Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 172 Playing the "Draw Back the Fire" Tactic? I'll Let You Cool Down When the Fire Runs Out!

The snow in Shengjing always comes earlier and is colder than in other parts of the country!

Huang Taiji stood by the window, looking at the sky outside and his capital city, which was shivering in the cold wind. He was dressed in a simple fur robe, like a cold statue blending into the boundless night.

"Draw the firewood from under the cauldron," he uttered softly, his breath condensing rapidly in the cold air before dissipating.

Behind him, Fan Wencheng stood bowing, not daring to utter a sound. He knew that Huang Taiji was not talking about cooking or boiling water, but about killing people.

Strategic contraction and holding firm while waiting for change was the previously established strategy, but it does not mean not fighting back when attacked, much less sitting idly by and waiting for death.

A truly skilled hunter, while lying in wait, will use the least amount of effort to clip the opponent's wings and poison the opponent's hounds.

Now, Lindan Khan is the fiercest and most troublesome hunting dog that Zhu Youjian keeps on the grassland!
“Mr. Fan,” Huang Taiji’s voice was devoid of emotion, “if a good dog is always thinking about biting its master’s enemies, but forgets that it will also go hungry, and forgets that there are wolves watching from behind, how long do you think it can live?”

Fan Wencheng's heart skipped a beat, and he said in a low voice, "They won't live long. If they're hungry, they'll panic. If they're scared, they'll scatter."

“Yes.” Huang Taiji finally turned around, his eyes flashing with cruel rationality. “Then let it go hungry, let it be afraid.”

Huang Taiji did not need a massive, earth-shattering battle, as that would not fit his strategy of retreat, and the current weather conditions did not permit it either.

What he wanted was a silent war on the grasslands, a noose woven from rumors, hunger, and fear, which would then be precisely placed around Ligdan Khan's neck.

"Convey my decree," Huang Taiji said calmly, but through gritted teeth, "send all our people out to all the wavering tribes. I want every Mongol to hear one thing—Lindan Khan is the dog of the Ming emperor. To curry favor with the farmers of the Southern Dynasty, he sent the bloodline of the Golden Family to marry into the Ming. Every bag of grain he took was bought with your blood and flesh!"

Huang Taiji excitedly started walking around quickly.

“Select the most elite Baturu from each banner, not too many, just a few dozen or a hundred men per team. Their mission is not to conquer cities and territories, but to break into smaller groups and become wolf packs on the grasslands. Doesn't the Ming Dynasty want to send supplies to Ligdan Khan? Then let them send them.”

These wolf packs' mission is to cut off trade routes, plunder their cattle and sheep, and burn their grain. I want Ligdan Khan to see all those supplies, yet not be able to eat a single grain of rice. I want all the tribes that follow him to see how fragile and easily broken the promises of the Ming Emperor truly are.

Fan Wencheng listened to Huang Taiji's order with secret pride. This was something he had been instilling in Huang Taiji these past few days, which also meant that his position was becoming more and more secure!
"Finally," Huang Taiji walked to the map and pressed his finger heavily on the location of Ligdan Khan's tent, "we must take Ligdan Khan's head at all costs. Once he is dead, his so-called alliance will dry up faster than cow dung in the snow."

Fan Wencheng stood respectfully to one side, listening to the chilling commands issued by the emperor, which then spread like a spider web from Shengjing to the entire grassland.

Fan Wencheng felt a surge of joy as his wisdom was finally put to use; this was the place he had always dreamed of!

The charge of thousands of troops is the business of warriors, but this kind of strategist's highest level of killing is to use people's hearts as the battlefield and interests as weapons from thousands of miles away.

In his view, this strategy was flawless and perfect!

Fan Wencheng even began to look forward to what kind of countermeasures the young emperor, far away in the Forbidden City, would come up with in the face of this almost unsolvable strategy.

He couldn't figure it out.

In Fan Wencheng's view, in this game alone, Da Jin has already gained the upper hand and is in a strong position to win.

……

The wind on the grassland is free; it can spread the legends of heroes to every corner, and it can also blow vicious rumors into every tent.

"Have you heard? Ligdan Khan married his daughter to a Han Chinese man in the south. Tsk tsk, he's completely disgraced the Golden Family!"

"More than that! He's now just a dog of the Ming emperor, biting whoever he's told to. All the blood of us Mongols is just to buy him a few bites of food?"

“My third uncle’s tribe went to raid the border with him last month, and more than twenty heroes died. In the end, the compensation sent by the Ming Dynasty was not even enough for ten iron pots! The Ming people are treating us like slaves!”

These whispers spread like wildfire among the various Mongol tribes.

Lin Danhan was furious and beheaded several people who spread the rumors, only to find that such suspicion, which originated from the human heart, could not be cut off by a knife.

The dam of trust has begun to show unseen cracks.

What truly turned this rift into a breach was the sudden change of heart regarding the original reward.

A Ming Dynasty caravan of over three hundred wagons, escorted by a thousand Ming soldiers and five hundred Mongol cavalry, was making its arduous journey across the vast grasslands.

The cart was loaded with tea, salt, ironware, and cloth, which were urgently needed by Ligdan Khan.

The Ming army general in charge was a deputy general under Man Gui. He was always on high alert, and scouts were sent out thirty miles away.

However, the grassland was so vast that it could conceal any danger.

Just as the caravan was passing through a low hilly area, something unexpected happened!

As if emerging from underground, hundreds of Later Jin cavalrymen charged out from both sides of the hills like ghosts.

They spoke little, their bowstrings twanged, and arrows rained down like locusts.

These cavalrymen were not ordinary soldiers, but elite gyrfalcons personally trained by Huang Taiji. Although their numbers were small, each one was fearless and their archery skills were superb.

Their target wasn't the escorting troops at all, but those large trucks loaded with supplies!
The rocket roared in and hit the tarpaulin precisely, instantly igniting the dry straw and cloth.

In the chaos, another group of gyrfalcons cut in from the flank like sharp razors, specifically targeting the draft horses pulling carts.

The Ming army's adjutant commanded his troops to fight back fiercely, but the enemy was as slippery as a fox in the grass, striking and retreating without ever lingering.

By the time the Ming army regrouped and caught up, they had already scattered and disappeared into the vast grasslands.

It wasn't until the Ming army regrouped and tallied their losses that they discovered nearly half of the more than 300 carts had been burned, and the rest were immobilized because their draft horses had been killed!
……

Inside Man Gui's command tent, the atmosphere was as heavy as iron.

"General, this is the third time already!" The adjutant, his face bruised, spoke with a voice full of frustration. "Those bastards from the Later Jin never fight us head-on. They're like wolves, stalking you, waiting for you to be most tired and relaxed before biting you. The grasslands are too vast; our manpower is like a handful of salt thrown into the ocean—it's simply not enough!"

Man Gui slammed his fist on the table, his tiger-like eyes wide open.

He understood that this was Huang Taiji's strategy to exhaust the enemy and launch a surprise attack.

He can win ten battles, but if he loses just one supply run, the morale of Lindan Khan's army may waver.

Simply providing protection has already put us in the opponent's rhythm, creating a dead end.

However, Man Gui was secretly relieved that he was not fighting alone.

His reports on the Later Jin's strategy of harassing the capital with "Hai Dong Qing" (a type of falcon), along with his concerns about the vast and undefended grasslands, had already been continuously sent to the capital via the uninterrupted 600-li express courier route.

Now, the latest urgent messenger arrives under the starlight, bringing not a condescending urging or reprimand from the court, but a solution to the impasse, honed through numerous exchanges of military intelligence between the emperor and himself.

The moment Man Gui opened the imperial edict, he truly understood that this young emperor had always stood shoulder to shoulder with him, overlooking this vast battlefield together.

It seems that the emperor had already personally traversed the grasslands that had baffled him through his writings, and had seen through Huang Taiji's wolf pack tactics.

His imperial edicts were sharp and insightful, carrying the power to see through people's hearts and the state of the times.

"The grasslands are too vast, and our military strength is limited. It is better to dredge than to block, and better to lure than to defend. Issue my decree to all tribes on the grasslands: Anyone who can provide intelligence on the movements of the Later Jin 'Hai Dong Qing' squads will be rewarded with 100 catties of salt, 10 cakes of tea, and 5 iron pots once verified! Anyone who can independently or in cooperation with our army annihilate a Later Jin detachment of more than 50 men will receive double the reward, and their leader will be allowed to enter Xuanfu and Datong to observe the government and be granted a mansion and cattle and sheep!"

Upon receiving the imperial edict, Man Gui was stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"Your Majesty's move was truly a stroke of genius!"

Man Gui finally understood the emperor's thinking.

Why should I use my own soldiers to fill the bottomless pit of the grassland?
Aren't all the Mongolians on the grasslands my best scouts?

Huang Taiji used wolf pack tactics, so the emperor used an even larger pack of hyenas to hunt down the wolves in return!
The news spread like wildfire across the grasslands.

At first, many small tribes were skeptical.

But when a destitute tribal chief, on a whim, reported the trail of a small Jin detachment he had stumbled upon to the Ming army's border outpost, and three days later actually received a whole cartload of heavy salt, tea, iron pots, and other scarce goods, the entire grassland was in an uproar!

Salt! Tea! Iron pots! Even rare commodities like refined sugar! Things that used to require risking one's life and dignity to obtain can now be acquired simply by asking and running errands!

In an instant, countless greedy and hungry eyes lit up on the grassland.

They were no longer herdsmen, but the most astute hunters.

Those arrogant and haughty falcons of the Later Jin Dynasty, who used to be so proud and domineering in front of them, have now become walking gifts in their eyes.

"Abu, I saw more than a dozen Jurchen riders heading towards Black Wind Pass!"

"Quick! Send someone to tell the Manchu commander of the Ming army! We can still get two more pots!"

In just over ten days, a new profession quietly emerged on the grasslands—information brokers.

Some clever Mongols didn't even participate in the battles themselves. They organized people to keep an eye on the Later Jin cavalry and then sold the accurate intelligence at high prices to tribes that wanted to claim the reward, or directly to the Ming army.

The situation took a dramatic turn in an instant.

The Later Jin's "haidongqing" (a type of gyrfalcon) were horrified to discover that no matter how well they hid, they were always "coincidentally" caught by the combined forces of the Ming army and the Mongol tribes.

Their pride in their mobility became a joke in the face of the "eyes" that covered the grasslands.

This hunting ground, which they once roamed freely, has now become an overwhelming net for trapping animals!
……

Shengjing, the Imperial Palace.

Huang Taiji listened to the battle report that more than half of the gyrfalcons had been lost in the past month, and his face was ashen.

He lost again.

Unexpectedly, the young emperor in the capital did not compete with him in military strategy, but instead simply and brutally poured money and resources into him!
"What a Zhu Youjian..." Huang Taiji closed his eyes, and after a long time, he sighed again, "If you can't kill the hounds outside, then find a way to make the watchdogs inside bite you back."

His gaze passed over the Great Wall on the map and landed on Xuanfu and Datong, where Man Gui was stationed.

Since we can no longer easily discern the enemy from the outside, we should corrupt and disintegrate them from within.

He knew very well that one of the reasons why Man Gui's troops were so powerful was the large number of Mongolian warriors he recruited. These men were both fierce from the grasslands and trained by the Ming army, making them an excellent source of soldiers.

Turning them to their side was something the Later Jin had been doing all along.

But this time, spurred by the severe damage to the gyrfalcon, Huang Taiji issued a strict order to increase the intensity of this drastic measure to an unprecedented level!
No longer sporadic probes, but almost exhausting resources, the Later Jin sent out not just ordinary spies, but a large number of eloquent and carefully selected spies, many of whom even had close blood ties with certain Mongol tribes in the Xuanda border army, and used this kinship to manipulate loyalty.

“Agula, we both come from the same ancestor, why should we risk our lives for the Southerners?” A Later Jin spy whispered to a Mongol centurion in a tavern in Xuanfu, his tone full of familial earnestness.

"Look at you, working yourself to the bone for a month and only getting a few taels of silver? Follow us, the Great Khan has promised that as long as you lead men to defect, you will be immediately appointed as a Niru Ejen and rewarded with a thousand sheep and two hundred cattle! We Jurchens are your true brothers, the Mongols!"

Under Huang Taiji's strict orders, such seductive whispers rang out on an unprecedented scale in the corners of military camps and in the taverns of the city, like a silent net being quietly cast upon the Mongol warriors under Man Gui's command.

They stirred up minor frictions between Mongol and Han soldiers due to differences in customs, amplified their dissatisfaction with the rewards for military merit, and then tempted those who were already wavering with high-ranking positions, generous salaries, cattle, sheep, and wealth.

Man Gui quickly noticed this undercurrent.

He arrested several suspicious people, and upon questioning them, he was immediately horrified.

Huang Taiji's move was even more insidious than the previous raids on the grasslands!
Man Gui dared not delay and immediately reported the matter to the capital in secret.

……

The Forbidden City, the warm pavilion.

Zhu Youjian looked at Man Gui's secret report, but there was no surprise on his face.

However, this was not the only military report from the border that was spread out on his desk.

Nearby, several secret reports from the Embroidered Uniform Guard were filled with a chilling glint in their eyes: officials and gentry in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Hubei had begun to collude and conspire, outwardly complying but inwardly resisting the new policies; the regional princes were also no longer behaving themselves, making frequent small moves and eagerly testing the limits of the court.

Looking at the words "turning the enemy into a rebel" and "promising high-ranking officials and generous salaries" on Man Gui's secret memorial, Zhu Youjian suddenly smiled.

The laughter was low, yet it carried an uncontrollable ferocity and madness.

Good, very good!
Huang Taiji played this game on the grasslands, the gentry in the Jiangnan region played this game in the land of fish and rice, and now my imperial relatives in their fiefdoms want to play the same game! Do you all think that people's hearts are bargaining chips that can be bought? Do you all think that my empire is full of loopholes and that everyone can be bought?

Then I'll show you what it means to strike at the heart of the problem!

You promised with cattle, sheep, and money? You bribed with official positions and status?
I will give them something you could never give me!
Zhu Youjian suddenly stood up, dipped his brush in thick ink, and the brush strokes on the paper were powerful and penetrating.

When the imperial edict bearing the imperial seal was read aloud by the angel in front of tens of thousands of soldiers at the Xuanfu training ground, the entire training ground fell into a deathly silence.

The announcer cleared his throat, his voice exceptionally clear in the silence:

"All Mongol soldiers in the army who have made great contributions will be awarded a special third-class reward in addition to the regular rewards..."

"Those who receive a third-class merit will be awarded five hundred taels of silver and a house in Xuanfu or Datong City!"

"Those who receive a second-class merit will be awarded one thousand taels of silver, granted a house, and their families will be allowed to move into the city and settle down. Their children may also attend local government schools!"

"Those who receive a first-class merit will be awarded 10,000 taels of silver, granted an official residence, and granted a hereditary garrison post!"

"...The decree is clear: all soldiers of the Ming Dynasty's border army, regardless of whether they are Han or Mongol, who have made great contributions will be rewarded according to these three levels of merit!"

The four words "regardless of Han or Mongol origin" were like a pebble thrown into a calm lake. All the soldiers, whether Han or Mongol, were stunned. Their eyes widened as if they were listening to a myth.

They'll give you a house? Your son can go to school? And he can even become a hereditary official?
After a brief silence, came a roar like a volcanic eruption!
"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

Countless men, these tough guys who shed blood but not tears on the battlefield, were moved to tears at this moment.

In the crowd, an old soldier grabbed a young Mongolian man beside him, his face flushed with excitement: "Did you hear that? A third-class merit! Five hundred taels of silver, an apartment in the city! It's clearly written in the merit book that as long as you put in more effort on the battlefield and dare to fight and charge, you have a chance to get it! My wife and kids won't have to squeeze into a shared dormitory anymore!"

“Yes!” another soldier roared, veins bulging on his neck. “We risk our lives every day for that little bit of reward money, right? But it’s different now! His Majesty is giving us a home! A future to look forward to!”

The young Mongolian man was also filled with fervor, his voice trembling: "And a second-class merit... a thousand taels! A mansion, and my son can even get into the government school! Good heavens! If we're lucky enough to pull off a big heist amidst the chaos of war, we'll truly be city lords for the rest of our lives!"

"Forget about the first-class merit," a centurion said in a hoarse voice, but his eyes were bloodshot and burning with an uncontainable rage. "The merit of being the first to scale the walls and kill the enemy chieftain was earned with one's life, a near-death experience!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than someone next to him roared, "So what if it's a nine-out-of-ten chance of death? In the past, when we went into battle, it was a ten-out-of-ten chance of survival! Now, if there's even a sliver of hope to secure a stable life for my wife and kids, I'm willing to risk it all!"

"That's right! That's a first-class merit! What if... what if we're really lucky enough to achieve it?"

The brief discussion was reignited by a desperate roar, a cry from an old soldier that echoed the sentiments of everyone:
"To hell with first-class or third-class! I'll give it my all! For my wife, kids, and a warm bed, this life is worth it!"

"It was worth it!"

"May our ancestors protect us!"

Shouts, discussions, and ecstatic howls mingled together.

Agula, the Mongol centurion who had come into contact with the Later Jin spies, was now mingling in the crowd. He was trembling all over, not because of fear, but because of extreme excitement and lingering fear.

To hell with the Niru Ejen! To hell with the thousand sheep!
Huang Taiji could take back what he gave you at any time; you would always be an outsider living under someone else's roof.

But what about the rewards from the Ming Dynasty? They were real houses and land deeds, a lineage that would allow future generations to hold their heads high! Of course, this was also a form of bribery, but that's what you call a future!
However, what truly made Agula make his final decision was a verbal instruction added seemingly casually by the messenger at the end of the decree:
"...Furthermore, His Majesty's decree: any soldier or civilian who reports, captures alive, or kills a Later Jin spy on the spot, as long as there is concrete evidence to verify their identity, will be rewarded with five hundred taels of silver!"

Five hundred taels!
If the silver and house for the third-class merit award required fighting on the battlefield, then this five hundred taels of silver was simply within Agula's grasp!
At sunset that day, Agula personally bound the Jin spy who had been calling him brother just a few days earlier, turning him into a walking "five hundred taels of silver," and gleefully escorted him to the military office responsible for interrogating spies.

This is just the beginning.

In Xuanfu and Datong, overnight, all the people who acted suspiciously and had dubious accents seemed to have three big characters invisibly engraved on their faces—"Five Hundred Taels"!
(End of this chapter)