Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 574 Khan Dance
"Sorry..."

On the sixth day of November, when the sound of a herd of horses appeared at the foot of the Western Tianshan Mountains, a huge group of people also slowly moved northward in the face of the biting cold wind.

The fluttering flags revealed their identities, but at this moment, the entire team seemed extremely nervous.

20,000 cavalrymen equipped with muskets, 20,000 cavalrymen responsible for vigilance, and 100,000 civilian laborers responsible for short-distance logistics.

Just looking at the scale, those who don't know would think that the Timurid Empire and the Ming Dynasty are about to go to war.

On the top of Yangyi City, Zhu Gaoxu, wearing a scarlet round-necked robe and a sable fur coat, looked at the huge army through a telescope with a smile on his face.

"Put pressure on me and let me know that Timur is also strong..."

He said it in a nonchalant tone, because in the past month, he had used auxiliary troops to transfer a lot of supplies and transferred cavalry to Yangyi City.

Today, Yangyi City has 10,000 cavalry, 5,000 horse infantry, and 10,000 auxiliary troops, totaling 25,000 soldiers and horses.

With just this amount of troops, Zhu Gaoxu was able to look down on Shah Rukh.

Of course, Yangyi City could not support so many troops, so this was just the result of Zhu Gaoxu gathering supplies and temporarily transferring them here.

When Shah Rukh surrendered, Zhu Gaoxu would withdraw them, leaving only two thousand people to garrison Yangyi City.

"Their military appearance is good, with some similarities to ours. It seems that Ulugh Beg has learned a lot."

Standing aside, Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu talked about Timur's military appearance. Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said, "This should be the best army they can come up with."

"Looking at the scale, there are no less than 20,000 horse and infantry equipped with muskets, and there should be 10,000 to 20,000 cavalry."

"They sent so many troops here just to show the imperial court their strength."

"With this mentality, my plan is only half successful."

Zhu Gaoxu smiled and put away the telescope, and Zhu Di turned and walked down the path.

In two months, Yangyi City had been completely repaired by the Ming army.

Although the city walls are still made of rammed earth and the buildings inside the city are mainly stone houses, they are probably all well-repaired.

The number of houses was increased to 500, enough to accommodate 500 households, and the military camp was also expanded to accommodate 3,000 soldiers.

The entire city is now large enough to accommodate 10,000 people, but this is not enough.

Once the Western Regions are stabilized, the expansion of Yangyi City will be inevitable.

Originally, Zhu Gaoxu was planning to capture Talas, but Talas was taken back by the Timurid Empire more than ten years ago. In addition, it had not been repaired for many years, so Talas is now worse than Yangyi City.

Due to the lack of a legitimate reason for the expedition and problems with distance and supplies, Zhu Gaoxu finally decided to give up on taking back Talas.

"There are more than 200,000 people in the Hezhong Valley (Ili River Valley). If we want to build a railway, it is not a problem to mobilize 80,000 men."

"From Naratu to Alimali is only about 500 li, but from Alimali to Yangyi, it takes more than 1,500 li."

Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu were talking about the railway issue, and Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said:
"The 500 miles from Naratu to Alimali is not a problem. With 80,000 men, as long as we continue to manage the copper and iron mines in the valley well, and dig and smelt while we build, we should be able to complete the construction in four years."

"However, although there are many towns along the way from Alimali to Yangyi, the population is sparse. It seems that there are only about 30,000 to 40,000 people, and the male population is at most 20,000."

"Not all the men in the valley are willing to leave their hometown to build the railway. Besides, the valley cannot provide so many rails, so we still need to build more lines."

"From Gaochang to Tingzhou, then to Kunling, north to Yinshanzhou (Haijingli), and then to Alimatu, the distance is either 1,200 or 1,500 miles."

“With immigrants continuing to move to work, it will probably be completed in six years.”

Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di walked down the road while talking, while Hu Ji waited for a long time.

"Your Majesty, the court is conducting a civil service examination in Gaochang County, Xizhou Prefecture, and is recruiting 14,000 civil servants."

"The Timurid army withdrew from Kashgar, and the Earl of Ningyang recovered Kashgar and Khotan."

"Many officials have already arrived in various places in southern Xinjiang. Many officials and clerks have also arrived in the river valley. Look at the place names..."

Hu Ji asked carefully, and Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said:
"Yilibali was changed to Yili County, the Hezhong Valley was changed to Yili Valley, and Yili Prefecture was established."

"In addition, Alimali was renamed Gongyue County, Telehala was renamed Luzhou County, Nalatu was renamed Yingsu County, and the former Wusun territory in the south was renamed Wusun County and Zhaosu County was established."

Although Yili was named by Emperor Qianlong, there are actually records of "Yili" and "Yile" in the "Book of Han", so there is nothing wrong with using Yili.

"Alimatou, Tokmok, Yumuhan, and Atebashi set up Hezhong Prefecture and renamed it Hezhong, Suiye, Rehai, and Chigu."

"Yangyi does not change the place name and belongs to Hezhong Prefecture."

After taking a breath, Zhu Gaoxu continued:
"Kashgar was renamed Shule Prefecture, with Shule as its seat. Several suitable places were selected nearby to build the Yandu and Shuangqu counties."

"Yarkeng was changed to Shache Prefecture, with its seat in Shache, and three counties under it: Qinan, Puli, and Pishan."

"A government was set up in Khotan, with its seat in Khotan, and the four counties of Qila, Keyalie, Guilichang and Luobu were changed to Qule, Jingjue, Qiemo and Ruoqiang."

In just a few words, Zhu Gaoxu changed the names of all cities except Yangyi City, basically restoring them to the names of the Han and Tang dynasties.

Of course, there are also places that were not recorded during the Han and Tang Dynasties, so Zhu Gaoxu could only name them based on rivers and terrain, or the fate of later generations.

After he finished naming, he also said to Hu Ji: "Set the place where Zhu Yong arrived as Jinshan Prefecture and choose a place to set up a county."

The three military governorates, twelve prefectures and forty-two counties in the Western Regions formed the basic base for the Han people in the Western Regions in the future.

Assuming that each county has a minimum population of 30,000, the three military prefectures in the Western Regions would require a population of at least 1.2 million.

If it were to continue in a nomadic way, the Western Regions would naturally not be able to sustain a population of 1.2 million people.

However, with farming methods and the transformation of the environment and nature, and with the current industrial strength of the Ming Dynasty, it would not be a problem to revitalize the Western Regions and feed four million people.

The Ili River Valley alone is enough to cultivate nearly 10 million acres of arable land. Even if the yield per acre is only 9 dou, it can feed 2 million people.

Taking into account the arable land in southern Xinjiang, feeding four million people is not a problem.

The problem was where Zhu Gaoxu could find people to reclaim these lands.

"Although there are many good places in the Western Region, it is a fact that there is a shortage of people. What are you going to do?"

Zhu Di also saw the problem in the Western Regions, and Zhu Gaoxu nodded when he heard this:
"I told Grandpa back then that the guard system would not be abolished, but would be retained as the territory was expanded."

"Indochina has a large population and does not need guards, but the north is vast and sparsely populated, so a large population will be needed after it is incorporated into the territory."

"I plan to migrate people from Lianghuai, Qi and Lu to the Western Regions. Even if the people scold me, I will bear the bad reputation."

Zhu Gaoxu's eyes remained the same as usual, but just this one sentence determined the direction of tens or even millions of people.

Zhu Di looked at him, not knowing what to say.

At this time, Liu Mian rode up, dismounted and said, "Your Majesty, Shahru and Ulugh Beg want to see you."

"Let them go to the military camp, we'll go there now." After Zhu Gaoxu said this, he looked at Zhu Di, and when he saw him nod, he signaled Hu Ji to lead the horse over.

Soon, the father and son mounted their horses and headed towards the military camp.

At the same time, Liu Mian ordered people to bring Shahru and Ulugh Beg into the city and rush towards the military camp.

At this moment, outside Yangyi City was a camp of thousands of cavalry and infantry. They were required to line up outside the west city gate in distinctive armor, and the team was as long as a mile.

Facing Shah Rukh, Ulugh Beg and more than a hundred Timur's cavalry and infantry who were riding forward on horseback, some of them looked at them with curiosity, some with contempt, and some did not even observe them.

Although matchlock guns are considered "high-tech" products in other parts of the world, for the Ming army, they have been obsolete weapons for many years.

The Ming army was able to rush over and kill more than a hundred cavalrymen carrying muskets before they could even fire.

On horseback, Shah Rukh looked at the Ming soldiers carrying flintlock rifles, and then he realized how ridiculous his behavior was.

While he was still feeling proud of his 20,000-strong army of matchlock shooters, the Ming Dynasty already had hundreds of thousands of soldiers using "self-generated muskets".

At this moment, Shah Rukh finally understood how huge an impact a centralized country like the Ming Dynasty would have on the surrounding areas once it was formed.

The Ming Dynasty is alive, and they are afraid...

If Ming dies, that will crush them...

This is the current situation they are facing. The military force in a single region is enough to sweep across one or more countries.

The Northern Army Governor's Office has more than 100,000 troops, the Western Army Governor's Office has more than 100,000 troops, the Southern Army Governor's Office has more than 200,000 troops, the Eastern Army Governor's Office has more than 100,000 troops, and the Navy Governor's Office has nearly 100,000 troops.

Any governorate could destroy the Timurid Empire, especially the naval governorate.

If civil strife broke out in the Ming Dynasty, all vassal states under the entire vassal system would probably be affected and even destroyed.

In comparison, although they felt a lot of pressure facing a single Ming Dynasty, at least they had a certain strategic determination. It was not that they could attack anyone they wanted, but they would evaluate whether it was worth it before deciding to use military force.

Just like now, if Zhu Gaoxu insisted on destroying the Timurid Empire, he would naturally have the power to do so.

However, the consequence was the mobilization of millions of civilians from Gansu and Shaanxi in the northwest, and the expenditure of tens of millions of strings of cash in military expenditures to launch an expedition by sea and land to the Timurid Empire.

In the end, the Ming Dynasty might suffer an economic recession, but what would be left for the Timurid Empire would definitely be the destruction of the country.

Thinking of all this, Shah Rukh admired Zhu Gaoxu instead.

If he had such a vast empire, he would have probably started wars on all sides.

The strategic fortitude of Emperor Hongxi far exceeds that of most emperors in the history of the East and the West.

Of course, his strategic determination also means that if he does not act, nothing will happen, but if he acts, the country will be destroyed.

You have to be extremely careful when dealing with a country ruled by such a person...

Pass through the Ming army camp outside the city, walk into the corridor of the west gate of Yangyi City, and come to the clean road.

Ulugh Beg couldn't help but sigh at the Han people's means of transforming the environment. It was clear that a month ago, Yangyi City was still in great ruins.

However, more than a month later, the entire Yangyi City has been completely renovated, as if it had just been built.

With such infrastructure strength, making an enemy of them would definitely be the stupidest choice.

However, Ulugh Beg knew very well that Timurid had no choice, because the Ming Dynasty would not let such a huge country like Timurid go.

Amid his anxiety, Liu Mian led them through the camp gate. The two men followed Liu Mian to dismount, and their guards were left outside the camp.

In the military camp, as in the last time, thousands of cavalrymen were stationed on the left and right, leaving a wide passage for them to go to the newly renovated government office in front. Wulu Beg followed his father and Liu Mian to dismount and walked forward. Soon they walked up the thirty-odd steps and entered the government office.

It is called a government office, but in fact it is just a spacious courtyard.

Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di sat in the main seats in the main hall. Without Ulugh Beg's introduction, Shah Rukh could guess who was Zhu Di and who was Zhu Gaoxu.

"I, Shaharu, a lowly official, pay my respects to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Long live His Majesty..."

Shahru chanted the ceremony in broken Mandarin, but he did not kneel down and kowtow three times. He just knelt on one knee on the ground and clasped his hands in salute.

Zhu Gaoxu did not force him to kneel down. After all, kneeling did not mean anything. It was enough that he could come here after knowing his request.

Even if he did not kneel down, rumors would spread in the river in the future that he had knelt down and kowtowed to himself.

"Putting oneself on a seat"

"Thank you, Your Majesty..."

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Shah Rukh. Although he was a descendant of the Mongols, in fact the Mongols in Hezhong had already been Turkified.

Therefore, although Shah Rukh's appearance is said to be Mongol, he actually looks more like a Central Asian, with a high nose and deep eyes.

Seeing him and Wulugbeg sitting down, Zhu Gaoxu spoke:

"Your father wanted to lead an expedition to the Celestial Empire in his early years, but he failed. You succeeded instead."

When Zhu Gaoxu said this, Zhu Di became a little interested. After all, he was still waiting with great interest for Timur to disrupt the situation in Mobei.

It’s a pity that this guy died of illness before he reached the Western Regions, and I was unable to fight him.

If Timur and the Ming Dynasty had fought at that time, even if it was just a small-scale conflict, the two sides would have been evenly matched.

After all, there are few people in the northwest of the Ming Dynasty, and Timur has even fewer people. The battle is not about the number of soldiers on the battlefield, but about who can hold up the logistics.

If Timur conquered the Western Regions, the two sides might really clash in Hami and Suzhou.

It’s a pity that he failed, but there is no if in history.

"I have no intention of offending His Majesty the Emperor. I just want to send troops to help His Majesty the Emperor."

"As for the matter with the Yilibali group, that is purely a rumor. I have no intention of accepting them."

At this point, it is naturally impossible for Shahru to admit what he had done.

"Your Majesty, this is a gift my father brought to celebrate your victory over the rebellious Chagatai. I hope you like it."

Ulugh Beg spoke at the right time and handed over a list of gifts.

Hu Ji stepped forward to take it, walked back and handed it to Zhu Gaoxu with both hands. Zhu Gaoxu took it and took a look at it. The content was very rich.

Gold and silver worth more than 100,000 strings of cash, as well as 10,000 oxen and 50,000 sheep.

Just talking about the value, it is probably no less than 300,000 strings of cash.

However, Zhu Gaoxu did not accept it. Instead, he put the gift list aside and said, "The Celestial Empire and I do not covet your gold, silver, and herds."

"I have seen your intentions. Gifts should be exchanged. You can take the gold and silver back, and the herd can stay."

"In a little while, officials will give you gifts in return. You can take them with you."

The Ming Dynasty had no shortage of hundreds of thousands of strings of gold and silver, but tens of thousands of oxen and fifty thousand sheep were indeed what the Western Regions lacked at the time.

The cattle in the Ili River Valley need to be domesticated before they can be used for farming. If these 10,000 oxen are used properly, they can reclaim tens of thousands of acres of arable land every year, which is a considerable fortune.

"Yes……"

Shah Rukh and Ulugh Beg breathed a sigh of relief because they sensed a change in Zhu Gaoxu's attitude, as his tone softened.

In fact, on their way here, they had already learned that Zheng He had led 20,000 navy troops to land in Hormuz.

Obviously, if war really broke out in the north, Zheng He would probably repeat his heroic deeds when he fought in Persia.

Therefore, the most urgent thing they need to do now is to obtain forgiveness from Zhu Gaoxu and the Ming Dynasty.

When they needed forgiveness from the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Gaoxu's plan had already achieved its goal.

"Serve the meal."

Zhu Gaoxu signaled to Hu Ji, who nodded and sent someone to serve the meal.

Although there are few fresh vegetables in the river in winter, there are still plenty of wild animals and a lot of food to cook.

During the banquet, Zhu Gaoxu held up his wine glass and said frankly:
"Now that the imperial court has conquered the Western Regions, it must govern them well. In the future, you and Yue Jibie can come to Yangyi City for trade. The imperial court will also build a railway to Yangyi City for your trade."

"Of course, it would take more than ten years to build this railway."

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu mentioned building a railway, Shah Rukh became nervous and said with a smile:

"Your Majesty, even without the railway, we can still go to the capital for trade."

Obviously, he did not want the Ming Dynasty to build a railway to his doorstep.

However, he just smiled and tried, and Zhu Gaoxu's face turned cold: "I am not discussing this matter with you."

For a moment, Shaharu became embarrassed and his face turned a little red.

Seeing this, Ulugh Beg immediately stood up and said with a smile: "Of course, Your Majesty can do whatever you want. My father is not dissatisfied with Your Majesty building a railway here, but wants to go to the capital to see the center of the world."

As he spoke, Wulug Beg walked out of his seat, came to the middle of the main hall, bowed to Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu and said:

"Your Majesty, His Majesty, when I returned to Hezhong last time, I specially learned the Persian Hu dance. I wonder if I can play it for Your Majesty."

Between his father's face and his own face, Ulugh Beg chose the former.

Originally, he prepared this dance to make Zhu Gaoxu forgive his father and prevent his father from kneeling.

He thought he was useless, but Zhu Gaoxu demonstrated to him through his actions what the king's mind is like, which is unpredictable.

"I have never seen the Persian dance. You can play it for me and the emperor to see."

"But there is no music here, so dancing alone is probably meaningless."

Zhu Gaoxu stroked his mustache and spoke with interest. At the same time, he asked Shaharu, "Shaharu, can you play any musical instrument?"

"I... can play the tar, but I don't have it with me."

Shah Rukh looked embarrassed. He didn't expect that although he avoided kneeling and kowtowing, he could not avoid playing music to entertain the emperor.

"No problem. I have a pipa with me. Although it is different from the instrument you mentioned, it should be roughly similar. You can adapt to it."

"Hu Ji, bring me my pipa."

Zhu Gaoxu signaled to Hu Ji, who immediately left and soon returned with a pipa.

He handed the pipa to Shaharu. Shaharu didn't want to play it at first, but facing Zhu Gaoxu's sharp eyes with a smile, he finally put his hands on the strings.

He tried a few times, and finally looked at Ulugh Beg with a forced smile.

Ulugh Beg had been smiling fakely, but when he saw his father looking at him with a helpless look, he couldn't help but feel a lump in his throat.

However, as Shah Rukh played the pipa, Ulugh Beg still jumped flexibly in the main hall.

To be honest, Zhu Gaoxu was not interested in watching a fat man in his forties dancing. His only interest was in testing the endurance of Shah Rukh and Ulugh Beg.

The fact is, both father and son have good endurance. As the ruler and crown prince of a country, they can actually play and dance in public. Without a certain level of endurance, it would be impossible to do this.

The combination of brisk Persian music and Ulugh Beg's Hu dance is not greasy but rather quite entertaining.

Zhu Gaoxu stroked his beard and watched the whole process. At the end, he took the initiative to applaud and said, "You dance well. If you were not the crown prince, I would really like to take you to Beijing and watch you dance in my spare time."

His words were somewhat humiliating, but Ulugh Beg remained unangry. Instead, he smiled and said:

"It is my honor to play for your majesty."

"If I were not worried about the people in the river, I would definitely be happy to do so."

"After all, the people of Hezhong are also your Majesty's subjects. Only by governing them well can I let the world know that the emperor's grace is spread all over the nine provinces."

Ulugh Beg had learned Confucianism quite well, and he even knew the words like "Jiuzhou Wanfang" clearly.

After seeing the endurance of the father and son, Zhu Gaoxu was completely relieved.

Given their personalities, unless they have the strength to overturn the table, they will obediently submit until the last moment.

Of course, they might be preparing for war in secret, but what they are preparing for is not offense, but defense.

When they started to defend, it meant that Zhu Gaoxu had achieved his goal.

Because of this, Zhu Gaoxu never made things difficult for them afterwards. He just toasted them a few times and then left the main hall on the pretext of having something to do.

Upon seeing this, Shah Rukh and Ulugh Beg soon asked for their resignation from Zhu Di. Zhu Di naturally approved their departure and asked Liu Mian to follow and give them gifts in return.

After the banquet was over, Zhu Di walked to the backyard of the yamen and saw Zhu Gaoxu sitting in the study drinking tea.

"These two are quite patient. They can endure even when you humiliate them like this."

Zhu Di walked in, stroking his beard, and Zhu Gaoxu smiled and said, "It's best if they can be patient. The longer they can be patient, the more chances the court will have of winning."

"That's true, but we still have to be careful." Zhu Di sat down next to Zhu Gaoxu, thinking of the scene of Shahru playing music and Ulugh Beg dancing, and couldn't help but continue to laugh:

"This scene is similar to the Tang Emperor's performance of Jie Li's dance and music."

Zhu Di was grinning from ear to ear, and Zhu Gaoxu also smiled when he heard it: "If you like, next time when he comes to pay tribute, let him dance a song for you alone."

"Hmm?" Zhu Di put away his smile and looked at Zhu Gaoxu who was grinning. Finally, both father and son suddenly laughed out loud.

The laughter spread out of the study, and along with it, Shahru and Ulugh Beg's embarrassment spread...

(End of this chapter)