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When Qin Mu and his entourage arrived at the Yellow River and were preparing to cross the river on the east bank, they received a report of victory from Aobai, saying that the eight-tribe coalition had defeated the Qitate, Zhalut and Hoqit tribes in one fell swoop, capturing more than 10,000 of their people and more than 400,000 cattle and sheep.
However, the captives were all the old and weak from the three tribes; the young and strong from the three tribes did not suffer too many losses and fled to Mobei together.
Qin Mu looked at the surging Yellow River and frowned slightly. Sima An comforted him, "King Qin, although the main force of the Qitate escaped, it is still beneficial for our dynasty to control the tribes in the south of the desert."
Qin Mu shook his head and said, "The entire Mo Nan is so vast that it is not easy to control it. Don't think that the tribes in Mo Nan dare not offend our Great Qin now, that's because their strength has just been severely damaged, and our Great Qin still has the power to destroy the Qing Dynasty.
What I am worried about is that the fall of the Qing Dynasty will give Mongolia a chance to rise again. The various Mongolian tribes in the south of the desert are now in a state of intense turmoil after getting rid of the shackles of the Qing Dynasty. The tribes are annexing each other, and wars are constantly going on. It looks very chaotic.
This reminds me of the Mongolia during the time of Temujin, when the various tribes were also in constant war. However, this kind of war and annexation may lead to Mongolia becoming more unified and stronger again."
Sima An replied: "Although your concerns are not unreasonable, as long as the Qin Dynasty strengthens its intervention and control, it will not be easy for the tribes south of the desert to unify."
"Daqin has just completed the Northern Expedition, and the people's livelihood needs to be restored urgently. The huge expenditure also forces Daqin to make it difficult to deploy troops on the grasslands in the short term. Isn't this a good opportunity for the Mongolian tribes to rise
It was late autumn now, and snow was coming to the grasslands, making it difficult for even Meng Ke's coalition to march long distances. However, this weather did not affect the Mongol tribes deep in the grasslands from annexing neighboring tribes. It was just a matter of climbing a mountain or crossing a river. No matter how strong the snow was, how much impact could it have
Not to mention a few years, even in a single winter, in such intense turmoil, unpredictable changes may occur in the southern part of the desert. And my Great Qin can only watch from afar, and it is even difficult to know what is happening deep in the grassland. "
Sima An said: "King Qin, don't worry too much. As you said, in winter, although it does not affect the stronger tribes to annex the smaller tribes around them, they cannot go far. That means they are doomed to have little development."
"I hope so." Qin Mu's worries were not resolved, and he continued, "I suspect that the capture of the old and weak in the three tribes was probably deliberately abandoned by this woman, Yatu. Without the burden of the old and weak, she and Qitate have actually become stronger, and they have also successfully made their soldiers give up their hatred for the Great Qin.
It seems that we have underestimated this woman named Yatu. If it was really her who instructed Qitate to abandon the three old and weak people, this is not only wise, but also shows that she is ruthless. Such an enemy should not be underestimated.
In the northern part of the Mongolian Desert, there were originally only three factions: Tushetu Khan Gunbu, Zasaktu Khan Norbu, and Chechen Khan Shuolei. Unlike the southern part of the desert, which was divided into very small areas by the Qing Dynasty, these three tribes were very powerful and barely maintained a fragile balance in the northern part of the desert.
Now that Qitate and Yatu's tens of thousands of troops suddenly marched towards Mobei, there was no doubt that it would inevitably disrupt the already fragile balance of Mobei and would likely cause a reorganization of forces in Mobei.
The Mongols had a glorious era like Genghis Khan and had a concept of nation. Don't underestimate them. For example, Batur, the Khan of Western Dzungaria, successfully convened a meeting of various tribes and formulated the Mongol Oirat Code, which unified Western Mongolia.
We must pay enough attention to these things. What we are facing are not the ignorant barbarians. Moreover, mobility is the nature of nomadic peoples. Who can guarantee that the unified Oirats Mongols will not return to the south of the desert
You have to know that they lived in the south of the desert for a long time, but later due to internal divisions and reduced strength, they were forced to move west. If the Junggar Khan Batur misses the lush grasslands in the south of the desert and wants to lead his troops back, I don’t think it’s strange at all. And at their speed, they can enter the south of the desert in one or two months. "
When Qin Mu said this, he suddenly remembered something and clenched his fists. He told Han Zanzhou, "Old Han, go and bring Dayuer to me immediately."
“Yes.”
Sima An saw that Qin Mu looked strange, and couldn't help asking, "King Qin, what happened?"
Qin Mu waved his hand and waited for Han Zanzhou to bring Dayuer over. He asked calmly, "When we were in Beijing, I remember you said that when Batur, the Khan of Dzungar, convened a meeting of various tribes to formulate the Mongol Oirat Code, Gushri Khan of the Khoshut tribe in Qinghai and Tibet and Zasaktu Khan of Mobei all went to participate, right?"
Dayu'er was suddenly called over, and she couldn't help feeling a little nervous. She answered carefully, "Yes, King Qin."
"In other words, Gushri Khan of Qinghai-Tibet and Zasaktu Khan of Mobei have already acknowledged Batur's status as the Great Khan of Dzungar Khan, right?"
"Yes, it is."
Qin Mu's expression turned cold, and he stared at her and asked, "How many things are you hiding from me?"
Dayu'er's face changed drastically, and she said anxiously: "I dare not, I dare not, I really have nothing to hide from the King of Qin..."
"You're still saying no? The Junggar tribe in western desert rose, Batur Khan seized the position of leader of all tribes in western desert, and the Khoshut tribe was dissatisfied and moved to Qinghai-Tibet. According to what you said, Gushri Khan should have regarded Batur Khan as an enemy. Then after Gushri Khan occupied Qinghai-Tibet, why did he rush back to western desert to participate in the alliance, and also participated in the formulation of the Mongolian Oirat Code, and recognized Batur's position as leader. Isn't this very contradictory? How do you justify yourself?"
"This... ... ..King Qin, your servant..."
"Speak!" Qin Mu shouted coldly, frightening Dayuer so much that she kowtowed repeatedly.
"Qin... ... King Qin, it's like this. Batur is a man of great talent and strategy. He led the Junggar tribe to rise rapidly, and seized the position of leader of the tribes in western Moxi with his strength. Although Gushri Khan was unhappy at the time, considering that his strength was weaker than Batur, he could only acquiesce.
Although there were some unpleasantness between the two, they did not break up. Batur did not make things difficult for Gushri Khan, and he also helped Gushri Khan conquer Qinghai-Tibet as the new pastureland of the Khoshut tribe. Therefore, Gushri Khan later attended the alliance and recognized Batur's position as the leader of the alliance..."
"You didn't mention any of this at the beginning."
"I... I didn't conceal anything on purpose. It was just that the King of Qin wanted to hear about the Dzungar tribe in western Moxi, so I only talked about the important things. I didn't have time to go into the details. Please forgive me, King of Qin."
"Details?" Qin Mu really wanted to give her a good beating. With her intelligence, how could she not know that these were the key points? She deliberately didn't say anything, obviously because she was afraid that she would lose her value after swallowing it all.
Sima An, who was standing beside him, also became serious when he heard this. The Qinghai-Tibet, western Moxi and northern Moxi, three seemingly unrelated and even hostile forces, actually formed a subtle alliance through the "Mongol Oirats Code".
This code was used to adjust the relationship between the Oirat and Khalkha tribes and to establish an alliance to jointly resist foreign forces. At the same time, it determined the ranks of the tribes in the form of law. Different ranks and different grades of the same rank enjoyed different rights and assumed different obligations. It also finally confirmed the status of the Khan of Dzungar Batur.
The Great Khan is the leader of the alliance and has a higher status than the ordinary Khan. If the Dzungar Khan Batur is really a man of great talent and strategy and can really bring these three forces together, it will be an extremely difficult matter and much more terrifying than the Qing Dynasty entering the pass.
The strength of the Mongolian tribes was actually much stronger than that of the Qing Dynasty. It was only because they had been trapped in civil war for a long time and were seriously divided that the Jurchens had the opportunity to call the shots.
Since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the various Mongolian tribes have been divided for two or three hundred years. The general trend of the world is that after a long period of unity, there will be division, and after a long period of division, there will be unity. Looking at the nomadic peoples on the grasslands, this is also true. Now the tendency of the Mongolian tribes to reunite is becoming more and more obvious.
Having freed itself from the constraints of the Manchus and Qings, Mongolia, which is in the midst of intense turmoil, may be experiencing the pains before a merger. The situation is worrying!
Qin Mu immediately summoned Li Yuan, Yang Shen and others, and discussed the matter overnight by the surging Yellow River. It was not until the next day that they began to cross the river and enter Guanzhong.
Li Dingguo, Song Xiance, Yu Chenglong and others came in person to welcome Qin Mu's carriage and reported a piece of news to Qin Mu: the Qin army had a fierce battle with Dayan Ojir, the son of Gushri Khan, near Xining. Due to heavy snow, the Qin army had to temporarily withdraw to Lanzhou and failed to capture Xining.
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.(To be continued..)
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