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Chapter 226
Zhu Ci did not notice anything unusual about him, after a casual sigh, said, "Sigh, let's go. Let's prepare to return to the palace. Why is it so difficult to just relax for a day? These people do nothing but cause trouble all day long."
Being an emperor is just too difficult, having to deal with these sudden emergencies every single day.
Fu took a deep breath, looking at the oblivious Little Emperor, lowered his eyes to suppress a sigh.
Just a single sentence had disturbed his peace of mind. If things continued like this, would there eventually come a day when he could no longer restrain himself?
Fu followed silently behind Zhu Ci, but Zhu Ci thought he was worrying about the situation in the North, so he said comfortingly, "Don't worry, the situation isn't entirely unfavorable to us. I was just thinking just now, if we are truly unlucky in the end and Chechen succeeds to the throne, then we will contact Russia, or find a way to break the Mongol Alliance from within. There will always be a way."
If all else fails, he would work harder to improve firearms.
In fact, he had many directions for improvement in his mind, but the reason he hadn't proceeded was that every single method of improvement required a massive amount of money.
He and Fu could certainly provide the funds, but such an ecosystem was unhealthy; otherwise, the next time something went wrong, the subordinates would immediately look to the two of them for help.
Zhu Ci himself didn't mind, as his responsibilities and duties as Emperor were all here. Although he tried to cover his own expenses as much as possible, it wasn't as if he gained absolutely no benefits.
But he felt very embarrassed about constantly letting Fu pay for everything.
Every time, he would come up with a random idea, then Fu would accompany him in his nonsense, contributing whatever money or strength he could.
Fortunately, the previous results had been quite good, but he could not guarantee that every design would be effective. What if problems arose and all the money went down the drain?
Fu listened and was momentarily stunned before letting out a chuckle. How could he possibly worry about the Weilaite? Even if the Weilaite truly defected to the Tartars, in Fu's eyes, it would be nothing more than a desperate struggle for survival.
As long as Great Ming is given a little time, unifying the world is only a matter of time.
To him, whether it was civil or military affairs, nothing was harder to handle than emotions.
Zhu Ci saw him smile and relaxed a bit as well.
However, after returning, an impromptu small court meeting was still held. Regardless of what he personally thought, at least the appearance of gathering diverse opinions and encouraging open discussion had to be maintained.
Everyone's reaction upon hearing this news was quite mixed. Zhu Ci let out a cold laugh: "It would be better if Chechen and Sengge died together."
Zhu Ci glanced at him, knowing that this former Crown Prince likely had no good impression of the Weilaite, but the problem was that if they died, Galdan would return.
The others were relatively calm and rational. Zhu Yujian, possessing a more flexible mind, thought for a moment before asking, "I have heard before that the Mongol Alliance has been competing with Russia, with both sides having their victories and defeats. If they truly defect to the Tartars, perhaps it might not be impossible to establish contact with Russia."
He Tengjiao shook his head and said, "Russia is ten thousand miles away from us, not to mention that none of us can speak the Russian language. I am afraid it will be difficult."
After he finished speaking, everyone looked toward Fu. Before Fu could say anything, Zhu Ci tapped the armrest of his throne and said, "Why is everyone looking at the Grand Secretary?"
As soon as His Majesty spoke, everyone withdrew their gazes, leaving only Huang Daozhou, who said bluntly, "The Grand Secretary has a vast number of merchant caravans under his command that trade with various regions; perhaps they also have business dealings with Russia."
Fu Gang wanted to say something, but Zhu Ci waved him off and said with a hint of irritation, "I see you all are becoming increasingly lazy. Instead of focusing on cultivating and recruiting talent, you spend every day looking for shortcuts. What is this? If the Grand Secretary has suitable people, you just want to use them, don't you? You've developed a path dependency, haven't you? And if the Grand Secretary disagrees, you plan to use patriotism to pressure him, don't you? You are all so young, yet you've already started acting like rogues."
Everyone looked at each other in confusion, not knowing why the Emperor had suddenly become angry.
Of course, the Emperor had already made it very clear: they were to find their own ways and stop relying on the Grand Secretary for everything.
But.. they talk about cultivating and attracting talent, but where are they going to find people who can speak the language of Russia?
Nanjing is just too far away from there!
Fu was interrupted twice by the Little Emperor, seeing that silence had fallen over Wuying Hall, he had no choice but to step forward and say, "Your Majesty, please calm your anger. In fact, it might not be necessary to contact Russia."
Zhu Ci looked at him with some surprise. When the two of them returned from the Imperial Farm, Zhu Ci had even suggested contacting Russia to put pressure on the Ordos Mongols, so why was it now that they might not need to form an alliance with Russia?
Fu felt a bit guilty under the Little Emperor's gaze. At that time, his mind had been in a chaotic mess, his intellect had briefly gone on strike, leaving him unable to think about any matters of state. Since what the Little Emperor had said wasn't wrong, he naturally hadn't offered any objections. Now that his rationality had returned, he had new ideas.
Although Zhu Ci was surprised, he still said in a gentle tone, "Please, speak, my dear minister."
Everyone..
Although he had grown accustomed to it, his heart still felt a bit sour every time he faced the Emperor's blatant favoritism.
Nowadays, the Emperor of the Guanglie Era has only one beloved official, that is Grand Secretary Fu. Furthermore, the Emperor, who had just spoken with an unfriendly tone, became much softer in both tone and expression when facing Fu.
I'm too tired to even express my envy; as for jealousy.. I can only nurse it secretly in my heart, not daring to utter a single word openly for fear the Emperor might come to the Grand Secretary's defense.
Fu said while reflecting, "In fact, the struggle for hegemony between Western Mongols and Eastern Mongols has lasted for many years, they have developed irreconcilable hatreds toward each other. The Eastern Mongols joined the Tartars long ago. Even if the Dzungar Mongols were willing, the other tribes might not be. The formation of this alliance is due, on one hand, to their reliance on Heduoheqin's personal abilities, on the other hand, because they all face two enemies: Russia on one side and the Eastern Mongols on the other. Even if Chorsos Chechen were willing to form an alliance with the Tartars, the Khoshut Mongols, Durbet Mongols, Torghut Mongols might not be."
"Chorsos and Heduoheqin were able to become the leaders of the alliance because of their own capabilities; otherwise, how could the other three tribes be willing to accept his leadership?" and
After Fu finished speaking, many of the officials present suddenly realized that although they had always viewed the Weilaite as a single entity, it was actually just a multi-tribal alliance.
If necessary, they could also find ways to split these tribes apart.
Zhu Ci thought for a moment and said, "It's not impossible. After all, the Tumet Mongols were one of the Southern Mongolia alliances back then."
Actually, it was somewhat different, because Southern Mongolia as a whole was quite fragmented. Although it was referred to as the Chahar Alliance, in reality, it was a loose collection of left and right wing tribes. The Chahar was one tribe, the Khorchin was another, the five-tribe alliance of the Neiqerke that was defeated by the Tartars was one part, then there was the Right Three-Manchu, with the Tumet Mongols being one of the tribes within the Right Three-Manchu, the rest being the Ordos Mongols and the Khorchin Mongols.
After the Later Jin first defeated Ligdan Khan and then defeated the Neiqerke, the sixteen tribes and forty-nine banners of Southern Mongolia convened at Shengjing, honoring the Emperor as "Bogdachechen Khan," and subsequently, the Eastern Mongols were incorporated into the Later Jin system.
Even so, the Tumet Mongols were the first to defect and break away from this system; so, who could say the Mongol Alliance would not be torn apart from within?
Zhu Ci could not help but say, "It's just that if the Mongol Alliance suffers from internal strife, it will pose even less of a threat to the Tartars; in fact, it might even be a good thing for them."
Zhu Ci said casually, "Then it's simple; the Mongol Alliance can exist without the Dzungar Mongols too."
Huh?
That works too?
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Why not? The first one Galdan targeted was the Khoshut Mongols. *Cat shrugs. jpg*
Next update tomorrow morning at six o'clock
Chapter 227
That would certainly work.
An alliance is an alliance; naturally, some people may join and others may leave. The Dzungar Mongols certainly won't be willing to withdraw now. In that case, they will have no choice but to bow their heads in submission to a new leader, or else face being beaten.
Then the question now is, how can the Mongol Alliance kick the Dzungar Mongols out?
Once the Dzungar Mongols no longer have the Mongol Alliance as their backing, there will be nothing to worry about, even if Chechen rises to power and submits to the Tartars.
Zhu Ci thought for a moment and said, "This matter.. leave it to Chuangwang."
Li Zicheng had been in the North for a long time, as long as his mind was in order, it would be impossible for him to only focus on the Tartars; he had to be on guard against the Mongols as well.
No one had any objections, except that this matter could not be passed down in the form of an Imperial Decree; it could only be conveyed via a verbal message from the Grand Secretariat to Li Zicheng. Such matters could not even be put in writing, otherwise, it would all serve as evidence.
Of course, Zhu Ci's primary motivation was the habit brought from his previous life; he disliked interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, but since he had no choice but to intervene now, he naturally had to act more cautiously.
After receiving the letter written by He Tengjiao of the Grand Secretariat, Li Zicheng couldn't help but stroke his chin.
It seems that people from the Mongol Alliance have indeed been in contact with his nephew, Li Guo, recently.
The Mongol Alliance was not a monolithic entity. After conducting business with the Great Ming previously, the Great Ming had been dealing with the Mongol Alliance as a whole, but Heduoheqin had withheld information for a period of time, keeping more firearms within his own tribe.
It was just that these tribes frequently intermarried, so information circulated quite rapidly. Once the other tribes found out and came to inquire, Heduoheqin was forced to explain the matter, but he still did not distribute the firearms.
His reason was that firearms were too precious; previously, his Dzungar Mongols had paid for them, so they would not be distributed to other tribes.
This reason was very compelling, the other tribes could only accept it with resignation; in the end, they could only express their desire to purchase.
However, since the Ming Kingdom envoys have all returned, the purchase cannot be completed for the time being.
Regarding this point, the other tribes did not believe it much.
Does the Ming Kingdom only intend to do business this one time? Once the firearms are sold, will they simply abandon everything? Will there be no further contact between the two sides?
Who would believe that?
After the Khoshut Mongols, Durbet Mongols, Torghut Mongols consulted with each other, they all came to the conclusion that the Dzungar Mongols intended to suppress them completely.
One side possessed superior firearms; even if the other three tribes combined, they would not have as many firearms as a single tribe from the other side. From now on, they would truly have no choice but to submit to the Dzungar Mongols.
So they discussed it and decided they would not bother contacting the Ming Kingdom through the Dzungar Mongols, but would instead contact them directly.
Although the three tribes were all in the same situation now, they did not trust each other very much.
They didn't discuss how to contact the Ming Kingdom; instead, they each directly sent people to make contact with Li Zicheng, who was currently stationed in Datong.
Of course, it wouldn't be easy for them to make contact with Li Zicheng, as the people of Great Ming were naturally wary of the Wulait.
No matter how many tribes they were divided into or whether the relationships between these tribes were good or bad, in the eyes of the Great Ming people, they only had one label: Tartars.
For this very reason, these people have never had much success in trying to request an audience with Li Zicheng, the fact that three separate tribes had sent people was especially cause for alarm.
It truly took an immense amount of effort to work through Li Guo to finally let Li Zicheng know about this matter.
Li Zicheng's eyes gleamed as he said, "This is a business worth doing."
Since the Central Government is trading with the Dzungar Mongols, there is no harm in including these three tribes as well. Each tribe will have firearms, allowing them to fight among themselves and compete with the Southern Mongols for dominance over the grasslands; it is a situation where many benefits will be gained with no possible downside.
Most importantly, when the trade takes place, the firearms will definitely be transported to him first. He could easily skim some off the top, or simply exchange the old ones in the army for new ones.
As Li Zicheng was calculating here, the arriving Li Guo could not help but say, "General, I have investigated, the firearms His Majesty sells to the Ordos Mongols are not all that great; they are all things we no longer use much."
Stop dreaming about trading old weapons for new ones; if those weapons were given to you, you probably wouldn't even want to use them.
Li Zicheng was stunned after hearing this, after thinking about it, he felt that it seemed to be so.
Then there would be no benefits to be gained.
Li Zicheng smacked his lips uncomfortably. Seeing his uncle in this state, Li Guo couldn't help but remind him, "General, let the Imperial Court handle this transaction. You shouldn't get your hands dirty. If there's a shortage of firearms or wealth.. it will be difficult to explain. The Censorate has been investigating corruption; even if you are innocent, being impeached would be a great trouble."
Li Zicheng came from a rebel background, so he still carried a certain bandit-like nature. Hearing Li Guo's reminder, he said irritably, "I know, I know."
Li Guo immediately felt relieved; his uncle still knew how to prioritize matters of urgency.
Li Zicheng acted merely as a middleman, the Imperial Court did not send any envoys, only arranging for a merchant caravan.
However, the leader of the merchant caravan was the same messenger who had previously taken the initiative to travel to the Tumet Mongols and bring them into the fold.
After returning to Nanjing, this Messenger Chen had long since been promoted to Sub-official of the Sibinshe. Although it was only a ninth-rank position, it was still a leap from being a merchant to being an official.
For a messenger, this was not just a leap to the top, but a bright future; if he had followed the normal path, he would have had to take the imperial examinations before being granted an official position.
Then the question arises: if he possessed such talent, would he even need to run a merchant caravan?