Chapter 217: Just Bluff It Through

"Bang!"

Hearing this, another burly man slammed the table and stood up, saying loudly: "That's no lie—for centuries, the pasturage rights to the Three Garrisons of Doyan have been ours, so how could they have been seized by those Jianzhou barbarians?"

"Never mind that Sunduleng is the chief of the Ongniud—compared to Urmai, he's just a woman waiting indoors to give birth!"

"Those Ongniud and Uruud people are weak sheep—they don't deserve to be called Uriankhai! Even less do they deserve to be called descendants of the great Genghis Khan!"

"Well said—they're a flock of sheep, worse than even the southern barbarians!"

"Stop talking, all of you—what if the Jianzhou people hear us, and we get another bloodbath? We Uriankhai are fierce and brave, sure, but what's the result? The Celestial Court doesn't care about us, and on our own we can't beat the Jianzhou. Are we supposed to go looking for death like fools just because of one southerner's words?"

Hearing most of the clansmen in the room begin to argue, displeasure gradually rose on Urmai's brow. He gave a light snort, and the room fell silent as a graveyard.

At this, Urmai's expression relaxed slightly, and he said in a deep voice: "Tell me, what did your Han Chinese Emperor say?"

"There was much said, but if I were to sum it all up, it comes down to just one thing: His Majesty knows the Uriankhai people are having a hard time. This official has come because His Majesty, mindful of your tribe's meritorious service in assisting Emperor Chengzu's campaign to quell the rebellion and settle the realm all those years ago, wishes to support your tribe."

Hearing this, Urmai—who had always wanted to ally with the Ming—now burst into loud laughter and mocked: "Save it! Over all these years, the territory you Han Chinese have lost is several times the size of my Doyan lands."

"Your Emperor offers generous support, and I, Urmai, on behalf of the entire Uriankhai tribe, am grateful for your Emperor's kindness. But the situation today is not the Wanli era, nor is it the Yongle era. My Uriankhai tribe may be barely surviving beneath the hooves of Jianzhou's horses, but your Great Ming can barely hold itself together either—how much better off are you than us?"

As he spoke, Urmai rose and, with great gusto, downed in one gulp the yellow earthy liquor that even Feng Quan found revolting to look at. Wiping his mouth, he sneered:

"Since you've come, let's settle this account! In just the last ten-plus years, how many times has your Great Ming's capital been besieged by Jianzhou? How many times has the border wall been breached by Jianzhou?"

"You say you'll support our Uriankhai tribe—well, tell me, with my tribe's several thousand warriors, tens of thousands of elderly, women, and children, plus our cattle, sheep, and countless people—what exactly are you going to support us with? Send troops? Or send people?"

Urmai gave a cold snort and sat down, slapping the armrest of his chair as he said: "I think you're just plotting to keep watch on us, same as Jianzhou does, aren't you? You want us to give our men and strength to work and fight for you. Once we lose, or when Jianzhou's iron cavalry comes, you'll probably tuck your tails and run just like you did in Liaodong, without a care for whether we live or die. That so-called merit of assisting Emperor Chengzu has probably long been tossed by your Emperor into the Nine Springs to meet the late emperor!"

In truth, before Urmai had even finished speaking, Feng Quan's heart was already blazing with fury. Fine, a fine bunch of northern barbarians—our Emperor, in his benevolence and magnanimity, wanted to recruit you, and not only do you fail to show gratitude, you even spout such utterly disrespectful words.

But Feng Quan was no ordinary man. He had been an official since the Tianqi reign, first siding with the Donglin, then attaching himself to the eunuch faction, and now jumping ship again to serve under the Emperor's faction. You can know a person's face but not their heart—though Feng Quan wore a grinning, easygoing look all day, anyone with discerning eyes could see that the depth of this man's scheming was in no way inferior to that of Wang Cheng'en, the Director of the Eastern Depot.

At once, not a trace of anger showed on Feng Quan's face. He smiled and asked: "May I ask, Chief—how many years has it been since Jianzhou proclaimed its khan and founded its so-called state? And how many years since they obtained the so-called imperial seal and declared themselves emperor?"

Everyone seated here were barbarians even cruder than the military officers inside the passes. Aside from the day when their own Genghis Khan enfeoffed the Uriankhai, how could they remember whether any other place had founded a state or not? After all, none of them lasted more than a few years before falling. Even Urmai wore a grim expression and shook his head to indicate he didn't know.

Seeing this, Feng Quan thought to himself that it was exactly as he had expected. He chuckled and said: "Since none of you know, I'll speak plainly."

"Beginning in the forty-fourth year of Wanli of our Celestial Court, the old barbarian chieftain falsely styled himself Great Khan, and that counted as founding their so-called state. To this day that's twenty-nine years—I'll generously round it up to thirty for them. Hah, that's really not short at all!"

"As for the barbarian chieftain Hong Taiji proclaiming himself a false emperor with a forged seal—ha, it hasn't even been ten years. Only nine."

Looking at the utterly bewildered Uriankhai tribesmen, Feng Quan suddenly changed his tone, raising his voice: "But do you know how many years our Great Ming dynasty has stood?"

"The glorious Great Ming, to this eighteenth year of Chongzhen, has stood for two hundred and seventy-seven years—nearly three hundred!" Seeing the shock rising on Urmai's face, Feng Quan gave a few cold laughs and continued:

"It's a pity Emperor Chengzu was too merciful, handing over the wild lands of Jianzhou to a pack of Jurchen barbarians who came seeking our court's protection to make a living. And it's a pity that Liaodong's Li Chengliang was merciful too—he should have raised his blade and struck, but instead he kept a little servant boy named Nurhaci to empty his chamber pot for him day after day. That's how we got today's so-called Great Qing. That's how we got the Eight Banners."

"In recent years, our Celestial Court had some internal matters that had to be dealt with, which let those Jianzhou grasshoppers hop around for quite a while—but that only lasted until last year! By now, the news should have reached beyond the passes, shouldn't it?"

As he spoke, Feng Quan deliberately watched the expressions of Urmai and everyone else in the room, and sure enough, he saw wariness appear on their faces. Only then did he feel at ease, and he laughed as he said:

"Our Great Ming, in the past year, drove Jianzhou north, pacified the roving bandits in the south, and beheaded the false prince Abatai in battle! As for that military review earlier this year, you've all heard of it—it was the grandest since the Yongle era of Emperor Chengzu."

"With all this, never mind restoring our former glory—how could our Great Ming possibly be compared to those Jianzhou barbarians?"

On Dorgon's side, they had sealed off this news very tightly to prevent any decline in Manchu prestige. Up until now, although Urmai knew that the Qing army had withdrawn from inside the passes last year, he had always assumed it was like the previous times—returning laden with plunder. He had no idea it was a defeat, nor that Doroi Beile Abatai had already died within the passes.

"Do you know why those Jianzhou barbarians pulled their troops back? To put down rebellions! In the past year alone, our Great Ming won great victories time and again, reestablished the key stronghold of Pidao, Han Chinese in Liaodong rushed to return to the court, and the Jin and Fu prefectures are now wreathed in the flames of war. Those Jianzhou barbarians are grasshoppers after autumn—they haven't many days left to hop!"

Urmai shot to his feet and asked excitedly: "Is this true!?"

"Heh heh." Feng Quan was quite straightforward and couldn't be bothered to explain further. He only said: "True or false—now that you, Urmai, know of it, sending someone to find out for yourself shouldn't be too hard, should it?"

Feng Quan also knew that if he tried to explain things to him in too much detail at this point, it would only be superfluous.

Besides, he wasn't just blowing hot air—when Feng Quan said these words, he had confidence behind them. After all, our Great Ming really did win all those impossible battles last year. After all, our Great Ming is blessed by heaven!

After all, our Great Ming's Emperor suddenly became as brilliant and martial as if possessed by the spirit of Emperor Taizu!