Chapter 108 Cooperation
Yuan Chonghuan thought about it and could not find any other explanation. It could only be that the spies from the Imperial Household Department learned about Huang Taiji and Kharchin's movements in advance.

Although he couldn't figure out when the intelligence capabilities of the Imperial Guards became so powerful, it was not important. What was important was that even important missions like Huang Taiji and Karachin Khan had spies from the Imperial Guards around them, so would there be spies around himself, the governor of Ji-Liao?

The original idea of ​​secretly obeying and secretly disobeying completely disappeared after the battle of Aomulun.

Putting aside these thoughts in his mind, Yuan Chonghuan put down the secret letter and said to Gu Lu: "Since Gu Lu Taiji has intercepted Huang Taiji's envoy, he must know that your tribe's Lin Dan Khan is fighting fiercely with the Kharchin tribes in Guihua City. The Kharchin tribes sent envoys to contact Huang Taiji in order to fight against Lin Dan Khan, and they want to join forces to attack Lin Dan Khan together?"

Upon hearing this, Gulu slammed the table and said, "My Majesty Lindan Khan is the leader of Mongolia. These Kharchin people, as descendants of Genghis Khan, should submit to the rule of His Majesty Lindan Khan! But these people not only refuse to submit, but also dare to betray the Khan and collude with Huang Taiji. They are simply the scum of my Mongolian race!"

Seeing Gulu's indignation, Yuan Chonghuan knew the time had come and said, "The rebelliousness of the Kharachin people is well known, and they are already at war with Ligdan Khan. In my opinion, the hatred between Kharachin and Chahar is an irreconcilable feud."

"Even if we don't mention the hatred between Kharachin and Ligdan Khan, if Huang Taiji wants to join forces with Kharachin, your Dorot tribe will become a roadblock between Jiannu and Kharachin! Both Huang Taiji and Kharachin will definitely regard you as a thorn in their side and want to get rid of you as soon as possible!"

"This time Huang Taiji was unable to achieve his wish because of the support of the Ming Dynasty. But he will surely raise an army to attack your tribe again soon, and the army that comes to attack next time will surely be larger and more elite. Maybe to be absolutely sure, he will join forces with Kalaqin to attack your tribe from both sides! By then, even if I want to rescue you, I'm afraid I will be powerless!"

Gulu became even more panicked after hearing this. He ignored the advice of his tribe members who knew the interests of the Ming people before he set out. He grabbed Yuan Chonghuan's arm and begged, "What good strategy can save my Dorlot? Please teach me, Commander Yuan! My Dorlot tribe will never forget this and is willing to guard the Mongolian grasslands for the Ming Dynasty for generations!"

As he said this, he stood up from his seat and pretended to kneel down to Yuan Chonghuan.

Although Gulu's title is very high, and he is given the same title of Taiji as Huang Taiji, but at this moment, facing the life and death of the tribe, Gulu can't care about so much!
When the other Dorote nobles saw that their own Taiji had behaved like this, they all stood up and pretended to kneel down to Yuan Chonghuan, regardless of whether they wanted to or not.

Yuan Chonghuan did not really let Gulu kneel down, although it could greatly satisfy his vanity, but this kneeling would become a barrier between the two of them in the future.

So he immediately stood up and grabbed Gulu's arm to prevent him from kneeling down.

Zu Dashou and the accompanying Ming army generals followed suit and immediately supported the Mongolian nobles around them.

Yuan Chonghuan sighed in a pretentious manner and said, "Tell Gulu Taiji the truth. This matter was actually the idea of ​​His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Ming. Otherwise, I would not want my Liaodong soldiers to take this risk."

When Gu Lu heard that it was actually the Ming Emperor who came up with the idea, he was surprised and became even more curious about Chongzhen.

He immediately asked, "Thank you for your concern, His Majesty. I wonder what advice your Majesty has given me?"

Yuan Chonghuan pretended to be embarrassed again, and only after Gu Lu's repeated questioning did he tell him Chongzhen's intention, but Yuan Chonghuan had made up for the omissions in it.

In short, the Ming Dynasty was willing to join forces with Ligdan Khan and Dorote to fight against the growing power of the Jiannu in southern Mongolia. The three parties could join forces to deal with Kharchin, who wanted to form an alliance with Huang Taiji.

The specific plan was: Dorlot would send the news of Huang Taiji's collusion with Kharchin and the intercepted secret letter to Ligdan Khan who was on the Western Expedition. Of course, he could not forget to send the news that Dorlot's tribe was attacked by Huang Taiji and fortunately rescued by the Ming army. While informing Ligdan Khan of the fire in his backyard, Dorlot expressed his intention to form an alliance between Ligdan Khan and the Ming army to jointly attack Kharchin.

By then, Ligdan Khan will be in the west, and the Ming army and Dorote will attack from both sides in the east. They will surely be able to defeat the thirty-six Kharchin families in one fell swoop!

As long as the power of the Kharchin tribes is eliminated, there will be no more threats to the Xuanda area of ​​the Ming Dynasty except for Chahar of Ligdan Khan.

And the purpose of Ligdan Khan's strenuous westward expedition was nothing more than to annex the various tribal forces, not to mention that the Kharchin tribes had already been at war with Ligdan Khan.

No matter from which angle you look at it, the biggest beneficiary of this tripartite cooperation was Ligdan Khan, followed by Dorot, who saved his life.

As for the Ming army, apart from being able to further stabilize the border threat of Xuanda on the surface, it actually did not gain any benefits at all.

Because Kharchin had not yet formed an alliance with Huang Taiji, the Ming Dynasty and Kharchin still maintained peace on the surface. Not to mention that the Ming Dynasty had actually given many benefits to the Kharchin tribes over the years, and the relationship between the two sides was still acceptable on the surface, so there was no reason to attack them.

But this is not important. What is important is that some parts of the Ming army may deliberately harm Ligdan Khan, but they do not have the conditions to do so. Therefore, Yuan Chonghuan felt that Ligdan Khan had absolutely no reason to refuse this proposal.

Because Lin Danhan also understood that there was no possibility of cooperation between the Ming Dynasty and the Jiannu.

Between Lindan Khan and Huang Taiji, the Ming Dynasty could only choose Lindan Khan.

Perhaps Lindan Khan also had ambitions for the Central Plains, but at least before unifying Mongolia, Lindan Khan did not have the conditions to invade the Ming Dynasty, and Lindan Khan's Chahar people also needed to obtain salt, iron and tea from the Ming Dynasty.

But it was different for the Jiannu. Liaodong was cold and small in area.

If the Jiannu wanted to grow and become stronger, they would inevitably have to expand towards Mongolia and the Ming Dynasty. It can be said that they were natural enemies of Mongolia and the Ming Dynasty. This also meant that Ligdan Khan and the Ming Dynasty had a common enemy and naturally had the conditions for cooperation.

What's more, this time the Ming Dynasty took the initiative to send troops to rescue Dorlot, one of the eight Otogs of Ligdan Khan, which has demonstrated enough sincerity.

As for why the Ming Dynasty wanted to do such a thankless task, there was no need for Lindan Khan to consider it.

It could be considered that the Ming Dynasty wanted to befriend Ligdan Khan, or that it simply wanted to deal with Kharchin, which did not seem to pose much of a threat to the Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)