Chapter 927: The North Rests on Your Shoulders! (Please Subscribe)

When Chechen Khan read out the words "Made in Russia in the Chongzhen year" in Chinese, Oboisky and Wu Keshan's faces turned pale with fright. Wu Keshan even shot Oboisky a reproachful look — what was going on? Weren't they all supposed to be engraved with Russian script? How had they ended up engraved with "Russia, Chongzhen year"? Did Russia even have a Chongzhen year? Russia's emperor was called Alexei, so shouldn't it be "Russia, the X year of Alexei"?

Oboisky, after all, was a man of broad experience. After a moment of panic, he had already thought of an explanation, and said with a smile: "This batch of muskets was actually made for the Dzungar tribe by a factory in Moscow Prefecture of Russia. Because the Dzungar tribe has already submitted to the Ming dynasty, and Sengge Khan has accepted the post of Grand Protector of the Northern Court from the Ming, the Russian craftsmen therefore engraved the words 'Russia, Chongzhen year.'"

"Oh, so that's how it is!" Chechen Khan thought for a moment. "Then how did these muskets that Russia was going to sell to the Dzungar tribe end up in the Chechen Khan tribe?"

"Because the outcome of the Ming-Qing war is already decided!" Oboisky said. "The Great Ming is about to unify the south of all under heaven, and has even stretched its claws into the north of all under heaven, which the Mongols occupy. If the Great Ming unifies north and south, then what Russia has gained through several generations of eastward expansion will sooner or later be taken by the Great Ming. Therefore Russia can no longer sell muskets to the Dzungar tribe, which has gone over to the Great Ming, and instead has sent this batch of muskets to the Chechen Khan tribe. If the Chechen Khan tribe, the Tushetu Khan tribe, the Jasaghtu Khan tribe, and Khorchin can unite and stand together against the Great Ming's running dogs, the Chahar and Tumed tribes, then even more muskets will be sent from Moscow!"

The "worldview" Oboisky spoke of was the mainstream worldview of the Ming period — all under heaven was not merely within the Great Wall, but included the entire domain of Yellow Hat Mongoldom!

Of course, the Ming and the Mongols disagreed over who was the master of all under heaven. In the Ming's view, the Ming had risen to replace the Yuan, the Yuan's mandate had ended, and the Ming was the master of all under heaven. The Northern Yuan was merely the "remnant Yuan," not the successor of the Yuan dynasty, but a remnant force of the former dynasty about to be wiped out — though, of course, treating the elimination of the Northern Yuan as a national mission was only true of the Hongwu and Yongle reigns.

But this mission was never completed. Although the remnant Yuan forces nearly collapsed under the successive campaigns of the two great rulers Hongwu and Yongle, the strategy of contraction begun under the Ren and Xuan emperors gave the remnant Yuan forces room to recover. By the Zhengtong reign of Emperor Yingzong, the Oirat Choros clan had replaced the Golden Family as the dominant power in the old Northern Yuan lands and began challenging the Ming's legitimacy as master of all under heaven. The Oirat leader Choros Esen even defeated the Ming army at the Battle of Tumu Fortress, captured Emperor Yingzong, and besieged Beijing.

From the Battle of Tumu Fortress onward, the Northern Yuan had revived, and in the eyes of the people beyond the Great Wall, all under heaven had become a contest between the Southern Ming and the Northern Yuan.

The marker of the Northern Yuan's extinction was the surrender of Ejei, son of Ligdan Khan, to Hong Taiji. With that, the Northern Yuan's dynastic line formally ended, and the mandate of the north of all under heaven, which had belonged to the Northern Yuan, passed to the Great Qing.

And the series of events — Shunzhi's escape by fire, Kangxi's surrender, the submission of the Dzungar, Chahar, and Tumed tribes to the Great Ming — meant that the mandate of the north of all under heaven had now passed to the Great Ming!

Therefore, in the view of Chechen Khan Babu, Zhu Cilang, having already obtained the mandate of the north of all under heaven, could not possibly stop halfway. Even if Emperor Zhu were willing to spare the lands north of the Gobi, the Chahar and Tumed tribes, who had gone over to Emperor Zhu, could not possibly spare the lands north of the Gobi or the Khorchin tribe of the Eastern Mongols.

Because faced with a powerful Great Ming, the Chahar and Tumed tribes had no way to profit by raiding south of the Great Wall; on the contrary, parts of their pasturelands along the Great Wall would be taken by the Ming. If the Chahar and Tumed tribes wanted to survive and develop, they had no choice but to lose to the Great Ming and take from the lands north of the Gobi.

Wu Keshan had by now also recovered his composure and began using his silver tongue to keep hoodwinking Babu Khan.

"Prince Babu," Wu Keshan said, "the Ming emperor is now using the strategy of driving dogs to herd sheep against us heroes of the lands north of the Gobi, wanting to use those two vicious dogs that have gone over to the Ming — the Chahar and the Tumed — to tear at us four tribes north of the Gobi. In the eyes of the Ming Son of Heaven, we four tribes north of the Gobi have no heroes, and we don't even qualify to be dogs for the Ming! If we don't unite to resist, then we truly will be left with nothing!

Anda Babu! We need not concern ourselves with what the Russians are scheming. We must look after the present — no matter what, we must first crush the Tumed and Chahar tribes! Otherwise, even if we were willing to be dogs for the Ming, the Ming wouldn't want us!"

Babu Khan sighed. Life was hard these days — even being a running dog required competitive hiring. Was there no justice left in the world?

Of course being a running dog required competitive hiring!

Because Emperor Zhu had to divide up territory among his running dogs, and there was only so much territory to distribute. So he couldn't recruit running dogs widely — otherwise there wouldn't be enough territory to go around!

What? The territory could be divided more finely to make it easier to control?

Emperor Zhu certainly knew that, but he was a master of all under heaven who reasoned and kept his word. Since the Chahar and Tumed tribes had sincerely submitted, and since he wanted to take most of their pasturelands south of the Gobi, he had to give the two tribes corresponding compensation.

At the very least, he had to give them an opportunity to seize territory north of the Gobi!

As for the question of subdividing the lands north of the Gobi, the policy of extending favor could only be implemented within the broad framework of the Chahar and Tumed tribes — he could not accept the submission of the three tribes north of the Gobi before the two tribes had even attempted to conquer those lands.

That is to say, after the Chahar and Tumed tribes conquered the lands north of the Gobi, the Ming emperor would still intervene in the question of enfeoffment within the two khanates' ruling houses.

After the New Year celebrations in Beijing, Abunai, leader of the Chahar tribe, and Batu, leader of the Tumed tribe, received an audience with Emperor Zhu. On the seventeenth day of the first month, the two of them entered the Hall of Ten Thousand Years in the Ten Thousand Years Mountain fortress.

After watching the two Mongol princes, dressed in Ming princely court robes, perform the grand ceremony of obeisance, Emperor Zhu smiled and pointed to two chairs that had long been set in place, saying: "Sit, sit and speak."

"Your subjects thank His Majesty the Great Emperor for granting us seats!"

The two Mongol princes did not stand on ceremony. After expressing their thanks, they each took their seats.

"Companion Pan, give the draft treaty to the two princes."

"As commanded."

Pan Shuchen immediately handed the two draft copies of the "Suzerain-Vassal Treaty," which had long been prepared, to Abunai and Batu.

Zhu Cilang's method of governing the Celestial Empire still carried traces of his previous life's business dealings — he not only worked hard to build trust, but also liked to use contracts and treaties to define the rights and obligations between suzerain and vassal, sovereign and subject.

Abunai and Batu had long known the contents of the treaty, because before the New Year they had been discussing the specific clauses with Zhu Cijiong, Shi Kefa, Yan Yingyuan, and others.

And the contents of the "Suzerain-Vassal Treaty" that the two of them were to sign differed from the treaties previously signed by vassal states such as Siam, Annam, Laos, Chenla, and Joseon. Because they did not yet have their own vassal state — Khalkha Mongolia was still in the hands of the three Khalkha tribes!

So this treaty mainly stipulated how the Great Ming should support the Chahar and Tumed tribes in seizing Khalkha, and also set out the two tribes' general routes of advance.

Of these, the Tumed tribe was in the west, with Karakorum as its objective. The Chahar tribe was in the east, with the region of the Tuul River and the Kherlen River as its objective.

The treaty also stipulated the status of the Chahar and Tumed tribes after seizing Khalkha — the two tribes would each establish a vassal state. The Chahar tribe's vassal state would be called the Chahar Khanate, and the Tumed tribe's vassal state would be called the Tumed Khanate. The leaders of both states would bear the title of Khan, and would submit to the Ming emperor, pay tribute, send hostage princes, and accept investiture.

In addition, the treaty stipulated that the two great khanates must implement a system of enfeoffment internally. Below the Khan, banner divisions would be established, and the investiture and succession of banner lords would likewise require the gracious approval of the Ming Son of Heaven.

Finally, the treaty stipulated that the Chahar Khanate and the Tumed Khanate would each honor a Great Khutuktu as the leader of the Yellow Hat faith, and that the reincarnations of these two Great Khutuktus must be carried out under the supervision of the Ming court, and receive imperial investiture before formally ascending the throne.