Hami is actually a tribal kingdom built on the Gobi oasis, and its populated places are distributed in the oasis areas where the springs are exposed to the ground, such as Qijiaojing, Sandaoling, Wubao, and Sibao, with a total population of 2-30,000. However, its agriculture irrigated by spring water is very developed, and it is an extremely wealthy Gobi oasis.

Located at the southern foot of the eastern section of the Tianshan Mountains, the Hami Basin is surrounded by the Balku Mountains, the Karlik Mountains and the Gashun Gobi. The Tien Shan Mountains to the north completely block the water vapor from the basin, making the entire Hami basin region dry and windy. Its northeast to southwest sloping terrain also makes this place easy to attack and difficult to defend.

Although Hamiman can be a self-sufficient oasis* to survive, it is known as the gateway to the Western Regions as the only way from the mainland to the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and with the development of agriculture here, there is enough food surplus. Therefore, in peacetime, this place is a resting place for trade between the mainland and the Western Regions; In times of war, it became a foothold for the two places to attack each other.

After the Ming Dynasty, the Central Plains lost its ambition to expand outward, and Hami also entered the stronghold of the Western Regions from the Central Plains and became a guard for the people and money. When Turpan arose, it destroyed the Hami Kingdom several times, and finally made the Ming abandon this stronghold and retreat the defense line to Jiayuguan.

With the rise of the Yarkand Khanate, the Ming Seven Guards outside the Jiayu Pass were finally forced into the Jiayu Pass by the people of the Yarkand Khanate. Since the Ming Dynasty reopened the trade route in the Western Regions, the old guards outside Jiayu Pass began to be restored one by one. In the middle of August of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Ding Guodong of the Ming army led more than 700 cavalry to appear outside the city of Hami, although there was a Hami Aqimu sent by the governor of Turpan in the city, but this Aqimu had no idea of resisting the Ming army in the city, he took his family and cronies and subordinates to quietly flee from Hami City that night.

Early the next morning, the Burkes in Hami City were also surprised to find that the Aqimu family had been emptied. As the crowd gathered around the streets outside the Achim Mansion to discuss what to do, Burke Murthal stepped forward and said, "We have lived in Hami for generations, and we have never been with the Muguls from Central Asia. When Lord Aqimu fled, he didn't say a word to us, do you still expect to be praised by the governor and the king of the Khan after fleeing to Turpan? ”

The other Burkes were also in a hurry to go to the doctor at this time, so they asked this Burke, who was not of high rank, what should everyone do now. Mo Teyaer immediately said in a loud voice: "We have always surrendered to the Ming Dynasty before, but in the end, the Ming Dynasty was unwilling to protect us anymore, so we were forced to surrender to Turpan.

Since ancient times, it was we, the Hami people, who ruled Turpan, and it was only in these decades that we became subjects of Turpan. In my opinion, we should immediately open the city gate to welcome the Ming officials, even if we can't restore our previous status, we don't have to pay taxes to the governor of Turpan..."

The other Hami Burkes quickly accepted their ideas, but they were still somewhat worried about whether the Ming army would accept their submission. So he recommended that Momo Teyarber go out of the city first to negotiate with the Ming army, and then welcome the Ming army into Hami City.

As the vanguard of the army, Ding Guodong naturally didn't expect such an unexpected joy. He didn't think his army would be able to take Hami City, so he didn't even build siege equipment when he stopped in the village outside the city. However, before sending troops, the governor told them that after sending troops, the army must be restrained and civilians must not be harassed, so the order in the village where the Ming army is stationed is acceptable.

When Momo Teyar Berke came to the army with some of Hami's fathers and elders, he found that there were no corpses or captured women in the village where the Ming army was stationed, and his heart suddenly settled down. During the internal wars in the Yarkand Khanate, the recruited soldiers killed and plundered their own civilians in the same way as foreign invaders. Compared with that kind of army, the military discipline of these Ming troops can be regarded as Qiu Wu.

Silent Teyar Burke was even more determined to surrender to the Ming army, and Ding Guodong naturally would not put up any shelf for the door-to-door visits of these Hami fathers. He immediately left his military affairs behind, and went out to greet these Hami fathers who had come to pay tribute to the army, and tried his best to win over the leader of this group, Murteyar Berke.

After another banquet and secret talk, Momo Teyar Burke immediately told Ding Guodong about the reality of the city and the population distribution of Hami, and reported to him Hami's request to return to the Ming Dynasty. Ding Guodong agreed to the request of Mostyaerbork, and temporarily appointed him as the governor of Hami, who would manage the local people until the arrival of the governor and the army.

Ten days later, the Senator of the Governor's Palace, Fan Yixing, arrived in Hami with a group and a half led by Wang Shizhong, and Fan Yixuan greatly appreciated Ding Guodong's quick decision. He not only removed the temporary words on the head of the Momo Teyar in the name of the Senate of the Governor's Palace, but also did not rush to urge the army to continue to advance westward, but inspected all parts of Hami with the Momo Teyar, and promoted several Burke, who were trusted by the local people, to serve as water officials and judicial officers, which greatly stabilized the psychology of the people of Hami, and made Hami quickly become the rear of the Ming army.

When Mei Zhihuan, the governor of Ganning, led the main force to Hami City, the Ming army's rule over Hami was already deep-rooted. At this time, the Ming army had assembled nearly 8,000 people from the entire 21st Division in Hami, as well as more than 3,000 Gansu border troops and more than 1,700 Turpan self-defense troops. Due to the support of Hami's abundant granary, the Ming army did not have to travel long distances to transport grain.

At this time, it is also the most suitable season of the year for Hami and Turpan, not only there is no wind and sand, but the temperature is also extremely comfortable. Therefore, Mei Zhihuan slightly repaired his troops in Hami, and decided to go to recover the entire Turpan region, and he left Senator Lu Daqi and more than 1,000 people to guard Hami and supervise the construction of the railway to extend to Hami.

At this time, there are only more than 360 kilometers of railways left from Jiayuguan to Hami City, according to the speed of laying 6-7 kilometers of railroad tracks every day, the railway can be repaired to Hami City before and after winter, so the material transportation speed from Jiayuguan to Hami is enough to increase by 2-3 times, and the cost can be reduced to about 30%. Therefore, this railway is much more important in Mei Zhihuan's heart than Hami City.

From the edge of the Hami Basin, the oasis Qijiaojing and 13 rooms to the west, is the Turpan Basin. To the north of the basin is the tall Tianshan Mountain Range, but there are also two low mountains in the basin that run east-west, and the north is the Flaming Mountain, which is less than 900 meters; to the south is Jueluotag Mountain, about meters; Between the two is the largest oasis in the Turpan Basin.

What is surprising is that the mountains here are all bare loess rocks, but the low ravines are overgrown with lush trees, the Ming officers and soldiers who came to the Western Regions for the first time, seeing such a scene very different from their hometown, simply thought that they had come to another world.

However, Fan Yixuan quickly found the reason and publicized it to the officers and soldiers to dispel the doubts in the hearts of these soldiers. It is actually the same as the Hami area, because of the dry climate, only the area through which the river flows can grow vegetation. And even the rivers in the Turpan Basin are in sinking ravines, so there is such a strange scene.

The three largest oases in the Turpan Basin, Turpan, Bizhan and Tuoxun, are all located in the area north of the central part of the basin, which is 200 miles away from Qijiaojing, and is also the smallest of the three oases. The news of the Ming army's attack on the Yarkand Khanate had long been brought back by Hami Aqimu, who had fled back.

In order to cover up his escape without a fight, this Hami Aqimu threatened the defenders of Bizhan that the vanguard of the Ming army was five or six thousand people, and all of them were extremely vicious, and the villages that did not surrender to them were directly slaughtered by the Ming army. The defenders of Bizhan, who only had six or seven hundred old and weak soldiers, were suddenly frightened, and the elite soldiers in this region had already been transferred to the command of the eastern khan and were attacking Aksu and other places, where could the remaining old and weak soldiers withstand the attack of so many Ming troops.

Since the people of Hami surrendered peacefully to the Ming army, and the Ming army did not make any brutal moves, naturally no one ran to Turpan. However, there was not the slightest movement in the Hami area, which convinced these defenders of the news of the massacre of the Ming army in Hami, otherwise how could no one flee?

So when the vanguard of the Ming army appeared outside the city, it was found that the city had basically become an empty city, and most of the soldiers and civilians had fled to the city of Turpan in the west. After Fan Yixuan arrived here, he disliked the unpleasant name of the exhibition, so he changed this place to Shanshan in the name of the ancient Shanshan country.

Although the Ming army easily captured Hami and Shanshan, but most of the defenders in the Turpan area also shrank to Turpan and Tuoxun, because they did not resist the invasion of the Ming army, so the strength of the defenders in Turpan City not only did not decrease, but increased slightly.

Unlike the weak and incompetent Hami Aqim, the Yarkand governor stationed in Turpan, the younger brother of the Eastern Khan, Sulitang, was still a figure. On the one hand, he disposed of the fleeing Hami Aqimu and Bizhan Aqimu, and on the other hand, he pacified the soldiers and civilians brought back by the two Aqimu, enriched the garrison of Turpan City, and stabilized the hearts of the people in the city.

At the same time, after sending an emissary to his brother Abdul Raha' Khan asking for help, Sulitan sent an emissary to the Ming army to question him, trying to delay the Ming army's attack.

However, Mei Zhihuan did not leave much time for Su Li Tang at this time, from Shanshan to the west about 250 miles is Turpan City, Bai Su Li Tang, the governor of Turpan in recent years, has done a great job of repairing various passages, from Shanshan to Turpan The road is extremely smooth and wide, Wang Shizhong and Ding Guodong led more than 3,500 people, and it took only 3 days to arrive at 30 miles outside Turpan.

After receiving the news of the arrival of the Ming army that night, the governor of Turpan, Su Litang, personally led 5,000 men and horses out of the city to meet the battle, trying to take advantage of the unstable foothold of the Ming army to repel the Ming army.

Wang Shizhong and Ding Guodong saw that the defenders of Hami and Bizhan had fled without a fight, and they couldn't help but underestimate the combat strength of Yarkand Khan's ** team for a while. When they saw the Yarkand army coming out of the city to meet the battle, holding long cards in formation, advancing and retreating in an orderly manner, they became vigilant.

The Yarkand Khanate originated from the Mughurs in Central Asia, so the way their armies fought was heavily influenced by Central Asian armies. For example, the army dismounted and fought on foot, the elite soldiers in armor and cards were in front of the array, the skirmishers were behind them, and the cavalry was divided into two wings. The elite soldiers broke through the formation, the stragglers broke through and routed the enemy, and the cavalry pursued the fleeing enemy army.

The long plaques used by the Yarkand soldiers were made of pine wood and were extremely thick. Therefore, during the first battle, the Ming army's shooting failed to penetrate the long card and had to be defeated. However, Wang Shizhong soon realized that these elite soldiers in armor and cards were moving slowly, and it was difficult for them to catch up with their own soldiers, and the cavalry led by Ding Guodong firmly blocked the cavalry on both flanks of Yarkand, allowing him to regroup.

So he divided the team into several columns, and retreated with his guns in turn, although he failed to break the formation of the Yarkand infantry, but at least stopped the footsteps of the opposing infantry. He then sent two more musketeers to assist the cavalry on both flanks, and the Yarkand cavalry, without long card cover, quickly fled back after leaving behind a hundred or so corpses.

Suritang soon discovered that his elite infantry was able to defeat the opposing musketeers, but could not catch up. The skirmishers and cavalry were able to catch up with each other, but they could not beat the cavalry and musketeers of the opposing side. After noticing that his hoplites were starting to show fatigue, Suritang had to order the withdrawal of his troops back to the city.

In this battle, Sulitang actually had a small advantage, the Ming army lost nearly 300 people, while the Yarkand army only lost more than 160 people.

Wang Shizhong and Ding Guodong therefore dispelled the idea of directly attacking Turpan, and retreated the military camp ten miles back, waiting for the arrival of the main force.