The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 517

Half a year ago, after being outmaneuvered by Zhou Chu outside Datong City, Anda suffered heavy losses.

After fleeing back to the grasslands, Altan Khan was ridiculed by the other Mongol tribes, who all thought he was unworthy of being the son of the old Khan.

It wasn't until Lin Lu led the Tiger Army to defeat the Mongols from other tribes on the grasslands that the Mongols realized that the garrison commander of Datong had changed. Not only had the garrison commander changed, but the Ming army was many times stronger than the previous garrison soldiers of Datong.

When faced with this Ming army, they had no desire to resist. This Ming army was as swift as the wind, marching at an extremely fast speed, and like ghosts, no one knew when this Ming army would attack their tribe.

This caused widespread panic among the Mongols, who continued to retreat westward.

At this moment, the Mongols realized that they had wronged Altan Khan. Faced with such a Ming army, Altan Khan only had one or two thousand men, and it was impossible for him to resist.

The Mongols on the grasslands have lost their fighting spirit due to the Ming Dynasty's cutting off of iron and salt over the years, and even feel fear at the mere mention of the Ming Dynasty. However, both the Ming Dynasty and the Mongols are divided into hawks and doves, and Altan Khan is a representative of the hawks among the Mongols.

As the son of the deceased old Khan, Anda naturally incurred the suspicion of the new Khan and was exiled to a small tribe. That was all there was to it. Anda didn't know how many years he would have to wait to inherit the Khan's throne.

But Lin Lu led the Tiger Army to fight so fiercely that the Mongols were terrified. Many Mongols were killed by the Ming army in their sleep. As a result, more and more Mongols became afraid and increasingly dissatisfied with the current Khan, who only knew how to back down when the Ming army attacked.

On one occasion, in order to save his own life, the Khan abandoned his women and children and fled on horseback. His women and children either died at the hands of the Ming army or were captured by them.

At this point, the Mongols' dissatisfaction with the Great Khan reached its peak. As a result, more and more hawks began to contact Altan Khan. On a dark and windy night, those hawks who were willing to serve Altan Khan stormed into the Great Khan's tent and killed him on the spot.

Anda naturally became the new Khan.

Upon assuming the Khanate, Anda immediately gathered all the effective fighting forces among the Mongols, awaiting the opportune moment.

During this time, the Shanxi merchants in Taiyuan contacted Anda again. After Anda fled for his life last time, he realized that it was probably not those merchants who betrayed him. Unless those merchants were desperate, they had no reason to betray him. No one could bear the crime of colluding with foreign enemies.

So Anda and these Shanxi merchants resumed their exchanges. From these merchants, Anda learned that the one who had tricked him last time was actually Zhou Chu, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Zhou Chu?

When Anda heard this name, he thought for a long time and realized that he had no recollection of this person at all.

However, these Shanxi merchants had already prepared information about Zhou Chu and told Anda in detail about Zhou Chu's experiences, and informed him that Zhou Chu had already left Datong.

Upon hearing this news, Anda was both unwilling and relieved. The absence of the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard in Datong meant that he would be able to easily capture Datong once he had the opportunity.

In Anda's eyes, the garrison soldiers of Datong were nothing more than clay chickens and earthen dogs.

The training of the garrison soldiers by Lin Lu was naturally kept secret. Since Lin Lu took up his post in Datong, the garrison camp strictly prohibited unrelated people from approaching.

Even if those Shanxi merchants wanted to gather information, they dared not, for fear of alerting the enemy.

When Lin Lu left Datong, the Shanxi merchants finally got their chance and immediately passed the news to Anda.