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Chapter 906 Conditional Surrender

Chatting with Wang Chengen was just a habit when the brain was working at high speed. Speaking out one's thoughts often brought unexpected surprises. It was then that an idea came to him. Since he could successfully reform eunuchs in the palace, why couldn't he apply this method to the Yarkand Khanate?
The imperial palace is a place with the strictest rules, the deepest traditions, and the most stubborn customs. Compared with it, any religion is at most the same.

So if we spend ten years training a group of young Yarkand nobles and then send them to management positions in the Khanate, would change be a natural outcome?

This change was not forced by external pressure, but was formed spontaneously from within. There would certainly be resistance, but the main contradiction was no longer concentrated on the Ming Empire.

As a spectator, whether it is pulling the hand or blowing the whistle, the degree of freedom of operation will be greatly improved. Under the combined force of internal and external pressures, the success rate will also be greatly improved. The cost is reduced, and the biggest consumption is time. Coincidentally, the only thing I don’t lack is time!

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the city gates are open! Why are there only so few people coming out?"

Wang Chengen must have known what the emperor was thinking. He was concentrating with his telescope in hand, preparing to watch a big show. However, when the curtain opened, the person who appeared was not the protagonist, but just a supporting actor, which made him very dissatisfied.

"...I know everything. Send Abash to take a look!"

Hong Tao's attention was no longer on the battlefield. This Yarkand city did not attract much attention. The defense was basically non-existent. If it were not for saving shells, even the engineers would not have to be dispatched. A few rounds of concentrated firepower would be enough to bring down the city wall.

It was not until he heard Wang Chengen's disappointed tone that he withdrew his mind from long-term peace and stability, raised the telescope to take a look, then looked up at the hot air balloon that was almost a hundred meters away, carefully identified the flag signals of the lookout, then put down the telescope and gave orders to the messenger below.

The east gate of Yarkand City was indeed opened, but it was not the cavalry that came out, but five people holding flags. They walked more than 200 meters to the center of the battlefield, stopped and waited for the Ming army's reaction.

Soon, several brave men from the Imperial Stables accompanied Abash to meet them. Facing thousands of black gun muzzles, they first hugged each other, then introduced themselves one by one, and then spread out a carpet. Two of them sat down face to face, and the others stood in a semicircle.

Twenty minutes later, a warrior came back with two manuscripts in his hands, one on parchment and the other on paper. The parchment scroll was the original manuscript, and the paper scroll was the translation. They had the same content, the terms of surrender, and Shadi Khoja wanted to surrender conditionally.

"Send them some tea and dried fruits. I need to think about it carefully!" Hong Tao did not refuse nor agree immediately. Instead, he sat down and read carefully.

There were many conditions, but they could be summarized into two points. First, they demanded that the personal and property safety of the Khans, religious leaders and emirs be protected, and that some of their relatives be allowed to leave Yarkand and go to Kashgar.

Second, do not kill or rob the people in the city at will. If necessary, the two sides can negotiate on compensation and jointly work out an amount, which will be raised by the Khans, religious leaders and emirs in the city.

"A short pain is worse than a long one. Since the pain will come sooner or later, why save it for later... Wang Chengen, paper and pen are at your service!" After walking around the carriage a few times, Hong Tao sat down and began to write a reply.

"Put down your weapons, leave the city and surrender unconditionally. I promise not to kill anyone. The deadline is one hour." Just one sentence, basically blocking the possibility of negotiation. Why do you do this? The answer is simple. Hong Tao is lazy and doesn't want to lead the army to go through it again. Although you can appreciate the magnificent mountains and rivers that are hard to see in the mainland along the way, it is still more comfortable to sit by the Taiye Lake and fish.

If they accept the conditions proposed by the other party, it seems that they can occupy Yarkand City or even Kashgar City without bloodshed, and they will most likely be able to support a puppet king and open up a trade route to Central Asia.

In fact, it was all fake. As soon as the army left, they would rebel in a minute, and it would be easy. Because the original political map was not destroyed at all, power was still in the hands of the old forces.

By then, they would have to march west again, facing a more experienced and better prepared enemy. Even if they won, the cost would have doubled. Something that could have been bought for 100 yuan ended up costing 200 yuan, which was not worth it.

The greater possibility is not to completely break up, but to try every means to force the empire to compromise with them. It is not right to fight, and it is not right not to fight. They are all experts in this regard. Every prominent clan has experienced the experience of switching clans at least once or twice, and the operation is smooth as silk.

At worst, they dare to merge with other forces, such as Bukhara and the Kazakh Khanate. Anyway, their families and wealth will not suffer too much loss, so what difference does it make who they recognize as king?

By then, the Ming Empire would be in trouble, having to face a big country with a population of at least two million in a very unfamiliar, very vast area full of extreme climates and religions.

If we were not afraid of just direct warfare, what if they started unlimited harassment and raids? The cost of war would increase exponentially. Once we could no longer make money from war, our military system would soon collapse.

The existence of these large families and tribes with complicated connections and deep backgrounds is not conducive to their plan of cutting off the source of the trouble. Only by overthrowing and breaking the old forces can they cultivate new puppet forces. Otherwise, where can they find the redistribution of interests? They can't support them with their own money.

"Send the order, aim at the city wall on the left side of the city gate and fire a round of hollow bullets." In order to dispel the opponent's fluke mentality as soon as possible, Hong Tao plans to let the artillery shells speak instead of text, and also test the rammed earth wall's defense against artillery fire.

It has been proven that rammed earth walls have good defensive capabilities against artillery fire, but there is a prerequisite: they must be thick enough, such as several meters like the Great Wall of Ming and the Great Wall of Han.

The rammed earth wall of Yarkand City was obviously not big enough. It was hit repeatedly at the same position by less than ten shells. It didn't penetrate the wall, but the upper half could not withstand the vibration of the explosion and collapsed.

This was still an 80mm field gun, which had little ability to damage buildings. If it was replaced with the engineer's ammonium oil cartridge, five of them would probably be enough to blow through the building, and collapse the sides by the way by the way.

Facts once again proved that sometimes artillery shells are more convincing than words. Half an hour later, the city gates were opened again, and Shadi Khoja led hundreds of Khans, nobles, and emir representatives out of the city to surrender.

Behind them followed more than 2,000 regular troops of the Khanate and several thousand tribal armed forces. They threw their armor and weapons on the ground, knelt in a large crowd, and were ready to be slaughtered.

(End of this chapter)