Chapter 563: Everyone Wants a Marriage Alliance with Daddy Ming

When Zhang Muhe brought up Bumbutai, the others all pricked up their ears and nodded.

Bumbutai's reputation on the grasslands had grown enormous over the past few years — partly because she had been beautiful since childhood and was genuinely captivating, earning her the title of the First Beauty of the Grasslands; and partly because the Khorchin had originally planned to marry her to Hong Taiji, but after forming an alliance with the Great Ming, this woman was now to be married to the Great Ming Emperor instead.

The people of the grasslands naturally understood what marriage alliances meant — they did this sort of thing often themselves, though it was even more common for them to turn on each other after the wedding.

But no one denied the importance of the marriage alliance policy. If the Khorchin truly married into the Great Ming imperial family, then whose side the Ming favored would go without saying.

"We should find a woman too," Bahetu said at this point. "What the Khorchin can do, we should do as well."

Hearing this, the others all glanced at Bahetu, something different flickering in their eyes.

Though they were united when facing outward, that didn't mean there were no disputes among them when they weren't.

Back then, the five tribes of the Inner Khalkha had nearly fallen apart over Nurhaci's affair, and some cracks had ultimately remained.

Zhang Muhe naturally understood what Bahetu meant. He sighed and said, "This won't be easy to pull off. When the Great Ming allied with the Khorchin back then, the situation in Liaodong was nothing like it is now. The Great Ming needed the Khorchin — that's why they chose to marry Bumbutai."

"Getting the Great Ming Emperor to agree to a marriage alliance now won't be easy. If we actually put it forward and the Great Ming Emperor refuses, we'll only lose face." Zhang Muhe said.

The others still showed no reaction, and Zhang Muhe knew his words had been wasted.

The interests at stake were simply too great — everyone's heart was stirred. Especially Bahetu's side; he had raised the proposal precisely because he wanted to push this matter forward aggressively, even hoping the woman would come from his own tribe.

The five families were of one mind, but when it came to fighting over benefits, none would let them go to others.

Bahetu spoke up again, saying directly: "I think we should still give it a try. The Great Ming Emperor shouldn't ignore us entirely. After all, they don't want the Khorchin to grow too big, do they? Someone needs to serve as a counterweight — Wukeshan and his father are very ambitious. We can hint at that discreetly."

"As for the woman this time, I can provide her. I'm sure everyone knows the situation of my tribe — we're already at a disadvantage compared to you all. This is precisely the chance for my tribe to improve its relations with the Great Ming. Let me have this opportunity."

It sounded reasonable enough, but who would be willing to let this chance slip by?

Zhang Muhe objected immediately. He currently had the best relations with the Great Ming — if Bahetu provided the woman, problems would easily arise, and Bahetu would replace his position.

Once benefits were in hand, who would willingly give them away?

The other tribes felt the same way — who didn't want more benefits? Why should Bahetu's tribe get them?

You were the one who stirred up trouble back then — we never even dealt with you for it, and now you dare come asking for benefits?

You're the least qualified of all. You sided with Nurhaci back then — calling you a traitor to everyone wouldn't be an exaggeration.

And now you actually come here asking for benefits?

You're certainly dreaming big!

But those words couldn't be said outright. Zhang Muhe said, "We can't look at this from our own perspective — we need to look at it from the Great Ming Emperor's. Saying we should try is indeed possible, since the Great Ming Emperor ultimately does need us."

Zhang Muhe walked back his earlier words — clearly, if he didn't agree, these families would just go do it behind his back anyway.

It was plain to see that once this proposal was out, there was no stopping it.

There was some risk, to be sure, but compared to the benefits to be gained, that risk counted for nothing.

Under such circumstances, since he couldn't stop it, the only option was to go along — and to fight hard for as much benefit as possible. In this kind of maneuvering, it wouldn't take much effort at all.

Zhang Muhe continued: "A woman the Great Ming Emperor wants to marry naturally has to be outstanding enough. Besides being beautiful, she needs other merits as well."

"After all, the Great Ming Emperor possesses all under heaven — what kind of woman hasn't he seen? Winning his favor won't be easy. If only one family provides her, it might well backfire."

That broadened the scope of the discussion.

The others nodded along beside him.

Bahetu's expression turned very ugly — these families were clearly all ganging up on him alone.

But there was nothing he could do about it. Of course they'd never agree to let such benefits be snatched from their own hands. His tribe was teetering on the edge of danger and needed this opportunity. Giving up was impossible — he'd have to think of another way.

Bahetu truly had no solution. If his tribe could produce a woman like that one from the Yehe Nara, there would be no problem at all.

But the fact was they couldn't — there just weren't that many Yehe Nara women around! That was exactly why they had to fight for the chance.

Bahetu raised his head, looked at the others, and said directly: "Well, we can't each send one woman — what would that even look like? In the end, there has to be a single candidate. Do you all have any suitable candidates?"

Of course they didn't have suitable candidates on hand — but they could go back and pick one. There were plenty of people in the tribes, plenty of daughters among the nobles. Was there any shortage of girls of the right age?

Find one, and if she's suitable, send her over.

So even with Bahetu saying that, no one backed out.

"Send the message back," Zhang Muhe said from the side.

He didn't want to keep arguing with these men — arguing further was pointless, since none of them could make the final decision anyway.

So they'd send the message back and let their families deliberate. After all, the five tribes would surely be able to negotiate some result among themselves. When that time came, the people here could just carry out the task.

The others had nothing more to say about Zhang Muhe's suggestion. If they couldn't talk it out, then they couldn't talk it out.

Bahetu was somewhat disappointed — he had wanted to see this matter through. But judging from the others' attitudes, he knew it probably wouldn't work out.

Meanwhile, in Zhu Youxiao's residence.

Watching Chen Hong walk in, Zhu Youxiao raised an eyelid and asked, "The message has been sent over?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. The message has been sent." Chen Hong hurriedly replied. "But there's another piece of news — the five representatives from the Inner Khalkha tribes are deliberating. They want to form a marriage alliance with Your Majesty, to send a woman to you."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao opened his eyes.

Glancing at Chen Hong, Zhu Youxiao asked, "Have they reached an agreement?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, not yet. Each of their tribes wants to provide the woman, and everyone is trying to suppress the others and elevate themselves — they've already started quarreling. A message should arrive shortly." Chen Hong looked at Zhu Youxiao and said with a respectful demeanor.

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao let out a helpless sigh.

In fact, it wasn't just the five tribes of the Inner Khalkha who had this idea. Over the past few days, Mongol tribes large and small had already done plenty of this sort of thing.

After all, with Bumbutai's precedent set, everyone knew the Great Ming Emperor didn't reject marriage alliances.

That made things easy — if you don't reject her, you can hardly reject me either, right?

So the smaller tribes grew even more enthusiastic. To them, what was face worth? They certainly wouldn't think that far ahead. These past few days they'd been going roundabout ways to send women to Zhu Youxiao, annoying him beyond measure.

If he accepted all of them, everything would descend into chaos. His palace barely had a few women as it was — if he brought all these back, wouldn't there be over a hundred women?

That would be insane — the palace would be full of Mongols, and his ministers would all go mad.

Besides, his stamina really wasn't that strong — he wasn't a master of time management. With his level of time-management skill, he genuinely couldn't handle it.

Zhu Youxiao had no desire to suffer premature decline while still young. He had needs in that regard, to be sure, but it wasn't everything.

He still had many things to do — he couldn't court death.

But refusing all of them wouldn't do either. If he accepted none, the Khorchin would become a special case.

That wouldn't be good, so he still had to accept some. The only question was who to choose and who to leave out — that had become a difficult problem, giving Zhu Youxiao a very, very bad headache.

The key issue was whether these women, once brought back, would create any trouble.

After all, they were all Mongols — born on the opposite side of the line from the women already in the palace. Once the chosen ones arrived at court, they would certainly band together, and the palace might well turn into a battlefield.

Zhu Youxiao had no desire to see the harem torn apart by infighting — if that happened, everything would be ruined.

Consider this: Hong Taiji's harem was filled with all sorts of women, and their fights never ended. The women of the Khorchin tribe were constantly stirring things up in his harem, and so were the women of the Yehe clan.

Zhu Youxiao had no intention of letting them make a racket — he'd be too busy mediating their disputes to do anything else. And if a few of them actually ended up dead, that would be even worse.

With a sigh, Zhu Youxiao rose to his feet and walked outside.

He couldn't take it anymore — he needed to breathe some fresh air. The pressure from women was simply too much.

He never imagined he'd have a day where he was troubled by women.

Suddenly, someone ran in from outside, whispered a few words into Chen Hong's ear, and was dismissed by Chen Hong.

Coming to Zhu Youxiao's side, Chen Hong said, "Your Majesty, word has arrived. They couldn't reach an agreement — everyone wants to send someone."

"Someone proposed that each tribe send one woman, but that was rejected. Now they've sent word back home, hoping their families can work out some kind of result."

Letting out a helpless sigh, Zhu Youxiao asked in a deeply resigned tone, "Is that Joseon king also going to send a daughter over?"