Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 383 Wind and Cloud on the River
"Our fleet was completely destroyed and Ursa lost Horumus?"

In a mosque with light blue glazed tiles on the outside, when a twenty-four or five-year-old young man unfolded the letter in his hand, kneeling under his throne was a fast horse that came to deliver the message.

Samarkand, the capital of Timur's empire, is also a prosperous city that Timur spent great efforts to build.

In the past few decades, Timur settled all the skilled craftsmen, literati and scholars from Persia, Syria, Iraq and India in his capital city of Samarkand.

In order to realize his ambition of building a huge empire and to satisfy his own vanity, Timur instructed them to build Samarkand into one of the richest and most gorgeous capitals in the world at that time.

Except for cities such as Nanjing and Suzhou in the Ming Dynasty, there are indeed few cities in the world that can compete with it.

The person sitting on the throne of the palace is today's Sultan Khalil, and Khalil is in a very happy mood at this moment, because his opponent Ma Mahei was assassinated not long ago.

Therefore, Ursa and others in the Horumus area would inform themselves of the matter. If Ma Mahei had not died at the right time, the port of Horumus would have almost nothing to do with him.

But things are different now. Ma Mahei is dead, and his only opponents are the domestic rebels.

Moreover, towards Daming, he also showed his kindness early.

In just over half a year, before they had time to make arrangements, Zheng He had already bombarded Horumus.

"You can rest assured." The man responded with a glass of wine, and then left the palace at Shaharu's signal.

"Okay, let's stop here."

It has been three years since he led the brothers from hundreds of households in the river to the river area. At first, they were only responsible for collecting intelligence, but starting last year, the East Palace began to let them contact Shaharul and lay out in Samarkand.

Moreover, such an answer would also satisfy the nobles in the Persian region. At least their sultan still wanted to protect them.

"Send someone to communicate with them again and tell them that the Ming Dynasty's mission has been released by me. If they need compensation, I can give them some compensation, but the port of Horumus must be returned."

There are many active people in the yard built of bricks and stones. The difference is that their faces are all the same as the men's Central Plains faces.

While wiping the knife, he asked the man who walked in, and the man exhaled: "You can report the news to your father. Shaharul's attitude towards us is indeed very good."

Although Shaharul later became the governor of Herat, Herat disappeared for a generation, and the population could not be replenished in a short time.

The sparse population of Herat benefited from Timur's massacre of the local area more than 20 years ago.

He was testing whether he could collect taxes from the merchants of the Ming Dynasty. The man chuckled when he heard this: "This is natural. If our merchants from China violate the law in your country, your country can also contact the embassy of the dependent country to jointly deal with it."

When the man spoke slowly, Shaharul also leaned forward: "What do you want?"

The Ming army came all the way from the sea, and even if they brought enough troops, they would only be in the tens of thousands.

"Anyway, that's what happened with Horumus. We have released their mission, what else do they want?"

"There is no need to say any more about this matter. Get your troops in order. I want my uncles to know that their nephew is not Jianwen from the Ming Dynasty in the east!"

"If you can seize this turmoil, you are only one step away from becoming the sultan of the kingdom."

It has to be said that from the perspective of the situation alone, Shaharul's situation is similar to Zhu Di's. The difference is that he is much luckier than Zhu Di.

"If you agree, we can return Horumus to you to strengthen your momentum."

"How is it?"

As long as he takes care of these guys in the country, he will soon be free to take care of Zheng He and the others.

The man walked into a room, where another man was wiping his sword.

"Then there's no problem." Shaharul raised his silver cup: "I hope you can stir it bigger."

"Is this the gift you gave me?"

"The shelling of Horumus was just the fuse for the stone cannon. Now that the fuse has been ignited, unrest is about to break out in Samarkand."

On leaving the palace, local troops escorted him to his residence.

"But Shaharul in the south does not obey us, and inside the city..."

On land, news also reached Herat, which was closer to Horumus than Samarkand.

Unlike Zheng He and others who believed that Timur was still detaining Fu An, Guo Ji and others, Khalil released Fu An and others in September of the sixth year of Yongle. Therefore, he believed that Zheng He just had not received news from the country. That’s all.

He was praising Shaharul. Shaharul was very impressed by what he said. He leaned on his chair and said: "The silk, porcelain, tea and brown sugar from the Central Plains are all things we need. I have no reason to refuse to communicate with you, let alone me. You can also use this to collect taxes.”

The man replied with a smile while continuing: "Compared to Khalil, your rise is more suitable for our interests because you are willing to develop the economy, especially the maritime economy."

"We only need a few islands in the Strait of Horumus, and we hope to build an officialdom near the Port of Horumus to supply the fleet."

Khalil stood up and left the palace. Seeing that his persuasion was fruitless, the minister immediately shook his head and left the palace.

Different from the appearance of the people in the Hezhong area, although the man sitting was wearing the clothes of Timurid, his face was that of a real Han Chinese.

"It looks like it's done." The man narrowed his eyes with a smile, and his identity is the Baihu Officer of the Baihu Office of the Ming Xichang in Hezhong. He is also the commander of the Xichang, the second son of Muyang Bohu Lun, Hu season.

Arriving in front of a house with a river style, the man stopped the two of them and walked into the yard while the servant opened the door.

A few days after the negotiation between the monarch and his ministers, the news that the Ming army bombarded and captured Horumus began to spread. The Timurid Kingdom, which had been gradually stabilized due to the death of Ma Mahei, also had an undercurrent.

Walking on the streets of Herat, although there are many houses and many mosques standing there, the population on the streets is very sparse.

In a mosque with a grand dome, a thirty-year-old man wearing a long silk coat and a jeweled headscarf sat on his chair, looking straight at a man sitting at the bottom.

Due to limited letter paper, Khalil could not fully understand Horumus's condition, but in his opinion, it was just a skin infection.

This is where Shaharul, the fourth son of Tamerlane, resides, and as soon as he got the news, he took the lead in summoning someone.

The minister kneeling on the ground tentatively tried to dissuade Khalil, but Khalil frowned and said, "All the people in the city are my loyal subordinates."

Even they had just learned about Khalil's release of Fu An and others, and had just confirmed the location of Fu An and others with the Xichang Station in the Western Region.

Although they were released, due to the war, they did not arrive at Yilibali until October last year. According to the time, it would still be at least a month before they could reach Guasha Prefecture where Guo Yong was stationed.

But even so, they didn't think it was inappropriate for Zheng He and the others to still use Fu An and others as an excuse.

There were more than 1,500 people in Fu An's mission, less than 1,000 were released, and the remaining 500 or so people basically died of illness.

With these more than 500 lives, it was enough for the Ming Dynasty to bombard Horumus.

"Although our military divisions are famous this time, the Sanbao eunuchs don't know much about Timur's domestic situation. I'm afraid he thought that Khalil was at war with Ma Mahei."

"I am going to go to Horumus personally to tell them about the situation in Timur's country and let them prepare."

Hu Ji sheathed his sword and told him his plan.

"What will happen here and in Samarkand without you?"

The man asked Hu Ji, and Hu Ji patted him on the shoulder: "With you Liu Mian here, I can rest assured."

"What's more, the problem in Samarkand is already very obvious. Khalil is young and unable to control his subordinates at all."

"If nothing else happens, he may be expelled from Samarkand, or he may fight with that group of people in Samarkand."

Hu Ji touched his bare chin, and Liu Mian frowned and said:
"If that's the case, why are we supporting Shaharul?"

"A divided Timurid state is better than an integrated and unified Timurid state."

"That's not right." Hu Ji shook his head, looked at Liu Mian with a calm gaze and said, "The Timurid Kingdom is the centerpiece of the Hezhong region. The existence of the Timur Kingdom will allow a large number of Hu Tatars in the Hezhong region to continue to live peacefully here. .”

"Not only that, the Kipchak (Golden Horde) in the north can also maintain a loose alliance under the influence of external forces."

"If there were no Timur Kingdom, and wars would begin in the Hezhong area, many barbarians would move eastward to join the Oara tribe or Yilibaili, which would not be a good thing for the court."

When Hu Ji said this, he couldn't help but stand up and pick up the bag he had packed next to him. He put the knife on his waist and said, "I'll leave this place to you. Hu Da and the others will go to Horumos with me." .”

"If I go quickly, I can be back in three months."

"You have made your decision, and it is useless for me to object." Liu Mian shook his head, stood up, and sent Hu Ji to the backyard.

In the backyard, five Xichang warriors wearing local long robes were ready, leading the horses and camels. Hu Ji took the reins and got on the horse.

They tied the camels' reins with saddle books and walked out of the yard under Liu Mian's watch. When Hu Ji was going to Horumus, the news that Horumus had been captured by the Ming army began to spread throughout Central Asia.

The first to receive the news was undoubtedly the Black Sheep Dynasty, which had just defeated Timur's army and successfully restored its kingdom.

During the Hongwu period, the Black Sheep Dynasty was established and became a vassal of the Zhalayier Dynasty.

However, following Timur's invasion, both countries were destroyed, and their leaders fled to the Ottoman Empire for refuge.

After Timur returned to the river after finishing his western expedition, they led the army back to Baghdad in the second year of Yongle and captured Baghdad. However, the good times did not last long. In less than a year, they were expelled by Timur's army and were captured by the Mamluks. Dynasty internment.

In the fifth year of Yongle, when they learned that Timur died in Takala, the Mamluk dynasty released them. After their release, they returned to Azerbaijan and defeated Timur's army the following year and reoccupied Tabriz. .

As the governor of Azerbaijan, Miran Shah, the son of Timur, immediately assembled his troops to fight Yusuf, and the two sides fought fiercely in Azerbaijan.

Not only that, rebellions continued in the Baghdad area, and the Timur Empire's westward invasion was blocked.

Although they blocked the Timur Empire's army, the two leaders still felt that they were alone. Therefore, after learning that the Ming Dynasty had conquered the port of Horumus, they sent envoys to secretly sneak to Horumus and Zhengzhou. and meet.

It was already April when they came into contact with Zheng He. During this period, Ursa organized many attacks in an attempt to recapture Horumus, but was always frustrated by the Ming army.

Facing the situation of four consecutive attacks without success, Ursa could only garrison in the north of Horumus like an ostrich, and had no more thoughts of recapturing Horumus.

“We want to join forces with you to end Timur’s destruction of Persia and Azerbaijan.”

In a mosque in the Port of Horumos, when the envoy of the Black Sheep Dynasty standing in the temple said these words, Zheng He, who was sitting in the main seat, and Chen Xuan next to him looked at each other in confusion.

"What can you give us?"

Zheng He looked back at the envoy, and the envoy said: "I heard that Timur once wanted to take action against your country, and if they can be destroyed, I believe it will be good for your country."

"Haha..." Chen Xuan couldn't help laughing when he heard the envoy's words. Zheng He glanced at him, coughed while suppressing his laughter and said:

"Ambassador, before you came here, you should have seen our warships in the port and our troops in the city, right?"

"Of course, your army is sacred and invincible!" The envoy praised without hesitation.

"Then let me tell you, this is just the tip of the iceberg of our Chinese army?" Zheng He said with a smile:
"With this kind of army, I still have one million people in my country."

"So, now do you still think we would be worried about a Timurid state?"

"One...one million?" The envoy stuttered out the number. He instinctively thought it was a lie, but when he thought that the Ming Dynasty could actually organize such an army from such a long distance to come to such a distant place. , maybe the Ming Dynasty can really pull out an army of one million.

"If so, your country is undoubtedly the most powerful in the world."

"That's right!" Zheng He said directly without being polite at all:

"Because of this, we have no interest in foreign lands. The reason why we captured Horumus is only because Timur once detained our mission and has not released it yet."

"We are here just to teach them a lesson and demand justice."

"If he is unwilling to give it, then we have no choice but to give this area to a capable and peace-loving country."

Zheng He spread his hands, and the envoy's eyes suddenly lit up: "Our country is undoubtedly the most peace-loving country!"

"What you said doesn't count. We still need to investigate carefully." Chen Xuan interrupted him and waved his hands at the same time:
"As for the attack on Timur State, we need to first see whether Timurid State will release our mission."

After Chen Xuan finished speaking, Zheng He continued: "Your Majesty, please go down and rest first. We will give you an answer after discussing it."

"Then I will wait for news from you two." After hearing this, the envoys of the Black Sheep Dynasty could only salute and leave.

But after he left, Chen Xuan touched his short beard: "Why is there still no movement in Timur's country?"

"Maybe the message hasn't been delivered yet. I remember that their country is more than two thousand miles apart from the north to the south." Zheng He explained.

"Alas!" Chen Xuan sighed and said reluctantly: "I feel that this place is not bad. If we take this place, we can collect taxes from the countries in the strait, and we can also rely on shipping routes to hoard enough supplies. But it is not Know how much is left on this voyage.”

"Almost fifty thousand miles. If you include the distance to the Dongzhou advance team, it's even further." Zheng He sighed.

They have been sailing on this voyage for more than a year and five months, and their voyage distance has already exceeded 20,000 miles.

Counting the 50,000 miles they have not yet traveled, they will have to walk approximately 70,000 miles before and after.

Of course, they are pretty good, because they still have to leave a lot of soldiers and horses stationed in various places along the waterway.

After all, they have never communicated with the peoples of Dongzhou. Therefore, if the advance team is driven away and cannot gain a foothold, they will withdraw to the Ming Dynasty like the Pacific Fleet and bring the news back to prepare for the third expedition. Western.

However, if they can establish basic diplomatic relations there, then Zheng He and the others can make another voyage to the west, directly to the northern part of Dongzhou, and send a larger advance team to cross the gap between Dongzhou and Beizhou. land, and went to their western coastal areas to build officialdom.

As long as that officialdom can be built up, the Ming Dynasty will be able to take the closer Daming Sea route in the future.

Although no one has traveled that route yet, they have basically had no problems along the way, following the route set by His Highness, and the same is true for the route they want to take on the Great Mingyang.

"By the way, how are the private business gangs doing?"

Chen Xuan asked Zheng He. He was curious about what these private business gangs were doing these days.

Since Ming Dynasty and Timur had a falling out, private business gangs did not dare to go to Baghdad for trade.

These days, they have been haunting the streets of Horumus, trying their best to sell goods to merchants from other countries staying here.

These merchants were also very aggrieved. The merchant ships were recruited by Timur and then destroyed by the Ming army.

Now that Ming merchants come to buy and sell by force, they dare not resist, for fear of attracting inspections from patrolling Ming troops.

Zheng He told Chen Xuan what these people had done. Chen Xuan didn't say anything after hearing it. Instead, Zheng He said to him:

"Brothers from the navy, you have to tell me. I heard that many brothers are messing around with those dancing girls in the city."

"What's the point of hanging out with dancing girls?" Chen Xuan frowned and looked at Zheng He, thinking that it was normal for a man to find a woman, let alone a naval soldier who often stayed away from shore for ten days and a half.

"It's okay to hang out with the dancers, but I'm worried that some people will rape the girls." Zheng He expressed his worries.

His words reminded Chen Xuan, so he stood up and said, "I'll go talk to Chen Zuo."

Chen Xuan walked out of the palace and rode towards the dock.

It has to be said that after Zheng He's reminder, Chen Xuan did see many soldiers acting out of character on the way back.

Forget about whistling, there are still people who will touch people in the name of inspection.

If it were in the past, Chen Xuan would naturally not care about this kind of thing, but now the Ming army is highly disciplined. If this kind of thing was brought to the capital, Chen Xuan would not be able to bear the consequences.

For a time, the prosperity of Horumus was ignored by him, and in his eyes, only the soldiers with questionable military discipline remained.

Back at the dock, Chen Xuan asked Chen Zuo to be called.

"Dad, are you looking for me?"

"What did you call me?"

Chen Xuan was sitting in a yard at the dock. Chen Zuo was curious and asked after he walked in. But after seeing Chen Xuan's livid face, he immediately corrected his attitude: "Commander Chen Zuo, see Pingjiang Marquis!"

"Let me ask you, are those soldiers who are attacking people in the city also soldiers of the imperial court?"

As soon as Chen Xuan opened his mouth, Chen Zuo was in trouble and said quickly: "Master Marquis, brothers are at sea..."

"I don't want to listen to excuses. If you want a woman, go to dancing girls and orchid girls. Don't harm women from good families."

Chen Xuan cursed angrily, then stood up and walked to Chen Zuo, hating the iron that cannot be transformed into steel: "Do you think that you can do evil just because you have made meritorious deeds in Ceylon?"

"There is no general..." Chen Zuo quickly explained, and Chen Xuan also reminded:
"Let me tell you, there are people from the West Factory on the ship. If you don't want to offset the merits and demerits, you can honestly lead the army to train from today."

"If Zheng He hadn't reminded me of these things, I wouldn't have known you were making such a big fuss."

"General, take your orders!" Chen Zuo stood at attention quickly, and Chen Xuan patted him on the shoulder when he saw this.

"It's good to get along with the brothers, but don't forget the character of the person above."

"Your Highness, you are not easy to deal with..."

(End of this chapter)