Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Although he decided to move westward, Zhang Xianzhong could not leave for the time being.

This was not only because he was currently in charge of the garrison at Mohe Military and Civilian Government, but also because the armor, muskets and other weapons promised by the court had not yet been delivered.

Zhang Xianzhong had to buy all these weapons with his own money. He had to sell the spoils he had obtained in Alukhorchin to have enough money to buy weapons.

Fortunately, after dealing with the spoils of war in Nenhorchin last year, the inner court had gained experience in this matter. Zhang Xianzhong did not need to worry about selling the spoils.

He planned to plunder as much spoils as possible in exchange for enough money. In order to avoid conflicts with the Chahan tribe in the process, he also needed to divide the sphere of influence with Lin Danhan.

Zhang Tongchang came here with this mission. Before Kong Zhenyun arrived, he was responsible for the negotiations with Ligdan Khan.

Before the negotiations, he naturally wanted to understand the situation in the area. He asked Zhang Xianzhong:
"Xihaibo is the most familiar with this place. Can you tell me how to divide the boundaries between Daming and Chahan tribe?"

Zhang Xianzhong looked careless, but he was very talented in fighting. He also had many people around him to assist him.

He took out the map he had drawn during this period and said to everyone:
"The Aru River is the upper reaches of the Heilongjiang River. The Onon River was named Xuanming River by Emperor Chengzu. This is what the emperor asked us to take back."

"Both rivers are navigable, and the Ming can control this place."

This was the conclusion he came to after his exploration.

Although the Heilongjiang River is frozen for a long time, it is only navigable for a few months.

However, the navigable section of the river is very long, with no waterfalls or canyons separating the river.

This is also the reason why he doesn't want to be here——

The imperial court could easily influence this area with its warships.

For Zhang Xianzhong, who did not want to be restricted by the court, of course he wanted to leave.

However, even if he didn't want to stay here, Zhang Xianzhong would not give it to the Chahan tribe.

The recovery of this area was the reason why he was granted the title of Earl, and it was also his base for future westward expansion.

Otherwise, his title would be questioned, and he would have difficulty getting supplies from the Ming Dynasty when he moved westward in the future.

While serving as the garrison commander of Mohe, he had to stabilize the area as much as possible so that no one would question his title.

Nodding to Zhang Xianzhong's statement, Zhang Tongchang said:

"None of the tribes in Mobei can compete with the Ming warships on the water, and it is impossible for the people of these tribes to refuse to trade with the Ming."

"Our guild and Protector Kong will set up more trading points along the river, and enfeoff nobles to guard these places in the future."

He then pointed to Kuoluan Lake and Bui'er Lake and asked Zhang Xianzhong:
"How about these two lakes? Are you sure you can fully control them?"

"Nowadays, many people compare you to Duke Lan Yu of Liang. You must occupy as much of Bui'erhai as possible."

"Kuoluan Lake was named Xuanming Lake by Emperor Chengzu, so we must take it back."

Zhang Xianzhong grinned, knowing that these two areas were the most difficult, and said:

"These two lakes are a bit difficult because Kuoluan Lake is sometimes big and sometimes small."

"When it is big, it will be connected to the Aru River, and the Ming warships can go upstream. Then they can follow the Yudai River into the Buyuer Sea and control these two places."

"When I was young, there was no way. The Kuoluan Lake would be disconnected from the Aru River. Even when the Hailaer River was full, it would flow into the Kuoluan Lake."

This is the peculiarity of Kuoluan Lake, it is a retractable swallowing and spitting lake.

When there is a lot of water, it will connect to the Aru River and the Heilongjiang River system. It is one of the sources of the Heilongjiang River and has been recorded in many historical records.

Unfortunately, there is less water now, and the drought during the Little Ice Age also affected this area. Because the terrain of Kuoluan Lake is low, its water level drops and it no longer flows into the Aru River.

When the water level of the Hailar River is high, it will even turn the Erumu River, which connects Kuoluan Lake and the Aru River, into a countercurrent, and the river water will flow into it.

Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong has not yet completely controlled Kuoluan Lake and Buir Lake.

He and Ligdan Khan's Chahan tribe mainly confronted each other between two lakes.

Zhang Tongchang pondered the situation and felt it was a bit difficult to deal with.

The Ming Dynasty's advantage was its navy. The various tribes in Mobei, who were not good at naval warfare, had no ability to compete with the Ming Dynasty's warships.

Food, weapons and other supplies can also be easily transported via the river.

Without this advantage, the Ming Dynasty would be unfamiliar with the grasslands. Once they left the river, they would probably be defeated by the grassland tribes.

Looking at the map carefully, Zhang Tongchang saw the Luqu River to the west of Kuoluan Lake. Suddenly, he asked his personal guard to take out a map given by the emperor, and laughed loudly and said:
"Sure enough!"

"This Luqu River is the Gonglu River in the Han Dynasty. Emperor Chengzu named it Yinma River when he used it to water his horses in the northern desert."

"Its source is the Langjuxu Mountain, where Huo Qubing was conferred the title of Langjuxu."

This was noted on the map by the emperor, who also compared the defeat of Duke Qiu Fu of Qi at the Luqu River with Huo Qubing's "Ji Gonglu... sealing the Wolf's Lair Mountain, abdicating at Guyan, and ascending the Hanhai".

Zhang Tongchang was deeply impressed by this and even fantasized about finding the Gonglu River and revisiting the Langjuxu Mountain.

Today, the name of Tingluqu River is somewhat similar to Gonglu River. The map drawn by Daxiying shows that it originates from a mountain range.

Zhang Tongchang immediately determined that the Luqu River was most likely the Gonglu River during the Han Dynasty, and the mountain range at its source was the famous Langjuxu Mountain.

This immediately aroused his yearning in his heart, and he took a picture of the map and said:

"When Duke Qi went to war, if the Ming navy could reach the Luqu River directly through the Heilongjiang River, allowing the army to advance step by step steadily, how could they have been defeated?"

"The passage between the Aru River and Kuoluan Lake must be completely opened up to allow Ming warships to pass through."

"One day in the future, I will lead my troops to return to Mount Langjuxu!"

These heroic words also inspired the morale of the soldiers in the tent.

They thought that the Aru River was the end of the Heilongjiang River, but they didn't expect that there was a Luqu River upstream of Kuoluan Lake, and the source of the Luqu River was in Langjuxu Mountain.

This made the Ming Dynasty soldiers who had heard of Fenglangjuxu and engraving the stone at Yanran also want to find out.

They all believed that the river should be repaired so that they could climb Mount Langjuxu in the future.

Even Zhang Xianzhong had thought so in his heart.

It was only because he thought that advancing westward along the Luqu River would depend on the navy and he would still be unable to escape the control of the Ming Dynasty that he gave up the idea and still planned to look for the North Sea.

To him, Fenglangjuxu and Yanran were just empty names. He didn't even care about Su Wu's deeds of herding sheep. He didn't even plan to stay in Beihai, but continued to head west.

Zhang Tongchang was different from him. As a descendant of Zhang Juzheng, he had been well-read since childhood. Even after becoming a noble, he still considered himself a scholar.

The deeds of Fenglangjuxu recorded in history books and the praises of literati of all generations made it a goal for him to complete the feat of Fenglangjuxu again.

At the same time, this is also a good thing for him to expand his influence.

As the general of Andong and controlling Miaojie at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River, Zhang Tongchang certainly hoped that as many sections of the Heilongjiang River as possible would be navigable. In this way, the influence of the Andong Protectorate and the Jiangling Principality could penetrate deep into various places through the Heilongjiang River.

If Kuoluan Lake could be connected to the Aru River, the Ming Dynasty would be able to firmly control this area, and even control Mobei to the west through the Luqu River.

For him, this was a matter of influence and profit. He even had the opportunity to leave his name in history. This made him ask carefully:

"How deep is Kuoluan Lake?"

"How long is the Erom River? How deep is the river?"

Zhang Xianzhong had no intention of staying here and did not pay attention to this.

But Hu Liangfu did think about settling down here, and even thought about reclaiming farmland near the river and lake.

So he immediately said:
"Kuoluan Lake is about two zhang deep, and the deepest part is three zhang deep."

"Eromu means 'shallow crossing', and this river is naturally very shallow, only fifty miles long."

This number made Zhang Tongchang breathe a sigh of relief and feel that opening up air traffic would not be that difficult.

Fifty li is not very long, and three zhang is not very deep.

He planned to deepen the Erumu River first to see if he could maintain navigation.

If that doesn't work, build a new canal to maintain the connection between Kuoluan Lake and Aru River.

The Ming Dynasty built many canals for grain transport and solved countless problems. Zhang Tongchang thought that building a 50-li canal was very simple. Even in the inland areas, this was a small project.

But here, we need to consider where to recruit people. The population in Mobei is really small.

If we wait for Ming immigrants to come, we need to prepare a place for them first. Reclamation of farmland also requires the construction of water conservancy projects, using water from rivers and lakes for irrigation.

So Zhang Tongchang pondered these thoughts:
"We must continue to conquer the surrounding tribes and capture all those who refuse to submit."

"As for King Shunli, we need to support him in his expedition to Mobei and let him sell the disobedient grassland people to us."

"These people were used as laborers to repair the river."

Prepare to increase support for Ligdan Khan and let this man disrupt the northern desert.

This was also consistent with the court's strategy, because the court also wanted to strengthen Lin Danhan's power and did not want this man who had always been against the Jianlu to fall.

At the same time, because Lindan Khan believed in the Red Sect, he certainly could not make the Mongolian tribes, most of which believed in the Yellow Sect, surrender. The Ming Dynasty was not worried that Lindan Khan would lose control and unify the various tribes on the grassland.

Zhang Tongchang discussed these strategies with the people of the Daxi Camp, and after Lin Danhan led his troops back to Buyuer Lake, he went to meet with him.
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The meeting with Ligdan Khan was certainly not a pleasant one.

As soon as they met, Zhang Tongchang accused Ligdan Khan of fleeing without fighting and the Chahan tribe of not abiding by the rules agreed upon with the Ming Dynasty.

Lin Danhan argued that the Chahan tribe was not fleeing, but was actually conquering the Alukhorchin tribe, which was affiliated with the Jianlu. He also accused the Ming Dynasty of conquering the Mongolian tribes without his consent, which was a contempt for him as the Great Khan.

Zhang Tongchang sneered and said:

"When did the Ming Dynasty need King Shunli's consent to conquer the tribes that were affiliated with Jianlu?"

"Don't mention that Alukhorchin is already a vassal of the Jianlu. Even if it is not, Prince Shunli has no right to interfere with whether the Ming Dynasty will conquer it."

"Except for the Chahan tribe, the Ming Dynasty does not need King Shunli's consent to conquer any other tribe."

This made Lindan Khan furious, because what he hated most was being seen as only the leader of the Chahan tribe rather than the Khan of all Mongolians.

The reason why he converted to the Red Sect was because the Dalai Lama conferred the title of Khan on him.

One of the reasons why he opposed the Jianlu was that the other side called him Chahar Khan.

Now Zhang Tongchang's words undoubtedly touched his bottom line. He drew his sword and threatened:
"Does Lord Jiangling mean that he wants to go to war with me?"

"I'll let you see if it's only the Chahan tribe!"

It seems like they will start a war immediately if they disagree on something.

Zhang Tongchang was not afraid because he knew that the sniper he had arranged had already aimed at Ligdan Khan.

If Lin Danhan really dared to take action, this person would be the only one to die.

Lin Danhan's current behavior only shows that he is guilty.

So instead of appeasing the other party at this moment, he added fuel to the fire:
"I forgot to tell Prince Shunli one thing: from today on, you can no longer be called Prince Li, but only Prince Li or Prince Shunli."

"Your title has been downgraded from a prince to a county prince by the court, and your city reward has been reduced by 30%. The same goes for others."

"The official decree will be brought over by Mr. Kong in a while."

"If Prince Li wants to take action, he'd better do it quickly."

"This way, we won't have to trouble Mr. Kong to bring useless instructions."

These words made Lin Danhan even angrier, and he wanted to chop Zhang Tongchang to death immediately.

But the people of the Chahan tribe would not let him do what he wanted. The taijis rushed over and took him back.

The first day of talks ended unpleasantly, and both sides went back to discuss strategies.

In the tent of the Chahan tribe, Lin Danhan thought of what happened during the day and was still angry. He cursed the taijis for stopping him, otherwise he would definitely teach Zhang Tongchang a lesson.

These taijis did not dare to contradict Ligdan Khan who had just won a great victory, nor did they have any way to persuade him.

Fortunately, there was someone who had influence on Ligdan Khan, that was Sharba Hutuktu, and they invited this person over.

Sharba Hutuktu was awarded a city prize by the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty also named him the Mahayana Dharma King, which greatly increased his influence in various religious sects and restored a lot of his influence.

So he didn't want to be hostile to the Ming Dynasty, let alone go to war with it.

He said to Lin Danhan:

"Is the Khan angry that the Ming Dynasty has demoted his title?"

"Are you angry at the rudeness of Lord Jiangling?"

Lin Danhan was still somewhat angry and said angrily:
"This fellow, Lord Jiangling, is far from being as polite as Mr. Kong."

"When I see Mr. Kong tomorrow, I will ask him to report to Lord Jiangling."

"How can a mere county lord be so arrogant?"

After hearing this, Sharba Hutuktu was relieved. He knew that Lindan Khan had no intention of fighting against the Ming Dynasty, but was just angry at Zhang Tongchang's rudeness.

Of course, what is more important is the attitude of the Ming court. Judging from Zhang Tongchang's rude words and the court's demotion of him to a prince and reduction of his reward by 30%, the Ming Dynasty's contempt for the Chahan tribe was simply not concealed.

This made Lin Danhan angry and frightened. He was so angry to cover up his guilty conscience:
He didn't expect the Ming Dynasty's reaction this time to be so strong, and he imposed punishment without hesitation.

It seemed that he didn't care at all about the reaction of the Chahan tribe.

Sharba Hutuktu knew Lin Dan Khan's character very well and also understood the Khan's temper. He did not try to comfort Lin Dan Khan, but closed his eyes and asked:

"Did Lord Jiangling mention the jade seal during the day?"

"When the Khan is demoted to a prince, should he use a gold-plated silver seal?" (End of this chapter)