Eastern Mongolian steppe.

Ever since the news about the fertile land of Northeast China spread from the Ming Dynasty, it has spread throughout the grassland with the help of Shanxi merchants.

A large number of grassland tribes began to migrate eastward.

Because according to the Shanxi merchants, the fertile land there can produce enough food. Whoever controls that land, the soldiers and people under his command will be free from hunger forever.

Such words sounded unreliable, but almost all the grassland nobles believed them.

Because they had heard about it from the Ming Dynasty through various connections and channels a long time ago, and it was a real thing.

It is said that the Ming Dynasty planned to relocate millions of farmers to Liaodong and Nurgan areas to cultivate the fertile land.

"If we go and fight the autumn wind, the whole tribe won't have to worry about hunger anymore."

Of course, the Mongols would not say that they were going there to farm. In their opinion, robbing was the quickest way.

As for the Ming Dynasty's border, almost seven out of ten Mongolian cavalrymen went to attack.

Because the output of the Mongolian grasslands is not enough for the survival of the tribes, even in some large tribes, many people starve to death every year. It can be said that hunger is a normal state for the Mongolians.

Even though they occupied the vast grasslands, they could only survive by relying on constant looting.

This has always been the case throughout history.

At present, the remaining Northern Yuan forces rule the areas adjacent to the Ming Dynasty border.

Further north is a union of more than a dozen large tribes.

To the west is the Oirat tribe, and a little further west is the territory of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, which is closer to the west.

In other words, the area connected with Liaodong and Nurgan belonged to the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

But rule is rule. In fact, there are still many tribes on the grasslands of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, which are only nominally under the jurisdiction of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Moreover, due to the migration of too many tribes, the current Northern Yuan forces are unable to stop them at all.

Therefore, more and more tribes gathered on the grasslands in eastern Mongolia.

Although Liaodong and Nurgan are currently under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, there is a problem here. The fertile land in the Northeast is already outside the Great Wall.

It is even hundreds of miles away from the Great Wall, which is a place that the Ming army cannot reach at present.

However, most of the tribes felt cheated after coming here.

Black soil does exist, but it is currently still barren, with no signs of being reclaimed, and we don’t even know when it will be reclaimed.

How long will it take for the people of Ming Dynasty to come? The tribes here are almost all starving to death.

In just two short months, a population of over three million has gathered in the eastern grasslands.

Even the Northern Yuan Dynasty couldn't control it.

What does it mean for more than three million grassland people to gather together?

If someone can integrate this force, he will be the next Genghis Khan.

Because for most grassland tribes, whether Mongolians or other races, the concept is basically that everyone is a soldier.

This means that among the three million grassland people gathered together, about one million of them can be used as soldiers.

At present, the total number of soldiers stationed in the Ming Dynasty is only over two million.

When Genghis Khan first unified the Mongolian people, there were only about 800,000 people.

Of course, the three million here refers to all the tribes combined.

As the saying goes, heroes are made by the times.

When so many people from the grassland gathered together, a chaotic situation ensued.

Almost the same as Zhu Ying's guess, a large number of grassland tribes began to fight and kill each other due to various conflicts.

It is like the turbulent times of the Central Plains dynasty, with heroes fighting each other.

A battle that lasted for several months began. Every day, a large number of people from all ethnic groups on the grassland died. Piles of tombs appeared, and the blood dyed the grassland red. Even the water in the rivers for hundreds of miles carried a hint of blood red.

For the Ming Dynasty, this was of course a great thing as the power of the grassland began to weaken.

The Northern Yuan Dynasty suffered greater damage in this process.

In fact, the Battle of Buir Lake had already caused the greatest defeat for the Northern Yuan nobles.

If before this they might have had hope of regaining their power and ruling the Central Plains, then this hope was completely shattered at this moment.

The Khan who currently rules the Northern Yuan Dynasty is Enkezhuolikitu, or it is more clear that he is Yesüder.

At that time, Lan Yu led an army of 150,000 to the north, and was only a hundred miles away from Toghon Temur's tent. Toghon Temur thought that the Ming army had not fought with Nahachu for long and was short of food and grass, so they would not go deep into the north to fight again, so he did not prepare to meet the enemy.

When the vanguard of the Ming army rushed to his camp, there was a lot of wind and sand, and no one could be seen more than a few dozen steps away.

The Ming army suddenly appeared, and Toghon Temur was unable to put up any effective resistance. Taiwei Manzi rushed into the battle hastily but was quickly defeated and killed.

Toghon Temur fled towards Karakorum with Crown Prince Tianbaonu, Minister Neqielai, Prime Minister Shiremen and dozens of others.

During his escape, Toghon Temur and his entourage met Yesuder at the Tula River. He and his crown prince Tianbaonu were killed by Yesuder, who then seized the position of Khan.

However, facing the current chaos, Yesudier is obviously unable to control it anymore.

As the saying goes, heroes emerge in troubled times.

Amidst the chaos of killing, a tribe quickly rose up.

…

"Grandpa, it was my grandson who didn't think it through. Instead, I helped them."

In the Ming Imperial Palace, Zhu Ying boarded a boat from Shanghai and quickly returned to the Ming capital.

Discuss countermeasures with the old man in the Qianqing Palace.

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw his eldest grandson again, he was naturally very happy and would never say anything blaming him.

"This cannot be blamed on my eldest grandson. No one could have imagined such a change. Even if it doesn't happen now, it will definitely happen in the future."

"It was able to grow stronger amidst the fighting among so many tribes, which shows that it had long been planning to fight against the Northern Yuan Dynasty. What happens on the battlefield is not something that can be accomplished by one person's brute force. It must have extremely elite soldiers and its own strategies."

"He is a descendant of Ogedei's illegitimate son, Hedan. He must have long ago decided to emulate his ancestor Genghis Khan."

Zhu Yuanzhang analyzed and said.

Although the grassland is now thousands of miles away from the capital, Zhu Yuanzhang can get a lot of information just from some simple intelligence.

Being able to build the Ming Dynasty from just a bowl, Zhu Yuanzhang obviously had a very keen talent in intelligence analysis. With so many years of experience and habits, even the smallest details could not escape his eyes.

The person the grandfather and grandson were talking about was none other than Borjigin Yuligtemur, whose fame was gradually rising in the eastern grasslands of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, he was called Guilichi.

Guilichi was the leader of the Qirghis tribe along the upper reaches of the Yenisei River.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang guessed correctly. A few years later, it was Guilichi who denied the sovereignty of the remnant Yuan emperor Elbek, defeated and killed him in the first year of Jianwen, and gained hegemony over all tribes.

One tribe overthrew the entire Northern Yuan Dynasty. One can imagine how long it had hidden its strength.

The growth of strength on the grassland cannot be accomplished in one or two years, especially under the nose of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

And this time, he was given the best opportunity.

"My grandson is not worried about Guilichi's growth. The key is that after this grassland war, the number of people gathered is too large, and the eastern grassland alone cannot support them."

"The fertile land they are fighting for now can only be described as wasteland. After this, they will definitely not talk about farming or anything like that. They will definitely turn their attention to our Ming Dynasty."

This is a very important issue at present.

Even if there are many casualties, a conservative estimate is that there will be 600,000 to 700,000 troops remaining.

On the border of the Ming Dynasty, there was no possibility of resistance to the 670,000 grassland warriors.

Even if we only count the elite troops, the number is at least 300,000.

Three hundred thousand troops may seem like nothing, but these are not others, they are the people of the grassland.

Among them, there may even be about 150,000 cavalry.

On the grassland, everyone is a soldier, and as long as they have a bow and arrow, almost all of them can become light cavalry.

Fifteen thousand light cavalry is a very terrifying existence, especially under the rule of one person.

This is also the reason why Zhu Ying ended his inspection in a hurry and quickly returned to the capital to discuss countermeasures with the old man.

"Don't worry too much, grandson. Not to mention whether Guilichi can really rule all the tribes, the Northern Yuan alone is a big challenge."

"Besides, after the fighting, the remaining troops must be exhausted."

"Why wait for them to invade our Ming Dynasty? Why not take this opportunity to have our Ming Dynasty soldiers go out and attack them directly?"

"They just want to invade our Ming Dynasty and steal our fertile land. This way, we can have a legitimate reason to do so and further weaken the power of the grasslands. Why not do it?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly, without any urgency in his tone.

Unlike Zhu Ying, Zhu Yuanzhang spent most of his life in war, especially in the early days, when he could almost be said to be often fighting against the strong with the weak.

In Zhu Ying's mind, the first thing he thought about was how to solve the current disaster, which is also a very correct idea for a normal person.

But Zhu Yuanzhang was different. His excellent military talent enabled him to seize the opportunity well.

The grassland seems to be on the verge of becoming strong, but in fact it is at its most vulnerable at this time.

When Zhu Ying heard the old man say this, he suddenly came to his senses.

After all, for Zhu Ying, war is not his strong point. How to revitalize the economy, or domestic development, is what Zhu Ying is good at.

However, the grandfather and grandson work together very well, complementing each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a moment, then said, "This time we are going to the grassland, I want you, my grandson, to lead the army."

Zhu Ying was stunned for a moment, but nodded immediately and said, "Okay, I'll listen to Grandpa."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Why don't you ask why we let you go?"

Zhu Ying thought for a moment and said, "Grandpa let his grandson go. Of course, he has his own ideas. I think it's for his grandson's good."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "My eldest grandson is good in everything, but he is very lacking in the field of war."

"We can see that the eldest grandson has many ideas, whether it is about Japan, Annan, Goryeo, or even overseas countries."

"On the grassland, Dasun has also been planning for a long time, but has not achieved any good results."

Zhu Ying replied: "Grandpa guessed correctly. Your grandson has been planning on the grassland for a long time. In fact, at the beginning, it was earlier than Goryeo. But until now, there has been no good development."

Zhu Ying originated in the Western Regions.

The Western Regions are close to the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, and Zhu Ying's first choice was naturally there.

Goryeo can be considered to be at the other end of the Far East.

Then, as things developed later on the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, although the power of the Heroes Chamber of Commerce was not small, it was only equivalent to a medium-sized grassland tribe, and because it was extremely scattered, it was unable to form cohesion at all.

Not to mention the qualifications to intervene or have a say in some matters on the grassland.

On the contrary, in the Goryeo region, which was thousands of miles across the Northern Yuan Dynasty and Liaodong region, a great breakthrough was achieved because some progress was known in advance.

All of this was clear to Zhu Yuanzhang.

"If the eldest grandson wants to conquer the world, controlling the soldiers is one aspect, but sometimes, he also needs more experience, especially in a big war."

"If it is a smooth victory, then we don't need to say much, but if we encounter a stalemate, the military report from the front will come, and the suggestions of the ministers in the court will be given."

"At this critical moment, it is up to the eldest grandson to make the choice himself."

Zhu Yuanzhang was well aware of his eldest grandson's ambitions.

This is also the reason why he has been worried. Now that he is old, he doesn’t have much time left.

For a country, the beginning and end of a war may only take several years, and according to Zhu Yuanzhang's current opinion, the areas that the eldest grandson wants to conquer should not be too many.

He wants it all, from east to west and north to south.

Zhu Yuanzhang was old, and his eldest grandson was too young.

He is already 65 years old and doesn't know how long he can live.

Ten years, twenty years?

However, even twenty years later, the eldest grandson was only thirty-nine years old, not yet forty.

Even for ordinary people, forty years old is considered the prime of life.

After that, if the eldest grandson encountered a choice about war, what would he choose?

Given the character of his eldest grandson, Zhu Yuanzhang could even think of continuing the fight.

But sometimes, war cannot be fought all the way. Only by making appropriate concessions can a better attack be launched.

Since the beginning of the campaign against Japan, Zhu Yuanzhang discovered his eldest grandson's weaknesses in war.

Simply put, it's control.

Regarding the current war in Japan, Dasun and Shangdao handled it in completely opposite ways, almost letting it develop without any control. This is not a good thing.

So after obtaining information about the grassland, although Zhu Yuanzhang was very reluctant, he finally decided to let his eldest grandson go.