In Zhu Youxiao's opinion, the five Inner Khalkha tribes were quite capable and could be supported to directly attack the forces of the Later Jin.
When Nurhaci attacked Tieling, an important city in Liaodong, the Ming army was short of soldiers and generals, and the situation was precarious. The Inner Khalkha Alliance sent Zaisai to lead an army of 10,000 to rescue Tieling.
Unfortunately, the Ming army did not hold out until the arrival of the reinforcements, and Tieling fell.
Nurhaci then led the well-rested and high-spirited Later Jin army to meet Zaisai's reinforcements head-on. The Mongolian army was defeated, and even the commander Zaisai and his two sons were captured.
At that time, the leader of the Inner Khalkha Alliance, Zhuoliktu, was already old, and the main affairs of the alliance were managed by the young and energetic Zaisai, who was already the actual leader and the candidate for the future leader.
The capture of Zaisai not only frightened the five Inner Khalkha tribes and made them at a loss, but also made Nurhaci value Zaisai as a rare treasure. With Zaisai as a hostage, the five Inner Khalkha tribes had to send envoys to ask for peace and form an alliance with Nurhaci.
Originally, this forced "alliance" was just a temporary measure, but Lin Danhan was furious about it.
Not only did he regard the five Inner Khalkha tribes as the target of "internal pacification", he also took his anger out on Sirhunak Taiji, the minister who was in charge of 30,000 households on the left wing, suspecting that he was secretly connected with Nurhaci.
Zhu Youxiao made winning over Inner Khalkha a diplomatic priority because he saw the awkward position of Inner Khalkha sandwiched between Ligdan Khan and the Later Jin.
If Lin Danhan's "internal pacification" campaign forced the five Inner Khalkha tribes into a desperate situation, Zhu Youxiao was willing to give them a way out to prevent them from surrendering to the Later Jin and unnecessarily strengthening the Later Jin's power.
Diplomatic efforts had little effect at the time because the situation was complicated and difficult to decide.
However, the Later Jin suffered another crushing defeat in Ningyuan, and Ligdan Khan's "internal pacification" campaign began to escalate, finally forcing the five Inner Khalkha tribes to make a decision favorable to the Ming court.
When the memorial was rushed to the capital and reviewed by Zhu You, he couldn't help but slap the table excitedly and praised: "Very good, very good."
Xiong Tingbi reported in his memorial that Labashishibu, Sonom, Manggo Taiji and others from the five Inner Khalkha tribes planned to lead their 500 households each to surrender. He had ordered Man Gui to lead the Mongolian naturalized cavalry to Jinzhou and Dalinghhe, and go to Yixian to prepare for the support.
Unite all forces that can be united and fight against the Later Jin with all our strength. Although it may be temporary, it is a good start.
Zhu Youxiao picked up his pen and wrote a reply to Xiong Tingbi.
Obviously, accepting the surrendered Mongol taijis would certainly make Ligdan Khan unhappy, and even resentful. But in the long run, if Ligdan Khan was allowed to go crazy without any care, the only one who would benefit would be the Later Jin.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao had to find a reason to try his best to maintain the alliance with Ligdan Khan and use all his energy to deal with the Later Jin.
"Submission and naturalization" should be considered a satisfactory excuse. If it was just sheltering, wouldn't it be clearly standing on the opposite side of Ligdan Khan in the internal struggle of Mongolia?
Zhu Youxiao will also send envoys to the Chahar tribe again to persuade Ligdan Khan not to stir up internal strife at this time and affect the alliance to jointly fight against the Later Jin.
In fact, this was just the best he could do. Zhu Youxiao did not think that Lin Danhan would listen to his advice and stop the process of unifying Mongolia.
The reason is very simple, and of course it is also from the perspective of Ligdan Khan. The war between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty provided Ligdan Khan with a very good external environment for unifying Mongolia.
Since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the complete destruction of the Mongol regime has been its unchanging goal. Although it switched to a defensive position after the Yongle period, the military pressure of the Ming army was still a huge obstacle to the rise of the Mongols.
Now, the Ming army was tied up by the Later Jin, and it also relaxed its efforts to divide and disintegrate the Mongolian tribes. Not only did it relax its efforts to divide and disintegrate the Mongolian tribes, but it also wanted to win over Ligdan Khan to fight against the Later Jin.
Coupled with the economic power gained from trade and rewards, Lin Danhan felt that the timing was good and that there were channels to obtain supplies, so it was not so surprising.
But in fact, Lin Danhan obviously overestimated his intelligence and strength. The opportunity was good, but it was given to those who were prepared and capable, not to him, a big fool.
Let's take a look. As the nominal Khan of all Mongolia, the strength that Lindanbatu relied on was the eight major camps of Chahar: Hoqit, Naiman, Keshiketeng, Ujumchin, Sunite, Aohan, Alakezhuot and Zhuxiti.
The total population of the Chahar tribe is about 100,000, and it is indeed the strongest among the Mongolian tribes.
There is nothing wrong with the idea of unifying Mongolia by pacifying the country before fighting against foreign enemies. Both Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan did the same.
But Lin Danhan only saw the surface and learned the basics, but ignored the most important and powerful move of his ancestors.
Genghis Khan was able to rise to power because he broke the loose and aggregated system in which each Mongolian nobleman led a certain region and invented the "Wanhu" system.
Only by breaking the restrictions of each tribe and having generals appointed by Genghis Khan himself lead each Wanhu can military orders be unified and enforced.
Similarly, there is the "Meng-an-Mouke" system invented by Wanyan Aguda, the ancestor of the Jurchens. Nurhaci learned from it and used the Eight Banners system to completely unite the Jurchens.
Lindan Batur, on the other hand, had learned neither the wisdom of his ancestors nor the strengths of his enemies. The eight Chahar camps under his direct command were completely divided and governed, with each camp leader having complete authority over his own tribe.
He is still trying to "pacify the country" and has not even "pacified" his own Chahar tribe, but he is thinking about unifying other Mongolian tribes. I don't know where Lindan Batur gets his confidence from?
Zhu Youxiao was too lazy to complain about this ambitious but incompetent "Khan". You are messing around without even considering the time. You are only increasing the power of the Later Jin and affecting my five-year plan to pacify the Liao Dynasty, okay?
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