"Eji, Eji, drive the sheep away quickly, we're going to beat them again."
Outside Xin'an Pass in Kaiyuan, an important town in northern Liaoning during the Ming Dynasty, Degele, a little Mongolian boy, carrying a dirty cloth robe, ran towards his mother quickly like a panicked hare avoiding the claws of a goshawk.
The mother heard her son's cry, stood up quickly, turned around and looked at the vast grassland.
A large group of Ming troops on horseback rushed out from Xin'an Pass and galloped straight towards a large felt tent.
The mother's expression changed, and she picked up her ignorant little daughter who was sitting on the ground playing with wild flowers and put her on a simple wheelbarrow.
"Degre, you push your sister, and I will drive the sheep. We will go to the fortress in the southwest. The Han people there are very kind."
Degler complied.
After his father died in an inter-tribal war, his mother took her brother and sister alone two years ago, driving the family's sheep to the grasslands at the junction of Khalkha Mongolia and the Ming Dynasty. The Ming people in the nearby fortress looked at them pitifully, and occasionally
They would send some old clothes and grain, and the price for the lambs was also very fair, which was enough for the mother to buy salt and other necessities for a family of three at the market.
Therefore, Degler was full of hostility towards his own tribe. It was those rough and brutal leaders who fought against each other, and he and his sister lost their father. His mother was unwilling to follow the tribe's rules and marry the man who brought back his father's body.
After being whipped by the leader, he was driven out of the tribe.
When we arrived at this grassland on the border of the Ming Dynasty, if our own people did not come to knock the pass to plunder, the Ming army would never go out to rob the herdsmen of their cattle and sheep.
While comforting his sister, Degler pushed the wheelbarrow, and together with his mother, drove the sheep and evacuated to the Han fortress that brought him safety.
After walking for a while, they suddenly felt something strange, and the mother and son stopped at the same time.
The cry to kill did not sound.
…
Li Rubai, the second son of the late Liaodong general Li Chengliang, sat on a horse and stared at the camp of the Nuantu tribe of Khalkha Mongolia with a solemn gaze.
Not long after, several Mongolian generals galloped out and arrived at the servants of Li Rubai's former army. They asked the interpreter to say a few words.
Behind them, Zasai, the leader of the Nuantu tribe, one of the five Khalkha Mongolian tribes, also rode out of the camp.
After the servants came back to report, Li Rubai made a gesture and raised five or six command flags one after another. Li Rubai's more than a thousand armored elites immediately retreated to both sides and formed an array, revealing two hundred dismounted fire rifle soldiers behind the Chinese army tent.
After the array was formed, Li Rubai rode out with more than ten followers and galloped to the front of the Mongolian camp.
Zai Sai and Li Rubai dismounted from their horses almost at the same time, one caressed his chest and the other held his fists. After saluting, they entered the military camp side by side.
After Li Rubai sat down, he didn't even take a sip of the milk tea and said straight to the point: "Brother Zasai, tell me, how much benefit do the people of Jianzhou give you?"
"General Li, what do you mean?"
Zaisai touched his finger and said coldly.
Li Rubai's face did not have the frosty look on his face like that of Zai Sai. The Mongolian in front of him had been defeated by the Li family's Ming army for generations. Although that was mainly due to Li Chengliang's military exploits when he was still alive, the Li family had dominated Liaodong for decades and accumulated prestige.
Still, when Li Rubai and the Mongols are close to Chi Chi, there is no need to hang the word "ruthless" in the corner of his eyes and eyebrows.
"Brother Zasai, let's put it this way, you can beg for rewards in Kaiyuan Town of Ming Dynasty, so why do you have to go to Fushun?"
Begging for rewards was a rule during the Jiajing and Longqing periods. In the name of mutual trade, the Mongols from Khalkha came to the Ming Dynasty once a year to get their property, which was similar to the coins of the Song and Liao Dynasties, but not as much.
Zaisai curled his lips: "General Li, it's very simple. We got a lot of money in Fushun last year, so of course we have to go there this year."
Li Rubai said indifferently: "Should we ask our Fushun general to beg for rewards, or should we simply help Nurhaci capture Fushun?"
Zai Sai's eyes widened, and a look of participation flashed in his eyes.
Among the five Khalkha tribes, he was a proud and arrogant young man. He was actually very disdainful of the other leaders kneeling down and licking Nurhaci, the Jurchen of Jianzhou.
But he is disdainful, and he is not going to have trouble with money. The old man from Jianzhou sent a letter this year, asking Nuantu to bring three thousand troops to Fushun to rob people and things together. Zasai cursed the old chief, but his body was still the same.
Came honestly.
He just didn't expect that when he arrived at Kaiyuan Town in the northwest of Fushun, the Ming army he met was not the old and weak guards, but elite troops brought by the famous Li family.
Now, when Li Rubai opened his mouth, he knew that the Mongolian was going to assist Nurhaci, and Zaisai was even more surprised.
Could it be that the Ming Dynasty was already prepared?
"General Li, I don't know what you are talking about. We are going to Fushun to beg for rewards."
Zaisai still refused to admit it with a sullen face. Anyway, the matter of begging for rewards had been acknowledged by the Ming Dynasty for many years, and neither party had any doubts.
Li Rubai said: "Okay, as Brother Zaisai said, we in the Ming Dynasty will still treat you as friends. The court has folded your begging silver into cloth, salt, and tea leaves. I have been ordered to bring them, and there are also three hundred gold.
and some jewelry. Brothers Zasai don’t have to enter the customs.”
Zaisai raised his eyebrows and scanned the faces of the capable generals in the tent. Apparently, they were also trying to hide their surprise.
Zaisai thought for a while and asked Li Rubai calmly: "General Li, you just mentioned Nurhaci, the wolf of Jianzhou. Is there any news about him this year?"
Li Rubai finally picked up the milk tea, took a big sip, and suddenly laughed: "The movement is quite big. Whether we can fight Fushun or not, I don't know. Marrying a concubine is inevitable. That bad old man wants to marry old Ye He."
Zaisai's expression changed.
The old daughter of Yehe was a Jurchen princess of the Yehe tribe. Her nickname was Dong Ge. She was as beautiful as a fairy. Her beauty was broadcast among the Jurchen and Mongolian tribes. She was married many times by the leaders of the Yehe tribe for various benefits, including Nurhachi and Zai.
race, but in the end due to various kinds of hatred, he still remains in Yehe tribe to this day.
"Impossible," Zasai stared at Li Rubai and said, "Nurhaci has already cut Dong Ge's father in half, how can Dong Ge agree to marry Nurhaci again!"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Li Rubai said without emotion: "What do you need to agree to, just destroy Ye He's tribe and snatch it away. Brother Zaisai, in fact, you can also snatch Brother Dong, you are not
Do you have an engagement with Brother Dong? However, I would like to advise you that if you destroy the Ye He tribe, you will get rid of an opponent for Nurhachi. Similarly, if Nurhachi destroys the Ye He tribe and attacks the Ming Dynasty, you will
Erkha Mongolia will also lose its eastern defense line and eventually become a fat sheep in the mouths of hungry wolves like Jianzhou Jurchen."
Zaisai's breath became thicker. What Li Chengliang's son said was indeed correct.
Li Rubai drank the milk tea in the cup in one gulp, put his hands on his knees, leaned forward slightly and said: "Brother Zasai, I'm here to give you a gift, not to ignite your anger. The things are on the grassland outside the tent, and my warrior
We will also spend a few days outside Xin'an Pass until May comes."
Of course Zaisai understood what Li Rubai meant. This Ming army would not let him appear around Fushun under any circumstances.
Zai Sai took off the dagger from his waist, leaned over and placed it on the carpet between the two of them, and said in a loud voice: "General Li, I told you that our Nuantu Department came to beg for rewards, and we got something.
Why should we travel hundreds of miles more? The grass here is not fertile, and our good horses are starving. Tomorrow, we will break camp and return to the west."
Li Rubai took Zai Sai's dagger with both hands and said with a smile: "Brother Zai Sai is a smart man, and he is also cheerful."
That night, Li Rubai was wiping his long hair in the tent. The soldiers brought him a bucket of hot water and asked diligently: "Commander, after the Mongolian Tatars withdraw to the west, can we return south?"
"What the hell," Li Rubai said, "not to mention whether Zaisai will go and come back, the meaning of the Minister of War Zhang is very simple, let me lead people to block in Kaiyuan, in case Nurhachi also contacted several other Mongolians.
, go to Fushun."
The soldier nodded repeatedly: "This subordinate is stupid."
Li Rubai sighed: "The court still doesn't trust me. Otherwise, why can't I go to guard Fushun if I'm such a good soldier? Did I become half a Tatar after sleeping with Nurhachi's niece? Damn it."
The soldiers were busy combing their hair: "Commander, blocking the Mongolian reinforcements in the north just shows that the court values the commander-in-chief. Our Li family has long been the generals of Liaodong, and we don't care about competing for the top spot."
Li Rubai took off his boots, dipped his feet in the barrel, and said with some self-deprecation: "It's not enough to behead people, so donating money reminds me of me. Zhang Quan, a seemingly gentle and gentle civil servant, asked me to give three hundred gold to the Mongols.
.”
The soldier continued to comfort: "The commander-in-chief thinks so. If other civil servants come to Liaodong, the commander-in-chief will have to give them five or six hundred gold to prevent them from speaking ill of our Li family in the capital. And then
Mr. Zhang, if you return the ceremonial gold sent by the commander-in-chief, it will be like letting the commander-in-chief get through safely with half of the ceremonial gold, and you can still get some military merit in exchange."
When Li Rubai heard this, he glanced at the soldiers and said, "You're not stupid either."
Then he said: "I think the fact that Zhang Shilang ordered me to use the matter of Ye He's daughter to stimulate Zai Sai was a move by someone close to him. Otherwise, how could he, Zhang Quan, an official of the Ministry of War in the capital, know about Ye He's daughter Dong?
Brother, those messy things? I asked my Jurchen mother-in-law, she was like a silly roe deer, her face said she didn't know."
The soldier scratched his head: "Yeah, it can't be General Mao, right? We have been in Liaodong for many years, and we don't know how Jianzhou Tatars and Mongolian Tatars can fight like that for a woman?"
Li Rubai chirped: "Those are all excuses. From ancient times to the present, no man would go to war for a girl. Dong Ge's incident only hit the Mongolians and made them realize that Nurhachi is not a good person. However,
Don't underestimate the ladies either. Before leaving Liaoyang, I saw that Miss Zheng, who had accompanied my Jurchen wife to Hetuala, came again, bringing things and people that Shilang Zhang had been looking at for a whole day."