The Qinghai envoy led by Chechen Daiqing had just entered the border of Henan, and Li Zicheng also received a reply from Zhao Han.
Li Zicheng held an imperial meeting and said directly: "In this year's war, there is not much food left in Shanxi... and the people's hearts are unstable. If Zhao comes again next year, Shanxi will definitely not be able to protect it. I don't know how many civil and military surrenders. We and Zhao
After much discussion, he agreed to release the captured brothers and also gave us a charity for the Marquis of Yinshan."
"We are going to go out to fight, occupy the grassland and become the king. If you are willing to follow, we will take you to the grassland. If you are not willing to follow, we will stay and surrender. We are all old brothers. Let's speak openly today. We don't want to go to the grassland.
We’re not forcing you to herd sheep, who the hell is willing to herd sheep?”
"Don't lose face. There is no need to express your position today. Those who want to leave with us or want to stay and surrender should go back and prepare secretly."
"If you want to leave, you should only take the cavalry with you. Even if you don't have horses, you must at least have a mule. If you don't have a wife, hurry up and find a wife. We are going to the grassland to settle down. Don't go to the grassland and be so damn homesick that you have to come back.
Don’t search too hard. Before leaving, just find local gentry and merchants to pay them, and don’t embarrass those suffering people again.”
"After the spring starts next year, we will schedule a meeting in Taiyuan on the second day of February, the day when the dragon raises its head. Those who come to Taiyuan before the second day of February, I will take you to the grassland. If you don't come, you will be treated as if you stayed and surrendered. Today is our farewell.
banquet……"
After Li Zicheng finished speaking, no one in the audience said a word. The news was too sudden.
Finally, someone was about to express his position. Li Zicheng raised his hand to interrupt: "Today, just drink and eat meat, and don't say anything else. If you want to leave, bring troops over when spring begins; if you don't leave, don't show up again when spring begins. If I tell you the truth today, I'll drink too."
It’s not a good profit. Come, let’s have some food and wine!”
Good wine and good food were all served. It had been a long time since Li Zicheng had been so luxurious.
A group of brothers from the old camp seemed to have gone back ten years ago. They exchanged cups and cups, and told dirty jokes in a wild manner. Li Zicheng also put down his imperial pretensions and ran to hook up with the old brothers.
After three rounds of drinking, Liu Zongmin got emotional and said with tears in his eyes: "Our family farmed the land for people. We couldn't pay the rent, so my father hanged himself. My mother took us to beg for food. It's better to be a beggar."
Ah, I heard that Zhu Yuanzhang worked as a beggar, and Emperor Zhao also worked as a beggar. My mother gave us clothes to wear, and my mother gave us the food she begged for, but she herself froze to death and starved to death..."
Li Zicheng threw his cup and cursed: "They are all corrupt officials. Which one of us is not a good citizen? We are forced to beg for food, we are forced to kill, we are forced to be a bandit!"
"Isn't that right? We used to only want to farm the land well, and we didn't ask for meat. We were satisfied if we could fill our stomachs..." Liu Fangliang also began to recall the hard days.
Zhang Nai said: "Our parents are both dead, and we are fortunate to be taken in by our adoptive father (Li Zicheng). Wherever our adoptive father goes in this life, we will follow him. Isn't it the grassland? Let's occupy the grassland and recommend our adoptive father to be our father."
The Han people in the grasslands are sweating profusely!”
After a meal of wine and meat, the bandit DNA of these guys was stimulated, and they returned to the state of being trapped in Shangluo Mountain.
They fled into the mountains from Tongguanyuan, leaving only one or two thousand people, and many of them were frozen to death in the winter. But after the beginning of spring, they broke out from the mountains and quickly swept through the entire Henan Province.
The current situation is better than that back then. One winter, I came to collect money and food, and then left with my soldiers in a big way.
After the banquet was over, everyone returned to their station and began to arrest the gentry and merchants intensively.
Regardless of the crime, he was tortured first.
When he is beaten half to death, he will hand over the money and food.
A bunch of Shanxi merchants who betrayed the country and made profits were tortured to death by Li Zicheng's generals without Zhao Han having to deal with them. Some Shanxi merchants had as much as one million taels of silver stored in various places. This was just a few years ago.
The result of being tortured once before.
After the Spring Festival, these Dashun generals, including a few who had defected halfway, gathered with their soldiers and family members towards Taiyuan.
There were soldiers running away along the way, but it didn't matter. Ordinary soldiers ran away as they pleased, as long as they watched the ones who could ride horses and didn't run away.
After Zhao Han released Li Guo, Gao Yigong and other prisoners, Li Zicheng led the army towards the grassland. When they crossed the Great Wall, he had more than 12,000 cavalry under his command, more than 40,000 soldiers' families and a few civilians, and took away nearly 10 million yuan in silver.
Two, more than 20,000 livestock of all kinds carrying goods.
Those gentry and merchants in Shanxi had almost all their money and food confiscated. Only a few wanted money at the risk of their lives, and they were beaten to death without telling where the money was hidden.
Today, the north and south of the Yinshan Mountains, including the vast Hetao area, are all the territory of the Xitumut tribe.
Although the Xi Tumut tribe has a population of only 150,000, their territory is too large. The Manchus were not at ease at all, so they did not grant autonomy and set up each banner to be under the jurisdiction of the capital, so they were also called the naturalized Tumut.
The department does not even have a nominal leader.
Now that the Manchu Qing Dynasty has declined, the Xitumut tribe has become a mess. Some tribes are at war with each other, and some tribes are trying to form alliances. How can they resist Li Zicheng's army?
Li Zicheng led his army north out of the Great Wall and was immediately divided into two.
He personally led one of his troops to the west, and Liu Zongmin led his troops to the east. When they saw the Xitumote tribe, they attacked them.
"kill!"
Outside Tuotuo City (Tuoketuo County), Li Zicheng led the cavalry to attack over a long distance.
Although they are not one person and two horses, they are one horse and one mule.
The horses were used for riding, and the mules were used for carrying armor. They ran three hundred miles to get here directly.
The Mongols near Tuotuo City were completely stunned by Li Zicheng.
After hearing that the Manchus were defeated and fled, the Dalat tribe from the northwest came to Tuotuo City and fought a battle. Under heavy losses, the Mongols here chose to surrender to the Dalat tribe. Who knew that the Dalat tribe had just left?
, Li Zicheng led his troops to fight again.
The Dashun cavalry, fully equipped with armor, beat the Mongols to pieces like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.
"Your Majesty, what should we do with the prisoners?" Zhang Nai asked.
Li Zicheng said: "Kill all the Mongolian leaders, and their children and grandchildren, leaving only the children who can't remember anything. The Mongolian civilians stay and let them help herd. This pasture is ours! Rest for two days and then kill.
Dalat tribe. Once the Dalat tribe is destroyed, we will attack Guihua City."
Guihua City is located near Hohhot, which used to be the Mongol Khanate. Like Tuotuo City, Guihua City was also in disrepair and it was impossible to retreat into the city and hold on.
It is worth mentioning that farming can be done along the river from Duotuo City to Guihua City. At that time, Anda Khan recruited a large number of Han people, and the military households in the border towns could still divide their fields after they fled, so a large number of border troops could not bear the abuse.
They all ran to join the Mongols, and several leaders of the White Lotus Sect also fled to become landlords.
It is a pity that after the death of Anda Khan, the policy of treating the Han people well was overturned. The 100,000 Han people at the southern foot of the Yinshan Mountains are now very few left. They were either killed, escaped, or used as herder slaves.
Li Zicheng took a short rest in Tuotuo City and quickly killed Dalat's tribe.
In a bloody battle, Li Zicheng lost hundreds of cavalry, and Dalat's troops were killed and fled north.
When Li Zicheng led his army to Yinshan and Liu Zongmin led his army to Daqingshan, they captured a total of more than 3,000 Mongolian herdsmen and rescued more than 1,000 grassland Han slaves. They also kidnapped more than 30,000 livestock and grabbed a large amount of food - Hohhot
Grain can be grown in other places, and there are many Han people and Han slaves there, and the nearby tribes have almost become herders.
Not only did they attack the Xitumut tribe, but they also plundered the Chahar tribe along the way, because the Chahar tribe was also in disarray and was already fighting among themselves.
Then, Li Zicheng broke his promise and did not lead his troops across the Yin Mountains.
Li Zicheng led his troops to Guihua City (near Hohhot), Li Guo led his troops to Heishan (near Baotou), and Liu Zongmin led his troops to Jining (near Ulanqab).
They planned to accumulate strength here, capture more Mongolian slaves, rob more Mongolian horses and livestock, grow more food in the farming area, and train the rescued Han slaves into cavalry.
At that time, if the Datong army comes to kill, they will go to the north of Yinshan Mountain; if the Datong army does not come, Li Zicheng will be king and hegemony here.
The Chahar tribe, which had surrendered to the Nanjing court, cried and sent envoys to ask for help, asking the Datong army to drive away Li Zicheng.
It can only be said that the Mongolian tribes in Inner Mongolia have been destroyed by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, otherwise Li Zicheng would not have gone so smoothly.
Of course, the right wing of Chahar and the Xitumut tribe were forced by Li Zicheng to seek an alliance. Only by uniting can they fight Li Zicheng. If they continue to fight among themselves, they will die.
If Li Zicheng wants to gain a foothold at the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain, he must repel the Mongols' joint attack.
No matter who loses or wins, the population of this large grassland will definitely decrease sharply!
"Da da da da!"
A fast horse came from the direction of Baotou and galloped to Hohhot.
"Your Majesty, the Dalat tribe that fled to the northwest has returned with the Urad tribe further west. The enemy troops are numerous and powerful, and the general (Li Guo) requests that troops be sent out quickly for rescue!"
"got it."
Li Zicheng immediately summoned the cavalry. Unexpectedly, before setting off, he received Liu Zongmin's request for help. Liu Zongmin was also attacked by a joint attack from the Chahar tribe.
Niu Jinxing rode over and said: "Your Majesty, we are all outsiders. Although the battle went smoothly a while ago, we are now surrounded by wolves. Also, many of those Mongolian herdsmen have fled. We have to change our methods.
First, fight hard and win a few battles; second, massacre one or two tribes to establish your authority; third, divide and win over some small tribes."
"The Prime Minister is right, but we can wait until the battle is over." Li Zicheng got on his horse.
Niu Jinxing said: "Let General Liu (Liu Zongmin) withdraw, temporarily reconcile with the Chahar Mongols, and first gather troops to completely defeat the Tumut Mongols. We are outsiders and cannot provoke two big tribes at the same time. We will withdraw as soon as
, Chahar Mongolia is bound to have internal strife again, and it won’t be too late to attack Chahar Mongolia after the Tumut Mongolia are dealt with.”
Li Zicheng nodded and said: "Immediately send someone to convey an order to Liu Zongmin, asking him to lead his troops to Guihua City and give up the Jining side to the Chahar tribe."
Less than two months after Li Zicheng occupied Hohhot, he encountered a joint counterattack by the Mongols, and it was not a large-scale alliance of the whole clan. This was enough for him to drink a pot on the grassland.
This guy quickly went to support Li Guo, who had already been defeated and retreated to Lingzhao Temple.
The two men joined forces to fight back and won a great victory. They pursued all the way to Bayannur and directly annihilated the Urad Hou Banner tribe there.
Li Zicheng is not a troublemaker, but a river-crossing dragon living on the grassland.
The Great War on the Grassland will last for who knows how many years.
In the spring of this year, the Qinghai delegation led by Chechen Daiqing finally arrived in Nanjing to pay tribute to the emperor.
