Although Zheng Heng arrived in Shattered Leaf City in December last year, he ostensibly stood still.

But in fact, from the moment he arrived in Shattered Leaf City, it had become an important battlefield for international diplomacy.

In the third year of Yongle, Timur died, and his sons competed for the throne.

In the seventh year of Yongle, the grandson of Haril Sultan, who was succeeded by Timur, was detained by the rebel generals, and Shaharu took the opportunity to march into Central Asia, expelled the rebel generals, seized Samarkand, quelled the internal strife, and conferred Samarkand on his son Ulugh Beg.

From then on, the areas under the jurisdiction of the former Timurid Empire, with the exception of western Persia, Iraq and Syria, eastern Persia and Transoxiana were unified by Shahru.

Shah Ruh and Ulugh Beg, both father and son, were rare scholarly monarchs who, during their reigns, developed their economies and expanded their cultural influence.

This period was the golden age of Samarkand, with a prosperous economy, a large number of merchants from all over the world, a rich treasury, a prosperous academic culture, and a large number of court scholars.

Although the news that the Ming was going to take action against Timur had been spreading for several years, no one thought that the Ming would have an advantage at first.

This is not because the strength of the Timurid State is strong, and no country can compare with the Ming Dynasty in terms of comprehensive national strength.

The reason why the Ming Dynasty is considered to be at a disadvantage is because of the expedition of the Ming labor division on the one hand, and because of the strong cavalry of the Timurid State on the other hand.

Shaharu was a well-known poet who valued cultural education. Ulugh Beg was a well-known mathematician and astronomer since childhood.

The period between the father and son, from the seventh year of Yongle to the nineteenth year of Yongle, more than tripled the economy of Timur.

Moreover, their powerful cavalry, flexible methods of warfare, are almost invincible.

After Zhu Zhanji's eastward expedition to the east and his great achievements in Nanyang, everyone realized that the Ming Dynasty, with the new musket, was already in an advantageous position.

The Mengyuan people in Mobei have completely admitted defeat, and they dare not have any more disputes with the Ming Dynasty, and this influence has reached the northwest countries.

Shaharu and Ulugh Beg, after determining that the Ming Dynasty was about to go west, had been devoting great energy to the study of new muskets. However, the barrel they wrapped in a forged way still could not avoid the result of a bore.

They sent a secret entry into the Ming Dynasty, but because of the blockade of the Ming Dynasty, they only knew that the Ming Dynasty used the casting method to directly cast the barrel, but they did not understand the specific process.

Raising the temperature of the furnace was a problem before the Second Industrial Revolution, and although Shaharu and Ulugh Bo were brilliant and virtuous, they could not break through the limitations of the times.

Although Timur had a lot of iron ore, the temperature of their furnace could not reach it, so they could only forge it by manpower after the iron was half melted. It is not possible to completely melt the molten iron, and even stainless steel is difficult to refine, let alone an alloy barrel.

They are still calm and reassuring on the surface, but in reality they are not very optimistic.

However, the strong cavalry still gave them enough confidence, and they did not think that the advantages of Timur could be easily neutralized.

In particular, their southern navy was defeated by Zhu Zhanji in the Persian Gulf at once, which was a great blow to the entire Timurid state.

To that end, last year, Ulugh Beg also built a huge observatory in Samarkand, with a giant quadrant with a radius of 40 meters and other instruments.

With this instrument, Ulugh Beg was able to determine the length of a year more accurately, and in doing so, he determined the positions and distances of hundreds of stars, showing that they surpassed the Ming in astronomy and astrology.

The strength of the Ming Dynasty is not known to many lower-class people because of the closure of information. In the hearts of many ordinary people, the state of Timur, which was transformed from the Western Chakhatai Khanate, was the most powerful country after the Mongol and Yuan Empire.

This kind of morale may not have much effect on the battlefield, but in terms of the potential for war, it has the potential for more resilience.

Their people will think that even if a temporary war is unfavorable, it is not inevitable, but only accidental, and they will not lose the confidence to resist.

When Zheng Heng arrived in Shattered Leaf City, the battle had not yet begun. Not only the people of Timur, but also the Golden Horde, many tribes of the Eastern and Western Chahatai Khanate, still believed that the Ming could not win.

In the face of Zheng Heng's wooing, these people were unmoved, and even hindered it.

The southern route army was in full swing, and the news of the war on the Persian plateau was blocked by Shahru, but too many herders who had abandoned their homes still spread the news to the north.

At this moment, everyone was dumbfounded.

The defeat of the navy can be said to be because the Ming Dynasty had artillery, but Timur did not, so it suffered a big loss.

But people used to have the impression that the musket was not even as powerful as the longbow.

Now Timur's cavalry was almost powerless to fight back, and was defeated and defeated again and again, making everyone realize that the power of the new musket was by no means comparable to that of the musket that was easy to explode.

Da Ming, who has an invincible musket, even if he is now at a disadvantage in numbers, is unstoppable with his absolute superiority.

In the past, one cavalry could deal with almost three infantrymen, but a thousand cavalry could deal with five thousand cavalry.

Now it was a thousand musketeers, with the help of barbed wire and trenches, who were able to annihilate five thousand cavalry.

The number of Timur was much smaller than that of the Ming Dynasty, and they were not a hierarchical centralized state, but an alliance of tribes and forces.

In the face of unfavorable fighting, Shaharu faced tremendous pressure, and all the tribes except for his direct tribe almost lost control.

Zhu Di people killed people in the south, and the tribes left in the south cried for their fathers and mothers. Across the Pamirs and the deserts of Afghanistan, the tribes of the north began to secretly communicate with Zheng Heng.

Zheng Heng also did not expect that the war in the south would go so smoothly, he spent 2,000 men to open up the Pamir Plateau, and established an information channel with the Southern Route Army, and now it seems that it will soon lose its effect.

This is because many tribes saw that the Ming Dynasty was unstoppable and the Shaharu regime was crumbling, and in order to avoid hostility with the Ming Dynasty, they were liquidated in the future, and now they began to surrender.

They were willing to hide from Shaharu and Ulugh Beg and provide intelligence support for the cooperation of the Ming army's northern and southern armies.

They didn't know that in the middle of the river to the north of the desert area of Afghanistan, the Ming had no idea of slaughter.

Zheng Heng wants to restore the territory of the Tang Dynasty, expand the territory of the Ming Dynasty to the Caspian Sea, and want to be a veritable emperor in the Hezhong region, so he is starting to work hard now.

No matter which tribe, as long as there was no direct conflict with Da Ming and is willing to take refuge now, Zheng Heng is willing to accept it.

On the second day of the first month of February, this was the agreed offensive time of the two route armies of the north and south, and the Ming Dynasty had been preparing for four years and fighting for four months, and had truly entered the stage of general offensive.

Within a month, the Southern Route Army had established a long offensive front outside the city of Herat, and tall trebuchets and artillery had been erected on three walls, except for the north.

And the Timurid people were not idle, in addition to strengthening the city wall, they also began to demolish houses and build fortresses in the city, hoping to bring the Ming people into a cruel strangulation war.

But their plan was unlikely to succeed from the beginning, because Zhu Di did not come to occupy this place, he had only one purpose, that is, to kill and injure as many enemies as possible, and not to invest too many troops in order to grab a city.

He arrived at Kochi in May and began his offensive in October, with four or five months in between to prepare more fire and oil bombs.

The riches of the city were not attractive to him, and besides, gold was not afraid of fire at all.

The city of Herat is a tall city, and with the exception of a few adobe walls, most of them are built with locally collected stones.

However, this city has no moat, and as long as it loses the protection of the city walls, it will directly face the attack of the Ming Dynasty.

Although their trebuchets were higher and farther than the Ming trebuchets, they were far inferior to artillery.

The first target of the Ming artillery was the trebuchets on the city walls, and when the trebuchets were destroyed by the artillery, they lost the most effective weapons they relied on.

However, the Ming attack did not go well, because their walls were too strong, and today's weapons are difficult to use.

Throughout February, the two sides were entangled in this back-and-forth attack.

The trebuchets on the Timurid city wall were destroyed, and they transferred the trebuchets behind the city walls, and they stocked up with plenty of fire oil bombs, which also made the Ming dare not attack directly.

Zhu Di is helpless about this situation, the capital of Timur here is a fortified city that must be taken.

Only by taking this place will the entire Timurid state really lose the will to resist.

However, the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were inconvenient to transport, and they did not dare to consume at will.

It was also at this time that Meng Ying finally arrived in Herat after a long journey of three months with prosperity.

This time, because they were all steam sailboats, it took less than two months to reach Khurumus.

In Kurumus, Meng Ying first showed Gu Xingzu Zhu Zhanji's grandson order, asking him to accept the position of the deceased Liu Jiang.

Meng Ying is highly respected and a descendant of Mencius, although Gu Xingzu got Zhu Di's order to temporarily take over the post of chief of the navy, but he did not dare to compete with Meng Ying.

However, Meng Ying was not appointed by Zhu Di, he took over Liu Jiang's naval position, Zhu Zhanji, the grandson of the superintendent of the country, and the governor of the navy had the final say, but now the chief soldier of the expeditionary army still needs Zhu Di's endorsement, otherwise it is not justified.

So he spent a few days receiving the admirals, and hurried to Herat with Changsheng and other craftsmen and his entourage.

In Herat's army, Meng Ying saw Zhu Di after a long absence, although the expedition was hard, Zhu Di was old, and he was slightly reduced, but his spirit was very good.

Meng Ying brought a lot of news from the Ming Dynasty, compiled these affairs into a book, and presented them to Zhu Di.

On behalf of the internal supervisor, Changsheng also provided a copy of the information submitted by the internal supervisor and Zhu Zhanji's letter, and Zhu Di first read Zhu Zhanji's letter.

Zhu Zhanji's control of the government has almost no loopholes, and it took less than a year to completely control the civil and military officials, which Zhu Di is quite satisfied with.

Moreover, Zhu Zhanji wrote this letter not as an heir, but in the tone of a grandson's concern for his grandfather, which made Zhu Di feel a lot.

At the end of the letter, Zhu Zhanji reported to him that the Ming Dynasty had developed ten times the explosives of the current gunpowder, and with this explosive, a new type of musket was developed.

Seeing this news, Zhu Di's spirits were greatly lifted, because the main reason why he couldn't attack Herat now was that the power of gunpowder was too small, if there was ten times the power of explosives, would this city wall still be a moat!

"Now that it's a new fire...... Explosives, can you bring them with us this time? ”

Meng Ying replied: "The new explosives are so powerful that they are difficult to transport, and this time we just brought materials and craftsmen to make them directly here." ”

After shouting a few times, Zhu Di said again: "Taisun said that you still have things to present to me, let me see them." ”

Meng Ying asked people to present locked wooden boxes, and Changsheng asked people to present two hundred bullets. And Tao Kan, who was sent by Zhu Zhanji, took out the key and taught Zhu Di to learn to use a pistol.

Zhu Zhanji didn't want Zhu Di to hurt himself because he forgot to turn off the insurance.

Looking at this strange-shaped iron thing, Zhu Di couldn't get in touch with the gun. The lump of iron, which was encased in a holster made of cowhide, seemed to him no different from a hammer that smashed a walnut.

But when Tao Kan skillfully disassembled the pistol, and then explained the role of each part in detail to Zhu Di, Zhu Di believed that this was a musket that did not need to be ignited.

And although this gun is small, it can actually hold fifteen rounds of ammunition at a time, which made Zhu Di a little stunned.

Holding this gun in his hand, Zhu Di felt very handy. He and Zhu Zhanji are both people with big bones and big hands, which are suitable for Zhu Zhanji's hand shape, and of course it is also suitable for his hand shape.

At this time, he couldn't hold it back, and shook the pistol in his hand, which frightened Tao Kan in front of him, but he didn't dare to stop Zhu Di, but he knelt down all of a sudden.

Zhu Di looked at him curiously, and Tao Kancai said with a sad face: "Your Majesty, the insurance is not closed, and the life of the slave and maid will be gone." ”

"Powerful?"

Tao Kan nodded and said, "In addition to being a little shorter, the power is amazing." ”

"Someone, bring a sheep to ......"

Zhu Di, who got a new toy, became interested, and everyone else was curious about whether such a gadget really had that much power?

Everyone hugged Zhu Di to the outside of the camp tent, and everyone gathered in a circle, watching Zhu Di point the gun in his hand at a sheep in the field.

Tao Kan persuaded for a long time before the people opposite Zhu Di got out of the way.

Zhu Di aimed the muzzle of the pistol at the sheep's head five meters away and pulled the trigger. There was a muffled sound, and a guard who was watching the excitement screamed miserably, hugged his thighs and fell down.

Tao Kan immediately picked up the bullet casings that were automatically abolished, and as for the unlucky guard, naturally there was a doctor to treat him.

Zhu Di didn't feel guilty, just a little embarrassed. Fortunately, his strength was still there, and he almost lost his gun just now.

This time, he gripped the handle of the gun hard and aimed it at the sheep's head again. Then a gunshot rang out, and the goat fell.

Zhang Chang knew that this was the credit of his nephew Zhu Zhanji, and immediately knelt down on one knee and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty, you have another artifact." ”

Zhu Di was overjoyed and ordered: "Go and bring a few more sheep, I will shoot a few more shots." ”

It was only then that he came to the hapless guard. It was impossible to make him apologize, and before he could speak, the imperial doctor had already said: "Your Majesty, the bullet is so powerful that it passed through the thigh and then into the ground, it is really an artifact!" ”

Zhu Di nodded, very happy in his heart. "Treat with heart, and reward twenty silver."

()

.。 m.