After the cabinet meeting, Zhu Youzhen hurriedly left the Wenhua Hall with his attendants, and let Wu Chunfu, who wanted to see him privately, run away, so he could only return to the official office of the Ministry of Industry to arrange in advance how to deal with the split of the Ministry of Industry.

In the Wuying Palace, Zhu Youzhen first met with Yuan Chonghuan, listened to the process of how he divided the grasslands of the right-wing Mongolian tribes outside the Guan, and learned about the situation of the herdsmen of these tribes and the character of the chief.

Of course, Yuan Chonghuan was obviously not satisfied with reporting these trivial matters. He looked at Chongzhen and seemed to be in a good mood to listen, so he boldly proposed a plan to attack Liaodong on both sides.

Yuan Chonghuan believed that although the Chahar tribe had made peace with the Ming Dynasty, as the nominal co-leader of the Mongolian tribes, Lin Dan Khan's stay in the Hetao area was obviously unfavorable to the northwest border of the Ming Dynasty.

If Lin Dan Khan really integrated the right-wing Mongol tribes he annexed, it would be equivalent to the emergence of another strong enemy on the northwest border of the Ming Dynasty, and the border town of Xuanda, which had not been at war for decades, might not be able to resist this pressure.

Rather than the Ming Dynasty being attacked in the northwest and Liaodong at that time, it is better to first pry Lin Dan Khan and fight back to Liaohetao. Liaohetao all the way plus Jinzhou all the way, the Ming army and the Chahar people attacked on both sides, which would inevitably make Houjin take care of one and lose the other, and fall into a dilemma.

Yuan Chonghuan finally said to Chongzhen arrogantly: "... If His Majesty can support the ministers and let the ministers train an elite soldier in Datong and Liaoxi, then five years later, the ministers will pacify Liaodong and send the slave chieftains of Jianzhou to the capital to repay the hatred of the three generations of emperors..."

Zhu Youzhen, who was originally relatively relaxed, listened to Yuan Chonghuan's words, and his heart suddenly chuckled. He thought in his heart, Pingliao has actually climbed out again in the past five years, this Yuan Ziru is really... I don't know if I should say that he is stubborn? Still take me for a fool.

Zhu Youzhen's face stiffened slightly, and then he still kept a smile and said: "The matter of Pingliao will be talked about later, just after the war, and the New Year is approaching, I see, Staff Officer Yuan should go home for a few days on vacation and rest for a few days, and accompany his family..."

After lukewarmly perfunctory Yuan Chonghuan, Chongzhen ordered him to retreat. When Yuan Chonghuan walked out of the Wuying Palace, he sighed loudly, unable to gain Chongzhen's trust, which made him quite disheartened.

When he walked out lonely, Liu Jingting had already been taken to Chongzhen's room. Zhu Youzhen stood up, personally opened the door curtain, and let Liu Jingting walk in to talk.

After instructing the attendant on the side to pour a cup of hot tea for Liu Jingting, Zhu Youzhen said to him cordially: "This time I made you suffer, did Lin Dan Khan embarrass you after the war?" ”

Liu Jingting sat sideways on the brocade stool, and replied very respectfully: "Thank you Your Majesty for your concern, the minister didn't suffer much." When the minister sent an envoy to the Chahar Ministry, he also brought an accompanying doctor, who treated many Mongols and inoculated many children with cowpox to prevent smallpox, so when Lin Dan Khan ordered the house arrest ministers, the tribe of the house arrest ministers took good care of us.

In addition, soon after the start of the war, the Chahar Department was defeated. After Lin Dan Khan returned, he quickly ordered his ministers to be brought back, so the ministers were not under house arrest for much time, but they did not suffer.

The envoys did not make Lin Dan Khan wake up and take the initiative to maintain the friendship between the Chahar people and the Ming Dynasty. In the end, he still used the sword soldiers, which is really embarrassing to say, and I ask Your Majesty for forgiveness. ”

Zhu Youzhen said with a dumb smile: "How can this become your sin, this is obviously Lin Dan Khan's ambition." Obviously, they can coexist peacefully, but he has to move to the Hetao and make a mess of other people's homes. It's because he wants the magpie's nest dove to occupy it, which is the reason for the outbreak of this war, and it has nothing to do with whether you convince him or not. ”

Liu Jingting looked at Chongzhen and bowed and said, "Your Majesty is relieved for the minister, and the minister feels really ashamed. ”

Zhu Youzhen waved his hand and motioned for him to sit back before asking, "Let's talk about it, is Lin Danhan sincere in his peace talks with us this time?" ”

Liu Jingting thought for a moment before replying: "The minister thinks that Lin Dan Khan's sincerity in talking about peace is still there. Although he has repeatedly defeated the right-wing Mongol tribes this year, under the continuous battles, the Chahar tribe has suffered a lot of losses.

Many vassal tribes have begun to move away from the pastures of the Chahar Department because he has drawn too many people. And the morale of the ordinary herdsmen and low-level soldiers of the Chahar tribe was very low, because they did not know why Lin Dan Khan abandoned his hometown and ran to the Hetao, and he had to poison his Mongolian compatriots.

They are worried about what will happen to those who stay in their hometown. What they are even more worried about is that after they follow Lin Dan Khan away, Houjin will not attack his relatives and friends stationed in his hometown.

And the little kings of the tribes of the Chahar tribe followed Lin Dan Khan to the west, thinking that they would get the city reward of my Ming Dynasty nearby, and also took the city reward of the right-wing Mongolia.

However, under the blow of my Great Tomorrow Army, these little kings have no motivation to fight. Although they seized a lot of livestock, there were few craftsmen among the Mongols, and if they did not have access to daily necessities such as tea, cotton cloth, wooden barrels, bowls and chopsticks, and iron pots, they would be short of daily necessities.

What these little kings thought before was that if they could defeat our Great Ming army, then it would be logical for Chahar to annex the right-wing Mongolian tribes, and the Ming Dynasty's city reward would be obtained by his family. But since they didn't even defeat our army in the field, they felt that the Ming would give in to Lin Dan Khan was a little unreliable.

In addition, winter is coming, if they don't get my Daming city reward, their winter will be very difficult this year. Although Lin Dan Khan is the lord of the Chahar tribe, without the support of these tribal kings, his position is somewhat precarious.

Therefore, when Lin Dan Khan signed this peace treaty, he was still relatively sincere. But after a few years, after the Chahar tribe has taken root in the Hetao Plain and the people's hearts are settled, whether he will recognize this peace treaty, the minister will not dare to assert. ”

After Zhu Youzhen listened, he nodded thoughtfully, and then asked, "Then who did Lin Dan Khan send to the capital?" What do you think is their purpose in going to Beijing this time? ”

Liu Jingting replied without hesitation: "Lin Dan Khan sent his brother-in-law Guiying to Beijing, firstly, to reiterate the alliance between Ming and Mongolia to His Majesty, to show that both sides still need to cooperate with each other to deal with Houjin; Second, he probably wanted to increase the city reward, so that he could reward the little kings of various departments and win people's hearts. ”

The city reward of the Chahar Department is 380,000, and the Halashen departments are 180,000, which adds up to 560,000. In other words, after deducting the price of 280,000 horses, Daming only needs to pay 280,000 taels of silver.

However, this year, most of the livestock of the Tumut and Harashen tribes were looted by the Chahar department, and Lin Dan Khan had more livestock in his hands, and there was not so much forage in winter, so if he didn't buy it for the Ming Dynasty, it would be worthless for these livestock to freeze to death and starve to death, and it was inevitable that he wanted to increase the market reward.

Zhu Youzhen pondered for a while before he asked again: "When you came back from outside the Guan, did you go to see the Tumut and Harashen tribes?" What is the life of the herdsmen of those tribes? Do they have any ideas about dividing the grassland into fixed pastures? This time, the Ming Dynasty intervened in the war between the left and right Mongolian tribes, what do those herdsmen think? ”

Although it was strange that the emperor did not ask about the attitude of the leaders of the right-wing Mongolian tribes, but asked about the lives and attitudes of ordinary herdsmen, Liu Jingting still said without any strangeness: "Although the minister did not go out of his way to investigate, when he passed by these tribes to rest, he also chatted with ordinary herdsmen and some small leaders.

The minister noticed that most of these ordinary herdsmen lacked food and clothing, and only a few of them carried a little daily necessities. They have been frowning when they talk to their ministers, first, they are afraid that it will be difficult to survive this winter; The second is to worry about how the tribes that lack livestock will survive next year after the winter.

And those little leaders pinned their hopes on Da Ming, they felt that since Da Ming had demarcated a pasture for them, then they should not be left alone.

As for the war against the Ming Dynasty intervening in the left and right wing of the Mongol tribes, judging by the tribes that the minister passed through on this trip. These ordinary herdsmen are only loyal to the tribe to which they belong, and the influence of the Mongol kings such as Lin Dan Khan and Shunyi King on them is probably not as strong as what the elders of their clan say.

Speaking of which, the minister wanted to praise Huang Daozhou, the official sent by the Criminal Department. After he arrived in Datong, he visited the old and weak of the Mongolian tribes stranded in Guannei, and summoned the elders of these tribes and the village elders of the tribes' stations to mediate the disputes between these Mongolian tribes and the border people.

He also formulated an agreement to be observed by the Mongols and the Han Chinese, allowing each side to send six people to inspect the areas where the tribes were temporarily stationed, which reduced many conflicts in the border areas.

Although these Mongol tribes have now migrated out of Guannei, they still often praise him, and he is a rare official of the Ming State who treats them well. The minister felt that if the officials of the Ming Dynasty could achieve a bowl of water, then the Mongols and Han people would no longer be suspicious of each other, and His Majesty's idea of incorporating these Mongol tribes might not be successful. ”

Hearing Huang Daozhou's performance, Chongzhen was indeed taken aback. He didn't expect that this seemingly stubborn Donglin Party member would still have such a side.

However, he quickly skipped this idea, he looked at Liu Jingting and said, "Then those Mongolian chiefs, what do they think about dividing pastures and fixed pastures?" Was it forced to agree? Or do you really want to surrender to my Daming? ”

Liu Jingting had actually thought about this question for a long time, but he still thought about it again very cautiously for a while before saying to Chongzhen: "From the minister's point of view, there are many people who are unwilling to be fixed on a grassland.

The Mongols live on water and grass, which is not only their habit, but also a demand for animal husbandry.

If a large herd of livestock is trapped in a pasture, not only will the pasture be degraded, but it can also cause disease. Only a nomadic life can make these livestock grow up healthily and let the sick and weak livestock be eliminated naturally.

However, there were also some chiefs who were reluctant to continue this nomadic life, having lived in the city for too long and had become accustomed to a comfortable settled life. Moreover, like the border army of Xuanda, they are accustomed to a peaceful and stable life, and do not want to live a life of exile on horseback.

If it weren't for the war waged by Lin Dan Khan, they took away their wealth and their subordinates, wives and daughters. The minister thought that they had no intention of fighting Lin Dan Khan at all.

Even now, they didn't think about fighting Lin Dan Khan alone. If it weren't for Da Ming's intervention in this war, Chen felt that these people would definitely not be Lin Dan Khan's opponents. After they failed, they either defected to my Daming, or probably ran to return to Houjin..."