The army launched its western expedition without much publicity, after all, it was also a temporary decision made when attacking Liaodong. However, with the shocking defeat of the Chahar Department and the Lin Dan Khan Department, less than a month later, Heihuan Bolie, who was far away in Ili, received the news that the main army of the volunteer army was pressing the border.

At this time, the 300,000 core population of the main force of Manchuria that has completed the strength gathering in the area of the Oirat Department, at least 60,000 Dingkou, and the 30,000 core armored main force have reached absolute domination and domination in the territory of the Yarkand and Oirats, and many of the lower layers of the former Junggar and Oirat have been incorporated into the Eight Banners of Jianzhou, plus the economic resources that are not bad, the main force of Jianzhou has expanded to nearly 100,000 troops. Not only are they of different nationalities, but even the remnants of about 30,000 Yarkand people who are completely different in race and religion, and even the Mongols who were forced to naturalize, the entire Jianzhou group has grown into a strategic group with about 150,000 troops in about a year after concentrating a considerable proportion of the manpower and military resources of the steppe, as well as the resources of the entire Yarkand and Oirat departments.

The expansion of troops and strength also made some lower-level leaders eager to try, and they didn't care about this kind of 10,000-mile expedition launched by Emperor Chongzhen. Because in such an expedition, the attacking side could not carry too many artillery, vehicle shields, and arrange enough grain and grass hoarding points due to logistical reasons, so it can be said that it was already at a significant disadvantage. If there is also a difference of several times or more in the number of troops, it seems that the balance is still very large.

However, Hei Huan Bolie and even Yue Tuo and other upper echelons were not carried away by the expansion of the strength on paper, and the military council Hei Huan Bolie said without hesitation: "On paper, our army seems to have a huge force comparable to that of Genghis Khan, but most of the forces that can really be relied on are still concentrated on our 30,000 core armored soldiers, and the rest of the people, at most, can be converted into 15,000 armor is very good." How else can I use these powers? As long as you have a mature understanding of the common sense of army building, you should be able to understand: in the past two years, the power in the hands of Emperor Chongzhen will never stay at the level of a few years ago. If our army starts a strategic duel with the enemy's powerful elite army group in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, even if it can win a crushing victory for the time being, it will not be of any benefit... ”

There was no shortage of smart people among the banner owners, and even Mang Gurtai seemed to hear something from the tone of the black and Bolie: "If we don't fight a decisive battle with the strong enemy who is coming, will it be possible that our army will continue to flee west to the territory of the Persians like the Western Liao of that year?" ”

In this way, in fact, it did not cause the expected laughter from everyone, and the Oirats, especially the Yarkands, did not perform very well in battle, so that many Jianzhou generals believed that both the Persians and the Kazakhs in the Western Regions were weaker than the main force of the Ming army in front of the main force of Jianzhou

After thinking for a moment, Hei Huan Bolie said: "Today's Chongzhen Emperor is no longer an ordinary force, and the plan is not even as good as Genghis Khan back then, if we continue to flee westward, we will only end up with the same fate as the Western Liao and even the Later Liao back then." Therefore, even if it were to fight a decisive battle with the enemy, the reasonable choice would be for a part of the forces to stay in the old battalion in the Ili area, and the main force should move south to the Hetao as quickly as possible, and then re-enter the Central Plains when the main force of the other side seemed to be planning to take the grasslands north of the Tianshan Mountains, so that our army could develop and grow to a great extent. Unlike many people in other groups, in fact, the Han people are many and wide, and there are many lower classes, so they are the best targets for attack in terms of digesting and strengthening their own forces. Our army can also play the name of rebuilding China for Tianxingdao, I believe that after the education of Emperor Chongzhen, who Wang Mang can't catch up, no one may be willing to join forces with our army... ”

In fact, it is already clear that in the case of a head-to-head showdown, the only hope is to stir up the pattern of the Central Plains, and if this cannot be done, then the strategic showdown seems to be completely uncertain. The enemy's main force is on an expedition of thousands of miles, and it is difficult to return for reinforcements in the short term, and even if he is not absolutely sure of the remaining forces of Emperor Chongzhen in the thirteen inland provinces with his main force, he also has the space to be exhausted like a fish into the sea. And in the Western Regions, where the ratio of soldiers to civilians and military mobilization is much higher, and the population is not very vast, it is possible to face endless wars of attrition at any time.

In this way, after the news of the westward expedition of the army came, the main force of Jianzhou, which had expanded its strength in the vicinity of Hezhong, also began to act, taking advantage of the summer and autumn season, with 40,000 headquarters men and horses, including 20,000 headquarters armor, and 60,000 main forces with Manchu and Mongolia as the core, gathered in the Turpan area to prepare for a batch expedition across the Hexi corridor.

Including 10,000 armor, 20,000 or 30,000 left-behind troops and the remaining 60,000 servants were stationed in the Ili area, where a lot of supplies had been hoarded, to defend the foundation of the headquarters as much as possible and to contain as much as possible the main force of the strong enemy that was likely to attack.

For the foundation itself, Hei Huan Bolie actually didn't have much confidence, so in addition to the basic force, at least four-fifths of the elite of the headquarters also launched an expedition with the army, and to a large extent, it was almost desperate. The only thing that gave the generals of the Jianzhou Department some confidence was that when the army set off from the Turpan area, there seemed to be a lot less sporadic gossip on weekdays. Those who know the team understand that this is a sign of high morale and preparation for a battle to the death. Obviously, for most of the officers and soldiers of the Jianzhou Division, they are still not willing to myth a foreign land thousands of miles away, and most of them have the dream of returning to their hometown or even conquering the Central Plains.

At this time, the main force led by Xiao Xuan also passed through the territory of the Khalkha Mongols in the lush season and entered the most important area of the Eurasian steppe north of the Tianshan Mountains, because the population became further sparse, in order not to spend too much effort to find and obtain supplies, the one-way column of the team marching was based on the division as the basic unit within a range of dozens of miles, and the regiment as the tactical unit. Completely different from the impression of many people, although the Khalkha Mongols were more distant from the Central Plains, they did not seem to have any intention of carrying out large-scale active provocations after learning about the extraordinary strength of the volunteer troops during sporadic sentinel encounters. Even under the pressure of the large army, many tribes were willing to provide some support within their means, especially when it was learned that the target of the expedition was not the Mongols.

Xiao Xuan temporarily gave up his plans and ideas to pull allies in the Khalkha Mongolian area. As the saying goes, sometimes an unreliable and unreliable ally can cause more trouble and burden than a much weaker enemy.

(End of chapter)