Chapter 197: Interest Is Always the Sole Starting Point for Choice

That round of drinking was, to be honest, utterly insipid.

At the banquet, both sides harbored their own secret schemes.

Cao Wenzhao was a man of few words; he drank two cups on his own, then refused to lift his cup again.

Those eyes, bloodshot from the battlefield, merely swept coolly across the room, and no one at the feast dared press him to drink further.

Wang Shide, on the other hand, truly refused no one; cup after cup of fermented mare's milk went down, a flush rising on his cheeks, yet his gaze remained so clear, showing not the slightest trace of drunkenness.

The Mongol nobles sought to pry from his lips the true state of the Great Ming and its next move, while Wang Shide, wielding his still somewhat callow political craft, probed the attitudes within the Mongol camp.

A pity, then, that both sides were amateurs, pecking back and forth and pecking at nothing but empty air.

The only solid piece of intelligence the Mongol princes and dukes obtained was that "Thousand-Li Lightning Platform" — between the capital and Datong, military orders could now be transmitted in an instant.

This, however, was precisely the information the Emperor had already authorized Wang Shide to reveal to them.

In terms of overall military strength, even with its border defenses decayed, the Great Ming still far surpassed the various Mongol tribes.

Yet when responding to incursions along the Nine Frontiers, it remained reactive in every way.

The crux was that the tribes beyond the frontier, once gathered, numbered in the thousands or tens of thousands.

The Great Ming was like a giant stricken with infantile paralysis, setting up defenses everywhere yet remaining weak everywhere.

Now, with the Thousand-Li Lightning Platform, across the Nine Frontiers and between multiple garrison towns, within a single day, they could coordinate with one another and advance together — so, are you afraid or not?!

— Of course, Wang Shide did not spell it out; it was merely a veiled intimidation.

The Mongols were half-convinced, half-doubtful, and still planned to ask the White Lotus sect people once the banquet dispersed.

After all, even when the White Lotus sect employed their secret arts, they could only cover a few hundred li in a day.

For the Great Ming to suddenly soar to a thousand li in a day was truly too exaggerated.

Could it be they were just throwing this out to bluff people?

In short, after a bout of chaotic eating and drinking on both sides, Wang Shide was not drunk, but his stomach, churned by the taste of the mare's milk, was in utter turmoil, and he could drink no more.

Seeing that nothing more could be pried out, the Mongols lost interest and, left with no choice, could only escort Wang Shide, Cao Wenzhao, and their party out of the city with great deference.

Once the Ming troops' figures vanished into the night, the assembled Mongol princes and nobles immediately regrouped inside that "palace."

Before discussing matters, one must settle scores with enemies; Prince of Shunyi Boshetu was the first to break the silence, his gaze sharp as a knife, stabbing straight at Sunang Taiji across from him.

"Sunang Taiji once said that my waiting for the Ming army was a foolish thing. What about now?"

"I ask you, what about now?"

Sunang Taiji's face instantly flushed crimson, yet he could only forcibly suppress his rage.

The Prince of Shunyi, pressing his advantage relentlessly, continued his furious tirade:

"If you had all heeded my words back then and waited just two more days at Jining Haizi, how could we have suffered this defeat!"

"Sunang Taiji, a great lord of the steppe cannot possess courage alone — that is a brute. He must also have wisdom as deep as a lake!"

"Boshetu!" Sunang Taiji flew into a towering rage and slammed the table as he shot to his feet. "Would waiting have guaranteed victory back then?!"

He glared at the Prince of Shunyi, spittle flying: "In my view, if we had not suffered that first defeat, the Ming army might never have truly joined the fight! This is clearly the Han people's usual trick of reaping the spoils while the fishermen fight!"

Seeing many present nodding in agreement, Sunang Taiji grew even more smug.

He spat a forceful "Peh!", his face full of contempt: "And you speak of wisdom like a lake. In my view, your wisdom is like the Black River in winter — long since dried up and parched, unable to sustain even a single fish!"

"You!" Boshetu erupted in fury, jabbing a finger at Sunang Taiji's nose and cursing, "You reckless fool with courage but no brains! It was precisely your rashness that cost the tribes so many warriors!"

"Still better than a coward as timid as a mouse!"

Their curses grew fiercer, and suddenly both lunged at each other, grappling in a brawl.

Fists thudded against leather coats, producing dull "thump thump" sounds.

"Enough!"

With an angry roar, Buyan Huang Taiji charged forward, slamming into the two locked combatants like a wild bull and violently knocking them apart.

He glared at the two men, still panting heavily, and said in a deep voice: "We are gathered here today not to listen to your quarrels! If you want to fight, get out, shut the door, and fight to your hearts' content!"

The two men glared at each other with fury, their chests heaving violently, but in the end, they did not strike again.

Inside the great tent, the atmosphere was so oppressive it was hard to breathe.

After a long while, Khan Ahai of the Kharchin tribe finally let out a long sigh and spoke, his voice hoarse.

"We have just seen the tiger out the front door, and now a fierce wolf enters through the back..."

At these words, the hearts of everyone in the tent sank.

"Where exactly did these six thousand elite cavalry come from?" Khan Ahai's eyes were filled with confusion and unease. "These are definitely not local troops from Datong, nor are they from Liaodong. The Liaodong side could not possibly have drawn away six thousand such crack cavalry in one go. This is very wrong."

Buyan Huang Taiji continued, his voice equally grave: "What is even more wrong is that they arrived too opportunely."

"How long has it been since that new Emperor ascended the throne? How could Mobile Corps Commander Ma be reinstated so quickly? And specially transferred to Datong? This reaction... is far too swift!" He paused, then voiced the question in everyone's mind. "Was this the Emperor's own arrangement, or the arrangement of those Han civil officials?"

Prince of Shunyi Boshetu shot a resentful glare at Sunang Taiji before speaking: "I am not clear on this matter either. We can find Guo Luan and his people, have them enter the passes to inquire. They understand the Han people's channels better than we do, after all."

He gave a cold laugh: "In any case, they are only more worried than we are that a formidable Emperor might emerge again on the Han side."

"This is not a good thing..." Khan Ahai sighed again.

For a moment, everyone fell silent. Inside the tent, only the "crackling" of the charcoal burning in the brazier could be heard.

The Mongol tribes had fought, traded at frontier trade markets, and paid tribute to the Great Ming for many years. While they could not claim to know the Ming's internal workings like the back of their hand, they had a basic understanding.

Normally, with the previous Emperor newly deceased and a new sovereign ascending the throne, the entire court, inside and out, would inevitably be in chaos.

Across the Nine Frontiers, with no one in command, control over the lands beyond the passes should have been at its absolute lowest.

A major operation like mobilizing six thousand elite cavalry beyond the frontier in one go was absolutely not something a Regional Commander or Governor of some border garrison could decide on his own; it would certainly require the nod of both the Great Ming Emperor and the civil official bloc in the Grand Secretariat.

This was also the fundamental reason Sunang Taiji had so vehemently opposed waiting for the Ming army earlier.

By all common sense, the Ming army simply should not have come this quickly, this resolutely.

But as it happened, the Ming army came!

And when they came, damn it all, it was six thousand ferocious, wolf-like elite troops!

The trend this foreshadowed was far more chilling to these steppe princes and dukes than the six thousand elite riders themselves.

If the Ming dynasty truly grew strong again, would these frontier trade markets still exist? Would it not be like a century ago, when they would sally beyond the passes at the slightest provocation to burn the grasslands, raze camps, and smash lairs?

No one wanted to live through bitter days like that again.

If you can make money lying down, why fight and kill?

And even if there had to be fighting and killing, it certainly should not be Ming troops chasing them down to do the fighting and killing.

In the end, it was the Prince of Shunyi who broke the silence: "Don't overthink it. Even if Guo Luan and his men cannot ferret out any news, we will know soon enough when we send our tribute mission to the capital."

He glanced at the bright sky outside the room. "Whatever the case, winter is upon us. Neither the Ming army nor the Chahar can move their blades again. If there is to be a fight, that is a matter for next year."

He shifted tack and raised another issue left over from before.

"But as things stand now, what do we do about the Jurchen?"

"We sent that letter over — how will Hong Taiji react? What if he starts snapping wildly and gives the Ming a pretext to move against us? Should we… send someone to intercept the letter?"

Khan Ahai and Buyan Hong Taiji spoke almost in unison: "Do not intercept it."

The two exchanged a glance, and Khan Ahai continued: "It is good to build a bridge first. The attitude of this emperor in the south is still unclear. Keeping a fallback for ourselves is always wise."

Buyan Hong Taiji nodded as well. "Today it is the Chahar tribe sweeping down on us — who knows if tomorrow it will be the Great Ming? I have heard that the Jurchen treat tribes who go over to them fairly well. Unlike Ligdan Khan, they basically do not annex others. A little more contact can do no harm…"

"As for the Ming finding a pretext to act…"

Buyan Hong Taiji shook his head. "If he means to act, he can find any pretext he wants. He could hardly be short of this one trifling letter."

"Fine," the Prince of Shunyi nodded. "That works. I will also ask Guo Luan about it later. I hear they have some connections with the Jurchen as well."

The others nodded, settling on this general stance.

Go over to the Jurchen? That was out of the question.

Nothing was more comfortable than doing business leaning on the Ming court. What could the Jurchen offer besides ginseng?

But throwing in fully with the Great Ming was no brilliant idea either.

Better to watch and wait a while longer.

The wolves of the steppe may lack much in the way of political cunning, but they are never short on the skill of watching the fire from the far shore and sizing up the man before setting the table.

After that, the group discussed how to apportion among the various tribes the two thousand warhorses and ten thousand head of cattle and sheep they had agreed to pay the Ming army as compensation.

Sure enough, the moment concrete interests were on the table, the Prince of Shunyi and Sunang Taiji nearly came to blows again over the quotas their respective tribes would bear.

Khan Ahai and Buyan Hong Taiji offered a few words of counsel, but seeing it was futile, they could not be bothered to wade further into that mess.

Only, just before everyone dispersed, Khan Ahai made a point of adding one final admonition.

"Remember — send someone to ask those sorcerers of the White Lotus sect. That 'Thousand-Li Lightning-Flash Tower': is it real or is it false?"