My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 189: Rules in the left hand, truth in the right hand, if you don’t accept it, let’s fight!

Time flies by like a fleeting moment.

In the blink of an eye, two days had passed quietly, and the deadline set by Zhu Cilang for Abunai had finally arrived!

According to the previous agreement, if Abunai agreed to the conditions proposed by Zhu Cilang, he would receive 500,000 taels of silver to be used to provide pensions and rewards to his army.

But if he refused, or did not give a clear answer within the specified time, Zhu Cilang would assume that he disagreed.

By then, this matter will have come to an end, as if it had never happened!
However, this matter is actually not that important to Zhu Cilang.

Because just last night, he received a reply letter from Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Shize sent from Yizhou City.

With the 300,000 taels of silver, Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Shize successfully bribed several generals under Abunai.

They all expressed their willingness to lead their men to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

There are about five thousand people!

Some people may wonder, what if these Mongols are pretending to surrender?
The purpose is to cheat the Ming Dynasty of its reward!

After all, human hearts are unpredictable, and there are too many cases of intrigue and deception.

But Zhu Cilang didn't care, because anyone with a little bit of common sense would know that it was meaningless to pretend to surrender at this time.

At this moment, the Ming army had just defeated the Jiannu on the battlefield, and its morale was high, making it unstoppable.

To pretend to surrender and deceive the Ming Dynasty under such circumstances is simply to seek death.

These Mongols were not fools. Why would they not enjoy the high positions and generous salaries offered by the Ming army, but instead pretend to surrender at the huge risk of being beheaded?

Furthermore, before following Abunai, most of these Mongols were ordinary herdsmen, living a precarious life with no food or clothing, and had never enjoyed a few days of good days.

Now, the Ming Dynasty has extended an olive branch, offering high-ranking officials and generous salaries. This sudden wealth has made them extremely satisfied, and they only want to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

As for Abunai, the Mongol Khan, he was actually not that important in their hearts.

After all, the title of the Great Khan of Mongolia was bestowed by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

There is really not much value in it.

Besides, since even the Great Khan of Mongolia was appointed by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, how can it be considered as betrayal if they surrender to the Ming Dynasty?

In short, everything was proceeding in an orderly manner according to Zhu Cilang's plan.

Just when Zhu Cilang thought that Abunai was really going to be tough and refuse to accept his conditions, Abunai took the initiative to find him in the evening.

Zhu Cilang was really surprised when Abunai stepped into the room.

Because Abunai in front of him looked very haggard, as if all his energy had been drained away.

His eyes were bloodshot and his face looked exhausted, as if he hadn't slept for days and nights.

Zhu Cilang was speechless after watching this scene. It was just a decision. Was it necessary to make himself so embarrassed?

Then, Abunai took a deep breath and said to Zhu Cilang:

"I agree to the conditions you proposed before!"

When Zhu Cilang heard this, he was surprised. Regardless of whether Abunai agreed or not, it would be beneficial to the Ming Dynasty.

If he agreed, it would be tantamount to acknowledging that the Ming Dynasty was the suzerain state of Mongolia, and that he, the Great Khan of Mongolia, was also a vassal of the Ming Dynasty.

Correspondingly, the troops under his command were also from the Ming Dynasty.

Although these troops could not be directly mobilized by the Ming Dynasty, under normal circumstances, when facing common military threats or strategic needs, the Ming Dynasty would ask Mongolia to send troops to cooperate.

And Abunai basically had no way to refuse.

On the other hand, if Abunai disagrees, that’s fine too.

It simply saved the Ming Dynasty 500,000 taels of silver!

Then Zhu Cilang issued another decree, ordering the Xuanfu area to lower the prices of cattle and sheep for the Mongols and increase the prices of daily necessities such as salt and grain!

In general, Zhu Cilang now holds the rules in his left hand and the truth in his right hand. How he plays depends entirely on his mood!
But since Abunai has agreed, there is naturally no need to go through so much trouble.

Then, Zhu Cilang showed a gentle smile on his face and said:

"In that case, I will naturally keep my promise."

"Five hundred thousand taels of silver will be ready tomorrow morning, and we will send people to Yizhou to distribute them to the soldiers."

When Abunai heard this, he said nothing, bowed, and turned away.

Although everyone thought that Abunai had indeed surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, Abunai himself did not think so.

Because in these two days, he really came up with a reason to 'explain' this matter.

Regarding the ownership of Tayingzi, he could tell his subordinates that the reason Tayingzi was ceded to the Ming Dynasty was because the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty wanted to marry his sister Qiqige, and Tayingzi was Qiqige's dowry.

And the 500,000 silver coins were actually the betrothal gift from the Ming Dynasty!
Although this reason is far-fetched, there will definitely be people who believe it.

After all, everyone knew that Zhu Cilang had indeed kidnapped Qiqige when he was in Xuanfu before, and only released her after detaining her for two days.

Afterwards, Qiqige followed Zhu Cilang to the Ming Dynasty and lived in Zhu Cilang's East Palace.

With all these things happening, even if Zhu Cilang wanted to say that he had nothing to do with Qiqige, who would believe him?

Abunai also discussed this matter with Qiqige. Qiqige was really embarrassed and angry at first, but she couldn't resist Abunai's request, so she finally agreed.

Abunai also asked Qiqige not to go back to Mongolia with him this time, but to follow Zhu Cilang back to Ming Dynasty.

Because in Abunai's view, as long as Qiqige stays with Zhu Cilang, Mongolia will be safe.

During this period, he could also better control the entire Mongolia.

To be honest, Qiqige really hated this because it made her feel like she was just a chess piece being manipulated at will.

But she couldn't refuse her brother, so she finally agreed!

So, not long after Abunai left, Qiqige came.

Zhu Cilang saw Qiqige and asked jokingly:

"Why? Are you here to say goodbye to me?"

Qiqige took a deep breath and then said:
"No! I won't leave this time. I want to go back to Daming with you."

Got it!
It turns out that he was here to be a hostage!

Zhu Cilang was speechless for a moment.

But soon he didn't care anymore, and pointed to the teacup on the table and said:
"The tea is cold, go and pour me a cup of hot tea!"

When Qiqige heard this, she walked out angrily with her teacup in her hand.
The next morning, everything was ready, and Qin Liangyu set off in a hurry with Abunai.

Just last night, Zhu Cilang appointed her as the chief commander in charge of distributing the rewards.

However, the silver Qin Liangyu brought with her this time was not 500,000 taels, but 1.5 million taels.

Among them, 500,000 taels were reward silver prepared for Abunai's army to be used for pensions and rewards.

The other one million taels were pensions and rewards for the Ming cavalry who followed her.

Zhu Cilang did this completely on purpose.

You should know that the number of cavalry brought by Qin Liangyu was only 20,000, while the number of cavalry brought by Abunai was as high as 25,000. Including those killed and wounded, the total number exceeded 30,000.

However, the reward silver received by these 20,000 cavalrymen was twice that of the 30,000 Mongolian cavalrymen!
With this comparison, the difference in treatment between the two sides is obvious.

Because on average, each Ming cavalryman could get fifty taels of silver, while each Mongolian cavalryman could only get less than twenty taels of silver.

By then, as long as the Mongols are not stupid, they will know which side is more profitable to join.
The ultimate purpose of doing this is to let these Mongols see the generous treatment of the Ming army, thereby attracting them to join the Ming army and serve the Ming.

On the way back, the sound of horse hooves could be heard, and along the way, many Han people from Liaodong could be seen heading towards Jinzhou City.

Obviously, they also knew the news of the Ming army's great victory, so they came to surrender.

Overall, everything is moving in a positive direction.

Abunai was riding on the horse, but he felt very uncomfortable.

His brows were tightly furrowed, and his heart was inexplicably panicked, as if something bad was about to happen.

This strange feeling was like an invisible rope, tightly strangling his heart and making him panic.

If he hadn't brought 500,000 taels of silver with him, he would have rushed back to Yizhou City with his personal soldiers.

The group hurried and finally arrived at Yizhou City at noon.

When the outline of Yizhou City came into view, Abunai's uneasiness was slightly relieved.

But when he looked at the army camp outside the city, his steps froze instantly and he was stunned.

The camp, which was originally huge with 25,000 people, now looked sparse.

Abunai widened his eyes in disbelief. With years of experience, he could tell at a glance that the number of cavalry in front of him was obviously less than 25,000.

Not
What the hell is going on?
How come only these are left out of my 25,000 men?

Just when Abunai was full of confusion and at a loss, he saw a man rushing out of the camp in a panic and crawling in front of him.

Abunai knew this man, his name was Duomu, an old general who had followed his father, Ligdan Khan, and was the most loyal to him!
Before Abunai could ask anything, Duomu suddenly fell to his knees with a thud, shouting in a trembling voice, "Great Khan, this is bad! A general has rebelled and taken away a large number of soldiers, about five thousand!"

what?
When Abunai heard this, he felt a rush of blood to his head and almost fell off his horse.

He couldn't believe his ears. He had only been away for two or three days. How could these generals who had sworn allegiance to him betray him?

Abunai was furious, with anger burning in his chest. He quickly jumped off his horse, rushed forward and grabbed Duomu's collar.

"Hurry up and tell me what's going on. If you can't explain it clearly today, I'll kill you!"

Abunai roared.

Duomu was frightened by Abunai's rage and his face turned pale and his legs trembled, but he still tremblingly recounted everything that had happened before.

It turned out that early in the morning of the second day after Abunai left, the Ming army generals in Yizhou City sent someone to invite them to a banquet.

At first, the generals under Abunai were skeptical and unwilling to go. After all, although they were in a temporary truce with the Ming army, the relationship was still delicate.

However, the other party vowed that it was to reward them for their previous contributions to the Ming Dynasty, and also made a promise that as long as they were willing to go, each of them would receive 1,000 taels of silver.

Under the temptation of money, some weak-willed generals finally couldn't resist and went to attend this so-called banquet for some unknown reason.

But when they arrived at the banquet, they found out that it was an elaborately planned Hongmen Banquet.

The real purpose of the banquet was to win them over to the Ming Dynasty.

After learning of the Ming army's intentions, many generals loyal to Abunai glared at them and finally stood up to say goodbye without even looking at the silver in front of them.

But not all generals are loyal.

Some generals were deceived by the money and promises of the Ming army and stayed, and under coercion and inducement, they finally chose to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

Afterwards, these rebellious generals each returned to the camp with tens of thousands of taels of silver. They first rewarded their subordinates with large sums of silver, and then took them away smoothly.

After listening to Duomu's story, Abunai felt a surge of anger rising to his head. He asked angrily:
"Are you all blind? You just watched them walk away without stopping them?"

Duomu had a bitter face, his eyes full of helplessness and grievance, and he explained with a tearful voice:
"Khan, we really tried to stop it, but it was useless."

"Because the Ming army had been prepared for this, they were on full alert, with swords drawn, arrows on strings, and even artillery brought out."

"If we dare to make any move to stop them, they will attack immediately."

"As you know, the Ming defenders, combined with Qin Liangyu's army, number nearly 40,000. Our limited force is no match for them."

"Besides, you were in Yizhou at that time. If we had fought the Ming army, I'm afraid you wouldn't have been able to return safely. That's why we didn't dare to act rashly."

After hearing these words, Abunai felt as if his spine had been pulled out and he instantly lost his energy.

The whole person fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

He looked at the gray sky, and at this moment he completely understood Zhu Cilang's strategy and tricks!

He never expected that at this time, Zhu Cilang was still plotting against him, and he was actually plotted against?

The next second, an idea suddenly flashed through Abunai's mind. He stood up suddenly and walked towards Qin Liangyu's tent angrily.

After seeing Qin Liangyu, he frowned and asked coldly:
"General Qin, do you know about this?"

Qin Liangyu was sitting in the tent. When she heard Abunai's question, she raised her head slowly, glanced at him calmly, and finally said slowly:
"do not know."

Looking at Qin Liangyu's calm and unperturbed expression, Abunai was certain that Qin Liangyu must be lying!

After all, he hadn't said what it was about yet, but Qin Liangyu had already said she didn't know. This was obviously not a normal answer!
The normal answer should be to ask him what the matter is first, and then say whether you know or not.

In fact, Abunai guessed right, Qin Liangyu did know about this matter!

Just last night, Zhu Cilang told Qin Liangyu about his plan and asked Qin Liangyu to help cooperate.

Although he knew that Qin Liangyu was lying, Abunai had no way to deal with it.

Because after spending some time together, he knew very well that this female marquis was no ordinary woman. Her wisdom and courage far exceeded those of ordinary people, and she was more powerful than many battle-hardened men.

On his own, he is no match for Qin Liangyu!

So no matter how much anger and suspicion he felt in his heart, Abunai had to suppress it.

Finally, Abunai turned and left Qin Liangyu's tent, then came to Yizhou City in a rage and went straight to the residences of Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Shize.

"Oh, isn't this the Great Khan of Mongolia? What brings you back?"

Seeing Abunai walking in with an angry face, Zhang Shize's face was instantly filled with a fake smile, and he hurriedly greeted him with a smile.

Abunai was in no mood to greet him. He just looked at him with a cold face and a chill in his voice as he said:

"Zhang Shize, don't play dumb with me. What the hell is going on? Where are my five thousand soldiers? Hand them over to me immediately!"

When Zhang Shize heard this, he showed an exaggerated expression of surprise on his face, and quickly said with a puzzled look:

"What are you talking about? What five thousand soldiers? Aren't they stationed safely outside the city? Why are you suddenly asking me for them? Did you remember it wrong?"

Zheng Chenggong, who was standing by, also echoed with pretended doubt:
"That's right! We really don't understand what you mean by that. We've been handling official business in the city these past two days and haven't left the city at all, nor have we seen your troops enter the city!"

After hearing the sophistry of the two people in front of him, Abunai was so angry that he clenched his fists and his nails were deeply embedded in his palms.

He knew in his heart that these two people were pretending to be stupid, but he was in their territory and surrounded by their forces, so he could do nothing about it.

We can't just start fighting over something, right?
There is a huge disparity in military strength between the two sides now. If a fight really breaks out, I'm afraid that with so few people I have, I won't be able to hold out for even one round!
But he was unwilling to give up those 5,000 soldiers so easily!
Thinking of this, Abunai took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in his heart, and said in a soft tone:
"How about this? I don't want 5,000 soldiers anymore. Just give me 3,000 and I'll give you the remaining 2,000. How about that?"

When Zhang Shize and Zheng Chenggong heard this, they looked at each other, with a hint of imperceptible sarcasm flashing in their eyes.

They knew in their hearts that there was no reason to return the soldiers and horses.

They are actually willing to surrender to the Ming Dynasty. From now on, they are the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. What does it have to do with Mongolia?

Thinking of this, Zhang Shize regained his innocent expression and said:

"We really don't understand what you're saying. We've never seen any 5,000-man army before. Perhaps you've been deceived? You should go back and investigate first."

Abunai sneered in anger. He knew that reasoning with these two people was useless, so he shouted at Duomu behind him:
"Come here, tell them what's going on!"

Duomu stepped forward and said:

"You two, have you forgotten that you invited us to drink the morning before yesterday?"

"It was at that banquet that you used sweet words to persuade us to betray the Khan, and successfully persuaded 5,000 soldiers to surrender to the Ming Dynasty. Don't even think about denying it!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Shize's faces changed suddenly. Their original smiles disappeared instantly, replaced by a gloomy expression.

Then Zhang Shize pretended to be angry and shouted seriously:
"I'm warning you, don't talk nonsense here! I'm the heir apparent of the Duke of Yingguo, the future Duke of Yingguo of the Ming Dynasty. I hold an extremely noble status. How could I possibly do such a despicable thing?"

"And this guy, he's the son of Zheng Zhilong, the Fujian General, and the eldest brother-in-law of the current Crown Prince. He's a royal relative, so how could he do such a despicable thing?"

"Besides, when did the Ming Dynasty ever have the custom of holding a banquet in the morning?"

"How dare you, you bastard, slander us? It seems you really don't want to live anymore!"

As he spoke, Zhang Shize drew the sword from his waist with a swish, pointing the tip of the sword directly at Duomu, as if he was going to kill him and silence him.

Abunai stood aside, his hands clenched tightly into fists, his joints turning white from the force, his face full of helplessness and anger.

He stared at Zhang Shize and Zheng Chenggong, and was completely shocked by the shameless behavior of these two people.

He could never have imagined that they could deny it so shamelessly in broad daylight.

The personal soldiers who followed him all lowered their heads at this moment, not even daring to breathe.

Because at this moment, the atmosphere in the room was already tense, and Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Shize's men were standing by with a covetous look, ready to take action at any time.

If they are not careful, they will die in an instant!
Duomu was also extremely anxious at this moment. He knew in his heart that as long as the two people in front of him refused to admit it, they would have no way to deal with it.

Furthermore, the 5,000 soldiers were sent to garrison elsewhere after accepting the surrender, so even if we wanted to find them and confront them, we would not be able to find them.

Finally, Duomu looked up at Zhang Shize and said in a flattering manner:

"Don't be angry, you two! Don't be angry! I just drank a few glasses of wine this morning, so I said all that nonsense."

"It's just a trivial matter, why are you so angry?"

Hearing this, Zhang Shize snorted coldly and put away the sword in his hand.

They also didn't want to make things worse. If the situation got out of control, it would be difficult for them to report to Zhu Cilang.

Then at this moment, Duomu cautiously came to Abunai and whispered in his ear:

"Great Khan, now that things have come to this, let's just forget it! We are outnumbered now, and it will be of no benefit to us to make enemies with the Ming army."

"If you're not careful, you might not be able to leave even if you want to!"

When Abunai heard this, his eyes turned slightly red and he slowly closed his eyes with a look of pain on his face.

Then he took a deep breath, trying to suppress the anger and resentment in his heart.

He knew that Duomu was right. If he continued to pester here, not only would he not gain any benefit, but he might also put himself in an even more dangerous situation.

The most urgent task is to return to the camp quickly and appease the remaining 20,000 troops.

If these 20,000 people cause any more trouble, then everything will be lost and it will be completely over.

As for the five thousand people
Since they chose to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, it means that their hearts are no longer on our side. What's the point of finding them back?
(End of this chapter)