Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Bloody Battle of the Yarkands King Abdullaha Khan surrenders

Hearing the sound of horses' hooves, the Khan king Abdullaha was soaked with sweat. From the sound of horses' hooves in front, the Khan knew that the cavalry from the other side was not a few, and the soldiers around him had been crushed, and they were all like frightened birds, and they were not able to fight again. Now the front cavalry pressed over, and the pursuers came up again, with the Tarim River on the left, and only one direction on the right to go. But when he looked up to the right, his heart suddenly cooled to the bottom. Although there was no rumbling horses' hooves on the right, a long line of cavalry slowly and silently pressed towards them.

An official beside him exclaimed hoarsely: "King Khan, we are surrounded on three sides!" ”

King Khan Abdullaha waved his hand angrily and whipped him in the face, and at this time, there was no need to speak, everyone could understand the situation at this time.

But what worried them even more was that there was another sound of "boom boom" on the Tarim River, and the tugboat pulled the barge up again. Now it's not surrounded on three sides, but on all sides.

The officers and men who had withstood the fire from the barges desperately fled the riverbank, and the ranks of the Yarkand were even more disorganized.

King Abdullaha closed his eyes, put his hand on his chest and prayed for a while, then opened his eyes and ordered: "Allah bless us!" I order, kill along the Tarim River! ”

One of the generals beside the king of Khan shouted: "For Allah!" Come on! He took the lead and rushed forward.

The cavalry division brought by Li Kui did not hold the position at all. Li Kui and they all knew that the cavalry holding the position completely limited the mobility of the cavalry, and they might not be as good as the infantry in the position. Therefore, the cavalry division was divided into two parts and placed on the periphery, and their task was to make up for the Yarkand in the event of their rout.

When Li Kui telegraphed to inform the cavalry that the infantry had counterattacked and pursued, the cavalry began to move.

When the Yaogang cavalry saw the Yarkand people rushing over on horseback and desperately, they reined in their horses and retreated instead of advancing.

The advantage of cavalry is largely due to their rapid impact. Seeing the cavalry on the opposite side retreating, the general of the Yarkand who rushed over thought to himself: "Today is Allah bless, today I met a coward who does not know how to fight at all." They retreated, and if we held on for a while, we could wash them away at once. ”

However, before they could be happy for a while, the machine gunners lying on the ground in front of them shot a dense rain of bullets at them, and the light and heavy machine gun bullets were like sickles cutting leeks, knocking the rows of Yarkand cavalry to the ground. At the same time, behind the Yaogang cavalry, and the artillery on the Tarim River, they will also be intensively **** fired at them. Once again, the Yarkand rushed into hell. In particular, the 12.7 mm heavy machine guns on the Tarim River are so lethal that a single bullet in the head of a horse can send the entire dock flying. As soon as the person on the horse hits, the person in the first half of the quarter is gone.

The Yarkands, who had suffered heavy casualties, retreated.

King Abdullaha never saw the same general who had just led the charge in the midst of the chaos, and the Khan knew that he would never see this loyal general again.

At this time, it was not the time to be sad, the cavalry of the Ming army lined up again and slowly pressed over, and the black smoke chasing after them, the roaring sound, shook the earth a little, and it was already clear to see.

At this time, a very loud voice suddenly came from the Tarim River, and it was shouted in their language: "Yarkand officers and soldiers, you have been surrounded. Allah will not bless you anymore! Dismount and surrender, we will leave you a way to live, or you will never see the sun tomorrow again! ”

Under the hoarse shouts of the Khan king Abdullah, and the threat of the sabers, a part of the cavalry rushed towards the cavalry of the Yaogang people. But now the Yaogang cavalry did not retreat, and when they rushed closer, the automatic rifles in the Yaogang cavalry and the bullets sprayed out knocked them off their horses one by one, and they were also very careful not to hurt their horses. In the eyes of the Yaogang people, these war horses are already their own.

At this time, another group of **** fell into the dense team of Yarkand people, the horror of flesh and blood, the collision of frightened war horses, and the screams of wounded soldiers made the encirclement suddenly turn into hell.

At this time, the big horn on the tugboat on the river sounded again: "One last warning, one last warning!" Yarkand officers and soldiers, dismount and raise your hands, it is your only way to live, surrender quickly, think about your relatives in your family, if you don't surrender, you will be the same as those lying on the ground, we will throw them on the grassland to feed the wolves! ”

At this time, the Khan King Abdullah's face had been cut open by a shrapnel, he knew how many people were dying today, and he couldn't rush out, so he reluctantly ordered: "Get off the horse and surrender!" ”

The Yarkand people are waiting for the words of the Khan king Abdullah. One by one, the officers and men dismounted and surrendered.

When the Khan king Abdullaha was escorted to Li Kui, Li Kui saw that the wound on his face was very serious, and immediately ordered the military doctor to give him anesthetic, then stitch it up, and give him sulfonamide medicine.

After a rough count, more than 50,000 Yarkand people were killed and more than 60,000 prisoners, and it is estimated that more than 10,000 people scattered and fled. More than 80,000 horses were captured.

The most willing thing for the soldiers to do was to boil and marinate the horse meat overnight. After each battle, horse meat can be eaten open for a long time.

Early the next morning, Li Kui's officers and soldiers immediately escorted the captives to clean up the dead bodies.

The awakened Khan king Abdullaha asked to see the supreme general of the Ming army.

Li Kui came to him and asked through the translator: "King Khan, your injuries have been treated well, and we have also given you the best medicine." I heard that you have something to see me, so please tell me! ”

King Abdul Raha said: "Since I have surrendered, I will leave it to you." But I have a request, I hope you don't take the corpses of our brothers to feed the wolves, according to our *** etiquette, the burial of the dead is a very ** thing. ”

"Hmmm! I can agree to half of your request. Li Kui said, "We don't have to send them to feed the wolves, but we can't bury them according to your rituals." These are tens of thousands of corpses, and we can't take care of them. I think your Allah will forgive them. Since they chose to go to the battlefield, they had to prepare for this fate. We can concentrate the spark of their bodies and bury them in one place. Now the weather is too hot, and if you don't dispose of it as soon as possible, it can easily cause a plague. ”

King Khan Abdullaha nodded helplessly, closed his eyes, and asked, "What are you going to do with me?" ”

"There's no one else here, I want to ask you, you have to tell the truth." Li Kui stared at the Khan King Abdullaha and asked, "Do you want to live?" ”

King Khan Abdullaha hesitated, opened his eyes, looked at Li Kui and said, "I want to live!" ”

Khan King Abdullaha knew that now was the time of his life and death, and if he answered one wrong sentence, he would die.

"Do you choose between your faith and your life, do you choose to live or to believe?" Li Kui continued to stare at him and asked.

The Khan King Abdullah's eyes darkened, his throat moved, and he said, "Live!" However, after saying that, the eyes of King Abdullaha of Khan were filled with tears.

Li Kui knew that any outsider, the Khan King Abdullah, would make the opposite choice. Because he has repeatedly taught his followers that faith is more important than life. Now he is a man who has betrayed his faith in order to live. The sorrow in my heart hurts my heart.

Li Kui sighed and said, "Alas! In fact, it is the easiest way for us to burn you with them. In fact, people like you are the most damned, for your own selfish interests, what kind of holy war do you have to pretend to be gods and ghosts, and how many people have been killed? Since we saved you yesterday, we just want to give you a chance to live. You just have to do what I say, and I guarantee your life. However, if I find out that you have two hearts, I will let you die a miserable death! ”

After speaking, Li Kui didn't care about the Khan King Abdul Raha, turned around and went out.

In fact, Li Kui would never let the Khan King Abdullaha die. The people of Yaogang from all walks of life introduced the experience of capturing the thief and capturing the king first. When you get to a place, as long as the king surrenders, it is very helpful for the governance here. Therefore, wherever the kiln gang people went, they tried their best to capture the local leaders alive. This is already the experience of the kiln people.

In order to prevent the city of Yarkand (Shache) from being greatly damaged, Li Kui had people set up a hammock on the car, took the Khan king Abdul Raha, and personally led the cavalry division to Yarkand (Shache) to rush quickly.

At this time, there were already soldiers who had escaped and brought the news of the siege of the army of the Khan king Abdullaha to Yarkand (Shache). There was chaos in Yarkand City, and many rich people were packing up their treasures and preparing to flee for their lives, but they could not be sure of the reliability of the news, and people were still waiting.

The Yaogang cavalry blocked several gates of Yarkand (Shache) City. The number of defenders in the city was too small, and the defenders immediately mobilized everyone to go to the city to participate in the defense of the city.

However, what they never expected was that the Khan king Abdul Raha appeared in the city with the Yaogang people, and the Khan king himself ordered them to stop resisting and open the city gate to surrender. The general of the defenders of the city, knowing that this was the Khan King Abdullah, was captured and forced to do so, he did not dare to rashly carry out the Khan's order, but discussed with the elders in the city what to do?

The elders agreed that there must be no surrender and that a new Khan must now be elected. However, it was not easy to elect a new Khan at once, so in the name of the elders, I informed the people in the city that the Khan was captured and was forced to surrender under the city, and we must not surrender, and this is what the Khan really meant.

When the king of Khan came, the defenders of Yarkand (Shache) also resolutely did not open the city and surrendered, which greatly surprised Li Kui, who knew that the night was long and dreamy, and he must attack the city immediately.

Li Kui said to the cavalry commander: "I'll give you an hour, and I'll give Lao Tzu to attack the city immediately!" ”

"Yes!" The division commander happily agreed and left.

"Come back!" Li Kui whispered, "Remember that after entering the city, don't leave any useless wasters!" ”

The division commander nodded knowingly and said, "Yes!" And voila! ”

Attacking such a city is not a difficult task for the people of Yaogang at all.

Infantry artillery bombarded the city gates, light and heavy machine guns blocked the city walls, cavalry charged, entered the city and slaughtered, it was as simple as that.

King Abdullaha Khan, who was so ashamed that he did not listen to his orders in the city, saw that the Yaogang people had captured Yarkand (Shache) so easily, and he was inexplicably happy in his heart, he never expected that the city would dare to disobey his orders, and he felt that now the Yaogang people were avenging themselves.

Seeing the expression of King Abdullaha Khan, Li Kui Yile said to him: "King Khan, let's go into the city!" ”

As soon as the king of Khan entered the city, he saw that the ground was full of dead bodies, and the roads inside the city were dyed red with blood, and he couldn't stop sighing, "Oops! It could have been bloodless! ”

When they came to the Khan's palace, the wounded general who was defending the city was also tied up and escorted in.

As soon as he saw this general, the Khan stood up angrily and shouted: "You, you! Why don't you listen to me? Look at how many people died? ”

The general bowed his head and said, "The senators will not allow us to open the city!" ”

"Go, call all the elders!" King Khan commanded.

"No need to go, we were with the patriarchs just now, and now they are all killed!" The general said.

"What?" The king of Khan was taken aback, and then said, "Good! Well done! They paid for the lives of the dead and wounded in the city of Yarkand. Then he said to the general, "Pay for these people too." ”

The general was just about to beg the Khan for mercy, when the cavalry division commander beside Li Kui took out a pistol and "touched" the general with a shot on the head.

King Khan didn't expect that such a small thing on the Yaogang people would kill people so badly that he was so frightened that he couldn't speak.

Li Kui said: "Your Majesty, King Khan, you should give an order and order the whole city and the people of Yarkand to stop fighting with us and completely submit to our management. What do you think? ”

"Okay, I declare that our Yarkand is completely submissive to the Ming Dynasty! Everything is under your control! "King Abdullaha Khan knows exactly what he needs to do now.

Li Kui didn't worry too much about the rest, with the cooperation of King Abdullaha Khan, and the officials who followed him cooperated with the army to take over the management of the place, everything went smoothly. Of course, Li Kui will not waste those prisoners, these strong laborers are the new force for opening mountains and building roads. In addition to continuing to build a road along the Tarim River, Li Kui also began to build a road west over the Green Mountains. This was a very large project, but because the rear could transport supplies and equipment through the Tarim River and the road built along the Tarim River, and because there were a large number of prisoners in front of the project, the project went smoothly.

Li Kui and the others successfully solved the Yarkand Khanate, and laid a good foundation for continuing to advance westward from the southern route. The whole side of Yaogang was also very happy, and the emperor was even more happy when he heard the news, and said to Zhang Zhimu, who came to deliver the letter: "During the Han Dynasty, that side was ours." During the Yuan Dynasty, it was also ours over there. Later, when our strength weakened, they became independent. What is even worse is that they are confused by those Islames. It's hard for us to get a foothold over there. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "For them, the first thing we have to do is to separate church and state. No clergy is allowed to participate in politics, and we must also formulate strict laws, and all clergy who participate in politics will not be killed! Otherwise it would be difficult to govern those places! ”

"That's right! I'm worried that you're too soft-hearted! Emperor Chongzhen said, "However, those Turks are easy to defeat, but difficult to govern!" ”

"We have thought about these things, and we will not be polite to their clergy, and to the people of culture. I have eradicated them, and the rest of the people, in my opinion, all want to live a good life with abundant food and clothing. "We have been operating in Loulan and Hami for some time, and they have set a good example for the people of all ethnic groups there. We're also using a graceful approach over there. Obey our management, we will make their lives better and better, anyone who wants to rebel and make trouble, we will kill without mercy, absolutely not soft! ”

"Hmmm! That's good. Emperor Chongzhen nodded and said, "The railway from Tongguan to Kaifeng is about to be opened, and I will go to cut the ribbon for them soon." ”

"Ahem! It's still the emperor's hard work! There's so much going on on my side, that's all! ”

"Hmmm! I went over with King Zhou, King Dai, and Concubine Zhuang, and those Mongolian princes, and you have a lot of business, so you don't have to go all! Emperor Chongzhen said, "However, I think you should extend the railway to Kaifeng to the east to Dengzhou (Yantai) and Weihaiwei, so that our railway and sea ships can be connected." ”

"The emperor is right!" Zhang Zhimu said, "Tomorrow, when Mr. Lu Bingyi comes back from the Tianshui construction site, I will tell him about it immediately." My idea is that half of the workers on the construction site of the railway from Tongguan to Kaifeng will stay, replenish part of the labor, and continue to build the railway to the east. The other half was strengthened to the railway construction site from Beijing to Zhangjiakou. ”

"Good! The railway from Beijing to Zhangjiakou is opened, and I can take the train to Yaogang. Emperor Chongzhen said, "However, it is not easy to build this section of the railway, and the railway from Datong to Zhangjiakou has been repeatedly delayed. It seems that it is not easy to build a railway. ”

"Yes! Emperor! Zhang Zhimu said, "But the emperor can rest assured, I asked, the railway from Datong to Zhangjiakou will definitely be opened to traffic before the end of this year." ”

"Huh! I am more concerned about the railway from Tianshui to Lanzhou, and the railway from Zhengzhou to Hankou. These two sections of the railway are open, and that's a big deal! ”

"Yes! The railway to Lanzhou has been opened, and our affairs in the northwest will be easier to handle. Once the railway to Hankou is opened, and the Hankou Yangtze River Bridge is opened, we can connect the north and the south. His significance is not only to solve the problem of transportation, but also to the integrity of our land and the unity of the country! ”

Emperor Chongzhen suddenly asked: "Zhang Dongjia, do you know why I don't want to go back to Beijing?" ”

"Oh?" Zhang Zhimu didn't know how to answer for a while.

"Huh!" Emperor Chongzhen smiled and said, "I am willing to guide the country with you eloquent people." It's much better than listening to them shout long live in the Forbidden City. Every day is exciting! ”

"Huh!" Zhang Zhimu did not comment on the emperor's words, "Your Majesty, after you attend the opening ceremony of the railway from Tongguan to Kaifeng, you can also go to see the construction of the Kaifeng Yellow River Bridge." After coming back, we will also cut the ribbon in the Great Hall of the People in Yaogang! ”

"Yes! The Great Hall has been built for more than two years, and I have been to see it a few times, and it is really well built! Emperor Chongzhen said, "Also, this year's martial arts and Go competitions are also going to open." We're done with Kaifeng, and we're going to rush back! ”

Emperor Chongzhen had endless words when he saw Zhang Zhimu. The two were talking happily, and Queen Zhou came in and said, "I'm really sorry, I'm going to disturb you!" ”

Emperor Chongzhen is in a particularly good temper now, and deliberately said to Empress Zhou: "Hey! If this were in Beijing, you would be punished for doing so! ”

"Your Majesty, this is in the kiln!" Empress Zhou said with a smile.

After Empress Zhou sat down, Zhang Zhimu also sat down.

Empress Zhou smiled and said: "Zhang Dongjia, I'm really embarrassed, I have something to tell the emperor a few times, but the emperor didn't tell you, I want to beg you directly!" ”