"This time I went to the alliance, I realized a truth: the weak have no dignity," Nomudalai, in the cool autumn wind, drank a cup of steaming mare's milk wine and recounted the events of the alliance meeting on the Ob River to his confidants.
When he spoke of how the Dörbet people disdained the Huit Tribe, and how Dalai Taishi even disdained to see him, his civil and military officials, including Batu and Tan, Tiemuer, Nasutu, Ba'er Si, Tuoli, and xi rimo, were all furious. When the lord is worried, the minister is humiliated; when the lord is humiliated, the minister dies! They all expressed their desire to help the Great Taiji avenge the humiliation.
Seeing that everyone was willing to serve, Nomudalai was very pleased. After years of painstaking effort, he finally had his own team.
"Cough," after a majestic cough, the young Great Taiji began to ask for advice: "To forge iron, one must be strong oneself; relying on others is not acceptable. If we want others to respect us, we must first become strong ourselves. Let's all speak up, what strategies do you have for enriching the country and strengthening the army?" After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, Mongol nobles were deeply influenced by han culture, and many could use some common han idioms. It was not strange at all for the four characters "enrich the country and strengthening the army" to come out of Nomudalai's mouth.
Silence! Although everyone had a sincere heart to revitalize the Huit, they were at a loss as to how to start. They looked at each other, and no one spoke.
Oh, silence, it either erupts in silence or perishes in silence!
"Great Taiji, General, I do have some thoughts," the first to speak was the military General Ba'er Si.
"Oh, what good ideas do you have? Feel free to speak."
"When you went north, there were horse bandits causing trouble. Fortunately, our main camp had stockades and fences outside, so we were safe. I heard that Genghis Khan built the city of karakorum, anda Khan built Guihua City, and even Lindan Khan of Chahar built the city of wachar tuchahan as soon as he ascended the throne. This shows that to build a great enterprise, one must rely on a strong city as the foundation. Only when the foundation is stable can one develop and grow."
"Hmm, who says Ba'er Si, this fierce tiger, only knows how to fight? Your idea just now was very insightful," Nomudalai praised Ba'er Si a few times and then asked, "In your opinion, where on the Yulduz Grassland is suitable for building a city?"
"This..." Ba'er Si's face flushed, "General, my knowledge is limited. Please let the Great Taiji make the final decision."
The tax official Nasutu spoke up: "Yule Duosi means 'stars.' It has numerous lakes and pastures, sparkling like stars, and is truly a treasure land suitable for recuperation and development. Your servant heard that there are two valleys here, large and small. The great yulduz river valley is located at the confluence of the large and small Yule Duosi rivers. It is surrounded by mountains, has abundant water and grass, and has been an excellent pasture since ancient times. During the sui dynasty, the western turkic chuluo Khan once established his headquarters here, named 'Yingsuo River.' If a city is built here, it can be the foundation for ten thousand generations!"
"Good, then we will follow your plan and build a city in the great yulduz river valley!" Nomudalai excitedly clenched his fists, as if seeing the joyous scene of the Huit Tribe rising again among the strong Oirat tribes.
"Great Taiji, building a city is time-consuming, laborious, and expensive. Where will the money come from?" Tiemuer, the demeci (internal affairs official), poured cold water on his grand ambitions.
Nomudalai was startled for a moment, then smiled and said, "demeci, don't worry. If the funds are insufficient, we can first build a few military forts at the valley entrance and on the mountains, and set up camps in the valley. We can build the city later when we have enough financial resources. In short, no matter how difficult it is, I will find a safe place for the Khoshut people to shelter from the wind and rain."
"The Great Taiji is wise!" Everyone was invigorated upon hearing this.
"Great Taiji, herdsmen are the foundation of the tribe. To become strong, we must increase our population," Batu and Tan also offered a brilliant plan, "I believe we can use three strategies to increase the population: first, encourage childbirth, rewarding parents with one foal and two sheep for every baby born; second, reduce taxes to attract people from other tribes to join us; third, send troops to Yarkand and Kazakh to capture people."
Nomudalai thought for a moment and smiled bitterly, "Sending troops to Yarkand and Kazakh to capture people is out of the question. With our current strength, we may not be able to defeat them. Encouraging childbirth, reducing taxes, and resettling displaced people, I think these are feasible."
"Great Taiji, building forts and setting up camps has already cost a lot. If we also encourage childbirth, reduce taxes, and resettle displaced people, where will the money and food come from?" Tiemuer raised the issue of funds again.
Alas! Money, ah, money! One penny can stump a hero!
Nomudalai scratched his head and asked, "Does anyone have any good ways to increase income?"
Don't mention money, it hurts feelings! Instantly, the great tent was so quiet you could hear a needle drop.
Finally, xi rimo offered a suggestion, "The Great Taiji can levy commercial taxes on passing merchants to make up for daily expenses."
"Hmm," Nomudalai hummed, lacking confidence, implying that relying solely on commercial taxes might not be enough.
"Great Taiji, I believe we can also mine. The bayanbulak mountains are rich in gold, copper, iron, coal, and other minerals, many of which are open-pit and can be mined and sold. In addition, the western regions have many salt lakes and salt mountains. We can mine edible salt and sell it to salt merchants, which is also a source of wealth," Batu and Tan offered another strategy.
Some people subconsciously think that the western regions, not being near the sea, must lack salt. In reality, this is not the case. The western regions are full of salt lakes and salt mountains, and salt is much more abundant than in ordinary inland provinces. For example, the rock salt in chisha mountain is famous throughout the world. The "book of wei, biography of gaochang" records: "gaochang produces red salt, which is very delicious and shaped like jade. the people of gaochang use it as pillows and tribute it to china." The southern dynasty's "jinlouzi" states: "white salt from the hu people is produced on cliffs, shining brightly in the moonlight, clear as crystal. The natives supply it to the state kitchen, calling it 'king salt' or 'jade flower salt'."
Upon hearing this, Nomudalai's eyes flashed with fervent light, and he roared, "This plan is excellent, let's do it! We must also recruit more skilled craftsmen to forge weapons and train soldiers. The rise and fall of the Huit Tribe rests entirely upon all of you."
"We are willing to follow the Great Taiji, revitalize the Huit, and will not hesitate even if our bodies are crushed!" The confidants were moved by the solemn atmosphere and expressed their loyalty one after another.
Inside the great tent, there was a surge of enthusiasm.
Time always flies, and in the blink of an eye, four years were gone.
In these four years, Nomudalai built military forts and camps in the great yulduz river valley, Yingsuo River. Although he did not build a city, it was surrounded by mountains, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. The valley also had abundant water and grass, suitable for grazing. He moved his main force into the valley, establishing a safe and stable base. People's hearts quickly settled down, and the population also grew. His main force increased from two thousand-households to two thousand three hundred thousand-households, while the entire Huit Tribe increased from seven thousand-households to seven thousand six hundred thousand-households.
The traverser, "Sultan," made rapid progress, learned mongolian, and could often speak a few sentences of han, astonishing his tribesmen who called him a "child prodigy" and solidifying his reputation as a "sage." His father, not content with loneliness, also had a younger brother for him, named "Sumuer."
For a time, the Huit Tribe, from top to bottom, presented a prosperous and peaceful scene.
However, these were ultimately not ordinary four years!
In eastern liaoning, a man named Nurhaci raised an army with the "seven grievances," baring his fangs at the Great Ming Dynasty. Emperor Wanli didn't take it seriously, thinking, 'a mere tribal chief, can he really defy heaven?' He sent a four-pronged army to suppress him. As a result, the battle of Sarhu was a crushing defeat. The old emperor was not afraid, not discouraged, and not resigned to defeat, so he again mobilized elite soldiers and strong Generals. However, heaven did not grant him more years, and he passed away! A young man named zhu youxiao became the master of the great ming. He handed over great power to the grand eunuch wei zhongxian and devoted himself to studying woodworking art, thus beginning a new era for the Great Ming Dynasty.
Lindan Khan of the Chahar tribe in Mobei had already conquered the Inner Khalkha Five Tribes and used the "tumen Khan code" to restrain the various tribes, causing the tribes in Mobei to again pay homage to the great Khan. The situation was excellent. However, for some unknown reason, under the persuasion of Shalpa Khutughtu, a monk of the Sakya School in tibet, he converted from the Yellow Sect (Gelug Sect) to the Red Sect (Sakya School, which in a narrow sense is the flower sect, and in a broad sense includes the Nyingma Sect and Kagyu sect, all belonging to the Red Sect). This action exacerbated the centrifugal force of the Mongol tribes who believed in the Yellow Sect against the great Khan and created considerable obstacles to the cause of unifying mongolia.
To the north, the Oros people built kuznetsk fort on the east bank of the Ob River, pushing their influence into the Yenisei River basin and eyeing Lake Baikal.
The three Mongol tribes in outer mongolia were still openly and secretly fighting, and no one could do anything to the other.
The Oirat Mongol in the West Desert, however, was a solid block, with all tribes very united. They had no choice but to unite; they were in trouble, in big trouble! First, they were attacked by the large army of Eshimu Khan of Kazakh from the west. Then, Shulei Ubashi, the Huntaiji of the Khoshut Tribe from the east, also led his army to invade, vowing to eliminate their old enemy, the Oirat.
For a time, the Oirat Mongol were attacked by strong enemies from both the east and west. To survive, they could only unite and huddle together for warmth.
