Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

In the capital, Zhu Youjian, who had just finished bestowing titles and rewards, learned that Li Zunzu had seized tens of thousands of women, children, cattle, and sheep and was pursuing Huang Taiji.

He was so pleased that he immediately praised:
"Li Zunzu played well and is also a hero of the revival."

"I think his title should also be changed to Zhongxing Yiyun."

The plan is to establish Li Zunzu as the new Earl of Ningyuan, rather than simply inheriting the achievements of his ancestors.

This clearly distinguished him from the Duke of Jiangling in the north, preventing them from being confused in the future.

The practice of bestowing different titles upon meritorious officials was originally intended to sow discord among them.

To prevent the powerful nobles from becoming a monolithic group that could later threaten the emperor.

Li Shunzu was unaware of the emperor's thoughts and simply believed that the emperor was praising his brother's achievements.

He felt both gratified and a little disappointed.

This means that he was right to pass the title to his brother, but it also means that the title will be difficult to return to his lineage.

However, with his hereditary viscount title, his sense of loss wasn't too severe. What he was most concerned about now was resolving Li Ruwu's matter.

This matter is a big problem for the Li family. If it is not handled properly, it will affect the emperor's trust.

In the urgent document sent by Li Zunzu via carrier pigeon, this matter was mentioned, requesting Li Shunzu in the capital to provide a proper explanation.

As a close advisor to the emperor, Li Shunzu was well aware of the emperor's temperament.

If you make a mistake, it's fine to explain it properly, but if you conceal it, it will be considered a disloyal act.

After all, the most important job of the Embroidered Uniform Guard is intelligence gathering, and concealing intelligence means that they are not suitable to stay in the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

He apologized to the emperor, saying:
“Li Ruwu defected to the Jurchens, and I, as a relative, was completely unaware of it.”

"I beg Your Majesty to punish him!"

Zhu Youjian wasn't actually that surprised by this, because he had long anticipated the usual practices of these powerful families.

Despite some people's claims of loyalty, they will never put all their eggs in one basket if given the opportunity to diversify their investments.

He had previously bestowed titles upon some gentry in Jiangnan and forced them to go overseas, precisely because he exploited this mentality.

Most of those families don't send all their members overseas; instead, they diversify their investments and send only a portion of their members there.

Zhu Youjian had anticipated that some members of the Liaodong military families would defect to the Jurchens, which is why he distrusted the Liaodong military families and the first thing he did to rectify Liaodong was to purge the peace faction.

In retrospect, this approach was clearly correct. Even a family like the Li family, which had a long history of conflict with the Jurchens, had members who defected to them.

He wasn't particularly surprised, but on the surface he said seriously:
"Anyone who collaborates with the enemy is a traitor and a national enemy, and their relatives should be exiled overseas."

“You and Li Ruwu are related by blood, so you must take a stand and draw a clear line between yourselves.”

"Otherwise, even I, the emperor, would not protect you."

"The Law on Punishing Traitors is designed for you."

His words were stern and harsh, which made Li Shunzu break out in a cold sweat.

They knew that if they didn't draw a line and perform meritorious service like Li Yangeng, all members of the Li family would be implicated.
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Seeing that he was trembling and unsteady on his feet, Zhu Youjian remembered that Li Shunzu's health had always been poor, which was also the reason why he was willing to relinquish his title.

To avoid scaring Li Shunzu to death, he then said in a gentle tone:
"Consort Chen's younger sister, Bumbutai, was also captured this time."

What does she look like now?

This woman was none other than the famous Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang in later generations. However, she was not even an empress at the time, but merely a concubine of Huang Taiji.

Although she is Hailanzhu's younger sister, four years younger than Hailanzhu and just turned eighteen this year, she was already married. She married Huang Taiji when she was thirteen, and served him along with her aunt, the First Consort Zhe Zhe.

Zhu Youjian was somewhat pleased to have captured this woman, after all, she was a person who would be remembered in history.

When Li Shunzu heard the emperor ask this question, he was invigorated, knowing that his chance to make a contribution had come.

Everyone knows that the current emperor dotes on Consort Chen, so her younger sister is naturally a highly sought-after commodity.

Especially now that the emperor is indiscriminate in his choice of concubines, even allowing widows to participate in the selection of palace maids. Although Consort Chen's younger sister has already married Huang Taiji, who knows if the emperor won't extend his affection to her and bring her into the palace as well.

But this matter is really not easy to handle. Li Shunzu lowered his head and said meekly:

"Consort Chen's younger sister was frightened and is experiencing some miscarriage complications." "She's currently being sent to Shenyang. Should we send an imperial physician there?"

Zhu Youjian was slightly surprised to hear that Huang Taiji was pregnant, but considering Huang Taiji's current situation with offspring, he felt it was only natural.

After Hauge was killed, Huang Taiji still had two sons, but neither could inherit the Khanate due to their social status. He needed a son of noble birth, so it was only natural that Bumbutai became pregnant.

This also explains why Huang Taiji kept her by his side, rather than with the other concubines—

It seems Huang Taiji wanted a son and was worried that inadequate care from others could lead to a miscarriage.

If Bumbutai, who was from the Khorchin tribe, gave birth to a son when they arrived at the Khorchin tribe, it would greatly bring the two sides closer together and facilitate the unification of the two tribes.

What he didn't expect was that Li Zunzu had set up an ambush on the road he was passing by. In the emergency, he couldn't care about anything and abandoned his wife and children.

Bumbutai thus fell into the hands of the Ming army, becoming a highly sought-after commodity for the Ming side.
"If Huang Taiji really annexes the Khorchin tribe, he will need a successor from the Khorchin to win their hearts."

“If Bumbutai gives birth to a son, and the other women of the Khorchin tribe do not bear children for Huang Taiji, this son can be used to control Huang Taiji.”

"Take good care of Consort Chen's sister. Consort Chen and I will send imperial physicians and midwives over."

"You must take good care of her and not think about anything else."

As he gave these instructions, Zhu Youjian was genuinely curious to see what Huang Taiji would do if his son fell into his hands.

Unfortunately, historically speaking, this child was most likely a daughter. Emperor Shunzhi, Fulin, ascended the throne at the age of six, and the baby wouldn't be born for several years.

But that doesn't matter, since it's a daughter he can support, Zhu Youjian doesn't care about having another mouth to feed.

He returned to the inner palace and discussed the matter with Consort Chen, and then sent palace servants, imperial physicians, and midwives over.

He also wrote letters to the powerful figures of the Khorchin tribe, hoping they would see the error of their ways and increase the resistance Huang Taiji would face in winning them over.
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These letters were quickly sent over by express courier.

Kong Zhenyun had already intensified his offensive, using his relationship with Consort Chen to win over the Khorchin.

Upon arriving at the Khorchin tribe, Huang Taiji was surprised to find that the Khorchin people did not welcome him and were even unenthusiastic in driving away the pursuers behind him.

He summoned the soldiers from the two Yellow Banners who had been sent to the Khorchin tribe, only to learn that the Khorchin tribe's attitude towards them had changed drastically since their defeat in Liaodong.

Some even regretted asking them for help instead of surrendering to the Ming army at the beginning of the year.

If they had surrendered to the Ming Dynasty back then, with Hailanzhu in the Ming imperial palace, they could have secured better treatment.

Perhaps they could become nobles of Shuntian and receive titles and rewards.

Unlike now, not only are they regarded as enemies by the Ming army, but the Jin state, which they used to rely on, now has to rely on them.

Huang Taiji was furious when he learned of this, because he believed that one of the reasons for the defeat in Liaodong was the rescue of Khorchin.

If he hadn't transferred half of the troops from the two Yellow Banners, causing the Ming army to discover the emptiness of the front lines, how could the Ming army have dared to launch a major battle and subsequently achieve a series of victories?

Now, instead of being grateful, the Khorchin tribe is even complaining about them. This ignited his anger, and he said indignantly:

"Since the Khorchin tribe is so ungrateful, we don't need to be polite."

"Dorgon, you should make these preparations to reorganize the two White Banners with the population of Khorchin."

He instructed Dorgon, who had arrived secretly with a small force, to set an ambush, wipe out the nobles of the Khorchin tribe, and swallow the entire tribe whole.

Huang Taiji, who had already decided not to stay here, had limited patience with the Khorchin. In particular, the fall of Bumbutai had made him lose both the means and patience for appeasement.

He decided to directly annex the Khorchin and incorporate it into the Eight Banners.

Although this would cause great trouble in the future, Dorgon is keeping them in check, so they probably won't cause any trouble.

Thus, just as Wu Keshan and other powerful figures were reluctantly entertaining Huang Taiji, Dorgon suddenly launched an attack and detained all of them.

Then, the remaining soldiers of the two White Banners reorganized the people of Khorchin and incorporated them into the Eight Banners.

For those who resisted fiercely, Huang Taiji sent them directly to the front lines. He threatened them with their families and the supervisory teams, forcing them to consume the Ming army's ammunition.

Li Zunzu, who was pursuing with light cavalry, could only sigh in despair at this shameless tactic.

After several days of continuous pursuit, his troops were running low on ammunition. Facing the Jurchens, who had integrated the Khorchin tribe and gathered forces from the Plain Red Banner and other banners, he simply could not defeat them with his current forces.

He couldn't claim the bounty for the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households offered by Huang Taiji. He could only count the heads he had collected along the way, hoping to gain merit through these achievements. (End of Chapter)