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Chapter 960 The Bear is Coming

Unfortunately, time did not give him a chance this time. Just when Hong Tao had just celebrated his 53rd birthday, a memorial from Inner Mongolia froze the smile on his face. What was supposed to come finally came. If it is a blessing, it is not a disaster. If it is a disaster, it cannot be avoided!

The memorial was submitted by Ombu, the Tumed Marquis of Inner Mongolia, but its content was a relay of the message from Gunbu of the Tushetu Khanate of Outer Khalkha.

Three years ago, Bushitu was too ill to get up, but he did not close his eyes for two months until he heard the imperial edict from the court appointing his son Ombu as the successor to Marquis Tumed. In less than two hours, he fell asleep forever.

Gunbu's situation was similar to that of Ombu. His father Elek had been flirting with the Ming Empire for more than ten years, but ultimately, he died with reluctance before the empire's surrender became a reality.

Before he died, he called Gunbu to the big tent and told him not to follow the Zasaktu Khanate and become an enemy of the Ming Dynasty. If he was harassed, he should send someone to the capital of the Ming Dynasty to complain to the Sun and Moon Khan.

Gunbu obeyed his father's last words. In the three years since he ascended the throne, he sent people to Beijing many times to pay tribute to Riyue Khan and informed him of the movements of the Jasaktu Khanate, Chechen Khanate and the Oirat Mongols, fully expressing his attitude.

Hong Tao did not treat him badly, and gave him many rare instruments every time, including a pair of double-barreled flintlock breech-loading rifled pistols inlaid with gold and silver. However, since the two sides did not have formal exchanges and the Zasaktu Khanate, which was always hostile to the Ming Dynasty, was watching, they could not develop deeper cooperation.

But they couldn't do it openly, there were ways to do it secretly. The headquarters of the Tushetu Khanate was just north of the Tumed Khanate, and the two sides were neighbors separated by a vast desert. Hong Tao privately allowed the Ombu tribe to bring Ming Dynasty goods to visit the Tushetu Khanate, and after a few visits, some kind of economic connection was established.

It was not in vain that Gunbu wrote to the emperor to ask for help. He said that the Tushetu Khanate was being harassed by the Oirat Durbert tribe and the situation was critical. If the Ming Dynasty did not lend a helping hand, the Tushetu Khanate would have only two options: surrender or migrate south.

"The main activity area of ​​the Durbet tribe is in the upper reaches of the Irtysh River. A few years ago, they invaded the Kazakh Khanate and won, and got a lot of pasture. I heard that they have contact with the Russians and can go to Tara City to exchange goods.

This eastward raid did not seem to be caused by friction between tribes over pastures. Perhaps the Russians were behind it. Starting from the 1628th year of Emperor Yang (), the Tushetu Khanate encountered Russian expeditions in the north almost every year, sometimes with a dozen people, sometimes with dozens of people.

According to the location of the discovery, the Russians' destination should be the direction of Lake Baikal. If they really want to move eastward on a large scale, they will definitely rely on the Oirat Mongols. It is only natural that the Durbet tribe is closest to them and has the most contact with them. "

Tan Mingming succeeded Yuan Keli as the chief of the general staff. His experience as an intelligence chief made him pay special attention to intelligence gathering. However, the advisory office was transferred from the general staff to the emperor, and he could not command Wang Datou, so he focused his attention on the military intelligence department.

After he took office, the intelligence departments of the army and navy were greatly developed, and both were changed to the Army Statistics Department and the Navy Statistics Department, extending their tentacles to every corner that could be reached outside the Ming Empire. Russia was also one of the key areas of work, and this speculation was based on years of intelligence collection.

"Your Majesty, the three Outer Khalkha tribes and the four Wala tribes have always been at odds with each other, and have been constantly attacking each other. Since the Tushetu Khanate is in a critical situation, why not take this opportunity to persuade them to submit and migrate south to Hami and Turpan, where there are many pastures for nomadic grazing in the southern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains." After listening to Tan Mingming's speech, the old man in the red robe sitting opposite him slowly stood up, clasped his fists and saluted before speaking freely, his voice was neither fast nor slow, and his tone was neither high nor low, showing a kind of calm demeanor. Judging from the crane pattern on the front of his robe, he should be a first-rank official.

Since Ye Xianggao, Fang Congzhe, and Ruan Xiangjiang passed away and retired, the cabinet became an empty shell. Hong Tao did not take the opportunity to abolish this department that he did not like, but transferred Yuan Yingtai from the Ministry of Personnel to serve as the chief minister of the cabinet.

In addition to him, Li Ruzhang, the military governor, and Silva, the left vice minister of the taxation department, also became cabinet ministers. Although these three were nearly seventy years old and no longer energetic, they had accumulated considerable experience and connections in their own work. Although they could not make decisions on major issues, they could still handle general daily trivial matters and share a lot of the workload.

"You are wrong, Mr. Yuan. The Tushetu Khanate is a spike planted by the imperial court among the three Outer Khalkha tribes to cut off the connection between the Zasaktu and Chechen tribes and the Oirat Mongols. If they move south, the Outer Khalkha will be connected with the Oirat Mongols, and their strength will increase greatly, which will greatly increase the threat to Inner Mongolia and the Western Regions."

At this time, another old man sitting next to Tan Mingming also stood up and saluted, expressing his opinion. He was wearing the same blue military uniform as Tan Mingming, and the scarlet shoulder straps and twelve-pointed gold stars indicated that he was a first-rank governor.

Although he left the army and became a cabinet minister, a position he never dreamed of, Li Ruzhang still maintained his military style and was used to looking at issues from a military perspective. He disagreed with Yuan Yingtai's conservative opinions.

"Sending troops to aid the Tushetu Khanate requires crossing the desert. Currently, the farthest a rail carriage can reach is Tumed City, which is thousands of miles away. Once the army sets out, it will cost a lot. How can the Tushetu Khanate compensate us?"

With the different opinions from the previous three people, murmurs immediately appeared in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and another official in a red robe stood up on the left side of the conference table.

Sun Yuanhua, the Minister of Finance, was more than a decade younger than Yuan Yingtai, just in his early fifties. However, as he grew older, his thinking became more conservative. Although he did not express his support for attack or defense, he used the cost and benefit to remind the emperor not to act rashly.

"Keeping the enemy out of the country is a benefit! If the Tushetu Khanate is annexed by the Durbert tribe, the Chechen tribe, which originally remained neutral, will have no choice but to submit. In this way, the Oirat Mongols will be greatly strengthened, which is not conducive to the stability of our northern dynasty.

In addition, if it is true as Chief of Staff Tan said, that the Duerbert tribe has Russian supporters behind it, the future situation will be even more complicated. In order to deal with it, the court can only send more troops to Hami, Turpan, Tumed, Guihua, and Kalaqin, which still costs a lot.

His Majesty once said that the best defense is offense. If we could help the Tushetu Khanate at this time, defeat the eastward invasion of the Durbert Khanate, and take the opportunity to force the Chechen Khanate to express its position, the situation would be completely different.

The imperial court can use limited material support to Tushetu and Chechen Khan to threaten the various tribes of the Oirat Mongols from the east, and stop the Russians from advancing eastward. Even if it costs a lot, it should be more cost-effective than passive defense if it is spread out over a year. "

(End of this chapter)