Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1513 Challenge from the grassland!
New Year's Eve, Yijing Palace

At three quarters past the hour of Si, Ye Mingsheng arrived at the imperial study. Although in the eyes of many people, Ye Mingsheng was a very hardworking emperor, but in Ye Mingsheng's heart, he only treated the emperor as a job. He set some standards for himself, such as working three to four hours a day, resting six to seven days a month, etc.

So today, which is New Year's Eve, Ye Mingsheng had no intention of coming to work. He originally wanted to sleep in today. He has always had this idea, especially now it is winter and it is too cold in the morning. Ye Mingsheng sometimes even has the idea of ​​not wanting to get up.

But when he thought about the fact that his work concerned millions of people all over the world, Ye Mingsheng had to reluctantly leave his bed, wash up, have breakfast and start a new day.

So today, which is New Year's Day, Ye Mingsheng planned to sleep in and wake up at 3:15 pm. Ye Mingsheng had a good idea, but he didn't expect to be woken up by An Miaoyi at 1:00 am in the morning.

An Miaoyi asked Ye Mingsheng to go with her to pay respects to Ye Cui. All the concubines, big and small, in the palace would go today. This was something that had been planned in advance.

When Ye Mingsheng heard An Miaoyi talking about this, he remembered this matter. Ye Cheng had actually told him about this matter a few days ago, but there were a lot of things to do in the few days before the New Year. After Ye Mingsheng agreed to this matter, he started to get busy with other things and forgot about this matter.

Although he was a little disappointed that he couldn’t sleep in, Ye Mingsheng still forced himself to get up. After a simple wash, he and An Miaoyi went to pay their respects to Ye Cui.
After greeting, An Miaoyi also introduced today's arrangements. An Miaoyi has invited three opera troupes to the palace. There will be opera performances during the day, a singing and dancing dinner in the evening, and a fireworks show.

These programs were arranged by An Miaoyi according to Ye Cui's preferences, and Ye Mingsheng never participated in the arrangements made by these female relatives.

So just before a cup of tea, Ye Mingsheng was yawning as he sat next to Ye Cui, accompanying his mother to watch the Legend of the White Snake, the tragic love story of Xu Xian and Bai Suzhen, and then thinking about what to eat for lunch and whether he would have a chance to take a nap.

However, man proposes, God disposes. An urgent battle report sent from eight hundred miles away directly pulled Ye Mingsheng back to the imperial study from the theater.

To be honest, on the way to the Imperial Study, Ye Mingsheng had already prepared himself mentally, knowing that receiving an urgent battle report from eight hundred miles away at this time would definitely not be a good thing. However, when he really saw the content of the battle report, Ye Mingsheng was still shocked!
Ten days ago, on the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, Umar, a general under the new Khan of the Golden Horde, Habib, led 3,000 elite troops to raid the royal court of Robe in the central part of the Elunqin steppe.

The battle lasted for nearly a day and a night. Finally, with the help of reinforcements, the Robe people repelled Umar, but the Robe royal court also suffered heavy losses. Not only were there nearly 7,000 casualties, and tens of thousands of cattle and sheep were lost, even the Robe Khan Ibugel was seriously injured...
Ye Mingsheng was really shocked and angry when he saw the news. He didn't know what this Ibuger was doing. In the past one or two months, the harassment and raids by the Cumans have never stopped. How come you didn't have any defense at all and were killed so easily?

Moreover, there are 20,000 guards around your Royal Court of Luobi. How could you let 3,000 people accomplish such a thing?
You, Ibugele, are such a waste!
It would be a big deal if you, Ibugel, died. What should I do with all the investment I have made in you?
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng also sat on the chair and began to think slowly. Seeing this, Ye Cheng beside him also introduced:
"Your Majesty, the snow on the Erlunqin steppe has been particularly heavy recently, so the Kipchaks have stopped harassing the Robe people, and Ibugel Khan has also relaxed his vigilance. On the night of Umar's raid, Ibugel Khan was summoning the heads of various tribes to worship their ancestors and hold a meeting to discuss various matters regarding how to deal with the Kipchaks next year. No one expected the Kipchaks to attack us."

"And the most important thing is that during Umar's raid this time, a group of more than a hundred Romans appeared. These people should be the Roman instructors. They are armed with Roman firearms and have very strong combat effectiveness. Ibugler was shot in the chest by a Roman musketeer!"

Hearing this, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but ask:
"How's the situation in Ibugele?"

"We don't know whether he is alive or dead at the moment!"

Ye Mingsheng couldn’t help but frowned when he heard that. Although Ye Mingsheng disliked this useless Ibugele in his heart, he still had to hope that Ibugele could survive...
Luobi and Da Zhou are sworn enemies. The two sides have been fighting each other for hundreds of years and have accumulated countless blood feuds. Under such circumstances, it is not easy for Ye Mingsheng to support Luobi Khan who is willing to surrender to Daqian and become a subject of Daqian!
In order to achieve this, Ye Mingsheng invested a lot of money in Ibugel. He spent money to help him pacify the Luobi tribes and sent people to help him fight and defeat Jamukha. It was these that helped Ibugel to secure his position as the Luobi Khan and made Luobi gradually dependent on Daqian!
Although Luobi is now a vassal of Daqian, Ye Mingsheng is well aware that due to the blood feuds from the past hundreds of years of war, many people within Luobi are opposed to surrendering to Dazhou.

For many Luobi people, current dependence is nothing more than compromise and humiliation. Therefore, if the pro-Dagan Ibugerle is killed now, the new Luobi Khan may not choose to depend on Daqian like Ibugerle did!
If this is the case, it means that Ye Mingsheng’s investment in Ibugele and Robe over the past long period of time has all gone down the drain!
This is something Ye Mingsheng can never accept!

In the strategy formulated by Ye Mingsheng for Daqian, the stability of the northern border is the cornerstone of Daqian's national development. Based on this, Ye Mingsheng can invest more energy and resources in the development and expansion of Nanyang and overseas. Otherwise, the grassland is so close to Yijing, and if there is any disturbance, Yijing will become the front line. Ye Mingsheng can't even sleep well, so how can he have the mind to conquer Nanyang?

And in this strategy, the Robe people are the key!
Ye Mingsheng wants to use the Luobi people to keep the grassland in chaos so that there will be no threat to the safety of Daqian!
But now, if the Luobi people escape from Ye Mingsheng's control, or if the Luobi people are defeated by the Cumans, it means that the Daqian security strategy formulated by Ye Mingsheng will be declared bankrupt.
Although Ye Mingsheng had realized as early as a month or two ago that it was inevitable to intervene in the grassland war again, Ye Mingsheng had ordered the General Staff and relevant departments to make all necessary preparations before the war, but in Ye Mingsheng's plan, the war would start after March!

But now the rapid changes in the situation seem to force Ye Mingsheng to make adjustments!
Ye Mingsheng hesitated for a moment and asked Ye Cheng:
"I remember that Ibugel had a man called Urigenbayar under his command?" "Your Majesty, this man is Ibugel's most powerful general. Not only is he brave and fearless, he also has a cavalry of 5,000 men, the most elite cavalry on the grassland. He once held the Kipchak Tiger Division undefeated. Ibugel trusts and relies on him very much!

"This time, Umar raided the court of the Robe king. After injuring Ibugel with a musket, he was about to capture the court. It was this Urigenbayar who led his army to rescue and repelled Umar's troops, thus securing the capture of the court of the Robe king."

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly when he heard this. Before, after Xun Ke came back from the grassland, he wrote a report to Ye Mingsheng. In this report, Xun Ke mentioned this Urgen Bayar. In the report, Xun Ke praised Urgen Bayar highly, saying that he was the number one general of Luobei!

Ye Mingsheng rarely saw Xun Ke praise others like this, so even though he had never seen this Urgenbayar, Ye Mingsheng still remembered the name.

Now it seems that what Xun Ke said is true. This Wurigen Bayar seems to be quite capable...
"What is this Urigen Bayar's attitude towards my Daqian?"

Ye Cheng thought for a moment and said:
"Your Majesty, this Urigen Bayar is a noble of Luobi. It is said that his father and grandfather were both generals of Luobi. His grandfather Bayasguleng was one of the generals of Luobi who led the invasion of Yijing. When Luobi attacked Yijing City, Bayasguleng was the vanguard and led the troops. As a result, he was splashed with golden soup and later died on the way back to Luobi due to infection of the wound!"

"His father, Lakshin, had also participated in the attacks on Yijing many times, but later he died in the battle with the Kipchaks!"

"This Urigen Bayar himself did not participate in the few battles that Luobei led south. He was basically responsible for fighting the Cumans!"

"This Urigen Bayar has never opposed our Daqian in public, but according to the investigation of the Coordination Office, Urigen Bayar once said in private, after getting drunk, that Ibugel's surrender to our Daqian was a disgrace to Luobei and a betrayal of Luobei's ancestors!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly, not feeling very surprised. Ideas like Urgen Bayar's were the mainstream ideas among the Luobi generals. Those who were willing to be obedient citizens of Daqian were the minority among the Luobi generals!
It is precisely because of this situation that Ibugel’s willingness to surrender is so precious!
Of course, the reason why Ibugel was willing to surrender was not that he wanted to be a subject of Daqian, but because of the situation. In addition, he himself was more eager for the throne of Robe Khan, so he chose to rely on the power of Daqian and became Robe Khan. Then, with the help of Daqian's power, he stabilized the overall situation within Robe...

In fact, Ye Mingsheng believed that after becoming the Khan of Luobei, Ibugel must have thought about getting rid of him and kicking Daqian away!

After all, the reason why Ibugele was willing to surrender was because he was forced by the situation and had to compromise!
Of course, Ye Mingsheng had made an elaborate plan to prevent this from happening. At the beginning, Ye Mingsheng specifically ordered Xun Ke not to catch all of Ibugele's opponents in one fell swoop, but to let some of them go. This was done to show mercy, and secondly, Ye Mingsheng was laying a mine for Ibugele.

For this reason, Ibugele must have weighed the pros and cons. First of all, from the perspective of Luobi, because he relied on the power of Daqian to come to power, many people in Luobi did not submit to him and thought he was a puppet of Daqian and a lackey of Ye Mingsheng!
If Daqian had not helped him suppress these people, these people would have drawn their swords against him long ago. Therefore, even if Ibugel was willing to stab Daqian and Ye Mingsheng in the back, he would not win the support and support of these people, and they would not even recognize his identity and power as the Great Khan Luobei!

Secondly, the existence of the Kipchaks outside also prevented Ibugel from stabbing Ye Mingsheng in the back. It was precisely because of these that Ye Mingsheng was able to control Ibugel, and then control the entire Luobi, and realize his own grassland balance strategy...

But now with the collusion between the Golden Horde and the Roman Empire, Ye Mingsheng's grassland strategy has been challenged!

After considering it for a while, Ye Mingsheng continued to ask:
"How is Daiqin doing?"

"Daqin is with his father, taking care of his father Ibugele!"

Ye Mingsheng fell into deep thought again. Ibugele had eight children in total, five sons and three daughters. However, due to the backward medical level on the grassland, only three of these eight children survived to adulthood. Among them were two sons, the eldest son Dari Achi, and the second son Daiqin.

Dariyachi was the eldest son and his mother was a Luobei noble, so he had always been regarded as the successor of Ibugel!
Dariyachi, who is now 29 years old, is in his prime. He is strong and brave in combat, and enjoys great prestige in the Luobi tribe. On the surface, this may be a good thing, which will help him inherit the throne of Ibugel!
But from other perspectives, Dariyachi also posed a certain threat to the authority of his father Ibugele, which also led Ibugele to start training his second son Daiqin!
Compared to Dari Achi, whose mother was a Luobi noble, Daiqin's mother was Dong, a girl from the Great Zhou Dynasty who was abducted by Luobi from Youyan. After Dong was captured, she was offered to Ibugele because of her youth and beauty, and then she gave birth to Daiqin!

Although Daiqin is the son of Ibugele, he is not valued among the Luobi tribes because he is a mixed-race of Luobi and Daqian. He is even discriminated against. However, with the strong rise of Dariyachi and the background of Luobi paying homage to Daqian, Daiqin's weight in Luobi has also increased. With the support of Daqian, he has become a competitor of Dariyachi...