Chapter 94: The Guide Party Kalaqin
Wang An said solemnly, "The matter of petitioning the court to appoint Jiang Yueguang can wait, but now there is another matter that I must remind Yuan Dudu as soon as possible!"

"This incident can be said to be one of the main reasons why Huang Taiji later invaded the border!"

Wang An had told Chongzhen a long time ago that the Jiannu would invade the border, so Chongzhen had always been thinking about this matter.

However, Wang An said at that time that the killing of Mao Wenlong was the main fuse that led to Huang Taiji's reckless behavior and the full deployment of his army. Therefore, when Yuan Chonghuan took office, Chongzhen repeatedly reminded Yuan Chonghuan not to kill Mao Wenlong.

I thought it was safe. As long as Mao Wenlong was alive, the Jiannu invasion would not happen again.

Unexpectedly, Wang An brought up this matter again.

He suddenly became nervous and asked Wang An.

Wang An pretended to count with his fingers and sighed, "The Khan of the Southern Desert, Lin Dan Khan, has always dreamed of unifying Mongolia, so he has been annexing various Mongolian tribes, including the grazing lands of the thirty-six families of Kharachin."

"Although the Kalachins are descendants of the Golden Family, they are only the remnants of the Doyans. How can they be a match for Ligdan Khan? The two groups are probably fighting fiercely on the grassland right now. The Kalachin tribes should have sent envoys to join forces with Huang Taiji to attack Ligdan Khan!"

When Chongzhen heard about this, he was relieved and said with a smile: "I see, I thought it was something serious that you were so worried about. Isn't it a good thing for them to bite each other?"

“Haha…” Wang An sneered, looked at Chongzhen like a child and said, “My brother, you are so naive!”

Then, Wang An began to explain the whole story and analyze it.

Wang An did not know that Chongzhen had reached an agreement with Ligdan Khan to stop his westward migration and continue to contain the Later Jin for the Ming court.

In fact, although Lin Danhan accepted the silver, he did not stop his westward migration, but just stopped plundering the Ming border.

It is not difficult to understand why an ambitious man like Ligdan Khan would do something that was secretly against one's will.

Back to Wang An’s analysis, Lindan Khan attacked the Mongolian tribes everywhere like a madman, and naturally he would not give up Kalaqin, which had abundant grass and water.

However, Kharachin was no match for Ligdan Khan. In the two consecutive "Battles of Zhaocheng", the Kharachin headquarters was almost wiped out. Faced with the threat of Ligdan Khan, the helpless Kharachin tribes lied in the name of Tabunangs of various tribes that they had seriously injured Ligdan Khan in order to lure Huang Taiji to send troops to the grassland.

Huang Taiji did fall into the trap and sent envoys to Kharchin to contact the Kharchin tribes and discuss sending troops.

However, before Lindan Khan moved westward, he left the Dorote tribe to guard their homeland.

The Dorote tribe had 5,000 soldiers and horses, which might not seem like a large number, but it was already a strong force in the Mongolian desert where there were many tribes of all sizes.

The Dorote grazing area was Aomulun on the Daling River, close to the Liaodong border. Even among Ligdan Khan's subordinates, they were considered to be the most friendly to the Ming court.

But their leader, Taiji Gulu, hated the Jiannu very much.

The territory of Duoluote just separated the Later Jin Dynasty and the Thirty-Six Families of Kharchin. If Huang Taiji's envoy wanted to send a letter to Kharchin, he had to pass through Duoluote.

So Gulu robbed and killed the envoys sent by Huang Taiji twice to obstruct the alliance between the two.

However, this gave Huang Taiji an excuse to send troops. So in February of the first year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji ordered Dorgon and Dodo Beile to lead the troops to attack Dorlot on the Daling River.

In this battle, the Dorote leaders Taiji Gulu and Qing Batulu Seleng were killed, Bai Batulu Dorjihatan was wounded and fled, and 11,000 of his followers were captured.

From then on, the Jiannu completely opened the road to Kharchin and formally established a military alliance with the Kharchin tribes in August of that year.

The most critical moment came. With the demise of the Dorote tribe, Huang Taiji not only removed the obstacles to the alliance with Kharchin, but also opened up the road directly from Liaodong to Jizhen.

In the second year of Chongzhen's invasion, Huang Taiji borrowed the territories of the Kharchin tribes and, led by the Kharchin tribes, detoured through Jizhen and invaded the Ming Dynasty from Xifengkou.

It explains in detail the reasons why Huang Taiji attacked the Dorote tribe and the role of the Dorote tribe.

Wang An concluded: "So the Duoluot tribe played a role in preventing Huang Taiji from colluding with the Kalaqin tribes, and was also an important obstacle that prevented Huang Taiji from going through the Kalaqin route to Xifengkou!"

"Once the Dorote tribe is destroyed, the entire Chahar will lose its last bit of restraint on the Jiannu!"

"Not to mention that the Duolot tribe has always been relatively submissive to the Ming Dynasty, and is a force that the Ming Dynasty can win over and bribe. Moreover, Duolot is close to the border. If we sit back and watch the Duolot tribe being destroyed by Huang Taiji right under our noses and do nothing, it will further undermine our prestige on the grassland!"

"Those small tribes that have no way out due to the annexation of Ligdan Khan and Huang Taiji will completely turn to one of them, not our Ming Dynasty!"

"My dear brother, do you still think that this is a dog-eat-dog situation and the life and death of the Dorot tribe is irrelevant?"

Chongzhen was shocked when he heard this. Although Wang An had said before that Huang Taiji would invade, he did not say anything specific. Now when he heard that it was the Kharchin tribes who were leading the way, he was immediately furious.

You have to know that the Ming Dynasty has been rewarding these ungrateful people over the years, throwing huge amounts of money at them.

After all, it is just a tribe of 10,000 or 20,000 people. If Huang Taiji really wants to destroy it, it will be difficult to rescue it given the Ming Dynasty's current military strength that is unable to move an inch outside the Great Wall.

And since we already know where Huang Taiji will invade from, the importance of the Dorote tribe is not high.

After thinking for a while, Chongzhen said unconvincedly: "Although the demise of the Duoluot tribe indicates that Huang Taiji has opened up a route for the Jiannu to reach Jizhen, it also means that there will no longer be a buffer between the Jiannu and Ligdan Khan."

"We can just guard Xifengkou and watch Lin Danhan and Huang Taiji fight to the death. Wouldn't that be fun?"

Wang An patted Chongzhen's head as if he was teaching his son, and said, "Little brother, I say you are naive, and you still don't accept it!"

In the face of Chongzhen's stiff expression, Wang An pointed out Jiangshan: "Lin Danhan is just a show-off. Although he wants to unify Mongolia, he is afraid of Huang Taiji like a tiger. How dare he fight Huang Taiji to the death?"

"In fact, Huang Taiji went west to Chahar three times, and the third time he defeated Ligdan Khan so much that he fled to Qinghai like a stray dog ​​and eventually died of illness."

"The annihilation of the Dorlot tribe is only the beginning of the westward expedition to Mongolia. With the defeat of Ligdan Khan, the entire Mongolia will fall into the control of Huang Taiji."

"The Ming Dynasty can defend Xifengkou, but can it defend the entire long defense line between Mongolia and the Ming Dynasty?"

(End of this chapter)