While Henan spiraled deeper into chaos, a very different scene was unfolding far away.
On the Mongolian grasslands.
Bo'erzhijin Elinchen, leader of the Ordos tribe, brought his daughter before the leader of the Wushen tribe. Without ceremony, he placed her hand directly into the man's.
"She is now your wife."
The Wushen tribe leader laughed loudly, triumph written all over his face.
Bo'erzhijin Elinchen turned to the assembled chieftains and raised his voice. "From this day onward, all members of the Ordos tribe shall obey my son in law's commands. Any who disobey will be treated as enemies of the entire Ordos."
The chieftains roared in unison. "Wushen! Wushen!"
The Wushen tribe leader made no effort to hide his joy, nor did he feel any need to. Mongols were not like the Han, obsessed with restraint or modesty.
When they were proud, they showed it.
Politeness came later.
Wushen raised both hands. The noisy crowd beneath the platform quickly fell silent.
"The Ordos will grow ever stronger under my leadership," he declared. "I will lead you all to unify the grasslands and restore the glory of the Great Yuan Dynasty."
"Wushen! Wushen!" the chieftains shouted.
"Our next step," Wushen continued, "is to attack the Chahar tribe. Only after they submit can we call ourselves the true heirs of the Great Yuan."
By this time, Ligdan Khan, the nominal emperor of the Yuan, had already died of illness. The Khan's seal, passed down since the days of Genghis Khan, was now held by Ligdan Khan's wife and children, who were sheltering within the Chahar tribe.
In other words, the Chahar tribe possessed legitimacy.
Wushen might have unified the Ordos, but without forcing the Chahar to bow, the dream of unifying Mongolia was still far away.
The chieftains erupted again.
"Wushen!"
"Attack!"
"Attack!"
The crowd howled like wild beasts, the atmosphere boiling over.
At that moment, a rider came galloping in at full speed.
"Report!" he shouted. "The Jurchen barbarians. Dorgon and Yue Tuo have led ten thousand troops across the river. They are forcing the Chahar tribe to submit to them!"
Wushen's face darkened instantly. "Those Jurchen barbarians dare steal our Khan's seal!"
The chieftains exploded with fury.
"We cannot allow this!"
"The grasslands belong to us Mongols!"
"We cannot hand them over to Jurchen barbarians!"
"Drive them back to the mountains to hunt!"
"Chase them back to the sea to fish!"
Wushen roared, his voice shaking the air. "My lords! We have been bullied by the Jin for far too long! Now is the time to strike back! Defeat the Jurchen barbarians, reclaim the Chahar tribe, and seize the Khan's seal!"
"Awooo! Awooo! Awooo!"
When the roaring finally subsided, Bo'erzhijin Elinchen stepped forward from the rear. His expression was troubled.
"My strong son in law," he said carefully, "your strength is great, but it may still fall short against the Jurchen barbarians. Unless you once again seek aid from the Han. If we possessed those strange, massive iron carriages of theirs, we would have nothing to fear."
Wushen replied confidently, "Do not worry."
Xi'an Prefecture. Chang'an Automobile Factory.
The factory had been divided into two major sections.
The front handled the production of civilian cargo trucks. The rear focused entirely on military armored vehicles.
After Experimental Vehicle Number Four had proven itself on the Mongolian grasslands, praise and reports flooded back from the front lines. The senior technical engineers of Gao Family Village immediately began thinking of improvements.
"The steam engine still needs to be smaller," one said. "It is too heavy and reduces overall power."
"All bearings, plating, and armor should be lightened," another added. "The enemy cannot penetrate it anyway. Thick iron plates are unnecessary."
"No," a third objected. "We should design two armor types. Light armor for enemies with cold weapons, and heavy armor for future battles against firearms."
"But heavy armor increases weight," someone argued. "It hurts maneuverability."
"When assaulting fortified positions," came the calm reply, "speed is not the priority."
After long debate, the armored vehicle was split into two models.
One became the Light Armored Car, focused on speed.
The other became the Heavy Armored Car, designed for frontal assault.
"Everyone," someone suddenly said, "we are forgetting something. Transporting artillery is becoming a problem."
"That is true," another agreed. "Our cannons are too cumbersome. We should mass produce small, lightweight cannons to be towed by the light armored cars."
Once consensus was reached, the product line expanded dramatically.
New production lines were required.
The Chang'an Automobile Factory began urgently recruiting talent, pulling skilled workers from factories across Gao Family Village's industrial network.
Artisans from Gao Family Village went without saying. But there were also countless Blue Hats and Yellow Hats from Xi'an's Xitie Factories One through Three, the Qichuan Ferry armory, Hancheng Steel Mill, Taiyuan New Steel Plant, Puzhou General Steel Mill, Yuncheng General Steel Mill, and many more.
Qi Cheng and Chen Ergou were among those transferred.
They packed their belongings and carried letters of introduction stamped with large red official seals. Dressed in their best cotton clothes, they boarded the train bound for the Chang'an Automobile Factory.
Before the train even departed, Qi Cheng spoke excitedly.
"Ergou, I wonder which department we will end up in this time. Just thinking about it gets me fired up."
Chen Ergou replied casually, "I heard we are going to the armor section. They say our village's graduates designed two kinds of armor. Light armor and thin armor. We will probably be responsible for producing and assembling the thin armor."
Qi Cheng gasped. "Really? Where did you hear that?"
Chen Ergou smiled mysteriously. "Little Cuihua from the secretary's office told me."
Qi Cheng fell silent.
Alright. I give up. Truly.
Ergou was amazing. He had even won over Little Cuihua, the secretary from the steel transport factory.
Out of pure jealousy, Qi Cheng poked at him. "You are being transferred to Chang'an. You will be away from Little Cuihua for so long. Your feelings will fade. You will definitely break up."
Chen Ergou laughed. "Yes, I know. That is why we talked it over. She voluntarily requested a transfer to the Chang'an Factory to support the work."
Qi Cheng's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
At that moment, someone squeezed into the carriage.
It was Little Cuihua herself.
She had a youthful, delicate face, carrying the refined temperament typical of a graduate from Gao Family Village's Thirty Two Middle School.
Her eyes swept the carriage and landed on Chen Ergou.
"Ergou ge, I am here too," she said happily. "We are going to the Chang'an Factory together!"
Chen Ergou smiled back.
Their gazes met, brimming with warmth.
Qi Cheng felt so jealous he could die. "Ergou, your life is absurdly smooth. You even managed to win such a good girl. Your life is truly prodigious."
Chen Ergou burst into laughter.
"Chen Ergou's prodigious life," he said cheerfully, "has only just begun."