Chapter Eighty-Six: Turmoil in the Northwest

Chapter Eighty-Six: Disorder in the Northwest

In the end, Zhu Qizhen did not press the matter further.

Some things could not be pried loose by questioning.

In Zhu Qizhen's view, Jiang Gui had indeed the bearing of a great general, but bearing alone did not make a man spotless. Perhaps while serving away from home, he had taken the slightest stain upon himself. But could his children, left behind in his native place, truly be said to be clean?

The decline of the frontier garrisons of the Great Ming to their present state was not the work of one man. One might say that the imperial nobility of the dynasty, and even the commanders, colonels, and other officers of every garrison, not one in the lot was wholly clean.

And precisely because of that, Zhu Qizhen did not know where to begin with the garrison military system.

That was the matter that truly threatened the foundations of the realm.

Changing the subject, Zhu Qizhen asked, "Do you understand the fighting in the northwest, General?"

Jiang Gui said, "Your servant understands that Khan Aday cannot be brought to submit. He means to struggle in his death throes."

Zhu Qizhen said, "When you reach the northwest, what do you plan to do?"

Jiang Gui answered with calm assurance, "I shall first set the garrisons in order. Then I will ride beyond the passes and break Khan Aday."

During this period, Zhu Qizhen had gathered intelligence from many quarters, and his understanding of the northwest campaign had deepened.

Aday Khan himself was related by marriage to the Khorchin.

But he also possessed his own territory, and that pointed to something important: the special condition of the Mongols after their retreat into the grasslands.

Though the Mongols on the steppe still called themselves the court, they had already regressed to their original tribal state. Thus nearly every Mongol Great Khan maintained two khanates.

One khanate was in Karakorum.

Karakorum had been the capital before the Mongols entered the Central Plains; it was also the capital of the Northern Branch Province and the capital of the Northern Yuan. Only the victor in the struggle for the khanship could occupy Karakorum and command all Mongolia.

But the line of the Yuan Emperor Hui was defeated by the Ming armies. With the steppe left without a master, several Great Khans rose and fell between the late Hongwu and Yongle reigns.

These khans all shared one trait: each had his own territory, and each carried the blood of the Golden Family. Even after taking Karakorum, they still established a second khanate in their original lands.

This was the Mongol custom of dual khanates, and it also showed that the Northern Yuan could no longer be called a complete polity.

Even the Ming court followed this principle, striving to deal separately with the various Mongol factions while avoiding direct contact with the Northern Yuan Great Khan. But this situation changed as the power of the Mongol Great Khans waned and the Western Oirat and the Eastern Aruhtai rose.

Aday Khan had been elevated by Aruhtai, but he held little real power.

So when Aruhtai was killed by the Oirat, Aday Khan broke free of Tatar control and fled to the northwest.

Aday Khan fled to his own territory, but did not dare linger there long. He quickly headed south to the borders of the Great Ming, hoping to submit and become a tributary vassal of the dynasty.

Yet Zhu Qizhen learned of this only later, because the Grand Empress Dowager had suppressed the news.

It was not that the Grand Empress Dowager forbade it outright.

At the time, however, she and Zhu Qizhen were locked in conflict. She was trying to crush Zhu Qizhen's reckless schemes, so such news was naturally kept down.

Still, the Grand Empress Dowager was not acting out of spite. Though she had shelved the matter, she did not ignore it, and contacts with Aday Khan continued.

At that time the matter was handled by the civil administration, with Yang Rong presiding at the center.

Since the Grand Empress Dowager had no desire to interfere in steppe disputes, she did not regard Aday Khan as a treasure to be seized, but rather as a nuisance.

Even the Oirat heard of it, yet they did not dare act rashly.

The Oirat envoys at court pressed their threats, while also requesting marriage alliances, and their intentions may well have included Aday Khan himself.

The Grand Empress Dowager held the Oirat at bay with firm resolve. After all, Aday Khan had come south seeking refuge under the dynasty. They could not simply hand him over to the Oirat; if they did, what Mongol would ever come to the court again?

But the terms between Aday Khan and the court also could not be reconciled.

Aday Khan himself wanted, with the support of the Great Ming, to become a tributary vassal of the dynasty, a shield for it beyond the passes, and even receive imperial investiture.

Yet the Grand Empress Dowager was far more practical.

This kind of vassalage was not something the Great Ming had never bestowed before. The Three Guards of the Uriankhai had been granted that status during the Hongwu reign. But by now they had long since become double-faced on the steppe and no longer obeyed the court.

It was the Xuande Emperor who had campaigned against the Three Uriankhai Guards.

What use was there in investing another vassal now?

To expect loyalty and righteousness from the Mongols—how foolish that would be.

Of course, there were Mongols who were utterly devoted to the Great Ming. There were Mongol banner officers in the dynasty, and even in the Chongzhen reign, the general Mangui, who died in battle, had been of Mongol birth.

Thus the Grand Empress Dowager's intention was to bring Aday Khan to court, where a marquisate or a dukedom could be considered, and his soldiers would each receive suitable rewards before being incorporated into the frontier garrisons.

In the end, neither side could reach agreement.

Envoys went back and forth without ceasing, and at last the Grand Empress Dowager decided to stall Aday Khan.

After all, the ones in a hurry at present were not the court.

Yet by dragging things out this way, trouble was created. First, Aday Khan's position grew increasingly desperate; second, he had also seen through the true state of the court's garrisons.

Whether it was a clash of contradictions or some other cause, in any case when Aday Khan struck, he discovered that the Great Ming court was only that much after all.

Since there was something to be won by the sword, Aday Khan no longer wished to negotiate with the Great Ming.

From beginning to end, Aday Khan had never truly intended to submit to the court. It was only that circumstances had compelled him. But now he had found another road.

Victory itself—that was the answer. So long as he led the Mongols under him from one triumph to the next, they would give their loyalty to Aday Khan. He decided to seize what he could in the northwest, then retreat once more to the grasslands. By gathering hearts through victory, by rallying the scattered tribes, he might even be able to contend with the Oirat.

To be honest, Zhu Qizhen was not angry that the Grand Empress Dowager had concealed this from him.

He understood his own position very clearly. Though he was called emperor, in truth he was nothing more than a crown prince. The true master of the Great Ming was the palace of Compassionate Tranquility.

Zhu Qizhen was rational enough to know that, without the Grand Empress Dowager's permission, he could not overstep his bounds.

Even if he had known about it, he likely would have been unable to change anything. What truly angered him was something else entirely: just what was the real condition of the northwest garrisons?

How many men did Aday Khan actually have?

Zhu Qizhen had in fact counted carefully. Even if he overestimated, the forces under Aday Khan would not exceed ten thousand horsemen.

The reason was simple: manpower on the steppe was limited.

The Mongol grasslands were constrained by all manner of natural disasters, human calamities, and limits of production. So there was a ceiling to their manpower. How many people lived on the Mongol steppe? Zhu Qizhen did not know. But from ancient times there had been one definition: the multitude of the Xiongnu was equal to a single Chinese commandery. This definition changed as banners shifted over the grasslands, but the most basic principle had never changed.

If Aday Khan had several tens of thousands of horsemen, he could already contest the Oirat. One must know that in the battle of Hulanhushui, in which the Emperor Taizong utterly defeated the Oirat, the opposing force was only thirty thousand elite Oirat horsemen.

Even though the Oirat had grown much stronger than before, their core forces could by no means number one hundred thousand horsemen. Only their outlying manpower amounted to several hundred thousand. If Aday Khan truly had thirty thousand horsemen, he could make many Mongol clans remain neutral.

At most, Aday Khan had only a few thousand cavalry.

And yet it was precisely this tiny force that made him dare to look down on the Great Ming's northwest garrisons as if they were nothing.

Was Aday Khan an extraordinary hero, born to win against the odds and challenge the Great Ming? Or had the northwest garrisons of the Great Ming rotted so completely that once Aday Khan looked upon them, he thought he could sweep across the northwest?

The most ironic question was not how arrogantly Aday Khan behaved, but that despite such arrogance, he had actually succeeded. The truth behind this made Zhu Qizhen feel a chill.

With such circumstances, Zhu Qizhen could not make a firm judgment, so he naturally did not object to Jiang Gui's strategy of first restoring order to the garrisons and then riding beyond the passes to seek battle.

Zhu Qizhen did not speak at length with Jiang Gui. After half an hour or so, he sent Jiang Gui away.

But after Jiang Gui left, the heaviness in Zhu Qizhen's heart still had not lifted. He suddenly made a decision and said to Wang Zhen, "I am going to the palace of Compassionate Tranquility."

Wang Zhen immediately replied, "This servant will arrange it at once."

Ever since the old grievance between grandmother and grandson had melted away, Zhu Qizhen had been going to the palace of Compassionate Tranquility more often again. Wang Zhen had long been prepared, and soon they were ready to depart.