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Chapter 693: Convincing people with reason
Given the hot temper of the grassland people, the Ordos envoy naturally felt humiliated. It was not a big deal if he just said something rude, because none of the Jinyiwei could understand except two who knew a little Mongolian. But it was hard to turn a blind eye when he made physical advances and refused to hand over his weapons, so a conflict broke out on the spot, with casualties on both sides.

It sounds like a fight, but it was not. The Ordos envoys and their entourage were only seven or eight people, while the Jinyiwei had more than thirty people. As a result, everyone on the envoy's side was injured, two were seriously injured, and one died the next day. Two people on the Jinyiwei side were kicked in the stomach and vomited, and two sprained their wrists.

The next day, the emperor's edict arrived. It was not very long and after being read out in person, it was thrown to the envoy, who was then escorted out of the border by a car sent by the Jinyiwei, or it could be said that he was escorted.

"Elinchen and Sunang Taiji died in battle, and Ombuchu Huer was captured alive. He has confessed to the attack on the emperor's carriage by the Ordos and Tumed rebels. I am narrow-minded and never show mercy to my enemies. If you don't want to see the Ordos tribe being exterminated, get back to Karakorum as soon as possible!"

Although the imperial edict does not contain much content and is not at all literary, it is of high standard. The Chinese part is written by the emperor, which is rare. What is even rarer is that it is also accompanied by Mongolian text, as if to prevent someone from translating it out of context and causing Chashak Taiji to not understand these deliberately irritating words.

What was even more infuriating was yet to come. A few days later, before the envoys from the Ordos tribe had even reached Yulin Town, the contents of the imperial edict were published verbatim in Banyuetan. It was also accompanied by an article written by the emperor himself, titled "When friends come, we have good wine; when jackals come, we have muskets."

The spearhead was pointed directly at the Left Mongols and the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, warning them that before they had any evil intentions, they had better consider whether they were the opponent of the Ming Army. At the same time, it was also a formal announcement to all hostile forces at home and abroad that the foreign policy of the Ming Dynasty had changed from passive defense to active defense.

For tribes, countries and forces that want to coexist peacefully, the two sides can reach a consensus through negotiations and start normal economic exchanges. For those who want to rob and threaten with force, there will be no hesitation and the outcome will be decided on the battlefield.

At the same time, Sun Chengzong's troops stationed in Datong began to take over the defense of Huigouying, Piantouguan, Shuanggoudun, and Shahukou, and closely monitored the movements of the Ordos troops.

It was called surveillance, but in reality Sun Chengzong's troops would go out of the border in units of 100 households whenever they had nothing to do. They would capture the Ordos herdsmen they met, rob the cattle and sheep they saw, and burn the garrisons they encountered. For a time, the area within a hundred miles outside the border wall became a no-man's land.

On two occasions, Sun Chengzong's troops assembled seven or eight hundred households from several nearby checkpoints, each with two horses. Led by local border army generals, they crossed the Yellow River from Huigouying and entered the jurisdiction of Yulinwei, then went out of the border wall and advanced more than a hundred miles to the northwest in one day and one night.

They successively razed the three large camps of the Ordos tribe that were relatively far to the south, captured thousands of people, and countless cattle, sheep, and horses. It was two days later when the news reached the Chashak tent, and when they gathered the tribesmen to chase them, they found that except for a few corpses along the way, the enemy had already crossed the river and left.

In the past, nomadic peoples used their speed to harass the Ming border wall, looking for weaknesses, taking advantage of them, and then robbing and running away. Now the Ming army used their own tactics to fight back, and played guerrilla warfare with the nomads.

Then they found that it was the nomadic people who were in trouble. The Ming army relied on the advantage of muskets to completely offset the nomads' horseback archery skills. When they encountered a small group of nomads, they would attack directly, and when they encountered a large group of nomads, they would dig pits for defense. The nomads could not run away with their families, and they could not win even if they fought.

Organizing a large army to encircle and suppress the rebellion may work in the short term, but in the long run, the herders will be the first to be unable to bear it. The young and strong men have all gone to war, and there is no one to take care of the sheep, cattle, and horses at home. The method of turning all the people into soldiers can certainly increase the utilization rate of the population, but it is also a double-edged sword. If not handled properly, it will seriously affect production and life.

Chashak Taiji was driven into a corner, and in a fit of rage, he summoned nearly 30,000 people to cross the Yellow River to the north, intending to cause trouble for Guihua City. As long as the Han army here was driven away, the Tumed tribe would not dare to get too close to the Han emperor, and the grassland would still belong to the Mongols.

But the army he encountered was not a traditional Han army. Their tactics, weapons and morale were completely different. They ran into a snag at Guihua City. No matter how brave and fearless the warriors were, they could not withstand the fire of muskets and artillery. After attacking for less than a day, they had to retreat south in a hurry, leaving behind thousands of corpses.

The Han army did not pursue, but the damned Bushitu led the Tumed cavalry to chase after them, and did not withdraw until they reached the Yellow River. If it were not for his brother and his people who risked their lives to protect him, Chashak might not even have been able to cross the Yellow River and would have died at the southern foot of the Yin Mountains. After this battle, the Ordos tribe was severely injured, and had no choice but to actively shrink the pastoral area, abandoning all areas near the Ming border wall, and the entire tribe migrated to the northwest. Most of them crossed the Yellow River to the north and concentrated in the Houtao area, and only a small number remained south of the Yellow River.

The Ordos tribe in the Hetao area withdrew, but the Ming army did not take the opportunity to move north. They still guarded the border wall, and at most sent light cavalry out of the border for inspection from time to time. However, the vacant grassland was not wasted, and was taken over by the Tumed herders. At this time, the Ming army did not come out to burn, kill, and loot, and the two sides lived in peace.

In September, thousands of land forces suddenly emerged from Shahukou, followed by several thousand garrison troops, and headed north all the way to Guihua City, with about half of them staying behind along the way.

After a few days, the herdsmen nearby discovered that they were not the Ming army, but more like laborers. They went to the same place to work every day, making a lot of noise, often with a bang, like thunder. Then the big rocks on the mountain loosened automatically, and were easily chiseled into small pieces and transported away.

After a while, a small city suddenly appeared in the middle of a mountain valley less than 50 miles away from Shahukou and Guihuacheng. Although the city wall was less than one meter high, its outline was already very clear.

Building cities, yes, the Han army brought labor to build cities outside the Great Wall. There was more than one city, and it seemed that there were at least three or four cities between the killing of the Hu people and the naturalization of the Hu people. Each city was not very large, but they were all built with stones and looked very solid.

If we wait until the Han people have built the city and then station troops there, then from now on, the route from Shahukou to Guihuacheng will become a thoroughfare, and it will be difficult to approach without sending 18,000 troops. Then, Guihuacheng will no longer be isolated outside the Great Wall. With the supply route from Shahukou, it will be difficult for tens of thousands of people to capture it.

The situation was already very clear at this point. The Ming Emperor did not send troops to help the Tumed tribe to intimidate the Ordos tribe, but was killing two birds with one stone, using this as an excuse to stay in Guihua City for a long time.

Shunyi King Bushitu had no idea about the construction of the city between Guihua City and Shahukou. When he heard about it and took people to see it, the walls of the three cities were already more than two meters high. He immediately found Du Wenhuan, the highest general of the Guihua City Army, and tried to stop it with various reasons.

"Prince Shunyi, your majesty is doing this for the good of the Tumed tribe. If the trade routes cannot be guaranteed to be unobstructed, how can there be so many caravans coming to Guihua City? Without caravans, you cannot collect commercial taxes. Without commercial taxes, what can you use to invest in the woolen mill?
We should always look forward. It is useless to give the Tumed tribe's grassland to the Ming Dynasty for free, but it is a treasure in the eyes of other tribes. Without the Ming army stationed here, not only will the Ordos tribe make a comeback, but the Kharachin and Chahar in the east will also covet it.

Our Han ancestors said that when a child appears in front of everyone with a piece of gold in his hand, he will be the target of everyone's attack. The Tumed tribe is just like a child now, occupying such a large area of ​​fertile land and pasture. It is too dangerous. "

Du Wenhuan had been waiting for Bu Shitu's arrival for more than half a month. He and his staff had made up a lot of reasons. Now that he finally had a chance to vent, he immediately started talking nonstop.

At this time, he finally understood why the emperor talked so much in private. When one side is strong enough, reasoning with the weak is not only not boring but also very fulfilling. Whatever you say makes sense, and even if it doesn't make sense, the other party dare not refute it, and then it becomes reasonable.

For example, now, the Tumed leader, who led a population of more than 100,000 and controlled 30,000 cavalry, was like a child who had just entered school in front of him. He clearly wanted to occupy Guihua City and not leave, but he dared not say a word and had to pretend to listen carefully and agree with it.

At the same time, the emperor's words rang out, "Do you want to follow me around the world, all the way west to the European continent, and let the local kings and queens dance with you?"
I used to have no feelings about these scenes that sounded like myths, but now I have to believe them. As long as the emperor and the army are there, this scene is not far away. No matter how much money you are paid or how high your official rank is, I will not change it. What else can I ask for in life?

(End of this chapter)