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Chapter 897 Ready-made Puppet

"The Bukhara Khanate is due west, and the Kazakh Khanate is in the northwest, which is..."

The three of them sat down on the carpet, host and guest. Hong Tao picked up a cigar and lit it. Bakhti shook his head and refused to try. He whispered something to Abash, who then spoke in Mongolian and asked Jinsuo to translate.

The introduction, which could have been finished in half an hour, took more than an hour because it had to be translated by two people. During this time, Hong Tao kept asking questions, and Jinsuo and Abash had to retranslate the meaning of some words, which was very troublesome.

However, this more than an hour was not wasted. Through this difficult communication, Hong Tao basically understood the distribution of power west of the Yarkand Khanate, or in the eastern part of Central Asia.

To the west of the Yarkand Khanate were two khanates, namely the Bukhara Khanate and the Kazakh Khanate. They were countries founded and ruled by the Uzbek and Kazakh peoples. The main ethnic groups were Uzbek, Kazakh, Tajik and Kyrgyz.

Looking back, the origins of these two khanates and the Yarkand Khanate are very similar, all of them originated from the Mongol Khanate founded by Genghis Khan.

After the split of the Mongol Khanate, four major khanates emerged: the Golden Horde (Kipchak), Chagatai, Ogedei, and Ildil. The ruling areas of the Golden Horde and Chagatai Khanates covered Central Asia and Xinjiang.

The Chagatai Khanate declined and was replaced by the Yarkand Khanate. The Golden Horde declined and was partially annexed by the Russian Empire. Some Uzbeks and Kazakhs chose to move south, defeat the Timurid Khanate and establish the Bukhara and Kazakh Khanates.

Like the Mongols in the south and north of the desert, and the Oirat Mongols, they constantly fought and cooperated with each other, and it was hard to tell who was on the same side, and whether they were enemies or friends depended entirely on the situation at the time. They would unite when it was beneficial, and separate when it was not, and they were very single-minded.

The population of the Bukhara Khanate was 10, about 50 to 70 people. The reigning leader was Imam Quli Khan, whose capital was Bukhara. Later generations also called Bukhara, the third largest city in Uzbekistan and a very ancient city in Central Asia.

The population of the Kazakh Khanate was 15, approximately 80 to 120 million people. The Khan in power was Yesmu Khan, and his capital was Turkestan, a city in the central and southern part of Kazakhstan in later generations, which is also an ancient city in Central Asia.

"Then do you think Babur's descendants will send troops to rescue Latif Khan?"

Although Bakhti explained it in detail, even introducing the families of the two khans, Hong Tao felt that he still did not tell the truth completely, because there was another big guy hiding in the south of the Yarkand Khanate, the Mughal Empire, which was the north-central part of India.

When India is mentioned, it seems to have nothing to do with Central Asia. But in the 17th century, the Mughal Empire was also a country founded by the descendants of Genghis Khan, similar to the Bukhara Khanate and the Kazakh Khanate.

If these two khanates were likely to send troops to aid the Yarkand Khanate, then the Mughal Empire and the Yarkand Khanate seemed to have a closer blood relationship and would have more reasons to intervene.

"Babur Khan? No, no, no. His Khanate and Bukhara are mortal enemies. It is impossible for them to send troops at the same time. Moreover, his descendants have not had any contact with the Yarkand Khanate for many years. They will not suddenly appear." Bakhti gave a categorical denial to this question with a very affirmative attitude.

"Okay, not counting the Mughal Empire. According to your estimation, how many troops would Bukhara and Kazakhstan send out?" Hong Tao really couldn't argue with this, so he could only skip it for now and solve the more reliable problem first. "There are many ethnic groups in Bukhara and Kazakh Khanate, and they are far away from each other. If they send troops to help, it should not exceed 30,000. But their combat effectiveness is very strong, and there are a lot of heavy armored cavalry, which is more fierce than the Khanate's army."

Bakhti first counted the main ethnic groups and factions in the two khanates on his fingers, and then made a personal estimate. In order to attract the emperor's attention, he added a sentence and compared the strength of the Yarkand army.

"Thirty thousand will not do anything, let them come. I heard that you are very familiar with Yusup Khoja, can you go to Turpan and convey my intention to Khoja and Turpan Khan, so as to prevent them from suffering too much loss without understanding the situation.

The main force of the Ming Empire has already arrived in Guazhou, and will soon launch an attack on Hami after receiving the news that I have captured Ruoqiang. No matter how brave the Khanate army is, no matter how difficult the journey is, Hami will definitely not be able to be defended. "

Hearing this number, Hong Tao breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought that there would be 34 or soldiers, and he really couldn't defend it with the military strength and ammunition reserves in his hands. But or people wouldn't be so scary. He only needed to transfer Du Wenhuan's guards, and it would be no problem whether it was defending the city or fighting in the field.

But in line with the principle of being prepared, it is better to avoid taking risks. If Bakhtiberk can act as his own messenger to explain the interests to Yusup and Turpan Khan in person, perhaps the process will be smoother.

"…If Rahim is allowed to take over from Berk during this period, I will immediately set off for Turpan and do my best to explain Sun Moon Khan's intentions to Yusup Khoja and the Khan of Turpan."

Since the emperor of the Ming Empire personally guaranteed the military strength, Bakhti had no choice but to believe it and go to Turpan as a lobbyist. But he did have the qualities of a politician, he would bargain for everything he did, and instinctively wanted to make profits for himself and his family.

"I will help him become a qualified berk. By the way, I heard that his wife is from the Shadi Khoja family. Is there anyone who would secretly oppose this? If so, please write down the name. I will let Abash lead the army to visit every household."

Hong Tao agreed to this small condition very readily, and not only verbally, but also took actual action. The people in Khotan must not all be supporters of the Bakhti family, there must be opposition. It is very necessary to take the opportunity of helping Rahim to take the position to clean up first.

Bakhti didn't seem to have much resistance, and quickly filled a piece of paper and handed it to Abash. Although Hong Tao didn't recognize these crooked insect-like characters, he could guess from the punctuation that there were at least a dozen families.

This is what politicians are like. No matter how decent they look, how nice they speak, or how tolerant they appear in normal times, when it comes to a life-or-death moment, they will immediately kill their opponents without any mercy.

With this list, the Bakhti family's power in Khotan will be greatly developed, while his opponents will be ruthlessly hit. By the way, he can also help his second son ascend to the position of Berk, which is a win-win situation.

As for whether surrendering to the enemy is worthy of the Khanate, this matter cannot be evaluated according to the culture of the Han people. The Yarkand Khanate also evolved from the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, and many of its tribes were forced to surrender.

Since you can surrender once, why can't you surrender N times? In the end, the weight of surrender or not is not loyalty, friendship, morality, or even faith, but the development of the family, in other words, the amount of profit.

(End of this chapter)