"I have traveled across thousands of miles of grasslands from Handu Lei Xiya Totuo for more than thirty years. Since twelve years ago, I have invaded the Ming Dynasty with the Great Khan and fought in more than seventy battles. I have met all Ming people. There are countless important ministers and generals, but none of them, like today's Gaoqin Envoy, make people...have nowhere to use their strength."
In the yurt outside Yunzhong Ancient City, Qia Taiji sat at the top and sighed. There was a large bowl of kumiss placed on the bed beside him. It was still full to this day, so it was obvious that he had no intention of drinking it.
There were four other people in the tent. They were the four generals under Qataiji's command, namely Yatou Zhi, Ding Shi Bu, Niu Zhi Zhi, and Yuan Chi Chi. The faces of these four people were also very ugly, and they looked at each other. , but I don’t know where to start.
After a while, Yatou Zhi tugged on her beard and said: "Taiji, do you think this imperial envoy is too busy to do anything? Who among us Tumote will be Chechen Khan? It's none of his business. Let him come." A rip-off?"
It seems that he got his name very badly, and he really only has the IQ of a girl.
Chatterji had long been used to it. Hearing this, he just shook his head slightly and said, "Xian? This is not idle. This is a demonstration. Maybe there is a bigger intention."
"Protest?" Niu Dexi interjected and asked: "Are you trying to scare us with the Tonggong Mutual Market? What are you afraid of? It's amazing that we will just go to Mingren to rob it like we did more than ten years ago!"
"Shut up!" Chataiji said angrily: "The Great Khan has spent so much effort to have this mutual trade for more than ten years. Do you want the Great Khan to waste all his previous efforts!"
The most powerful general in Mongolia was so angry that even Niu Zhizhi, who was a close confidant, could not help but shrink his neck in fear, lowered his head and did not dare to say anything more.
However, Qataiji refused to let him go, and continued to scold: "You also said that we would rob Ming people. Did we rob it back then? Tell me, we robbed it every year at that time, but in which year did we rob it? Can people not starve to death? Now, how many years has it been since anyone in your tribe died of hunger or freezing to death? Tell me?"
Nyu lowered his head deeply and did not dare to argue with Chatterjee.
Ding Shibu coughed lightly and said, "Tai Ji is right, robbing is not possible. It was not possible when the Khan was here, and it is even more impossible now."
Yuan Chichi also nodded in agreement and said: "Yes, it is better to trade with each other. You can exchange for anything you want. As long as there are enough cattle, sheep and horses, there is nothing that cannot be exchanged. Everyone in the tribe will be very happy."
Qia Taiji didn't say anything, but Yatou Zhi spoke up again, saying: "It's not like you can exchange for anything, not just iron. Only those pots from Jinghua are considered iron, but they can only be used for cooking, not for making arrows. , let alone make a machete...why didn’t Gao Fodou open all of them to the public back then?”
Gao Foye refers to Gao Gong, because he presided over the opening of the market and persuaded the emperor to agree to sell pots to the Mongols. After the Yellow Sect was introduced, the Tumut Mongolians regarded him as a Buddha and a Bodhisattva.
When Gao Gong was mentioned, Qia Taiji's heart moved, and he suddenly said: "There is also a Buddhist temple in Totuo City, and there is a statue of Gao Buddha in it. How about... tomorrow I will lead Gao Qin's envoy to pay homage?"
Seeing that he stopped scolding him, Niu hurriedly came out to save himself some points, and said hurriedly: "Taiji, this is a good idea. I heard that Ambassador Gao Qin is the nephew of Lord Gao. If he goes to the Buddhist temple to see us, we will treat him If my uncle admires him so much, he will definitely feel good about him, and maybe he won’t care who is Chechen Khan.”
The other three people immediately applauded upon hearing this. Only Chaterji himself, who proposed the idea, shook his head and said, "Take him to worship Buddha Gao, which will make him feel good. I have no doubt about this. However, Because of this matter, he doesn’t care about Chechen Khan’s ownership, that’s impossible.”
Everyone hurriedly asked why, and Qataiji sighed: "In the words of the Han people, worshiping Gao Buddha is his private matter, but coming to confer King Shunyi is a public matter. Judging from his performance today, it is impossible for him to combine private matters with Confused by official business.”
"Does Taiji still want to take him to worship Gao Buddha?"
Chatterji thought for a while and said: "Go, why not go? It is better to make him feel good than to make him feel bad. Besides, don't you all trade with Jinghua Trading Company? Then you have a better relationship with him, the owner of Jinghua. , it can’t be a bad thing.”
When everyone heard it, they suddenly realized it and praised it one after another.
At the same time, in a mansion where Gao Jingshi temporarily stayed in Tuotuo City, Ma Gui was explaining to Gao Jingshi the current changes in Tumote's troop deployment in front of a map provided by Jinghua.
Gao Pangshi listened expressionlessly until a certain moment when he suddenly interrupted: "You mean, the current Daban Shengcheng is different from what it was twelve years ago. It has built city defenses now?"
"Yes, although the general has never visited it in person, according to Jin Yiwei's detailed report, it is probably equivalent to a palace."
The Ming Dynasty was divided into three levels of counties and prefectures: middle, lower and upper levels. Zhongfu was also a middle-level prefecture.
However, Jin Yiwei’s words do not know whether he refers to the Zhongfu in the Mainland or the Zhongfu in the Jiubian. Although in terms of the division method of the Ming Dynasty, there is no difference between the Zhongfu in the Mainland and the Zhongfu in the Jiubian, but this no difference refers to the population, Acres of land, taxes, etc., but not city defense.
The nine-sided Zhongfu is much stronger than the city defense of the Mainland Zhongfu. For example, Fenzhou Prefecture in Shanxi Province and Qingyang Prefecture in Shaanxi Province. If we compare their city defense systems to those in the mainland, their city defense systems may exceed those of Wuchang Prefecture.
Fortunately, Gao Pragmatic felt that even the city defense level of the inland central government could be considered extremely strong for Tumote.
That's enough.
Then he asked again: "You just said that Xishao is more powerful than other tribes because, in addition to the strength of the headquarters, Xishao also has at least 50,000 Han'er in the city?"
The western post refers to the soldiers and horses led by Han Naji, and its derived meaning is the tribe and territory he leads.
Here it is necessary to briefly explain the situation of the East and West Shao at that time: Anda Khan divided the original part of Tumote into two parts, namely the East Shao and the West Shao. His Khan's court was located in the East Post, which was the Fengzhouchuan King's Court, while the command of the West Post was given to Han Naji by Anda Khan.
This is because Han Naji went to the Ming Dynasty in anger. No matter what the cause of the incident, the final result was that the Ming Dynasty and Tumote realized the mutual trade of tribute, and Anda Khan was also named King of Shunyi.
This is the purpose that Anda Khan has been fighting against the Ming Dynasty for more than 40 years. Because the cause of Han Naji was finally realized, Anda Khan not only did not blame Han Naji for Nantou Ming Dynasty, but also Anda returned The command of the Western Post was handed over to him. Historical records: "At the beginning, when I returned to Han Naji, I ordered the main board to be promoted, and the name was Dacheng Taiji. My wife was called Dacheng Biji, and the soldiers and horses were strong in all tribes."
Of course, the "army and horse tribes" here do not include the entire Dongshao, but refer to Han Naji's troops and horses. Except for the headquarters led by Anda Khan, they have no rivals. Among them are Including the tribes led by Xin Ai.
But Anda's troops and horses are not particularly concentrated. For example, among the six thousand cavalry here in Qataiji, three thousand are from Anda's headquarters. But after Ida's death, Zhongjin Hatun, who was actually in the regent position, only had nominal jurisdiction over this army, and in fact could not move it at all - unless Chataiji agreed.
At the same time, because Qataiji had been the "first general" under Anda for a long time, the troops assigned by Anda were very useful before Anda himself died and the new Chechen Khan was not selected. May be more willing to act on Chatterji's orders.
Therefore, the current troop strength situation of Tumut headquarters is as follows: assuming that the strength of the east and west posts I originally answered is "100%", then Hannaji will be in sole control of about 40% from the beginning, and the remaining 60% will be Anda directly controlled it, but in fact, Anda began to believe in Buddhism and did not care much about it since the sixth year of Wanli.
Even the affairs of Tonggong and Mutual Trade were handed over to Zhongjin Hatun and Bahannaji according to the east and west posts respectively.
Now that I am dead, there is no problem with Xishao, because Xishao has always been in sole control of Han Naji, and no one has shared power with him.
But the problem of Dongshao is very big, and there is a tendency to divide into three: the Guihua City where the royal court is located is controlled by Zhongjin Hatun, which is considered to be 20% of the strength; the territory in the east that borders Mongolia on the left is in the hands of Xin Ai, accounting 20% of the strength, but Xin Ai still has a part of the Ulyanha and Yongxiebu tribes, so the real strength is a little stronger; the other 20% belongs to the free forces, among which Qataiji has the highest prestige.
Therefore, in terms of military strength on paper, Han Naji must be the "strongest of all tribes" because he monopolizes 40% of the strength of Tumut's headquarters. In theory, Zhongjin Hatun, Xin Ai and Chatterji all account for 20% of the strength, but their respective advantages and disadvantages are different.
In addition to having the seal of King Shunyi and the nominal regent, Zhongjin Hatun also had the advantage of having a naturalized city, which was later to be Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia.
Xin Ai's advantage is that he is always ready for war, and he himself can be regarded as a veteran general for many years. In addition, there are some "bonuses" from Ulyanha and Yongxiebu's tribes, and his actual military strength is second only to Bahan Naji.
At first glance, Qataiji's side is undoubtedly the weakest side. He has no strong cities such as Dabansheng City and Guihua City to defend, and he has no military advantage. He relies entirely on his personal prestige to call on the wandering forces. , is really slightly inferior.
However, his personal prestige is too strong - to what extent?
For example, in the 29th year of Jiajing, Qia Taiji had just turned 20 years old. He was already a Tumote general who had won the title of "Zhebie Shenshe", and was even powerful throughout the Ming Dynasty.
In this year, Qiu Luan, the commander-in-chief of Datong, said this in his border report to Emperor Jiajing: "Xuan Da is the most urgent when it comes to raids from all sides... The four major captives are An Da, Tuo Tuo, Xin Ai, and Wu Shen. The bandit camp will be divided into separate turrets and turrets at our big border. The captives will look out for the Dun army, and the army will herd the horses on behalf of the captives. Therefore, the captives in the interior know everything about what is true and false..."
Look, the four "Captains" - Tuotuo, that is, Qataiji, is ranked second only to Anda, and even before Anda's eldest son Xinai Huangtaiji!
Why did Gao Pragmatic come here to pay tribute instead of going to Guihua City first, but instead came to Qataiji first? This is because Qataiji has now become the key to the changes in the strength of Tumut's headquarters.
If Qataiji chooses to side with Hannaji, then adding Hannaji and Zhongjinhatun to him will directly account for 80% of the strength of Tumut headquarters, coupled with the support of Ming Dynasty represented by Gao pragmatism, Xin Ai can't win this battle even if he is possessed by An Da.
At this time, Ma Gui also replied, saying: "Your Excellency, the saying that the city was raised to 50,000 men was still the situation ten years ago, and it may have increased a lot now."
He said, his eyes flickering a little - it has increased a lot, how much is it? He did not dare to speak directly for fear of offending Gao Pangpang, because according to his understanding, there may be 100,000 Han people in Dabanshengcheng now.
This is also one of the reasons why Hannaji is so powerful. Because the Han people are much better at farming than the Mongols, so more Han people means more food. And because the Han people are also better at business, they have more wealth.
In fact, it is better to say that Hannaji is a military leader than a wealthy man - his financial strength is the most stubborn part of him.
In addition, Dabansheng City is not only rich, but after the completion of Anda's tribute, the original reason why Dabanshengcheng was not allowed to build city defenses no longer exists due to the transfer from the hands of the White Lotus Congregation to the hands of Han Naji. Now that it has been renovated, it has a city defense level equivalent to that of the "Ming Dynasty Central Palace", which is even more incredible - this means that Han Naji can be attacked and defended, and it is almost in an invincible position.
In history, the third wife had several attempts to seize the city with a big board, but she always failed to grab it by force. One of the important reasons was that she could not win the city with a big board.
The Mongolian cavalry can do well in field battles, but the attack on fortified areas is far inferior to the time when the Mongolian Empire was the most powerful - they used to have return artillery brought back from Central Asia, but now... they can only buy iron pots from the Ming Dynasty, what else? Easy to say?
But Ma Gui didn't know that there were many Han people in the city. Although it was a very embarrassing thing in the eyes of everyone in the world, he was too pragmatic and wouldn't care about it, and he might even be secretly happy.
Because the more Han people there are, it means the higher the level of Han culture in Daban Shengcheng. If Han Naji is surrounded by Han people all day long, his love for the Han people will never weaken.
"Let's set off tomorrow to Daban Shengcheng..." Gao Jingshi just started to speak, but was interrupted by the messenger outside.
"Report! The imperial envoy, Beilu Qataiji's envoy came to report, and asked to take the imperial envoy to Zhongyizhao to worship tomorrow."
The call is the temple.
Gao Pragmatic was stunned, going to the temple to worship? Buddha is not my ancestor. Even if I go to worship Buddha, I can't say I'm worshiping him. Is it possible that you, Qataiji, are so awesome that you actually found out that Buddha is your ancestor?
Gao Pingshi frowned and asked, "Did you tell me the wrong thing? Even if I go to worship Buddha, how can I say worship?"
"Imperial Envoy, I'm not wrong. That's what the people of Qataiji said. They said that there is a separate side hall in Zhongyi Zhao, and in the side hall is the... statue of Gao Wenzhenggong."
Damn it!
Gao Pragmatic was stunned: You Mongolians are really awesome. Even if you worship my third uncle's portrait in private, you even dare to erect statues of gods randomly in temples. Did you really turn my third uncle into a Buddha?
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