Da Ming started to ascend the throne

Chapter 849 Desert Operation
In the mid-Tang Dynasty, the Tuqishi tribe, one of the five tribes of the West Turkic Tulu, sprang up in the Yili River Basin.

It became the most active tribe after the Western Turkic tribes dispersed, and even unified the Western Turkic tribes for a while.

Established the Tuqishi Khanate that could rival the Arab Empire and the Tang Empire.

At that time, the Yili River Basin, where the Tuqishi Tribe rose up, and the abundant resources in this area were undoubtedly the important foundation for the Tuqishi tribe's early strength accumulation.

During the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the Yili area has always been regarded as the capital of Xinjiang.

In the middle of the 19th century, under the blows of the two Opium Wars and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the Qing Dynasty declined day by day, and its control over Xinjiang declined.

At that time, there were two forces that wanted to take advantage of the chaos to occupy the Yili Valley area.The first is Tsarist Russia, which began to step into the country with the two treaties signed during the Second Opium War.

The second is Aguba, a general of the Kokand Khanate, who invaded Xinjiang with the support of Britain and other countries, and ruled the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains with Kashgar as the center.

In the tenth year of Tongzhi (1870), Tsarist Russia took advantage of Agubai's invasion of Xinjiang and occupied Ili, Xinjiang at the same time, and the entire Ili River Basin was about to fall.

With the unremitting efforts of Zuo Zongtang, Zeng Jize and others, Huaxia barely kept half of the Ili River Valley, so that the gateway to western China would not be completely open to the guns of Tsarist Russia.

Today, China and Kazakhstan each occupy the Ili River Basin, and China controls the upper reaches of the Ili River Valley, covering an area of ​​5.64 square kilometers.

Due to the special topography, the Ili River Valley is known as the Wet Island of the Western Regions and the Jiangnan Beyond the Great Wall. 232 million people of various ethnic groups live in this fertile land.

In the other part of the Ili River Basin occupied by Tsarist Russia, the Russians established Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan.

Zhu Cihong is very clear about this. To fight the Yarkand Khanate, as long as the Kansai Seven Guards and Turpan, as well as the Ili River Valley and their countries are defeated, the Yarkand Khanate can basically be dealt with.

Because other places can't survive at all, they can be cleaned up slowly in the future.

Zhu Cilang and Li Yan led the army to climb high mountains, cross great rivers, enter the desert, and advance silently in this barren land.

On the ancient Silk Road, in the high mountains and deserts, everything was bleak, and there were dazzling sunshine and windy sand everywhere.

In such a difficult environment, the Ming army was well-groomed and morale was strong, and the scouts in the front kept reporting the military situation along the way.

The camels were carrying heavy dry food and luggage, and camels kept falling down during the period, but it was not a big problem, as the Ming army had prepared enough camels.

If the Ming army were an undisciplined mob, in the yellow sand all over the sky, let alone enemy cavalry sneak attacks from time to time, it would be very difficult to get them out of the desert.

The Ming army not only had strict military discipline, but all of them had firm beliefs, and their belief was to open up the territory for the Ming Dynasty.

In this way, an army of 15 marched hard for more than a thousand miles in the desert. Fortunately, they were well prepared, otherwise they would all be drunk and starved to death.

Zhu Cihong looked at the soldiers, and saw that their morale was all tanned, and many of them had chapped lips, but their morale was still high.

Looking at the endless desert ahead, Zhu Cihong waved:

"Pass down the order of the palace, and the army ordered to rest and replenish drinking water and food."

"Yes"

The messenger immediately conveyed Zhu Cihong's order:

"His Royal Highness ordered the army to rest in place to replenish drinking water and food..."

The army stopped immediately, some soldiers took turns standing outside the camel caravan with guns, and other soldiers began to replenish water.

The Huotoujun set up a large iron pot, put large pieces of jerky horse meat, beef jerky, and marinated pork into the water and started to cook.

For portability, these meats are made into jerky, which can be eaten dry or boiled in a pot. The taste is good and kills two birds with one stone.

More than 500 of the [-] camels were exhausted all the way, but the rations left by the camels were still enough for the Ming army to consume.

Marching in the desert, people don't feel how hungry, but they need more water.

It is not that there is no water source along the way. After all, it is the Silk Road, and an oasis can be encountered within tens of kilometers.

Every time he arrived at an oasis, Zhu Cihong would order to pour out the drinking water in front of him and refill with fresh water, so as to prevent the deterioration of the water source and benefit the health of the soldiers.

After advancing about a thousand miles in the desert, the Ming army suffered no casualties except for some camels that died.

All of this is due to the Ming Emperor's military road map. Marching according to the road map not only makes the road easier, but also does not worry about water sources at all.

After all, there are 10,000+ troops, and sometimes a small oasis is encountered, and the army can almost consume all the water.

As soon as Zhu Cihong jumped off his horse, someone brought him drinking water.He grabbed the kettle and drank seven or eight sips before stopping.

At this time, Li Yan, Zhang Fugui, Big Tiger, Little Tiger and others were also grabbing the water bottle, and walked towards Zhu Cihong while gulping water.

"Your Highness, when will this desert be able to go out? It's simply not a road for people to walk..."

Zhu Cihong smiled slightly:
"You all rode horses all the way, and you still feel very happy to be transported by camels for dry food and water. It can be seen that in history, Zhang Qian led more than 100 people to the Western Regions under the order of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and it took 13 years to open up the Silk Road. We suffer a hundred times..."

The faces of the young generals were reddened by what Zhu Cihong said, but in fact they were just joking:

"Hey, Your Highness, don't be serious, we're just talking..."

Zhu Cihong laughed loudly:
"Haha, I'm joking too! Don't worry, let's look at the map..."

While speaking, the captain of the prince's personal guard opened the military map:

"Your Highness, we are about to walk out of the desert. The Yili River Valley is fifty kilometers ahead..."

As soon as they said this, a group of scouts came galloping, and they said loudly before they arrived:

"Your Highness, the cavalry of the Yarkand Khanate is coming, get ready to meet the enemy..."

Zhu Cihong waved his hand, and Zhang Fugui and the others immediately returned to their respective armies.

The scouts came to Zhu Cihong and rolled off their horses, and someone immediately stepped forward to help them up.

Zhu Cihong didn't feel flustered at all, and asked the scouts to be given a pot of water, and asked after they drank a few sips:

"Don't panic, how many people are there on the other side? Where did they come from?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, you can't see clearly the rolling yellow sand. There are at least [-] cavalry coming from the west. It is estimated that they are still ten kilometers away from our army..."

Ten kilometers is not far for the cavalry, and it will be there in one stick of incense.

"Oh, got it, take them down to rest."

When the Ming army took a break to replenish drinking water and food, they would basically put the Huotou army and the camel team in the middle of the team. This was to prevent the enemy cavalry from causing damage.

Hearing that about [-] cavalry were attacking, Zhu Cihong immediately issued an order:

"I pass on the order of my palace, Zhang Fugui, Meng Liang, Huang Dahu and Huang Xiaohu protect the camel team and non-combatants. The other troops immediately spread out in a fan shape, using the sand dunes as cover to hide themselves, and give them a catch..."

"Yes"

Zhu Cihong gave an order, and the 2 horses led by himself and Li Yan's subordinates quickly ran in three opposite directions.

(End of this chapter)