Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 980: Sitting on the Fence
"Urgent news?" Looking at the panting soldier, Ben Yashili's face changed, but Alutai frowned and asked in a hurry: "Is the Ming army coming to attack our military camp?"

Now, they dare not divide their troops to set up an ambush, and all the troops are gathered together... Could it be that in this case, the Ming army still dares to attack them?

But to Aluta's surprise, the soldier shook his head and said with a strange look: "Teacher, it's not the Ming army that's coming..."

"It's our army."

"What?" Alutai was a little confused. "What do you mean our army?"

"Master, these are the warriors that were captured by the Ming army." The soldier who reported the news still had a strange look on his face, as if he couldn't believe that such a situation would happen. "The Ming army released them."

"..." Aluta, Benyashiri, Azhashiri and others looked at each other.

"Khan, I'll go take a look."

After saying this, Aluta walked out of the tent.

Others followed curiously, and when they arrived at the gate of the camp, they saw that the gate was already crowded with a large group of thinly dressed people. Several Tatar generals were guarding the gate with their men as if they were facing a great enemy.

"Great Khan, Grand Master." Seeing Arutai and Bayanchur coming, the generals saluted one after another. Bayanchur was surprised and asked, "These...are all our people?"

"Yes, I have identified them. They are indeed our people... For some reason, the Ming people released them all."

"Chahan!"

The general shouted to the group of prisoners outside the camp.

Among the captives, one person stepped forward and saluted Bayanchur and Alutai. It was Chahan who was released by Zhu Xiongying. As soon as he returned to the Tatar camp, he immediately revealed his identity. He was also a leader with some status in Tatar, so naturally he would not devote himself to the Ming Dynasty.

However, for some unknown reason, he did not report Guilichi's whereabouts.

"There are 10,000 people here. It would be easy for Guilichi to hide. I don't know where he is hiding, so it's better not to tell me." He justified his actions in this way.

Seeing Chahan kneeling before them, Bayanchuri and Alutai were both somewhat surprised. Alutai asked, "Chahan, what's going on?"

Chahan looked strange, and sighed, "It was the Ming Dynasty's grandson who released us."

"What's his plan?"

Chahan smiled bitterly and pointed at these people. "More than 10,000 soldiers and horses, without weapons or armor, and even worse, everyone is starving and cold... What's the evil plan of the Ming people? Can't the Grand Tutor see it?"

"This..." Alutai's face froze, and then he gritted his teeth and said, "Zhu's kid, what a sinister idea."

It was approaching winter and food was scarce. Although most of their grassland troops marched with cattle and sheep, fighting to support the war and had no worries about logistics, the cattle, sheep and looted food and grass were limited.

These more than 10,000 people are just more than 10,000 gluttons that consume food. In addition, they have no winter clothes, no war horses for movement, and no weapons to kill the enemy. At most, they can only be used as a group of cannon fodder.

Sending these people back would be beneficial to the Ming army.

After a moment's hesitation, the others also understood. Only Ben Yashiri was still confused: "Huh? What does this mean?"

No one cared to pay attention to him. Everyone looked unhappy. The general guarding the gate asked, "Great Khan, Grand Master, do you want to take these people into the camp?"

"…Retreat!" Before Ben Ya Shi Li could reply, Alutai gritted his teeth and said, "There are more than 10,000 people, just consider it as reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty for us."

Their morale was already low, and with these 10,000 more people, at least the morale of the lower-level soldiers who didn't know the truth could be restored. Moreover, if they attacked the Ming army camp, these cannon fodders would also be useful.

"You guys should be more careful, be careful among them..." He waved his hand halfway through his words, feeling quite depressed. Come to think of it, a group of soldiers without weapons and armor, who were sent back purely to cause trouble for him, would the Ming army go to the trouble of mixing in spies among them?

Afterwards, Aluta called Chahan to the Khan's tent and asked him about what happened in the Ming army camp.

Chahan told the story one by one, but out of selfishness, he concealed the fact that he had sung in the art troupe under Zhu Xiongying. After all, serving the Ming army was easy to arouse suspicion, and being an actor was not a face-saving thing in Mongolia. After hearing that the Ming army made these captives build cities and camps, dig ditches and canals, and only released them after squeezing out the surplus value, Azashili, Alutai and others were all very depressed.

Later, Chahan wanted to take back his men, but Benyashiri and Alutai immediately looked strange. Alutai said, "Chahan, you were a prisoner before and just came back. You are a defeated general. If I let you continue to lead the troops, I am afraid that the other leaders will not accept it."

"You should stay by the Khan's side for the time being and serve as a general of the Qiexue. When you have made contributions in the future, it will not be too late to lead the army again."

Upon hearing this, Chahan was stunned at first, then his face darkened. He had already guessed that his men must have been divided up by the Grand Tutor and other chiefs.

"Speaking of which, Chahan." Ben Ya Shi Li suddenly thought of something. "Where are the other chiefs?"

Chahan was stunned, a strange light flashed in his eyes, and he lowered his head and said: "Please forgive me, Khan. At that time, I saw that the situation was hopeless, so I changed into the leather armor of a soldier in the chaos and asked my personal guards to pretend to be me..."

Everyone suddenly realized. They were too busy to take care of themselves, so naturally they didn't know the whereabouts of others. Chahan sneered, and was even more glad that he didn't betray Gui Lichi.

Anyway, the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty did not force them to complete a certain task...so, there was no need for them to be loyal to him wholeheartedly.

If the Tatars win, I will be the leader of the Tatars, and the Ming Dynasty will have the upper hand. It is fine for me to help a little as the crown prince suggested.

The Ming Dynasty might not be a way out.

In fact, this was exactly the reason why Zhu Su, in the secret letter, trusted Zhu Xiongying to release the surrendered Tatar generals: there was serious internal strife among the grassland tribes, and the Ming Dynasty did not need to do anything, as Tatar leaders such as Alutai would naturally turn these people's attention to the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty did not need their absolute loyalty, as long as they could act according to circumstances and act as fence-sitters.

That's enough.

Afterwards, Alutai asked Chahan to draw the layout of the Ming army camp. Since the camp was built by the captives, they should be familiar with the structure of the camp. However, the Ming army camp was built almost impeccably. Even if Chahan drew the structure diagram truthfully, Alutai would only be amazed at the Ming army's willingness to spend so much money. It was of no help in attacking the camp.

Afterwards, Chahan was randomly placed in a camp and sent away.

(End of this chapter)