The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 478 Published
Under Chen Jingke's advice, the Ming army attached great importance to firearms and developed various uses for them.

Blasting down city walls is a basic skill.

If they reach the city, it basically means the city will be lost.

Of course, the main reason is the inequality of weapons.

If the defenders were replaced by the Ming army, the enemy would have entered hell once they approached the city wall.

Not to mention the traditional city defense equipment, the enhanced version of the thunder bomb was thrown down from the top of the city, which could explode a large area at a time.

A large-caliber musket that fires all kinds of marbles and fragments is a real spray gun that can spray a large area.

However, if we want to achieve this, the pressure on logistics will be very great.

After all, the raw materials of black powder are a big problem.

But it is completely fine to use gunpowder weapons to deal with emergencies.

Such as now.

In order to march quickly, Zhu Gang did not carry much supplies and the amount of gunpowder was also limited.

If Hamalidin can hold on for two or three days, Zhu Gang will have no choice but to fill it with human lives.

Unfortunately, there is no if. They were directly stunned by the first wave of attacks, and then there was no next.

The high-spirited Hexi army entered the city through the gap and massacred Chagatai's army.

In fact, Hamaldin did have a chance to turn the tables at this time.

Zhu Gang did not carry much gunpowder, and the power of black powder was limited, so the gap created by the explosion was not very large.

He could have sent people to kill the Ming army before they entered the city in large numbers, and then blocked the city walls.

However, at this moment, the people of the various tribes who had been forcibly relocated by him rebelled.

When a large army defends a city, they often mobilize the young and strong people in the city to assist in the defense.

Carrying stones, logs, arrows, transporting and caring for the wounded, etc.

When all the young and strong men died, the old people and women took over, and finally anyone who could move took over.

Hamaldin did the same.

He recruited young and strong men from various tribes to assist the garrison in defense.

When the Ming army entered the city, these young and strong men from various tribes, who were gathered together and filled with resentment, rose up in rebellion.

He picked up the guy next to him and rushed forward.

Naturally, they were no match for the regular army and were quickly dispersed.

However, their actions seriously slowed down the speed of the Chagatai army and caused them to miss the best time for counterattack.

This allowed the Ming army that poured into the city to gain a foothold.

Afterwards, more Ming troops poured in like a tide.

Hamalidin knew that it was too late to defeat the Ming army, so he wanted to retreat to the inner city.

Rely on the inner city for defense.

However, just as he gave the order to retreat, he discovered that fire was breaking out in the inner city.

The key point is that he had already issued the order to retreat and there was no time to take it back.

The soldiers, who already had no morale, dared not hesitate when they heard the order to retreat and ran away.

The retreat turned directly into a major rout.

However, when they ran to the inner city, they found that it was also in chaos.

No one knew what was going on and everyone was at a loss for a moment.

In the end, the Ming army captured Huozhou City without any effort.

Unfortunately, Hamaliddin was shot to death by a stray arrow.

Afterwards, Zhu Gang sent people to investigate the cause of the unrest in the inner city.

It turned out that it was done by the young and strong men from the scattered tribes.

After being repelled by Chagatai's army, they still used various methods to resist.

For example, sneak attacks, or setting fires everywhere.

The most deadly thing was that they broke into the inner city, shouting that Hamaliddin was dead and everyone should flee.

The people in the inner city didn’t know what was happening in the outer city, but they knew that the Ming army seemed to have invaded.

All of a sudden, everything became chaotic.

Then the people of various tribes took the opportunity to cause trouble, turning the entire inner city into a mess.

The defenders of the outer city were also confused. Why did the inner city become in chaos?

For a moment, they did not dare to retreat to the inner city.

This hesitation gave the Ming army an opportunity.

Upon learning the cause of the incident, Zhu Gang sighed and said, "Hamalidin was defeated because he was unpopular. The Yuan Dynasty was also defeated for this reason."

He then issued an order that the army should not harass or plunder the civilians, and anyone who disobeyed the order would be executed.

The Ming army had been educated in new ideas, so they had no problem executing orders in this regard.

Not to say that no one was harmed, but at least there was no burning, killing or looting.

This move also made the trembling people of various tribes feel relieved, and then they shouted "Royal Army" in unison.

And actively cooperate with the Ming army's various actions.

Soon, the Mongolian civilians hiding everywhere were found out. After counting, the number of people was 33,000, and more than 9,000 Chagatai troops were captured.

The rest were countless cattle, sheep, and food.

It is at least enough to feed the Ming army and the people of Xizhou for half a year.

In this battle, 7,400 enemy soldiers were killed, while 677 of our own soldiers were killed or wounded.

It can be said to be a resounding victory.

After pacifying the various tribes, Zhu Gang prepared to send troops to support Xu Mei.

But before the reinforcements set out, Xu Mei's envoy arrived first and captured Turpan City.

It turned out that Xu Mei discovered that the city of Turpan was built on the Gobi Desert.

He then sought out the Uighurs who had come to seek refuge with him and asked them if they could dig a tunnel leading to the city.

The Uighurs immediately said that there was no problem.

They often dug karez in the Gobi Desert and were very good at digging tunnels.

With the efforts of hundreds of people, a passage was quickly dug.

Xu Mei launched a surprise attack at night and easily captured Turpan City.

At this point, Xizhou was completely liberated.

After that, Zhu Gang was no longer in a hurry to attack other places, but chose to stay where he was and consolidate his rule.

He sent out troops and took the initiative to eliminate small groups of bandits in Xizhou and stabilize local security.

While carrying out internal affairs construction.

He kept enough cattle, sheep and food from the captured cattle and sheep to feed the army for half a year, and returned the rest to the people of each tribe.

That’s not all, he also issued several decrees afterwards.

One of them is what everyone is most concerned about, and that is freedom of belief.

As long as they do not oppose ancestor worship, the Ming Dynasty respects the beliefs of all ethnic groups.

This is actually a special policy adopted to deal with the complex ethnic groups in the Western Regions.

There are currently many religions in the Western Regions. In addition to Islam and Buddhism, there are also many local small religions.

Like shamanism or something like that.

If the Ming Dynasty forced everyone to convert to Buddhism and Taoism, it would also be resisted by various ethnic groups, which would be detrimental to governance.

In response to this situation, Chen Jingke proposed special policies.

People in special areas are allowed to continue to believe in their own native religions, provided that they do not oppose ancestor worship.

Once the Ming Dynasty establishes a stable rule, it will naturally adopt various methods to absorb these small tribes.

You believe in a certain god in your local religion, right?
Very good, from now on he will be the god of both Buddhism and Taoism.

Just tell me whether it is perfect or not.

In terms of culture, China has the confidence.

The tribes that have suffered from Islamic oppression are naturally very welcoming of this relaxed religious policy.

Zhu Gang's successive actions quickly won the hearts of the people.

The people of all ethnic groups soon accepted the rule of the Ming Dynasty. Under Alimjiang's organization, young and strong men from all tribes were selected to form an army of 5,000 people to assist the Ming army.

Zhu Gang naturally knew his purpose. Firstly, it was to please the Ming Dynasty, and secondly, it was to take the opportunity to seize power.

After all, his status was not high before, he was just a liaison officer.

After the Ming Dynasty occupied Xizhou, he was of no use to anyone.

Naturally, he was unwilling to accept this result.

Only then did the proposal of forming a coalition among the tribes come about.

After the coalition was formed, he, as the advocate, naturally gained a certain voice.

And how should this army cooperate with the Ming army? A liaison officer is needed.

What he wants to fight for is the position of liaison officer.

Zhu Gang was not disgusted by this behavior.

He likes people who are ambitious and capable, because only such people can accomplish things.

So I took the initiative to name Alimjiang and let him continue to be responsible for communication.

He also stated publicly: "The Ming Dynasty will not mistreat any loyal person."

Alimjiang naturally accepted Zhu Gang's recruitment without hesitation, and then he worked more actively to contact various tribes.

With the help of this local boss, the contact between the Ming Dynasty and the various tribes became smoother.

In just two months, order was restored in Xizhou.

Zhu Gang was not in a hurry to set up appointed officials in prefectures and counties.

Firstly, he did not bring many administrative talents with him on this trip; secondly, the war was far from over, and it was not yet the time to set up prefectures and counties.

But he also made some changes.

For example, the name Xizhou was officially established.

Huozhou was renamed Gaochang, Turpan was renamed Xichang, and the name of Liucheng (Shanshan) remained unchanged.

By the time I finished all these, it was already September.

Reinforcements from the Chagatai Khanate finally arrived.

Zhu Gang smiled when he got the news. Another reason why he was not in a hurry to attack other places was to wait for Chagatai's reinforcements.

To use a well-used phrase, the offense and defense have changed at this point.

In the past, he was an outsider and had to lead an army far away to fight.

Now he is the landlord who is waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out, while Chagatai's reinforcements are the ones who are traveling a long way.

So, he immediately assembled his troops and took the initiative to meet them.

Chagatai’s tribe must not be given a chance to rest and regroup.

The tribes in Xizhou also became nervous, and the coalition army also took the initiative to seek war.

Everyone knows that this battle will truly determine the ownership of Xizhou.

Naturally, the tribes do not want the Chagatai Khanate to return.

Seeing the people of Xizhou like this, Zhu Gang became even more certain that he would win this battle.
-
Luoyang.

Chen Jingke arrived at the Qianqing Palace with a tired look on his face, only to find Zhu Xiongying holding a fox tail and teasing Yuanyuan to catch it.

Tuan Tuan and Zhu Wenji were left aside, watching helplessly.

This scene immediately made him furious.

"Okay, okay, I'll stay in the cabinet while you go to the Qianqing Palace to have fun, right?"

Zhu Xiongying said with a smile: "What do you mean by playing? I am cultivating relationships with the children."

Then he swept Yuanyuan's little hand with his fox tail and said, "Is that so, little Yuanyuan... Oh, my daughter is so good."

This made Yuanyuan'keikeikei' laugh continuously.

The child is too young to laugh 'haha, huh,' and the sound he makes is more like 'keikeikei'.

Chen Jingke said angrily: "No, you can't finish your government affairs while cultivating your relationship with your child?"

Zhu Xiongying said seriously, "Is it more important to handle government affairs or to spend time with the children? Can't you even tell the difference?"

Chen Jingke: "..."

Do you want to hear what you have to say?
Zhu Xiongying suddenly laughed and said, "Haha... I was just kidding. I saw that there was nothing important to do today, so I came to the back to take a break."

Then he explained: "Haven't you always been advocating for at least one day off a week?"

"Today is the seventh day of the week, is it okay for me to take a break?"

Chen Jingke was relieved and said, "Just tell me no directly..."

He had only said half of his words when he saw Yuanyuan grab a small insect from somewhere and was about to put it into her mouth.

He rushed over and said, "Oh, my dear aunt, you can't eat this."

The wet nurse next to her was even more frightened. She was scolded for not looking after the child.

However, the expected scolding did not happen.

Before Yuanyuan put the bug into her mouth, Chen Jingke finally snatched it from her and said helplessly:
"A newborn calf is really not afraid of a tiger. He has to taste everything with his mouth."

Yuanyuan was still very unhappy. She crawled in front of Zhu Xiongying and squeaked as if she was complaining.

Zhu Xiongying was so happy that he dropped his fox tail, picked her up and said:

"Look, my daughter is so smart. She knows how to complain at such a young age."

Tuan Tuan and Zhu Wen Ji, who had been playing with brushes nearby, immediately widened their eyes when they saw the fox's tail.

It crawled over here and I grabbed it and shook it hard.

But there was only one fox tail, and the two began to fight for it.

Tuantuan was born small in stature, even smaller than Zhu Wenji who was born a month later.

But after all, he is more than a month older, so he needs to be more agile.

Each of them is good at his own thing and neither can beat the other.

Then one person grabbed one end and refused to let go, and the situation became stalemate.

Instead of trying to dissuade them, Zhu Xiongying held Yuanyuan in his arms and watched the fun:
"Come on, come on... tickle him, scratch him."

As a result of his shouting, both children started crying.

The wet nurse looked on at a loss as to what to do. Who would dare to step forward to comfort the baby?

Chen Jingke's forehead was covered with black lines, and he said to the nurse:

"Take the child away, take Yuanyuan away too."

The three wet nurses acted as if they had been pardoned, and hurriedly took their three children and fled.

Zhu Xiongying watched the three children leave before saying unhappily:
"Isn't it just that I asked you to help with some government affairs? Is it that serious?"

Chen Jingke sneered, "A little? Forget it, I'm too lazy to argue with you about this, let's talk about business."

Zhu Xiongying frowned slightly and said, "Is there really something serious?"

Chen Jingke nodded and said, "If there is something important, I will ask someone to call you. Let's talk about something else."

There has indeed been no major events in the court recently, mainly because Zhu Xiongying had just ascended the throne and did not choose radical policies.

Instead, the style of the Jianzhang Dynasty was continued, and people's hearts quickly settled down.

Of course, it’s impossible to say that it’s not a big deal at all.

Not to mention the distant things, Zhu Gang’s attack on the Western Regions was the top priority.

But this matter was planned long ago, and all we have to do is execute it.

When they say nothing big will happen, they mean nothing big will happen unexpectedly.

Zhu Xiongying immediately guessed his plan and said, "Are you ready to announce the Great Harmony World?"

Chen Jingke nodded and said, "People in the intellectual world are beginning to get confused."

"Recently, great scholars from various schools have come out to give lectures."

Once it was determined that Neo-Confucianism had been crushed, the various schools of thought that had been suppressed by Neo-Confucianism naturally became active again.

The number of manuscripts received by Ming Weekly has increased dozens of times, and every one of them is of high quality.

Zhu Xiongying said with a headache: "I receive similar memorials every day, trying to sell their theories to me."

Chen Jingke naturally knew this, so he said:
"The ideological world cannot be in chaos for a long time, as this is not conducive to the stability of national policies."

"Besides, there really hasn't been any major events in the court recently, so I can concentrate on handling these matters."

“So I decided to take this opportunity to publish the Great Harmony World.”

(End of this chapter)