The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 437 The World is Connected
In fact, when Zhu Gang decided to engage in a head-on battle with the Oirat people, even his subordinates could not understand it.

Even though they were stimulated by the great enfeoffment and clamored to make achievements.

But no one is willing to have a decisive battle with the grassland people in the summer and autumn.

It's very simple. In summer and autumn, the horses and people on the grasslands are fat and strong, which is the time when their fighting capacity is the strongest.

If we confront them head-on at this time, even if we win, it will be a pyrrhic victory.

The best season for people in the Central Plains to hunt on the grasslands is from early spring to early summer.

Having just survived the winter, the horses on the grassland are thin and the people are tired, and their fighting capacity is at the lowest.

Moreover, being locked up in the yurts in the winter, both men and women always need some entertainment.

The more you have fun, the higher your chances of getting pregnant.

Therefore, winter to spring is the peak period for pregnancy among women on the grassland.

When spring comes, livestock also begin to give birth.

As we all know, both humans and animals are vulnerable during pregnancy and strenuous activities are most taboo.

If a war broke out at this time, they would have no choice but to migrate around to avoid the Central Plains army.

This will cause a large number of pregnant women and ewes to miscarry or even die.

The economy of the grassland is very simple, and simplicity means fragility.

Even if the Central Plains army did not find their tribe and just wandered around, it would be a major blow to the grassland.

A double blow to the population and the economy.

Over time, procrastination can eventually bring it down.

It's brutal, but that's war.

Of course, it is not impossible to fight in summer and autumn, but it is more dangerous at this time and requires more detailed planning.

For example, knowing where the enemy is in advance, attracting the enemy's main force's attention, and then sending out surprise forces to attack the enemy's rear.

This was also the plan of Zhu Gang's subordinates at the beginning.

Based on the intelligence available, a sweep was launched on the outlying tribes of Oirat.

If the Oirat counterattack is fierce, the army will withdraw while it is ahead.

If Oirat showed a flaw, he would pounce on it and bite it hard.

However, Zhu Gang decided directly to have a decisive battle.

"...Defeat Ugezi head-on and fairly."

The generals were horrified and said, "Your Majesty, please think twice."

Zhu Gang raised his hand to stop everyone from persuading him, and said, "Let me ask you, what is the strongest point of the Mongols?"

Zhang Wen blurted out: "Cavalry. Back then, they relied on cavalry to conquer the world."

Others also agreed with this statement. Not only Mongolia, but the strongest force on any grassland is the cavalry.

Zhu Gang said: "Yes, their cavalry roamed the world, invincible, and destroyed countless countries."

“This is where they are most confident and proud.”

“When they encounter setbacks, it is also the greatest belief that supports them to persevere.”

"That's the case now. Even if Ming has the upper hand, they still refuse to admit defeat."

"A big reason is because of this belief."

"They still believe that their cavalry is invincible and that we were able to defeat the Northern Yuan simply through trickery and schemes."

Zhang Wen said: "The best strategy is to attack the enemy's strategy. The barbarians on the grasslands do not understand the subtleties of military tactics..."

Zhu Gang interrupted him and said, "It doesn't matter whether they understand the art of war or not. What matters is that they really think so."

"The Ming Dynasty offered them generous conditions to surrender, but the results were not ideal. This is the reason."

"So, we have to defeat them where they are most confident and break their faith."

"Only then will they be convinced and accept the rule of the Ming Dynasty from now on."

"The Oirat are the last elite troops of the Mongols. Defeating them head-on will be the most effective."

The generals finally understood his idea, but not many of them could truly accept it.

It’s very simple. For a general, if you don’t obey, just fight you until you obey.

What conspiracies and tricks? War is all about using any possible means.

You just can't beat it.

Are you being stubborn? Then I will slap you a few more times.

Let’s see who is being stubborn or who is being slapped hard by me.

However, Zhu Gang was different. As the King of the Ming Dynasty and the future ruler of Jin, he had to consider political factors.

Use a tough battle to destroy the last bit of pride of the Mongols and lay the foundation for subsequent governance.

The sacrifice now is to reduce the sacrifice later.

It is a good thing for both the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia.

Moreover, he will be in charge of the Western Regions next year, and before that he must resolve the security risks in Hexi.

By then, when he goes to the Western Regions with the momentum of defeating Oirat, he will encounter much less resistance.

In short, after thinking about it, he decided to turn the harassment war into a final battle.

Although many of his subordinates could not accept his reasons psychologically.

But he has enough prestige to suppress all dissenting voices.

First, he sent Zhang Wen and others to lead a small army to clear out the outer tribes of Oirat.

He forced Ugezi, the leader of the Oirat clan, to fight a decisive battle with him.

At first, Wugezi did not think much about it. He just thought that the Ming army was waiting for an opportunity to take advantage.

Therefore, he did not directly notify the tribes to migrate and escape, but instead organized an army to resist while sending people to negotiate with Zhu Gang.

However, he soon realized that something was wrong.

The Ming army was not just trying to take advantage of the situation, but had a bigger plan.

Now he was a little anxious. He was unwilling to have a decisive battle with the Ming Dynasty at this time.

There is no other reason. Even if he wins, it will be a pyrrhic victory.

A tragic victory means a complete strategic failure.

Because the Ming Dynasty was more powerful, even if all the 100,000 people under Zhu Gang died, he could easily raise another army of 100,000.

And they are elite.

And every death of one of his subordinates was one less.

What's more, he was not sure he could defeat Zhu Gang head-on.

He knew the King of Jin too well, and he had always been at a disadvantage in their several battles.

It’s a pity that he has no control over it.

The two sides have dealt with each other countless times over the years. He knows Zhu Gang, and Zhu Gang knows him better.

Even the location of the king's tent of the Oirat tribe was known clearly.

The outer army swept through with precision, and the main force headed straight for the tent of King Oirat.

It was too late to notify all the tribes to move away to avoid the attack.

Ugezi only had one choice left, to fight.

Of course, he could also abandon the outlying tribes and lead his own tribe to move away.

But the consequence of doing so is that his prestige will be destroyed, and no other tribe will truly join him anymore.

He will never be able to carry the Mongolian flag again in his life.

Moreover, he was an ally of Enke Khan of the Tatar tribe (Northern Yuan Dynasty).

Well...Yesüder died of exhaustion after being hit repeatedly by Zhu Di.

His son Enke succeeded to the throne.

At this time, the Northern Yuan Dynasty and the Oirats were in a situation where their teeth would be destroyed if their lips were destroyed, so the two sides formed an alliance.

If Ugezi abandoned the periphery and fled with his own troops, Enke Khan would also be implicated.

You know, Kublai Khan's descendants have been trying to regain the Khan throne.

Among them, Elbek was the most powerful and always coveted the throne of Khan.

They were just afraid of Ugeqi's presence and did not dare to raise an army.

If Ugezi fled without a fight, he would certainly raise an army to take back the Khan throne that belonged to their lineage.

By then, the Northern Yuan Dynasty would be completely finished.

No... due to the chain reaction, Mongolia will completely lose the possibility of revival.

Therefore, he had to fight and win. In the end, Ugeqi assembled 40,000 cavalry, while Zhu Gang led 30,000 cavalry, and the two sides fought a decisive battle in the area of ​​​​the Sishisider River.

It is impossible for 70,000 troops to attack at once, but they have to take turns to fight.

This is the cruelest exchange tactic, and there is no trickery involved.

Until one side dies completely, or can no longer bear the death and their morale collapses.

In order to boost morale, Zhu Gang ordered that anyone who participated in the battle would be awarded one level of military merit, and those who died in battle would be awarded three levels of military merit.

Beheading will be calculated as double military merit.

Stimulated by the military merit titles, the entire army burst out with unparalleled fighting power.

The Wugezi troops were a group of desperate soldiers, and their hatred for the Ming army also made them burst out with tremendous fighting power.

The two sides fought like this for two days and nights, and finally the entire Ugeqi army collapsed.

The result of this battle is.

The Mongolian army suffered direct casualties of more than 18,000 people in the battle, and lost nearly 10,000 more in the subsequent escape.

More than 16,000 Ming soldiers were killed in the battle, but the casualties in the subsequent pursuit were relatively small, only more than 2,000 people.

Once the main force of the enemy is defeated, the rest will be easy.

Zhang Wen and others led the remaining troops and swept across the entire grassland.

Ugechi led the remnants to flee to the North Sea, and the last main force of Mongolia was thus destroyed.

The impact of this battle is unparalleled.

The Ming Dynasty was naturally excited and decorated the place with lights and colors.

The situation on the Mongolian side was completely the opposite. When the news of the Oirat's defeat spread, everyone was in despair.

But then, Ugezi's worries came true.

Shortly after he was defeated and fled to Beihai, Elbeg from Kublai Khan's faction rose up in rebellion, killed Enke Khan and regained the throne.

What’s even more fatal is that Elbek is not a powerful leader.

He has great ambitions, but lacks the corresponding abilities.

The key point is that this person is cruel and indulges in pleasure, and his biggest hobby is women.

He often kidnapped women in the tribe for sexual pleasure, including the wives and daughters of his subordinates.

The remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty fell into civil strife again.

Zhu Di, who had always clamored to destroy the Northern Yuan Dynasty, chose to withdraw his troops at this time.

"If we attack now, we are forcing them to unite and resist us, and we are helping Elbek unify internally."

"We will withdraw our forces and stop the danger for the time being. They will continue to fight among themselves until the last soldier is exhausted."

These were Zhu Di's original words, and they were recognized by everyone.

The fact turned out to be just as he expected. Without any threat, Elbek Khan pushed himself to the limit again and again.

His men gradually lost their loyalty to him, and a mutiny was brewing.

On a larger scale, Zhu Gang's plans all came true.

After he defeated the elite troops of the Oirat tribe head-on, the Mongolian tribes began to submit to him on a large scale.

The most critical aspect is Liaodong.

Although the three Uriankhai guards surrendered, they had been trying to resist assimilation by the Ming Dynasty.

As the news came one after another, the last bit of anger in their hearts was completely lost.

Faced with the aggressive Ming army and the Liaodong Governor-General, Prince of Shu Zhu Chun, they had to give in step by step and gradually lost their autonomy.

The Mongols' total defeat affected not only themselves, but also all the minority tribes around the Ming Dynasty were shocked.

Many tribes that were originally unwilling to surrender chose to sit down and negotiate.

Many tribes that were unwilling to accept the education of Chinese culture also softened their attitudes.

The tribes in Yunnan were the most affected.

It can be said that apart from the Mongols on the grasslands, they are the ones who are currently resisting the most fiercely in the Ming Dynasty.

Mu Ying and his son guarded Yunnan, and the imperial court gradually moved hundreds of thousands of Han people there before they could barely establish preliminary rule.

However, when the news of Oirat's defeat came, the tribes suddenly became much more obedient.

This made Mu Ying breathe a sigh of relief.
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When this information was gathered in the capital, the officials finally realized how great the impact of Zhu Gang's battle was.

The man who had fought him head-on, causing heavy casualties among his soldiers, finally stopped talking.

Everyone knows that if there had not been this battle, the number of deaths would have added up.

It will be more than ten times more than it is now.

The amount of money, food and supplies consumed is incalculable.

It can be said that Zhu Gang avoided ten or a hundred times more losses for the Ming Dynasty by using the deaths of more than 19,000 people.

It also cleared the last obstacle for the Ming Dynasty to control the grassland.

Old Zhu was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling in the past few days.

No matter what you say to him, he will always bring it back to Zhu Gang.

such as:

"Have you eaten, Your Majesty?"

"What? How do you know that the third brother won the battle?"

Zhu Biao was also very happy. Firstly, it was his best friend Zhu Gang who had made great contributions. Second, it was a victory he had achieved during his tenure.

It was also a great achievement in his career as an emperor.

The word "Jianzhang" will become more glorious because of this achievement.

Zhu Xiongying was both happy and disappointed: "Hey, you said that Third Uncle and Fourth Uncle couldn't be a little gentler?"

"I was wondering when I could go to the grassland, now it's good..."

"No, I wrote a letter to my eleventh uncle (Zhu Chun) and twelfth uncle (Zhu Bo), asking them to keep it to themselves and not to wipe out all the enemies."

Chen Jingke rolled his eyes and ignored his madness.

This kid is always thinking about going to the battlefield.

But unfortunately, he will not have much chance to go to the battlefield in his lifetime.

Moreover, given his abilities and achievements, there was no need for him to establish his prestige through military merits.

Not to mention the civil officials, even in the military, except for those few veteran generals, who would dare to lose their temper in front of him?
But then again, Zhu Gang also taught him a lesson this time.

Although he kept reminding himself to be sober and rational, he was just a time traveler and had a few hundred years more experience than the ancients.

They are no wiser than the ancients.

But after a long time, it is inevitable that some pride will arise.

Especially in terms of taking a bird's-eye view, he gradually came to the idea that no one else could do it better than him.

But today, Zhu Gang taught him a lesson.

A decisive battle changed the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the minority tribes in all directions.

This strategic goal was beyond his imagination.

When he first saw this plan, he thought that Zhu Gang was going to try to use this battle to break the will of the Mongols.

But no one expected that Zhu Gang had also included other minority tribes in his plan.

It was not until information from all sides was gathered that he came to his senses.

It turns out that the influence of this battle is so great.

This is the global perspective.

After discovering this, Chen Jingke's somewhat confused heart finally settled down.

He can see things from a high perspective because he has hundreds of years of experience.

Zhu Gang is not a time traveler and does not have a full view of the map. He came to his conclusion based on a summary of various intelligence.

This is the true wisdom.

As the times change, the Ming Dynasty will face a situation that is completely different from its previous life.

The experience brought from past lives is becoming less and less effective.

Without a global perspective, how can he guide the Ming Dynasty forward?
We can’t rely on ourselves, we can only rely on the collective wisdom.

I must always remain humble and discover the talents of this era.

Gather everyone’s strength to prevent the Ming Dynasty from going astray.

To put it bluntly, we still have to build a system.

(End of this chapter)