Hulunbuir Prairie is the ancestral land of the Mongolian people.
It is precisely because of this natural pasture that so many excellent war horses can be raised.
Genghis Khan Temujin’s ability to establish the vast Mongol Empire was directly related to the Hulunbuir grassland.
Genghis Khan's rise to prominence only came after he seized control of the Hulunbuir grassland.
Throughout the ages, this place has been a battleground for all tribes on the grassland, and only the most powerful tribe can own this pasture.
Of course, since Temujin, this place has been the Mongolian private land.
The highest honors for a military general, namely, Fenglangjuxu, Zen in Guyan, and Drinking Horses from the Vast Sea, all refer to this place.
Langjuxu is a mountain. During the Western Han Dynasty, Langjuxu Mountain was where the Huns worshipped gods. It was a sacred place for the Huns. Ordinary people were not allowed to climb up the mountain, so this is called Fenglangjuxu.
Guyan is also a mountain, and like Langjuxu, it is also a place where the Huns worship gods.
The vast sea is not an ocean, but a huge freshwater lake. It is just too wide, so it looks like an ocean. This is the Beiler Lake in the Hulunbuir Prairie.
The one who fought here that year was the champion Hou Huo Qubing.
But today, there is one more person, King Qin Zhu Chong.
"Where can you escape to? Since we are on the Northern Expedition grassland, we can't miss Hulunbuir. I don't believe that the Mongols don't even want this grassland and abandon their ancestral land and leave."
"Once I conquer the Hulunbuir grassland, it will be time to seal the Wolf's Lair, hahahaha!!!"
Zhu Chong, riding on a horse, laughed heartily.
At the beginning, he didn't think about pursuing the Tatars.
As the eldest of all the kings and the second son of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Chong received a very good upbringing since childhood. Apart from Zhu Biao, he was the only one.
Zhu Yuanzhang placed high hopes on him at the beginning.
He hoped that Zhu Chong could help his elder brother Zhu Biao to stabilize the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Chong lived up to everyone's expectations and showed excellent military talent since he was a child. When he was training troops in those years, he made Zhu Yuanzhang very satisfied.
Xi'an, which was originally intended to be the capital, was assigned to Zhu Chong as a vassal state, which shows how much he valued him.
In fact, apart from being cruel and ruthless, Zhu Chong was also very capable. At least when Zhu Di was in front of him, he had to lower his head when speaking to him.
Historically, if Zhu Chong had not died, Zhu Di would not have been able to seize the throne.
He was poisoned to death because he was too cruel.
However, when Zhu Ying entered the capital, Deng was sentenced to death because of his relationship. Zhu Chong became much more restrained without Deng's cooperation. The key point was that Zhu Ying did not give him the opportunity to return to his fiefdom, so he was not poisoned to death.
Of course, Zhu Chong in Japan continued to massacre and kill people. It is easy to change the country but difficult to change one's nature.
This time, in response to his father's dispatch, Zhu Chong headed straight for the Hulunbuir grassland. He thought that he could also be granted the title of Liang Juxu.
"The barbarians have occupied our Central Plains for nearly a hundred years. Today, I, the king, have come to the ancestral temple of the barbarians and ordered my soldiers to slaughter people for three days to comfort the spirits of our ancestors in the Central Plains."
Zhu Chong said with a sneer, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, looking like a real villain.
"Yes, sir."
Under Zhu Chong's command, 200,000 soldiers dispersed and committed murderous acts, slaughtering the entire Hulunbuir grassland in succession.
Many herdsmen live here. The grassland cavalry can run, but they cannot, because only here can they feed a large number of cattle and sheep.
Zhu Chong's army was advancing deep into the enemy's territory alone, and logistical supply had become a problem. He now plundered the cattle and sheep of these herdsmen as military rations.
Hulunbuir, as the ancestral home of Mongolia, is a holy place in the hearts of many Mongolians.
Zhu Chong's behavior greatly provoked them, and the Mongols who heard the news became very angry.
Even Huo Qubing did not do such a thing back then.
But at this time they forgot that what Zhu Chong did was just to return to them what they had done when they went south to beg for money.
They went south to plunder and treated the Han people like sheep without any mercy.
Among the Tatar tribe.
Guilichi could no longer hide.
As the Khan of Mongolia, if he allowed Zhu Chong to slaughter people at will on the grassland, his dignity would be completely trampled upon.
Even the Qirgis tribe has many relatives living in Hulunbuir. Now their relatives are being slaughtered, and they can only flee. How can they tolerate this?
However, Guilichi knew that he could not fight against the Ming army alone. Even if he could win, it would be a pyrrhic victory. Not only himself but also the Qirgis tribe would suffer huge losses. It would be a pipe dream for him to think of seizing control of the grassland again.
So Guilichi sent a large number of envoys to the Oirat, the Asut, and other Mongolian tribes large and small.
He persuaded everyone to temporarily put aside their prejudices and unite to fight against the invasion of the Ming army.
Choros Mahamu.
His father is Haohai Dayu.
As a powerful official in the Northern Yuan Dynasty, Haohaidayu naturally gained a lot of benefits for his tribe.
Under Haohaidayu's manipulation, the Northern Yuan Emperor Elbek Khan married his daughter Princess Samur to his son Mahamu, and appointed him as prime minister, commanding the various Oirat tribes.
Mahamu, Taiping and Batubolo led the various tribes of the Oirat respectively. In name, Mahamu was the chief, and the other two had to obey his orders.
Hao Hai Dayu, who was originally killed by a plot of alienation, died at the hands of Guilichi due to changes in history.
This made Mahamu extremely hateful towards Guilichi. When Guilichi established the Mongolian Empire, Mahamu did not recognize his right to rule and led the Oirat to split, which is commonly known as Eastern Mongolia.
"The Prime Minister should put aside our prejudices and work together to deal with the invasion of the Ming army. No matter how we fight among ourselves on the grassland, it is our own family's business. But the Ming army is different. They are our common enemy."
"The Prime Minister should have heard about the situation in the Wuliangha region. They submitted to the Ming Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty did not fulfill its promise. Instead, it took all the grassland people in the Wuliangha region to the Daqing Mountains."
"They are now being used as slaves to build the city. It is said that even Azhashri and his people can only eat meager food every day, carry heavy stones, and work with other untouchables."
"This time the Ming Dynasty is different from the past. They have brought more than a million people and they really want to occupy the entire grassland, not just to show off their military strength as before."
"If we lose, then only the Prime Minister will be left. Will the Prime Minister lead his people back to the vast forest and live like monkeys again?"
The words of the Tatar envoy temporarily put Mahamu's hatred aside, and his original idea of watching the Tatars die also changed.
It has to be said that the Tatar envoys were eloquent and good at speaking.
After all, they were not grassland people, but Han families who migrated with the Northern Yuan Dynasty.
After the Northern Yuan Dynasty was destroyed, these Han families naturally surrendered to Guilichi, and their official positions did not change much.
It was just a change of emperor, which seemed normal to them.
This is different from the Ming Dynasty, because the Mongols are still the emperors, so there will not be such things as preferring death to loyalty. The most important thing is that their power is well protected.
Seeing Mahamu's hesitation, the messenger continued, "We have received news that the Ming army has also sent the Prince of Jin to lead an army of 200,000 to the Prime Minister's place. The reason why they haven't arrived yet is because the journey is long and it will take some time."
"The King of Jin of the Ming Dynasty is notoriously cruel. He even slaughtered his own soldiers wantonly. Does the Prime Minister still expect to live a good life after surrendering?"
"The actions of the Prince of Yan were rewarded by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, which means that this was not the personal intention of the Prince of Yan. Then the Prince of Jin of the Ming Dynasty will be even more brutal. Even if the Prime Minister does not unite with us, he will still face the attack of the Ming army."
Mahamu was persuaded.
In fact, he really wanted to make peace with the Ming army and submit to the Ming Dynasty.
Of course he also received news about the Wulanha, but he believed that the Oirat was different from the Wulanha.
Because the Wuriankhai surrendered to the Ming Dynasty and then rebelled, the Ming Dynasty no longer trusted them.
The Oirat was located in the eastern Mongolian region, which was even farther away from the Ming Dynasty. He felt that the Ming Dynasty should accept his surrender and allow the Oirat to continue to rule this area.
But after hearing the messenger's words, Mahamu wavered in his original idea.
He did not immediately agree to the Tatar envoy's request, but instead called Taiping and Tubolo to discuss the matter together.
Batuboluo said angrily: "The damned Ming people have occupied our most fertile grasslands. They have no intention of leaving. The Ming emperor wants to be the Khan of our grasslands and rule us forever."
"How can a wolf bow to a sheep? How can a warrior living on horseback surrender to the Han people? We should gather the warriors and let these Han people know who is the real master of the grassland."
Taiping also said: "The Ming army built a city on the grassland. They want to rule us like they rule the south. They want to turn the warriors on horseback into untouchables who only know how to farm. This is against the will of Changshengtian."
"We should unite with the Tatars and the various tribes on the grasslands to drive these Ming people out. It has always been our warriors who went south to plunder. How can we allow them to come to our grasslands?"
Taiping and Batu Boluo did not have the same hatred for their father's murder as Mahamu, so they naturally agreed to unite with the Tatar tribe.
Anyone with a discerning eye knows that the current Ming army is too powerful. If they do not unite together, they will only be defeated separately. The Uriankhai is the best example.
When Mahamu heard this, he immediately agreed to the Tatar envoy's request for an alliance.
There is no problem with Wala, let alone Aluta.
Because the people of the three guards of Doyan were taken away, the various tribes of Alutai were very angry and vowed to make the Ming army pay a huge price.
From then on, all forces on the grassland united to fight against the Ming Dynasty.
The Mongols are collectively called Duqin Durben, which means forty-four in Mongolian, which means that the Mongols have a population of 440,000 households.
Of course, this is a figurative reference, not a literal one. After all, Mongolians are highly illiterate and will not conduct a population census. This just implies that there are a lot of Mongolians.
However, this time, the Oirat Mongols dispatched nearly 200,000 cavalry to attack the Ming Dynasty.
This number sounds a bit scary, but it is actually not that serious.
Most of the cavalry here are grassland people from various tribes of the Oirat. Even if they ride on horses, the youngest may be only thirteen or fourteen years old, and the oldest may be in their sixties or seventies.
The original Mongolian recruitment system was to recruit one out of every two men and two out of every three men. However, this time, in order to deal with the powerful Ming army, they implemented a policy of recruiting one out of every household, which was a real way to cut off the source of the problem.
Mahamu led the army to the war. In order to prevent his hometown from being stolen by King Jin, he ordered his people to migrate farther to avoid the Ming army. He and the other two leaders set out from the other side and headed for Hulunbuir.
This time, everyone's first target is the Ming Dynasty's Qin King who is wreaking havoc in Hulunbuir.
Hulunbuir is a holy land for the Mongolians, and they are determined to take it back no matter what the cost.
At this time, it was already late July.
Because of the Ming Dynasty's embargo, the people on the grassland are now extremely short of food, weapons, medicine and other necessities.
If we fail to seize enough supplies from the Ming Dynasty this time, this winter will be very difficult.
On the grassland, the messengers of the grassland tribes were faster than the Ming army.
Because the messengers who delivered the messages all rode two horses, working day and night and even sleeping on horseback.
Zhu Chong in Hulunbuir did not know at this time that hundreds of thousands of cavalry were coming to encircle him, and he was still constantly capturing or killing grassland herdsmen.
Zhu Chong, who had captured tens of thousands of people, did not rush to escort them to Daqing Mountain to build a city like Zhu Di did. Instead, he imprisoned them for his own amusement.
The bonfire parties that were popular every day would throw a large number of corpses into the fire.
In just half a month, more than 10,000 herdsmen were consumed.
Finally, the deputy general persuaded him to stop, saying that too many people would die and His Majesty would be unhappy.
However, at this time, almost all the grassland nobles in Hulunbuir had been killed by Zhu Chong.
When Zhu Chong killed people, he only targeted the grassland nobles.
According to the Ming Dynasty's plan for the grassland, the goal was to change the class structure of grassland society. Zhu Chong believed that he was just using the quickest way.
It was also because of the death of a large number of grassland nobles that the captives imprisoned by Zhu Chong did not cause much riot, because almost all of their leaders were killed by Zhu Chong.
It is difficult for the lower-class grassland people to take the lead.
Just when Zhu Chong was about to send the remaining captives to Daqing Mountain, he received news that the soldiers deployed in the distance had been attacked by the Mongols and suffered heavy losses.
Zhu Chong did not follow his father's request to deploy 10,000 people, but instead deployed 3,000 to 4,000 people in the strongholds.
It was also because of this that thousands of soldiers were unable to resist the attack of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of cavalry even with artillery and muskets.