Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"Hahahaha, God helps me!"

"All soldiers, listen up! Get off your boats and mount your horses. Follow me to conquer Khorchin!"

Upon hearing the news of the war between Alukhorchin and Ligdan Khan, Zhang Xianzhong laughed wildly towards the sky.

Last year, the Jiangling Principality and the Black Dragon Camp made a fortune by plundering Nenkorqin, which made Zhang Xianzhong very envious.

He didn't expect that he would have such an opportunity to take advantage of the war between Alukhorchin and Ligdan Khan to plunder the tribe.

Thinking of Gao Yingxiang's harvest last year, he felt itchy. He urged the soldiers of Daxiying to disembark and forced the captured messenger to lead the way to the station where the remaining personnel of the various tribes in Alukhorchin were stationed.

Hu Liangfu was horrified when he heard this and tried to dissuade him:
"General Zhang, the order given to us by the Emperor is to win over Alukhorchin."

"What if you send out troops without authorization and ruin this matter?"

Zhang Xianzhong snorted, not caring at all about this, and said as he got off the boat:

"As long as we defeat the Khorchin tribe, they will naturally be won over."

"Stop talking, you old fool with no balls. Follow me and get off the boat!"

He urged the soldiers beside him to take Hu Liangfu off the boat.

Hu Liangfu was scolded by him, but he endured the humiliation and continued:
"General, you can't do this!"

"The Empress Chen was born in Nen Khorchin and is a relative of many of the leaders of Alukorchin."

"You are the Empress Chen's man, you can't hit her relatives!"

Zhang Xianzhong was furious when he heard this and cursed:
"What do you mean I belong to the Empress Chen? I am the one who presented this woman to the Emperor!"

"Gao Yingxiang even beat up her hometown Nen Horqin, so why can't I beat up Aluk Horqin?"

"If you dare say another word, I'll send you to the battlefield!"

If this threat came from anyone else, Hu Liangfu would not believe it, but when it came from Zhang Xianzhong, he was terrified.

The personal soldiers and young eunuchs he brought with him when he took office last year were killed by Zhang Xianzhong in this way. It would not be surprising if one more of him "died in battle".

Even more outrageous, Zhang Xianzhong could report him as a "surrendered prisoner", saying that he wanted to follow the Zhonghang Shuo and join the Jianlu to fight against the Ming Dynasty.

Then he would not only face the problem of dying in battle, but his family would also be implicated.

So Hu Liangfu was so scared that he dared not say anything more. He just fulfilled his duties as a military supervisor and recorded the soldiers going into battle.

Zhang Xianzhong would not stop this, because it was a request from the imperial court, and he could not completely treat the Ming Dynasty's military supervision system as a mere decoration.

Moreover, these records were also needed for how to commend merits after the war. Zhang Xianzhong was very impatient with such trivial matters, which was one of the reasons why he kept Hu Liangfu.

Another point is that after receiving Zhang Tongkui's implicit warning, Zhang Xianzhong no longer had the courage to kill the eunuch who supervised the army.

Otherwise, if the Ming Emperor got angry and cut off his logistics or sold fewer muskets, he would be very upset.

After getting familiar with the trapdoor gun in his hand, he quickly realized the changes this weapon would bring to the war. This was a good thing that could completely replace the bow and arrow, and even eliminate all cold weapons.

So Zhang Xianzhong only wanted to equip more fire guns at this time, and completely threw aside the bows and arrows he had used before.

The capture of the messenger from Alukorchin was largely due to the power of the musket. Otherwise, it would have been difficult for the few spies they sent to the shore to capture these people easily.

In this battle, he also used musketeers as the main force, placing them in the middle to disrupt the enemy's formation.

The Sauron soldiers and other cavalry were placed on both wings to outflank the enemy after they were scattered.

As soon as the remaining troops of the Alukorchin tribe came out, they were disrupted by the rapid fire of the musketeers from the Great Western Camp. Then the Solon soldiers rushed forward and drove the fleeing soldiers into the camp.

The Daxi Camp won the battle with almost no effort.

These old and weak people who stayed behind were vulnerable to the Daxiying.

Zhang Xianzhong allowed his soldiers to plunder and walked into the largest tent. He said to Hu Liangfu who was following him:

"see it?"

"These grassland tribes are simply vulnerable."

"I don't think there's any need to win them over. Just conquer them all."

"Put a knife on their necks, and they will know what to choose!"

He ordered people to capture the powerful people of the tribe and bring them to the big tent.

What could Hu Liangfu say at this time? He just smiled along.

For a military commander, winning a battle is the most important thing. Zhang Xianzhong won this time, so what he said was naturally reasonable.

Even if the imperial court knew about it, they would reward him instead of blaming the army for going deep into the grassland.

As if he had thought of something, Zhang Xianzhong pointed at Hu Liangfu and said:

"Go and find the beautiful women here so that they won't be abused by anyone."

"Pick the best ones and present them to the emperor, and give the others to people who have made contributions."

By offering a concubine, Zhang Xianzhong would be given the power to form the Great Western Camp on his own. Zhang Xianzhong hoped to offer more people so that the emperor would give him more power.

As for himself, he did not care much for women, so he planned to reward these women to meritorious soldiers.

After hearing this, Hu Liangfu said cautiously:

"According to the system established by the Emperor, all spoils of war should be collected and distributed uniformly to prevent fighting over spoils and damaging the harmony among the army."

"Besides, the general still needs to raise money to buy muskets. It would be inappropriate to allow the soldiers to loot and destroy them."

Zhang Xianzhong hummed, thinking of the price of firearms Zhang Tongkui had mentioned, and patted Hu Liangfu on the shoulder and said:
"You old fellow, it seems you are still somewhat useful!"

"Take my personal soldiers and pass on the order that all spoils of war be distributed uniformly. I will set the rules myself."

"If anyone kills the captured cattle and sheep at will, I will hang his head!"

He ordered the troops not to kill cattle and sheep at will or destroy the captured spoils. Now these livestock and people are his property and can be sold for money or exchanged for ransom.

After learning the price of the new musket from Zhang Tongkui, Zhang Xianzhong wanted to raise 100,000 yuan as soon as possible to purchase equipment for a guard.

He believed that as long as he had 5,000 new muskets, he would be able to sweep across the grassland and conquer the entire northern desert.
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Coincidentally, Lin Danhan also had the same idea.

However, his reliance was not the musket, but the armor sold to him by the Ming Dynasty.

After gradually acquiring 5,000 sets of armor from the Ming Dynasty, the strength of the elite Chahan tribe could be said to be the best on the grassland.

Therefore, he had long had the ambition to unify the grasslands. Even though he was defeated by the Jianlu in his expedition against Nenkorqin last year, it did not extinguish his ambition.

However, the Ming Dynasty's support for the powerful people of the Chahan tribe and the various tribes on the grassland made him realize that the Ming Dynasty did not want to see him unify the grassland.

So he paralyzed the Ming envoys while quietly moving the main force of the Chahan tribe to the northern desert. He wanted to conquer the northern desert and then the southern desert. Even the Ming Dynasty would not be able to stop them, unless the Ming army went out of the border and fought a field battle with the Chahan tribe. However, this plan was only half implemented, and he learned about the news of the Jianlu's westward expedition from the Mongolian population that escaped from the Eight Banners.

The empty Chahan tribe was unable to resist the Jianlu. Lin Danhan did not put up any resistance and fled with his tribe towards the Hetao area.

This was not because the Chahan tribe had no resistance at all, but rather that Ligdan Khan intended to take advantage of the situation and use the Jianlu to destroy the Tumed and Ordos tribes who were unwilling to submit to him. He also used the princes and nobles such as the Shunyi King supported by the Ming Dynasty to face the main force of the Jianlu.

As a result, the Tumed tribe of King Shunyi was destroyed, and the Ordos tribe also faced the threat of Jianlu.

Lin Danhan's stand-in led the pursuers to the Ordos Desert, then buried the ceremonial guard in the sand and disappeared without a trace. No one could find any trace of him.

The real Lin Dan Khan rode lightly to the northern desert, commanded the troops sent to the northern desert, and conquered Alukhorchin.

He wanted to take advantage of the Jianlu army's westward expedition to subdue the Alukeerqin tribe, and unify the entire northern desert with this royal guard tribe.

At this time, the Alukeerchin tribe, unable to bear the oppression of Ligdan Khan, was about to surrender to the Later Jin.

Upon learning that Ligdan Khan was leading a large army, he immediately mobilized all his forces to fight.

Seeing this, Lin Danhan was extremely angry. He used armored cavalry as the main force to defeat the coalition forces of the Alukhorchin taijis and won the first battle of the expedition to Mobei.

At this time, he laughed wildly and said to the dignitaries of the Chahan tribe:
"Do you see it?"

"Only by following this Khan can one have the supreme position on the grassland."

"This time we conquered Alukhorchin, and next we will conquer Outer Khalkha and subdue the tribes in northern and western Mobei."

"By then, will the Ming emperor and his subjects still dare to treat us as their subjects?"

He was full of confidence and wanted to form an equal footing with the Ming and Jin dynasties, rather than being forced to submit to the Ming as it was now.

Victory is the best medicine. These Chahan nobles were originally dissatisfied with Ligdan Khan's forced conscription of their armored cavalry, but now that they have avoided the attack of the Jianlu and defeated Alukhorchin in a surprise attack, they began to respect Ligdan Khan again.

A group of Otog leaders and taijis who were conferred the title of earl by the Ming Dynasty all flattered Ligdan Khan and expressed their loyalty.

Lin Danhan listened to these words with great pride, and the depression of the past two years was swept away. He was thinking about how to take these armored cavalry for himself and incorporate them into his own headquarters.

However, before he could be happy for long, a message from an Alukhorchin messenger made him furious:
"what?"

"The remaining camps were all robbed by the Ming people?"

"Where did the Great Western Camp come from?"

He knew that the Ming Dynasty had troops in the north. Last year, it was thanks to the cooperation of the Black Dragon Battalion and other troops that they were able to retreat safely after their defeat.

But he never expected that the Ming army would penetrate deep into the northern desert and now plunder Alukeqin.

These were the spoils of war that he had considered to be in his pocket. Now that they were robbed by the Great Western Camp, he was furious:
"Send troops! Send troops immediately!"

"Take back our spoils!"

He called upon his troops and immediately engaged in battle with the Daxi Camp.

When other Chahan tribe dignitaries heard this, they immediately tried to dissuade them.

There was nothing wrong with fighting Khorchin and Jianlu, but the consequences of fighting against the Ming army were something they could not afford.

The Chahan tribe was able to recover its strength in the past two years and even become stronger than before, thanks to the market rewards from the Ming Dynasty and the profits from trading Ming Dynasty goods with Mobei.

Once the war with the Ming Dynasty began, the trade might be cut off. This was something that none of the powerful people in the Chahan tribe could afford, especially those who had their daughters become concubines of the Ming emperor and were canonized as nobles.

These people opposed Lin Danhan's order. Even Lin Danhan's brother, Qintu Taiji, who helped him lead the armored cavalry, did not support it. He said:

"Great Khan, our damaged armor still needs to be replenished by the Ming Dynasty!"

"If we become enemies with the Ming Dynasty, it will be difficult to conquer Mobei."

My second brother-in-law, Gunchuk Taiji, also said:
"Now that Guihua City has been occupied by the Jianlu, it is difficult to trade with Zhangjiakou."

"The Great Western Camp appeared in Mobei. Perhaps we can trade with Ming through them."

These people kept trying to dissuade Lin Danhan, forcing him to calm down and say:

"No matter what, we have to go over there and take a look."

"We defeated the main force of Alukhorchin, so we must have a share of the spoils!"

He led three thousand armored cavalry to the Al Horqin garrison.

These 3,000 cavalrymen are the most powerful among the Chahan tribe. Their armor is in good condition and their weapons are all made of iron.

The rest followed them, carrying the prisoners.

When Zhang Xianzhong heard that a large group of armored cavalry was arriving, he immediately put on his armor and mounted his horse, leading the Daxi Camp to fight.

At this time, the Daxi Camp had become even stronger after conquering the tribes left behind by Alukhorchin. It had absorbed more than a thousand Mongols who were willing to serve, and its total force also reached three thousand.

Lin Danhan was surprised to see that the Ming Dynasty had deployed 3,000 troops in the distant Mobei. After seeing that many of Zhang Xianzhong's cavalry were equipped with armor, he lost all desire to fight.

With the strength of the Chahan tribe, they might be able to destroy these people, but their own losses would definitely not be small, and they would face a situation of hostility with the Ming Dynasty and the cessation of market rewards.

So he sent Gunchuk Taiji out to negotiate with the Ming army. Gunchuk Taiji shouted:
"Is that the Ming army? Where are they coming from?"

"I am the envoy of King Shunli. I defeated Alukhorchin and came to receive the spoils."

The officers and soldiers of the Daxi Camp looked at each other in bewilderment when they heard this. Many of them finally understood why they were able to sweep across the various tribes of Alukhorchin.

But Zhang Xianzhong laughed and said:
"We have already conquered Alukhorchin, so there is no need for King Shunli to worry about it!"

"Duke Jiangling has sent a fleet to receive them, and they will be here soon."

Use Zhang Tongchang's duke title to fight against King Shunli over there.

When Lin Danhan heard this, he knew he was in trouble. Although he was canonized as a prince by the Ming Dynasty, he was not completely regarded as one of the Ming Dynasty's own people. The number of armored soldiers of the Chahan tribe never exceeded 5,000, which was only equivalent to one guard of the Ming Dynasty.

Duke Jiangling was the Duke of the Ming Dynasty. According to the feudal system he learned from Kong Zhenyun, he could have three guards like a prince.

The army in front of us has Duke Jiangling behind him, which means there are another 15,000 troops behind them.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty also has troops such as the Black Dragon Battalion in the north.

Therefore, now it is no longer a question of whether the spoils can be recaptured, but whether these people will send troops to the various tribes in Mobei and affect his plan to conquer the grassland.

This made Lin Danhan quickly change his mind, and he asked the Daxiying to send people to negotiate. The two sides divided the territory and agreed not to invade each other.

At the same time, he also asked the Ming Dynasty to set up a trade location in Mobei and change the market reward to this side.

Hu Liangfu, who came to negotiate, did not dare to act on his own, and he and Zhang Xianzhong jointly sent the news to Yaxica, hoping that it could be passed on to the court.

Zhang Tongchang, the Duke of Jiangling, who had come to Yaksa to recruit Solon soldiers, also felt that the matter was serious after learning that Lin Danhan appeared in Mobei. On the one hand, he sent his cousin Zhang Tongkui to mediate, and on the other hand, he used pigeons and speedboats to report the news to the court. (End of this chapter)