Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 534: Another Fight

Wu Ergudai was silent.

Shuerhaci had already been in Jianzhou for a long time when he was imprisoned by Nurhaci until his death. Wu Ergudai remembers clearly that when the Shuerhaci case occurred, Nurhaci even wanted to kill Amin as well. It was only due to the intercession of his eldest son Chu Ying and his second son Daishan that Amin was spared.

Wu Ergudai didn't know if there was any political drama in this back-and-forth tug-of-war. But if he put himself in Amin's shoes, he would definitely be scared to death if he were in that scene.

"I still remember that Amin had a younger sister who was married to General Li's son, Li Rubai, by Uncle Shuerhazi," Manguji continued to speak to himself. "Wulgudai, do you think Amin would forget something that even I remember? I think he's probably been thinking about it, just waiting for the day when he can use this connection to establish a relationship!"

"Li Rubai has been dismissed from office for a long time, and there has been no news from the Li family for such a long time. I think the Ming Dynasty will not re-employ him." Wu Ergudai frowned, seeming to be avoiding the question.

"Are you sure that the new emperor will not re-employ Li Rubai just because he wants to have a relationship with Amin? Aren't people like He Shixian and You Shigong who used to work under Li Rubai still high-ranking officials in Shenyang?" Manguji asked back.

"How would I know what the emperor is thinking?" Wu Ergudai was speechless.

"Wulgudai, think about it more deeply." Manguji simply laid it out: "Think about what happened after the Great Khan died."

"After the Khan died?" When these words came out of his mouth, Wuergudai himself was shocked.

Mangguji asked again: "Have you never thought about this?"

Wuergudai shook his head. Before Mangguji raised this question, he hadn't really thought about what would happen after Nurhaci's death. This wasn't because Wuergudai was particularly loyal to Nurhaci, but because this terrifying cloud had been hanging over the sky for so long that Wuergudai had become accustomed to being under its shadow.

"What do you think is the most important thing after the Khan's death?" asked Manguji.

"The old king dies and the new king comes." Wu Ergudai said.

"Who do you think will be the new king?"

"Great Baylor."

"My second brother's position as crown prince has been abolished, and the Red Banner was divided by the Khan to Yuetuo. My second brother's power is constantly shrinking, and his position is also precarious." Manguji said.

Wuergudai's eyes flickered. "I heard the relationship between the Great Khan and the Great Prince has improved quite a bit. Who knows when he'll be reinstated."

"Restore the throne? It's not as easy as you think." At this point, Manguji simply took out everything that was hidden in his heart, "Boss. Our Tianming Khan, in order to maintain his power, never cares about the feelings of brothers or the affection between father and son. When he killed my eldest brother, he didn't even shed a tear!" Manguji smiled sadly.

"When his second uncle threatened him, he killed him. When his eldest brother threatened him, he killed him. Now that his second brother's reputation is growing, he's starting to become suspicious of him again. Last year, if his second brother hadn't been wise enough to admit his mistakes decisively, he might have followed in Chu Ying's footsteps and been buried in the ground. It's obvious that someone was behind all those messed-up things last year. Wu Ergudai, who do you think is behind this?"

"How would I know?" Wu Ergudai shook his head gently. "I'm just a son-in-law without a family. How would I know the twists and turns in your family?"

"Oh, you're still a son-in-law. Wuergudai, we've been lying in the same bed for twenty years. And I still don't know who you are?" Manguji rolled his eyes at Wuergudai, then reached out and patted his old husband's face. "Don't pretend, I still remember what you looked like before your pretty face collapsed."

During the period when Manguji was reinstated as Hada Beile under Ming intervention, he and Wuergudai went to the Hada tribe together. Initially, Wuergudai was still eager to make a difference, but the internal strife of his father's generation had long since exhausted the vitality of the Nanguan. Natural disasters and plunder, internal and external difficulties, and the Hada tribe still lacked subsequent support from the Ming Dynasty. Unwilling to die, Wuergudai could only bow to reality, and after such a long period of bowing, many things became habitual.

Wu Ergudai turned his head away.

"Let me ask you this! Who do you think was behind all the incidents last year?" Manguji straightened Wuergudai's face and made him look at her. She had already thrown everything at him, determined to force her husband to make up his mind.

"I haven't thought about it." Wu Ergudai turned his eyes sideways.

"Why guess now when you haven't thought about it!" Manguji shouted.

"Keep your voice down!" Wu Ergudai was startled and quickly made a gesture to keep quiet.

"Speak." Manguji turned his head and insisted on looking at Wuergudai.

"If there really is a conspiracy, it might be the Fourth Prince, or it might be the Khan." Wuergudai sighed.

"This is the Beile of the Hada tribe." Manguji patted his old face again. She wanted to laugh, but couldn't.

"You think so too?" Wuergudai had thought about this a long time ago, but he had always kept these speculations in his heart and dared not speak to anyone. Especially to Manguji, if Manguji didn't mention it himself, he wouldn't even dare to bring up the subject.

"Is there still need to dwell on this?" Manggusi's features gradually wrinkled, a look of pain and anger emerging on his face. "Just look at who investigated the 'adultery case'! Of the four ministers sent by the Khan to investigate, Huerhan, Mongato, and Yasun all served under the Plain White Banner, which was under Huang Taiji's command. Ernide, though under the Plain Yellow Banner, was also very close to Old Eight. The conclusions these four came up with clearly favored Old Eight. 'The Great Prince accepted and ate it, while the Fourth Prince accepted and didn't eat it.' It's practically written all over their faces!"

Manggusi's anger wasn't due to the false accusations leveled against Grand Prince Daishan, but rather the fact that the woman accused in the "adultery case," Fucha Gundai, was Manggusi's biological mother. Even though levirate marriage was a common practice among Jurchen tribes, Manggusi still didn't believe his mother would have an affair with his second brother. Even if there was any interaction between the two, it was likely relatively normal.

Manguji was so sure because he trusted his mother and his second brother Daishan's taste. Manguji's mother and Nurhaci were almost the same age, both in their fifties. Even if Daishan really wanted to seek excitement and have an affair with Nurhaci's wives and concubines, he should have found someone younger.

"The four people who participated in the investigation were all selected by the Khan himself. He clearly wanted to use that incident to target my second brother. After the 'adultery case', it was followed by the 'house dispute case' between my second brother and Yuetuo, and the 'defection case' that implicated you, my second brother, and Amin! These cases are more bizarre than the other. It is not easy for my second brother to regain his position. He has to avoid being suspected by the Khan, and at the same time, he has to face the watchful eyes of my eighth brother." Manguji said.

"But what can we do? After the Great Khan dies, even if the throne doesn't belong to the Great Beile, it will belong to the Fourth Beile. They are both good candidates. Even if they succeed to the throne, the Ming Dynasty may not be able to destroy the Great Jin." Wuergudai lowered his voice to an almost inaudible level. A bright light flashed in Manguji's eyes. She knew that Wuergudai was shaken. Manguji stared into Wuergudai's eyes. "But before that?"

"Why are we talking about the past again?" Wu Ergudai smiled bitterly.

"The old king is not dead yet, and the new king has not been established. In this ambiguous situation, which side are you going to take our whole family to support?" Manguji expressed what she was most worried about.

"I don't want to side with any faction." Wu Ergudai shook his head.

"But this is not something that can be avoided even if you don't want to. Later, in the Shuotuo case, the 'defection case' that also involved Molohun, was it you who took the initiative to get involved?" Manguji asked.

"Of course not." Wu Ergudai said with a sigh.

"That's it," Manggusi said anxiously. "That case clearly shows someone trying to crush my second brother. And in the end, it's been linked to Amin and you! If we don't escape this situation, sooner or later we'll be dragged into the battle for the Khanship between my second brother and my eighth brother. We'll either be forced to take sides, or be discarded like my mother and Morohun, abandoned to smooth things over!"

"You and me. Sigh!" Wuergudai sighed deeply, frowning as he changed the subject back to Amin. "Are you saying that the Second Prince also wants to find a way out because he doesn't want to be implicated?"

"Not only that. For Amin, whether his second brother or eighth brother takes the throne, his status will not improve, but may even decline. But if he surrenders to the Ming Dynasty, he can rely on the emperor's support to become the new Khan of the Jianzhou tribe. You can do it too!" Manguji grabbed Wuergudai's right hand. "Wuergudai, you can do it too! You were originally a Beile of the Hada tribe. The Ming Dynasty supported you to restore your throne before, and you can do it now!"

"What's the use of restoring the throne? In the end, we were still ravaged by the Yehe, Jianzhou and Tatar tribes in turn. The Ming Dynasty could not protect us. If we defect and restore the throne, and are destroyed again, we will have no way out." Wuergudai wanted to break free, but was held tightly by Manguji.

"It's different now. The foolish old emperor has passed away, and the one ruling the Ming Dynasty now is a young and vigorous new emperor. Besides," Manguji's face flushed a slightly sickly red, "and as I said just now, even if you don't come looking for him, Kebaku will come looking for you himself. When that happens, you won't be able to hide even if you want to."

"What if, what if all this is just our imagination, and the Second Prince really has no intention of rebelling against the Great Jin and establishing his own faction?" Wu Ergudai's eyes flickered.

"If he doesn't have such thoughts, then it means that this letter was truly written by the Khan. If so, then you've done a good job. Let's continue to lie low and wait for the right opportunity to take advantage of it." Manguji pleaded, "We won't have a peaceful life in the Great Jin. Fight for me and our children again."

Wuergudai stared blankly at Manguji's tearful eyes. After a long moment, he stretched out his left hand, which was not being held, and gently placed it on the back of Manguji's hand, squeezing it hard. "Hmm."

--------

Compared to a few days ago, Nurhaci, the Khan of Heaven's Mandate, looked even more haggard. He half-leaned on the couch in his bedroom, his eyes fixed on the official document before him. Nurhaci was distracted, not reading a single word.

Nurhaci had originally not intended to return to Hetuala. For him, this so-called birthplace of the Dragon was no longer that important. However, when his army reached the city of Sarhu, Nurhaci received very bad news: Niuhulu Eyidu, who had been by his side for nearly forty years, was terminally ill and seemed to be dying.

In order to visit this old minister, Nurhaci temporarily handed over the army to the command of Huang Taiji and Manggurtai who remained in Sarhu City, and returned to Hetuala with only the Zhenghuang Banner and other beile ministers such as Daishan and Amin.

But when Nurhaci really returned to Hetuala, he was disappointed to find that he could do nothing except the so-called visit.

Eyidu's body was like a dead tree about to rot, and he no longer had the bravery he once had. Nurhaci took Daishan to see him, but he could only blink in response and could not even get out of bed to answer.

"Great Khan," a gentle voice interrupted Nurhaci's thoughts. "Wulgudai Beile requests an audience." The attendant Zuoli, who temporarily replaced Qierge, walked to the door and stopped.

"Let him in." In the blink of an eye, Nurhaci put away the confusion and sadness on his face. Nurhaci slowly sat up straight. When Wuergudai walked to the door under the guidance of his attendants, Nurhaci sat in his calm and composed posture again.

"Wuergudai kowtows to the Khan!" Wuergudai knelt down and kowtowed quickly.

"Come in and talk, my good son-in-law." Nurhaci put on a slight smile on his face.

Wuergudai did not thank him. He stood up, walked to Nurhaci's feet, and immediately knelt down again. "Khan, I am guilty!"

Nurhaci was visibly stunned. "What are you talking about? What crime have you committed?"

Wuergudai's eyes moved slightly, and he kowtowed again, trembling as he said, "Great Khan. I, I always thought my brother Kebaku was dead, but he's not. He even used the pseudonym 'Wang Shizhong' to become a Ming official! Now that I think about it, the bastard things that Morohun did last year were probably instigated by him! Great Khan, I am guilty, please..." Wuergudai even skillfully added some tears to his voice. "Please punish me, Great Khan!"

"Alas," Nurhaci's increasingly serious expression suddenly softened. "It's all in the past. The truth has been revealed. Morohun's actions have nothing to do with you. Don't worry. I never doubted you, and I will never blame you for anything like the Kebaku incident."

"Great Khan, wuwu," Wuergudai sobbed, kowtowing as he cried, looking both terrified and moved.

Wuergudai had been living a tiring life these past few years. He needed to pretend to be a coward and lack ambition in front of everyone, especially Nurhaci. However, this also had an advantage: over the years, he had developed the ability to cry when he wanted and laugh when he wanted.

"Okay, okay, get up quickly." Nurhaci personally helped Wuergudai up.

Wu Ergudai stood up, still wiping his tears with his sleeves.

Nurhaci smiled kindly, neither urging nor scolding. When Wuergudai calmed down a bit, he asked with a smile, "Wuergudai, who told you about Kebaku?"

Wu Ergudai was shocked: Amin is really lying!
(End of this chapter)