Horqin steppe, Horqin Department. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Fifteen days later.

In order to be able to rush back to the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible, Li Mu accompanied Zhang Yan to spend a Chinese New Year in the Ming Dynasty.

After all, during this time, the Horqin Ministry had fulfilled the two requests he had made, so there was no need to make any further stops in the Horqin Ministry.

The affairs of the entire Liaodong area are basically completed, at least Li Mu thinks so.

Satisfied, full of loads.

Under the watchful eyes of Saisang and other leaders of the Horqin Tribe, Li Mu's carriage led his undefeated army to leave the Horqin Department and embark on the way home, heading to Daming.

It's just that this time Li Mu led the team back to Daming, but did not return the same way, and did not turn back according to the route to the Horqin Prairie.

Instead, he chose a straight route, across the territory of the Chahar Department, and went directly to Xuanfu Town, also known as Xuanhua Mansion, in the nine borders of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty.

Xuanfu Town has always been an important town in the nine sides of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, from each of the general soldiers guarding Xuanfu Town, the Ming Dynasty will separately add the title of General Zhenshuo, which can be seen that the emperors of the Ming Dynasty attached great importance to Xuanfu Town.

You must know that this is the closest border town to the Ming Jingshi, and it is also the most important barrier against the Mongol invasion.

For a long time, the army guarding Xuanhua Mansion was the most elite field army of the Ming Dynasty, the Xuanda Army.

However, with the gradual weakening of the Mongols, the position of Xuanfu Town and Xuanda Army in the imperial court in the late Ming Dynasty will also be slowly replaced by Jizhou Town and Guanning Army, that is, Guanning Iron Cavalry and Shanhaiguan.

The Mongolian tribes in the late Ming Dynasty have long been wiped out by history and have lost their courage, and it can be seen from the Horqin tribe's marriage to seek the survival of the tribe, which is known as a nation on horseback, to what extent has it weakened.

It was precisely because of the weakening of the Mongols and the rise of the Jianzhou Jurchens that the threat of the Jurchens was much higher than that of the Mongols, and the Ming court began to shift the center of gravity of military power to the northeast, that is, the Liaodong area at that time.

Thus creating the famous iron horse in the late Ming Dynasty, the Guanning iron horse.

Of course, for Li Mu, whether it is Shanhaiguan or Xuanfu Town, these Jiubianfu towns around Daming are not the problems he has to think about now.

What he has to think about now is how to rush back to Daming Jingshi in the shortest possible time and have a Lunar New Year belonging to the Han and Chinese.

Obviously, starting from Horqin to Xuanfu Town is much faster than going to Shanhaiguan, and the time is shorter, plus the distance from Xuanfu Town to the capital is also short, so this is the most suitable marching route.

As for whether he would be attacked by the Chahar Department if he didn't have to worry about crossing the territory of the Chahar Ministry, this Li Mu didn't think about it at all.

Let me ask, Lin Dan Khan, who ruled Chahar, had just been defeated by Huang Taiji, would he still be stupid and continue to attack the Ming army? Especially this Ming Iron Cavalry, which has a great majesty in Liaodong.

If Lin Dan Khan dared to attack this team returning to Daming and disturb his tranquility, Li Mu didn't mind letting the grasslands of Chahar be stained with crimson blood in this winter that had not yet passed.

....

The team left the Horqin steppe and smoothly entered the territory of the Chahar Department.

In the frame, Li Mu put down the gold-inlaid parchment scroll in his hand, handed it to Zhezhe beside him at will, and said: "Zhezhe, put this gold-inlaid parchment roll away, this is related to the life and death of your entire Horqin department, if you lose it, you can't guarantee that the Ming Dynasty will launch an attack on the Horqin grassland in the future." ”

"Okay master, even if Zhezhe loses himself, he doesn't dare to lose this gold-inlaid parchment scroll that is more important than his life." Zhezhe solemnly made a guarantee.

After speaking, taking the gold-inlaid parchment scroll in Li Mu's hand, Zhezhe first put it into a specially prepared wooden box, and then carefully put it in the large wooden box on his side.

When Li Mu heard Zhezhe's words, he smiled and said: "It's okay to lose the parchment roll, it's a big deal to let your clansmen prepare a copy, if you lose Zhezhe's beauty, you will be distressed." ”

After speaking, he made a reluctant look, which made Zhezhe happy.

The gold-inlaid parchment scroll is nothing else, it is the alliance that Li Mu concluded with the Horqin Ministry on behalf of the Ming Dynasty, or the proof that the Horqin Department recognized it as a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and it can also be.

On this parchment scroll inlaid with gold edges, it is written that the Horqin steppe and the Horqin Department are willing to become a subordinate of the Ming Dynasty.

On one side of the content, the names of the leaders of the tribes of the Horqin tribe were also written, and at the same time, the handprints infected with blood were pressed on the names, in addition to the names and handprints of the leaders of the tribes of the Horqin tribe, there were also the names and handprints of Li Mu, the only high-ranking official of the Ming Dynasty present.

I have to say that there are still benefits to being diligent and studious, Li Mu, an illiterate person who knows little about ancient characters, can now write a good brush after being tempered by two ancient planes.

In order to be able to make a name on the gold-inlaid parchment roll, there is no scandal.

A total of two copies of the covenant compiled in the gold-inlaid parchment book were prepared, one of which Li Mu needed to bring back to the Ming Dynasty and hand it over to the Ming court, that is, the Empress Dowager Zhang Yan for safekeeping.

This can be regarded as the second New Year's gift that Li Mu prepared for his Yan'er.

Another gold-inlaid parchment covenant was left in the Horqin tribe and kept by the great patriarch of the Horqin tribe, that is, the great chief.

These two covenants, at least on paper, prove that the Korqin tribe was henceforth a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, in addition to concluding an alliance, the identity of the vassal state of the Horqin Department was established, in order to make the Ming Dynasty better reflect the status of the suzerain.

After Li Mu returned to the capital, he handed over the covenant inlaid with gold parchment to the Empress Dowager Zhang Yan, and also needed Zhang Yan to use the name of the Empress Dowager to replace Emperor Chongzhen in accordance with the custom, like other Ming vassal states, to write a canonization decree to canonize the leader of the Horqin tribe as the king of the Horqin grassland.

In this way, the Horqin Ministry's cognition of royal power was slowly transformed, and with the passage of time, the Horqin Ministry's belief that only with the approval of the suzerain, the Ming Dynasty, could the king of Horqin be the orthodox king of the grassland.

This is the same as the current Joseon King Li Liang, from the time he ascended the throne of the Joseon State to his death, he hoped to be recognized by the suzerain, Daming.

He wanted to obtain the edict of the Ming Emperor canonizing his throne to prove that he was not usurping the throne, so as to establish the legitimacy of his throne.

Until the fall of the Ming Dynasty for a long time, the descendants of Li Kun hoped that the Qing Dynasty at that time could revise the bad records about Li Kun in the historical records of the Ming Dynasty in accordance with the will of the Korean State.

This is the suzerain's greatest control over the vassal state, as long as the king of a vassal state is not satisfied, the Ming Dynasty can make a canonization decree, set up a new king, and let the vassal state go to internal fighting and consume national strength.

And the Ming Dynasty can sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight.

However, all of the above requires the formalization of the covenant between these two gold-inlaid parchments, and now the two parchments are just two ordinary parchments, which look gorgeous at best, after all, the square parchments are inlaid with gold trim around them.