Dunhuang City, a suburb in the south of the city.

A simple pergola was built on a hill, and Li Hongyu, Man Gui and Batur sat in the pergola drinking herbal tea and chatting in a relaxed and harmonious atmosphere.

"Your Excellency, the Hongyi cannon has been debugged and can be fired." A military attache walked briskly into the pergola, bowed to Li Hongyu and reported in a deep voice.

At this time, in the valley below the mountain, two Hongyi cannons were lined up side by side, and the muzzles of the cannons were aimed at a stone house built in the distance.

Eunuch Zhao came to reward the Western Expedition this time, not only bringing gifts from Emperor Chongzhen such as fine wine, but also ten red-clothed cannons.

These ten Hongyi cannons were originally stationed in the capital, but Emperor Chongzhen thought that the defense of the capital was impregnable, and those Hongyi cannons stationed in the capital were simply useless heroes, so he removed ten of them and let Eunuch Zhao send them to Guanxi, which was regarded as the imperial court's support for the Western Expeditionary Army.

To be honest, this was beyond Li Hongyu's expectations, but I have to say that Emperor Chongzhen's decision was wise, and the Hongyi cannons should be attached to the front line where they are needed most, rather than waiting to rust in the capital.

In order to make Jabbar honestly cooperate with the Western Expeditionary Army, Li Hongyu is ready to show Batur his military strength, so that Jabbar knows the strength of the Ming army, which will force Jabbar to make up his mind to defect to the Ming Dynasty and not go back on his word.

"Let's get started!" Hearing this, Li Hongyu put down the teacup in his hand and nodded to the military attache quietly.

The military attache then bowed to Li Hongyu, raised a small red flag in his hand, and shook it a few times at the soldiers standing behind the two Hongyi cannons below.

Seeing this, the two soldiers stepped forward quickly, and lit the fuses on the two Hongyi cannons with the torches they held in their hands, causing the fuses to burn.

Seeing this, Batur removed the teacup from his mouth, and looked at the two Hongyi cannons below with interest, he knew that the Ming army's firearms were very powerful in the early Ming Dynasty, but now there are firearms in the Western Regions, so he wants to monitor the current power of the Ming army's firearms.

Bang!

Under Batur's gaze, the muzzles of the two Hongyi cannons flashed with fire, and invariably fired cannonballs, which sounded only a loud muffled sound because the two cannons were so close to each other, and two clouds of gunpowder smoke rose from the cannon gods.

Batur didn't expect the cannon to be so loud, so his hands couldn't help but tremble without the slightest mental preparation, and the tea in the teacup he was holding suddenly spilled, wetting his clothes.

Before Batur could put down his teacup, the stone house in the distance flew into the sky with a thud, and the smoke filled the air, and the earth flew up.

"Oh my God!" Batur couldn't help but be stunned, staring at the stone house that had been torn apart in the smoke of gunfire and turned into ruins, never expecting the power of the artillery to be so great.

"Batur, our Ming army's artillery is okay, right?" Seeing that Batur was stunned, a smug look flashed at the corner of Man Gui's mouth, and he asked with a smile.

"It's amazing!" Batur came back to his senses and nodded with a complicated look in his eyes, once this Hongyi cannon was put into the battlefield, it would cause great damage to Hami's army.

"It's no secret, the imperial court is already vigorously casting this kind of cannon, and more artillery will be shipped in the future, and the city defenses of Hami and Huozhou will be vulnerable at that time."

Man Gui immediately laughed when he heard this, and said to Batur with confidence, how could Batule know that the Hongyi cannon was forged by the Portuguese in Macau?

Li Hongyu smiled and picked up the teacup and tasted it slowly, Man Gui's bluff would definitely make Jabbar jealous, and then he didn't dare to have two hearts.

Batur left Dunhuang City on the second day of the artillery test, and there was one more thing on him than when he came, that is, Li Hongyu's appointment letter appointing Jabbar as the first magistrate of Hami.

With this letter of appointment, Jabbar can serve as a Hami magistrate for five years, responsible for handling civil affairs in the Hami area, after which Hami's local affairs will be handled by trained officials.

"My lord, will Abdul-Jabbar go back on his word?" On the tower of the city gate, Man Gui glanced at the back of Batul leaving, and couldn't help but ask with some concern.

If Jabbar had snitched off Tumor, a major war involving more than 100,000 people would break out in Kansai, which was not what Li Hongyu wanted to see.

"Jabbar's standing army is only 2,000 men, and the reason why he was able to gather 20,000 men was because he had recruited all the young men in his territory, and only the old, young, sick and disabled men would be left in his territory."

Li Hongyu smiled slightly when he heard this, and said in an orderly manner, "This battle will definitely let Jabbar and these Hami local nobles take the lead, and he will lead his descendants to hide behind, Jabal They are not stupid, once the young and middle-aged men they have recruited will fight with our Western Expeditionary Army, then there will only be fish and meat left, and they will be slaughtered by others!" ”

"My lord, should we transfer the army from other places to guard Dunhuang, there are only 20,000 defenders in Dunhuang City, and I am worried about ......" Man Gui then woke up, Jabbar is probably the most reluctant to fight now, so this gives the Western Expeditionary Army a chance, and then he looked at Li Hongyu with some concern.

Anyway, Li Hongyu is in Dunhuang City, and Tumol has gathered 70,000 troops this time, if Bahat's reinforcements fail to arrive in time, then the consequences will be unimaginable.

"We are going to show weakness to the enemy now, if Tumol knows that there are only more than 20,000 defenders in Dunhuang City, he will definitely underestimate the enemy, and then give us a chance."

Li Hongyu shook his head when he heard this, and said disapprehantly, "Don't worry, Bahat will definitely lead the army in time, and then it will be the time for us to launch a counterattack!" ”

Although Li Hongyu was reasonable, he was the Taibao of the Ming Dynasty after all, so the corners of Man Gui's mouth squirmed, hoping that Li Hongyu could sit in Jiayuguan and hand over Dunhuang City to him, but Li Hongyu waved his hand at him, and he had to swallow back the words that came to his mouth, and it was obvious that Li Hongyu would not escape as a deserter.

As Tumol led the army to gradually approach the Yumen Pass, the atmosphere in Dunhuang City, which was dozens of miles away from the Yumen Pass, suddenly became tense, and the people of the nearby towns and villages dragged their children and daughters to move to other places to escape the war.

Many people chose to take refuge in Dunhuang City, first, Dunhuang City is the closest to their homeland, and second, Dunhuang City has thick walls and tens of thousands of defenders, which can be said to be the safest place in Guanxi.

Under Li Hongyu's orders, Man Gui urgently transferred a large amount of grain from the granary in Jiayuguan to ensure that the fleeing refugees could fill their stomachs while the city was trapped.

At the same time, in order to prevent the infiltration of spies, Li Hongyu also strictly ordered the people who entered the city to be screened, as long as they were not from the villages and towns around Dunhuang City, and then sent people to Jiayuguan for centralized care.

Nine times out of ten, these arrested people were spies sent by Tumer, and they delusionally hoped that at that time, the inside and outside should join forces to capture Dunhuang City, and the tragic lessons of Liaoyang City and Shenyang City in Liaodong of the Ming Dynasty made Li Hongyu remember it vividly, and naturally he would not despise the search and arrest of the spies.

At the beginning of July, the 70,000-strong army led by Tumol arrived at the Yumen Pass, and the 2,000 soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army who were guarding the pass withdrew and retreated to Dunhuang City, giving up the Yumen Pass.

The reason why Li Hongyu did this was naturally to make Tumol think that the defenders of Yumen Pass had fled without a fight, but who would have thought that perhaps it was the previous Mangui and the Western Expeditionary Army that left a deep impression on Tumol, which made Tumol stop at Yumen for two days in order to prevent fraud.

It was not until it was determined that the Western Expeditionary Army did not ambush but retreated to Dunhuang City to hold on, that Tumor ordered to pass through the Yumen Pass to Dunhuang City and surround Dunhuang City.

Although Tumol was surprised by the retreat of the Western Expeditionary Army, which was completely different from the previous ferocity, when he saw Man Gui appear on the city gate tower, his doubts were dispelled, as long as he could capture and kill Man Gui, the Western Expeditionary Army would collapse.

Therefore, after Mangui refused his surrender, Tumor began to prepare for the siege, and ordered the troops to build a large number of siege engines and ladders, Dunhuang City is a fortified city in Kansai, and it is not easy to take it down, in order to reduce casualties, he naturally ordered the construction of siege equipment.

At night, a military camp outside the city.

"It's been so many days, why haven't the reinforcements from the Ming army come yet?"

In the tent, a middle-aged Mongolian nobleman paced back and forth restlessly with his hands behind his back, and after stopping, he frowned and looked at Batul standing aside.

This middle-aged Mongolian nobleman is naturally Jabal, a descendant of the royal family of the former Turpan Khanate, according to Li Hongyu's agreement with him, as long as the Mongolian reinforcements led by Bahat arrive, then he will lead the army to attack Tumol.

Now that Tumer's army has built many siege equipment, it will launch an attack on Dunhuang in two days at the latest, when Jabbar and other local nobles of Hami will serve as cannon fodder for the siege.

"King Khan, according to the plan of the Ming Li Taibao, the Khalkha people will arrive in these two days."

Batur bowed to Jabbar and comforted him in an orderly manner, "Now that Man Gui, the commander of the Ming Western Expeditionary Army, is in the city, presumably Li Taibao will not lie to us!" ”

Within the borders of the Yarkand Khanate, there were many local powers like Jabbar, whose leaders were also called "Khans" and were regarded as small khanates.

In other words, neither the Yarkand Khanate nor the Mughal Empire, which dominated Central Asia, were never truly united, and the local powers were only subservient to the central power, which could not eliminate them.

Otherwise, if the Yarkand Khanate was a centralized state like the Ming Dynasty, then I am afraid that it would have entered the Jiayu Pass long ago, which would overwhelm the Ming Dynasty.

"Alas, I hope their reinforcements will arrive in time, otherwise our people will be miserable."

Jabbar couldn't help but sigh when he heard this, he didn't want his people to become cannon fodder, but he couldn't disobey Tumol's orders, after all, behind Tumol was Abdullah, and compared with Daming, it was more likely to cause him a catastrophe.

At the same time, the city of Dunhuang.

Li Hongyu checked the map of the Western Regions hanging on the ground in the meeting hall of the General's Palace, and according to the agreement, Bahat should lead his army to Dunhuang tomorrow and arrive in two days at the latest.

Speaking of which, this reinforcement operation in Bahat is not simple, and it is very difficult, not only to hide from the Warats who confront them, but also not to let Tumol be aware, otherwise Li Hongyu's plan to lure the enemy deep into the rear encirclement and annihilate him will come to naught.

"My lord, it's getting dark at night, go back and rest." Man Gui came to Li Hongyu's side and persuaded with concern that since Li Hongyu came to Kansai, he had been busy with military and political affairs and had never rested at all.

The affairs of Kansai are not only military affairs, government affairs are the key to the stability of Kansai, and how to deal with the relationship between the people of Kansai is very important, and this is not something that Man Gui is good at, and it must be handed over to Li Hongyu to do.

"If it goes well, after this battle, we will be able to take back Hami, and the troops will be directed to the Fire Continent to compete with Abdullah."

Li Hongyu stretched lazily when he heard this, and then said to Man Gui with a smile, "When you conquer Huozhou, you should also go home to save your relatives, it is estimated that even the child will not recognize you." ”

"Master Xie." Man Gui suddenly looked happy when he heard this, and hurriedly bowed to Li Hongyu to thank him, he had been away from home for more than ten years since the Salhu War, and naturally missed his parents, wife and children at home.

In fact, the remaining veterans of the Western Expeditionary Army have basically not seen their families for ten years, and after the capture of Huozhou, Li Hongyu is ready to give them a big vacation, those who should go home go home, and those who should get married, in view of the fact that many veterans of the Western Expeditionary Army are still singles, he naturally wants to be a matchmaker to find a daughter-in-law for them, so that they can have a home.

After all, Li Hongyu is not the kind of cold-blooded and ruthless person, he has seen the suffering of the soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army, and when the situation allows, he will naturally let them breathe a sigh of relief.

In addition to the surviving veterans of the Western Expeditionary Army, Li Hongyu also shouldered the responsibility of taking care of the families of the soldiers who died in the war, which was his promise to the soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army.

Taking the overseas trade of the Ming Dynasty as an example, it hired the families of many soldiers who died in battle to work, which can be said to enjoy very good preferential treatment.

Two days later, in the evening, Li Hongyu summoned the generals of Dunhuang City to discuss the arrangement of the city's defenses.

Although it was the last time agreed between Li Hongyu and Bahat, for some reason Bahat's reinforcements did not arrive, and the enemy army outside the city was about to attack the city the next day, so Li Hongyu had to make the final arrangements.

"My lord, will Bahat not come?" After the discussion, Man Gui came to Li Hongyu's side and asked in a low voice, with a worried look on his face.

Of course, Man Gui has to worry, in the plan set by Li Hongyu, the role of Bahat is very important, because the other troops of the Western Expeditionary Army are distributed all over Kansai, so Bahat's reinforcements are an important armed force in Li Hongyu's hands, and it can also force the local forces of Hami to surrender to the Ming Dynasty with Jabbar.

Once Bahat can't come to reinforce, then Dunhuang City will fall into a bitter battle, and the Western Expeditionary Army from all over Guanxi will passively assemble to come to the rescue, and it will be a stalemate war, and there will be huge attrition, which is not what Li Hongyu wants to see.

"Don't worry, Bahat will definitely come, he must be delayed by something now." Li Hongyu smiled slightly when he heard this, and replied confidently, he believed in Bahat, and the reason why Bahat hadn't come now must have been an accident.

The corners of Man Gui's mouth squirmed when he heard this, and he wanted to say something, but in the end he couldn't say it, and now he can only hope that Bahat can keep his promise.

(End of chapter)