Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 879 Glory
After the heavy snowfall, the Huoluohai Grassland is covered with snow, and the crystal clear snow and ice are inlaid on the withered and yellow fir trees in the grassland.

The vast snowfield is covered with snow.

The famous stone men on the Huoluohai Grassland were also wrapped in a thick layer of ice and snow armor. They seemed to be telling the sudden arrival of the Ming army in front of them, telling about their great achievements in this ancient land of Wusun thousands of years ago.

"Are these Wusun people?"

Seeing these statues of stone figures standing on the grassland for the first time, Zhu Dadian still found it very novel. These stone figures reminded him of the stone statues in front of the emperor's tombs in the Central Plains.

"These are Turkic people." A Kazakh guide told Hong Jinglue that on the Ili grassland, there are not only beautiful grassland scenery, but also many mysterious stone men left behind.

These stone figures are exquisitely carved and have various shapes. They have been passed down among the nomadic tribes who occupy this place and have always witnessed the history of this land.Most of the stories that have been circulated say that these stone men were left by the Turks, some said that they were left by the Huns, and some said that they belonged to the Wusun people.

Zhu Dadian looked at the several stone statues in front of him, the long standing stones, three figures of different shapes and rich images, and two of them were carved with deer-shaped patterns.

The guide told Zhu Dadian that they generally called the human-shaped ones Shiren, and the deer-shaped ones called deer stones.There are many stone statues scattered on the Huoluohai Grassland, and the herdsmen even use these stone statues as road signs to guide them in the direction of the road.

The three warriors were standing, all men, holding swords and yu in their hands.

All of them are strong and sturdy, with waist buckles on their waists, swords hanging from their belts, soft swords in their hands, and one holding a wine glass.

They all face east.

"All the stone men face east. It is said that there are thousands of stone men and stone deer on the grassland. I don't know if it is true or not, but we have hundreds of them here, scattered in twos and threes."

Zhu Dadian felt that no matter whether these stone figures were carved from Wusun, Xiongnu or Turks, they were all very remarkable. Carving thousands of such stone figures on this grassland was not a small project.

He thinks that this may not only be the boundary marker of the tribe, but also the tomb guard statue of the tribal leaders' burial place, or as the guide said, when the Turkic people came back from the battle, they would carve stone statues to commemorate the leaders. Or carved adored memorials of the mightiest warriors.

Maybe these sturdy stone people were once the Turkic people who ruled the grasslands, but now, the Ming Dynasty returned to the Western Regions and will restore the glory of the Han and Tang Dynasties.

No matter how powerful the Turkic people were, they were eventually conquered by the Tang Dynasty.

The Ming army passed the stone statue and continued to move forward.

On the sword held by a tall stone statue of a warrior, there is a line of inscriptions left by the detective cavalry not long ago: "Daming Anxi Army Xiaoqi School Zhao Dashi visited here, in October of the eighth year of Shaotian."

From the Kazakh tribe village of Qiongkushitai, go north along the river, merge into the Kuokesu River, and then go north to the Tekes River in the upper reaches of the Yili River, cross the river and enter the Kuobu River Valley in the north of the Atentao Mountain on the north bank, and then go straight to the Huo Luohai Ranch, continue to cross the Turks River to the north and enter the tributary of the Shatter River, and follow the river to the south to reach the north entrance of the Shatter Ancient Road, where the tomb of Princess Xijun is also located.

Now several sons and grandchildren of Kundu Lun Utaishi and some tribesmen, as well as more than [-] herdsmen forced from various pastures in Ili, are guarding there.

From Qiongkushitai Village to the mouth of Shater Canyon, the whole journey is about [-] miles, but it is relatively easy to walk, especially after entering the Tekes River, where there are flat grasslands.

"Speed ​​up, and arrive at the mouth of the Shate Canyon in three days. After the rebels are wiped out, it's time to pay homage to Princess Wusun."

"Ge Lao, who is Princess Wusun?" A pro-military post chief asked puzzled. "What's the relationship between her and Princess Xijun?"

Zhu Dadian stroked his beard, the wind was so strong and the snow was so heavy that his beard was frozen.

In such a snowstorm, it is not easy to travel five hundred miles in three days.If it wasn't for the wind and snow, at the speed of the cavalry, on such a grassland, they would have to run at least [-] miles a day. If it was just a short-distance rapid march, they could even run [-] miles in a day and night without changing horses.

They crossed the Wusun Ancient Road before, which was less than three hundred miles, and they had to walk for six days and six nights.

Now that they are out of the mountains, they encounter wind and snow again on the grasslands. Fortunately, their whereabouts are secretive, which is their greatest reliance.

Zhu Dadian was in a good mood, so he told the uneducated whistle chief, "It's the same person. Princess Xijun's name is Liu Xijun. She is the daughter of Liu Jian, the nephew of Emperor Wudi Liu Che of the Western Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty fought against the Huns. He sent envoys to the Wusun Kingdom to marry Wusun King Liejiaomi. Emperor Wu ordered Liu Xijun to be a princess and married Wusun as Liejiaomi's right wife. Later Liejiaomi died, and the princess followed Wusun's customs. Lie Yu's new Wusun King, that is, Lie Jiaomi's grandson Junxu Mi, is still Mrs. You, and she also gave birth to a daughter named Shaofu for him, who not only died later.

After his death, according to his will, he was buried at the mouth of the Xiate Ancient Road Canyon, which entered Wusun Kingdom, to show his longing for his homeland.

This poor princess, her great-grandfather was Liu Qi, emperor of Han Jing, her grandfather was Liu Fei, the brother of Emperor Wu Liu Che, the king of Jiangdu, and her father, Liu Jian, the king of Jiangdu, was licentious and immoral. He was murdered for rebellion, and his wife and children were implicated. Later, he was forced to marry Wusun.

After marrying an old Wusun King, she would still be overwhelmed by the wife of the left, the Xiongnu Princess.

The princess died of depression after only five years in Wusun.

After her death, the Han Dynasty sent her distant aunt Princess Jieyou and her relative Wusun Wang Junxumi to continue to strengthen the alliance.

Compared with Liu Xijun, Princess Jieyou, who was only 16 years old, made a very remarkable career after being sent to Wusun. Above her, Princess Jieyou did not blindly lament when she came, but actively participated in politics, supported Wusun to carry out frequent trade with the big Han, and actively engaged in diplomacy, presented gifts to the kings of the Western Regions, promoted the enlightenment of the Han Dynasty, and even When she came, she only brought a maidservant, and she also trained her to become an important arm who is proficient in the languages ​​of various countries in the Western Regions, understands current affairs, and is married to General Wusun.

Although Princess Jieyou was childless at the beginning, her prestige in the Khan Court of Wusun Kingdom was increasing day by day. Jun Xumi had not been on the throne for a long time. When his son was young when he was dying, he passed on the throne to his cousin, and agreed that the throne would be passed on after his cousin died. back to his son.

The new king Weng Gui succeeded to the throne, and Princess Jieyou married the new king again.Princess Jieyou gave birth to three princes and two princesses in one go for this little uncle. Under the influence of Princess Jieyou, Wusun Kingdom finally kissed the Han and far away from the Huns, instead of blindly riding on the wall.

Later, the Huns sent troops to force Wusun to fall to the Huns, but under the persuasion of Princess Jieyou, King Wusun did not give in. After Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne, the big man finally freed up and sent 15 iron cavalry to attack the Huns. Princess Jieyou also persuaded King Wusun Send out all your belongings and [-] Wusun cavalry to coordinate.

The Han army defeated the Xiongnu and captured Shanyudu of the Xiongnu.

From then on, the Xiongnu weakened and were no longer able to fight against the Han Dynasty. For the next few decades, there were no major issues on the frontiers of the Han Dynasty, and the Silk Road was unimpeded.

The Shache king of the Western Regions passed away, and there was no one to succeed him. He wrote to the Han court to ask the second son of Princess Jieyou to be the new king of Shache.

The new king of Kucha succeeded to the throne and married the eldest daughter of Princess Jieyou as his wife.

Later, King Wusun died, and he obeyed the agreement and returned the throne to Nimi, the son of Junxumi and Princess Xiongnu. The 57-year-old Princess Jieyou married Nimi again according to the custom, and even gave birth to a son for him.

Because Nimi was influenced by the Xiongnu, Princess Jieyou planned to kill Nimi in order to make Wusun and other countries in the Western Regions completely surrender to the Han Dynasty.

Afterwards, Princess Jieyou's second husband, Weng Gui, and Princess Xiongnu's son Wujiu slaughtered Nimi, and made himself king of Wusun. Wusun was in civil strife.

The princess asked the Han Dynasty to send troops to intervene, and Princess Jieyou and Weng Gui's eldest son Yuan Guimi became Da Kunmi, the king, and ruled [-] households.Wujiutu became Xiaokunmi, who ruled [-] households.

Two years later, the eldest son Yuan Guimi and the youngest son of the princess died of illness one after another, and the princess' grandson Xingmi succeeded to the throne.

In the third year of Ganlu in the Han Dynasty, the 70-year-old Princess Jieyou wrote to Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty.

Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty agreed to the princess's request, and sent the Han army to take back Princess Jieyou, her three grandchildren, and her outstanding maid, Feng Shi, back to Chang'an, where she died two years later and was buried in Chang'an.

Zhu Dadian admires Princess Jieyou very much. In comparison, Princess Xijun is just sympathetic to Wusun and does nothing. Princess Jieyou went to Wusun at the age of 16 and returned at the age of 70. The three kings Weng Gui and Ni Mi established the four kings of Ni Mi, Yuan Guimi, Wu Jitu, and Xing Mi, which not only urged the Wusun Kingdom to attach to the Han, assist the Han to defeat the Xiongnu, but also urged the countries in the Western Regions to attach to the Han. A woman who can do this in the Western Regions is a very superb politician.

Princess Xijun is only pitiful, but Princess Jieyou is extremely admirable.

After more than 1000 years, the Ming army has now entered the Wusun grassland again.

Only this time, there is no need to rely on weak women to deal with it anymore, and the soldiers of Ming Dynasty will use guns to open a road again.

For three days, the Ming army rushed all the way, one person and three horses, riding in turns to maintain the physical strength of the horses.

Finally, they reached the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, with the Chateau Canyon just ahead.

On the snow-covered grassland, there are more stone people and deer.

The time to attack is early in the morning.

They rested in the middle of the night to replenish their strength, and then rushed to the canyon near dawn.

When it was dark, thousands of Ming troops had already arrived at Taniguchi.

The vanguard Qingqi had already galloped out, and groups of three and four started hunting. They expelled and hunted down the sentinel horses and rangers of the rebels.

Zhu Dadian rode up the hillside and looked down at the valley entrance in the distance. Sure enough, many Mongolian rebels got on their horses in twos and threes.

The sound of gunfire rang out, and a Mongol who didn't even show up in time fell off his horse.

The rebels assembled more than 1 people here, but they mainly faced the canyon to prevent Ozirtu from repairing the ice ladder and killing them from Aksu, but they never expected that a large army appeared behind them , which is impossible.

Gunshots rang out everywhere.

The forward reconnaissance cavalry are all the best hunting cavalry, and they use the latest flintlock cavalry guns. The speed of fire is not as good as that of ordinary arquebus guns, but the range is long and the accuracy is high. Coupled with their excellent gun skills, during the chase, From time to time, Mongolian rebels fell.

The exciting drums and horns sounded on the battlefield, and the entire Ming army attacked.

Thousands of riders were divided into battalions one after another, and began to stab from behind to the rear of the rebel camp like a wave.

The rebels only set up a few layers of camp fences on the north side of the valley entrance to guard against Oziltu who came out of the mountain, but there was no half fence on the north side of the rear, and even those who were not on duty all set up their tents indiscriminately, which was very chaotic. , just like a big cattle trading market.

It was freezing cold, and many herdsmen who had been forced out were still sleeping in their tents.

Countless Ming troops descended from heaven like divine soldiers.

Although in the eyes of Zhu Dadian and some staff officers and generals around him, the thousands of Ming troops this time are actually very mixed, such as Sauron, Hezhe, Dahuer, Khalkha, Horqin, North Korea, Japanese, Liuqiu, etc. , Annan, Burmese native soldiers, Qingkang, Tangut, and even Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch mercenaries.

More than a dozen barbarian fan camps are like wolves and tigers, especially after being equipped with the high-quality cotton armor, firearms, bows and knives provided by Daming, they are even more sturdy.

The smooth wind of this kind of raid is even more morale.

Go forward.

The imperial battalion of the Ming army was even more unwilling to lag behind, and took the lead bravely.

The mounted artillery troops of the Ming Dynasty directly placed the mounted artillery carried by the horses, and began to build the mounted artillery positions. The mounted artillery of the Ming army was actually very small. It was originally a rotary artillery used on battleships. Taking advantage of its lightness, Combined with the design of the camel crossbow, a light gun mount placed on the back of a camel or horse was developed.

With this light gun mount, you can put a miniature artillery or a large-caliber heavy gun on the back of a horse, which can not only maneuver quickly, but also provide good firepower.

The mounted cannons of the Ming army are also divided into two types: camel cannons and horse cannons, as well as swivel cannons and heavy fire guns. They are used according to different battlefield needs and can often achieve amazing results.

For example, at this time, the Ming army first crossed the [-]-mile Wusun Road in the Tianshan Mountains in six days, then ran [-] miles in three days, and suddenly appeared behind the Mongolian rebels. The Ming army's artillery was difficult to carry during this march. , even a light gun will affect the march.

The swivel cannon only weighed a few dozen kilograms, and the wall musket for the bastion defense only weighed more than a dozen kilograms, but its power was not weak.

The rotary cannon shoots fast, while the wall gun shoots far and accurately. Camels and horses are loaded, which can maneuver quickly and provide fire reinforcements on the battlefield.

The sky-shaking roar sounded.

"The Sauron Battalion is the fiercest!" Zhu Dadian praised the Sauron people greatly. This group of people are extremely skilled in riding and shooting. The bitter cold conditions in the Northeast have created the most brave group of fighters. When they received the equipment seal and fire support from the Ming army After that, it became even more powerful.

It's like a sharp knife stabbing straight through, moving forward indomitably.

"The Horqin camp is also very aggressive this time."

"After all, you have just joined Jianlu not long ago, so you have to perform well." Horqin, as the first Mongolian tribe to submit to Jianlu, has a deep marriage with Jianlu, and has a close relationship with Jianlu. They went to the dark on the wrong road, and were eventually wiped out by the Northern Expedition army led by the prince.

"Those red-haired mercenaries are quite aggressive. Look at their positions, they are always on the sidelines, and they will never lead the battle. Especially the speed and rhythm are maintained very well. They are indeed a group of veteran mercenaries."

"The rebels have turned around and are going to counterattack."

Although the countless rebels don't know where the Ming army came from, they also know that this is not the time to think about it. The Ming army must be contained or even repelled. Otherwise, if the Ming army kills the camp, they will be completely defeated .

It's like a cloud of dark clouds gathered.

"Let them see what a new era is!" Zhu Dadian sneered a few times.

Tribal herdsmen with bows, arrows and spears, what can they use to fight against the Ming army who is fully armed, especially equipped with sharp guns?

The glory of the cavalry has gone, and the last ray of light belongs to the Musketeers.

The Cavalry Cannon Battalion has already established its position, with revolving cavalry cannons, large cavalry guns, and many soldiers also guarding with heavy guns.

The Sauron Battalion was still rushing forward. The Sauron hunters who were accustomed to bows and arrows changed into firecrackers and trained hard for more than half a year, and they have become very good gunners.

Gunfire spurts.

Countless lead bullets were shot out, knocking down the oncoming rebels.

The mercenaries of the Western Mercenary Battalion were even more experienced and cunning. They wandered on the edge of the battlefield, charged close, fired a volley of firecrackers, then turned their horses around, regrouped, and charged close again. Round salvo, and back again.

It is not easy to fight hand-to-hand with the rebel herdsmen.

This is not the riding battle that the rebel Taijis expected. After a while, the rebels will be overwhelmed, especially those herdsmen from the Kazakhs, Giligis, Wuweier, Heshuot and other tribes who were recruited by the strong men. They, they didn't want to fight for Kundu Lun Utaishi and the others, let alone fight against Ming Dynasty.

Now that the situation on the battlefield is not good, they took advantage of the chaos and began to flee in all directions, and some directly surrendered to the Ming army.

Thousands of horses are galloping like thunder.

The sound of gunfire was like a thunderbolt.

Swords and arrows are no match for guns and cannons.

Not to mention that the rebels were raided from behind, and they couldn't reach the formation, and their more than [-] troops were not the elite of Kundulun, but a group of mobs.

More and more rebels landed.

Erkehun Taiji saw that the situation was not good, so he abandoned the formation and fled, and the rest of the Taijis also scattered.

At noon, more than 1 rebels completely collapsed at the Schatt Pass. The sons and grandchildren of Kundulun who were the leader all fled first, and the rest had no intention of fighting.

On the snowy ground, mutilated corpses were everywhere, and the thick bloody smell was mixed with some pungent gunpowder smoke.

"There should be more than a thousand people in the formation, at least five thousand surrendered on the battlefield, and one or two thousand were surrounded and surrendered, and about four to five thousand people ran away."

Zhu Dadian was patrolling the battlefield on horseback, and he didn't feel much about the corpses scattered all over the place.

Compassion does not command soldiers, it has long been numb.

"Send the Sauron, Horqin, and Khalkha battalions to pursue them, and send the Yanqi battalion and Xifan battalion directly to Ili, and intercept them at both ends. The rest continue to clean up the battlefield here."

After a pause, he looked towards the high snow-capped Tianshan Mountains to the south, "Send a team into the mountain, find Oqiertu, and tell him that we have won. The wind and snow are so heavy that it is difficult for the army of the Shate Ancient Road to pass through. It will not be easy to supply the troops when they come, please Chechen Khan go back to Aksu to rest first, don’t come here.”

There are some objective facts in what he said, but it is also because Zhu Dadian doesn't want Oqiertu to pick peaches, and wants to take advantage of this spare time to garrison troops in Ili, and even build cities and forts. , then I won't go again.

After a thousand years, the Central Plains Dynasty returned to the Yili River Valley.

"Jinglue, how do we deal with these captives? Many of them are young men who were forcibly captured by Kundu Lun Wutaishi and his son."

"Screen out, the men and horses of Kundu Lun Utesh are not directly slaves, half of them are rewarded to the soldiers, and the other half are invited for auction. As for other Kazakhs, Giligis, Heshuote and other departments, let their tribes pay or Use livestock to redeem, and promise to Daming that he will not commit another crime in the future, but after paying the ransom, he still has to serve a year of hard labor.”

"If no one comes to redeem them, they will be taken to Yili to build a city and farmland, and then they will be sent back after three years of hard labor."

"If you don't dare to be forced to recruit, you must be punished if you participate in the rebellion!"

(End of this chapter)