The people of the Aohan tribe naturally heard the news, but under the encirclement and suppression of 20,000 Ming cavalry troops, only a part of them could escape. The herd, which was the foundation of the tribe, was naturally gone.
Unlike the expedition against several other tribes, Emperor Chongzhen issued an order to drive back all the cattle and sheep captured from the Aohan tribe without killing them.
Wu Sangui and others were worried about this, fearing that the pursuers would arrive, which would cause trouble.
"It doesn't matter, they didn't come back so quickly." Emperor Chongzhen said to them with a smile, "When we go back this time, we will reward you for your merits. Do you want me to reward you with beef or a cattle?"
Upon hearing this, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Army suddenly became excited. Looking into the eyes of the cattle, there were little stars in their eyes.
It goes without saying how important farming cattle are to a farming nation. Even if manpower can plow the land without fear of getting tired, the effect is far less than that of plowing the land with oxen. In an ordinary farmer's household, a cow is probably worth all the other belongings.
If the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty brought back a cow, their farm work would be much easier and their harvests would be much greater. This is the hope of ordinary people! What's more, every time the emperor wins a war, he will be rewarded with fields. As long as he fights with peace of mind, his family will have plenty of fields.
On the way back to the pass, the Ming army officers and soldiers were secretly discussing among themselves.
"Fighting with the emperor is the easiest thing. No, you can't eat it and you still take it with you!"
"With the emperor going out to fight, it feels like celebrating the New Year, with meat to eat every meal!"
"Haha, no! But I think the most important thing is that the emperor said he would take us all back. Look, how many people died in total this time when we came out of seclusion? From what I heard, it seemed like only fifty people ? Or sixty people?"
"That's right, that's right. Even if we include those who died from serious injuries, there shouldn't be more than two hundred people!"
"..."
Naturally, they would not care about it. Emperor Chongzhen led them to fight such a war where they could eat meat every time. In fact, it was a one-time deal. At least from the Urad tribe to the Horqin people in eastern Mongolia, it is difficult to see cattle and sheep on the grasslands.
If Ming Dynasty allows it, it will not happen until a few years later.
…………
Without receiving the advance notice overnight, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, led the civil and military ministers of Shanhaiguan to welcome him out of the pass from a distance.
Although they were all mentally prepared, when they saw the emperor driving countless cattle, horses and sheep back, they were stunned: The emperor led the army to the grassland, not to fight, but to herd back?
Hong Chengchou and others suppressed their surprised thoughts and hurriedly went to pay tribute to Emperor Chongzhen to welcome the emperor's triumphant return. Their worries were relieved.
At the same time, Hong Chengchou respectfully said: "Your Majesty's great victory has shaken the grassland. From now on, all the tribes in the grassland will definitely stay away and never dare to approach our border with the Ming Dynasty again!"
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen smiled slightly and said: "These tribes should be unable to retreat. If they don't go to build captives to save their lives, they will have to starve to death on the grasslands, or they will have to come to the Ming Dynasty unconditionally! There will be no other way out. !”
When Hong Chengchou and others heard this, they were immediately surprised again. According to the emperor, are all the tribes in eastern Mongolia crippled?
He Renlong and others followed the emperor. Seeing their surprised expressions, they all talked about the emperor's martial arts. Of course, it was also their own credit.
After hearing what they said, Hong Chengchou and others realized that these cattle and sheep did not come from several tribes, but only from the last Aohan tribe. As for the cattle and sheep of other tribes, they were all eaten by the army. Some of the beef and mutton were even spoiled due to the weather, so they had to be thrown away.
While sighing in his heart for wasting so much meat, Hong Chengchou was also a little curious and asked about the casualties.
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, his face suddenly became serious and he shook his head slightly.
As soon as he saw the emperor's expression, Hong Chengchou immediately understood that with such a great victory, the casualties on his side were indeed not small. But looking back and thinking about it, this is already a rare victory, and it is understandable that there will be more casualties.
At this time, the army was meandering towards them, and Hong Chengchou and others were unable to count them. It was not surprising that they had this idea.
While I was thinking this, I heard Emperor Chongzhen say solemnly: "This time I went to the grassland, a total of 221 people were killed and 565 injured. I thought about it and tried my best to kill them all. After all, it’s impossible to bring it back!”
"..." When Hong Chengchou heard this, even though he was a well-rounded man, he was speechless for a moment.
There are only a few casualties in total. Isn’t this satisfactory? You still want to bring them all back. Although you are the emperor, even the Jade Emperor cannot do this, right? Your Majesty, just pretend!
In fact, Hong Chengchou really misunderstood Emperor Chongzhen, he really wasn't pretending!
For the souls from the next generation, every human life is precious. Try to bring everyone back. This is his expectation, but he just failed to do it.
Compared with Emperor Chongzhen's failure, whether it was Wu Keshan, Aohan Bandi, or the chiefs of other tribes, looking at the ruined camp and the tribesmen who had just eaten enough and had just spared food, it was like in winter. It felt like a bucket of cold water was poured on my head.
Emperor Chongzhen left them with this hand, so that they could not pursue the Ming army at all, and they would have a headache for the next thing.
These old, weak, women and children in the clan who are waiting for food are the family members of the army they lead, and they cannot be abandoned at all. However, if we can't abandon it, what will we eat next without the cattle, horses and sheep?
Faced with such a predicament, if you are really worried to a certain extent and will grow old, then Wu Keshan and others will definitely grow old.
In desperation, most tribes made the same choice and asked the Qing Dynasty for help!
After all, the Qing Dynasty was their leader. Previously, in response to the Qing Dynasty's call, they dispatched the best members of the clan to Liaodong to help the Qing Dynasty fight the war. As a result, your family's lair was taken away. You, the Qing Dynasty, must be responsible for this, right?
Based on this idea, Wu Keshan and others led their respective tribes, almost eating grass all the way, and rushed to Liaodong to ask the alliance leader to make the decision.
Among them, the Aohan tribe is an exception.
Aohan Bandi sat for a whole night, looking up at the stars. He saw no one, just thinking about things quietly.
When he received Hong Chengchou's letter, he had already considered it.
But at that time, he thought that he was the consort of the Qing Dynasty, and that the Qing Dynasty was so powerful that he had a deep memory. The bravery and skill of the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty are also listed in the list. Although the Qing Dynasty suffered a temporary defeat before, the foundation is still there.
On the other hand, he did not believe that the Ming Dynasty could be reborn and suddenly become powerful again. In today's situation, maybe it's just a return to the past. Otherwise, after the Qing Dynasty entered the pass three or four times, the Ming army would have no power to fight back and could only allow the Qing Dynasty to plunder the population and materials.
Each time, he entered the customs with the Qing army. The one time that is still very vivid in his memory is when Azige had someone write a sign for the Ming army following behind him: All troops are free of charge. ! If the Ming army really wanted to be strong, how could they be so humiliated by the Qing Dynasty?
However, this time, Aohan Bandi led the army to help Liaodong. He was a thoughtful man. He secretly observed the situation in Liaodong and immediately discovered that it was hard to say whether the Ming army was strong or not, but the Qing Dynasty was really in a huge dilemma.
In the past, as Huang Taiji's consort, he had been to Shengjing many times. Every time I go there, I can see many Han slaves working in the fields on both sides of the official roads in the Qing Dynasty. The official road was quite lively with people coming and going.
But this time, he accompanied Duduo to the hinterland of Liaodong to encircle and suppress the Dongjiang Army Cavalry, passing through many places in the Qing Dynasty. However, he didn't see many Han slaves. These are not the places that were destroyed by the Dongjiang Cavalry before. As for the places where the Dongjiang Cavalry passed by, let alone Han slaves, even people from the Qing Dynasty rarely saw them. It is said that they were all killed by the Dongjiang Cavalry.
The population of the Qing Dynasty was originally small, but it was raided by a cavalry army. It would take many years to make up for this loss.
In addition, there is another very important situation, that is, the Qing Dynasty's food and grass were seriously insufficient. He already understood this when he returned to the grassland to ask for food from Duduo.
The grain he wanted was only a little bit. This was not because the Qing Dynasty was stingy, but because it simply couldn't get it. He was very convinced of this.
Thinking of this, Aohan Bandi couldn't help but ask himself, if he took his tribe to Liaodong and asked for help from the Qing Dynasty, would the Qing Dynasty have the ability to survive so many tribesmen?
Regarding this question, he could only sigh! Thinking that the Aohan tribe was going to perish in his own hands, he couldn't help but sigh again...
The guards of Aohan Bandi who were on guard all around saw their clan leader looking up at the stars, sighing from time to time, and then sighing again...
Sad!
Aohan Bandi's neck was sore. He lowered his head and looked around. He could clearly feel how low the morale of the tribal warriors was! Looking further away, he saw the tribesmen huddled together in the open air, without even a yurt, and they were not sleepy, because he heard faint cries.
"Alas..." Aohan Bandi sighed again. He couldn't bear to look anymore and looked up at the stars again.
If you want to preserve the tribe as much as possible, or there is another way to go, that is to submit to the Ming Dynasty! After all, Ming Dynasty is the richest in the world. Although there are many people in my own tribe, over there in the Ming Dynasty, they are just a drop in the ocean!
However, he is the consort of the Qing Dynasty and has two children, also born to Princess Gu Lun. Is it really okay to surrender to the Ming Dynasty? Will Emperor Ming believe his sincerity?
At this time, Aohan Bandi did not think that it was the Ming Emperor who led the army to beat his tribe like this. Because on the grassland, the law of the strong is king and the weak eat the strong has always been followed. Being beaten like this by the Ming army only shows that the Ming army is powerful!
Thinking of this, Aohan Bandi lowered his head and looked at a sign in front of him. He still recognized a few Chinese characters written on it, which were the four words "blood debt must be paid with blood". This is the attitude of the Ming Emperor!
Now that I think about it, the letter from Governor Ji Liao was probably what the Ming Emperor meant. Alas, if I had understood this at the beginning, maybe I would have been more cautious! But now...
Aohan Bandi thought about it, and thought and thought, and it was obvious that his energy level seemed to be a lot sluggish.
When the sky in the east turned white, Aohan Bandi, who had not slept all night, was awakened by the sound of a crying child. Although the parents of those children are trying to comfort them and prevent them from crying, if there are too many children crying, the noise will be a bit loud after all.
Aohan Bandi, with red eyes, looked at the tribesmen in the distance without saying a word, and his expression slowly turned a little ferocious.
At this moment, I heard someone yelling: "Go away, don't block my way!"
"The prince has an order, no one is allowed to disturb..." Before the guard could finish speaking, there was a clear slap in the face.
Aohan Bandi looked at this scene and suddenly shouted coldly: "Let them come over!"
Hearing this, the guard finally stepped aside and let Princess Gu Lun and her two sons go.
Aohan Bandi did not sit down again, but stood up. But after sitting for too long, his energy and blood were not flowing smoothly. He couldn't stand upright and almost fell. Thanks to the support of his personal guard, he was able to stabilize his body.
Princess Gu Lun came to him at this time and asked angrily: "Why do you even stop me? You must give me an explanation today, otherwise, I..."
Before she finished speaking, Aohan Bandi pointed in the distance and said, "I am the leader of the Aohan tribe. Can the Qing Dynasty provide the future of the Aohan tribe?"
When he first curried favor with the Qing Dynasty and married Princess Gu Lun, it was all for the sake of the Aohan tribe.
When Princess Gu Lun heard the tone of his words, it was not the docile one she usually treated him with, but with a hint of irritation. This made her immediately feel very dissatisfied. She followed his hand, turned her head and took a look, and found that He pointed to the old and weak women and children of the Aohan tribe in the distance and their newly returned families.
Immediately, she also pointed her finger and said in a hateful voice: "We are just old, weak, women and children, but they are more important than me? Have you forgotten that I am the Qing Dynasty..."
Before Princess Gu Lun finished speaking, she heard a "clang" sound, which seemed to be the sound of a sword being unsheathed, and she turned back subconsciously.
At this moment, she suddenly felt a pain in her chest. When she looked down, she saw a knife stuck in her chest. The person holding this knife is Aohan Bandi.
Suddenly, an incredible expression appeared on her face. She looked up at Aohan Bandi's blood-red eyes. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't. She slowly fell to the ground.
"Eniang..."
When her two sons saw it, they were frightened and rushed towards her, shouting loudly.
The surrounding guards were dumbfounded when they saw this scene, wondering why the clan leader wanted to kill Princess Gu Lun.
But at this time, Aohan Bandi slashed twice again, killing his two sons as well.
Princess Gu Lun's reflection before her death finally gave her a breath and asked: "Why...why?"
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