperor in the deep palace would make accurate judgments on matters far away on the grassland.

For a time, there was a lot of discussion in the court, arguing about this matter.

The arguments went on and on, but there was no result. Seeing this, Zhu Youjian also had a headache. He finally understood why a court meeting like Shuowang Dynasty ended up being reduced to a ceremonial nature——

A big meeting is held for small matters, and a small meeting is held for big matters.

The more people there are, the harder it is to unify opinions, let alone those who are specifically trying to find fault and sing the opposite.

In the future, such matters cannot be brought to the DPRK for talks, let alone involve military secrets.

Faintly regretting talking about this matter at the court meeting, Zhu Youjian saw the officials arguing endlessly, so he could only interrupt forcibly and said:
"Let's discuss first what the consequences will be if Hu Duntu leads his troops to move westward."

"Let's discuss again what the consequences will be if Hu Duntu dies."

Now everyone stopped arguing, Guo Yunhou said:
"Whether Huduntu moves westward or really dies, it will cause chaos among the tribes on the grassland and be conquered by Jianlu of the Later Jin Dynasty."

"The imperial court wants to send people to rectify the Great Wall passes to guard against Hou Jin's surprise attack."

The officials were in an uproar, but they also realized that if Hou Jin noticed the chaos on the grassland, those tribes might be conquered by Hou Jin. It is possible that Hou Jin bypassed the heavy troops in the Shanhaiguan area and took a detour through the grassland to attack the Great Wall defense line north of the capital.

Such a severe situation made all the Ming ministers in the palace feel frightened. Because they realized that Hou Jin's threat to the Ming Dynasty was no longer far away in Liaodong, and it was possible to break through the grasslands and attack the Great Wall defense line, directly threatening the capital.

"This is really a serious problem!" 』

With this understanding, some courtiers who had previously firmly believed that Hu Duntu was assassinated began to hope that Hu Duntu had not been assassinated.

But Guo Yunhou's subsequent speculation made them realize that if Hu Duntu had not been assassinated but had released false news to prepare to move westward, the matter would have been more serious:

"If Hu Duntu moves westward, he will definitely attack the Shunyi King's tribe in the west."

"Your Majesty should send someone to remind King Shunyi to be on guard against a sneak attack by Hu Duntu."

This speculation made the officials of the Ming Dynasty completely unable to sit still. The Shunyi Kingdom has always submitted to the Ming Dynasty, and the Han tribe is also a large tribe that can serve as a barrier to the Ming Dynasty. Why are they suddenly attacking each other? Don't they know that this will be benefited by the late gold fishermen, or even defeated one by one?

At this time, the officials of the Ming Dynasty hoped that everything would be as usual and no report was sent.

However, things obviously did not change according to their will. In Zhu Youjian's view, Lin Danhan has probably decided to move westward. Otherwise, he would not have released this news to confuse the surrounding forces.

What Daming should do is to find a way to dispel Lin Danhan's thoughts and let him stay where he is and join forces with Daming to fight against the Jin.

Lin Danhan must be dissuaded from his thoughts and cannot be allowed to move westward.

With this idea in mind, Zhu Youjian asked the ministers how to stop Lin Danhan.

　"History of the Ming Dynasty": Huduntu, who lived in the land of Chahan'er, was also called the prince of Chahan'er, and was of Yuan origin. His ancestors called Sun Shi to station outside the Mu Xuan Wall. I replied that Fang Qiang was afraid of being annexed, so he moved his tent to Liao. He collected the rest of Fu's miscellaneous tribes and raided Jixi several times. He spread it to Huduntu and became prosperous.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)