Chapter 22 4. Alliance with Mongolia, crusade against Lindan Khan

Mongolia is located between Houjin and Ming, bordering Houjin to the east and Ming to the south.Its direction directly affects the growth and decline of the forces of the Later Jin and the Ming Dynasty, so both the Ming and the Later Jin are trying their best to win over Mongolia.Mongolia first surrendered to Ming.Lin Danhan once sent a letter to Nurhachi, threatening Nurhachi with military force and not allowing Houjin to attack Guangning City.Nurhachi replied immediately, and resolutely responded to Lin Danhan's provocation, pointing out that he had never been afraid of the troops under Lin Danhan's command.From then on, the conflict between Hou Jin and Mongolian Lin Dan Khan ended, and continued until Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne, and the conflict was not resolved.Immediately after taking the throne, Huang Taiji took corresponding measures to continue Nurhachi's policy of marriage and alliance with various Mongolian ministries, and mainly pointed the spearhead of the attack at Lin Danhan.

In the first month of the first year of Tiancong, Huang Taiji, who had just succeeded to the throne, heard the news that Lindan Khan had launched an army to attack the Khalkha tribes. Seizing this opportunity, he proposed to the Naiman tribe Gunchusi, Batulu and other tribes to establish friendly relations.In addition to expressing his sincerity and friendship, Huang Taiji's letter this time also exposed Lin Danhan's criminal behavior, which has received excellent results.With the development of the situation, more and more Mongolian tribes surrendered to the Jin Dynasty. In the end, even the important figures under Lin Dan Khan also voted for Huang Taiji one after another.Lin Dan Khan became more and more isolated. At the same time, other Mongolian ministries gradually moved towards the road of unity in order to resist Lin Dan Khan's violent rule.

Huang Taiji believes that the main reason why Lin Dan Khan's power has weakened is the result of his attachment to the Ming Dynasty.He used to rely on the strong military backing of the Ming Dynasty to gallop through Mongolia, but now the Ming Dynasty has been devastated by internal chaos and has no time to support Lin Danhan. Lin Danhan lost the protection of the Ming Dynasty and suddenly became a target of public criticism.However, the tribes of Mongolia are relatively scattered, and although there are connections among the tribes, there is no alliance in war.Although the current Lin Dan Khan's power is not as good as before, it is more than enough to deal with several Mongolian tribes.So for a period of time, although the Mongolian ethnic groups had the intention to attack Lin Dan Khan, they still had no force to contend with.Huang Taiji was very clear about this point. When Lin Dan Khan lost his power, he planned a way, which was to unite all the Mongolian tribes and combine all forces to attack Lin Dan Khan.

When the Mongolian tribes were also hesitating, they heard the alliance information released by Huang Taiji, and responded one after another. They agreed and strongly supported the election of Huang Taiji as the leader of the alliance, and led the whole army to attack Lindan Khan. This is exactly what Huang Taiji wanted to achieve. The alliance's crusade against Lin Dan Khan was only one aspect. The most important thing was to establish relationships with various Mongolian ministries, so as to strengthen its own strength to a greater extent and lay the foundation for attacking the Ming Dynasty in the future.

At this time, Huang Taiji no longer had to rack his brains about Lin Danhan's affairs. Lin Danhan's actions aroused the hatred of him among the various Mongolian ministries.Huang Taiji hardly intervened, and Lin Danhan had already tasted the taste of defeat. In this urgent situation, Lin Danhan sent people to Ming Ting to send more than a dozen letters, but they all fell into the sea, and there was no response at all.In the end, Lin Danhan gave up relying on the Ming army.He understood that this was just a strategy of mutual use. The Ming Dynasty reconciled with him at that time because they were afraid that their alliance with the Manchu army would be disadvantageous to them.Since Huang Taiji came to the throne, the spearhead began to point at himself, and all the tribes of Manchuria and Mongolia wanted to wipe him out in one fell swoop.Now their strength is growing day by day, and it is too late for the Ming Dynasty to hide from them, so why would they take such a risk for themselves?Thinking of this, Lin Danhan became calmer in his heart.He thinks that with his current strength, he is not necessarily destined to fail, as long as he fights hard with them, there is still hope of victory.

Lin Danhan's fluke idea only stabilized his anxiety at the time, and did not give him any substantial effect.In February of the second year of Tiancong, Lin Danhan fought a battle with other Mongolian tribes, which ended in failure.The strength of the various Mongolian ministries also suffered great losses. They wrote to Huang Taiji, hoping that he would lead troops to help him as the leader of the alliance, and wipe out Lin Danhan in one go. The content of this letter was exactly what Huang Taiji wanted, so he discussed with Zhubeile and the ministers in the palace, and agreed to jointly send troops to fight against Lin Danhan.

Huang Taiji said: "This matter has been in my mind for a long time. One is the Ming Dynasty, the other is the various tribes of Mongolia, and the third is the tribe of Lin Dan Khan. These three forces cannot be underestimated, especially the power of the various tribes of Mongolia. The forces organized in the form of tribal alliances are extremely unstable, and they will fall apart if there is a slight mistake. It does not have much impact on us. The biggest threat to us now is Lin Dan Khan from the Chahar tribe. Our top priority is to get Lin Dan Khan is gone. The reason why I didn't lead the troops to attack immediately was because I didn't understand their reality. Lin Dan Khan once captured Liaoning, so it can be seen that his power and combat experience are extremely rich. It is really reckless to send troops to attack him rashly. For example. So this time the letters of support from various Mongolian ministries gave me a reassurance that Lin Dan Khan will definitely lose this time!"

In September of the second year of Tiancong, Huang Taiji decided to personally conquer Lin Danhan of Harbu.As the leader of the alliance, he issued a summoning order, which said: Baylor of Horqin tribe in Mongolia, Tabunang of Karaqin tribe, Baylor of Aohan tribe, Naiman tribe, and Khalkha tribe led their respective divisions in the On the ninth day of the lunar new year, we must come to Liaoyang to attack Lin Danhan together. As soon as the convening order was issued, the leaders of various Mongolian ministries led their troops to Liaoyang one after another.At dawn on the 20th, Huang Taiji led the Manchu-Mongolian joint army to Xierha, Xibotu, Ying, Tangtu and other places to attack the area occupied by Lin Danhan.

Since the defeat in the last battle with the Mongolian coalition forces, the morale of the Lin Dan Khan has been relatively low.This time when the soldiers heard that the Manchurian-Mongolian Alliance had come to crusade, they were even more frightened.Some soldiers couldn't stand it anymore and ran away one after another.Lin Danhan was furious when he heard this, and immediately arrested the soldiers who were fleeing or about to flee.Those who took the lead in escaping were executed immediately, and the rest of the followers were also severely punished with two hundred sticks. This method of coercion by force temporarily stabilized the morale of the army.Lin Danhan said: "The Manchu-Mongolian alliance came to attack our tribe, which is completely overestimated. We are the authentic Mongolian descendants of Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan is brave and good at fighting, and he is invincible. As his descendants, we have such ability. It should also continue, and now is the time to test us. Some people want to eliminate us in one fell swoop, which is an insulting provocation to us! How can we just sit back and wait for death, and let ourselves mess up first!" Lin Danhan said with great pride, but in this kind of Behind the rhetoric, he maintained the situation with dark and cruel means.

In March of the sixth year of Tiancong, after making all the pre-war preparations, Huang Taiji summoned all the troops of the Manchu army and issued a military order. When passing through Mongolia, do not disturb the Mongolian ministries, and strive for the active support of the Mongolian ministries for this expedition. On the first day of April, Huang Taiji personally led the army from Shenyang to the west. Due to the rough road, when the army reached the Liaohe River, it happened to be flooded.It was not until the 11th that the army arrived at its destination, Zhaowuda, and joined forces with the various tribes of Mongolia.Huang Taiji held a grand banquet to entertain the leaders of various Mongolian tribes.Manmeng gathered together and toasted each other with bowls. The atmosphere was very harmonious, and this was exactly the effect Huang Taiji wanted.I have more than 100,000 troops plus the troops of various Mongolian tribes. The more troops, the more difficult it is to control, but judging from the current situation, my worries are superfluous.

"The lord is good at drinking, and someone who can drink like me is also inferior to you." The speaker was Seiter from the Bahrain Department, and he pointed to the empty wine jar placed in front of Huang Taiji's table. : "The Mongols are good at drinking and fighting. I always thought that the feats you did before were exaggerated and boasted. Now judging by the trivial matter of drinking, the leader of the alliance does have a set of skills in leading troops to fight, which is better than Mongolian soldiers. More than that.” Huang Taiji waved his hand and said with a smile: "You are flattering me when you say that. Without the help of the leaders, I would not be able to get to where I am now. Manmeng is a family, drinking, riding and shooting, and good at fighting are ours." This is incomparable. Lin Danhan and the Ming Dynasty have always been eyeing us, trying to divide us and defeat us one by one. It is ridiculous to think about it now. This sentence should be used in reverse, and we should attack Lin Danhan first. Take the Ming Dynasty again." The banquet lasted until late at night, and the soldiers and generals, some were drunk, some were half-drunk and half-sober, they didn't care about the distinction between men and women, and helped each other back to their tents. The purpose of Huang Taiji's expedition this time was to destroy Lin Danhan's base and capture Lin Danhan.At this time, Lin Danhan heard the news that Huang Taiji had led troops to conquer, and he had already led all the troops to abandon the camp and evacuate to the west, preparing to use the natural line of defense of the Yellow River to fight Huang Taiji to the death. Naturally, his movements could not be concealed from Huang Taiji's eyes and ears.When Huang Taiji got the news, he immediately ordered to speed up the pursuit.On May 23, Huang Taiji led an army to Murulakqin, advancing in two ways.On the 27th, armies from all walks of life arrived at Guihua City. Lin Danhan did not expect that the Manchurian and Mongolian allied forces pursued him so quickly, and the method of crossing the Yellow River also failed. In desperation, he had to lead the remnant troops to flee to Tibet day and night.Because of the long journey, the soldiers started a riot, more than 100,000 soldiers, more than half of them fled on the way, and there were not many left who died of illness.In the end, the troops had no food and no feed, and the livestock had no feed, and there was a tragic scene of killing and cannibalism.Lin Danhan also suffered from smallpox during this flight and died in Dacaotan, Qinghai, and the Chahar tribe was declared destroyed. The fall of Chahar Lindan Khan was a major event in Mongolian history.All the ministries of Monan Mongolia surrendered to Man, which marked that Huang Taiji had realized the unification of Monan Mongolia.Defeating Lin Dan Khan has strategic significance for Hou Jin. In the triangular relationship among the Ming court, Hou Jin, and Mongolia, Hou Jin has achieved a two-to-one advantage. Ten years after Tiancong, Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor and changed the name of the country to Qing.