Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 585 Postscript: Xuande (4)

"Tick-tick-tick-tick--"

In May of the 23rd year of Xuande, accompanied by the loud sound of charge horns echoing across the Hezhong area, the Ming army's offensive was unstoppable.

A flag with the word "朙" was planted on the top of the black sand cloth city wall, which also represented that the vast territory north of the "Amu Darya River" was completely recovered by the Ming army.

Twenty thousand Ming cavalry, seventy thousand auxiliary troops, and more than one hundred thousand civilian laborers began to camp outside the city of Heishabu, while Zhu Qiyue, the commander-in-chief, led more than five thousand people into the city of Heishabu.

"This name doesn't sound good, let's change it to Qi Weicheng."

Passing through the city gate corridor, Zhu Qiyue renamed the black sand cloth as Qiwei City of the Tang Dynasty in just a few words.

This is not just the end, it's just the beginning.

The people in Qi Wei City believe in Islam. The city is not big and there are only more than 30,000 people in the city.

Because of the war, there were less than 20,000 people in the city at that time, and a large number of men were drafted by Timur's army and died on the battlefield.

Zhu Qiyue went to a local governor's office, which was not very large, at most a courtyard with four entrances and exits covering an area of ​​two acres.

"I don't like these styles. They will be demolished and rebuilt in the future."

Zhu Qiyue sat in the former position of the Governor of Heishabu. While giving orders, he kept his eyes on the military newspaper in his hands.

That was a military report sent by Guo Deng in the north, and its content mainly talked about the battle between Guo Deng and Ulugh Beg.

Guo Deng apologized to Zhu Qiyue for failing to completely annihilate Ulugh Beg's 100,000 troops, but Zhu Qiyue did not find it strange.

The Ming army was engaged in a long expedition this time, and Guo Deng's troops were the first to reach a place more than 1,500 miles away from Yangyi City, where they encountered Ulugh Beg. After the two sides fought, Guo Deng led his troops to pursue them for more than 800 miles...

The total distance was more than 2,300 miles, and the remaining several hundred miles were deserted and uninhabited. It was difficult to even capture civilians. Naturally, Guo Deng could not completely wipe out Ulugh Beg's 100,000 troops.

Moreover, the military order he gave to Guo Deng was to take over the areas captured by Ulugh Beg and to pacify the Khanates of the Cumans, Nogai and others. If Guo Deng chased Ulugh Beg into Persian territory, it would be putting the cart before the horse.

"This Guo Deng killed more than 36,000 enemies, captured 130,000 civilians, and possessed 60,000 carts of treasures, jewelry, grain, and fodder, as well as more than 200,000 mules and horses. Yet he still came to me to apologize. Do you think he is showing off?"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Zhu Qiyue's slightly depressed words made the generals in the room laugh. Zhu Qiyue also smiled, and then slowly restrained himself and said:
"No need to apologize, but we have to remember some of what Guo Deng said."

Zhu Qiyue showed Guo Deng's military report and continued, "Guo Deng said that the soldiers of our dynasty are used to security battles. Often a few thousand people can fight very well, but more than ten thousand people are not so good. I think this is very correct."

"The imperial court is very powerful. For many years, it only needed to send out a few hundred or even a few thousand people to intimidate a country. If this continues, it will be difficult for generals in the army to have the opportunity to lead tens of thousands of troops into battle."

"I think you have all seen that although we were unstoppable along the way, we made many mistakes while coordinating tens of thousands of troops, more than 100,000 auxiliary troops and civilians."

"If Timur's strength was not far inferior to ours, the mistakes we made along the way would probably be enough for Timur to counterattack several times."

Zhu Qiyue pointed out the biggest problem facing the Ming army now, and this is also what Zhu Gaoxu was worried about in his book.

Zhu Gaoxu was very worried that the Ming army would gradually lose its ability to fight in groups due to advanced technology. Although there were few countries in the world that could engage in group combat with the Ming Dynasty, if the time really came for group combat in the future and the Ming army suffered losses due to its inability to fight in groups, this would be a very serious matter.

Zhu Qiyue remembered this incident clearly, so he brought it up.

"This time we will fight Timur, the battle won't be too short. We must first integrate Transoxiana, and then draw on civilians to continue the expedition to Persia."

"Take this opportunity to gain some experience. Mobilizing tens of thousands of civilians is not an easy task. Don't underestimate it!"

"Yes!" All the generals bowed one after another, and Zhu Qiyue also calmed down and focused his attention on the integration of Hezhong.

Hezhong is located in the hinterland of the Central and Western (Zhongzhou and Xizhou) continents. The mountains in the southeast block the warm and humid air currents from the Lesser Western Ocean and the Greater Ming Ocean, resulting in a continental climate of temperate desert and grassland in the region.

The region has little rain and is extremely dry, with rainfall even lower than that in the Western Regions. The population mainly relies on rivers and valleys within the region to feed.

The population of Hezhong, even at this time, was actually similar to that of Central Asia that Zhu Gaoxu faced in his previous life.

Zhu Gaoxu had already left behind perfect plans and means on how to take over Hezhong and how to govern Hezhong, and these plans and means were in Zhu Qiyue's mind.

After Ulugh Beg's disastrous defeat, the Ming army did not rush to cross the Amu Darya River to attack Afghanistan and Persia, but instead launched a large-scale investigation of all the people in Transoxiana.

This investigation took more than half a year, and during this time, Ulugh Beg, who had retreated back to the Persian region, began to reorganize his army and expanded the national army from 240,000 to 400,000.

A large number of military workshops began to serve it, and the matchlocks and cannons that had been accumulated by the Timurid Empire for many years were distributed.

While Ulugh Beg was preparing for a major war, Zhu Qiyue registered the people of Qi and expanded the Central Plains Railway from Yangyi City to Qiwei City and Say City in the north of the Caspian Sea.

Of course, the Ming army's westward expedition army was not just led by Zhu Qiyue, but more importantly by the two armies led by Guo Deng and Mao Zhong.

Facing the Khanate of Yuejibie, the two armies were unstoppable and they deliberately drove Yuejibie westward.

In order to escape, Yue Jibie's army had to abandon their herds and flee westward while looting. The Ming army drove them away and recruited the remaining herdsmen of the Khanate.

The process was slow, but the spoils were considerable.

Another million cattle and sheep were captured by the Ming army. While planning to build a city, the Ming army advanced westward. Sometimes, when the pursuit was too close, they deliberately stopped to build a city and reclaim some wasteland.

Under such alternating suppression, Yuejibie also got a chance to breathe and continued to annex the territories of the Khanate of Cumans, Nogai, Siberia, Kazan and others to the west.

The Ming army's northwest strategy was progressing steadily under the control of Zhu Qiyue, but the southwest strategy was not so smooth.

As summer begins, India begins to become hot and dry. Even during the low temperature period, the temperature in the Ganges Plain still exceeds 40 degrees.

The hot and humid climate made the Ming army unable to adapt to the climate. In May alone, more than 700 soldiers died from acclimatization rather than in combat.

You should know that the Ming army's 140,000 troops marched south, defeated the Three Kingdoms coalition forces many times in succession, beheaded nearly 70,000 people, and their own casualties were only more than 500.

The number of non-combat casualties in just one month exceeded the number of combat casualties on the front lines in several months.

In addition, although Bangkala could provide civilian laborers, the number of the Ming army's regular and auxiliary troops was too large, and Bangkala's population was unable to afford such a large-scale supply.

Therefore, with the arrival of summer, Mu Yi could only order the defenses to be fortified and the fields to be cleared, and everything that had been plundered from the captured land to be brought back to the rear.

In early June, the Ming army began to retreat and proposed peace talks to the three countries of Malava, Shuonapura and Ulishe.

Judging from normal thinking, the three countries should have happily agreed to the peace talks and continued to pay tribute to the Celestial Empire as vassal states and guard the borders for the Celestial Empire.

However, the three countries, which suffered huge losses, did not agree to peace talks. Instead, while delaying the peace talks, they launched attacks on the two Ming vassal states of Ci Ni and Balmani on the west coast.

Although the three kingdoms were no match for the Ming army, they were still a giant for the rest of India except Delhi and Ananda.

In early July, the two countries of Ci Ni and Balmani asked the Ceylon Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty for help. Mu Yi, who had just led his troops to withdraw to Rakhine, learned the news and petitioned the navy to rush to the aid of Ci Ni and Balmani. The army would have to wait until summer and autumn passed before launching an attack on the three countries.

When the news was reported back to Beijing, Zhu Zhanhe looked at the list of more than 1,700 Ming soldiers who died due to acclimatization, and decisively ordered the Nanyang and South China Sea fleets to rush to the aid of the two countries of Ci Ni.

At the same time, the native rebellion encountered by the Ming Dynasty in Dongzhou Xuanwei Office was also suppressed by King Song Zhu Zhanqi and Xuanwei Envoy Zhao Fu.

In August, the four fleets of Dongyang, Donghai, Damingyang and Beihai conducted military exercises in Beihai (Jinghai). Hu Yi put pressure on the Japanese ruler Ashikaga Yoshiyasu (the eldest son of Ashikaga Yoshitsugu) and ordered him to end the chaos in Kunlunzhou.

Ashikaga Yoshikazu could not bear the pressure and ordered his troops to go to Kunlun Continent.

In addition, feeling the pressure from the Ming Dynasty, the Siamese king Zheng Wu (given a surname) communicated with the Southeast Asian countries and decided to stop the chaos in Kunlun Island and withdraw 3,000 troops.

In October, Mu Yi felt the temperature dropping and began to lead his troops to continue the expedition to India to attack the three kingdoms.

However, as the war progressed to this point, the six ministries and six governments all sent officials to fight with the army.

After returning to Beijing, these officials immediately submitted a memorial arguing that the court should, after defeating the main forces of the three kingdoms' armies, support the three kingdoms of Bangla, Chini, and Balmani in a tug-of-war with the three kingdoms of Malwa, rather than continuing to waste manpower and resources fighting each other in India.

Such remarks were recognized by many officials in the temple.

India suffers from a harsh climate, a shortage of supplies, and inconvenient road transportation. Although the army has seized more than three million strings of cash worth of wealth in the past ten months of war, the military expenditure has far exceeded this amount.

The officials who felt that the losses outweighed the gains advised the emperor. Zhu Zhanhe believed that the vassal system of the Celestial Empire had been questioned by many vassal states, and the source of the doubts was these vassal states' distrust of the Ming's national and military power.

In order to demonstrate the national strength and military power, Zhu Zhanhe decided to continue to use military force against the Three Kingdoms to intimidate the remaining 72 vassal states.

After receiving the imperial order, Mu Yi continued to lead the army to the south to conquer the Three Kingdoms.

On the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, Nanzhong Commander Fang Ying and Jiaozhi Commander Zhu Yong led an army of 30,000 to fight against the 120,000 troops led by the Lord of Malava in the Leiwa Mountain area.

Prince of Zheng Zhu Zhantan and Prince of Han Zhu Qizhen led 4,000 cavalry guards of the royal palace to attack the flank of Malava's army, causing chaos in the army.

During the fierce battle, King of Han Zhu Qizhen was shot and fell off his horse, but fortunately he was wearing thick armor and did not die on the battlefield.

Xixiang Prince Zhu Qiyu led the guards of the Prince's Palace to rescue Zhu Qizhen and evacuate the battlefield. Fang Ying, Zhu Yong and Zhu Zhantan joined forces to encircle and annihilate Malava's 120,000-strong army, captured the Malava king alive, more than 47,000 heads of state, and more than 60,000 prisoners.

On the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, the Ming army arrived at the capital of Malava. Prince Malava opened the gates, surrendered, and declared himself a vassal again.

When the news reached Beijing, Zhu Zhanhe conferred the title of Marquis of Nanhe on Fang Ying and the title of Marquis of Funing on Zhu Yong.

The Palace of Prince of Han, the Palace of Prince of Zheng, and the Palace of Prince of Xixiang were rewarded with 500 pieces of Su brocade and 3,000 coins.

Amid the smoke of gunpowder in the southwest and the sound of firecrackers inside the Ming Dynasty, the 23rd year of Xuande quietly passed away, and the 24th year of Xuande came forward.

After Malava surrendered, Zhu Zhanhe ordered Malava's prince Moyan to ascend the throne to continue governing Malava, and dispatched civilians to transport supplies for the Ming army.

In February, Shi Heng and Shi Biao captured the capital of Zhonapuru, and Wang Xuan's grandson Wang Tingbi led his army to capture the capital of Ulishe. Thus, the rebellion of the three kingdoms in India was completely put down.

As the three kingdoms were pacified, the issues concerning Nunapur and Ulishe came to the fore.

Although Ulishe is close to the sea, most of the country is mountainous. Whether it is the palace, the six ministries or the six offices, most officials recommend deposing the current king and appointing the king's heir as the ruler to continue governing Ulishe.

Compared to Ulishe, Nunapur is not so easy to negotiate with.

The land occupied by Swampura is the fertile middle reaches of the Ganges Plain. The amount of cultivated land alone is as high as 40 million acres, and there are at least 200 million acres of land to be developed.

With such a fertile Ganges plain and a local population of nearly ten million, if the Ming Dynasty occupied Swampura, it could receive two million strings of rice and wheat every year in land tax alone.

In addition, if the Ming Dynasty obtains this land, it will also obtain a large granary that can transport grain to U-Tsang over a short distance.

For various considerations, many forces, whether it is the palaces in the temple, the six ministries or the six governments, do not want to give up this fertile land.

On the fifth day of April, after careful consideration, Zhu Zhanhe issued an edict to abolish the Zhonapura Kingdom and set up the Shannan Provincial Administration, Censorate, and Dusi to govern the area.

This news spread to the Hezhong region, and Zhu Qiyue only learned about it on April 24. "Stupid, now is not the time to capture the Indians!"

Upon learning the news that the Shannan Three Divisions were set up in the rear, Zhu Qiyue immediately paced back and forth in a hurry.

If the telegraph line had not yet been laid from Yangyi, he would probably have sent an urgent telegram back to Beijing by now.

"Shannan's arable land and population are both resources. Now many local factories with meager profits are in urgent need of relocation, and they are an excellent source of manpower."

"It is probably for this purpose that the group of people in the temple asked Your Majesty to set up the Shannan Sansi."

Wang Tao stood aside and analyzed the current situation for Zhu Qiyue, but Zhu Qiyue started to curse:
"A bunch of old barbarians, they instigated my father while I was away. When I return, I will make sure they know who is the master of this world!"

Zhu Qiyue was venting his anger, but Wang Tao said calmly: "Now that the three divisions have been established, the other fifteen countries in India will probably be panicked by this. What should we do?"

"Hmm..." Zhu Qiyue stroked his mustache, then slowly spoke:

"We must immediately conquer Persia and report the documents in the river. We must not move the factory to India. At the very least, we should move it to Anxi or Beiting."

"Why?" Wang Tao looked puzzled, and Zhu Qiyue explained:

“Although the imperial court connected U-Tsang to Shannan, these people simply don’t understand the terrain of U-Tsang.”

“They saw on the map that U-Tsang was right next to Shannan, but they didn’t know how difficult the road to U-Tsang was.”

"Although Shannan has a lot of arable land, the imperial court has to pass through the two vassal states of Rakhine and Bangkala to enter from the south."

"This is fine in times of peace, but if there is war, who can guarantee that the machines in these factories will not be looted and taken away by nearby vassal states?"

"These old savages deserve to die. Li Xian didn't even try to stop them. It turns out that there are only a few people who agree with me!"

As Zhu Qiyue spoke, he looked at the sand table in the main hall.

On the sand table were models of Transoxiana and Persia. Nearly one-third of them were currently flying the flags of the Ming army, and the remaining two-thirds were under the control of Ulugh Beg of the Timurid Empire.

There are rich mineral resources in the river. Based on the contents of the books left by his grandfather, Zhu Qiyue found large-scale coal mines, iron mines, manganese mines, copper mines, potassium salt and other mineral veins in the past six months. The wealth brought by these mineral veins alone far exceeds the more than 40 million acres of arable land in Shannan.

Moreover, as both were religiously ruled regions, Hezhong, with a population of less than five million, was easier for the Ming Dynasty to assimilate.

For this reason, Zhu Qiyue had to make Hezhong safe and then develop Hezhong to develop Anxi, Beiting and the Yili River Valley.

"Wang Tao, inform the three armies to march to Persia in the fall!"

There was a hint of sternness in Zhu Qiyue's eyes. Wang Tao was startled and bowed quickly in response.

Soon, the movement of troops in the river became frequent, and such movement of troops naturally could not be concealed from Ulugh Beg who had been watching.

Although the Ming army conquered the Transoxiana region, there were always conflicts in religion and belief between the Ming army and the local people, and many people sent messages to Ulugh Beg.

They were waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity for a decisive battle between the Ming army and Ulugh Beg.

They didn't have to wait too long for this opportunity...

On August 24, the 24th year of Xuande, Zhu Qiyue led 35,000 regular troops, 30,000 auxiliary troops, and 200,000 civilians on an expedition to Herat, the capital of Timur.

On this expedition route with a straight-line distance of more than a thousand miles, there are only a few small towns such as Amu and Malu.

For this reason, Ulugh Beg did not lead his army to meet the enemy, but instead deployed 50,000 troops in Kelden to guard against the Ming army of Hormuz. He led 200,000 troops to garrison Herat, and the remaining 150,000 were used to guard against the forces of Delhi, White Sheep, and Black Sheep.

The progress of the war did not exceed Ulugh Beg's expectations. Zhu Qiyue won victory after victory, and several small cities such as Amu and Malu were all captured. However, the population of these small cities had already been moved to Herat by Ulugh Beg, so Zhu Qiyue did not gain many civilian men.

As the army advanced further, their supply lines became stretched and the number of troops available for combat decreased.

When Zhu Qiyue led his army to capture the city of Kushka, 160 miles north of Herat, he only had 18,000 soldiers left for combat.

With the help of intelligence from the Western Factory, he knew clearly that Ulugh Beg had already raised an army of 200,000 in Herat.

Among these 200,000 troops, there were 50,000 cavalrymen alone, about 60,000 matchlock musket troops, 320 artillery pieces imitating the Ming Dynasty's "Yongle style" field artillery, and 20,000 artillerymen.

In addition, there were 90,000 improvised spear, sword and shield infantry.

Not only that, shortly after Zhu Qiyue arrived in Kushka, rebellions broke out in cities such as Samarkand in Transoxiana.

They launched a rebellion in the name of religion, and the army left in the river consisted of only 5,000 regular soldiers and 30,000 auxiliary soldiers.

Faced with the rebellion, they were like firefighters, suppressing it everywhere, and the Ming army's supply became unreliable.

Compared with them, Ulugh Beg relied on a population of more than 20 million in Persia, Afghanistan and other places to continuously maintain the supply of his own army.

The logistical gap between the two sides suddenly widened, and Zhu Qiyue did not act rashly and attack Herat, nor did he withdraw his troops to quell the rebellion in Transoxiana.

He also dispatched one guard from Anxi, Beiting and Hezhong respectively, and two guards from Gansu and Shaanxi.

Under his deployment, nearly 40,000 soldiers from the Seven Guards were transferred to Yangyi in less than a month, and then marched south from Yangyi.

On the third day of October, 40,000 soldiers and horses participated in the suppression of the rebellion in Hezhong. This rebellion caused serious losses to the population of Hezhong, with nearly one million people lost. More than 6,000 wealthy businessmen and nobles who launched the rebellion were executed, and their relatives and slaves were exiled to mines throughout Hezhong.

On the fifteenth day of the winter month, 40,000 troops arrived at the front line, and the Ming army's strength increased to more than 57,000 people, and Ulugh Beg's pressure suddenly increased.

At the same time, with the end of the war in Kunlun Continent, the Small Western Guard and the Ceylon Guard went north to support Hormuz, and the number of the Ming army in Hormuz increased to 15,000.

On the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, Qi Yun, deputy governor of the navy, commanded the Persian Guard, the Lesser Western Guard, and the Ceylon Guard to attack Kelden.

The news reached Herat. Without waiting for Ulugh Beg to react, Zhu Qiyue led an army of more than 57,000 people south to attack Herat.

To the north of Herat there is a mountain range that stretches between Herat and Kushka, and this is where Ulugh Beg was stationed.

Two hundred thousand troops were stationed in this mountain range, stretching for more than a hundred miles from west to east, and every pass was occupied, like a solid wall of steel.

When Zhu Qiyue led his troops to the foot of the mountain, he saw a mountain range ahead that stretched across the front of the army. Ulugh Beg had built multiple lines of defense in this mountain range, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

A large crowd stood behind the defense line, looking at the Ming army in the north from a few miles away.

"Uuuuuu——"

While Zhu Qiyue was observing the defense line, more than a thousand cavalrymen suddenly walked out from Timur's defense line.

If they were holding ordinary flags, Zhu Qiyue might have thought that they were simply coming to seek peace, but the flags they were holding were the royal banners representing Ulugh Beg.

"It seems that this Ulugh Beg wants to meet me."

Zhu Qiyue didn't care, and even smiled, not taking Ulugh Beg's attitude seriously.

"Your Highness, I will go for you."

Wang Tao was worried about Zhu Qiyue's safety, but Zhu Qiyue said cheerfully: "He leads more than a thousand cavalry, and I will also lead more than a thousand cavalry."

"If he makes any other move, I will take the lead in dealing with him."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Qiyue shook the reins and walked forward. Wang Tao became a little anxious when he saw this, but he still led more than a thousand cavalrymen to follow Zhu Qiyue forward.

In front of the two armies of more than 200,000 soldiers, the distance between Zhu Qiyue and Ulugh Beg was getting closer and closer.

When the two sides were less than a hundred steps apart, the cavalry on Ulugh Beg's side stopped, and Ulugh Beg led two cavalrymen forward, holding the royal banner.

Zhu Qiyue was more confident than him. He raised his hand to signal the Jilin Guards to stop, and then he went forward with only Wang Tao holding a large banner.

The two sides got closer and stopped when they were less than ten steps apart.

Wulugbeg had the same image as Zhu Qiyue, and he couldn't help but think of the scene of him dancing in front of his grandfather and great-grandfather.

He had never seen it, but he thought it must be very interesting.

"Your Highness, perhaps we can use this mountain range as the boundary. I can give the northern territory to the Celestial Empire as the price for mobilizing troops without authorization!"

The 71-year-old Ulugh Beg had a white beard and was wrapped in a black robe.

Compared to him, Zhu Qiyue was still relatively young, wearing a mandarin duck-patterned battle jacket and armor on the outside.

"Ulugh Beg, you should know that I came here not only for this place in the river!"

Zhu Qiyue had his own greed. He wanted to fight, but he also knew that governing the newly incorporated territories was time-consuming and laborious.

He was very worried that this would be his last battle, so he tried to destroy the Timurid Empire and take over the entire Transoxiana and Persia.

Of course, this also has very serious consequences. After all, Timurid Empire has 30 million people and a vast territory. Even though the Persian region is on the coast and the Transoxiana region is very close to the Transoxiana Railway, it is not so easy to govern.

Ulugh Beg was well aware of this, which is why he proposed ceding Transoxiana in exchange for peace.

In his opinion, if the people in front of him were Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, they would definitely agree to this approach, and then wait for the railway to reach the north bank of the Amu Darya before they would launch another attack on the Timurid Empire.

Unfortunately, he did not expect Zhu Qiyue to be so anxious.

Under the black robe, Ulugh Beg's expression was serious, but Zhu Qiyue had a big smile on his face, which showed the status of both parties.

"You are far inferior to Emperor Taizong Wen and Emperor Shizong Wu."

Wulugbeg spoke slowly, but Zhu Qiyue chuckled: "I am not as good as them, but I can destroy you."

"I heard about you and your father dancing and playing music for my grandfather and great grandfather in my early years. I was in Anxi fighting Yarkand at that time and didn't see it."

"I came this time because I wanted to see you and your son dance for me."

"Then let's meet on the battlefield!" Ulugh Beg turned his horse's head, but Zhu Qiyue watched him go away before turning his horse's head back.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of talking with Ulugh Beg just now, he used his eyes to see Ulugh Beg's arrangements in this mountain range.

It has to be said that Ulugh Beg really learned some of the essence of positional warfare from his grandfather.

But it doesn't matter, Persia will eventually be taken into my possession and become a piece of Ming territory...

(End of this chapter)