The fifth year of Chongzhen is not a good year for the Ordos Department. The heavy rain in the first half of the year not only caused the water level of the Yellow River to soar and the number of soda collected in the mouth declined, but also led to many diseases in its livestock. If it weren't for the fact that the Ordos Ministry had already attached the Ming Dynasty and received relief from the Ming Dynasty, this year would have been really sad for ordinary herdsmen.

In the second half of the year, there was news that Lin Dan Khan was missing, and Houjin raised troops to attack the Chahar Department. The Six Banners of Ordos were also uneasy, worried that if the Chahar Department could not stop the expedition of the Houjin army, the Six Banners of Ordos, which were separated from the Tumut River by a river, would also be harassed by the Houjin army.

However, when the emperor repelled the Houjin army and convened the Kuritai Conference, the Six Banners of Ordos finally settled down. Although the Ordos Department used to be the elite guards around Genghis Khan, and now it is also responsible for guarding Genghis Khan's mausoleum, in fact, the Six Banners of Ordos have not participated in a major war for a long time, and they are mainly responsible for the sacrifice ceremony to Genghis Khan. Being able to stay away from the war and continue to live their own lives is exactly what the herdsmen of the Ordos Department want to live.

Because the majority of the Ordos tribe held such an idea, Sanang Thochen could not drive them to replace the Tumut tribe as the core of the right-wing Mongol tribes. The Ordos Plateau is located in the Yellow River Bay, about 400 kilometers long from east to west, 340 kilometers from north to south, high in the middle and low in all directions, many places are covered by desert, so the population of Liuqi is mainly distributed along the Yellow River.

After attending the Hulitai Conference, Ordos Jinong Ephochen accompanied the emperor from naturalization all the way to the west to the edge of the Yellow River. The leaders of the Ordos tribes, located on the south bank of the Yellow River, heard the news of the emperor's western tour, and they crossed the river one after another to ask His Majesty the emperor for allegiance.

After the Kuritai Conference, the leaders of the various ministries who participated in the conference actually had this awareness. As long as there are no accidents, then Chongzhen has replaced Lin Dan Khan and become the new master of these Mongolian tribes.

Therefore, for the emperor's western tour, whether it is the Chahar tribes or the Ordos tribes, it is regarded as Chongzhen's inspection and possession of the new territory, and they, the Mongolian tribes, should naturally come over to greet the new master, and learn about Chongzhen's views and personal preferences for their tribes.

For Chongzhen, this western tour is also an opportunity to understand the geography of the Hetao area and the actual situation of the Mongolian tribes here. No matter how capable the ministers he sent were, and how sincere and fearful the Mongol Taiji who commanded these tribes, they could not compare to him personally coming to the west.

For many Mongol herders, whether it was the Great Khan or the Emperor, it was too far away for their lives, and the only ones who could really make them fear and tame were the small chiefs who kept them in check.

However, if the Emperor could appear in front of them once, it would quickly make them remember that there was a more powerful figure above these minor leaders that they could rely on.

For example, the Mongol tribes in the area of Chengde and Zhangjiakou now, because of the emperor's several appearances there, made them completely forget the rule of Lin Dan Khan over them, and regarded themselves as subjects of the Ming Emperor. They also became the most reliable Mongolian subjects of the Ming Dynasty and an important source of soldiers for all cavalry divisions.

After Chongzhen left naturalization, he met with the tribal subjects passing by, and at the same time walked around the beautiful scenery of the Hetao Plain, and it took him 40 days to reach the Houtao area.

In the dune area between the Wujia River and the Yellow River, there is no dry and lifeless appearance of the desert. The depressions between the dunes are often dotted with lakes surrounded by reeds and red willow trees, in which hares, foxes and yellow sheep can be spotted from time to time.

After entering the depths of the back set, the leaders of the various departments who came to meet finally gradually decreased, and Zhu Youzhen had the leisure to play a hunting game with the guards and Mongolian nobles around him.

Hunting was not only a favorite activity of the Mongols and Jurchen nobles, but also an activity used by the nomads to practice their soldiers and horses and pass on the skills of warfare. Therefore, the Mongol nobles did not think there was any problem with the emperor's request.

Riding a horse and standing on a tall sand dune in the southwest of the hunting area, Zhu Youzhen watched the Mongolian nobles and guards in the distance easily drive the beasts out of their hiding places, and couldn't help but say to the attendants around him.

"I have heard that with a horse and a bow, the Mongols can survive in the steppe. Judging by their performance today, this is not an exaggeration.

Now Moxi Mongolia and Mobei Mongolia have not yet surrendered to our Ming Dynasty. Tell me, if they refuse to submit, what should we do with these Mongol tribes? ”

The emperor was surrounded by either imperial guards or non-commissioned officers who had graduated from the army officer academy, so no one would have doubts about the emperor's question. Instead, they took the emperor's inquiry as an exam, and expressed their thoughts one after another.

The guards led by Xu Du thought that the Mongols were afraid of might but not virtuous, and that they should first be deterred by force, and then disperse these tribes, just as the imperial court placed the tribes on the left and right flanks of the Mongols.

However, several people led by Yang Weizhi did not think so, they thought that Mobei and Moxi Mongolia were vast and far away from the Central Plains. If the imperial court wants to use force to deter, logistics alone can drag down the army that goes out.

Moreover, these areas are so large, but there are not many places suitable for farming, and it is probably impossible to divide and conquer them. Only by using the way of trade to contain the other party, using the army to garrison the border, so that Mobei and Moxi Mongolia can only graze in their own places, is a more realistic plan.

Zhu Youzhen listened to the words of the guards around him one by one, and then said to them: "It seems that I and you don't think the same, although the Mobei grassland is a bitter cold land, but this grassland is the most important strategic place in my northern China.

To the north of the Mobei grassland is a large forested area, where half of the year is frozen. But in the summer, there are still quite a lot of animal resources active there.

The local natives call this large forest belt Siberia, and it is said that Siberia is plain in the west, hills in the middle, and plateau and mountains in the east. To the north of the Mobei steppe is central Siberia, and there is also a large lake in this area, known as the West Sea.

If you follow the rivers of Siberia to the west, you will reach Russia, the easternmost country in Europe. The southeast of the Mobei grassland is the Houjin, the south is my Daming, and the west is the Moxi Mongolia and the Yarkand Khanate.

If anyone controls the Mobei grassland, it is equivalent to controlling the passage of traffic from neighboring countries.

The basin north of the Tianshan Mountains and south of the Altai Mountains where Moxi Mongolia is located not only has a warmer climate than the Mobei grassland, but also has glacial rivers flowing through the basin from the melting of the Tianshan Mountains and the Altai Mountains, so it is a suitable place for farming.

There are the Tianshan Mountains in the south of Moxi Mongolia as a barrier, and the Altai Mountains in the northeast to rely on, and what can endanger this place is only a small gap in the east of the Tianshan Mountains and the vast Central Asian steppe in the west.

If we can't control the Mobei grassland, we won't be able to make the northern part of the Ming Dynasty truly stable. However, if we can't get the northern basin of the Western Regions where Moxi Mongolia is located, we will not be able to defend the Mobei grassland.

It can be seen that Moxi Mongolia and Mobei Mongolia are both places that our Ming Dynasty must take, and they cannot be easily abandoned, which is the first strategy of the country's northwest frontier defense. Of course, if we wanted to conquer these two places by pure force, it would be unimaginably expensive.

As I have just said, it is easier for the Mongols to survive and fight in difficult environments than we do, and if we want to compete with them, we will ultimately suffer.

The best way to conquer such a nomadic people is not to fight in the traditional ways of warfare that they know. Rather, it is to instill in them our habits of life, so that their warriors cannot bear it, fighting under barren materials.

In such a situation, they become easy to give in, easy to use for me. With the inequality of trade, which makes the conflict between their upper class and the lower class herdsmen, then we can either support the continuation of the rule of the upper class, or support the lower class herdsmen to resist the oppression of the upper class, and we can always truly control these tribes in the hands of the imperial court..."

When Chongzhen spoke, the guards and non-commissioned officers around him listened attentively, for them, there was nothing more conducive to their future development than knowing the emperor's mind.

Moreover, Chongzhen's narration of the geographical situation in Northeast Asia from the perspective of later generations was undoubtedly an enlightenment for these ignorant young officers, allowing them to elevate for the first time from the contradictory gaze on the Ming Dynasty and the nomads on the border to the contradictory relationship between the countries and ethnic groups in Northeast Asia centered on the Ming Dynasty.

This expansion of their horizons is like a person looking far away, so that they can understand the relationship between war and diplomacy more deeply, and do not have to work behind closed doors.

Looking at the flags waving below, Zhu Youzhen finally stopped talking, turned to the guards around him and said, "Okay, the prey below is already in place, let me see who has better luck today." The three people with the fewest prey will be responsible for the night watch of the camp tonight..."

Amid a burst of cheers, the guards rushed down the hill, with only a few people following the emperor.

Just as Chongzhen was hunting for fun, in the port of London, England, a fleet was leaving the port under the welcome of the London dignitaries.

Former Navy Officer Captain John. Weddell as commander of the fleet, to Nathaniel. As the chief commercial representative, Montney formed a fleet of four medium-sized armed merchant ships, the Dragon, the Sun, Catherine, and the Colonist, and two schooners, the Annie and the Discovery, to escort the Chinese mission back to Asia and to use it for trade.

Although it was the British East India Company's first contribution to Sino-British trade and diplomatic exchanges, Charles I was clearly unwilling to allow the East India Company to monopolize trade between China and Britain.

And William. Sir Cauting, Thomas. Kinaston, Samuel. Bonnell and other London merchants, with the help of the Chancellor Potter, raised the Cauting Federation and obtained the opportunity for trade between China and England, and even Charles I invested ten thousand pounds for the voyage.