Chapter 562: The Inner Khalkha Five Tribes Deliberate Internally

At this point, recognizing reality was the most important thing.

The thoughts in Wukeshan's mind did not last long at all—they immediately turned into concrete action.

With a brilliant smile on his face, Wukeshan walked up to Chen Hong and said with a laugh, "Many thanks, Eunuch. I've put you to trouble this time."

Having said that, Wukeshan pulled out a banknote from his hand and stuffed it into Chen Hong's palm.

Ever since these Great Ming banknotes had become widespread, bribery had become very convenient.

In the past, one had to think of all sorts of methods, and precious things like gold and silver were hard to carry. But now it was different—a single banknote was discreet enough that once stuffed into someone's hand, no one else could discover it at all.

Chen Hong received the banknote, gently felt it with his fingers, and the smile on his face grew even brighter.

Different banknotes used different paper, precisely to prevent people from washing small-denomination notes into large-denomination ones.

Although the anti-counterfeiting technology was already advanced enough, there were always people in this world who liked to take risks. Counterfeit banknotes had always been a major problem, though there were still ways to solve it.

Banknotes were divided into two types: registered banknotes and bearer banknotes.

Registered banknotes were those with a name on them and specific markings—whoever deposited could withdraw, and no one else could take them out.

The other type was the bearer banknote, which had no name—whoever held the note could spend it.

This method targeted both large and small denominations. Large amounts were usually registered notes; after finishing business, a person could go to the money house to exchange the large registered notes for bearer notes, then conduct transactions.

Many transactions were even conducted directly in the main hall of the money house. After a transaction was completed, the receiving party would exchange the bearer notes for registered ones. And naturally, gift-giving could never use registered notes.

The moment Chen Hong touched it, he knew this was a two-hundred-tael note. Though not a huge sum, this was the merit money given at their first meeting, and the amount was not small.

Chen Hong said with a smile, "Lord Wu is too kind. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future—let us stay close and familiar."

At the same time, Chen Hong spotted Bumbutai standing beside Wukeshan, and the smile on his face grew even brighter. He bowed to Bumbutai and said, "Greetings, young lady."

His attitude was very courteous.

In truth, he could not afford to be discourteous. Judging from the current situation, this woman was certain to enter the Great Ming imperial palace and was destined to become one of His Majesty's women. Moreover, for the sake of stability on the Mongol side, His Majesty would deliberately look after her somewhat.

As for what attitude to take toward the women in the palace, Chen Hong had long been prepared—he was used to it.

Bumbutai nodded and said with a smile, "Eunuch, please rise. I shall have to ask for your kind care in the future."

These words carried a double meaning.

Chen Hong hastily replied, "I would not dare presume—you flatter this old servant to death."

Having said that, Chen Hong added, "If there is nothing else, this old servant will take his leave."

"I'll see the Eunuch out." Wukeshan said with a smile from the side.

Seeing Chen Hong's attitude toward his younger sister, the expression on Wukeshan's face changed considerably in an instant, and his spirits lifted as well.

From Chen Hong's attitude toward his sister, one could tell the Great Ming Emperor's attitude toward his own family—this point was extremely important to Wukeshan at the moment.

After Chen Hong left Wukeshan's courtyard, he turned and went to the neighboring courtyard to deliver a message.

The representatives of the Inner Khalkha were staying there. This time, the Inner Khalkha tribe had sent five people—not counting their attendants—with the five representing five tribes respectively.

Chen Hong left after delivering the news.

When the five representatives returned to the room, their expressions all turned extremely grave.

Back in the day, Dayan Khan, in order to further weaken the power of the non-imperial nobles, enfeoffed his own sons and grandsons. Among them, his fifth son, Alchubold, and his eleventh son, Gerbold, were enfeoffed to the Khalkha Tümen—Alchubold leading the left wing of the Khalkha Tümen, and Gerbold leading the right wing.

Later, the left wing migrated south and separated from the Khalkha Tümen, thus forming the five Otoks of the Inner Khalkha.

These five Otoks all belonged to the five sons of Alchubold's son, Orsoq Qasar—that is, the five sons of Hulahachi—namely:

The eldest, Ubashi (Ubasai), leading the Jarud tribe;

The second, Subahai (Subahai), leading the Baarin tribe;

The third, Uban (Uban Beimduoksin), leading the Onggirat tribe (Hongjirat tribe);

The fourth, Daiqing (Dabu, Bayar), leading the Bayagud tribe (Bayad tribe);

The fifth, Caohua (Shuhak Choriktu), leading the Ujiyed tribe (Ujiyet tribe).

So many years had passed, and these five tribes had not split apart—they had remained of one mind all along.

This time, coming to the Great Ming, naturally every tribe had sent someone, which also made the matter seem more solemn.

In fact, in recent years the five tribes of the Inner Khalkha had enjoyed several years of peaceful life and felt quite good about it. After all, they had previously been squeezed between Ligdan Khan and Nurhaci—beaten by this one one day, beaten by that one the next, living a very hard life.

Ever since the five tribes of the Inner Khalkha had annexed part of the Doyan Three Guards, their strength had greatly increased.

Hong Taiji had been beaten down by the Great Ming, so they no longer feared him; Ligdan Khan did not dare come looking for trouble at all—he had not yet stabilized the west, and if he came over, he would certainly be beaten black and blue.

Under such circumstances, the Inner Khalkha had enjoyed very good days in recent years.

Only this time, the Great Ming had made a sudden move in Liaodong—Hong Taiji was already dead, and the entire Jin state did not have much longer to exist.

For the five tribes of the Inner Khalkha, how to draw closer to the Great Ming in the days ahead had become very important.

After the five representatives sat down, they exchanged glances with one another.

One of the representatives said, "Zhang Muhe, what do you have to say this time?"

Among the five, Zhang Muhe was a highly representative figure. Because he came from the Jarud, the eldest of the five families.

On the matter of allying with the Great Ming, the Jarud had always been relatively insistent. The reason was also simple—the Jarud's relationship with the Jin state was very poor; they could be called the most diehard anti-Jin faction. In wanting to be friendly with the Great Ming, the Jarud had also done the most.

In this matter, the five tribes of the Inner Khalkha naturally wanted to ask the Jarud's opinion. After all, ever since allying with the Great Ming, the Great Ming's support for the Jarud had never stopped.

In recent years of doing business, everyone was well aware of this. So this time, everyone also wanted to hear the Jarud's opinion.

Zhang Muhe glanced at the speaker, saw the worried look on his face, and could not help but break into a smile.

The speaker was called Bahtu, and the reason he was worried was that he came from the Bayagud tribe.

Among the five tribes of the Inner Khalkha, the one with the closest relationship to the Jin state was none other than Enggeder of the Bayagud tribe.

Back then, Nurhaci had married his niece to Enggeder, making him the first Mongol son-in-law of the Jin state. Sparing no expense of daughters, gold and silver, official rank, wealth, estates, or slaves, he used generous treatment to pry Enggeder loose and successfully won him over to the Jin camp.

Back when the five tribes of the Inner Khalkha had wanted to abandon Nurhaci and ally with the Great Ming, the Bayagud tribe had offered the greatest resistance.

If the Great Ming Emperor had not thrown out the Doyan Three Guards, it was believed the Bayagud tribe would not have agreed. With the Doyan Three Guards on the table, annexing them became the most critical matter.

Strengthening one's own strength—nothing else mattered. As for what to do later, that depended on one's own power. On the grasslands, knives did the talking.

After they swallowed up the Doyan Three Guards, Nurhaci was beaten black and blue, and Qinghe and Tieling were both lost. Under such circumstances, they didn't have the guts to provoke the Great Ming either, since things weren't exactly harmonious among themselves, and so they had stayed quiet all this time.

Among the five tribes, the Bayot tribe posed the greatest sense of threat.

Over these eight years, the Bayot tribe had not been without other ideas—they had even differed with the Jarut over this matter—but in truth they didn't dare actually do anything.

Because over these eight years, the Great Ming had grown increasingly dominant in Liaodong, Hong Taiji had been beaten until he didn't dare come out at all, and the Liaodong army had become more and more elite.

Under such circumstances, the Bayot tribe dared not do anything. And after this latest incident, they dared even less.

This time the Great Ming hadn't just beaten Hong Taiji black and blue—they had killed him outright.

After the Jurchen were pacified, the Great Ming's strength in Liaodong reached unprecedented heights. Especially at this moment, the Great Ming had gathered over three hundred thousand troops in Liaodong.

The people of the Bayot tribe truly didn't dare make any rash moves—once they angered this Emperor of the Great Ming, the army that had just finished off the Jurchen might well turn its guns directly on them.

The Jarut weren't panicking now, but the Bayot tribe was starting to feel anxious.

Zhang Muhe glanced at Bahetu, a smile spreading across his face.

Now you know to be anxious—where were you earlier?

But Zhang Muhe only grumbled about this in his heart; he absolutely could not let his schadenfreude show on his face. Everyone was grasshoppers tied to the same rope now—they couldn't afford internal strife.

Although in previous years they had differed over the matter of dealing with Nurhaci, even nearly reaching the point of falling apart, that wasn't possible now. Even if they wanted to make trouble, this wasn't the time for it.

Zhang Muhe said, "In the end, we still have to hear what the Emperor of the Great Ming has to say. It's too early to be talking about all this now."

The others nodded, but Bahetu was still worried. He looked at Zhang Muhe and said, "I keep worrying about the Khorchin side. They're far closer to the Great Ming than we are, and their position is more advantageous too. If something really does happen, it'll probably be on their side."

Hearing this, the faces of the several men all turned grave.

Zhang Muhe looked at Bahetu and nodded, feeling that this time what he said made sense.

After pondering for a moment, Zhang Muhe said, "There's one more thing—you should all know of Bumbutai of the Khorchin, right? That woman who was originally meant to marry Hong Taiji."