Chapter 821: The Great Khan Has Come!

In the days when the sixth year of Hongxing of the Great Ming stepped into summer, the political situation in the Central Plains was in a strange state of harmony and concord. First, the Qing Empire's Gurun Princess Ajige was married far away to Nanjing — a grand funeral, no, a grand wedding! The Great Ming also gave plenty of face, granting Ajige the highest courtesy, even more splendid than when Lady Donggu had arrived back then.

Moreover, both sides seemed to have agreed in advance that during Ajige's marriage no one would mention the matter of "Ajige's dowry," as if the transfer of the Central Plains lands had never happened at all.

Of course, Ajige, who was only thirteen this year, could not immediately enter Zhu Cilang's rear palace. Like Lady Donggu before her, she was arranged to reside in Laoshan Palace and begin a four-year re-education, after which she would formally enter the palace.

And at the same time Ajige arrived at Laoshan Palace, the Zhu Emperor also changed his past style of "not being overly fond of women" and began his first "beauty selection" since taking power.

It seemed this rare wise ruler of the Great Ming was preparing to develop a little in the direction of debauchery and vice.

Besides marrying Ajige and the beauty selection, two other major events occurred in the first months of the sixth year of Hongxing. One was that Zheng Chagu bore another son for the Zhu Emperor at the beginning of the year, named Hezeng. Now Zhu Cilang already had five sons — Hehao, Heshang, Hechen, Hexing, and Hezeng — so there seemed no worry about lacking an heir.

The other major event was that the Great Ming's Ministry of Revenue successfully issued ten-year bonds with a face value of twenty million taels of silver, at a coupon rate of only five fen (annual interest).

Such low interest and such a long term, yet it turned out to be "supply falling short of demand," selling out completely in less than a month!

And at this time, in the northwest of the Central Plains, the originally calm situation suddenly underwent a drastic change. The three khans of the Khalkha Mongols and the allied forces of the fifteen tribes of the Inner Mongols began arriving one after another on the Hetao grasslands outside the Great Wall at Yulin Garrison.

This was a rare joint military expedition of the Inner and Outer Mongols! According to a secret envoy sent by the Ih Juu League, which was subordinate to Prince Dai Zhu Cijiong, the total number of the great Mongol army now massing in the northern Hetao grasslands very likely exceeded one hundred thousand!

And soon a Mongol Great Khan would lead his "Kheshig" from Dadu, and the Mongol host finally gathered at Hetao would reach one hundred twenty thousand!

A Mongol Great Khan and one hundred twenty thousand Mongol troops — this matter had a bit of a time-traveling flavor.

But within Yulin Garrison city, Prince Dai Zhu Cijiong did not dare take it lightly.

Although Yulin had not feared the Mongols for many years now, this time it was a Mongol Great Khan coming! And with as many as one hundred twenty thousand troops under his command, it sounded somewhat intimidating.

"A Mongol Great Khan? Old E, that would be a relative of yours, wouldn't it?"

"Distant kin, very, very distant kin. But with Your Highness, the relation is quite close."

"What? A relative of Ours? That is—"

"It is Ejei Jasagh Khan — your eldest brother's brother-in-law."

"So it's Fulin!"

Inside the Prince Dai's residence in Yulin city, Zhu Cijiong was at this moment speaking with an old Mongol. The old man was plump and jovial, looking not the least bit intimidating, and beside him followed a young Mongol girl who bore some resemblance to him, head lowered, face flushed, stealing glances at Zhu Cijiong, this "Third Crown Prince."

This old Mongol had some background. His surname was Borjigin, his given name Erinchen, a descendant of the "Little Prince" Dayan Khan, a legitimate descendant of the Golden Family, fully qualified to be Mongol Great Khan.

But his actual strength was lacking. In his hands was only an Ordos Tumen, and he was called "Jinong," meaning Prince. In the ninth year of Tiancong (1635), he had surrendered to the Qing and been enfeoffed as Jinong of the Ordos tribe.

Later, when Zhu Cijiong came over from Shanxi, this Erinchen had at first thought the Third Prince Zhu easy to bully and once sent troops to invade, only to be beaten to a pulp by a gang of fierce men who came out of Lüliang Mountain and Datong Prefecture. He then stopped being the Qing's "Jinong" and became the Third Prince's "Jigong" instead. Since Zhu Cilang was himself a king, he naturally could not enfeoff his subordinates as kings, so he secured for Erinchen the title of Ordos Commandery Duke — the present Great Ming had no such rank as Commandery Duke, but since Zhu Cijiong had submitted the memorial, Zhu Cilang simply approved it.

And this time Erinchen had brought his granddaughter Saren to become Zhu Cijiong's secondary consort, and incidentally to probe the Third Prince's confidence.

Zhu Cijiong's confidence looked very ample indeed!

He had returned from Nanjing to Yulin carrying firearms, gunpowder, and cloth worth several hundred thousand taels of silver. As soon as he returned, he summoned his generals and announced the method for reorganizing his troops — the Prince Dai's army had over forty thousand households, all allotted land in Yulin, Yan'an, Ningxia, and elsewhere. By the standard of one soldier per household, roughly forty thousand troops could be mustered. Because the origins of these troops were somewhat mixed, internal consolidation had always been a problem. Zhu Cijiong, Li Jiantai, Jiang Xiang, Gao Di, Luo Xiushen, and the others had labored for several years before things began to take shape.

Taking advantage of this opportunity of Zhu Cijiong's return from supplementary studies with great gains, it was the perfect time for a bold and sweeping reorganization. The army of over forty thousand men was organized by the standard of 2,500 men per regiment into sixteen regiments, of which four were cavalry regiments (not traditional cavalry, but firearm cavalry) and ten were infantry regiments. All were equipped as far as possible according to the standards of the Ming New Army — firearms and long guns in ample supply, only the breastplates somewhat fewer.

While reorganizing the army, Zhu Cijiong learned of the news that the great Mongol host was assembling in the northern Hetao grasslands, so he issued an order to Erinchen, who was subordinate to him, commanding him to send his granddaughter Saren to Yulin to become his secondary consort.

This was in fact forcing Erinchen to declare his position. If he refused to send his granddaughter, then Zhu Cijiong would immediately dispatch troops to slaughter the Ordos tribe in blood!

The Ordos tribe had in recent years acted as middlemen, selling firearms and ironware to the grasslands and selling horses to Yulin, and had truly earned quite a lot. If they still wavered between two sides, it would be just the right time to rob them!

But Erinchen was also an old fox and had long since found out clearly — the Qing's Brave Prince Dodo was not coming. At most, the "Mongol Great Khan" Shunzhi would come to the Hetao grasslands for a turn, and perhaps would not even approach Yulin, just stationing himself at Guihua City to go through the motions.

So Erinchen brought his granddaughter and came trotting happily to Yulin.

"Dodo really isn't coming?" Zhu Cijiong was still a little uneasy. He did not fear Fulin, but Dodo was still somewhat frightening.

"He isn't coming." Erinchen laughed. "Recently there's been trouble in Joseon, and Dodo has to go pacify it."

"What happened in Joseon?" Zhu Cijiong quickly inquired.

Erinchen said, "What else could it be? The lowborn are making trouble. In order to establish grain-transport stations between the Liao River bend and Xuanfu, Dodo wants to conscript eighty thousand Joseon laborers to build roads, farm, and construct fortifications — and they're forbidden to bring their families! That's driving people to death! How could the Joseon people not rebel?"

Dodo's oppression of the Joseon people seemed to have gone too far. After the latest "labor conscription order" was issued, unrest appeared in all eight provinces of Joseon, so Dodo mobilized twelve thousand troops to enter Joseon and personally stationed himself at Uiju in Joseon to supervise the conscription of laborers.

"If Dodo isn't coming, why is Fulin coming?" Zhu Cijiong was still somewhat doubtful.

"Of course he has to come!" Erinchen said. "Right now Wu Sangui and the Dzungars are attacking the Yarkent Khanate from both sides. The Yarkent Khanate is in such chaos — how could it hold out? Moreover, the Kazakh Khanate was also shattered last year, Bukhara doesn't dare move, and the Khoshut Khanate naturally cannot support the Yarkent Khanate. And once the Yarkent Khanate collapses, control of the link between Tibet and Mongolia will fall into the Great Ming's hands! Then how will Fulin remain Mongol Great Khan? The Mongols of today are not like in Genghis Khan's time — the lamas have half the say! If he dares not come, one decree from the great lama of Tibet, and the Mongol Great Khan might well be replaced."

That seemed to make sense.

Zhu Cijiong narrowed his eyes, was silent for a while, then turned his gaze to the slightly plump young Saren and smiled. "Today is a fine day, so let us not speak of state affairs. Saren, come over and let Us have a careful look at you!"

(End of Chapter)