Chapter Ninety-One: The Mughal Army Lays Out the Defense Line, Ottoman Envoys***

The Mughal army was defeated and rebuilt its defensive line.

On the side of the Yaogang army, Qin Peng and Jiang Wei were not happy, they did not fully achieve their combat goals. They still underestimated the difficulty of marching in the rainforest, and the more than 300,000 officers and soldiers of the Mughal Empire army who were buried in the col were all wiped out, but most of the kiln officers and soldiers of the Mughal Empire army on the road to encirclement and annihilation were not in place in time. In order to avoid casualties caused by the disparity in numbers, Qin Peng only ordered them to attack and harass, but did not attack. This freed most of the Mughal imperial troops on the road.

Qin Peng and Jiang Wei both felt that this was a very big lesson, and they both felt very regretful, because they had made full preparations, wanting to annihilate most of the Mughal Empire's troops in this battle, and then they could attack across the Brahmaputra River and attack and advance towards the territory of the Mughal Empire.

Now, the Mughal army still has hundreds of thousands of troops on the east bank of the Brahmaputra River, and they have built a defensive line. Qin Peng was originally worried that they would escape the river, but now he was relieved.

Whether it is Qin Peng, Jiang Wei, or the staff officers, they will not doubt that they can completely break through the defense line of the Mughal Empire army in one battle, blow up the bridge over the river, and completely annihilate the army on the east bank of the Brahmaputra River.

Jiang Wei said: "Now it seems that the situation is not bad. Jahan must have thought they had lost this time. We haven't fully exposed our abilities until now, otherwise they would have run away long ago. Where they are building a defensive line now, they just feel that they still have the ability to fight us. ”

"Hmm!" Qin Peng nodded and said, "The question is, are we going to attack them now, or are we waiting for them to attack?" If we attack it, the army on the west bank of the Brahmaputra will run. If we don't attack and continue to lure them to attack, I think it's still advantageous. They are numerous, logistics are a big problem, and their strategic goal is to get rid of us. We might as well not move. When most of their army is out, we will counterattack. Completely annihilate their main force on our preset battlefield! ”

"I also don't think these Mughal armies seem to be very good at fighting. It is entirely possible that we will completely and militarily deal with their main forces on the east bank of the Brahmaputra River. Jiang Wei also agreed with Qin Peng's opinion.

Qin Peng sent his opinion back to the command center, and Ouyang He's call back to them was: You make a decision according to the situation on the battlefield. We have no opinion!

This is a great trust, and Qin Peng and Jiang Wei both breathed a sigh of relief when they received the telegram. They were worried that their families would have to worry about the future outcome of Siamese Laos and other issues, and they would urge them to attack. Now it seems that there is no need to worry.

Qin Peng and Jiang Wei led a group of staff officers to reformulate the battle plan. At this point, the army of the Mughal Empire is also too far behind the Yaogang army. The Yaogang people fought a war, and a staff group made a battle plan. If you think about the problem more often, you will be comprehensive, and the Mughal Empire is still a major general in command, and the whole gap is too big.

Yaogang radio and newspapers reported the victory of the total annihilation of more than 300,000 troops of the Mughal Empire, and of course the whole country was jubilant, but soon the people were busy with their own affairs. The place where the battle was fought was too far away from them, and the battle reports of the kiln were almost constant.

However, there is an advantage to the constant success, that is, it is very easy to recruit soldiers, and Li Yan personally supervised the release of color feature films, which greatly increased the attractiveness of the army to young people. I heard that the Yaogang army was going to recruit soldiers, and the applicants were almost crowded.

Li Yan had already thought of this, and according to Li Yan's suggestion, the recruitment quota was allocated to each county, and at the same time strict soldier standards were proposed. There aren't many places in such a county. These places have become treasures. Being able to join the army is the best, which also improves the status of soldiers in people's hearts.

The number of Yaogang people recruited this time is a very low number. The Northwest Frontier Army is to be expanded into three armies, and they are to be stationed on the westernmost border for a long time and at the same time to carry out reclamation. The Northern Frontier Army was also expanded into three border guards, leaving one army on the Baotou line and the other two moving to the Ural Mountains. Assist Jiang to garrison them and carry out reclamation at the same time. On the entire western front, from north to south, a total of five border guards were reclaimed. Of course, you can't advertise it like this when recruiting.

With Qin Peng's infantry as the main side, two border guards were to be formed on the east bank of the Brahmaputra River to garrison the border with the Mughal Empire.

Emperor Chongzhen, who came back from attending the ceremony in Kaifeng, called Zhang Zhimu to the Yaogang Hotel for this matter.

Emperor Chongzhen's favorite thing to participate in is the ribbon cutting of various openings, as if he can get a lot of festive good luck from here.

Seeing Zhang Zhimu, Emperor Chongzhen first told him with great interest, how grand the ribbon-cutting was this time, and the many benefits brought by Tongguan to Kaifeng. It was also mentioned that the progress of the Kaifeng Yellow River Bridge is very fast, and the steel pipe piers are so magical. And how big the Kaifeng change is. Wait a minute.

After saying this, Emperor Chongzhen turned to the topic and asked, "Zhang Dongjia, where does your army want to fight next?" ”

"Huh?" Zhang Zhimu was a little strange, "Your Majesty, I don't understand the question you asked?" ”

"Don't hide it!" Emperor Chongzhen said, "The concubine Zhuang who went to the ceremony with us also quietly asked me, where are we going to fight next?" I was so embarrassed that I couldn't answer! ”

Zhang Zhimu felt even more strange, "Your Majesty, you know all our military operations!" Can I hide it from you? We have a heart-to-heart relationship with each other, and there is no need to hide it from you! ”

"Huh?" Emperor Chongzhen also felt strange, "Then what are you recruiting so many troops at once?" ”

"Hey!" Zhang Zhimu knew that Emperor Chongzhen had misunderstood, "Your Majesty, we have fought so many places to the west, we don't imagine that Genghis Khan will lose them in the end." This time, we have expanded the Northern Frontier Army and the North-Western Frontier Army. Then they moved to the border and let them reclaim there. In the future, each cantonment site will be built into a town or even a city of a certain scale, and then some people will be immigrated there, and even we want to set up several large farms, and the farms can hire temporary workers for up to three years. If workers are willing to put down roots, we offer support funds to help them put down roots. If you persist in this way for a few years, there will be a lot of stable population in the border areas. These populations are the foundation of our border stability. ”

"Good! All right! Emperor Chongzhen listened to Zhang Zhimu's explanation, and said in a loud voice, "You think long-term." I thought you were going to fight when you were conscripted! Now hello! I've never seen anyone rushing to be a soldier everywhere. ”

"In fact, we also deliberately recruited some more soldiers in each region, even if they came back from the army, they were all soldiers who had been trained and trained. It is the backbone of all places. Besides, there are some veterans in our army, and they should also go home to marry and have children! Zhang Zhimu said.

"Good! I really have to call Concubine Zhuang to tell her about this! Saying that, Emperor Chongzhen dialed Concubine Zhuang, obviously Emperor Chongzhen didn't need to ask to know Concubine Zhuang's phone, indicating that Emperor Chongzhen didn't call less.

The phone was connected, and Emperor Chongzhen smiled and told Concubine Zhuang what Zhang Zhimu told him.

After a while, Emperor Chongzhen got off the phone and said to Zhang Zhimu: "Concubine Zhuang suggests, when you recruit troops, don't forget, Mongolian young people are also willing to join the army!" ”

"Oops!" Zhang Zhimu clapped his hands and said, "I forgot about this, we should recruit more soldiers from the ethnic minorities." Train them well in the army, and they will be the backbone when they return to the local area. I forgot about this, and I should thank Concubine Zhuang for reminding me. In the future, there are some things that I need to listen to more people's opinions. This makes it easier to think things through. ”

"That's right!" Emperor Chongzhen said, "In the past, in Beijing, I just liked to think about problems alone. It's hard to think about the results. ”

For Emperor Chongzhen to have such an idea, Zhang Zhimu still feels that it is not easy. Emperor Chongzhen used to be too rigid and self-serving, and he made a lot of efforts, but he didn't do everything well.

When the Ottoman delegation came to Yaogang, they wanted to see Emperor Chongzhen immediately, but Zhang Zhimu did not agree to ask the emperor to see them immediately. These days, Emperor Chongzhen is indeed busy, just participated in the completion of the Great Hall of the People ribbon cutting, and participated in the opening ceremony of the martial arts Go competition. Then, the opening of the trade fair exhibition and so on, one after another ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Emperor Chongzhen will participate and speak. Emperor Chongzhen never felt tired of such things, because these things had to be reported on the radio and newspapers. In particular, TV stations can now also record live and broadcast TV programs in the evening. Every time Emperor Chongzhen saw his own image from the TV, he was happier than drinking ice water on dog days.

The level of reception of the Ottoman mission was still very high, and they and Emperor Chongzhen both lived in the Yaogang Hotel. Although I live in a hotel, I want to see the emperor, but I have to wait for the arrangement.

When the Ottoman envoys saw the battle of the kiln gang people in Bukhara, they hurried to the kiln gang. Ningde understands their urgent mood very well, and also takes special care of them. Send a couple of trucks to deliver the goods, and take them with you on the way back. The cars that participated in the war and ran long distances were all one and one pair, two drivers, and one apprentice. As long as they refueled, the three drivers took turns driving, and they did not rest at night, and they continued to hurry.

The Ottoman missions sat in cars, in wagons, which were much more enjoyable than riding horses, at least they could lie down and relax and sleep. And they are not afraid of wind and rain. Riding a car for the first time, they felt like they had arrived in heaven. Although the road is not very well repaired, that is, it is barely allowed to pass through cars. But this is unimaginable for them. Especially on the road, they can also eat canned beef in the car, convenient noodles and compressed biscuits and other convenient foods, which they did not expect.

The car took them all the way to the Hami train station, and when they saw the train they were talking about, their eyes straightened.

The shopkeeper who accompanied them went to the station to contact them and arranged for them to leave the train the next day, and all of them arranged sleepers. At this time, Hami has been developing rapidly due to the train for several years. On the same day, they stayed in an inn with electric lights. That night, like all first-time guests to Hami, they watched a movie.

These envoys of the Ottoman Empire are also considered elite figures in the Ottoman Empire, but I didn't expect that they would be like countrymen who have no knowledge here. The confidence they had worked so hard to muster soon eroded.

When they finally got on the train, they looked forward to the train moving, and when the train started, they lay on the window glass one by one, looking out at the speeding scenery, and many people thought that most people would probably not believe it when they told people about it when they returned to the Ottoman Empire. Because they had heard such things from the merchants who had returned from the Ming Dynasty before, they all thought that these were ghost stories made up by those merchants, and no one would take them seriously.

They took a train to Lanzhou, then took a boat to Hequ, and then changed trains to Yaogang. At this time, the envoys of the Ottoman Empire had already understood from their hearts that the Ottoman Empire and the Ming Dynasty could not be compared, let alone oppose, and the only way out was reconciliation. But the envoys did not forget that they had come for muskets.

In the past few days waiting for the summons in the kiln, the Ottoman envoys took the time to go around the kiln, and they were really shocked by the dazzling kiln. Here, whether it is food, clothing, housing and transportation, you need to learn, otherwise it is easy to make jokes. Nor was the heaven of their hearts like this. Electric light and telephone movies, they have seen it as early as Hami. But they can't understand the TV that is played every day here, although they can't understand what is said in the TV at all, but as long as they are in the room, they will turn on the TV, and at night they will see that the TV is gone. Confidence is all gone, I just want to see the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, hoping that the emperor can give them muskets.

Finally, they were looking forward to Emperor Chongzhen summoning them, they bathed and changed their clothes, brought prepared gifts, and went to meet Emperor Chongzhen.

Seeing them, Emperor Chongzhen was also very happy, and after the salute, Emperor Chongzhen invited him to sit down and talk. The envoys did not dare to sit down.

Emperor Chongzhen smiled and said, "Hehe! Have a seat! When you arrive at Yaogang, the first thing you should learn is democracy. It's a very liberal and democratic place! "Emperor Chongzhen has unconsciously begun to propagate the idea of democracy. made Liu Jiantai, a university scholar, and the others all glanced at each other and didn't dare to speak.

After the envoys sat down, they introduced how their sultans admired the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and how the Ming Dynasty was rich in products and culture.

Emperor Chongzhen also spoke politely to them.

The envoy then described the wars they had fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire.

Emperor Chongzhen said: "The Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire are both friendly countries to us, and we hope that you can also solve the problem peacefully, so that there will be less bloodshed and the burden on the people will be reduced." We definitely don't take sides. ”

The Ottoman envoy was waiting for this, and he got up and arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, Supreme Emperor, we have a question that we do not understand, and the Sultan would like to ask you, since we are a friendly country, why did you sell your muskets to the Russian Empire, causing us to lose hundreds of thousands of troops and cause us great damage?" ”

Emperor Chongzhen deliberately didn't understand, so he let the translator determine the side, and after what the envoy said, Emperor Chongzhen said: "What you said is definitely a misunderstanding, and we will definitely not sell arms to any of you." ”

The envoy said resolutely: "The muskets they used on the battlefield are your Ming Dynasty's. Moreover, we have been informed that you have sent military instructors to train officers and soldiers for them in the Russian army. This is not child's play, we have solid evidence. ”

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen said resolutely: "We will definitely not take sides between you and the Russian Empire. As for what you said about the use of our muskets by the Russian Imperial Army on the battlefield, and the fact that people were sent to train them. I'm going to look into it thoroughly. If there is such a thing, we will give you an explanation! Please give me a little time. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for our visit this time, and the Sultan would like to ask His Majesty to sell us some advanced weapons. Hundreds of thousands of our Imperial soldiers died under the muskets of the Russian Empire, and this revenge must be avenged! "The envoy's words not only wanted to buy weapons, but also complained that your Ming Dynasty's muskets had caused us a lot of casualties in the hands of the Russians, and you should give us some compensation.

Emperor Chongzhen did not give it for nothing, and immediately said: "This thing of selling weapons is absolutely impossible." Especially since your two countries are at war, we are all friendly countries to us, and we will not sell weapons to any side. As for what you said about the Russians' use of our muskets, I have to investigate before I can give you an answer! ”

In fact, Emperor Chongzhen's reception of the Ottoman envoys was a formality, and Zhang Zhimu had already explained it.

After that, the Ottoman envoys never saw Emperor Chongzhen again.

In the end, the treasurer of the kiln who accompanied them back secretly told them that the muskets were second-hand goods, and they were supposed to be sold to the West, but they were sold to the Russians by the generals and profiteers who were not good at the border, and it is said that the Russians bought a lot of muskets. Now the imperial court probably knows about this, but it is not possible to find out the evidence in a day or two.

When the envoy heard this, he became anxious, "If you can find out about this matter, Russia will not attack Istanbul." What should I do? You're going to help me! ”

The big shopkeeper said, "I can't leave your business alone, but you also know that I am a small shopkeeper here, and I can't decide anything." But our boss has a lot of trust in me, and I'll find a way to introduce you to him. Let's see if he can do anything. But you have to think about what to say! ”

"Good! Thank you for your busy shift! As he spoke, a piece of silver slipped into his hand.

When this piece of silver was placed on Lu Chengxiang's table, Lu Chengxiang smiled and said, "Okay! When the heat is ready, it's time to unveil the pot! Bring him to me tomorrow! ”

The next day, the Ottoman envoys came to the old captain's office in the kiln hill treasurer. He knew that not everyone could get into the office of the big shopkeeper of Yaogang. He knew that this big shopkeeper was in charge of most of the financial power of the kiln, and he was also the veteran who followed Zhang Zhimu to start a business.

The amiable Lu Chengxiang gave them tea, and listened carefully to the envoy's introduction to the situation and their thoughts.

After listening, Lu Chengxiang's expression became a little solemn and said, "Your affairs involve affairs between countries, as well as the affairs of the imperial court. It stands to reason that we should try to stay away from these things. ”

The envoy listened to Lu Chengxiang's words, and his heart suddenly became cold again.

The shopkeeper who followed him back from the Ottoman Empire said: "Mr. Lu, we are doing business in the Ottoman Empire, and they have helped us a lot. ”

Lu Chengxiang deliberately put the water glass down, glared at him and said, "Mouth too much, if you don't get this thing right, you will lose your head." ”

The scene suddenly became cold, and the Ottoman envoy finally grabbed a straw and said that he didn't want to let go, but he still sat still.

Seeing them like this, Lu Chengxiang let out a long sigh and said, "Hey! With my face, I will talk to Mr. Zhang about this! ”

Now the envoy already knows that the actual head of the kiln gang is this Mr. Zhang. Lu Chengxiang can talk to Zhang Zhimu, there may be a way to do this!

The envoy hurriedly got up and said, "Thank you Mr. Lu for your help!" ”

"Don't thank me yet! I don't know what Mr. Zhang thinks about this. There are too many people and things involved, and they don't want to care about it! Saying that, Lu Chengxiang got up and entered the back room and closed the door. They all knew that Lu Chengxiang was calling Mr. Zhang.

After a while, Lu Chengxiang opened the door and came out of the back room, and the ministers and the ministers all stood up.

Lu Chengxiang's face was good, and he said, "Sit down and talk!" ”

After everyone sat down, Lu Chengxiang asked, "Are you sure that the Russians used muskets on the battlefield?" ”

The envoy stood up and said, "It's true, otherwise our hundreds of thousands of imperial troops would not have been defeated by the Russians!" ”

"Sit down and talk!" Lu Chengxiang said, "If that's the case, then it's easy to do." Our Mr. Zhang said that there will be no results in the investigation of this matter by the imperial court. It was a business done in partnership between the people in the imperial court and the generals in the imperial army, and no one would find a result if they investigated. Even if it is found, it will not help. We'll find a way to get you muskets back too. But this matter cannot be made public, and our court will never sell weapons to the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire. This is to be clear. But we can do this deal privately. But on the condition that you keep it a secret forever and not tell where you bought the weapons. Can it be done? ”

"Yes! Yes! Absolutely! "The envoy has the feeling of being in a desperate situation.

"Okay, you can help the envoy do this!" Lu Chengxiang pointed to the people who accompanied the Ottoman envoys and said, "We have a batch of muskets on the Hami side, and we will give them all." Otherwise, it will fall into the hands of the Russians. ”

When the Ottoman envoys heard that there was a batch of muskets on Hami's side, they were really surprised and delighted. If this had not been done today, another batch of muskets would have fallen into the hands of the Russians, what a threat. Now not only can the Russians not get this batch of robberies, but it is a great joy for them.

However, the envoy suddenly asked, "Mr. Lu, can we buy some rifles for you?" ”

After hearing this, Lu Chengxiang's round face suddenly grew, and the envoy knew that he shouldn't say such a thing, so he immediately waved his hand and said, "I'm sorry!" Mr. Lu, I was wrong, I shouldn't have made this request! ”