Under the guidance of tens of thousands of servants, the soldiers of the Tiance Army spent more than two months to break through from the east of the desert to the west, so that all the Hu people in the grassland desert were broken.

Moreover, Liu Juntao also began to abandon the grain and grass baggage this time, like the Hu people, began to feed the war with war, eat wherever he fought, and use the materials of the defeated Hu tribes to supplement the supply of the army, which made the Ming army like a tiger.

Although there were several bloody battles, the strength of the servant army did not decrease but increased, from the initial 40,000 or 50,000 horses to 80,000 people.

On the one hand, Liu Juntao continued to integrate the defeated Hu tribes of various tribes, added the men of these tribes to the servant army, and sent the families of these Hu people to Datong Town to be guarded.

In this way, although the servant army under Liu Juntao fought bloody battles and suffered huge casualties, the number of troops continued to increase, of course, this was achieved by the huge casualties and sharp decline in the population of the Hu people in various departments!

Moreover, the weak tribes in the various tribes, after Liu Juntao led the army to arrive, basically surrendered immediately, without the slightest hesitation, which also made the Tiance army's advance speed and results continue to expand.

September of the seventh year of Tianshun.

At this time, the autumn breeze in the desert grassland is in full swing, and Liu Juntao has led the army north for nearly a year, during which the military department has asked several times when the army can end the war.

However, Liu Juntao knew in his heart that this must be an army of more than 100,000 troops going north to fight for nearly a year, and the treasury began to be unable to bear it, but the Ministry of War was worried that it would interfere with the morale of the army, so he asked so tactfully.

Liu Juntao was also anxious and wanted to end the war as soon as possible.

One is because the army has been fighting repeatedly for nearly a year, and the soldiers of the various departments are indeed exhausted, and the imperial treasury is also beginning to be unsustainable, and Liu Juntao is also beginning to worry about the leader of the Pykeli Department, Gathlan!

In the past nearly a year, the Tatar Department has been defeated in successive battles, as an ally of the Tatar Department, the 300,000 troops of the Tatar Department have not made any moves, and there is no plan to lead the troops to respond and support the Tatar Department, which can not help but make Liu Juntao feel puzzled, you must know that Liu Juntao has been prepared for a two-front battle, in order to prevent the sudden attack of the Tatar Army.

But now that Gaslan has not participated in the war, there is only one explanation: Gaslan thinks that the Tatar Department is hopeless and doomed to defeat, so instead of losing troops and coming to support, it is better to take advantage of this time to develop his forces!

Liu Juntao understands that the longer he drags on in the desert, the more his power will swell, so whether it is the intention of the imperial court or based on practical considerations, he must end the battle of Northern Xinjiang as soon as possible.

Therefore, Liu Juntao ordered the Tiance army and more than 80,000 servant troops to stop the pace of attack, and more than 200,000 troops were stationed in the fields north of the Tanglu Mountains and south of the Wusi River, and sent an order to all the tribes on the prairie: within 15 days, the leaders of all tribes must come to meet Ning Beibo of the Ming Dynasty. If that tribe does not come to the audience, it will be regarded as an enemy of the Ming Dynasty.

This news swept the entire grassland like a hurricane, the Hu people of all the departments were moved by the wind, the leaders of the various departments or the eldest son of the leaders rushed to the camp of the Tiance army to meet them, no one dared not come, after all, even the powerful Tatar Department and the Warat Department were destroyed by the Ming Dynasty successively, and the coalition forces of the previous departments were also wiped out, and the rest of the tribes who dared to be enemies with the Ming Dynasty!

As the grassland tribes were either swept away by the Tiance army, or took the initiative to surrender to the Tiance army, the grassland desert at this time can be said to be the world of the Ming Dynasty, and the remnants of the Tatar army were basically swept away by the Tiance army.

So Liu Juntao continued to garrison the army on the north of the Tanglu Mountains and south of the Wusi River, and on the other hand, he sent troops to fold the report of the victory to the imperial court, and at the same time, Liu Juntao also suggested that the imperial court rebuild the Hanhai Metropolitan Protectorate, and the scope of the Hanhai Metropolitan Protectorate was the vast grassland originally occupied by the Tatar Department.

At the same time, in order to achieve the goal of permanently occupying this vast territory, Liu Juntao, after careful consideration, wrote to the imperial court again, suggesting that more than 80,000 servant troops should be reorganized into the Hanhai Protectorate.

In the process of fighting, it can be said that every soldier's hands are stained with the blood of the Hu people, and their relatives are also hostages in Datong Town, so their loyalty is still guaranteed.

Even if these more than 80,000 servant troops really rebelled one day, it would not be fearful, and the soldiers of these servant armies were all cut off from the thumb of their right hands, and their grasping ability in their right hands was greatly reduced, and the corresponding combat power was also greatly lost, and it was not a big deal.

Of course, in the second part, Liu Juntao also suggested that the imperial court immediately draw iron cavalry and elites from the military towns on the nine sides to form a garrison of the Hanhai Protectorate, and go north as soon as possible, stationed in the Hanhai City under construction, and use Hanhai City as the capital of the Hanhai Protectorate.

After all, in a huge territory, it is not enough to have a servant army stationed and no regular army of the Ming Dynasty to garrison!

In other aspects, Liu Juntao also suggested that the imperial court should emigrate from Shanxi, Shaanxi, Beizhili, Xuanfu Town and other places as soon as possible, relocate at least 300,000 people to the desert, and build cities and fortresses at various points in the desert, let these people reclaim farmland on the spot, and exempt the land from paying taxes for three years.

At this time, the desert is far from being barren in the late Ming Dynasty, the water and grass are still very abundant, if it is transformed into farmland, it will be able to harvest a certain amount of food, more importantly, the desert is vast and sparsely populated, as long as the people who come to the north solve the problems of residence and security with the help of the imperial court, almost every household can reclaim a huge amount of land and become a landlord!

Of course, Liu Juntao only put forward these ideas and suggestions, and the specific regulations still need to be improved and adopted by the imperial court.

After these two twists and turns were sent out one after another, Liu Juntao also breathed a sigh of relief, and the Tatar department's henchman problem was finally completely solved, and Liu Juntao was also ready to escort the Tatar leaders and generals to the capital and sacrifice prisoners.

But at this moment, Hu Dexing, the chief military officer of Shandong Town, came over with a gloomy face and said, "Governor Xian, something happened!" ”

Liu Juntao thought that it was Jia Silan who led his troops to attack, and asked, "Is it the enemy army who is coming?" ”

"It's not."

Hu Dexing said in a deep voice: "I'm dead!" ”

"What!"

Liu Juntao was taken aback, he was worried that he would escape, so he had been sending soldiers to guard him day and night, how could he suddenly die?

"What the hell is going on! The camp where he was held was tightly guarded, how did he die! ”

Hu Dexing said: "Just now the guards came to report that they had swallowed stones and died, and no one thought that they would commit suicide with stones!" ”

Liu Juntao was also very annoyed, Hu Dexing was right, no one would have thought that he would commit suicide with an inconspicuous small stone.

"Let the military medical craftsmen keep the corpse of the child, and before sending it to the capital, the body must not be lost, otherwise the military law will be engaged!"

Hu Dexing nodded heavily and said, "Don't worry, I'll do it myself!" ”

As soon as Hu Dexing left, Liu Zi'an hurriedly walked in, Liu Juntao was shocked when he saw this, and secretly screamed that it was not good.

I saw Liu Zi'an whispering: "Governor! I just received a secret report that Your Majesty is in good health! ”

Liu Juntao couldn't help but feel nervous when he heard this, and asked, "Is the news reliable?" ”

"It came from the palace, it is said that His Majesty has been bedridden for more than half a month, and the imperial doctor has been diagnosing from the side, but it has never improved."

Liu Juntao walked back and forth in the big tent of the Chinese army, calculating the time in his heart, according to the historical process, Emperor Tianshun is indeed about to "expire", the reason why Liu Juntao didn't care about it before was that he thought that the process of history had changed, but he didn't expect the inertia of the historical process to be so great.

Now that Emperor Tianshun is seriously ill, Liu Juntao is not sure when Emperor Tianshun will die suddenly, especially now that the Hanhai Protectorate has not yet been established, it is even more worrying.

Liu Zi'an is also very anxious next to him, once Emperor Tianshun suddenly dies, there will be chaos in the court, and now the army is lonely in the desert, once there is turmoil in the rear, it will be a catastrophe!

"Duxian, are you considering withdrawing the army in advance, at least withdrawing the army to the area around Hanhai City to garrison?"

Liu Juntao is also entangled, now that the grassland departments have just surrendered, if he suddenly leads the army to retreat, it will definitely make the grassland departments suspicious.

At this time, as long as Jia Silan takes the opportunity to lead the army north, it is very likely that he will steal the vast territory that the soldiers of the Tiance Army have worked so hard to fight!

"Wait!"

Liu Juntao said: "Withdrawing troops now will do more harm than good!" To put it mildly, even if His Majesty suddenly returns to heaven, the loss of support from the army is not something that can happen in a day or two. ”

"But Duxian, this is an adventure!"

Liu Juntao frowned, groaned, and said; "The Ministry of Intelligence continues to keep an eye on His Majesty's current situation and report the news at any time. At the same time, the armies were ordered to be ready and ready to move at any time. ”

Liu Zi'an knew that Liu Juntao still wanted to continue to be stationed here, so he no longer advised.

Then, Liu Juntao began to seize the time to deal with various matters, and used both grace and power against the leaders of the grassland, constantly beating everyone, making the leaders of the various departments frightened, and the fear of the Ming Dynasty was even stronger.

At the same time, Liu Juntao appointed Hu Dexing, the chief military officer of Shandong Town, to begin the reorganization of more than 80,000 servant troops, preparing to reorganize these servant armies into the garrison of the Hanhai Metropolitan Protectorate in one month, and to expand the establishment of six battalions of soldiers and horses from the front, middle, and rear battalions on the left, and the front, middle, and rear battalions on the right, and reorganize them into three armies on the left, center, and right, each of which has three cavalry battalions under its jurisdiction, with a total of nine battalions.

Just when Liu Juntao was busy here, the court and China also began to argue, and the focus of the courtiers' argument was how to reward Liu Juntao, the uncle of Ningbei, after all, the merit of annihilating the enemy country and expanding the territory was too great, and the court had a feeling that there was nothing to be sealed and rewarded.