The current situation of the Mongolian army is very anxious.

Because the tribal leaders were already arguing loudly.

For the tribal leaders, this time they really lost both their wives and their soldiers, and the losses were far beyond their imagination.

Some of the tribes have lost nearly 70% of the warriors they brought with them this time.

This means that they are losing the ability to protect their own tribe.

If the Ming Dynasty leaves the grassland now, it is very likely that other tribes will annex them.

At least, those occupied pastures had to be given up.

On the grassland, the law of the jungle is even more unscrupulous than in the Ming Dynasty, and they themselves do not care about benevolence, righteousness, and morality.

Although on paper the Mongolian army's strength is superior to that of the King of Jin and the King of Qin, because it is in the form of an alliance, both Guilichi and Alutai have only nominal ruling power over other tribal leaders in Eastern Mongolia.

On that very night alone, some tribes of the Mongolian army forcibly left.

This move caused even more panic among the people.

"Grand Master, what should we do?" Guilichi asked in a bad mood.

The Tatar tribe actually suffered the greatest losses.

Because this alliance was convened in the name of Guilichi Khan, in addition to some cannon fodder, many elite troops came from the Tatar tribe.

Unfortunately, up to now, no benefit has been gained.

"I'll go talk to Mahamu and see if we can unite and launch an attack on the Ming army."

"The Ming army didn't have many reinforcements, and we were deceived by them at the beginning. If we had been able to send troops in time, we might have already captured the Ming army."

"The new reinforcements are from the Jin King of the Ming Dynasty. They are indeed notoriously despicable and shameless. They only use some mean tricks and dare not fight our army in an upright manner."

Aluta's tone was very angry.

The only way now is for the most powerful Tatar tribe to unite with the Oirat, then there is still hope of victory.

"I'll leave everything to you, Grand Master."

Guilichi knew that he had killed Mahamu's father, and it was basically impossible for the two to meet, so he could only let Aluta explain.

However, what Arutai did not expect was that Mahamu was very disdainful of Arutai's proposal.

"Grand Master, my tribe counted the number of people and found something strange. There are so many warriors taking to the field in recent days, but why are there no casualties among the warriors of the Asut tribe?" Mahamu said sinisterly.

This sentence put Aluta in a difficult position.

As the actual commander of the coalition forces, everyone basically obeyed Aluta's orders in the arrangement of military power.

Aluta was very clear that this was an attack involving human lives, and he certainly was reluctant to let the warriors of his tribe go to die.

Therefore, when making arrangements, he always let the Asut tribe attack the left and right flanks, away from the center of the battlefield.

Although the Asut tribe also suffered losses, it was completely different from other tribes.

Each tribe was stationed separately, and Aluta did not expect that this matter would be discovered by Mahamu.

In fact, this is also a coincidence.

When Mahamu was inspecting his tribal camp, he happened to pass by the Asut tribe. Due to the heavy losses, the camp was filled with gloom, but the situation on the Asut tribe's side was somewhat different.

Mahamu, who discovered the abnormality, sent people to investigate and found out that not many people had died in the Asut tribe.

Mahamu immediately understood that Aluta, as the Grand Master, had been using the lives of warriors from other tribes to gain credit for himself.

In fact, this situation is very normal, but now everyone has suffered such a huge loss and has not gained any benefit at all, so people suddenly feel unbalanced.

Of course, the other small tribal leaders did not dare to directly question the Grand Tutor Aluta, but Mahamu was the Prime Minister of the Oirat Monastery, and in terms of status and tribal strength, he was not afraid of Aluta at all.

At this time, Aluta discovered that the Wala tribe had already begun packing up and preparing to evacuate.

No matter what he said, it was useless.

…

The Mongolian army withdrew.

When Zhu Chong and Zhu Gang heard the news, they were still a little bit unbelievable.

Because they knew that the Mongolian army must have discovered their situation, and in terms of overall strength, they were definitely no match for the Mongolian army.

Although it's a bit strange, at least the current crisis has been resolved.

Not daring to delay any longer, the two men immediately led the army back to Daqing Mountain.

"Although my second brother suffered heavy losses this time, he also caused huge casualties to the Mongolian army. Father may punish him, but he cannot deny his merits."

Zhu Gang said comfortingly.

Speaking of which, the relationship between Zhu Gang and Zhu Chong is quite good. After all, they are brothers and grew up together.

Moreover, they have no conflicts of interest. They have known since childhood that the throne belongs to the eldest brother and they have no right to get involved.

Zhu Chong smiled bitterly and shook his head without saying anything.

This time, he truly experienced the difference between life and death. The final attack by the Royal Guards, in particular, had a profound impact on him psychologically.

Normally, although he could not be said to be bad towards the Guards, he was definitely not good either.

Watching people die in front of you, no matter who you are, you will not feel good.

The most important thing is that this time it was entirely because of his greed and recklessness that such a huge loss was caused.

Before Zhu Gang came, he had already sent someone to Daqing Mountain to deliver a message.

On the way back, they happened to meet the reinforcements sent by Zhu Yuanzhang.

There were tens of thousands of cavalrymen, led by Fu Youde, Feng Sheng and Zhu Di.

This is equivalent to all the cavalry in Zhu Yuanzhang's hands.

Many of them were the former three guards of Wuliangha Doyan.

Originally they were not allowed to ride on horses to fight, but Zhu Yuanzhang was worried about the situation of his two sons, so he gave some prisoners with good performance the opportunity to serve as criminals.

As for Daqing Mountain, Zhu Yuanzhang was not worried at all about anyone attacking it.

Hundreds of thousands of infantrymen and all the tribes on the grassland came here to deliver food.

"Rebellious son! Kneel down."

The moment he saw Zhu Chong, Zhu Yuanzhang cursed him directly.

Zhu Chong did not hesitate and knelt down immediately.

"Do you know how big a mistake you made this time? I told you before that you should move forward steadily and not rush ahead."

"And you, alone in Hulunbuir, are you thinking of going to Fengliangjuxu to prove your unrivaled martial arts skills?"

Facing his father's scolding, Zhu Chong knelt on the ground with his head down, not daring to speak.

Zhu Yuanzhang became more and more angry as he cursed. He stepped forward and kicked Zhu Chong, knocking him to the ground.

The last time he was beaten like this was when the eldest sister’s jade pendant was broken.

Zhu Gang hurriedly explained: "Father, calm down. Although my second brother led his army alone this time, he also beheaded hundreds of thousands of Mongolian soldiers and horses, causing great damage to the vitality of the Mongolian tribes."

Zhu Yuanzhang said coldly: "If it weren't for this, would he still be able to kneel in front of us?"

"Pass on my decree, immediately strip the Prince of Jin of his position as the Grand Commander, demote him to the rank of Vanguard General, and allow him to make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence."

"If you don't obey the military order again, your royal title will be stripped, your vassal state will be revoked, and you will be demoted to a commoner."

Zhu Chong immediately kowtowed: "Thank you, father, for your grace."

Looking at the blood oozing from the wounds on Zhu Chong's body, Zhu Yuanzhang still felt a little distressed.

No matter how much of a jerk he is, he is still my son.

From the overall situation, Zhu Chong's lone advance into the deep achieved great results.

However, the death of 100,000 soldiers in battle is also a huge problem. Zhu Yuanzhang's scolding was largely intended to appease the military morale.

After all, this time Zhu Chong's situation happened because he did not obey orders.

If it was an encounter battle, it would be considered a great achievement.

After all, it was just a show for the other generals, including the remaining wounded soldiers.

This style of fighting that exchanges heads is very beneficial to the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Chong's battle severely damaged the entire Mongolian Empire.

The most important thing is that they did not benefit from this war.

Zhu Yuanzhang decisively gave orders and sent a large army again to sweep the entire grassland.

The army dispatched this time was mainly composed of cavalry.

The Mongolian army naturally could not gather together because it lacked sufficient logistics. The Oirat also returned to Western Mongolia, and other tribes could only flee.

Faced with the Ming army's powerful attack, the tribes had no choice but to migrate.

Some tribes that could not escape had no choice but to surrender to the Ming army.

This time, the sweep lasted for more than three months.

It didn't stop until almost November.

Because winter is coming to the grassland.

At this time, the construction of Guihua City on the Daqing Mountain side was basically completed.

As the first large city on the grassland, Guihua City covers a large area.

The city was actually quite empty, with most people living in tents. Of course, as Zhu Yuanzhang's temporary palace, it had already been built.

All the materials used were transported from the Ming Dynasty by train.

The train played a huge role at this time, fully ensuring the supplies consumed by the army.

Winter comes earlier on the grassland.

With the arrival of winter, many grassland tribes that could not survive had no choice but to run to Guihua City to surrender.

Even being a prisoner is better than starving to death.

At this time, it was time for Zhu Yuanzhang to return to the capital.

It is freezing cold here, and Zhu Yuanzhang is old, so it is naturally impossible for him to spend the winter here.

With fast and convenient trains, it was very easy for Zhu Yuanzhang to return.

…

The news that the old man was returning to the capital arrived in advance.

After Zhu Ying received the news, he naturally had to make some arrangements.

Speaking of which, the old man was gone for eight months.

As the crown prince, he also served as regent for eight months.

During these eight months, the Ming Dynasty was stable and nothing major happened.

Of course, nothing big happened.

Zhu Ying also knew all the intelligence about the grassland, but he could not help much in marching and fighting.

In terms of military strategy, those who went to the grassland to fight were already an all-star lineup of the Ming Dynasty, so there was absolutely no reason for them to lose.

Zhu Chong’s incident was actually an opportunity for the Ming Dynasty.

Mongolia was severely damaged, which enabled the Ming Dynasty to better control Mongolia.

The construction of Guihua City meant that the grassland would no longer be a major threat to the Ming Dynasty.

Naturally, Zhu Ying's attention turned to Nanyang again at this time.

The first step was to build a supply station for steam ironclad ships.

The Ming Dynasty now has abundant national strength and has built hundreds of steam ironclad ships.

This led to a huge demand for coal mines.

Mining within the Ming Dynasty is one aspect, but mining overseas should not be missed either.

Especially Champa and Annan regions.

Although it’s not much, a mosquito is still meat no matter how small it is.

Hundreds of ironclad ships gave Zhu Ying great confidence, especially against Champa.

Champa is now in great chaos, and gang forces have largely surpassed the official power of Champa.

Under the general trend, the nobles of Champa chose to unite with the gangs of the Ming Dynasty, increasing the exploitation of local people, and the people of Champa were forced to join the gangs.

The fights between gangs are often very brutal.

It is normal to fight to the death for territory and interests.

In other words, the area of ​​the Cao Gang is more stable. After all, it is near the dock, and only a peaceful business environment can attract overseas merchants to dock.

Just go a little further and it's pretty confusing.

Gangs are gangs after all, and they can do anything for profit.

At this point, Zhu Ying also felt that he could close the net and completely occupy Champa.

A secret order arrived at the Champa palace.

After receiving the news, Zhan Wangchaye could only sigh helplessly.

Looking at the Ming eunuch in front of him, Chaye bowed and said, "Please tell His Royal Highness the Crown Prince that I will definitely act in accordance with His Royal Highness's orders."

The Ming angel smiled and nodded, very satisfied with King Zhan's tact.

The Ming Dynasty wanted to rule Annan and directly sent troops to plunder it, which was against the dignity of the Celestial Empire.

But if Champa took the initiative to ask for submission, then of course we would accept it reluctantly.

In the past one or two years, under the secret instructions of Zhu Ying, the Cao Gang has been continuously squeezing the interests of the Zhanwang royal family.

The Cham king himself was almost a puppet in Champa, and having lost the support of many nobles, the income of the Cham royal family plummeted.

For example, on taxation.

You can't expect the gangs to pay taxes honestly, that's a joke.

The Champa nobles who discovered this opportunity naturally united with gangs to avoid taxes.

Without the income from taxes, even though Champa was gradually prospering, the Cham royal family actually had no source of income at all.

So much so that this year, the Cham royal family had to start selling royal jewels in order to maintain life in the palace.

Zhu Ying's envoys also contacted the Cham royal family at this time.

As long as King Zhan is willing to submit to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty will retain the title of King Zhan and give him considerable wealth.

At first, King Zhan was naturally unwilling, but with the oppression of various forces, King Zhan's orders have been restricted to the inner palace.

That is to say, as long as King Zhan is in the palace, he can still be the king.

Once he left the palace, no one would care about him.

In desperation, King Zhan had no choice but to agree to Zhu Ying's conditions.

This means that the Ming Dynasty legally became the master of Champa.

Zhu Ying had already prepared the candidates for the Champa Provincial Administration.

From now on, Champa was no longer a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, but one of its provinces.