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Chapter 912 Retreating to Advance
"…The student is stupid, Your Majesty, please speak clearly!"

Although the emperor did not give any explanation, Ding Shun heard that withdrawing from Yarkand City seemed to be a strategy. But he racked his brains and exchanged countless glances with his companions, but he could not think of any benefit.

"It is still a mystery how many days it will take for the northern army to arrive. We can defend Yarkand City by ourselves, but we cannot completely wipe out the enemy. Once the battle starts, it won't take more than two days before Latif Khan and his generals will be frightened by the huge casualties and want to retreat.

If they want to run away, we can only watch. It doesn’t take too far. After passing Kashgar and going a few hundred miles west, we will reach the territory of the Bukhara Khanate. Should we chase them or not?
If they pursued the Bukhara Khanate and continued to fight, the logistics that stretched for thousands of miles would drag down the court. If they did not pursue them, a king with a large army wandering around, and with the assistance of neighboring countries, would be a great obstacle to future rule.

Don't forget that we are here to open up the trade route. With Latif Khan and his army staying in the west, the trade route is still blocked, which means we are getting half the result with twice the effort, and we may even lose money.

You have all seen the battle plan more than once. The best outcome of this battle is to eliminate most of the rulers of the Yarkand Khanate, and then have the army support another group of people as puppets.

Now the opportunity has come. If we don't give up this city and show our willingness for peace talks, how can we keep Latif Khan? I calculated that Sun Chengzong should appear in Kashgar in at least fifteen days.

By then, they will be attacked from both the east and the west, and Latif Khan and his army will have no way to escape. By the way, the generals of Bukhara and the Kazakh Khanate will see the strength of the Ming army, which will greatly promote future negotiations on continuing the westward expansion of trade routes.

Do you have any questions now? If you have any, ask them immediately. If not, return to your respective positions immediately and be prepared for both fighting and retreating. Think about the details that need to be paid attention to during the retreat so as not to be ambushed along the way.

The enemies you see now are not necessarily all of them. They are very good at moving quickly in the Gobi Desert. You must always think of your enemies as smarter so as not to make a fool of yourself.

Huang Taiji, you have nothing to do in the city, so you might as well send out scouts in advance to conduct more reconnaissance on both sides of the road to Yecheng. By the way, take a thousand households to Yecheng to expand the fortifications in advance and learn how to dig trenches, so as to be prepared for any eventuality. "

Hong Tao did not keep anyone in suspense and told everyone about the new plan in detail, waiting for everyone to find fault with it. Seeing that no one spoke, it meant that there was nothing wrong. Who made suggestions just now? Who has the most work to do now? It's not that I won't report it, but the time has not come yet. Those who dare to question Hong will be pitted sooner or later!

The next afternoon, the two emirs sent by Shadi Khoja brought Latif Khan's reply, saying that as long as the Ming army left Yarkand City, the two sides could start peace talks after the Rozi Festival, but the prerequisite was to see the captured Khan first.

But Hong Tao did not accept it all, because the Khans had all been sent to Khotan and Ruoqiang. Even if people were sent to notify them non-stop, it would take more than a month for them to return to Yarkand City from Ruoqiang.

During this time, the tens of thousands of troops on both sides could not just waste time, so it was better to talk first and wait while talking. The two emirs went back and forth three times and finally decided on a temporary ceasefire.

On the fourth day after Latif Khan led his army to the outskirts of Yarkand, the Ming army gradually left the trenches outside the city and began to retreat eastward. At the same time, the Khanate army besieging Yarkand also withdrew ten miles westward to show its sincerity.

A decisive battle was averted in an instant, which made the people of Yarkand and nearby areas very happy, and they began to welcome the return of the royal army in groups. Only the emirs and the acting city lord Rahim who surrendered to the Ming army and actively helped the Ming army to manage Yarkand were frustrated. They had to give up their foundations and follow the Ming army to retreat eastward to avoid the almost certain liquidation.

But the peace lasted less than a week before it was broken by the sound of gunfire along the Tiznafu River. Thirty miles west of Yecheng, there is a tributary of the Yarkand River called the Tiznafu River, which means a gentle river.

As the name suggests, the snow water from Kunlun Mountain flows northward along the mountain, most of which flows into the Yarkand River, and a small part continues to flow north along the Tiznapu River. Although the river is wide, the water flows slowly and is not deep, so you can swim across it on horseback.

After the Ming army retreated to Yecheng, they did not rely on the city walls for defense, mainly because Yecheng did not have city walls either, it was just a relatively large village. It was still the same old rule, digging trenches! This time, it was different from the circular trenches in Yarkand City. It did not rely entirely on Yecheng, but used the Tiznapu River as a natural barrier.

Hong Tao's choice was meaningful. One word: water! Whether it was a self-driving tour to southern Xinjiang in the future, or a surprise attack by the army in this life, the biggest feeling was the lack of water.

Although Yecheng is an oasis with many karez and irrigation canals, it is still not enough to supply drinking water to nearly 10,000 people. Once the upstream of the canal is artificially cut off, it is likely to enter a state of water shortage.

Since conquering the plateau, the Ming army has rarely used the rations they carried with them. Instead, they used silver coins to purchase food and fodder from villages and towns along the way. Therefore, they were not short of food. The only thing they could not carry in large quantities was water, so they had to rely on water sources.

The Tizhnapu River is a very good water source. Although it is not that turbulent, if you want to completely cut off its upper reaches, you will need to mobilize a lot of manpower and spend a considerable amount of time.

Giving up Yarkand City and retreating eastward was originally to buy time. If Latif Khan really intended to spend time and effort to cut off the river, Hong Tao would guarantee that he would not send troops to harass him. Just block it. Once the river is blocked, the northern army must arrive. Otherwise, Sun Chengzong will be sent to the imperial prison and charged with treason!

On a night when the wind was blowing up dust and people couldn't open their eyes, several balls of fire suddenly appeared on the south side of the Ming army's position, accompanied by slight explosions. Someone or an animal hit the preset trap, triggering the cannon device and igniting the kerosene bombs.

Although obscured by the wind and sand, the soldiers on duty still spotted the human figure under the light of the fire, and then blew the whistle decisively. Soon the pile of firewood outside the trench was ignited, pulling the Khanate army that came to attack out of the darkness.

The following battle was simple. Shoot wherever you saw human figures. If there were no human figures, just wait. Anyway, you would never leave the trench. At most, you would send someone to add some firewood to the woodpile.

The attackers only charged twice, and there were not many of them. They fought for less than an hour, and when they saw that there was no chance to take advantage of, they gave up. But before leaving, they sent people to crawl onto the battlefield and stab the wounded who were still alive to death one by one. Curses and pleading could be heard from a long distance away.

(End of this chapter)