Chapter 95 The Importance of Dorot

"The Guanningjin Line of Defense, which is heavily guarded by the imperial court, will be completely useless by then, but we have no choice but to defend it."

"The entire Liaodong region has gone from being a barrier to a cancer of the Ming Dynasty. It is no longer able to stop Huang Taiji, and it wastes a large amount of military funds every year, dragging the already precarious Ming Dynasty into an even more difficult situation."

Historically, Huang Taiji invaded the heartland of the Ming Dynasty six times, and only the sixth time was because Wu Sangui opened the city and surrendered and fled to Shanhaiguan.

In the other five times, none of them invaded through Liaodong.

"This..." Beads of sweat suddenly appeared on Chongzhen's forehead.

If we ask ourselves honestly, the Ming Dynasty did not have the ability to defend the entire Great Wall in the north.

The nine important border towns sound intimidating, but in reality the imperial court was already overwhelmed just by supporting Ji, Liao and Xuanda.

It was only after he listened to Wang An and dealt with the salt merchants that Chongzhen's pockets were loosened a little.

But if the entire nine borders were in danger, Chongzhen would not dare to think about spending any money.

That is a hole that cannot be filled even if three or five salt merchant groups come!
There are only a few salt merchant groups in the Ming Dynasty. We can't kill them all, right?
So what did Chongzhen become in the eyes of the people of the world?

Chongzhen hesitated and said, "Brother, do you mean that Dorothea must be rescued? But the Ming Dynasty can only rescue once, we can't keep doing it!"

This was also the main reason why Chongzhen still did not plan to send troops to rescue after hearing Wang An talk about the importance of Dorote.

It was indeed as Chongzhen said, Duolot was just a small tribe of 10,000 or 20,000 people, and it was outside the Great Wall.

The Ming Dynasty had foreseen the war this time, and might have been able to save the country at a certain price.

But you can save someone temporarily, but you can never save them forever.

The next time Huang Taiji attacks again, can the Ming Dynasty be saved?
Since they will die sooner or later, why would the Ming Dynasty send troops to rescue them?
After all, once the war breaks out and the army is dispatched, the money and food will burn like kerosene!
Wang An also understood Chongzhen's meaning and thought: "As the saying goes, good people should do their best to the end. If we want to save someone, we should do it once and for all to eliminate the trouble forever!"

"Brother, what do you mean?" Chongzhen hesitated, "Do you mean to kill Huang Taiji directly?"

After hearing this, Chongzhen felt that he was being a little too fanciful.

Wang An couldn't help laughing and said, "If the Ming Dynasty had this ability, what would we be talking about here?"

"What I mean is that the reason why Huang Taiji sent troops to Chahar was not only because of the conflict of interest between him and Ligdan Khan, but also because he was deceived by the Kharchin tribes and thought that Ligdan Khan was weak inside and it was time to fight him to the death."

"In other words, with the coalition forces of the thirty-six tribes of Kharchin, Ligdan Khan can no longer scare Huang Taiji!"

"I understand!" Chongzhen stood up excitedly and said, "Brother, what you mean is that we can take advantage of Huang Taiji's expedition to Mongolia and unite with the Dorlot tribe to repel Huang Taiji and... destroy Kalaqin at the same time?"

"Without Kalaqin, the instigator, they will also think that the Ming Dynasty has already taken control of the situation in Mongolia and will not dare to easily extend its tentacles to Mongolia?"

Wang An nodded with satisfaction, as if he saw that his child had finally learned to be smart.

"This is just one of the reasons. Eliminating Kalaqin can only temporarily deter Huang Taiji, but it will not make Huang Taiji give up on bringing southern Mongolia under his control."

"Besides, without Kalachin, there are other Mongolian tribes that can be won over." "What we need to do is to save Dorlot's life and help him annex the thirty-six families of Kalachin!"

"By then, the strength of the Dorlot tribe will increase greatly, and it will be able to help the Ming Dynasty defend the Mongolian grasslands and prevent the Mongolian invasion from Huangtaiji Street."

"In this way, with Dongjiang Town harassing us and Duoluote blocking Huang Taiji from taking a detour in the west, the Ming Dynasty only needs to patiently manage Liaodong and wait until the right time to gradually erode the Jiannu."

Chongzhen couldn't help but admire it and applauded, saying, "Brother, this plan can be regarded as a decisive strategy for victory step by step!"

"I will go back and write a letter to General Yuan, trying to persuade him to adopt my brother's strategy!"

Wang An didn't care. He waved his hand and said, "I'm not trying to discourage you, little brother. You two can barely be considered friends regardless of age difference. But although Yuan Chonghuan is not stubborn, he is also extremely stubborn."

"How could he believe what you, the son of a merchant, said?"

Chongzhen, however, was very excited and remained unmoved by Wang An's attack. He said, "We should do our best and leave the rest to fate. Besides, I have the confidence to convince Commander Yuan!"

Wang An laughed and said, "Unless you are Emperor Chongzhen, that's almost right!"

However, Wang An did not notice that when he said this, Chongzhen showed a trace of guilt on his face, and then became extremely confident.

Damn it, I am Chongzhen!
After bidding farewell to Wang An, Chongzhen returned to Wenhua Hall with firm steps and wrote a handwritten note to Yuan Chonghuan.

The imperial edict was immediately sent to Shanhaiguan via an express route of 800 miles.

When Yuan Chonghuan received this handwritten edict, it was already the end of January in the first year of Chongzhen, and there were only more than 20 days left before Huang Taiji officially sent troops to Chahar.

When the postman delivering the imperial edict arrived at the Military Governor's Mansion in Shanhaiguan, Yuan Chonghuan was drinking tea with his trusted and beloved general Zu Dashou, while discussing the matter of transferring Zu Dashou to Jinzhou.

"Dashou, I have discussed this with Bi Zisu. The strategy of abandoning Jinzhou and shrinking the defense line like Wang Zhichen did is not feasible. So Bi Zisu will organize people to rebuild Jinzhou City in the near future. During this period of time, we must have a large army to protect us."

"I am planning to promote you to be the vanguard commander-in-chief and station you in Jinzhou with the seal of the General of Conquering the Enemy. What do you think?"

Zu Dashou was an old subordinate of Yuan Chonghuan, so there was naturally no reason for him to refuse.

But at this moment, a soldier from the standard camp came in with a postman and said, "Report to the commander-in-chief, a postman has brought the emperor's handwritten order."

Upon hearing the two words "handwritten order", Yuan Chonghuan immediately stood up and said, "Wait a moment."

Although it was not a formal imperial edict, Yuan Chonghuan still took a bath, changed his clothes, washed his hands and lit incense before taking the imperial edict from the postman.

He couldn't wait to open it and take a look. His expression was serious at first, then turned into surprise and doubt.

Zu Dashou was watching with confusion. Seeing that Yuan Chonghuan had not spoken for a long time and was just staring at the imperial edict thoughtfully, he immediately asked curiously, "General, what did His Majesty say?"

Yuan Chonghuan finally came to his senses, waved his hand to dismiss his attendants, and said, "Haha, Your Majesty, I don't know where you got the news from, saying that Huang Taiji wants to join forces with the 36 Kharchin tribes to attack the Duolot tribe, and asked me to send troops to rescue them, and to help the Duolot tribe annex the people and livestock of the Kharchin tribes, support the Duolot tribe to become bigger, and guard Huang Taiji's road to Mongolia for our Ming Dynasty."

"Duoluote tribe," Zu Dashou thought for a moment and said, "Doesn't this small tribe happen to live outside Jinzhou?"

(End of this chapter)