The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 475: A Man Without Faith Cannot Stand

The envoy sent by Timur was his son Shah Rukh, who could be considered the most outstanding of Timur's descendants.

He is proficient in military, administration and literature.

In the past two years, Timur pretended to be sick, and he has always been at the forefront, and his political achievements have been outstanding.

Timur sent him as an envoy to the State of Qin, which shows how much he valued Zhu Chong.

Zhu Chong was waiting for Timur's envoys, naturally wanting to take advantage of the situation.

It's not that he wants money or to ask Timur to cede land.

We are not fools and no one will agree to such a request.

After meeting the envoys, he expressed anger:

"Back then, Timur took advantage of my unstable position and sent troops to attack me..."

"If I don't take revenge, how can I get rid of the hatred in my heart?"

Shah Rukh believed Zhu Chong's anger.

In recent years, they have also inquired about Zhu Chong's character, and found that he is really extremely cruel.

During the Ming Dynasty, he killed people in various ways and even angered the Emperor Zhu Biao to the point of having a seizure.

If such a person is bullied, he will definitely retaliate.

But Shah Rukh did not give up, which is why Timur sent him.

Along the way, he was also thinking about how to convince Zhu Chong.

At this time, hearing Zhu Chong's words of revenge, he explained:

"Everyone had different views on what happened back then, and my father had no choice but to send troops."

"But it was indeed us who started this incident, and I am willing to apologize for this."

Zhu Chong sneered: "Apologize? If an apology is useful, what do I need these hundreds of thousands of troops for?"

"Go back and tell Timur to wash his neck and wait for me."

"I will take his head in this battle."

Shaharu suddenly shook his head and said in disappointment: "A wise monarch will not be controlled by hatred and do irrational things."

"I have always believed that the King of Qin is an illustrious ruler, so when my father sent an envoy this time, I volunteered to come."

"Just to catch a glimpse of the heroes of the Central Plains."

"Seeing you today... is just like the old saying in the Central Plains: Hearing about you is worse than meeting you in person."

Zhu Chong laughed in anger: "How dare you! Do you really think that I won't kill you just because you are a messenger?"

Shaharu said fearlessly: "Many people in my country think that this trip will not gain anything, so why bother?"

"My father was different. Although he was an enemy, he had great respect for the King of Qin."

"He believed that with the wisdom of the King of Qin, he would be able to see who the real enemy was."

"So my father sent me to meet the King of Qin despite everyone's opposition."

"It's just... I'm afraid my father will be disappointed."

Zhu Chong seemed to have not expected him to say this, and his anger subsided a lot, but he still said disdainfully:

"The real enemy? You're not talking about Lithuania, are you?"

"I admit that Vytautas has done a lot, but with his strength, he can't do anything to me."

Shahru said: "Vytautas alone is no match for the King of Qin."

"But there is another person behind him, King Jagiełło of Poland, whose ability is even greater than that of Vytautas."

"Poland and Lithuania have formed a federation. The two countries have joined forces and should not be underestimated."

"The most worrying thing is that behind them stand the Western Christian nations."

"The Christian nations in the far west have been coveting the lands in the east and have been moving eastward for hundreds of years."

"Currently, the Christian army's expedition to the East has been blocked by the Ottoman Empire and the Golden Horde."

"Totumishi's collusion with Lithuania is tantamount to seeking the skin of a tiger."

“Although I don’t know exactly what kind of agreement they signed.”

"But we can boldly speculate that Lithuania must have made territorial demands and asked the Golden Horde to cede the southern steppes."

"If the agreement is completed, it will be equivalent to opening a road to Anxi for the Christian countries."

"Then the Qin State will face the invasion of the Christian coalition forces."

Directly north of the Qin State was the southwestern grassland of the Golden Horde.

Although there are many small forces living between the two countries, they are not really bordering each other.

But when the real war breaks out, these small forces will not be able to serve as a buffer at all.

If Lithuania really took over the southern steppes of the Golden Horde, its troops would go straight to the northern part of Qin.

On the contrary, the Timurid Empire, because it is further to the east, will not face the Lithuanian army directly.

If what Shah Rukh said really happened, Qin would become a barrier for Timurid Empire and help them resist the attack of the Christian world.

That would be too dramatic.

After analyzing the situation, Shaharu said sincerely:
"I know the King of Qin is brave and not afraid of any powerful enemy."

"However, based on the previous performance of the Christian nations, this war may last for hundreds of years."

"I think the Qin State doesn't want to get involved in such a long tug-of-war, right?"

Zhu Chong seemed to be persuaded and fell into deep thought.

Shaharu was delighted and continued, "The Ming Dynasty regarded Christianity as a cult and completely eliminated Christianity."

"As a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, the Qin State also regards Christianity as a cult..."

"The dispute between the King of Qin and my father is just a dispute over some interests. The real incompatibility with the Christian nations is ours."

"I believe the King of Qin can tell which is more important."

Zhu Chong looked Shaharu up and down and said, "Yes, I have always heard that you are a talented person. Today I see that you are indeed talented."

"But you think it's too naive of you to expect me to give up such a great opportunity for revenge just based on these few words."

"I could have defeated you first, and then joined forces with Tokhtamysh to defeat Lithuania."

"I believe that Tuotuo Mishi does not want to be branded as someone who has lost sovereignty and humiliated the country."

Shahru was overjoyed. Zhu Chong's words meant that he had been persuaded and now he just wanted some benefits.

As long as we can talk, the rest will be easy.

So the two sides began to negotiate and finally signed a non-aggression pact.

The price Timur had to pay was to give up his sovereignty over the Golden Horde and not to prevent or interfere in the relations between Qin and the Golden Horde.

In fact, everyone knows that the effectiveness of this covenant is not even as good as toilet paper.

However, both parties were very satisfied.

In Timur's view, the so-called giving up of sovereignty over the Golden Horde was just verbal talk.

After Tokhtamysh was defeated, Khugurud would inevitably continue to be in power. He was very loyal to Timur.

By that time, if Khugrut takes the initiative to regard itself as a vassal, can our Timurid Empire still forcibly shut it out?

Zhu Chong naturally understood this logic. The purpose of his proposing this condition was to win over those who opposed Timur.

The Golden Horde was also a powerful country, and many people did not want to be someone else's younger brother.

What's more, the war with Timur had lasted for decades, and the hatred between the two sides was extremely deep.

Otherwise, Tutu Mishi would not have been able to restore the monarchy so easily.

Now that Timur has voluntarily given up his suzerainty, it will be even more difficult to control those people through soft power.

If Qin were to cause discord again, the Golden Horde would fall into civil strife.

When the three kingdoms of Qin, Jin and Yan come to hunt Timur in the future, the Golden Horde will be unable to send troops to help.

After dealing with Timur, the Golden Horde would be nothing more than a piece of cake.

As for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, it is indeed quite troublesome.

However, Zhu Chong had already arranged an enemy for them.

Even if they broke through the blockade of the Golden Horde, they had to defeat this enemy first.

After sending Shah Rukh away, he immediately found a man, Midr ibn Saladin.

A Kurd.

The key is that he is a descendant of Saladin.

Yes, it was the one who founded the Ayyubid dynasty, conquered Jerusalem, and was the most powerful enemy of the Crusaders:
Saladin ibn Ayyubid.

However, it is difficult to say what Saladin's ethnic identity was, and perhaps he did not consider himself a Kurd at all.

After all, at that time Kurds was just a general concept, a general term for people living in the Kurdistan region.

There is no unified ethnic identity among them.

Not to mention the common ethnic knowledge, even their living habits and languages ​​are completely different.

For example, the difference between their dialects is about the same as that between English and French.

It was not until the modern concept of nation was formed that they were forced by imperialism to form the concept of nation.

Therefore, after Saladin established the Ayyubid Dynasty, he did not give any preferential treatment to the Kurds.

This also leads to the fact that Saladin, who enjoys a very high reputation in the world, is not so popular among the Kurdish community.

Especially after the concept of nation was invented by the West, many people regarded them as national traitors.

Of course, there is no concept of nation yet, and the Kurds have not yet formed a collective ethnic identity.

Therefore, they still respect Saladin, the Islamic hero.

As a descendant of Saladin, Midr had many followers, and his tribe numbered 130,000.

At first they took refuge in the Aries Kingdom, and later became a vassal of the Qin Kingdom.

Then they encountered a completely different civilization, one that was profound, open, kind, and inclusive.

The Qin State's benevolent policies made them almost think that this was the legendary paradise.

Midler, in particular, directly swore allegiance to Zhu Chong, which was a true knight's oath.

They then formed an army of 5,000 people to assist the Qin State in maintaining order in Mosul (now the Mosul area of ​​Iraq).

The force that Zhu Chong wants to support is Midler.

Midler rushed to the temporary capital to ask for battle only after he learned that Qin was going to attack Timur.

The first thing he said when he saw Zhu Chong was: "Your Majesty, please allow me to be your vanguard."

"I will make Timur pay for his actions with blood."

Zhu Chong patted his shoulder and said with great satisfaction:
"Midler, I've seen your performance, and I have no doubt about your loyalty."

"We Chinese have a saying that merits must be rewarded and faults must be punished."

"I make a promise to you here. Within two years, I will support you in building your own country in Georgia and Armenia."

Midler excitedly knelt down and kissed Zhu Chong's shoes:
"My respected king, Midler swears that my family will always be loyal to your family."

Zhu Chong was very satisfied with his oath, which was an oath between family members, not an oath to the country.

The difference is huge.

The key point is that Midler is the type of person who helps count the money after being sold.

Of course, it is a bit of an exaggeration to say that Zhu Chong was trying to trick him.

After all, the Qin State really wanted to help him build a country.

There is no free lunch in the world. If you want to establish a country, you have to pay some price.

To the north of Armenia and Georgia is the southern region of the Golden Horde.

It is also a place that Lithuania has always coveted. If Midler establishes a country here, it can become the defense line of the Qin State here.

Moreover, both places are currently in a state of chaos.

Georgia has never established a strong power. Even when it was occupied by other empires, it existed as a marginal area.

Armenia has established many countries.

Thirty years ago, there existed a country called Lubini on this land.

The Lubini Kingdom was a fence-sitter, trying to please the Mongols on the one hand and providing assistance to the Crusaders on the other.

Later, the Mongolian forces withdrew from Anxi, and in order to completely stop the invasion of the Crusaders, the Arabs destroyed the Lubini Dynasty.

There has been chaos here since then.

In fact, Qin's control over this area was very weak.

But Qin was a powerful country, and with the support of a powerful country, Midler was confident that he could conquer it.

What's more, as a descendant of Saladin, he still has a certain appeal.

After helping Midler up, Zhu Chong said sternly, "Now that things have come to this, I will not hide it from you. I am gathering the army this time not to attack Timur."

"Just now, I signed a non-aggression agreement with Shahru."

Midler asked in confusion, "Then why are you gathering an army?"

Zhu Chong unfolded the map and slapped the Anxi Plateau:
“My goal is here.”

Midler was puzzled at first, then suddenly realized and said:
"I understand. Before two tigers fight, they will first kill the surrounding jackals to prevent them from taking advantage of them."

"Your Majesty wants to take advantage of Timur's lack of time to destroy the Black Sheep Kingdom and the Muzaffar Kingdom and resolve his worries."

“It can also expand our own strength.”

Zhu Chong said: "You only guessed one of the reasons correctly. Another reason is to fulfill the promise made to the Persians."

Hearing this, Midler was shocked and said, "My king, are you really going to give up the land of Sham as agreed?"

Zhu Chong said sternly: "We Chinese people value credibility the most. We must fulfill our promises to our enemies, let alone our promises to our allies."

"Once we take over the Anxi Plateau, the Qin will move away and give the Sham region to the Persians."

Midler said with admiration: "Your Majesty is as good as his word. Midler admires you so much."

"The Chinese civilization is truly the best civilization I have ever seen."

"I will let all my descendants learn Chinese culture."

He did not persuade Zhu Chong to go back on his word; instead, he was very happy to see this happen.

Who doesn’t want to follow a great leader who keeps his promises?
At the same time, he no longer had any doubt about Zhu Chong's promise to help him build a country.

"My king, please allow us to act as the vanguard. We will definitely take off Kara Yusuf's head for you."

Zhu Chong smiled and said, "I know your intentions, but it's too late."

"We must strike Kara Yusuf before he can react."

“This will reduce casualties.”

"Time is of the essence. I have ordered the army to launch an attack."

"The army should have entered the Black Sheep Country by now."

After signing a peace agreement with Shah Rukh, if Qin's army continued to mobilize frequently, even a fool would know that there was a problem.

Therefore, Zhu Chong had already made preparations.

On the one hand, he used the negotiations with Shah Rukh to attract the attention of all parties.

On the one hand, he secretly mobilized troops to launch a surprise attack on the Black Sheep Kingdom.

The army was not large, with only about 6,000 infantry and cavalry combined, and was led by Xu Yingxu himself.

Six thousand people may not seem like a lot, but it is enough.

The Black Sheep Kingdom in Anxi is indeed a big country.

But this is only applicable to Anxi.

In fact, it only has a population of 500,000 to 600,000 and a standing army of more than 40,000.

These troops had to garrison different places separately, which further dispersed their forces.

Kara Yusuf was most wary of Qin and Timur, and deployed heavy troops in these two directions.

But the so-called heavy troops are only about ten thousand people.

What Xu Yingxu had to do was to break through the defense line of this army of 10,000 people.

For the elite troops of Qin, 6,000 men were enough.

I even overestimate the Black Sheep Country’s army.

Of course, Zhu Chong could not expect these 6,000 people to destroy the country. Behind them, tens of thousands of troops were ready to go and could attack at any time.

The situation in the Black Sheep Kingdom is similar to what Zhu Chong predicted.

Kara Yusuf was indeed very smart, and was also on guard against Qin's attempts to make a feint to the east and attack in the west.

However, in their opinion, even if Qin wanted to attack them, it would have to wait until after talking with Shah Rukh.

If the talks between the two sides fail, Qin will not dare to attack them.

The reason is very simple. If their talks fail, Timur will definitely come to the Black Sheep Kingdom to contain the Qin State.

By then it will be the Black Sheep Country's turn to take the initiative.

Even if the two sides reached an agreement, Shah Rukh would definitely publicize the matter.

It won’t be too late for the Black Sheep Kingdom to take strict precautions by then.

Therefore, their attention was drawn to this negotiation.

They never expected that the Qin State would launch a surprise attack on them during the negotiations.

The unsuspecting Black Sheep defenders were thrown into chaos by the Qin army's surprise attack.

The demolition team easily approached the city wall.

"coax……"

The city defense that the Black Sheep Kingdom had spent countless resources and years to build was destroyed just like that.

The army poured in through the gap created by the explosion, and the defense line was lost.

Small countries have no strategic depth, and the first line of defense is almost the last line of defense.

Once breached, it becomes very difficult to organize effective resistance.

The Qin army of 50,000 followed and occupied the entire Black Sheep Kingdom in less than a month.

Kara Yusuf wanted to flee to Egypt by boat, but the Qin navy had blocked Anxi Bay, cutting off this route.

He wanted to seek refuge in the Muzaffar Empire, but was turned away.

He wanted to seek refuge with Timur, but found that his retreat was blocked by the Qin army. He had no choice but to surrender to Qin.

Judging from the tolerance Zhu Chong has shown in the past, there is a high probability that he will not do anything to him.

He had even calculated how to pretend to be nice and then find an opportunity to escape and restore his country.

However, this time he miscalculated.

Zhu Chong not only executed him, but also killed more than 200,000 young and old people in the Black Sheep Kingdom, leaving only women and children.

All the Judases who had been taken in by the Black Sheep Kingdom were executed regardless of gender, age or status.

Such cruel means effectively deterred the surrounding forces, including the tribes that surrendered to Qin.

The Qin State was not only kind, but also cruel to its enemies.

It was at this time that the pro-Ming faction led by Azasa launched a military coup and surrounded the headquarters of the Safavid Order.

After arresting the sect's leader Khawaja Ali, they attacked everywhere and arrested most of the sect's high-ranking officials.

Afterwards, they executed hundreds of Khawaja's core members and exiled thousands more.

The power of the Safavid Order in the Sham region was disintegrated, and the Azasa faction became the sole leader of Persia.

After that, they cooperated more actively with Qin's actions.

He persuaded all ethnic groups to obey Qin's rule and provided all possible support to Qin in rebuilding the Anxi Plateau.

After learning that Zhu Chong intended to destroy the Muzaffar Kingdom and complete the unification of the plateau.

They also took the lead in forming a coalition force of 100,000 people and launched an attack on the Muzaffar State.

Shah Mansur, the ruler of Muzaffar, knew that he could not escape, so he went to the Qin camp alone to negotiate with Zhu Chong.

The requirement is very simple: do not massacre civilians.

Zhu Chong agreed to his request in full and also said:
"You are descendants of the Mongols, and we Han people are brothers. How can brothers fight against each other?"

Not only did he not kill any innocent person, he even did not kill Shah Mansur, but he also appointed him to the Prime Minister's Office and made him Li Fang's assistant.

This move completely won over the people of Muzaffar.

Shah Mansur also knew that his country was weak and would be annexed sooner or later.

Now this result is undoubtedly the best, and it also makes people more loyal to Zhu Chong and the Qin State.

Originally in history, this hero who fought against Timur head-on and even almost killed Timur was recruited by Zhu Chong.

Become the backbone of the Qin State.

Some people have also asked why the Black Sheep Kingdom and the Muzaffar Kingdom should be treated differently?

Zhu Chong’s answer is:

The Black Sheep Kingdom sold my information to Timur, and later took in Judah, so I wanted to destroy their tribe.

Although the Muzaffar State is weak, it has been able to survive on its own, and that is why it has been forgiven by me.

These words were well-reasoned and made the tribes more convinced.

Then, Judah's living space among various forces became increasingly narrow.

After all, no one would offend Qin for them.

It’s a long story to explain all this, but in fact it happened in just three or four months.

The Qin State officially occupied the Anxi Plateau, and its territory spanned the Anxi Plateau and the Sham region.

The sphere of influence includes the Gulf of Ansi, the Arabian Peninsula, as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and other regions.

However, at this time, Zhu Chong announced that the Qin State would move to the Anxi Plateau and officially establish the country there.

The Sham region was divided into several parts, most of which were given to the Persians to restore their country.

The agreement between Qin and the Persians had long since spread throughout Anxi, but almost no one believed it.

Because of this incident, the Qin State was criticized a lot.

Of course, the people who were ridiculed the most were the Persians. You bunch of idiots, you even believe such a lie?

It is better for you to believe that I am Allah.

However, at this moment, everyone was shocked into silence.

The State of Qin actually kept its promise.

What started out as a joke has turned into a story that can be sung for thousands of years.

Zhu Chong's prestige in Anxi also reached a new high.

Who would not be convinced by a person who keeps his promises like this?
So much so that for a long time afterwards, the various forces in Anxi would ask Qin to be a witness when signing agreements and mediating various conflicts.

Good reputation laid a solid foundation for Qin's subsequent actions.
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Naturally, Timur heard about Zhu Chong's behavior, and he remained silent for a long time.

In the end, he said nothing but intensified his attack on Tuotuo Mishi.

And at this moment, a piece of news came that made him even more restless.

Zhu Gang, the Prince of Jin in the Ming Dynasty, sent troops to the Western Regions to attack the Chagatai Khanate.

(End of this chapter)