On the boundless Hulunbuir prairie, snowflakes are flying, and the north wind is howling.

On 10 October, Zhu Cihong led the main army to the Urad Department near Kolun Molian, which was only more than 100 miles away from Manchuria on the Sino-Russian border.

Because Li Shaoyou pursued and fought all the way, he had already hit the range of the Zhelimu League, and the main force of the Ming army behind marched very easily, and the itinerary greatly exceeded the expected goal.

Before the class, Zhu Cihong looked for a suitable place to establish a protectorate for the northern capital along the way, and finally looked at the vicinity of the Hulunbuir prairie.

It is close to the Nenjiang River and Heilongjiang River in the east, Russia in the north and northwest, and Mongolia in the west and southwest.

As early as 2,000 years ago, the Xiongnu conquered the Donghu people and unified the northern grasslands, and the Hulunbuir region was under the jurisdiction of Zuoxian Wangting, one of its three territories.

When Genghis Khan unified the Mongolian steppe, he fought several large and decisive battles here, eliminated political opponents, broke the long-standing balance of power of several large tribes, and finally unified the Mongolian plateau.

The important thing is that the environment is very good, the scenery is magnificent, and it is a good place to live.

Hulunbuir grassland is vast, more than 3,000 criss-crossing rivers, more than 500 dotted lakes, all the way to the pine waves of the Great Xing'an Mountains, can be said to be the world's best natural pasture, a total area of 150 million acres, of which the available grassland accounts for eighty percent, is the main birthplace of many nomads in the north.

At this time, Zhu Cihong was wandering on the shore of Hulun Lake, with Urat Erri and Taiji Tuba himself as guides.

The Urat tribe is one of the Mongolian tribes, is the descendant of the fifteenth grandson of the Yuan Taizu Genghis Khan's brother Habtu Hasar, the descendant of Burhai, ten years ago Tuba led his nephew Seling and the tribe to return to Houjin, and the Urad tribe was forced to move to the Hulunbuir steppe in the area of Hubutun Naiman Chagan and Tumen Uliji.

A few years ago, the Urad Department followed the Qing army to attack the Ming Dynasty, and encountered the Ming army led by Zhu Cihong, and suffered heavy losses, and even the most capable nephew Se Ling died miserably.

Recently, when the dragon flag of the Ming Dynasty appeared on the prairie, Tuba led his troops to kneel down to greet him without saying a word, and patted his chest to send troops to assist the Ming Dynasty in sweeping the grassland.

Tuba is fifty years old this year, and his body is full of the sturdy and majestic body of the Mongolian tradition, but at this time his face is gentle like a woman, which is incomprehensible.

Tuba was full of awe of Zhu Cihong, and pinned the future of the Urad Department on this Ming Emperor.

When Zhu Cihong asked how many cattle and sheep the Urad Ministry planned to give, Tuba smiled and bowed, pointed to the vast prairie, and said, "My Great Emperor, if you need it, this prairie is all yours, what do you think of the scenery here?" ”

Zhu Cihong nodded with satisfaction: "The scenery here is different from that of Guannai. ”

"If you like it, the mountains, rivers, land, and rivers here are all yours."

Tuba respectfully came to Zhu Cihong, saddled before and after the horse, and was ten thousand times more attentive than taking care of his own father.

On the Hulunbuir steppe, in addition to the Urad Department, some Mongolian tribal leaders took the initiative to come to the audience and converged under the dragon banner.

Among them, Zhu Cihong was interested in the Balhu tribe, a tribe with a long history, the oldest of the Mongols, whose original grazing land was engaged in nomadic herding and fishing and hunting production in the area of the Barguzin River east of Lake Nebaikal.

Historically, the Balhu Mongols were a weak tribe that had been scattered in the cracks of history, some of whom had migrated from Buryats living around the Lesser Sea (Lake Baikal).

In the 11th year of Chongzhen, the Russians established the Yakutsk Governorate, the Cossacks conquered a large area around the Lena River, and built Irkutsk west of Lake Baikal, forcibly seized pastures on all sides of the lake, established fortresses, and had a fierce conflict with the Buryat Mongol tribes stationed east of Lake Baikal.

After about ten years of war, the Buryats would be completely subdued and subjugated to Russia, and some of the Buryats moved south into the Khalkha Mongol territory of Mobei, and some of the Buryats came to the Hulunbuir region.

In the makeshift royal tent, Zhu Cihong asked about the situation in Xiaohai (Lake Baikal), and the head of the Bar Protectorate immediately told the Rakshasa ghosts of their abhorrence, how arrogant and terrible they were.

After listening to these old men chattering for a long time, after comprehensive consideration, Zhu Cihong finally decided to set up the Northern Protectorate here as an outpost to guard the northern frontier of the Ming Dynasty and recover Siberia.

Hulunbuir grassland has four distinct seasons, is a temperate continental climate, belongs to the semi-arid zone, the average temperature is about zero degrees, the general climate characteristics are cold and dry in winter, hot and rainy in summer.

The annual temperature difference and the date temperature difference are large, but spring wheat and a small amount of vegetables can be grown, and potatoes can also be planted.

In the imperial camp, Zhu Cihong talked with several tribal leaders and old men, thinking about how to arrange their people, how to distribute pasture, and how to recruit soldiers.

The conquest of the northern capital cannot be maintained by the Han army, so the loss will be too great in the long run, and some cannon fodder must be found......

"Report! Your Majesty, Badali led the remnants to escape into Mobei! ”

"Ran to Mobei?" Zhu Cihong frowned slightly.

Mobei, all dynasties have been regarded as a wild land, there are large areas of desert and Gobi, in the words of the "Historical Records" description: "Alone in the far away, died in the cold and bitter land of Mobei without water and grass.....

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent the general Wei Qing to drive the Xiongnu to Mobei, and later Huo Qubing went deep into Mobei to the Wolf Juxu Mountain (the Kent Mountains of Mongolia), leaving a name in history.

In the first year of Yongyuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dou Xian, Geng Bing led the army and the Southern Xiongnu army in Zhuo Evil Mountain and Beidan in the battle in Jiluo Mountain (now Ebugen Mountain in Mongolia), Beidan fled in defeat, the Han army pursued, captured and killed more than 13,000 people, the Northern Xiongnu successively had more than 200,000 people attached, Dou Xian, Geng Bing climbed Yanran Mountain (now Hangai Mountain in Mongolia), carved stone and returned.

These famous generals can be passed down through the ages, that is, they have gone deep into the Mobei Jedi and achieved a great victory.

The leaders of the Mongolian tribes in the tent are silent, peeking at the young Ming Emperor, how will he deal with the affairs of Mobei, after all, this is only adjacent to Mobei, if the Ming Dynasty can't handle the three Khalkha Khans in Mobei, once they are withdrawn, the grassland here will be handed over.

Zhu Cihong walked out of the imperial tent, looked at the distant peaks in the west, and sighed: "My army of the Ming Dynasty has not entered that land for more than 200 years since the general Xu Da led 150,000 cavalry to Mobei......

After a moment of silence, he suddenly raised his head, pulled out his sword and pointed in the direction of Mobei, and said loudly: "Order Li Shaoyou to continue to pursue Badali!" Chase him to the west! ”

Let Li Shaoyou lead the army to pursue, Zhu Cihong was not impulsive, on the one hand, he was testing the attitude of the three Khans of Mobei towards the Ming Dynasty, and on the other hand, he was testing whether Urad and other departments could send troops to assist, and whether they sincerely surrendered to the Ming Dynasty.

If the three Khalkha Khans dared to stop and shelter Badali, Zhu Cihong would not mind forcibly stroking Khalkha after the weather warmed up after the beginning of spring next year.

As for the Mongols here, there are those who disobey the yang and the yin, and they will be slaughtered if they are slaughtered, and they will not be bad for this head along the way!

Zhu Cihong turned around, calmly looked at the leaders of several tribes in the tent, and did not say a word.

"The great Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, majestic and strategic, swallowing mountains and rivers, my Urad Department is willing to be the vanguard and enter Mobei with the king's division!"

Tuba wiped the sweat from his forehead, and secretly said in his heart that this young genius is not easy to fool!

Especially those stunning eyes, they are simply the eyes of immortality, as if they have seen through all the vanity, which makes people look scared.

(End of chapter)