Spring is cold, and it is still a bit cold in Saibei in early spring. Especially after a day and night of spring rain, the cold wind seems to be even colder.
The herdsmen of Xin'ai's department, regardless of age or sex, all huddled in their felt tents and burned cow dung to keep warm. Some women even discussed waiting for the rain on the grassland to dry up before inviting them out to collect cow dung.
Cow dung has always been used as fuel by herdsmen for heating and cooking. When ordinary women on the grassland are not busy, they carry a basket and go out to pick up cow dung. Outside the large and small felt tents of the tribe, piles of cow dung can be seen everywhere. Cow dung is inseparable from the daily life of herdsmen.
However, only Xin Ai and other tribes still stubbornly maintain this tradition. In Dabansheng City and Guihua City, only ordinary herdsmen still use cow dung as fuel, and the descendants of the noble golden family such as Dacheng Taiji , has long used the briquettes sold to the grassland from Jinghua Datong Coal Mine.
The herdsmen heard that it was a good fuel without any odor, and it was not expensive, much cheaper than charcoal. However, no matter how cheap it is, they will not buy it - there is no shortage of cow dung on the grassland, why buy briquettes, the smell is nothing, that is, only the noble golden family needs to pay attention to this.
Datong Coal Mine is a new mine in Beijing. In fact, it is wrong to say that: firstly, the location of Datong Coal Mine is actually dozens of miles southwest of Datong City. Secondly, it should be said to be a coal mine group, with more than a dozen large and small. Mineral points.
In later generations, the Datong Coal Mine was the number one coal mine in the late Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China and the Red Dynasty for a long time. Gao Pragmatic had been eyeing Datong for a long time, but although he had circled some land in Datong, he had only dug some land so far. For coal, supporting the metallurgical industry has not yet been considered.
On the one hand, it is influenced by the overall idea of steel development of "Kaiping supplies the north and Ha Tinh supplies the south". On the other hand, it is because Shanxi's iron ore resources are mainly concentrated in central Shanxi, specifically the Wutaishan area and Lan County on the east and west sides of Shuozhou. The area is a bit far away from Datong, and Shanxi is mountainous, so land transportation is not very cost-effective.
If you insist on doing it, of course you can still make money, but the profit rate is not high enough. At least compared to other industries with high pragmatism, the rate of return is a bit ugly, so it is postponed for the time being.
However, the briquette business in Datong Coal Mine was very good. At the beginning, Gao Pragmatic planned to make money by relying on the briquettes used by the border army for heating and cooking. Who knew that there were merchants from Datong and even Taiyuan civilians coming to buy coal, and the quantity was not small. Later, Gao Pragmatic sent people to investigate and found out that although Shanxi was full of coal mines, the level of excavation during this period was very limited. Not only the labor costs were high, but the safety was also very poor, resulting in prices that were not cheap at all.
But Jinghua has been mining coal for more than ten years. There is even a special school to teach coal mining in Jianxinzhai. It has already formed a low-cost and safer mining operation. Therefore, Jinghua can sell the finished briquettes at a higher price than those from Shanxi Tu Coal Mine. Raw coal is still cheap, so there is no need to worry about running out of business.
This hot sales quickly attracted the attention of the Mongolians who had close contact with Shanxi. Some Mongolian nobles were extremely satisfied after trying Jinghua's briquettes, and felt that this "non-stinky cow dung" that was strong and resistant to burning was very suitable for their noble families. The descendants of the Golden Family also began to buy in large quantities.
Later, the Han people in Dabanshengcheng and Guihuacheng also began to like Jinghua's briquettes, and they gave up the cow dung they did not like and switched to coal.
In this way, Jinghua unexpectedly opened up a medium-sized market. In fact, this is also a manifestation of the gradual Chineseization of Mongolians, but it needs to be covered slowly from the top to the bottom.
Without further ado, while the herdsmen of the Xin'ai tribe were sitting around in their tribal felt tents to keep warm, behind a hillside forty miles away, a cavalry army that had just temporarily camped in the rain was distributing ginger soup.
This cavalry army numbered 50,000 to 60,000 people and sent out many troops.
The central army is composed of elites from the Dachengtaiji tribe and the direct descendants of the Guihua Wangting, with a total of 30,000 troops; those in the rear are the Gao family cavalry and the Majia army, a total of 4,000; the forward troops are 6,000 from Qataiji. Elite; the left and right wings are complicated. Anyway, there are a lot of Taijis. In addition to the Qingbang Du Taiji, there are also the capable generals of the past who are waiting for me, a total of fifteen or six thousand riders.
The whole army together was about 56,000 cavalry, which was almost half of the strength of the entire Tumut.
It was Ma Gui's idea to stop and set up camp. Originally, according to the wishes of Dacheng Taiji and Qia Taiji, the "commanders and deputy commanders", they should rush over directly and catch Xin Ai by surprise.
But Ma Gui disagreed. He felt that the whole army was rushing to attack, and it was also rushing in the rain. Now it was not far from Xin'ai's Department. Due to the rain, Xin'ai's Department didn't even let their horses go to explore, and they all stayed in the old camp. Didn't move.
At this moment, you don't have to worry too much about the failure of the sneak attack, but you should worry about whether there will be any disease in the army after the rain.
In this era, colds and fevers can kill people. Even if such unlucky ghosts are not too big, a large number of colds and fevers will seriously drag down the combat effectiveness of the army. Even if the army defeats Xin Ai, it must be prepared for the unknown plot that will appear when. Our Chahar tribe is elite, so it is necessary to set up camp in advance and drink some ginger soup or other cold-repelling things. Specific operations can be launched immediately after the rain stops - for the cavalry, the distance of forty miles has an impact. Not big.
In fact, Qataiji felt that Ma Gui's worries were a bit unnecessary, because it was very common for Mongolian knights in this era to march in the rain. The number of people in the 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers who could actually die from colds and fevers would not exceed 100, he said. I don't think this will seriously affect combat effectiveness.
As for Tumen Khan's actions, Chataiji believed that he could not arrive so quickly, so his side could take a good rest and recover after defeating Xin Ai, and then go against Tumen.
But Dacheng Taiji agreed with this point of view. As for whether he was really kind to his subordinates, or whether he was just giving Ma Gui face out of high pragmatism, there is no way to know.
The ginger was provided by Ma Gui. Both the Gao family's cavalry and the Ma's soldiers brought a lot of this "strategic material", especially the wealthy Gao family's cavalry. Each of them brought two kilograms of ginger and hung it on the back of the horse. Now they all took half of it out to make soup. Some people even took out a little brown sugar from the oil paper bag and mixed it into their own ginger soup, which made the Mongolians jealous.
In fact, Ma Gui's so-called rear army was not that far away. It was just hanging on the tail of Han Naji's army. This arrangement was obviously deliberately arranged by Han Naji because he was worried that the Ming army would lose too much.
Now that the camp was set up, Ma Gui came to the Chinese army to discuss the next military situation with Bahannaji, Qataiji, Qingbadu, Daerhan Ruobulang and others.
In fact, the current military situation is relatively simple. Because of yesterday's spring rain, the detectives from Qataiji's unit carefully inquired many times and confirmed that Xin'ai's unit was unprepared.
This is very simple. Theoretically, even if the Xin Ai tribe discovers this army without being summoned, it can only summon about 10,000 subordinates to fight, and 50,000 cavalry can press forward. There is no need for Mangu's evil tactics, it can be solved by directly charging into the formation.
Even if you have to use some tactics, you only need to outflank and encircle them for a while.
After all, we are all Tumuts, so the difference in fighting power will not be too big. Once a battle breaks out, the sheer number of people will basically determine the outcome.
In the eyes of all the Mongolian Taijis, Magui's troops did not even need to be dispatched at all, as long as they watched them win from a distance.
In fact, to be honest, Ma Gui's own desire for war is not strong. In his opinion, it has nothing to do with him, a Han, if the Mongols fight the Mongols?
Oh no, he is a Muslim.
The Hui people in this era were not as troubled as in a certain period. The Ming Dynasty did not regard them as outsiders, and they did not regard themselves as outsiders. The relationship between the Han and Hui was relatively harmonious.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty seems to be quite generous to any ethnic group that is willing to naturalize. Let’s not talk about the early ones. Let’s just say that currently, neither the East, Li, or Xima families are out-and-out Han Chinese – Li Chengliang himself is of Han descent, but his ancestors He took refuge in North Korea during the Tang Dynasty, and returned to the Ming Dynasty only after his great ancestor.
But whether it is Li Chengliang, a descendant of Korean overseas Chinese, or Ma Gui, a descendant of the Semu people in the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties, they will definitely not regard themselves as "foreigners."
Speaking of which, ancient China was really not very ambitious in this regard. Regardless of the Han, Tang or Ming Dynasty, they all seemed to think that it was a normal phenomenon to "enter China and become China".
For example, Jin Rixi from the Han Dynasty, Ashina Sheer and Geshu Han from the Tang Dynasty, Ming Dynasty...well, there are too many from Ming Dynasty.
Let’s start with someone with extremely pure blood, Naha Chu. This person is from the lineage of Muhuali, one of the four heroes of Genghis Khan. Of course, he was also a high-ranking official in the Yuan Dynasty. In the Northern Yuan Dynasty, he was still named the prime minister, and his power remained unchanged. In the 20th year of Hongwu's reign in the Ming Dynasty, he was named the Marquis of Haixi. After his death, his son Chahan moved to the Marquis of Shenyang and died because he was implicated in the Lan Yu case.
The next one, who is also a relative of the emperor, is Jin Zhong, the sixth generation grandson of the Taibao of the Yuan Dynasty and King Hengyang Ye Xianbuhua. His Mongolian name is Yesian Mugan. Yesian Mugan was a Mongolian prince who was good at conquering and had a reputation as a fierce warrior. He surrendered during Zhu Di's fourth Northern Expedition and was given the name Jin Zhong and was named the Zhongyong King. He also participated in the two subsequent Northern Expeditions and was awarded the title of Crown Prince for his merits. Shaobao, Taibao.
Then there is a person at the level of Duke, Wu Cheng, whose original name is Mai Don. He was the second-rank Youcheng in the Yuan Dynasty. During the Hongwu period, he surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. He became a Duke of Qu in the Qing Dynasty. After his death, he was given to the Duke of Qu. His descendants took over as a count until the death of the Ming Dynasty.
Some friends may think that conferring titles and titles to these princes and grandsons of the Yuan Dynasty is just for the purpose of appeasing the old people of the Yuan Dynasty. Then take a look at the following few.
Tuohuan is a common name among the Mongolian people. There was also a Tuohuan in the Yongle Dynasty. His Chinese name was Xue Bin. He inherited his father Xuetai's military position. He followed Zhu Di in the northern expedition and made meritorious service. He became the governor of Tongzhi and was later granted the title of Yongshun Bo.
Compared with Xue Bin, his son Xue Shou is more heroic. During the Tumu Incident that shocked the world, when the Oara army launched its final attack, the Ming army general Xue Shou led the rear and fought to the death. After running out of arrows, he continued to hold his bow to resist the enemy.
How brave is it to refuse to retreat knowing that you will die? The Oara army was angry that he refused to surrender and brutally mutilated him.
Who wouldn't admire such a brave man?
What even the Wala people don't know is that Xue Shou is a Mongolian, his real name is birthday boy, and Xue is his given surname. The Mongols killed Xue Shou, but later it was discovered that he was a native Mongolian and had killed his own warriors. All the Oara soldiers regretted it and cried.
"When the string is broken and the arrows are used up, I still hold the empty bow to attack the enemy. The enemy is angry and cuts him off. Now that he knows his origin, he is a Mongolian, and he says: 'We are of the same kind, so we should be as brave and strong as this', and weep with him."
Also during the Tumu Incident, the two brothers, Wu Keqin and Wu Kezhong, brothers who were also Mongolians, were ordered to lead the army from the rear and fight first. They were also Mongolians. The two brothers, under the orders of Yingzong, led an army of 15,000 Duanhou and became the first to attack by the Oara army. Target, all brothers died in the battle.
Wu Keqin's son Wu Jin led several soldiers to stop Cao Qin's rebels during Cao Qin's rebellion a few years later, and died in a fierce battle. From Timur, who was the first to surrender to the capital, and whose Han name was Wu Yuncheng, to his grandson Wu Jin and even later, many members of the Wu family died in royal affairs and were loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Doesn't the so-called loyalty of the whole family refer to them? ?
Then there is Sun Boring. Many people know him because he was the first to fight at Xizhimen in the battle to defend Beijing. A few years later, he played an important role in putting down Cao Jixiang's rebellion. In fact, Sun Boring was also a Mongolian. He was born in Dongsheng Prefecture, which is now called Tuotuo City - yes, it was Tuotuo City, Qataiji's territory.
Mao Fushou, the governor-general of the left, who also fought against Oara in the battle to defend the capital, was also a Mongolian. After his death, he was given a marquis title and passed on to the title until the end of the Ming Dynasty.
There are too many Mongolian officials in the Ming Dynasty. I don’t know when I can finish introducing them one by one. I will randomly select some of the third-level officials and above to briefly introduce them.
Li Xian, formerly known as Chou Donkey, a Tatar, was promoted to the right governor; Jinshun, a Wala native, whose real name was Arugesili, was promoted to the governor Qianshi, and was granted the title of Shunyi Bo; the rear army's left commander Maxun; the left army's left commander Chai Yongzheng; the governors knew Wang Bin; the governors knew Ji Duo; the governors knew Yu Zhong; the governors knew Gao Li; the governors knew Chen Shouzhong; the governors knew Ding Shun; the governors knew Baizhong...
There are so many high-ranking Mongolian Ming Dynasty officials above the third rank that it is difficult to list them all. As for the number of other low-rank officials and generals, the guards can naturally make a rough calculation based on the proportion.
During the Ming Dynasty, there were always Mongolian warriors fighting side by side with the Han army. Until the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the rogue bandits rebelled, many generals of Mongolian descent also fought with them.
For example, as fierce as a tiger, he was the chief soldier of the Chinese Association in Ji Town, the governor of the department, fought against Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng's uprising army, and later died in Nanyang, Henan Province; the tiger was powerful, had meritorious service in the army, was promoted to Shanxi general, and was the deputy general during the Chongzhen period. Bing, the governor of Qianshi, led the army to suppress the peasant army, and later died in the battle in Runing, Henan... As for the most famous Mangui, this one probably needs no introduction.
In fact, this traditional thought of the Han Dynasty was also one of the foundations for Gao Pragmatic's courage to consider using political and economic means to conquer Mongolia, because in the eyes of the Han people at this time, no matter which ethnic group you were from, as long as you were "naturalized", Just one of our own people.
And what about the Mongols at this time? It’s also very simple: I followed the Khan, and I am a Mongol warrior; I followed the emperor, and I am loyal to the Ming Dynasty.
Bloodline? Damn your bloodline, whoever feeds you is the father.
Therefore, blood is almost irrelevant, while "naturalization" is important.
I replied that Wang Ting was named "Guihua City" by Zhu Yijun. It is not as simple as giving a name casually. There is a profound political significance behind it.
The reason why the Han people are powerful is that they don't care about blood at all. What they care about is culture.
If you believe in Han culture, I will consider you a Han. If you don’t believe in Han culture, then you are “not of my race, and your mentality must be different.”
Why did the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty only rule the Han Dynasty for a few decades before retreating to the grassland in despair, while the Tatar Qing Dynasty was able to maintain its power for more than two hundred years?
Because the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty refused to sinicize, and the Qing Dynasty, at least on the face of it, sinicized it quite thoroughly - in the end, the Manchus had all their own characters sinicized, and "Manwen Old Documents" almost became a dead code in later generations, and the Manchu language It has almost become a "historical language".
Why did Inner Mongolia and Northeast China never appear in the border areas where there were so many things in later generations? Without him, it’s just a high degree of Chineseization.
Although war is one of the ways to solve the problem, it is obviously a "dumb way" and should only exist when other means cannot solve it.
When economic means and political means can solve problems, people are always thinking about fighting. One is that it is better to have less. This does not need to be explained. When faced with problems when they are full of blood, everyone will be more inclined to solve problems through violence. This is human nature. ; and the other type has other agendas - such as Li Chengliang.
After it was determined that Hannaji would succeed Chechen Khan, Xin Ai was a figure who was difficult to solve with political means, and Gao pragmatic thought that violent solution to him could achieve a certain political goal, so he unfortunately became the war chosen by Gao pragmatism. Target.
Seeing Ma Gui's income, Han Naji and others all smiled. Han Naji himself was the most affectionate. He stood up to greet him and said: "Mr. Ma, you are here at the right time. We are discussing military affairs." Well... Come, sit down and talk. Someone, come and serve Mr. Ma some tea, some good tea!"
There is also a ban on alcohol in the Mongolian army, especially before the war begins, but Han Naji is a "gentleman" and likes to serve tea to his guests...
Ma Gui thanked him with a smile and sat down without being humble or arrogant.
After everyone was seated, Han Naji smiled and said: "Mr. Ma, we just had a brief discussion. You are a guest from afar and you are tired from the journey. Tomorrow you will be responsible for taking care of the baggage. Charge and kill." For things like this, we can just do it for you, what do you think?"
The current Mongolian army is not the same as it was during the Western Expedition more than 200 years ago. It still has baggage, but it is relatively small. Asking Ma Gui to take care of the baggage is actually telling him that he does not need to participate in the war.
Ma Gui didn't care about this, because the order Gao pragmatic gave him did not say that he had to participate in the battle, and even vaguely hinted at the meaning of "a bloody battle will be avoided, and you might as well fight a drowned dog."
Therefore, Ma Gui nodded and obeyed the order, saying: "Mou understands." He cannot be called the last general, because his status as deputy commander is theoretically higher than Han Naji's current short-term dragon and tiger general.
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Thanks to book friend "Book Friends 20171122162349031" for your monthly ticket support, thank you! By the way, I'm asking for subscriptions and various tickets~ Oh, by the way, by the way, the volume "Fu Liaodong" is the two planned volumes that I combined into one, so it will be longer.
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