Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2288 Three-way Triumph () The aftermath still depends on Yuan Fu

Burihatu's retreat was directly to the place occupied by their Chahar tribe. In other words, it coerced the last combatable troops of the Oara coalition forces to retreat to the southwest. And this also means that the remaining population, cattle and sheep of the Oara tribes have all become unprotected property, waiting only for the Ming and Mongolian coalition forces to take it.

Faced with this situation, Liu Wei and Erdemutu, while reporting victory, launched a non-stop offensive, striving to completely capture all the Oara tribes in one fell swoop. Since the main force was lost, the Oara tribes had almost no resistance in the subsequent battles - well, if it could be counted as a battle.

This situation is quite new to Liu Wei, because even though he is a veteran on the battlefield, this is the first time that an entire tribe has surrendered. However, for Erdemutu, this situation is not unfamiliar. In essence, this is actually the normal state of the Mongolian civil war.

Mongolia has a limited population, and no matter how fierce the civil war is, it is usually only a matter between the descendants of the Golden Family and their warriors. For ordinary herdsmen, especially women and children, there is no need to pay too much attention.

Why? Because they only need to surrender to the winner. To put it bluntly, under the Mongolian system and tradition, these people are not so much people as they are the property of the Golden Family and the various tribesmen.

As for property, as long as you are not poisonous and willing to surrender, you can survive. It is just a different owner. This is the consistent tradition and history of the prairie, and it is also the reality.

Because of this, when the news spread that the Ming and Mongolian coalition forces had defeated the main force of the Oara coalition forces, the old, weak, sick and disabled people from various tribes who knew that it was impossible to escape did not resist. There were not even many people who tried to escape. They just waited for their fate quietly. of trial.

Liu Wei was quite curious at first, but later someone under his command told him that the reason why these people were so honest was largely because of his deputy, Erdemutu, the deputy admiral of the Western Expeditionary Army.

The reason is not complicated: Erdemutu is the bloodline of the Golden Family, the son of Tumed Chechen Khan and Han Naji, and the most likely successor of the next Chechen Khan.

The only "true god" on the Mongolian grassland is undoubtedly Genghis Khan. His family and descendants are called the Golden Family. In most cases, the khan kings on the grassland need to have the blood of the golden family. Even if some strong men are not from the Golden Family, they often need to marry into the Golden Family to gain more stable legitimacy for their rule. Otherwise, even if they can rule for a while with strong force, it will basically be difficult to last long.

Of course, the khans of some tribes do not need to follow this principle, but they follow another set of logic: that is, I am the khan of this tribe because my ancestors once served under Genghis Khan, and it was Genghis Khan who enfeoffed this tribe. to my ancestors, so that I have legal authority over this tribe.

It can be seen from this that Genghis Khan’s golden family can almost be directly equated with legitimacy to people on the grasslands.

Since Erdemutu is a descendant of the Golden Family and the son of the serious Chechen Khan, when he defeated another opponent on the grassland, he naturally had legal rights against the defeated and all the tribesmen. dominion.

Essentially speaking, in the early years, the Tumut and Ordos tribes often conquered the Oara from the west, and the Oara people immediately expressed their surrender without any psychological barriers every time they were defeated. The identity of this "descendant of the golden family" played a big role. In other words, even the Oara people themselves feel that it is natural for the descendants of the Golden Family to "conquer" us. Now that the war is defeated...then surrender, since they are the legal rulers anyway, so what is there to worry about?

At this time, Liu Wei could not help but sigh: Yuan Fu thought far more! If he hadn't insisted on Erdemutu sending troops all the way to cooperate with the Western Expedition, even if the Oara tribes lost the battle, they wouldn't have been able to sit back and wait for their recruitment.

After all, although these remaining people are not as good as their previous opponents on the battlefield, they are still Mongolians. They are children of the prairie who started riding ponies at the age of three or five and can gallop before their horses are tall. If they really made up their mind to run away, how many of them could they recover if they scattered and fled? I'm afraid there won't be one out of ten.

Things are different now. With the golden sign of Erdemutu as a direct descendant of the Golden Family, the vast majority of the remaining forces of the Oara tribes do not run away at all. They just wait for them to arrive, and then "the four barbarians surrender". I voted on the spot.

If there are any flaws, the only flaw is that they all insist that they surrender to Tumed Chechen Khan and Erdemutu, not to the Ming Dynasty.

Liu Wei was a little unhappy at first, but after all, he was not the most civil servants in the court who had never seen the battle formation. He knew how to be flexible - okay, okay, if you surrender to Erdemutu, then surrender to Erdemutu! Anyway, he is a disciple of Yuan Fu, and he is the most pro-Ming faction in Tumote. He has brought you under his wing, which is roughly equivalent to Ming's taking you under his wing, which is not much different.

However, the next thing was not so easy to handle, so that Liu Wei and Erdemutu had a tacit understanding and no one expressed their stance in advance.

What's going on? Loot distribution, of course.

Needless to say, the remaining people of the Oara tribes all said that they would only surrender to Erdemutu. Naturally, Erdemutu would include them, and Liu Wei did not take this seriously. After all, in his opinion, it seems that there is no big use for Ming to want these people.

However, Liu Wei had to fight for cattle, sheep and horses. Cattle and sheep are essential supplies for survival on the grassland. Whether they are dairy products or simply used as meat, they are all food. They are top-quality military rations!

Even cow, sheep and horse dung is a good thing. It is an important energy source on the grassland and can be burned. You don’t plan to burn hay for cooking on the grassland, do you? How much grass do you have to burn to boil a pot of water and cook a pot of meat?

If Liu Wei still has room for accommodation when it comes to cattle and sheep, after all, the cavalry under his command still carry a lot of dry food. But as for horses, there is no need to say more. Regarding this strategic material that has always been in short supply in the Central Plains dynasty, Liu Wei's attitude is the same as Han Xin's attitude towards troops - the more, the merrier!

Of course you are right to think so. Although the Ming Dynasty has been able to purchase horses from Tumut, Ordos and even Nenhorqin with almost no restrictions, it is a purchase after all, and it costs money! Now that so many Wala tribes have surrendered, the horses they own have actually become trophies. This is free, so how can we not fight for it with all our strength!

However, the trouble also lies in Erdemutu's identity. Although he is a Mongolian, he is a disciple of Yuan Fu, a great hero in this battle, and the number one hero in the surrender of various tribes.

Liu Wei wanted to say, "The cattle and sheep belong to you, and the horses belong to me," but he really couldn't say this - in the Ming Dynasty, horses were much more expensive than cattle and sheep. An adult cow is generally worth six to eight taels of silver, but a qualified horse can cost up to twenty taels, and a good horse can be even higher.

Liu Wei was a little embarrassed and couldn't speak out, but Erdemutu was actually the same. Of course he knew what Liu Wei wanted, and from his heart, he was willing to give Liu Wei more horses, but this matter was not that simple. Although the remaining forces of the Oara tribe surrendered willingly because he was a descendant of the Golden Family, it was impossible for him to just confiscate all the family's property as he said - cattle, sheep and horses were the Mongolians' greatest property!

They surrendered so honestly, even if you have to confiscate some, you can't take away everything, right? After all, if these people are deprived of their power, they can't survive. Isn't this forcing people to rebel? No one can live anymore, so you still expect to be killed just because of the name of the Golden Family? In the final analysis, people must live first before talking about anything else.

Besides, which Mongolian tribe could lose its horses? Even the horses are gone, how can we still call them Mongols? It would be better to just annex the Ming Dynasty and go to Guan Nei to farm. Therefore, it is not easy to mention Erdemutu voluntarily.

In fact, both sides were waiting for Gao Youshi's order. In their opinion, with Gao Youshi's methods, he would definitely be able to come up with a reasonable arrangement.

Their guess was correct. Soon after Liu Wei and Erdemutu moved most of the remaining people, cattle, sheep and horses of the Oara tribes to the grassland not far north of Hami, the Cabinet and the Ministry of War rushed to move six hundred miles away. It was delivered to Hami.

This order undoubtedly came directly from Gao Pragmatic himself, and the spoils distribution plan he proposed was as follows:

First determine the size of the loot. The Oara tribes committed a heinous crime by trying to sneak attack on Hami's Western Expeditionary Army, and they should have been exterminated. However, considering that these remaining tribes did not directly participate in the battle, and were willing to surrender after returning from the lost way, their crimes were reduced. The cabinet decided that half of all livestock property would be confiscated and the remaining material property would be retained.

Next decide on the division of spoils. If the war horses are divided into thirty-seven, the Tumote tribe will get 30%, and the imperial court will get 70%; if the cattle and sheep are divided into ninety-nine, the Tumote tribe will get 90%, and the imperial court will only get 10%.

In addition, for the Ming army part of the Western Expeditionary Army, a batch of the war horses obtained by the imperial court were first selected by the Western Expeditionary Army to make up for the losses in the previous battles, and the remaining horses were collected and managed by Wang Tingzhuan, the governor of Gansu in the rear (and later transferred and distributed To the corresponding court racecourse), Gansu Inspector Xiong Tingbi was responsible for supervising the entire process.

The cattle and sheep obtained by the imperial court were directly allocated to the Western Expeditionary Army as military rations, and were regarded as special rewards. As for whether to eat fresh or dried meat rations, that was the Western Expeditionary Army's own business, and the imperial court did not care.

This is equivalent to giving Liu Wei the right to evaluate the internal merit rewards of the Western Expeditionary Army, because he can give more cattle and sheep to the troops he thinks have made greater contributions, and less to the troops who have made less credit. To a certain extent, this is also an opportunity for Gao Pragmatic to give Liu Wei an internal favor and establish his authority, allowing him to command the subsequent war more effectively.

As for the Mongolian part of the Western Expeditionary Army, that is, Erdemutu's side, Gao Pragmatic also made it clear: He himself has full control over all the trophies allocated to him. In other words, whether you accept all of Erdemutu yourself, give part to your father Khan, or return all the loot to these newly surrendered Oara tribes, it all depends on your own wishes.

As soon as this order was given, a huge stone in Erdemutu's heart fell to the ground - the teacher was not only kind, but also took good care of himself.

Why do you say that? Because based on his understanding of the situation of the Oara tribes in recent years, he knew that the Oara tribes had a very difficult life (the Oara tribe's current pastures are too far north and have been severely affected by the Little Ice Age). In theory, even if only Confiscating 30% of their livestock would also pose a serious threat to their survival. Not to mention that it would be impossible to survive at all, at least some people would definitely starve to death.

So here comes the question. Gao Pragmatic confiscated half of the livestock of the Oara tribes. Why does Erdemutu still think that "the teacher is kind"? The key lies in the distribution of cattle and sheep.

According to Gao Pragmatic's order, the imperial court only took away 10% of the "confiscated half" of cattle and sheep - that is, half (one-twentieth) of the original cattle and sheep of the Oara tribes. For the Oara tribes, 50% of the 100% area was originally reserved, and the remaining 45% was in the hands of Erdemutu.

If Erdemutu is willing to give them some more, such as allowing them to finally keep 80% of their original cattle and sheep, then they can relax this year. Although life will definitely be tense, there is a high probability that they will not starve to death. people.

So is Erdemutu willing to return this part? Of course! Otherwise, why did the teacher specifically state that "he himself has full control over all the spoils allocated to him"? This is clearly giving him the "ownership" of this part of the cattle and sheep to win over the people of the Oara tribe!

As for your question, since you have to give it anyway, why not not forfeit so much in the first place? Just kidding, if you don’t punish me a little more, you people in the Olay tribes can realize how serious the punishment is for going against the Ming Dynasty, and don’t have anything to ask for in the future? If I don’t fine you a little more, how can my students borrow flowers to offer to Buddha, and gain your life-saving favor for nothing?

Because of this, after Erdemutu heard the announcement of Xiong Tingbi, the censor of Gansu Province who came to convey the order on behalf of the imperial court, he was so grateful to his teacher who was far away in the capital, and wished that his old man was right in front of him so that he could bang. Kowtow three times.

As for Liu Wei, it is more or less a pity. His regret is simple: he lost a good horse. Of course, it's not too regrettable. After all, the main reason for not getting so many war horses was the loss of the imperial court. The Western Expeditionary Army under his own command has still been completely replenished, and may even be better than the previous war horses.

However, being highly pragmatic would not really cost the court too much. Therefore, after reading out the order, Xiong Tingbi changed his tone and no longer used the official attitude of "announcement". Instead, he smiled and said to Erdemutu: "His Royal Highness (the Crown Prince of Shunyi), Yuan Fu I have something to tell you."

Erdemutu already knew from other channels that Xiong Tingbi had been a teacher for a period of time and was a member of the Guanzheng Jinshi. He estimated that he was most likely a confidant of the teacher when he was assigned such an important task, so he quickly said seriously: "If you have any trouble, please tell me. Since I am my mentor. If there is an order, students should respectfully listen to the instructions.”

Xiong Tingbi smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you are too polite. Yuan Fu said, 'The imperial court has built horse farms, but now it still lacks some capable pastoral officers. Go ask my student, maybe you can find some from the Oara tribes and send them to you? If so, you can do it for me. I thank him; if not, I will tell him that he does not need to blame himself, and I will find another way. "Your Majesty, are you serious?"

Erdemutu immediately said loudly: "A teacher is like a father! Since the teacher has an order, the student will dig up three feet of the ground to get enough pastoral officers for the teacher! Please tell the truth to Xiao Wang on this point."

Xiong Tingbi nodded with a smile and said: "Okay, okay, since the prince has said this, what can I say if I become a minister?"

"There is work, there is work."

"you are welcome."