golden scales

Turkistan was originally a Persian language, which meant the place where the Turks lived. It was first called out by the Arabs in the eighth century.In a broad sense, Turkestan includes the vast Central Asian region starting from the Tianshan Mountains and Karakoram Mountains in the east, the Caspian Sea in the west, Afghanistan and eastern Iran in the south, and West Siberia in the north.

In a narrow sense, it is the capital of the Kazakh Khanate, the city of Turkistan.

This ancient city originated from the westward migration of the Turkic people. At the same time, it was the Tang Dynasty in China. It continuously absorbed technology, culture, and commodities from the East from the Protectorate of the Western Regions, and then passed them to the West.Since then, Turkestan has been the most affluent city in Central Asia, a prosperous place where both Eastern and Western cultural styles converge.

Today's Turkestan can no longer be compared with what it was 1000 years ago.Although the wheels of the times are moving forward, due to the limitations of the geographical environment, the Kazakh Khanate has not made significant progress in productivity, at most it is the limited promotion of ironware.As a trading city, the Ottomans are to the west, the Oros to the north, the Mughal Empire to the south, and the newly recovered Tianshan Mountains to the west. No matter how you look at it, there is no commercial presence.

As a result, the prosperous trading city naturally fell, but as the holy city of the Turks, the city still has an influence that cannot be underestimated.

If Turkestan is recovered by the Oros and the Kazakhs, it will mean that Ming's conquest of Kazakhs has completely failed, and the Kazakh Khanate and Dayuzi will be restored again.

All the generals in the Northwest are facing the stain of life: defeat and loss of ground.

Yes, no one cares that the land is also newly laid.They just whistled easily and said: Look.Xiao Mo and Xiao Donglou are known as the famous generals of the empire, what happened?They lost Turkestan.

Yang Wei stood on the Turkestan tower, which was a Western-style tower, not as aesthetic as the Daming tower, and the arrow holes left made people feel depressing.

From here, you can see the river flowing from the northwest of the city. The Ming army staff named it Xiliang River in keeping with the habit of secrecy and arrogance.The river is only five feet wide at its widest point.The narrowest point is no more than one foot, and it can be waded through the water, which can only increase the defense ability to a limited extent.

As the birthplace of the Xiliang River, it is a mountain range named Cuiping Mountain by the Ming army. The locals call it "Karatau" mountain. It is located in the northwest of the city and is a mountain range running from northwest to southeast.Because the mountains are too far away from the city, they only have strategic significance without any tactical impact.

Similar to this is the Syr Darya River winding from the southwest of the city.The entire city of Turkestan is on the right bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Syr Darya, thousands of miles away from the main battlefield of the Battle of Syr Darya where Sengge and Turubaihu were defeated.Because it is too far away from the city, the Syr Darya River is not very helpful to the defense of the Ming army, but the agricultural reclamation area along the river can become the food supply area of ​​the Ming army.

Xiao Mo knew where to find Yang Wei. When he was standing behind Yang Wei wearing a cloak, he couldn't help but ask, "What are you looking at?"

"We made a strategic mistake. Fortunately, the enemy made a bigger mistake." Yang Wei turned his head.Said: "General, we shouldn't come to rescue Turkestan now."

"The Western Region is too vast, and the number of soldiers is really insufficient. Even the Oirats have to cherish it." Xiao Mo said.

Although the Oirats do not speak Chinese, they at least look closer to the Han Chinese than the Chagatai and Kazakhs.For the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty who just had the concept of nationality, those Long Zhun with deep eyes and withered hair were definitely aliens who could not communicate with each other. On the contrary, the Wala people could barely be counted as compatriots.

"Let Turubaihu and Sengge completely retreat, and we will attack the Oros, Kazakhs and Cossacks here. One has a greater initiative in tactics, and there is no need to give up this place to the Oirats Through the arrow hole, Yang Wei could see the farmland in the Xiliang River Basin in the distance, exuding a seductive aura.

"The arable land in the Syr Darya River and Xiliang River Basin is enough to bear tens of thousands of people. If it is managed patiently, it will be an important town for China to completely rule the Western Regions." Yang Wei said: "In this way, the Ming Dynasty can radiate from here to the Far West without worrying about it. Lost ground."

Xiao Mo admits that this idea is more attractive, but...

"To the west of the Western Regions, our strength is still too weak." Xiao Mo said helplessly.

"Perhaps it would be better if we slow down. The North Korean army and the tank division may all be dispatched." Yang Wei said: "And we don't need to keep the three armies in Nanyang. The Australian garrison alone is enough for deterrence. gone."

"Really?" Xiao Mo raised his eyebrows: "I heard the news that before Longjing 15 years ago, the northwest side would not increase its combat power on a large scale."

Yang Wei was a little surprised: "Is it reliable?" His advice to His Majesty the Emperor was not like that, and he felt that His Majesty was almost obedient to him, which made him feel more and more fulfilled in his work.

Based on the current geopolitical research results, the key to whether the Ming Dynasty can become a thousand-year-old empire that establishes world hegemony lies in the control of the vast territory west of the Western Regions.Once Daming is allowed to gain this frontier position, in the next thousand years, it is impossible for Taixi to have a country that can challenge Ming.

Xiao Mo said firmly, "Reliable."

This is the hint given by You Du, there is absolutely no mistake, but you can't tell others.It is precisely because of this news that Xiao Mo cherishes the combat power of the Oirats even more, and does not want to see meaningless losses.

In the earliest strategic arrangement of the Northern Expedition, the Western Regions prepared to increase the size of the army to 50.It's just that the plan couldn't keep up with the changes. At that time, Ming Dynasty hadn't started the war with Spain, let alone thought of intervening in the Americas.Now that Da Ming sees the Americas as a rare opportunity, if he wants to divide his combat power to go there, he has to stop in the direction of the Western Regions.

Although the distribution seems to be only 10 people, considering the supply lines on both sides and the need to use civilian labor and material resources, the expansion of the Western Regions has to slow down.

In the final analysis, the Korean and Chinese officials believed that the Americas could bring back more wealth to Ming Dynasty, and the Far West of the Western Regions was nothing more than a new place of exile.

This is also the reason why the new geopolitical theory has not yet become the mainstream understanding.

"In this way, this battle will be the last battle of Longjing 15 years ago." Yang Wei said: "If the arm of the Oros cannot be cut off, it will be even more difficult to conquer the entire Kazakh Khanate in the future."

Today's Oros has ended the war with Sweden, and is still continuing the war against Poland, hoping to keep the annexed Ukraine.This made it difficult for the Tsar to mobilize an army on the southern front, but due to the lack of intelligence, neither Xiao Mo nor Yang Wei could guarantee whether Oros would go crazy and send troops desperately to fight for Kazakhstan.

After all, they have taken all the small Kazakh Yuzi into their pockets, and they are coveting the big Yuzi and Zhongyuzi, just like wild wolves eating, and they must not tolerate other people's interference.

"This battle is really blind, we don't even know who their generals are." Xiao Mo sighed in a low voice after a brief silence.

"According to the news from Oara, the enemy is composed of three parts. Among them, the Cossacks are the most powerful, followed by the Oros' firearms army. The Kazakhs can only fight with the wind." Yang Wei said: "As long as they can The Kazakhs are nothing to worry about containing the Orosian firearms army and concentrating superior forces on attacking the Cossack cavalry."

"This time our army is twice as many as the enemy, if we can't win better, we really can't explain to the Holy One." Xiao Mo expressed the pressure in his heart.

From the first-hand intelligence collected by the Northwest Army before the battle, the staff department has already analyzed the basic tactics of the Oros people.In terms of equipment, they are already half an era behind the Ming army, their firearms are much lower than the Ming army, and they have no standard equipment.The army is equipped with everything from axes to matchlocks and flintlocks, and because of the lack of iron in Oros, many firecrackers and artillery are made of bronze, and the number is far less than that of the Ming army.

As for the Cossack cavalry, they are still in the era of cold weapons. They charge with skirmish lines, except that their horses are better than those of the Ming army, and they are basically behind this era.

The Ming army already had an advantage in both combat effectiveness and the number of soldiers, and it was a sure thing to win.

The key is to win beautifully.

Turubaihu and Sengge were beaten to the core by this enemy army, and Turubaihu even fell ill because of this. If the Ming army can deal with this army with ease, it will naturally form psychological pressure on the Wala people. It made them more respectful to Daming.

On the other hand, Jin has the habit of "speeding up the horse" and prefers to concentrate his advantages to create a greater advantage.Therefore, in previous military expansions, in addition to the needs of the theater, what is more important is whether the generals can perform well.As long as this campaign is played well, it may allow the imperial court to refocus its attention on the Far West and allocate some power from the American strategy.

In March of the tenth year of Longjing, when Turkestan was still a drop of water, the Oros army in gray, red, and green military uniforms appeared outside the city of Turkestan.They had already "destroyed" the Wala and Ming armies that had appeared ahead, and captured three cannons. This made them very encouraged. They changed their previous habit of the Cossacks leading the battle, hoping to be the first to enter the city of Turkestan.

It is said that the city is full of food, gold and silver, as well as the centuries-old treasures of the Kazakh Khanate.

Just as Eros' firecracker army stepped across the Xiliang River in the dry season, the artillery of the Ming army on the other side of the river roared.

This is not the three or five cannons they encountered before, but the continuous bombardment of dozens of artillery pieces.Whenever the Oros thought that the artillery had stopped and were ready to march forward, the artillery could always set off the battle horn again.

"God, what kind of army is on the other side!" Colonel Alexander Kraft saw his formation being torn apart by the artillery, and screamed to let his lieutenants pack up their troops and re-form a battle formation. (to be continued~^~)