During the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Mongolia could be divided into southern Mongolia, northern Mongolia and western Mongolia according to its region.
The Mongolians south of the Gobi Desert were located in the area of present-day Inner Mongolia, the Mongolians north of the Gobi Desert were located in Outer Mongolia and the area north of it, and the Mongolians west of the Gobi Desert were roughly located near Xinjiang and Kazakhstan.
There are a total of twenty-four tribes of varying sizes in southern Mongolia.
There are five relatively powerful tribes, from west to east they are the Ordos, the Western Tumed, the Chahar, the Khorchin and the Eastern Tumed.
The Mongolians in northern Mobei were mainly composed of the Khalkha tribe.
The Western Mongolians were the Oirats.
After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, the tribes on the grasslands remained in a state of chaos.
You hit me today, I hit you tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow our two families may join forces to fight the Ming army.
After the death of the last Khan of the Golden Family (Genghis Khan's family), Ligdan Khan, his son Ezhe handed over the imperial seal to Huang Taiji and was conferred the title of Prince Chahar of the Qing Dynasty.
Since then, the Golden Family lost its rule over other tribes on the grassland and also gave up the hope of unifying Mongolia.
After Ezhe died without a son, his younger brother Abunai (nai, fourth tone) was ordered to manage all the affairs of the Chahar tribe.
(The names of the people that appear below may be a bit difficult to pronounce, but they are all real people in history, so please forgive me, dear readers.)
On the grassland 500 miles north of Datong, Abunai was reading a letter from Jirgalang.
"Your Highness, what are people saying in Shengjing?" asked a plain-looking woman with an ordinary figure beside Abunai.
This woman's name is Aisin Gioro Makhata. Although she looks ordinary, her identity is extremely special.
One identity is Abunai’s wife, and another identity is Huang Taiji’s second daughter.
In order to maintain relations with the Mongolian tribes, Huang Taiji engaged in political marriages.
Makata was first married to Ezhe. After Ezhe's death, she married her younger brother Abunai according to the Mongolian custom of brother-brother marriage.
(Brother-to-brother marriage is an old custom. When a woman's husband dies, she must marry her husband's brother, and the brother must also marry her. During the Ming Dynasty, all Mongolian nomadic tribes and Jurchens had this custom. However, the Central Plains region strongly resisted this behavior. The Ming Dynasty law stipulated that anyone who married the widow of his father, uncle, or uncle would be beheaded, and anyone who married the widowed brother's wife or brother's wife would be hanged.)
Abunai glanced at Makata. Although his face was full of smiles, he felt extremely hateful in his heart.
On the surface, he was servile to the Jiannu, but in fact he was already dissatisfied in his heart, especially because of the death of his father, Ligdan Khan.
Historically, he did not attend the court for many years because of this, and was eventually tricked by Kangxi and imprisoned in Shengjing.
Abunai pushed the letter in front of his wife and said, "Shengjing said reinforcements will arrive soon, and asked me to find a way to delay this Ming army. Also... I haven't inherited the title of King of Chahar yet, so don't call me Prince in the future."
"Okay, Your Majesty!" Makata said with his hand covering his mouth.
Abunai shook his head speechlessly and did not refute.
Makata picked up the letter and read it twice. After reading it, he put it down and said, "Does the prince regret killing the Ming court envoy?"
"No, I don't regret it at all! The Chahar tribe has long since submitted to the Qing Dynasty. The Ming court's move is a challenge to the dignity of the Qing Dynasty. As the younger brother of the Chahar King, I must of course uphold the dignity of the Qing Dynasty!" Abunai said righteously.
Makata nodded with satisfaction: "Your Highness, you did the right thing. After the war is over, I will write to the emperor to let you inherit the title of prince."
"Thank you, ma'am!" Abunai rushed over as he spoke.
While the couple was fighting, Makata blushed and asked, "Our army lost the first battle. Does the prince have any ideas to deal with the Ming army?"
Abunai chuckled and said, "There are many ways. I have ordered all the troops to show weakness to the enemy and lure them into deeper territory. The main force of the Ming army is now 400 miles away from us. When it is 300 miles away from us, the cavalry I have arranged will go around behind the Ming army and attack its food supply route."
"Once the food supply is cut off, the Ming army will fall into chaos without a fight. Even if the reinforcements from Shengjing don't come, I can still eat up this group of Ming troops!"
"Your Highness... don't be careless. This Ming army is very powerful."
"Don't worry, I'm more powerful!" Inside the yurt, Abunai laughed like thunder.
......
In Yanghewei (now Yanggao County, Shanxi), Li Xingzhong, Liu Zhaoji, Tang Tong, Yan Yingyuan and others sat opposite each other.
Yan Yingyuan spoke first: "Everyone, He Jin, Gao Yigong and others have been in the grassland for half a month. In order to supply them with food and grass, I have requisitioned all the mules, horses and ox carts of the people in the city, but we can only barely supply them. We can't go deeper. First, the transportation time of food and grass will become longer, and second, the longer the food route is, the greater the risk of it being cut off."
Yan Yingyuan was indeed stumped by the problem of grain transportation.
He Jin's troops were always on the move, and the location of grain transportation was also changing, and the road conditions were also changing with the change of location.
Consumption during transportation increases accordingly.
If he went deeper, the men he had would not be able to meet the military needs of the front line.
Li Xingzhong shook his head slowly: "Your Majesty's order is to send troops to the grassland to conquer the Chahar tribe. We haven't even sent troops yet, so we're talking about withdrawing. Isn't that too hasty?"
"I didn't say to withdraw the troops, I was talking about the issue of food supply!" Yan Yingyuan said, tapping the table with his right index finger.
Li Xingzhong laughed: "After He Jin and his men sent out their troops, they have already wiped out all the Mongols within a radius of 150 miles. If they don't go any further...what's the difference between that and retreating?"
"What's more, transporting food and fodder is your job, Lord Yan. We, the generals, are only responsible for fighting," Li Xingzhong added.
Yan Yingyuan glanced at Li Xingzhong with some displeasure, coughed lightly and said to Liu Zhaoji: "General Liu, um... after you send out the troops, can you fight to support the war? In this way, you don't have to worry about logistical supplies."
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