Outside Guihua City, a war was about to break out. Two days ago, Huang Degong led an army of 30,000 people and had already arrived. The reason why he hadn't taken action yet was because the spies had also detected the return of Hou Tao.
Although Huang Degong was not afraid even if the Huihui from the back and the Mongols from the front joined forces, there was no harm in being more cautious, so he did not start the battle immediately, but dispersed Tumut's cavalry and went around to inquire about the situation.
Check to see if there are any other Mongolians nearby.
The Ming army did not take action, so Agula naturally would not take action first. Instead, while actively wooing Hui Hui, he sent people to continuously negotiate with the Ming army, putting on a desperate posture.
At this time, nearly 60,000 Tuxietu people, men, women, old and young, who were able to ride horses were ready to fight desperately. They just managed to gather 40,000 capable warriors, leaving only 20,000 children, pregnant women and the elderly who really had no fighting ability and were hiding in the cave.
Return to the city.
Although the various tribes on the grassland are respected for their strength and attack and annex them all year round, there are very few bloody battles that actually involve life and death.
Under normal circumstances, even if a small tribe is inferior to others in strength, as long as they show a desperate attitude, large tribes will not dare to forcibly annex them.
As long as the small tribe is willing to surrender, fight for the larger tribe, and offer some animals and women, it can avoid war and continue to survive.
Because the population on the grassland is so precious, once the two tribes really fight, both sides will suffer heavy losses, and in the end, even if they win, the gains will outweigh the losses.
For example, a large tribe wants to completely annex a small tribe. The small tribe resists desperately, and after a bloody battle, the big tribe wipes out the small tribe. At most, it only gets some livestock, old people and children, and it has to pay a certain price. So
It is better to let them surrender and gain more benefits while paying the smallest price.
This is also the reason why many small tribes on the grassland have not been annexed, but only rely on large tribes to survive. Of course, if a large tribe is too powerful, it will not take so much care.
Lin Dan Khan of the Chahar Tribe at that time was very ambitious and wanted to directly annex the other tribes by virtue of his strength. As a result, he aroused public outrage and forced the tribes who were also Mongolians to join Huang Taiji of Hou Jin Dynasty.
.
Because compared to Lin Dan Khan's direct annexation, Huang Taiji only made the tribes surrender to the Jurchens. The tribes naturally chose to surrender rather than be annexed.
Surrendering to a tribe that is stronger than oneself is not a shameful thing on the grassland at all. After surrendering, the tribe still exists independently. In addition to paying some tribute every year, it means that some people will follow when there is a war.
But once it is annexed, the tribe is really doomed.
Therefore, in the eyes of the people in Agula and Tuxie Tubu, they were willing to surrender to the Ming Emperor and put on a desperate posture. The Ming army had no reason to risk the outcome of losing both sides and forcibly destroy them.
However, they were not facing other Mongolian tribes, but the Ming Dynasty's army. If Huang Degong could make the decision, he would naturally be willing to accept the other party's surrender and then stop his troops.
But the imperial concubine's order was to chop off all the heads of these Mongolians and pile them at the foot of Yinshan Mountain to establish their authority, so he never thought of negotiating at all.
As for the casualties, let alone that he was sure of controlling the casualties to a certain level. Even if he was not sure, even if the whole army was wiped out and the corpses were shrouded in horse leather, the emperor's orders would still be carried out.
This is the consideration of both parties, and they are not on the same level at all.
Just when Huang Degong was about to take action, Zhu Cixiang finally sent a new order. Huang Degong naturally chose to carry out the new order unconditionally.
He ordered someone to bring up the detained envoy.
"You go back and tell your clan leader that if you want to avoid war, your Tuxie Tu tribe must surrender to the Ming Dynasty unconditionally. Your Great Khan must go to the capital to live, and others must put down their weapons and accept the arrangements of the Ming Dynasty..."
"Impossible, this is absolutely impossible. This is annexation, not surrender. Our Tuxietu tribe is willing to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and we can even donate some cattle, sheep, horses and women, but it is impossible to lay down our weapons and surrender. Our great Agu
Even the Great Khan cannot go to your capital."
The envoy immediately became excited. Not even Agula Khan could accept this condition.
Once they lay down their weapons, wouldn't the Han people kill them just like killing pigs and dogs? What is the difference between this and direct annexation?
"Hmph! I'm not negotiating with you, but telling you my Ming Dynasty's conditions. Just go back and bring my words to your Great Khan. If he doesn't lead everyone to surrender tomorrow, we will fight on the battlefield.
The outcome is decided, I guarantee that when the time comes, he will never have the chance to go to the capital again."
Huang Gong also knew that the other party would definitely not surrender directly, so he didn't bother to talk to him. He snorted coldly and waved his hand after speaking.
"We, the 40,000 warriors of the Tuxietu tribe, are not lambs to be slaughtered. In order to protect our relatives, cattle and sheep, anyone who attempts to annex us will have to pay a heavy price. Our warriors will fight the enemy until the end.
For a moment.”
This envoy was obviously not good at negotiating. When he was pulled out, he did not forget to threaten, showing that the Tuxie Tubu were determined to defeat the enemy.
But with such determination and such threats, Huang Degong and the generals in the tent didn't care at all.
Of the so-called 40,000 warriors mentioned by the other party, only half were real young men, and the remaining half were women and boys and girls of twelve or thirteen years old.
Such a combination would pose no real threat to their chariots, bows and arrows, firearms, cavalry, and infantry. On the contrary, if the opponent did not fight and chose to escape, it would be very troublesome.
However, if the opponent really wants to run, they can only run for a while. People can run on horseback, but food, cattle, sheep, children, and various things needed for survival cannot run. Without these things, even if they don't chase them, the opponent will survive.
But this winter.
However, some of the Tumote leaders in the tent frowned slightly when faced with the determination and threat of this envoy. They obviously understood that no tribe could bear the price of truly annihilating a tribe with a population of 60,000.
If you can afford it, I guess only the Han people can afford it.
After all, for the Han people, the loss of 20,000 to 30,000 young men is only a drop in the bucket. But if it were replaced by other tribes, even the most powerful tribe, it would still be broken and they would not be able to recover for many years.
Sure enough, when the envoy brought Huang Degong's words back, Agula and all the leaders decided to fight with the Ming army. Even if the fight ended in a lose-lose situation and Tuxie Tubu lost most of its population, they would never put down their weapons and lose their wealth.
Life is left to the Han people to deal with.
Although they knew that the Han people would not kill them and would only split them up like the Tumut tribe, except for a few very small branches, the other leaders were unable to accept this condition.
The reason why the Tumut tribe was willing to compromise at the beginning was because of the relationship between Ran Duoer and the Tumut tribe. The Tumut tribe was the Mongolian tribe most influenced by Chinese culture, so the rejection and resistance in their hearts was minimal. The third reason was that they just lost money.
It was so heavy, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Ming troops, and they had no choice at all. They couldn't escape even if they wanted to.
