Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 532 Brothers are fighting against each other
Two days later, in Hetuala, the old capital of the Great Jin Dynasty, the second Beile Amin summoned a middle-aged man with gray hair and a wrinkled face at the headquarters of the Bordered Blue Banner.

"Your servant Zhuona greets the Second Beile! May the Eternal Heaven bless you!" The middle-aged man, summoned, was somewhat apprehensive. This was the first time since his incorporation into the Jianzhou tribe that he had been summoned individually by his own banner chief. Even more surprising was the fact that his former young master, Wuergudai, the last Beile of the Hada tribe, was also standing beside the banner chief, Amin. This gave him a bad feeling.

"Zhuona kowtows to Beile Wuergudai! May the Eternal Heaven bless you!" Without much hesitation, Zhuona kowtowed to Wuergudai.

"Stand up and talk." Amin glanced at Wuergudai.

"I bow to thank the Second Beile and the Old Beile Wuer." Zhuona bowed again before getting up from the ground.

"Zhona. We called you here today because we have something sad to tell you." Amin gradually put on an empathetic and sad look.

Zhuona was stunned, and his expression quickly turned panicked. "What, what sad thing?"

"The thing is..." Just as he started to speak, Amin stopped. He turned his head and looked at Wuergudai beside him, and sighed in a fake manner. "Oh, Wuergudai, I really can't bear it. Please tell me."

"Yes." Wuergudai was startled. He nodded gently and looked at Zhuona and said, "Zhuona, I believe you have heard the reasons for the Khan's withdrawal."

"No," Zhuona's pupils shrank and his breathing became rapid. "No way!?"

"Yes, Zhuona. Those shameless Ming troops took advantage of our army's deployment to attack your village. Your village suffered heavy losses." There was some sincerity in Wuergudai's eyes and brows.

Wuergudai himself did not accompany the expedition this time. After reporting on what had happened in the Zhuona tribe, he went to the scene to see it. Even though Wuergudai had already done some preliminary cleaning and clearing when he arrived, the sight of more than a dozen corpses piled together, most of them headless, was still fresh in his memory.

"Where's Sengge?" Zhuona felt his hands and feet go weak. "Where's my Sengge? Is he still alive?"

"Zho Na, I didn't see Sengge." Wu Ergudai shook his head.

"Maybe he escaped! He must have escaped!" Zwirner laughed, a sickly laugh.

"Probably not. If he had truly escaped by chance, he would have reappeared after all these days." Wuergudai didn't intend to leave Zhuona with such meaningless expectations. "There are over a dozen bodies in your tribe, all the men, headless. Only a few women survived. And as you know, the Ming army always had a habit of beheading people for glory. So I think Sengge didn't escape, but met with an accident and was beheaded by the Ming army."

"How could this happen? How could this happen!" Zhuona had long known the reason for Nurhaci's withdrawal. When he first heard it, he even felt a little dissatisfied. The tribe had used up almost all of its surplus food for this expedition. If they didn't take something back, they would probably starve to death before winter. But when this happened to him, Zhuona still couldn't accept it.

"Although I also hope this is not true, unfortunately, it has indeed happened," said Wu Ergudai.

"I, I..." Zhuona's face flushed red, then turned pale. Finally, Zhuona felt dizzy and collapsed to the ground.

"Zhona," Amin said again after a long silence. "Although the tragedy in your village was caused by the shameless Ming army, the Great Khan, His Holiness, has given you some compensation as a consolation." As he spoke, Amin waved to a servant standing in the corner.

The servant understood, picked up a bag and walked over to Zhuona.

"The Khan gave you a cow, two donkeys, and five sheep. In addition to these animals, the Khan also gave you five strong eunuchs," Amin pointed to the servant holding the bag and continued, "The ten ounces of gold in that bag is from me."

Zhuona was stunned, and a flash of inappropriate surprise flashed across his tearful old eyes.

Although Sengge was Zhuona's favorite youngest son, he felt a little relieved with these generous compensations.

"Zho Na, don't just stand there. Keep it." Wu Ergudai urged softly.

Zhuona quickly wiped his eyes with his dirty sleeves, then raised his hands above his head. He kowtowed and thanked: "Zhona thanks the Khan, thanks the Second Beile, and thanks the Wuergudai Beile!"

Wuergudai was startled and quickly said, "Don't thank me! I didn't give you any compensation. This is all given to you by the Khan and the Second Prince." Although Wuergudai still managed the Hada people, his authority and power had long since diminished. He was now more of an ordinary manager than a ruler. For example, if Nurhaci and Amin didn't approve of these supplies, he couldn't even send them to Zhuona.

Amin glanced at Wuergudai, his lips curling upwards. However, he was a man of great cunning, and quickly regained his composure. When he spoke again, Amin's tone was once again filled with sorrow and empathy: "Zhona, take your men back. Rest up. Wuergudai and I will visit you later when we have time."

"No need to trouble the Second Prince, it is the old Prince Wuer who has come to do the work." Zhuona took the bag of gold and kowtowed again.

"Go out." Amin said nothing more and just waved his hand.

"Yes." Zhuona bowed again and left.

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Zhuona left, and the servants were dismissed. Only Amin, the second prince of the Jin Dynasty, and Wuergudai, the last prince of the Hada tribe, were left in the house.

"Wuergudai." Amin called softly.

"I'm here!" Wuergudai responded sternly, not acting like a prince at all. Upon hearing the call, he immediately walked up to Amin and put on a submissive look, ready to listen to instructions. "Please give your instructions, Second Prince."

"Haha, there's nothing to be said for. You don't have to be so formal." Amin smiled. "After all, you are the Khan's son-in-law and my brother-in-law. We are family."

"The Khan has honored me by marrying his princess to me. How dare I be so arrogant?" After staying in the Jianzhou tribe for many years, Wuergudai has completely lost his pride. Living under someone else's roof has made him understand what it means to be cautious.

"Wulgudai," Amin said, still smiling. "Have you ever heard of a man?"

"Who is the Second Prince talking about?" "This person is called 'Wang Shizhong'." Amin's Chinese is surprisingly good, and the pronunciation of the three characters "Wang Shizhong" can be considered standard.

Wu Ergudai shook his head. "Which banner does this Han Chinese bondservant belong to? Second Prince, please tell me clearly."

Amin's smile widened. "You really haven't heard of it?"

"Second Prince, you know, I'm not in good health." Although Wuergudai was a few years older than Amin, his fawning demeanor made him look just like a younger generation. "I've always stayed indoors and out of the camp whenever possible. This time, I was even unable to join the army due to illness. How could I possibly know what's going on outside?"

"Haha," Amin took off his hat and wiped it on his bald head. "Kebaku, you must have heard of the name Kebaku, right?"

"Of course, Kebaku is my second brother. He has also come to seek refuge with the Great Jin?" Wuergudai wondered why Amin suddenly mentioned Kebaku. Wuergudai and Kebaku had been separated for over twenty years. In those two decades, Wuergudai had heard very little about Kebaku and practically believed him dead.

Amin looked at Wuergudai intently. "'Wang Shizhong' is Kebaku, and Kebaku is 'Wang Shizhong'."

"Ah?" Wu Ergudai's smile quickly froze on his face.

Amin said slowly, "Your good brother, Kebaku, is already serving as an official in the Ming Dynasty. Have you never heard of Wuergudai?"

"No! Absolutely not!" Wuergudai suddenly remembered what happened last year and felt a chill run down his spine. "Could it be that the Molohun incident is related to Kebaku?" Wuergudai asked sternly.

"What do you think?" Amin asked back quietly.

In early September of the previous year, the Puhe Campaign concluded abruptly. Around this time, reports surfaced that Amin's fifth brother, Zaisanggu, the second son of Daishan, the first Beile, and Molohun, the husband of Shulhaci's sixth daughter and Amin's legitimate brother-in-law, were colluding to defect from the Jin dynasty to the Ming. Molohun was able to marry Shulhaci's sixth daughter precisely because he was the third brother of Wuergudai, the last Beile of the Hada tribe.

During the investigation, Daishan, Amin and Wuergudai, who were involved in the incident, all showed unusual calmness, or even cruelty.

In order to get rid of suspicion, Daishan repeatedly requested Nurhaci to execute Shuotuo on the grounds that Shuotuo had rebelled and deserted as an established fact before the matter was verified.

Amin's reaction was similar to Daishan's. To show Nurhaci that he had no second thoughts, he repeatedly requested Nurhaci's permission to kill Zhaisanggu after proving Zhaisanggu's defection. Wuergudai, on the other hand, made it clear that he did not want to be blamed for the incident involving Moluhun.

After a series of interrogations and investigations, it was confirmed that Shuotuo had an affair with Molohun's sister, and Zaisanggu had an affair with Molohun's younger sister. The ethical relationship between the three was extremely chaotic, but they had no intention of conspiring to defect.

After this incident, Daishan, the great prince, was met with cold reception from Nurhaci, his unwavering position as crown prince was shaken, and the Bordered Red Banner was recently divided. Shuotuo and Zaisanggu broke with their father Daishan and brother Amin, respectively. As for the half-brothers Morohun and Wuergudai, they were separated by life.

However, Wuergudai was not sad about Molohun's execution because Molohun and Wuergudai were not brothers from the same mother and their relationship was not very good.

Compared to Molohun, Wuergudai and Kebaku were even closer by blood, as the two brothers shared not only the same father but also the same mother. Kebaku, or Wang Shizhong, was the legitimate second son of Menggebulu, the old chieftain of the Hada tribe. It was precisely because of this consideration that the Ming court, while restoring Wuergudai's status as Beile, brought Kebaku, who was less than ten years old, to the capital as a backup to be raised.

"I don't know!" Wuergudai was extremely nervous. He knelt down with a plop and kowtowed repeatedly, saying, "Second Prince, please understand! I really didn't know that Kebaku was an official in the Ming Dynasty! I said it last year that Molohun and I have always had a bad relationship. When he was alive, he completely ignored the life of our family and only knew how to waste money and eat and drink lavishly. I couldn't control him. I don't know what he did, let alone what he was thinking! Even if he was really seduced by Kebaku into making a mistake, I had no idea! I beg the Khan and Second Prince to understand!"

"Alright, alright," Amin said, smiling again. "I'm not here to investigate this case. I'm just telling you about this so you can be more careful."

"I..." Wu Ergudai was startled, then kowtowed. "Thank you, Second Prince, for reminding me!"

"Hurry up and get up," Amin nodded slightly and asked, "Do you know what official position Kebaku held in the Ming Dynasty?"

Wu Ergudai said without any hesitation, "I don't know, and I don't want to know. Just treat this brother as dead."

"It's better to know something," Amin raised his eyebrows and said to himself, "From what I understand, Kebaku is currently using the title of 'Wang Shizhong' and the title of guerrilla general to 'pacify the barbarians' in Guangning."

"Guangning?" Wu Ergudai reacted quickly. "Is the Ming Dynasty planning to use Kebaku to unite with the Chahar tribe to fight against the Great Jin?"

"You know so much?" Amin asked with a smile.

"I don't know!" Wuergudai realized he had said something wrong and quickly explained, "Second Prince, Guangning has always been a key hub for communication between the Ming Empire and the Chahar Tribe, just like Kaiyuan is to the Jurchen and Khalkha tribes. This is a well-known fact! I just, I just thought about it."

"Look, I only said this one sentence, and you're so nervous again." Amin shrugged, "Then I'd better not say anything at all."

"You, you better speak." Wu Ergudai lowered his head.

"Actually, I don't have much else to say. Just one last thing." Amin paused, "One thing I can only ask you for."

"It's not a big deal," Wu Ergudai said, swallowing his saliva. "It's just what the Second Prince ordered."

"As for me," Amin propped up his bald head, covering most of his face with his palm, as if thinking, "I hope you can write a letter home to Kebaku or 'Wang Shizhong'."

"A letter home?" Wu Ergudai raised his head, but couldn't see Amin's expression. "What letter home?"

"It should be a family letter about the friendship between brothers and the harmony between sisters." Amin raised his eyes slightly and locked his gaze on Wuergudai's face through his fingertips.

　The relationships within Nurhaci's family were truly complex and complicated. The various marriages were pure incest, and the very thought of them gave me a tingling sensation.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)