Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 572: Tremor in the River
"Uuuuuu——"

In July, at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, the horn sounded...

Yilibali, as a region connecting Alimali and Telekhana, was built not long ago.

The capital of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate was originally in Alimali. After Mahamad ascended the throne, it was moved to Telekhana.

According to history, after Yesenbuhua came to power, the political center of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate would gradually move south to Yarkand (Shache). However, before Yesenbuhua and Yunusi could decide the winner, he suffered a Waterloo at the Mohecheng Gorge and was captured alive by the Ming army, leading the way.

Now most of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate have surrendered to the Ming army. Only the remaining cities such as Arimaka, Tokmok, Atebashi, Yangyi, Yumuhan and Sarikuli, which are close to the Timurid Empire, have not yet expressed their stance.

Chagatai's headquarters, originally located in Yilibali, was planning to repel Mao Zhong and then take the entire Ili River Valley to join the Timurid Empire.

However, the Ming army suddenly appeared in Alimali from the cape like a god descending from the sky. They not only captured the old capital, but also cut off the connection between Yilibali City and the outside world.

At this moment, the Chagatai nobles in the city of Yilibali finally began to panic.

"Shah Rukh doesn't dare to send out troops. Bogdaqichen Khan has already led his troops to cut off our retreat."

"If Shah Rukh knew that Bogdacherchen Khan himself appeared in the river, he would never dare to swallow up the vast land in the river."

In a palace in Yilibali, a noble was analyzing the situation to everyone, and the group he represented was the surrender faction.

"We should surrender. There are tens of thousands of Ming troops outside the city, and an unknown number of Ming troops to the west. We can't break out with our strength alone."

"Even if we break through, Bogda Chechen Khan has already arrived, and Shah Rukh will not dare to accept us."

The nobles spoke at the top of their lungs, but the vast majority of the nobles in the hall were still wavering.

They did not want to give up the power in their hands because they had already learned from Mao Zhong the consequences of surrender.

A fifth-grade scattered rank, plus a thousand acres of pasture, and thousands of sheep breeds...

This treatment is not bad. Although the annual salary of a fifth-rank official is no more than a hundred strings of cash, it is only the minimum living allowance to guarantee their basic living.

What is truly valuable are a thousand hectares of grassland and thousands of sheep.

One hectare is one hundred mu, and one thousand hectares is one hundred thousand mu.

If one uses the 100,000 mu grassland to raise sheep with ease, it will be enough to raise tens of thousands of sheep. With the current transportation conditions in the Ming Dynasty, these sheep can be transported to the south as long as they can be sold, and there will be no worries about not being able to sell them.

Just from selling sheep, he can earn seven or eight thousand strings of cash every year, which is much better than the treatment here.

Of course, not all surrendered nobles could own thousands of acres of grassland, and this is also the reason why most nobles were unwilling to surrender.

Except for the nobles who offered the city, who could own a thousand hectares of grassland, the rest had a hundred hectares of grassland, that is, ten thousand acres of grassland, and five hundred sheep.

Even if ten thousand acres of grassland could generate a profit of seven or eight hundred strings of cash every year, this amount of income was not enough to satisfy this group of nobles.

"Don't hesitate! Once Bogdacherchen Khan leads his troops here, it will be impossible for us to surrender!"

That noble was anxious and eager, but the other nobles were still hesitating.

"We have 50,000 soldiers and horses. They don't bring any artillery with them, so they can't take us down in a short time."

"Their supplies won't last long. When the battle reaches a stalemate, we can raise the terms."

Some nobles spoke out of greed, but what they said was not without reason.

The Ming army crossed the Tianshan Mountains and was destined to be unable to carry artillery.

The wall foundation of Yilibali is three meters thick. Even if they want to use gunpowder bags to bomb it, it will take seven or eight bombings to blow it open, so they are not very worried.

"Don't you regard the lives of the men below as human lives?!"

Some middle and lower class nobles could not help but scold, but everyone showed contempt on their faces.

How can the lives of the male herdsmen compare to their wealth and glory?
"Just do as Tu Ma Hu said, fight first and talk later!"

"madness!!"

Seeing that this group of people still refused to surrender, the surrender-minded nobles left one after another.

While they were discussing surrender, Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu left a thousand men to guard Alimali and led another two thousand men to Yilibali.

At dusk the next day, their troops arrived outside the city of Yilibali. Mao Zhong had already built a camp for them and rode on horseback with more than a hundred people to pay homage.

"I am Mao Zhong, the deputy commander of the capital, and I pay my respects to your majesty, the emperor!"

Mao Zhong dismounted from his horse, knelt on one knee and bowed.

Zhu Gaoxu helped him up and looked him up and down.

The 173-year-old Mao Zhong had a dignified appearance and was about five feet four inches (cm) tall, almost a head shorter than Zhu Gaoxu.

Before this, when he was chasing Yesenbuhua, Yesenbuhua said that they were both Mongolians, and then Mao Zhong scolded him.

There was a reason why Mao Zhong dared to curse like that. It was true that Mao Zhong's great-grandfather Haladai was a Mongolian who moved from Sichuan to Wuwei, but his grandfather Ciguo led his people to submit to the Ming Dynasty when the Ming army arrived in Wuwei during the northern expedition. He was registered in Lanzhou and died in battle while following the Ming army to conquer Hami.

His father also joined the army and took part in suppressing the Mongolian rebellion in Shazhou. He followed Zhu Di in several northern expeditions and was awarded the title of Zhaoxin Cavalry Captain for his military achievements. After his death, he was also awarded the title of Right Army Commander-in-Chief.

By the generation of Mao Zhong, although Qinghai-Tibet was taken over by Zhu Gaoxu, Mao Zhong happened to catch up with Zhu Di's fourth and fifth northern expeditions when he was in his early twenties.

After two northern expeditions, he was further promoted from hereditary commander of the guards to deputy commander of Gansu.

Now 39 years old, he brought his eldest son and second son into the army, and participated in this expedition to the Western Regions as small flag officers and guards.

Zhu Gaoxu liked Mao Zhong very much.

In history, Mao Zhong was very loyal and had outstanding abilities.

Not only did his grandfather die fighting for the Ming Dynasty, but he himself, his third son, and his eldest grandson also died fighting for the Ming Dynasty.

To be honest, four generations have sacrificed their lives for the country.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu patted his arms and said, "He looks strong and solid."

"Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty!" Mao Zhong was flattered, while Zhu Gaoxu turned his attention to Yilibali City.

The city of Yilibali is not big, or it should be said that due to its nomadic nature, most of the cities under the rule of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate are not big.

After all, cities are basically inhabited by nobles and merchants, and herders only need to graze.

"Your Majesty, the wall foundation of Yiliba is at least three meters high, and the foundation is built with stones."

"In the past few days, our army has used gunpowder bags to blast, but they have been unable to blow up the foundation of the wall."

When Mao Zhong saw Zhu Gaoxu's eyes turned to Yilibali, he immediately began to explain.

Zhu Gaoxu chuckled when he heard this: "It's not my turn to teach you how to attack a city. There are others who will teach you."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Di said with a look of resentment: "Without artillery, there will be too many casualties if we attack by force. We can only use strategies or wait for the artillery to arrive."

Zhu Di finally understood why Zhu Gaoxu said that he did not use any tricks this time, because there was no need to use any tricks this time.

Without artillery, it would be quite difficult to capture Yilibali.

"Hu Ji, are there any people from your West Factory in the city?"

Zhu Di asked, and Hu Ji stepped forward and bowed, "Reporting to the Emperor, there are more than a hundred Western Factory strongmen in the city."

"What's the situation in the city?" Zhu Di asked again, and Hu Ji also answered:

"Most of the intelligence we have now is from the information obtained by Commander Mao before the siege of the city. There are sufficient firewood and food in the city. There are about 100,000 civilians and soldiers in the city. It is very crowded, but there is enough food to sustain for half a year."

"Half a year..." Zhu Di was shocked. Let alone half a year, he only needed to besiege for two months before Zhu Neng's artillery would arrive.

Of course, if he really waited foolishly, wouldn't he be looked down upon by the second brother?

Thinking of this, Zhu Di said, "There should be many people in the city who want to surrender. In addition, many men were conscripted from Alimali. If they knew that Alimali was captured by the imperial court, I think their morale would be shaken."

Zhu Di looked at Mao Zhong and gave a direct order: "Send the Tangqi to ride around the city and tell them that Alimali has been captured and their families are safe."

"Also, send people to Alimali to bring here the civilians whose male members have been conscripted, and have them persuade them to surrender."

After he finished speaking, he continued to look at Hu Ji: "Find a way to send the message in, and let them try to persuade some of the nobles in the city to rebel."

"Tell those nobles that the army's artillery will arrive in two months. If they can cooperate with the Heavenly Army before then, the preferential treatment promised to them by the court will remain."

"Yes!" Mao Zhong and Hu Ji bowed one after another, and then began to make arrangements in a hurry.

"Alimali has surrendered, and your relatives have not been harassed."

"The Ming Dynasty's Bogda Chechen Khan and Eyel Zasak Khan came in person and promised everyone that the nobles would move to the east of the desert and be rewarded with 100 hectares of pasture and 100 sheep."

"All the common people can stay in the area, and each household will be rewarded with 100 hectares of pasture, and the sheep left by the nobles can be equally divided!"

Although the nobles knew early on that Alimali had been captured from Mao Zhong's letter of persuasion, they chose to conceal it in order to give the soldiers the courage to resist the Ming army.

Therefore, when the truth was revealed by the Ming army, tens of thousands of men on the city walls were filled with confusion.

"Alimali was breached?!"

"Is what they say true?!"

"Look at the flags in their hands and the direction the group behind them is coming from. There's no mistake."

"The nobles are being treated so well, why don't they surrender?"

Originally, they were strong men who were captured to defend the city. Although they had bows and arrows and scimitars, they had no armor and were just cannon fodder at the first level.

The conditions offered by the Ming army were very tempting. A hundred hectares of grassland was something these people could not even imagine, not to mention the equal distribution of the sheep.

These herdsmen were originally born to herd and farm for the nobles, so they naturally knew how many herds the nobles had.

These herds are now being driven into the mountains to hide and will not get lost.

When the Ming army left, hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep would reoccupy the lush Ili River Valley. If they could capture these herds, they could not imagine how much better their lives would become.

The able-bodied men and soldiers were wavering, and the surrendering nobles in the city were also found by the strong men of the Western Factory.

After getting the promise, at three quarters past midnight that night, the gate of Yilibalidong City was opened by the nobles guarding the city, and a fire was set outside the gate.

As the founder of Kaicheng, he will be given a thousand acres of pasture, a thousand sheep and the treatment of a fifth-rank official.

"There's a big fire. Send 500 people to take over the gate tower and the city wall."

Late at night, Zhu Di did not rest. After seeing the burning fire through a telescope, he ordered Mao Zhong to attack Yilibali.

Mao Zhong bowed in response, and then sent 500 cavalrymen into the city to take over the city gate.

They were very careful and would retreat immediately if there was any unusual movement by the garrison in Yilibali.

Fortunately, they escaped unharmed and successfully passed through the barbican and the outer city corridor and took over the East City Gate Tower.

"The army is marching!"

Seeing the fire was extinguished, Zhu Di immediately raised his hand to signal the army to attack.

Mao Zhong took the lead and led more than 4,000 men to rush towards the east gate.

Zhu Di methodically commanded his 2,000 cavalrymen to patrol the four city gates of Yilibali to prevent the nobles from escaping.

Zhu Gaoxu sat aside and watched Zhu Di capture Yilibali. To be honest, all this was within his expectations.

The combat effectiveness of Yilibali was far inferior to that of the Tatars and Oirat in the northern desert. In addition, Yesenbuhua, Yunusi, Bukabek and others had already surrendered, so it didn't take much effort to capture Yilibali.

That night, flames shot up into the sky from the city of Yilibali. Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di looked at the flames and could vaguely hear the noisy sounds of shouting and killing.

"Everything is settled now. You can go and rest now."

Zhu Gaoxu reminded Zhu Di, and Zhu Di said with little interest: "This opponent is getting weaker and weaker..."

At this moment, Zhu Di felt that he had lost interest in fighting. He still liked the feeling of being evenly matched, rather than this kind of crushing situation.

However, with the current strength of the Ming Dynasty, it is too difficult to find an equally powerful opponent.

The father and son sighed a few times and then returned to the camp to rest. The next morning, Mao Zhong had already cleared out Yilibali.

Any nobles who resisted the Ming army would be killed without mercy.

As for the surrendered nobles, Mao Zhong gave them preferential treatment and allowed them to live in his own mansion, but only asked them to call back the herds that had wandered into the mountains.

As the siege went too smoothly, Mao Zhong also stopped the troops heading to Alimali and told them not to bring along the relatives of the soldiers guarding the city in Yilibali.

At noon the next day, Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di rode into the city of Yilibali on horseback.

There are many Islamic-style buildings and temples here, and it is obvious that the greening of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate has affected all aspects.

They came to the palace in Yilibali, but the palace here was more in the style of Hezhong. It was not as grand as the Fengtian Palace in Beijing. It felt like a slightly larger mansion.

Sitting in the main seat of the hall, Zhu Gaoxu stroked his mustache and ordered Mao Zhong: "Move all the merchants and nobles in the city to Daning."

“When the herds return to the city, we will divide the sheep among the herders and let them take them back to their hometowns.”

"But we need to tell them that the pastures need to be divided by the imperial court. They can graze freely now, but it does not mean that the pastures belong to them."

"Yes!" Mao Zhong bowed in response, and Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Di:
"You can rest for a few months. I have to leave for Yangyi in a few days."

"Why are you going to raise barbarians?" Zhu Di was surprised, and Zhu Gaoxu said:

"Shaharu is disobedient, so it is right to punish him. Besides, the Yueji Kingdom and other countries in the north are also ready to make a move."

"If I don't go over and intimidate them, they still think that the fruits of Ming's victory can be plucked at will."

Zhu Gaoxu said this, but Zhu Di coughed and said, "Since you want to go, I will go with you."

"Your health is not good for another 1,500 miles..." Zhu Gaoxu frowned slightly in worry, but Zhu Di waved his hand and said:
"It's settled then. After all, after this time, I'm afraid I won't have many opportunities to travel such a long distance in the future."

"Since I said before that I wanted to go and see the old Talas City, I should take this opportunity to go and see it."

Zhu Di continued to act like a spoiled brat, and Zhu Gaoxu was helpless about it. He couldn't lock him up like Zhu Di did to Xia Yuanji.

If Zhu Di did something to hurt himself, he would be the one to regret it.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu sighed: "You are always so stubborn..."

Zhu Di smiled, he knew that Zhu Gaoxu had agreed to him.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di stood up and said, "Mao Zhong, find me a place to rest. It won't be too late for us to set off again after Zhu Neng reaches Alimatou."

"Yes!" Mao Zhong led the way for Zhu Di, while Zhu Gaoxu sat in the main seat and asked Hu Ji to bring the documents of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate that were placed in Yiliba.

The Eastern Chagatai Khanate generally inherited the system of the Chagatai Khanate, which was mainly composed of the kurultai council, the elder as khan, the feudal system and the governor-general system.

The kurultai was the original deliberative body of the Mongolian tribal princes and ministers. The participants were mainly members of the Khan clan, local abbots, officials of the royal city, and religious elites.

The Council makes decisions on major matters of the Khanate, such as the succession to the Khanate, the division of territories, the issuance of military and political orders, the appointment of important officials, etc.

The Eastern Chagatai Khanate did not have a "crown prince" or "prince". The succession to the throne was made by the eldest person, that is, whoever was oldest would be made Khan.

The territory and property under the Khanate were basically divided by the Khan to his brothers, sons, and grandsons, and were inherited and enjoyed by all members of the Khanate's family.

Aksu, Wushi, Kashgar, Yengisar, Hotan and other places are all important fiefdoms. The members of the Khanate who were granted fiefdoms were called governors. They had full power within the territories and the Khanate was not allowed to interfere.

The governor does not have hereditary rights and the Khan can change and adjust the position at any time.

The Eastern Chagatai Khanate mainly used Uighur, Mongolian and Persian
The economy of the entire country is mainly based on animal husbandry in the grasslands north of the Tianshan Mountains and agricultural planting in the southern areas.

Since the entire Khanate adhered to the traditional production and living tradition of nomadism, there was even a phenomenon of returning farmland to pasture in the northern part of the Tianshan Mountains.

The so-called commerce mainly refers to commodities such as copper, iron, lead produced in the Yilibali River Valley and lake salt, sulfone sand, white felt cloth, jade and other commodities produced in other places.

Although the Eastern Chagatai Khanate could mint its own coins, the Ming Tongbao has been used all over the world since the world entered the Hongxi period, and Yilibali, a neighboring country of the Ming Dynasty, is no exception.

Judging from what Mao Zhong seized from the resistance nobles, almost two-thirds of it was Ming Tongbao, and the rest was currency from other countries and their own country's currency.

What gave Zhu Gaoxu a headache was that these guys did not keep detailed records of the country's economic situation, and did not even ask about the farmland and grasslands in the fiefdoms.

As long as the fiefdoms pay taxes on time and no less than in previous years, it is enough.

So for Zhu Gaoxu, among the hundreds of books in Yilibali, only a few were useful.

The measurement of fields and the division of pastures had to wait until the officials of the Ming Dynasty arrived before they could be measured and divided equally.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but feel a headache, and time passed by little by little.

On July 14, the river valley herds of the Yilibali nobles were captured and brought to Yilibali. Zhu Gaoxu distributed ten sheep to each male adult. In the end, there were more than 100,000 sheep and more than 50,000 cattle left.

Zhu Gaoxu distributed these more than 100,000 sheep to herders in Telehala, Naratu and other places that were conquered by Mao Zhong previously.

As for the more than 50,000 cattle, they were left behind and handed over to the laborers brought by Mao Zhong for training.

They need to be trained before they can become suitable oxen for draft. Those that are not suitable as oxen can only be handed over to the people to take care of as beef cattle.

Zhu Gaoxu's move of dividing the herds equally quickly won the hearts of the people in the entire valley. Although they believed in religion, in this era when people could not even get enough food, the lower-class common people would not be fanatical about religion.

For them, the Hongxi Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the Bogdaqichen Khan of the Mongols who gave them pastures and herds were their true gods.

However, Zhu Gaoxu was not in a hurry to take action against the local religion, but waited for the subsequent officials to be dispatched.

While waiting, some bad news came from the south.

On July 20th, Chen Mao recaptured the cities of Asu, Wuchi and others, but Kashgar was invaded and occupied by the Timurid Empire.

Judging from the time, Shah Rukh should not have known that Zhu Gaoxu was personally leading an expedition to the Western Regions at that time.

However, since the city has been occupied, it is not so easy to make him give up honestly, so Zhu Gaoxu must go to Yangyi City.

On July 24, Zhu Neng of the Northern Army captured Alimatu, and Zhu Yong built Mozhou City in Yesul and marched towards Dahaizi (Ulungur Lake) in the north.

Upon learning that Zhu Neng had captured Alimatu, Zhu Gaoxu had no choice but to lead Zhu Di towards Yangyi.

The total distance from Yilibali to Yangyi is one thousand five hundred miles.

Fortunately, with the support of more than 200,000 people in the Yilibali Valley, the supply problem was solved.

Zhu Gaoxu only needed to issue an order, and more than 40,000 men came to serve as laborers.

Zhu Gaoxu still employed them as laborers at a wage of fifty wen a day, and told them that after becoming citizens of the Ming Dynasty, they would be their own masters and the court would not conscript them as free labor for no reason.

Getting paid for working was once a myth in the minds of herdsmen, but now it has become a reality in their lives.

Under Zhu Gaoxu's policy of equal distribution of herds and pastures, they quickly assembled a team of 60,000 civilian laborers, and used the more than 200,000 shi of grain seized from the Yilibali River Valley to provide food and fodder for the army's westward advance.

From the Yilibali River Valley all the way west to the area west of Alimatu, it is basically desert Gobi.

Only by advancing along the Tianshan Mountains could they see the oases formed along the rivers.

On August 14, the southern army arrived in Kashgar, and the northern army captured Tokmok.

On August 25, the Northern Army divided its forces to recapture Yumuhan and Atebashi cities.

Because the march was too long, even the army of 100,000 civilians could no longer supply more than 10,000 soldiers and horses.

Finally, on the seventh day of September, the Northern Army captured Yangyi City and eventually ended the Western Expedition at Yangyi City.

The news spread to Talas and Otrar, which were relatively close to Yangyi City, and Yuejibie on the northern grassland. Later, the news of Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di's arrival in Yangyi City was also known to Timur's Shah Rukh and Yuejibie's Abu Hair.

Facing the Ming emperor who arrived in Hezhong, the two countries sent envoys to Yangyi City...

(End of this chapter)