Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 439: Changsheng Tianhan's Proposal

"Russia?"

The next day, Zhu Changluo was a little surprised to hear this, and then he corrected him meaningfully: "Now they call themselves Tsarist Russia, but in the West, other countries do not recognize its status as a kingdom and still regard them as the Grand Duchy of Moscow."

After explaining for a while, Manggusi asked: "So... not very strong?"

Zhu Changluo glanced at him and said calmly, "Your ancestors fought all the way to their place. Were you strong at that time? Now that their traces have reached your north, how can you underestimate them? They are not like the vast ocean. Every piece of land must be measured by horse hooves."

Manggusi shut up angrily and looked at Lindan Batur.

"Great Khan of the Eternal Heaven." Lindan Batur bowed. "White disasters are becoming more frequent, and powerful enemies are appearing not far away. We all need your protection."

Zhu Changluo looked at him deeply.

Then he said, "You know it's difficult for the Ming Dynasty to send troops to drive out their cavalry. Mobei is too vast, and the distance is two or three times farther than sending troops to Hulunbuir. There are also the Khalkha in the middle of the road, and the Oirat in the northwest."

"But……"

"They are not here just to plunder, but to expand the territory step by step." Zhu Changluo interrupted him, "For the time being, they cannot threaten you. Now we only know the intelligence of their presence, but this news is not enough to become an opportunity for you to reunite as one."

Lindan Batur was shocked, and Manggusi and Bu Shitu both looked at him with vigilance.

Zhu Changluo immediately softened his tone: "Of course, since you all respect me as the Eternal Khan, I will certainly stop the Russian Empire's ambitions! But things come one by one, let Khalkha worry about it first. It is more important for you to deal with the increasingly frequent severe winters."

The Khalkha were divided into inner and outer Khalkha. The tribes led by Chaohua had already migrated to Liaodong and were called Inner Khalkha.

The Outer Khalkha people have always occupied the vast grassland north of the Yin Mountains and west of Hulunbuir and Xilin Gol.

Lindan Batur's idea was at least to rely on the Ming Dynasty to completely subdue Outer Khalkha and demonstrate the value of his united front work in resisting the Cossack cavalry from the Russian expedition.

By the way, take control of more coal and iron controlled by Outer Khalkha.

Even to obtain firearms - the Russian Empire did have artillery, and they began to ship it here to consolidate the conquest. Whether it was to seize it from them or to use it to request firearms support from the Ming Dynasty, it might be Lindan Batur's purpose.

Looking at Zhu Changluo, Lindan Batur lowered his head and said, "If the Khan of Changshengtian is willing to take action in the future, the tribes will feel more at ease."

"Don't worry about that." Zhu Changluo looked at them. "It's been seven years. During these seven years, the Ming Dynasty has never cut off trade with you and has tried every means to eliminate the past hatred. You are just living in the grasslands, but in my heart, since you are willing to submit to the Ming Dynasty, you are all my subjects. However, if you always want to restore the glory of the Yuan Dynasty, that would go against my will."

"...How dare an outsider?" Lindan Batur quickly stood up. "Last year, during the white disaster, the Khan of Eternal Heaven was willing to let the capital city run out of coal to help us. When we talked about this in the past two days, we were all grateful for the Khan of Eternal Heaven's kindness!"

Several other people also expressed their opinions and reported on last year's disaster, expressing their gratitude for the Ming Dynasty's "assistance".

"Sit down, everyone. You are also exchanging goods. The Ming Dynasty is just not adding insult to injury and asking for a higher price." Zhu Changluo raised his hand to suppress it. "But it's not a good idea to keep going like this. The Lifanyuan and the Guanzhaiyuan have reported that the debts owed by various ministries are getting higher and higher. If it continues like this, the Ming Dynasty will not be able to pay the border traders with so much silver first."

There was silence here.

The Ming Dynasty allowed them to write IOUs. Did they write them? At first, they were quite cautious, but later, they saw that they were serious and the Ming Dynasty did not rush them, so of course they could write some IOUs and get more goods.

It is cost-effective whether to stockpile them or to resell them to other tribes further north after a certain period of time.

But last winter, winter came so early that, before the snow blocked the trade routes, we naturally owed more at one time and hurried to stockpile supplies for the winter.

Borrowing money feels good for a while, but now the emperor comes in person to ask for a repayment plan.

"Your Majesty, the disaster last year was severe. I'm afraid..."

It was Manggusi who spoke first, after all, he owed the most.

That's because they have the confidence. There are no external enemies to the north of Khorchin, and the resources in the Greater Khingan Mountains and the Lesser Khingan Mountains are also very rich.

Zhu Changluo certainly didn't come to force them to pay back the money. After listening to what they had said, he nodded and said, "Of course the Ming Dynasty will sympathize with the true situation of each tribe. Natural disasters are ruthless, but I cannot be ruthless to you."

After a pause, he stood up and said, "Let's go and sit on the grass outside the tent." So just like yesterday, mats were laid out under the big tree and everyone sat on the ground.

But this time there is the Emperor of Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Changluo touched the back of Lindan Batur's hand, squeezed it and smiled, then looked at Manggusi and said, "More than a thousand years ago, many tribes on the grassland came to the Central Plains. Later, after fighting and making peace, they became one family after the Tang Dynasty. I am not saying that you all have to become Han people, but as long as you get the method, we can also become one family and trust each other."

He acted so friendly that the tribal leaders could only agree with him with trepidation.

"Don't worry about the coal! Soon, we will not only be able to give you more coal, but the price will also be much lower." Zhu Changluo said, "In the past, you didn't know how to use coal, and the price of coal stoves had not come down yet. You couldn't put coal stoves in every tent, so there was too much coal. To buy other things from Ming, you need goods. In my opinion, if you want your people to have enough fuel in the winter and you can fill the gap in purchasing other goods, you still have to find a way."

"Eternal Heavenly Khan, you must have thought it through." Lindan Batur said earnestly, "Please tell me clearly."

Is he really so well-behaved?
I can only say that I always want to struggle, but I am powerless.

They couldn't win the fight, but they had to consider the survival of the tribe.

Trade with the Ming Dynasty is like a delicious poison. Now we can neither make enemies with the Ming Dynasty nor do we lack the things we buy from the border market.

Unless you have made up your mind to live a hard life and grit your teeth to endure the harsh winter.

"Before I talk about this, let me show you something."

Zhu Changluo waved his hand, and Liu Ruoyu took over several books that he had brought with the imperial carriage from Beijing.

"This is the result of my ordering someone to search for historical records." Zhu Changluo pointed to several books on the mat, "Each of you take a set. Those in the clan who have studied in the Fan Academy can study it. To sum it up in one sentence: the weather has certain rules, and I'm afraid it will really be colder than usual. The time may be as short as a few decades or as long as more than a hundred years."

This can be regarded as a "scientific study" of classics, history and humanities.

According to historical records, China has indeed experienced three such climate anomalies and small ice ages.

The first time was when the Shang and Zhou dynasties changed. Although there are not many historical records, there are at least records of elephants living in the Central Plains at that time. Then the temperature dropped, the Central Plains turned cold and dry, the crop growth cycle was disrupted and the yield decreased, and finally there was chaos and the dynasty changed. At the same time, the Quanrong had a hard time surviving in the north, so they went south to attack Haojing.

The second time was during the late Han Dynasty and the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The history books recorded that prairie mice moved southward and ravaged the Central Plains, which caused a great plague. In the end, this great chaos caused countless deaths, and the prairie tribes also moved southward. Today, we are just listing the evidence of climate anomalies at that time.

The third time was at the end of the Tang Dynasty. There are more historical materials from this period. For example, in the winter of the eighth year of Yuanhe, it was very cold, and the ice in the South China Sea was several inches thick; in the winter of the twelfth year of Dazhong, there was heavy snow, and the Jiang and Huai rivers were frozen, and the Qiantang River was frozen; for example, Du Fu's "South Ji Wu Lu is full of miasma, and there has not been a foot of snow since ancient times. The barbarians complain about the bitter cold, and the Kunlun Heavenly Gate should be broken by the freezing."

Now, Daming has also experienced abnormal weather. Last year's cold winter, even the southern capital had a heavy snowfall.

Since the invention of the thermometer, at least in the past few years, the Ming Dynasty has had abundant temperature data. Although the changes are small, there is a subtle trend.

For Zhu Changluo, this is like shooting the arrow first and then drawing the target, but this trend and fact must exist.

"I don't want to see frequent natural disasters and repeated man-made disasters both inside and outside the country." Zhu Changluo sighed, "I'm afraid there will be more severe winters and disasters in the future. Although I started to ask the Ming government to improve its disaster relief capabilities a few years ago, what about your departments?"

How could the grassland tribes have such organizational ability and awareness? They risked their lives, but now they have more supplies thanks to the border trade with the Ming Dynasty.

"There are two ways. You can consider both." Zhu Changluo began to talk about his ideas. "One is to let the Ming Dynasty bring machines and craftsmen to the coal fields you have discovered to mine coal. This way you will not be short of coal. You can transport it nearby and sell more to the Ming Dynasty. The method can be discussed later."

Several people couldn't help but look at Lindan Batur.

At present, only his side has discovered a large coal field that is easy to mine.

"The second is to send warriors to fight with the Ming Dynasty in Japan!" Zhu Changluo said an idea that shocked them. "The Ming Dynasty has ships and elite firearms. You can fight with the Ming Dynasty. First, you can repay your debts as mercenaries in exchange for silver. Second, you can go to Japan to plunder! The most important thing is that with this experience, when the Ming Dynasty solves the problem of Japan, there will be a precedent! The Tsarist Russians, Khalkha, and the Western Regions can all do this in the future!"

In order to allow them to gradually become a naturalized tribe from their current de facto independent status, the issue of the military must always be resolved.

Fighting side by side is always a solution.

Zhu Changluo looked at them and said, "Tell me, can these two methods work?"

(End of this chapter)