Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 267 Kill the chicken and scare the monkey

With the undercurrent surging, Zhu Shencui had to be on guard.

Apart from these reasons, another key issue was the secret plan of Galiba. Although everyone now understands that the previous attack on the caravan was done by Galiba and Xu Rigan, his intention was to get rid of Zhu Shenzhui and eliminate the hidden danger of seizing the throne.

But is it just that simple? Zhu Shenzhui didn't think so. After Galiba officially launched the campaign, the strength he showed surprised everyone. You know, when Ashe Temur was alive, although Galiba was the son of Taiji, his status in the tribe was not high. He was just a centurion.

The power in Galiba's hands was very weak, not to mention compared with his eldest brother Hadanbaatar, even his second brother Xurigan was not as strong. When Asitmur appointed the still-baby Tenger as a centurion, and Tana took over the power of the centurion, Tana's power also exceeded that of Galiba. In comparison, Galiba was just a small transparent existence in the tribe.

But when Galiba suddenly launched an attack and killed Xu Rigan, the real strength he showed was far beyond everyone's understanding. No one expected that the strength in Galiba's hands was far beyond what a mere hundred households could achieve. Although the power he controlled openly and secretly was not as good as Hadan Bater at the beginning, it was not far behind.

With Galiba's status in the tribe, it would be impossible for him to do it by himself. You know, it is absolutely impossible for him to win over so many people and make such arrangements in secret without help. Zhu Shenzhu thought of the results of the investigation by the Ming Dynasty. If he was not wrong, there was a Ming Dynasty merchant behind Galiba, and this Ming Dynasty merchant was definitely not an ordinary merchant, but a powerful merchant.

Only with the support of such wealthy merchants, Galiba had the financial resources to secretly accumulate such power. However, as a businessman, he would never do a business at a loss. The money paid by the businessman is just an investment. Since it is an investment, there must be a profit. Before the trade of the Ashi Timur tribe was monopolized by Zhu Shencui, Galiba colluded with the merchants of the Ming Dynasty to target Zhu Shencui. In addition to gaining the initiative in trade and solving the problem of Zhu Shencui and his wife who were close to Hadan Bater, there may also be collusion with other tribes.

Only in this way can we explain why Galiba had such a strong force in his hands and was able to launch a successful attack in one fell swoop. If Zhu Shenzhui had not led his men to the grassland and happened to meet Tana and others who were fleeing on the way, and had an elite new army in his hands, then Galiba might have really succeeded.

Once Tana and the others were all killed, Zhu Shencui would have completely lost his footing in the grassland even if he was still alive. Galiba, who was in control of the power, was not someone Zhu Shencui could handle at all, but Galiba never expected that he would fail to kill Tana by mistake, and it was for this reason that he eventually died in the hands of Wang Hai.

Although Galiba is dead, the black hand behind him has disappeared. Who is supporting him and which tribe did he reach a private agreement with to gain their support? These have become mysteries.

Zhu Shencui even felt a little sorry that he failed to capture Galiba alive. If he could have captured him alive, these doubts would have been answered. However, under the circumstances at that time, Wang Hai was lucky to have killed Galiba. If Galiba had escaped, not to mention Tenger becoming the taiji of the tribe, Zhu Shencui and his men might have all died on the grassland in the counterattack of Galiba.

After finishing the last sip of milk tea, Zhu Shenzhui put down the silver bowl in his hand. His expression was a little solemn. He said to Tana, "I have thought about it carefully. We can't keep waiting like this. Even with the support of Ligdan Khan, we must do something. It will take at least a long time for the Khan's order to be transmitted back. We must also consider the possibility that the Khan disagrees. For ourselves and the entire tribe, it is extremely disadvantageous to sit back and watch the situation develop."

Tana was slightly stunned. She thought for a moment and asked back, "What do you mean...?"

Zhu Shenzhui nodded: "Now the whole Tumed knows that we are weak, but the more so, the more we must take the initiative. It is better to take the initiative than to wait and see. Now the weather is getting warmer, it is a good time to send troops. Don't you Mongolians worship the strong? Only swords and knives are the real truth on the grassland. Whoever has the sharper knife has the right to speak. Only when everyone sees the strength of the tribe, we can really rest assured."

What Zhu Shenzui said makes sense, and Tana understands this. However, the tribe is now seriously damaged after suffering such a loss. Once the war breaks out, regardless of the outcome, can the tribe mobilize so many warriors?
Furthermore, who should they fight? This is also a problem. The Tumed tribe is known as the Twelve Tribes, and their location is close to the southern center of the Tumed tribe, which means that there are other tribes in three directions, except for the Ming border in the south.

"Him!" Zhu Shenzhui picked up the paper aside, selected a piece and slammed it in front of Tana.

Tana looked down and when she saw the name of Dilibortaiji written on it, she was confused for a moment.

Delibortaiji was one of the Tumed tribes. His tribe was not very large, with a population of nearly 10,000 people, slightly weaker than Tana's tribe. Delibortaiji was also one of the right wing of the Tumed, but it was separated from the original Zhenzhentaiji. Zhenzhentaiji was also called Sanwentaiji, a Borjigin clan, grandson of Altan Khan, and the leader of the Uighurqin.

However, Zhenzhen Taiji's main force led the army westward in the 38th year of Jiajing, separated from the right wing of the Mongolian Tumed tribe, and finally moved to Xihai. After his main force left the right wing of the Mongolian Tumed tribe, Dilibor Taiji's army immediately separated from Zhenzhen Taiji's main force, established itself as Taiji, and became one of the twelve Hou Tumed tribes until today.

The location of the Delibortaiji tribe is not far from their tribe, located in the northwest of the tribe. In recent years, the relationship between the Delibortaiji tribe and Asitmur has been neither good nor bad. The two sides have always maintained ordinary exchanges. After Zhu Shenzhui and the tribe cooperated to start trade, the other side also had several trade exchanges, and the cooperation between them was pretty good.

This time, the Dilibor Taiji tribe was the first to report back the news because it was not far away. According to the feedback from the envoys, the Dilibor Taiji tribe did not support the change of power in their tribe. Dilibor Taiji even mocked the envoys in front of them, saying that there was no suitable candidate for Taiji in their tribe. A two-year-old child actually became Taiji, and the child's mother Tana even named herself Alia. Did Tana think she was the reincarnation of Sanniangzi?
When saying these words, several other tribal elders and leaders in Taiji's tent also laughed, and the ridicule and mockery in their eyes were obvious. After all, compared with the Ashi Timur tribe, the Delibor Taiji tribe can be regarded as a member of the Golden Family, and Delibor Taiji also has the blood of the Golden Family flowing in his body. Even if this bloodline is a little distant, the arrogance and conceit in his bones are still revealed.

The other party's attitude made the envoy very angry. If Zhu Shenzhui had not given specific instructions before departure, the envoy might have drawn his sword and rebuked the other party, and blood might have been splattered in the tent.

The envoy returned to the tribe with anger, still cursing at Zhu Shenzui. It would have been fine if he had been humiliated, but he could not tolerate the humiliation of Taiji in other tribes.

After hearing the envoy's reply, Zhu Shencui was angry but did not vent his anger, but he remembered the grudge in his heart. Later, news from all sides came back one after another. After comparing the attitudes of other tribes and the actual conditions of each tribe, Zhu Shencui finally decided to take action against the Dilibortaiji tribe.

The reason for taking action was simple. First, the tribe needed a victory in a war, a war that would let the Tumed tribes know that although the Ashitemur tribe had a new taiji and had experienced internal rebellion and a disastrous defeat in Mobei, it still had a strong military force.

Secondly, this war was also used to establish Tenger's prestige within and outside the tribe to ensure that the Tumed tribes formally recognized Tenger as the new Taiji.

As for the third, it is to teach the arrogant Delibor Taiji a severe lesson and let everyone know that the dignity of the tribe cannot be violated. No matter whether it is Tana or Tenger, since they have already sat on this position, they are on an equal footing with the Taijis of other tribes, and are not objects that can be easily ridiculed.

As for the fourth point, the war was launched to show Lin Dan Khan. Lin Dan Khan has always been ambitious but incompetent, and he often shows off his cleverness. Although the tribe has sent envoys to Lin Dan Khan's headquarters to ask Lin Dan Khan to confer the title of Tenger as the successor to the position of Taiji, no one knows what Lin Dan Khan is thinking.

If Lindan Khan took the money but didn't do anything, or tried to delay and see the situation before making a decision, it would not be a good thing for the tribe. You should know that Lindan Khan had a history of this kind of thing. In the previous cooperation with the Ming Dynasty, he accepted the money from the Ming Dynasty and promised to attack the Later Jin Jiannu together with the Ming Dynasty, but when the time came, Lindan Khan went back on his word. There is such a precedent that must be guarded against.

As for the fifth point, targeting the Delibortaiji tribe was also a result of careful consideration. Apart from the fact that the Delibortaiji tribe was relatively weak, the more crucial point was that the Delibortaiji tribe was one of the few Tumed tribes that did not agree to continue following Ligdan Khan.

In addition to the fact that the location of Delibor Taiji's tribe was close to the west, and the fact that his original headquarters had long since moved west to the West Sea and settled there, Delibor Taiji, who had Borjigin blood in his blood, had a very high opinion of himself and did not take Ligdan Khan seriously at all.

By using the name of punishing the disobedient tribes on behalf of Ligdan Khan, they had a legitimate reason to send troops. In this way, the other Tumed tribes would not easily interfere in their war with the Delibortaiji tribe. As long as they planned properly and attacked unexpectedly and defeated the Delibortaiji tribe as quickly as possible, everything would be settled.

(End of this chapter)