Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 569: Anxi North Courtyard
"kill!!"

"Bam—"

At the entrance of Mohecheng Gorge, as the ammunition ran out, the battle entered a close combat stage, and the casualties of the Ming army began to gradually increase.

Zhu Qiyue was surrounded by the soldiers of Jilin Guard, so he did not suffer any injuries, but his knuckles were still cracked from using the golden hammer to kill the enemy, and he was extremely painful.

"kill!!"

"Hold on in front!"

Seeing that the Hu soldiers in front were constantly pushing them northward, Zhu Qiyue knew that soon after daybreak, Lou Zengmu's Hu cavalry in the north would move south, and they would then be attacked from both sides.

The shouts of killing and bloody images filled his mind, and finally Zhu Qiyue, who was on the battlefield for the first time, could no longer hold back.

"When will the reinforcements arrive?"

He shouted at Guo Deng and asked, Guo Deng was speechless and could only swing the golden hammer in his hand with all his strength.

"When will the reinforcements arrive?"

Seeing his comrades falling one by one, Zhu Qiyue shouted and questioned with red eyes.

At this moment he lost his usual calmness. He had never thought that war could be so cruel.

Compared to using firearms to kill enemies dozens of steps away, this kind of close combat scene made not only people of Zhu Gaoxu's status, but even some old soldiers couldn't help but feel nervous.

Compared to a bullet taking a person's life, the scene of smashing a person to death or ripping open their stomach is more shocking and more likely to cause mental breakdown.

Zhu Qiyue was surrounded and protected by others, but many of them were knocked to the ground by Hu Bing's iron bones.

Even though the Ming army could defeat two enemies at a time even with short weapons, the number of the Hu soldiers here far exceeded theirs by many times.

People kept falling down, and the cries for help and shouts of killing filled the ears, making people almost collapse.

Although Chen Mao is over sixty years old, he still fights side by side with the soldiers.

His face remained calm, but he gradually lost confidence.

"Quick! Push up everyone, we'll be out of trouble soon!"

Yunusi roared, his face showing the joy of seeing hope. Bukabek beside him also held his breath, staring at the retreating Jilin guards.

Time passed little by little. In a quarter of an hour, more than a hundred Jilin guards fell, and hundreds of Hu cavalry fell.

But compared to their huge group, this number of falls is nothing.

"Beep--"

Suddenly, a shrill wooden whistle sounded, Yunusi's face changed drastically and he looked back, and Bukabek's face turned pale instantly.

There was no presence behind the gorge, but the shrill wooden whistle was undoubtedly unique to the Ming army.

"What's going on? Let's not spend that idiot money first!"

"how……"

"Beep--"

Before Yunusi could finish his words, he heard the shrill whistle sound again.

Not only that, the group of people he least wanted to see also appeared at the gorge that he was concerned about.

"Kill the prisoners!!"

"Buzz, rumble—"

The dull sound of horse hooves and shouts of killing were heard first, followed by the appearance of the Ming cavalry.

Dozens, hundreds, and thousands of them poured out from the corner of the gorge and attacked Yunusi and his men from behind.

"Where's the Tangqi?"

Yunusi shouted at the top of his lungs, but no one dared to respond to him at this moment.

"Quick! Get out!"

Bukabek did not think that he could stop the main force of the Ming army. He took the cavalrymen who had almost rested beside him and joined the battle in front, trying hard to break through.

After reacting, Yunusi shook the reins and rushed forward. For a moment, the Jilin Guards in front were under heavy pressure.

But even so, they now feel like they have endless energy.

Even though they couldn't see the situation behind them, the familiar Mandarin coming from deep in the gorge proved that the reinforcements they had been waiting for had finally appeared.

"kill!!"

Even Zhu Qiyue, who had been panicking before, felt the pain from his injury on the palm of his hand temporarily eased at this moment, and he bravely stepped forward and knocked down a Hu soldier.

"dismount!"

At the mouth of the gorge, Zhu Yong and Mao Zhong dismounted from their horses.

At this moment, they were not leading cavalry, but the 10,000 cavalry infantry carefully prepared by Zhu Gaoxu.

Without saying a word, the dismounted cavalry and infantry began to form a battle array.

Some Hu cavalry thought they had an opportunity, so they gathered into a group of more than a hundred people and attacked towards the rear.

"Crack, crackle -"

Load the gun, raise the gun, pull the trigger...all in one go!
As the smoke rose, round after round of volleys of gunfire rang out as they advanced.

They stepped on the fallen corpses of the Hu cavalry and continued to harvest.

"Those who surrender will not be killed!"

Some Mongols shouted loudly, but such shouting did not wake up the troops of Yunus and Bukabek.

They were different from Yesenbuhua's soldiers and their families were all in southern Xinjiang, and fleeing to northern Xinjiang was tantamount to abandoning their families.

But their families are in the northern border and in the river valley. As long as they can break through, they can go home!
Go home, just two simple words, but they contain infinite power.

But even so, when faced with rows of Ming army cavalry and infantry dismounting and firing volleys of rifles, they were unable to withstand the lead bullets with their flesh and blood.

Gradually, as the Ming army in the rear continued to advance, the pressure faced by Jilin Wei in the front began to decrease.

One word, two words, three words...

As time went on, some people in this group finally took the initiative to lay down their weapons and surrender.

Once there is one such person, there will be a second and a third.

From the time the first person dropped his weapon and surrendered, in less than a quarter of an hour, tens of thousands of Hu cavalry in the gorge dropped their weapons and surrendered.

The pressure suddenly eased, and a smile appeared on Zhu Qiyue's face. However, after the smile appeared, he felt his strength fade away and he fell backwards to the ground in an instant.

If his chest had not been still rising and falling and if someone had not been supporting him, Guo Deng and the others might have thought he was dead.

"Your Highness!"

Guo Deng shook him anxiously, fearing that he was already on his deathbed.

"not dead……"

Zhu Qiyue took a deep breath and responded, finally revealing an unpleasant smile:

"Fighting...is really not a fun thing..."

After he finished speaking, he leaned tiredly in Guo Deng's arms and rested.

At the same time, Chen Mao, Zhu Yong, Mao Zhong and others began to recruit the surrendered Hu soldiers.

They were taken to the south of the gorge, more than 20,000 people were captured, and more than 10,000 people fell.

From the north entrance to the south entrance of the Mohecheng Gorge, there were many people lying all along the way, but they were all Hu soldiers.

A feeling of grief for the loss of the rabbit arose in the hearts of these Hu cavalry, but at this moment, having dropped their weapons, they had no room for resistance.

At this moment, they only hoped that Bogda Chechen Khan would keep his promise and not kill them.

Thousands of people were escorted out of Nankou. Zhu Gaoxu was still wearing armor at this time, but he was sitting in a carriage with no shelter on all sides and only a cover on the top for shade.

Next to him sat Zhu Di, wearing a plain white round-necked robe.

At this moment, Zhu Di was stroking his beard and looking at the Hu cavalry who were being escorted out with interest.

"Forty thousand Hu cavalry were captured or killed. There are only about 20,000 or 30,000 armored Hu soldiers in the entire Western Regions. How are you going to deal with them?"

Zhu Di asked Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaoxu said without hesitation: "As expected, the troops are divided into three groups to take over the entire Western Region as quickly as possible."

"I will personally lead the northern cavalry to capture Para and head north to Yibohai (Lake Balkhash)."

"Shaharu is a tyrant. He will not sit idly by and watch the Ming Dynasty take over the Western Regions. Only I can go there to calm him down."

Zhu Gaoxu was aware of the intentions of Shah Rukh and Yuejibie and other countries. Taking over the Western Regions was already the limit of the Ming Dynasty, and it was not yet time to develop and take over the Central Asian region.

If I show up in the Western Regions, Shaharu won't dare to take action, and I can just give Shaharu a warning.

"You can't control it by yourself. We don't have enough civilians to send more than 10,000 soldiers to Yibohai."

Zhu Di frowned in worry, but Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said, "Before I left Beijing, I had already told Zhan He to order Yang Zhan and Zheng He to lead the four fleets of the East China Sea, South China Sea, South China Sea, and Lesser Western Ocean to Hormuz."

"According to the time, they should be able to arrive in September."

"If Shaharu dares to cross the border, I wouldn't mind ordering the Black Sheep and White Sheep to join forces with the Lumi Nation to take action against him."

Zhu Gaoxu had long thought of the consequences of taking action against the Eastern Chagatai Khanate. The reason why he was anxious to take down the Eastern Chagatai Khanate was not because the timing was best, but because Zhu Gaoxu was busy taking down the Golden Horde, which was about to split.

If he remembered correctly, starting around 1438, the Golden Horde began to split into several regimes due to internal problems.

For example, the Kazakh Khanate in Central Asia, the Khanate of Kazan, the Crimean Khanate, the Astrakhan Khanate in Eastern Europe, the Siberian Khanate in Western Siberia, and the Nogai Khanate in the Caspian Sea area.

This process will probably last about thirty years before it begins to stabilize.

After the split, the only territory directly under the Golden Horde was the steppes between the Ural and Dnieper rivers.

It was for this reason that Zhu Gaoxu chose to take over the Western Regions at this critical juncture, in order to build and complete the three railways in the Western Regions within his limited life, and at the same time lay the foundation for agriculture and industry in the Western Regions.

Now I am fifty-four years old and Zhu Zhanhe is thirty-two years old.

If nothing unexpected happens, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty forty years later should be this guy Zhu Qiyue.

Even if it was not Zhu Qiyue, Zhu Zhanhe would have been 72 years old by that time, and it should have been Zhu Qiyue who made the decisions on major matters.

As long as Zhu Qiyue does not make a mistake, he will not miss the opportunity to swallow up the Golden Horde.

Of course, there should have been another opportunity at that time, that is, the opportunity for the Timurid Empire to split.

But now, because the Timurid Empire surrendered too early and understood the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Gaoxu was not sure whether the Timurid Empire would split in forty years.

If the Timurid Empire had also split at that time, the four great Mongol Khanates would have been completely taken over by the Ming Dynasty forty years later, and the empire's territory would have been further expanded.

Forty years later, the population of the Ming Dynasty would be at least 200 million, so it would not be a problem for it to swallow up the two Khanates whose combined population was less than 30 million.

Of course, all of this is the path he planned and envisioned. Whether anyone will follow his ideas or whether it can be realized depends on his descendants.

The phenomenon of a regime collapsing after its leader's death has happened countless times in history.

As long as his descendants listened to Zhu Gaoxu, he was confident that in about a hundred years, the world's main ethnic group would become Han people, and they would control the entire Asia and the lands of Dongzhou, Nanzhou and Beizhou.

But as long as there were one or two people who did not listen to him, the huge Ming Dynasty would most likely face the fate of being destroyed.

However, at that time, the lifespan of the Ming Dynasty should have exceeded that of the Ming Dynasty in history, and the Little Ice Age was almost over.

What will be left to the next dynasty or new regime is probably a very rich political legacy... "Your Majesty, these two are the two sons of Waisi Khan."

Zhu Neng's voice woke Zhu Gaoxu from his reverie, and his eyes turned to the two people kneeling in front of the carriage.

They lowered their heads and looked embarrassed.

"Keep your head up."

Zhu Gaoxu stood up and got off the carriage, looking down at them.

Upon hearing this, Yunusi and Yesenbuhua raised their heads cautiously.

They had followed the diplomatic envoys to meet the Emperor in their early years, but they did not expect that a few years later, the Emperor would personally lead an army to destroy their country.

"Your main force has been destroyed. If I want to take over the entire Western Region, it will take some effort at most, but I don't want to waste any effort."

"I heard that you two are fighting for the Khanate. What's so great about fighting for a small Khanate?"

Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and said, "Stand up."

"Yes……"

Yesenbuhua and Yunusi stood up carefully, and Zhu Gaoxu took a quick look before speaking:

"Appoint Yesenbuhua as the Marquis of Anxi and Yunusi as the Marquis of Beiting, and order the two of you to follow the army to recapture the cities in various places."

"After this matter is settled, I will allocate two 10,000-hectare pastures to you in the east of the desert. I will pay you 3,000 strings of cash per year according to your title, and I will also give you 1,000 cattle and 10,000 sheep. How do you think?"

Zhu Gaoxu's words were not taken as a joke by Yesenbuhui and Yunusi, because they all knew that the emperor had successively subdued Bayanchur, Arutai, Taiping, Batubolo, Mahamu and others.

Most of these people were awarded the title of marquis or earl and lived a very comfortable life in Beijing.

Of course, they enjoyed a comfortable life, but they lost power forever.

They had already learned about these things when they came to Beijing to pay tribute a few years ago.

But they never expected that they would encounter such a thing one day.

"I thank you, Your Majesty!"

"I thank you, Your Majesty!"

Yesenbuhua was the first to speak. After all, his Southern Xinjiang was the easiest to take over, and it would be a good idea to use Southern Xinjiang to exchange for a better treatment at this time.

After Yesenbuhua spoke, Yunusi followed suit, and his idea was the same as Yesenbuhua's.

"Okay, take them down and march according to the original plan."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded to Zhu Neng, who also bowed in response, and then untied the ropes for the two men.

"The minister will leave..."

The identity changes of Yesenbuhua and Yunusi were quite fast, so fast that even Zhu Gaoxu could not have predicted it.

Seeing Zhu Neng taking them away, and as Zhu Gaoxu returned to the carriage, Zhu Di spoke:

"You have big ambitions. It looks like you are not even going to let go of those two guys in the west."

"That's about right..." Zhu Gaoxu nodded.

If he only pursued the Western Regions, he could have killed Yunusi and Yesenbuhua now. Even if it would be inconvenient to recover the Western Regions after killing them, Zhu Gaoxu could still better change the race for the Western Regions.

However, he did not do so, and the reason he did not do so was to put on a show for the Mongols in the west.

In this way, even if the Ming Dynasty fought with the Mongols in the west and destroyed them in the future, their king would choose to surrender without any chance of winning for the sake of wealth and glory.

After all, Bayanchur and his group lived such a comfortable life that they didn't have to worry about the Ming Dynasty killing them after they surrendered.

The reason why Zhu Gaoxu had been treating the surrendered Mongolian nobles with preferential treatment for a long time was that he allowed the Mongolian nobles to have such a lucky mentality.

Compared with the vast territory, a few hundred thousand strings of cash are nothing.

"You are going to Talas, what should I do?"

Zhu Di asked knowingly, and Zhu Gaoxu answered without hesitation: "I will send you back to Turpan City to rest."

"No!" Zhu Di said firmly:

"Then I want to go to Talas, too. If you don't let me go, I will miss you for the next few years."

"..." Hearing Zhu Di's words, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't hold back: "Are you still going to chant the spell?"

"No, I don't chant any spells. I just remember that Emperor Gaozu of Tang seemed to have written a book called "The Daily Records of the Founding of the Tang Dynasty" when he was the Empress Dowager. I have to write it down when I return to Beijing."

Zhu Di was threatening Zhu Gaoxu, but the threat was somewhat pitiful.

It seems that apart from this method, Zhu Di has no other means to threaten Zhu Gaoxu.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu was helpless and could only sigh and say, "If you are willing to follow me, then follow me..."

"Okay, okay, second brother, you are really like me, filial!" Zhu Di immediately smiled as bright as a chrysanthemum.

Zhu Gaoxu was also helpless and could only order the army to camp at the gorge to let Zhu Di have a good rest first.

Originally he was not planning to come, but could not resist Zhu Di's urging, so they hurried on their journey, traveling 270 miles in three days, an average of 90 miles per day.

It was precisely because Zhu Di could withstand such a high-intensity journey that Zhu Gaoxu dared to say that he would take him to the west.

There is no time to beat Lou Zengmu now. It will take a whole day just to deal with the corpse. Beating Lou Zengmu can only be done tomorrow.

Under Zhu Gaoxu's arrangement, a large tent was set up, and Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu entered it and lay down to rest.

About two hours later, a voice was heard outside the tent.

"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince requests to see you..."

"Xuan!"

Zhu Gaoxu turned over and sat up, but Zhu Di turned over even faster than him.

The two men immediately changed from lying flat to sitting upright in a dignified posture, and Zhu Qiyue also lifted the curtain of the tent and walked in.

"Great grandfather, grandfather..."

Zhu Qiyue changed into a clean mandarin duck battle jacket, but the bandages on his hands could not hide his injuries.

"The tiger's mouth is cracked?"

As they were all experienced people, Zhu Gaoxu knew at a glance why this boy was injured.

"Well, the royal doctor said that I will be fine after a month of rest, but I heard that the army will be divided tomorrow. I want to know how the troops will be divided and which group I can follow."

When Zhu Qiyue said this, his eyes lit up, completely different from his attitude a few hours ago.

"The southern and northern routes are all cavalry, and the central route that crosses the mountain to the river valley is cavalry infantry, numbering 5,000."

"The remaining cavalry and infantry are responsible for protecting the auxiliary troops in transporting supplies and supervising the surrendered soldiers."

Zhu Gaoxu gave a brief account of the situation, and then said, "Your grandfather and I are going to the northern border, and you can go to the southern border."

"Yes!" Although he felt sorry for not being able to go to Northern Xinjiang, it would also be nice to be able to go to Southern Xinjiang.

What Zhu Qiyue was most worried about was that his great-grandfather and grandfather would leave him in Lou Zengmu or Turpan to recuperate, which would really suffocate him to death.

"Take a seat and wait for your meal."

Zhu Gaoxu motioned him to sit down, and after he sat down, he asked, "Has the news of my enthroning Yunusi and Yesenbuhua spread?"

"When the news got out, the soldiers were a little dissatisfied, but I understood that grandpa was doing this for the future."

Zhu Gaoxu was satisfied with Zhu Qiyue's words: "Tell me about it."

"Grandpa wanted to have less resistance when he conquered the Timurid and Cuman Khanates in the future."

Zhu Qiyue had no idea that these two currently powerful khanates would fall apart in the next forty years, so he just thought that his grandfather was trying to reduce the difficulty.

"more or less."

Zhu Gaoxu smiled but didn't explain too much.

In his opinion, when Zhu Qiyue reaches old enough and it is his turn to read the book, he will naturally understand what he should do now.

"But then I should be the one to deal with them, right?"

Zhu Qiyue couldn't help but smile, because he knew it would take at least a dozen years to build a railway to Hezhong.

Ten years later, when I am in my twenties, I will be able to lead the troops on the Western Expedition.

Thinking of himself leading tens of thousands of people on the Western Expedition, Zhu Qiyue wished he could skip these ten years.

"more or less."

"Then I'll bring tens of thousands of people to take care of them all!"

"Huh?" Zhu Gaoxu thought that this kid wanted to be the emperor and deal with the problem. Obviously, he didn't expect that this kid wanted to lead troops to deal with the problem.

"Leave the expedition to the generals, and just sit back and relax."

Zhu Gaoxu was thinking about what would happen forty years later, while Zhu Qiyue was thinking about what would happen more than ten years later.

"How can that be possible? Then what does my father do?"

Zhu Qiyue was surprised and spoke. Zhu Gaoxu couldn't say anything because your father would have passed away by then. He could only say, "You will understand when the time comes."

"I understand." Zhu Qiyue grinned and rolled his eyes, not knowing what he was planning.

However, when Zhu Di saw their conversation, he couldn't help feeling envious and sighing.

This grandfather and grandson can see what will happen more than ten years later, but I am afraid I can only focus on what is happening in front of me.

Let alone more than ten years, it is even questionable whether his body can last until he is eighty.

"Your Majesty, the battle damage has been counted!"

Outside the tent, Zhu Neng's voice sounded again. Zhu Gaoxu didn't need to speak before he heard Zhu Qiyue take the initiative to say, "Announce!"

Zhu Neng walked into the tent, bowed respectfully and said:

"More than 1,460 cavalrymen and 122 horse and infantrymen were killed in the battle."

"2,654 people were seriously injured and rescued, more than 1,300 people were slightly injured, and 4,754 military horses were lost."

"The number of barbarians killed totaled 23,647, and more than 98,667 horses were seized."

The atmosphere was a little heavy for a moment, and Zhu Gaoxu was the first to speak:

"The pension will be formulated according to what was said before the war. In addition, if the martyrs' relatives are willing to migrate to the Western Regions after the railway is completed, they will be given another 100 acres of land!"

"For the seriously injured brothers, the same conditions apply for compensation and relocation, and they will be resettled and transferred to other jobs locally."

"Finally, tell the six ministries that the area north of the Tianshan Mountains is the Northern Xinjiang, with the Beiting Regional Command established; the area south of the Tianshan Mountains is the Southern Xinjiang, with the Anxi Regional Command established."

"The Hezhong Dusi was set up in the Yilibali River Valley and the Yibohai to the Gobi Desert east of Talas City. The six ministries were ordered to issue migration notices and newspapers were ordered to publish migration news."

"If anyone is willing to move his family to the Western Regions and settle down, he will be given 100 acres of farmland, which cannot be bought or sold."

"If it is for grazing, there will be a hundred acres of pasture and a hundred sheep!"

In just a few words, Zhu Gaoxu offered sufficiently generous rewards for migration.

He must make the three military governors in the Western Regions become supply bases for the Ming Dynasty to conquer the two khanates within forty years, and this goal requires a sufficient population.

(End of this chapter)