Chapter 74 Lin Danhan’s Thoughts

Chapter 74 Lin Danhan’s Thoughts

Chapter 74 Lin Danhan’s Thoughts
After the war, the Inner Khalkha tribe and the Later Jin formed an alliance. When Lin Danhan, who had been watching the fight from the sidelines, heard the news, he was furious.

In Lin Danhan's view, as a descendant of the Golden Family, not only did he lose the battle, but he also defected to Nurhaci, whom he despised. This was a great humiliation for the Mongols.

Because of the alliance between the Inner Khalkha and the Later Jin, Lindan Khan decided to teach Chaohua a lesson, letting him know that the descendants of the Golden Family can die in battle but cannot kneel before the enemy and survive in this way. He also wanted to use the threat of the Inner Khalkha to subdue the other Mongolian tribes and prepare for the next unification of Mongolia.

This was the real reason why Lindan Khan gathered troops from various tribes and prepared to attack Inner Khalkha. After hearing what Burigude said, Zhu Shenzhui's brain suddenly crashed. He couldn't understand why Lindan Khan did this.

"Is there something wrong with this guy's IQ?"

Zhu Shenzui really couldn't understand Lindan Khan's thoughts. According to normal logic, if Chaohua asked for help, Lindan Khan, as the overlord of Mongolia, should send troops to rescue. After all, the Inner Khalkha tribe was not only an important part of Mongolia, but its leader Chaohua also had the blood of the Golden Family like Lindan Khan.

Even if there were some conflicts between the Khalkha tribe and Ligdan Khan in recent years, it was an internal matter of the Mongols. How could Ligdan Khan make such a choice when outsiders attacked the same Mongolian tribe?
Sit back and watch the Inner Khalkha tribe ignore him, keep his troops in place, and watch the Chaohua and the Later Jin fight to the death? Lin Danhan thought he was smart and wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, or play a trick of driving the tiger to swallow the wolf, and use the Later Jin to weaken the power of the Inner Khalkha tribe and clear the obstacles for the future unification of Mongolia.

This may seem reasonable, but in reality it is simply irrational.

Using outsiders to deal with their own people, don't other Mongolian leaders have any ideas about this? Isn't it chilling? As the Great Khan of Mongolia, the common ruler of all Mongolia, this approach is really painful for the relatives and pleasing to the enemies, pushing their own people to the side of the opponent.

Now Chaohua was unable to resist the Later Jin and had no choice but to surrender and form an alliance with the Later Jin, which was also a helpless choice in the eyes of the other Mongolian tribes.

After all, if he didn't do this, the Inner Khalkha tribe would be finished. Now that he did this, at least he could preserve himself. As for the so-called alliance, it meant nothing to the Mongols. In the eyes of the Mongols, treaties were signed to be torn up, and grandsons who were held hostage could be abandoned. Not to mention grandsons, if they lost their sons, they could just have another one. Since the day Genghis Khan led Mongolia to rise, hasn't the Mongols done this for hundreds of years?

At this time, the most appropriate choice for Lin Danhan was to send people to appease Chaohua and find a random reason to explain why he did not send troops before. Then he used Zaisai's death to instigate the conflict between the Inner Khalkha and the Later Jin, and let Chaohua's Inner Khalkha continue to stand in the front as a barrier between the Mongolian headquarters and the Later Jin.

But at this time, Lin Danhan did not attack the Later Jin to avenge Chaohua, but instead attacked Chaohua who had been submissive. This action was simply adding fuel to the fire.

When an outsider comes to beat him, and he can't beat him, he asks the boss for help. The boss doesn't help but just stands by and watches the show. When he is beaten black and blue by the outsider, he has no choice but to beg for mercy. After the outsider lets him go, the boss doesn't appease him but brings others to beat him up? What kind of thing is this?
Zhu Shenzhui really couldn't understand Lin Danhan's actions. How could the Mongolian Khan have such an idea? This was simply a child's play.

Zhu Shenzhui could only think about these words in his heart. Whether he understood them or not, this was not something he could comment on.

No matter how stupid Lindan Khan was, he was still the Great Khan of the Mongols. Erris and Burigude who were sitting here were his subordinates. In their hearts, Lindan Khan was the supreme Hutuktu Khan, the descendant of the Golden Family, and the Great Khan of all Mongols.

Apart from Changshengtian, there is no one more noble than Ligdan Khan on the grassland. As long as Ligdan Khan gives an order, even if it means death, E'ris and Burigude will not frown.

Because they were leaving tomorrow, everyone went to bed early after the dinner.

Zhu Shencui did not sleep well that night, tossing and turning but unable to fall asleep. He never understood what Lin Dan Khan had done, and was not optimistic about Lin Dan Khan's military action to gather troops to attack the Inner Khalkha tribe. After all, Chaohua had already formed an alliance with the Later Jin. If Lin Dan Khan sent troops at this time, not only would he not get the support of other Mongolian tribes, but he would also force the Inner Khalkha tribe to push towards the Later Jin.

Nurhaci was not an ordinary person. This old slave was a man of great talent and strategy. Once Ligdan Khan sent troops, he would never sit idly by and watch the Inner Khalkha tribe perish, and would definitely lend a helping hand.

In this case, could Lin Danhan win the battle? What would Xiong Tingbi of Liaodong choose? Zhu Shenzhui's forehead ached from thinking about it. He didn't know how long he had been thinking. In the second half of the night, he fell asleep in a daze.

When they woke up the next morning, someone was already busy in the camp. Zhu Shencui washed up and prepared to set off with his men. Because of Burigude's arrangement, Ersi prepared several horses for Zhu Shencui, which made their journey much more convenient.

When all of Burigude's men were ready and gave the order, Zhu Shenzui and his men followed Burigude and set off.

The group left the Ershi tribe. Looking at the tribesmen going away, they were worried whether they could come back safely. The old Ershi's eyes couldn't help but blur. He forced himself to stay awake and watched his sons and grandchildren follow the team away. Gradually, their figures became farther and farther away and smaller, and finally disappeared over the horizon.

Ersi was the last stop for Burigude to gather troops. Now that he had gathered enough troops, the next step was to return to the camp on the right wing of Chahar. This route was completely opposite to the route Zhu Shenzhu had chosen before. The camp on the right wing of Chahar was close to Jining, located slightly southeast of Jining, Qierhaizi, which was later known as Huangqihai.

The distance from Ershi to Qierhaizi was not short. According to Zhu Shenzhui's original speed, it would take at least ten days to arrive. Now, because they were in a hurry and had more horses, the speed was much faster, but even so, it would take at least five or six days to arrive.

During these few days, it was not easy for Zhu Shenzui and his party to march along with Burigude's cavalry. After all, they were not Mongols who lived on horseback. For the Mongols, marching on horseback was as simple as eating and drinking. If one person rode two or even three horses during wartime, they could even stay on the horse and eat, drink, defecate and urinate on the horse, even sleeping. Such a marching speed was simply astonishing.

Although there is no need to use this method now, after all, there is still plenty of time for the final gathering. In addition, he brought Zhu Shencui and his group with him on the way back. In order to take care of Zhu Shencui, Burigude slowed down the speed a lot. But even so, Zhu Shencui, who was traveling on the grassland for the first time, was still very tired.

Although it was tiring, the gains were still considerable.

Burigude did not hide from Zhu Shenzui the Mongolian cavalry's marching, camping and some techniques of living on the grassland. Everything was done under his nose.

At first, Zhu Shencui had some thoughts of avoiding suspicion, fearing that knowing these things would make Burigude on guard. But this idea was soon dispelled, because on the first day of camping, Burigude came to chat with Zhu Shencui, and during the chat, he actually took the initiative to talk about their Mongolian experiences on the grassland.

This surprised Zhu Shencui very much. He asked a few questions tentatively, and Burigude answered them all readily. He even did not hide some military situations of the cavalry and told Zhu Shencui openly.

Perhaps in Burigude's view, this is just the instinct of the Mongols. And as a Ming merchant, what does it matter if Zhu Shenzhui knows all this? It is impossible for a Ming merchant to lead the Ming cavalry to the grassland to fight the Mongols, right? Besides, where is the cavalry in the Ming Dynasty now? In his opinion, although the Ming army is well-equipped, they are all cowards hiding behind the Great Wall. After all, the grassland is the grassland of the Mongols, and the Mongols are the real masters here.

Since Burigude didn't care about these things, why shouldn't Zhu Shenzhui ask for more advice? Taking this opportunity, he not only learned a lot from Burigude, but also became good friends because of the contact over the past few days.

In addition to these, Burigude also told Zhu Shenzhui some information about the various Mongolian tribes. Although what he said was just some ordinary information, after all, he didn't know much about the high-level information such as the Khan, princes, taijis, and Wanhu, and Burigude's level did not reach such a level. But what he said was enough for Zhu Shenzhui now, and it can be said that it was another pleasant surprise.

That day, near dusk, Burigude saw that it was almost dark and ordered to set up camp and rest.

After stopping, everyone started to get busy. Zhu Shenzui's people were also preparing dinner. At this time, Burigude came with a smile on his face.

"Brother, what do you want to eat today?" Burigude was not polite and asked directly while approaching with a big smile on his face.

"Just like yesterday, there's only steamed rice and wild vegetable soup. The conditions on the grassland are bad, so these are all we can offer." Zhu Shenzhui replied with a smile.

Since the first day of the march, after they set up camp, Zhu Shencui and his men cooked a meal. Burigude smelled the fragrance and ran over curiously to ask for some food. After that, Burigude began to rely on Zhu Shencui.

Mongolians eat very simply, either mutton or beef, or some hard unleavened bread with milk tea or something like that.

This is the treatment in the camp. If we are on the march, we usually just carry some dried meat or something, and it is not easy to get a hot meal.

The conditions on the grassland were harsh and the produce was not much. Before setting out, Zhu Shenzui had thought about this situation and consulted Ma Shizhou to make some preparations in advance. In addition to dry food, he also brought a lot of rice and flour, just in case he couldn't get used to the food on the grassland.

Vegetables were luxuries for the Mongols. The reason why the Mongols needed Ming tea was because they lacked vegetables and relied on tea to supplement vitamins. When Zhu Shenzhui arrived at the grassland, he found that there were actually many edible wild vegetables on the grassland. It was not difficult for Zhu Shenzhui and his team to identify and pick wild vegetables. When they were working in the salt industry, they often camped in the wild mountains and ridges. It was not uncommon for them to dig wild vegetables to eat in order to solve the problem of supplies.

Since there was no shortage of meat and wild vegetables on the grassland, Zhu Shenzhui simply made stewed rice according to the model of Western Region pilaf. He put some beef and mutton in the rice, added wild vegetables and other things, sprinkled salt on it to enhance the flavor, covered the pot and stewed it for a whole pot. The taste was many times better than those dry food.

As for other wild vegetables, cooking them was not enough, but cooking a pot of wild vegetable soup was no problem. These things were nothing in the Ming Dynasty, but for Burigude, who rarely ate such food, seeing them made his eyes sparkle and his mouth water.

(End of this chapter)