"The Horqin tribe, Kui Meng Ke and Tas Hara, bow to the sky to see His Majesty the Khan! Your Majesty may live forever!"
"Kharkha Tribe, His Majesty the Khan of Hu La Ha Chi Kowtow to Heaven!"
"Duo Luo tribe, Huo Luo Chi kowtows to see His Majesty the Heavenly Khan, who upholds the destiny of eternal life and nurtures all nations, and is wise and wise. I wish you a long life without borders!"
...
Following the announcement of their arrival, the Mongolian "Khans" lined up outside the emperor's golden tent, under the guidance of officials from the Ministry of Rites, entered the tent in order according to the day they arrived at Saihanba, kowtowed to Zhu Yijun, and expressed their surrender.
Half an hour later, more than 80 "Khans" of all sizes from the Mongolian tribes filled the big tent. Some of them came from the "Western Sea", that is, Qinghai, and some came from Mobei, and they accounted for more than half of the people who came to see the emperor.
The majority are still the Monan Mongolian tribes that have the most dealings with the Ming Dynasty.
Although there were a large number of people, the chiefs did not whisper to each other. They only smiled and nodded when they met acquaintances. After everyone sat down, they lowered their heads and looked at the golden pot and golden bowl on the wooden table in front of them, which contained amber milk tea. Because
The whole ceremony took too long and the milk tea was already cold.
Except for King Shunyi, Zhu Yijun, the other chieftains, did not know any of the other chiefs, so he had no greetings with the Mongolian chieftains who were prostrating, and they sat there like clay dolls and wood carvings.
As a result, although the chiefs felt that the emperor was young and somewhat heroic, their first impression was not very good - it was in line with their own imagination of the Chinese emperor, who was aloof but powerless.
The reason why everyone was not rude was that in addition to the decisive role played by the two heads of Tumen Khan and Kunduliha, the Ying Yangjun guarding them outside the golden tent also left a deep impression on the chiefs.
impression.
More than ten years ago, many of the familiar faces in Yingyang's army were "comrades" who fought side by side with the chiefs of Monan Mongolia, and the proceeds from killing and looting were divided according to the agreed terms.
Now that I saw them wearing helmets and armor, with sabers bent in front of their waists, with their chests and belly raised, and their heads raised proudly, the Mongolian chiefs who came with them had mixed feelings: they were both interested in the Jurchens who were living a good life.
He was envious of others, fearful of the Ming Dynasty, and even more confused about his future and destiny.
Seeing that everyone had gathered, Shen Shixing, the Minister of Rites, asked for an order to proceed with the next step. The emperor replied "yes".
Immediately, an official selected by the imperial court who was proficient in Mongolian stood up and said: "There is a decree, all the chiefs will kneel down to listen!" After hearing this, everyone stood up and knelt down beside the small table.
Before the official announced the edict, the chiefs suddenly heard the emperor saying in Mongolian on the throne: "The edict is very long, so you don't have to kneel." The words were spoken in a smooth tone, and many of the chiefs trembled when they heard the words.
This was something that was not included in the process, and the chiefs had not been trained. The officials of the Ministry of Rites were buzzing after hearing this, for fear that so many people would mess up the law. The proclaimer did not dare to delay, so he had to say: "Thank you, thank you.
, please come back and sit down."
What I didn't expect was that although the voices of gratitude were mixed, everyone thanked Tian En and sat back down without being rude.
The edict officer wiped his forehead with his sleeve and announced the edict in Mongolian: "I, Emperor Taizu, inherited the destiny of the late Yuan Dynasty. The dragon flew to Haoliang and wiped out the heroes. I eliminated violence and saved the people, brought order to chaos, and became an emperor in less than ten years.
It has been more than two hundred years since Ke established the great unification!"
"At that time, Emperor Taizu thought that 'I am the lord of the world, and China is uninterrupted. Although the surnames are different, they are the same'. He successively issued edicts to the remnants of the Meng Yuan Dynasty, saying, 'If you have the ability to lead the people back, you can only be promoted according to their ability.'
etc. He also told the Yuan Lord, 'If you can understand the destiny of heaven, and come back with a jade, you should be treated with special courtesy' and so on."
"At that time, the Yuan Dynasty left Yuyang in the north and traveled across the desert to restore the old capital without losing the old things. There were no less than a million bowmen, and the tribes who had surrendered were no less than thousands of miles away, and they were equipped to carry out military campaigns.
It is still necessary to rely on it, but it is still useful, and it is still necessary to have camels, horses, cattle and sheep.”
"His ambition is to survive by chance. Emperor Taizu had no choice but to raise troops to clear the desert. The expedition was futile, and he chased death to the north. In the battle of Yu'erhai, the Yuan lord Tuogusi Timur could only ride a few horses.
He escaped and was hanged by Yesudier within a few days."
...
The entire edict is indeed "very long" as Zhu Yijun said. The main content of the edict is to sort out the two hundred years of grievances and resentments between the grassland and the Han Dynasty from the two perspectives of Han and Mongolia.
Expressed deep regret about the actual situation and proposed solutions.
This edict of more than 6,000 words has become the programmatic document of the national policy in this time and space. It abandoned the "political correctness" of the previous Ming Dynasty court documents that covered up wrongdoing and "regarded the strong as barbarians".
The more significant conflicts and "mutual markets" were evaluated from the perspectives of both parties, allowing the audience to draw a conclusion: If both sides could properly handle conflicts and manage differences at that time, we would not be as miserable as we are now.
For example, when describing that Mongolia was at war with the Ming Dynasty for many years, resulting in a state of fragmentation and endless attacks and killings, the edict said: "There was great chaos in the grassland, and the people with the different surname "Site" dominated the army and frequently abolished and established. Since ancient times, I think of Timur.
Later, the commanders of the army took possession of him, and passed it to Kun Timur, where he was killed. In such troubled times, the armor and stomach are never separated from the body, and the bow and knife are never let go. They move east and west. The old cannot live their whole life, and the young cannot live in peace.
Also. If there is any disaster, the deceased will rest on his pillow." [Note 1]
The imperial edict also made no secret of the Ming court's own failures and existing problems: "After it became more powerful, it demanded Chinese property, and the age increased... And the envoy sent by the imperial court, A Mei, also asked for it first.
Everything is allowed, and since the income is only four or five tenths, it is therefore a complaint."
"When the Han and Mongolian people were trading with each other, the Han people's silk was not enough to cut; the boots and hats could not be worn, and they were broken. The quarrels and insults, and the threats with bows and knives, accumulated over time, leading to military disasters - the Civil War Changes
, the pain is so deep!”
Although the imperial edict was translated into Mongolian, it was translated into Chinese by an interpreter while reading it. The senior officials in the Golden Account, such as Zhang Siwei, Shen Shixing, etc., had read the original text of the imperial edict before, and their expressions did not move at this time. They had not done so before.
Han officials who had seen the content of the imperial edict changed their minds when they heard that the incident in the imperial edict talked about the Tumu Fort incident and contained many self-criticisms.
As for the Mongolian chiefs who listened to the emperor's edict, their faces turned red and their breathing was heavy. It was obvious that they were not at peace in their hearts. They never expected that the emperor's edict viewed the conflict between Mongolia and Han so objectively.
In fact, the imperial edict is not objective. There was an intention to restore the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty before and after the Tumubao Incident. Therefore, this war is inevitable, but it is not the conflict that the imperial edict said would result from the accumulation of contradictions over time. But to be honest
, not one of the Mongolian chiefs here is proficient in history. They can't hear the edict's tone of avoiding the important and taking the easy.
...
Subsequently, the edict reviewed the relationship between Han and Mongolia after "Ida paid tribute": "Thanks to our emperor, we stopped the troops and settled the people. We stopped the ravages of the land, so as to avoid the poison of the living beings..." and analyzed both sides.
The necessity of mutual trading:
"You are scattered in the deserts and grasslands. People do not cultivate and weave, and the land has no other products. The pots, cauldrons, needles and threads for daily use must be cast by the Han people. The silks, satins and silks can only be sold to each other. If the imperial court closes the market, the only option is to plunder. That’s all.”
"...The only thing that was gained by the plan was to plunder and pay tribute to both ends of the city. After Dayan Khan, every time he invaded the bandit, the older generation would have hundreds of thousands, the middle generation would have more than ten thousand, and the younger generation would have several thousand. But how much did they get? However, many people and horses are killed and wounded. When the imperial troops and horses are strong, like Tumen Khan and Kunduliha the year before last, they are of no different kind."
When all the captives heard the words "excellent in kind", they all trembled: The Chahar tribe is so powerful. It is controlled by the eldest son of Dayan Khan, the most powerful gold family after Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty, and is known as the Central Ten Thousand. Hu. Sunit, Ujumqin, Haoqite, Keshiketeng, Aohan, Naiman and other tribes all respected Tumen Khan. Although each tribe could not fight for Tumen Khan, their strong momentum was enough. The total number of people who can control strings exceeds 50,000.
However, the previous wars were lackluster for the Ming Dynasty. Bangkok's vicious warfare methods were a joke in front of the Wanli 14-type muskets. It was useless to move around in yurts. The Han people used four-wheeled carriages to carry soldiers' supplies, and they moved faster than the tribesmen. Not to mention migration, horse-drawn carriages can also be used to form vehicle formations.
Times have changed! The Mongolian soldiers who escaped with their lives after the battle with the Ming army all said that their biggest feeling was that the morale of the Ming army was extremely high and their desire to fight was extremely strong, which was completely different from the weakness of the Han people for more than a hundred years.
Forty-two years ago, in the 21st year of Jiajing, Anda Khan led 50,000 cavalry and marched in, plundering Shanxi, "breaking ten guards, breaking 38 prefectures and counties, and killing and plundering more than 200,000 people." Jiajing II In the 19th year, during the famous "Gengwu Rebellion", Anda Khan besieged the capital. Along the way, the Ming army "did not dare to fire a single shot" and "plundered more than two million people and animals."
The Mongolians at that time recorded this period of history in the form of lyrics: "The dazzling Altan Khan led 30,000 households to the expedition, / surrounded the city of Suburgatu in the Han region and reached the Blongir River, / the drunken Han people went on their own When they came to surrender, / they were sent away in a file, with women and children riding in cars. When they were liberated, the first of the captives arrived at Ulan Mulun, / and the last of them had not yet left the Great Wall.”
Until the time of "Anda Tribute", the Mongolians in Monan also believed that one Mongolian soldier could defeat five Han soldiers. In order to preserve the political results of "Anda Tribute", Anda Khan made a thirteen-article agreement with various tribes , everything is detailed - the main content is to restrain the Mongols from bullying the Han people in mutual trade.
However, everything has changed. At this time, the emperor who was sitting on the throne, whom they called the "Khan of Heaven", turned all the soldiers and horses on the nine sides into killing machines in just seven or eight years. , their eyes were red and fierce, waiting for the tribes outside the border wall to make fatal mistakes - mistakes like those of Tumen Khan and Kunduliha.