Although Emperor Chongzhen personally conquered, for outsiders or Hong Chengchou himself, it was a kind of questioning of Hong Chengchou's ability. This situation is a bit bad after all.

If it's something else, even if it fails, the impact will be relatively small; Or if it is not to go west to conquer the Tianshan Mountains, but to attack a certain Tusi in Sichuan, then Emperor Chongzhen will definitely let Hong Chengchou do it.

But now, the enemy that Hong Chengchou wants to exterminate is far away in the Western Regions, not to mention the great logistical pressure, or on the grassland, if the Junggar Department does not have a head-on decisive battle with the Ming army, in fact, as long as the leader of the Junggar Department has a little brain, he will definitely not have a hard fight with the Ming army. In this way, how long does the Ming army led by Hong Chengchou consume?

If Hong Chengchou's Ming army failed, it would be equivalent to defeating the integrated steppe cavalry. In addition, the defeat will also affect the tribes of the steppe that have already been annexed, and some of the Mongols who were unwilling to join in the first place are likely to produce moths. In other words, once the army led by Hong Chengchou is defeated by the Junggar Ministry, it will lead to a series of consequences.

Although Emperor Chongzhen is sure, if Hong Chengchou is defeated, he can lead the army to go out again, and with the advantage of the golden finger, he should also be able to defeat the enemy.

However, if this is the case, first, the manpower and materials lost by the defeat of Hong Chengchou's troops will all be wasted, which will affect the economic development of the Ming Dynasty; The other, and most important, is that Emperor Chongzhen is thirty-eight years old. Although the Ming Dynasty has become stronger, it is still far from Emperor Chongzhen's goal. Time is what Emperor Chongzhen lacks the most, if Hong Chengchou's department fails, it will be delayed for at least two years, and he can't afford to delay.

Although it was already the beginning of May of the 22nd year of Chongzhen when Emperor Chongzhen led the army, Sun Chuanting's headquarters had already advanced to Edo, and it was estimated that by the end of the year, the entire island of Honshu would be occupied at most next year. However, the affairs of North and South America are not yet on the agenda; The Dongwu shipyard has just been completed, and it will take time for the shipbuilding to come out, and there is no telling when the Ming army will appear in the Middle East.

In addition, through the first-class eavesdropping seed on the body of Yan Yingyuan, the governor of Dongwu, Emperor Chongzhen already knew that the butterfly effect brought about by the Ming Dynasty's conquest of Dongwu had affected the Mughal Empire in India. Emperor Chongzhen could imagine it with his toes, and the Mughal Empire would definitely not be happy to reach out to the Ming Empire, and what actions would be made in the future were unknown.

Not to mention, the economic construction of the country and the climbing of science and technology trees are also inseparable from Emperor Chongzhen. There was so much to do that Emperor Chongzhen couldn't possibly have time to waste.

Therefore, for the suppression of the rebellion of the Junggar Ministry, Emperor Chongzhen did not want to risk losing two years, so he decided to take this imperial expedition.

All the way to the west, on the basis of the original official road, the expansion and construction of a new cement two-way three-lane official road, for the cavalry, in fact, is not very friendly. The cement is too hard and can damage the horse's hooves. If the train is fixed, you can take the train and really travel day and night. However, the westbound railroad track is much more difficult to build than the southbound railway. At least for the past two years, I can't count on it at all.

After Emperor Chongzhen inspected the construction of the cement official road, he simply went out of Zhangjiakou and galloped to Guihua City on the grassland. After going to rest, I will go to Baotou again, and finally catch up with Hong Chengchou's army.

This time, although he was the royal driver, he did not give an order to let Hong Chengchou lead the army to wait for him. He believed that with Hong Chengchou's ability, he would not lose the battle before he arrived.

Before Emperor Chongzhen left Zhangjiakou, Hong Chengchou received a decree to allow him to go on an expedition, and at the same time knew that the emperor also led the hussar battalion out of Beijing.

To be honest, after Hong Chengchou heard the news, even if he was very deep in the city, he lost his mind for a while, and felt a little lost. In his opinion, if it is replaced by Lu Xiangsheng, it is estimated that the emperor will not drive the expedition in person, right?

However, after the loss, he immediately ordered to march west to conquer the Jungar tribe.

50,000 cavalry, mainly Mongolian soldiers, only more than 5,000 are Qindi border pass cavalry, driving cattle and sheep, of course, it is indispensable to escort grain and grass materials with the army, divided into two armies, and go to the Tianshan Mountains in a mighty way.

Of course, Hong Chengchou is not incompetent, he knows that the key to this battle is to force the Geer Department to fight a decisive battle with the official army, or to attack it and save it, or to encircle him so that he has no escape. It is also for this reason that although even if the Dzungar tribe annexes the other tribes of the Oirat tribe, there are only 30,000 cavalry at most, he still brings nearly twice as many troops to the battle.

Before leaving, of course, he had learned about the situation of the Dzungar Ministry.

Originally, the Zungar tribe was mainly active in the Tacheng area, north to the Zhunger Basin, south to the Ili region, and east of the Zungar region, mainly in the Urumqi region and the Shuote department. Now, however, the Dzungar tribe has annexed the other tribes of the Oirat tribe, and its sphere of influence has greatly increased.

Although the nomads have no fixed residence, there are traces to follow, the original pasture of the Junggar Department, the Ming army will definitely go to patronize, and the original sweat tent of the Junggar Ministry, the Tacheng area, is also going to go.

Hong Chengchou's strategy was to send a forward out of Gansu, attack directly on the Zungar Basin area, and then march into the Tacheng area, while the main force would take the Urumqi area, and if the enemy was found in the Zungar Basin, the main force would go north to encircle the Zungar Division, and if the enemy was not found, the two armies would converge in the Tashan area. When the time comes, it depends on the situation, either to the south of the Ili region, or to continue the pursuit of the west.

The westernmost place of the Ming Dynasty was originally built in the fourth year of Yongle to control the Hami area; However, this place was invaded by Turpan many times, and it was repeatedly contested with the Ming Dynasty.

Until the early years of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, the Ming court was originally very happy because of the dispute over the great etiquette. As a result, Hami was taken away by Turpan, so the political struggle spread to Hami, and the party struggles continued, impeachment and accountability of opponents, repeated prisons, and many ministers were involved in it, and many people were arrested and killed. In the end, Emperor Jiajing had no choice but to ignore Hami under the pretext of recalling the army and relieving the people and trying to pursue autonomy.

Therefore, at this time, the westernmost area of influence of the Ming Dynasty was Gansu, and more specifically Jiayuguan.

In this expedition, the Ming army went out of Jiayu Pass and entered Xinjiang through Hami.

Hami is also the only way for Xinjiang to enter the customs, and is known as the "throat of the Western Regions" on the Silk Road. However, with a population of only about 3,000, it is too barren to support too many people.

The commander of the Ming army was Lu Daqi, the governor of Gansu, who led 15,000 troops. At this time, Lu Daqi stood at the head of Jiayuguan City, watching the army march out of the pass, and he couldn't help but feel proud in his heart.

At this time, Lu Daqi was already in his sixties, and at this age, it was not suitable to lead the army to the battle. However, if it is peaceful today, it is rare that there is a rebellion in the neighboring areas, and there is a possibility of making meritorious contributions to fight for the title, so Lu Daqi asked for orders, and finally was able to obey the orders under Hong Chengchou and received the position of forward coach.

Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty is strong, and there is no shortage of equipment for the army. The iron armor came out of the customs, which was very spectacular, which made Lu Daqi couldn't help but chant a few poems to meet the occasion. In the end, surrounded by many generals, he went out of the customs.

Before leaving, Hong Chengchou set a strategy, and he agreed. Today, the Dzungar tribe has taken advantage of the winter communication cut off to annex other tribes of the Oirat tribe, and at this time, the first priority must be to digest and completely control the population of the other tribes.

Lu Daqi and Hong Chengchou's opinions are that it is difficult to find traces of the Junggar Department in the early stage. There is a high probability that it is difficult to have a decisive battle in the Junggar Basin and the Urumqi area.

This war, for the imperial army, is naturally a quick victory, but the Junggar Ministry will definitely not let the imperial army get their wish. Thinking of this, Lu Daqi felt a little backache, even if he was sitting in the carriage, he didn't know how many walks he had to walk, it was enough! But there is only one chance in this life, and I can only grit my teeth and persevere!

…………

Jiayuguan to Hami, there are more than 1,200 miles, if it is replaced by the later generations, a foot on the accelerator on the highway, it will take more than six hours, almost half a day to arrive.

But in this era, even if Lu Daqi led a cavalry army, it took twelve days to reach Hami.

When the Ming army arrived here, there were very few locals in Hami, and most of them hid when they heard that there was going to be a war. The imperial army did not harass them, and immediately set up camp and prepared to rest here for a day.

The reason why this military order was given was that Lu Daqi couldn't stay up a little and felt too tired. Rushing every day, even if you are in the car, the road is bumpy, and the old bones are enough. Of course, the cavalry army cannot march continuously, it must maintain combat strength, and the necessary rest and recuperation must also be necessary.

To be honest, at this time, Lu Daqi was drinking warm mutton soup and wrapped in felt, and his thoughts about making contributions had faded a lot.

Think about it, this has only arrived in Hami, this old bone is so unbeatable, if it continues, it will take a detour to the Jungger Basin, and then go to Tacheng, I don't know how long it will take. If you encounter an enemy in pursuit, it is even more important to speed up the journey......

Thinking of this, Lu Daqi didn't dare to think about it anymore. Or send his general soldiers to search and pursue, and go to Urumqi to wait for Governor Hong.

Lu Daqi thought about it this and went to bed early. If you don't sleep, you can't do it, it's still a word, the hero is in the twilight!

However, what Lu Daqi could no longer imagine was that he didn't have to go so far and suffer so many sins.

In the early hours of the next morning, the army was still resting, and it was not the sun rising in the east that woke them up.

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