Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 345: The Wind Blows the Fence-Sitter

Ma Gui said that he shouldn't steal Liu Jing's limelight because his contributions were already enough.

He played a role in conquering the four tribes south of the Chahar Mountains.

It was he alone who expelled the Inner Khalkha and Khorchin tribes from the Liaohe Basin.

Later, when the remnants of the Inner Khalkha and the main body of Khorchin marched south, he resisted them and consolidated the fruits of victory today.

Ma Gui's evaluation was: Korchin was vulnerable.

Maybe it's because I've been comfortable for too long.

This place is surrounded by mountains and is located in the extreme north, so it has a sense of being a separate world.

The Khanate had been weak for many years, and between them and the Ming Dynasty was the Jurchens. When some tribes settled south of the Liao River, most of them followed Daiqing's rhythm to attack the Ming Dynasty.

Ma Gui’s evaluation was not wrong.

If nothing changed, Lindan Batur would have started to think and take actions to integrate Inner Khalkha and Khorchin after only two or three years, and Khorchin would have been extremely worried, so they married and joined forces with Nurhaci.

Now, their small tribes in the East Liaohe River area were first attacked by Yu Zigao, and the tribes south of the West Liaohe River were expelled. Under the connection of Dai Qing and the initiative of Nurhaci, they still first married the Jurchens.

They are rich, but not strong.

They are rich because no one has competed with them for the vast Songnen Plain for so many years.

As luck would have it, the elite troops that Nurhaci had left with them were with them in retaking the East Liaohe area and then attacking and destroying the Yehe tribe. But the Ming Dynasty's actions at the doorstep of the Jianzhou Jurchens forced Nurhaci to call them back first.

As a result, Korchin alone did not achieve any results.

On the front of the Xiliao River in the Tongliao area, they could not achieve any results at the hands of Ma Gui: this group of people had just conquered the four Lingnan tribes including Aohan Naiman, and their morale was high.

The four tribes had no shortage of cattle, sheep, and horses; they would not starve or freeze.

Therefore, after Lindan Batur tried his best to persuade Chaohua and others in order to preserve the power of the Khanate and promised them many things, the remnants of Inner Khalkha withdrew first.

The Khorchin leaders looked around in confusion.

Now, the lord of the left wing of the Khorchin Mongols is called Oma, and the lord of the right wing is called Chegen. Under each wing, there are some leaders of the tribes, such as Manggusi, Mingan, Aduqidarhan...

"Why retreat? Even if Khalkha breaks the alliance, can't Khorchin take back its pastures?"

It was Oba who was angry because the area south of the Xiliao River was mainly left-wing territory.

But Che Gen and others felt uncomfortable.

"The Khalkha moved away, and there is no one left in the Balin tribe. Besides, the Aohan, Naiman and other tribes were taken over by the Han people, and the Liaohe tribe was attacked from all sides..."

Che Gen looked at the lords on his right wing and said to Oba, "Now that Chahar has been badly defeated, that kid Lindan Batur would rather surrender than save the remaining young and strong. It is uncertain whether he will come to our side in the future. We think we can use his tricks against him. Didn't he advise us to pretend to be a vassal of the Ming Dynasty and ask the Ming Dynasty to allow us to graze in the north of the Liao River? I think it is better to negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty. Chahar has no good intentions. He wants us to remember that each tribe is one. What does the Ming Dynasty want to do with the north of the Liao River? Chahar wants us to return to the Khan's command!"

"...Let us give up the south of the Liao River on our left wing in exchange for the Han people not taking action against you?" Oba gritted his teeth, "What about the Jianzhou Jurchens? Are you going to break the alliance with them too?"

"Chahar was defeated, and Khalkha left again. The Ming Dynasty was free, and Nurhaci hurriedly transferred his people back, causing the Maoming'an tribe to suffer a great loss in Long'an. They were the first to betray the alliance! I think the Jianzhou Jurchens will also be defeated."

"If they are defeated, they will probably flee to the north! What will happen then?" "So what? Although they are stronger than the Yehe tribe, how strong can they be after this battle? If they dare to flee to the north, we might as well destroy them!"

Oba was speechless and felt indignant.

"Nurhaci is right. We, the left and right wings of Khorchin, should jointly elect one Khan and build a city to counter Chahar and Ming." Che Gen stared at him. "The Khalkha and Yehe tribes are unreliable, and the Jianzhou Jurchens are also in danger of being annihilated. Khorchin cannot remain a loose group of sand."

Oba immediately stared at him.

After a while, he laughed in anger: "Great! Now that we are facing foreign enemies, you don't want to take back the grassland, but instead you see that the left wing is seriously injured and want to annex us?"

"That's not the case." Che Gen said seriously, "We can jointly elect you to be the Great Khan of Khorchin, but you must find a way to make peace with the Ming Dynasty. Chahar lost the four tribes of Lingnan, but it still has more than 10,000 troops. Add Chaohua and the others, and it's a lot. Now, I heard that they are going to help the Ming Dynasty fight the Jianzhou Jurchens. I'm afraid that they are using our Khorchin to save their lives! Think about it, why would Khalkha go to Hulunbuir?"

Oba was stunned for a moment.

"The Balin tribe is north of the Liao River, so they can stay there, right? What the Han people want is the entire Nurgan Regional Command! He helped the Ming Dynasty defeat the Jianzhou Jurchens, so maybe those people stayed to fight us together with the Ming Dynasty! Once the Khorchin tribe is defeated, those people can take the Khorchin tribe's cattle, sheep, horses and people to Hulunbuir! Besides, he knows that even if the Ming Dynasty takes over this place, they will not stay here. Instead, they can come here to graze! If it weren't for such conditions, why would the Khalkha tribe be willing to leave?"

Oba listened to his logical speech and knew that they had already discussed this possibility.

He looked at the people in front of him with a complicated expression.

"Think about it carefully. Isn't it the same who we choose as our leader? As long as we Khorchin have the final say, it's fine."

Oba remained silent.

In the past, Khorchin nominally obeyed the Khanate, but even when Dayan Khan was in power, Khorchin was relatively independent.

Previously, Khorchin was willing to follow Nurhaci, whose power was growing stronger. Although they did not respect him as their leader, he was at least the leader of the alliance. On the one hand, due to the aggressive pressure from the Ming Dynasty, and on the other hand, because they had the momentum to attack together, they signed the alliance.

Now the situation has changed. The Khanate was defeated, Jianzhou is in danger, and Khorchin may have been sold out by Lindan Batur!

"...If the Han people want to take back the Nurgan Dusi, can you agree to it?"

Oba was thinking, if Chaohua and the other five Inner Khalkha tribes really never came back, then the north of Liaohe River might be a good place...

The situation is stronger than the people. Korqin cannot stand alone. Now that the Liaohe River is frozen, they cannot even fight back. After the Liaohe River thaws, they will be even more unable to fight back.

"Nurhaci said that the Han emperor robbed the old woman promised to him by the Yehe tribe. Seeing that the Yehe tribe worked so hard for the Ming Dynasty, the Han emperor must have recognized the marriage as a marriage. Anyway, we have to give it a try!" Che Gen said with certainty, "The north of the Liaohe River is full of swamps, and the winters are long and cold. What's the point of the Han people taking it? In the past, the Nurgan Regional Military Commission was set up at the mouth of the Mangge River, but it was moved back later."

The Mangge River he mentioned is the Heilongjiang River.

To be honest, in the past, the Nurgan Regional Military Commission really set up its administrative center at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River, and also established the Nanghar Guard and the Wulie River Guard on Sakhalin Island.

But it is too far away and too cold, so it is certainly unrealistic to actually control such a vast Northeast.

Many leaders of the Khorchin tribe now believe that this is a feasible approach.

When they were optimistic about the Haixi Jurchens, they joined forces with them to fight the Jianzhou Jurchens.

Now that they are not optimistic about the Jianzhou Jurchens, is it any wonder that they decide to use the Liaohe River as the boundary with the Ming Dynasty?
Nurhaci didn't know that such changes had taken place in the northwest, and now he needed to make a choice.

(End of this chapter)