In the main hall, the emperor paced back and forth for a while, and finally made up his mind, and said solemnly to Yang Sichang: "I have made up my mind, so I will play according to Aiqing." ”

"Your Majesty, the minister of the peace conference can ask the governor of Liaodong, Fang Yizao, to test the eastern captives, but the matter of levying 'expulsion' is really worrying as the cabinet minister said, the court affairs are personnel, and if the officials are not clear, it will backfire, and the ministers can only dare to ask Your Majesty to rectify the officialdom." Yang Sichang said in a low voice.

This is the most difficult, the emperor nodded with a wry smile, and after a long time, he asked: "I once summoned the naturalized general soldier, and I have a good impression of this person, he was also a subordinate of Aiqing, Aiqing can honestly say that I can trust him?" ”

"Your Majesty can only trust him, with him in Xuanda Four Towns, there will be no chaos, without him naturalization, he will be the next Liaodong." Yang Sichang thought for a while, and added, "The minister once went to the naturalization inspection, this place is bitter and barren, survival is difficult, the naturalized army can only rely on a large amount of debt to feed the people, and it is helpless to merge with the merchants to prosper industry and commerce, and issue money, this burden is too heavy, the court can't afford it at present, even if it takes over, it may not be able to support three months, it is better to let the naturalized army continue to maintain, the governor of Xuanda does not understand the reason, and he boldly grabbed the neck of the naturalization, and the naturalized army naturally wants to fight back, and the minister dares to assert that the governor of Xuanda must have suffered a big loss. ”

"He's better off than I am, and at least I can borrow money, so I trust him." The Emperor replied with a wry smile.

Soon after the cabinet meeting, the emperor issued an edict to levy "expropriation", which was a great drought in Xia Lianggi and Shanxi, locusts in Shandong and Henan, and a great hunger among the people. Wen Tiren's official fortune also came to an end, and he was driven back to his hometown by the emperor's edict, and he was angry and thought that it was Qingliu and his party who framed him, in order to avoid the emperor being fooled again, he recommended Xue Guoguan to enter the cabinet, and then quietly left Beijing, and died of illness in his hometown Wucheng the following year.

The crisis between naturalization and Yanghe was successfully resolved, this year's drought made both sides converge a lot, Lu Xiangsheng was busy sheltering the Shanxi refugees, and had no financial and material resources to take over the Datong refugees, and no longer forced Fengzhou to return the Weisuotian, and Fengzhou's performance was even more unexpected, not only promised to transfer all the land and population of Datong's tuntian to the local government, but also wrote off the money invested before, just hoping to release the illegal traders in prison, Liu Zhilun and Ye Tinggui drank tea and negotiated-Lu Xiangsheng took the burden with a sad face, Tuoyangkun and Li Wanqing escaped from the customs with their fished out accomplices, but if they don't escape, they can't do it, the drought in Fengzhou is heavier than in the guan, and if they don't run away, they will lose more money, so this business can only be recognized.

Zhou Yi, Wang Fang and a group of people returned to naturalization earlier, but this year's general election is about to encounter a major drought, the Freedom and Citizen Party are in turmoil, Wang Fang knows that he is unable to deal with the crisis, and he has the crooked idea of extorting money, asking for financial subsidies from the House of Representatives every year, and the Liberal Party also wants to cry without tears, the Yangtze River is full of drought, epidemics, and rampant thieves, his hometown can not see hope, so he can only work hard in Fengzhou. After some bargaining between the two parties, the Civic Party bowed to the upper hand, and the Liberal Party won a general election victory that could not be laughed at - this general election was agreed in advance to set up 300 seats, 100 seats were designated by the Presidential Office, and the other 200 seats were elected by the public council, and the Liberal Party won a total of more than 140 seats through designation and election in the general election, but the power was at a loss, but hoped that the general leader would come back soon to call the shots, which was indeed a bit strange, when Li Yu was there, everyone felt that he was redundant, and sometimes deliberately bullied him, but Li Yu is gone, and Fengzhou, from the officials to the people, is as uncomfortable as missing the backbone.

In mid-March, the Fengzhou army joined up with the Khalkha army led by Zasaktu Khan west of Yumen Pass, and according to the plan, the two armies marched south along the Shule River to attack the Oirats.

Hami is the key point of Hexi into the Western Regions, but also the prosperous commercial town of the Mengyuan period, the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty was at its peak, Hami abandoned the remnant Yuan to take refuge in the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chengzu set up Hami Wei here, the local leader was loyal to the king, the commander envoy, the use of the policy of restraint to control Hami, the two sides once had a close relationship, and the tributary exchanges continued. But the Hami people who thought they had thick legs gradually disappointed, the Ming was not interested in business, and was unable to provide adequate protection, and the Hami people who lost their livelihood were forced to change to farming, herding sheep, and were often harassed by the Tulu Domain and Oirat, and the life was not easy, and the tribute to the Ming became more and more shabby, and in the end it almost became a begging. The Ming court felt a headache for this poor relative, and the relationship between the two sides became increasingly cold, and Hami simply annexed the Turu domain during the Zhengde period. Of course, Daming was not happy to lose Hamiwei, and fought with the Turu Domain a few times, but he did not take advantage of it and had to admit it, and Hami also fell to the good, the Turu Domain turned his face and did not recognize people, and the Hami people were extorted, and finally looked forward to the destruction of the Turu Domain, the Yarkand Khanate came, and then bullied the Hami people, the common people could not bear it, and were encouraged by the fellow teacher Dr. Ma, and started the idea of changing the sky.

"Great Commander, the Hami people have been humiliated, and they are willing to belong to Fengzhou from now on and accept your protection, our ancestors were all merchants, as long as the trade routes are smooth, they can do business and help you trade with the world." Mahad had some doubts at first, but after walking around the camp, he made up his mind, he had never seen such a powerful army, and he never imagined that this army could even boast a few words of business experience for small soldiers, and it had the strength to understand business, and its status was quite high, which was the thigh that should be hugged the most.

Li Yu was very hesitant, according to Dr. Ma, Hami is vast and sparsely populated, with a population of less than 5,000 and limited self-defense capabilities, and Fengzhou is thousands of miles away, so it is a burden to get it in his hand, but the old king has settled the accounts clearly, patted his thigh and said: "Great commander, this deal has been done, and it is true that the government office and garrison army in Hami will lose money, but you can hand Hami over to the Chamber of Commerce, we occupy the business road to support the people and the army with business, and we will definitely make a lot of money." ”

Na Mu'er felt that the good things sent to the door should not be in vain, Mao Yuanyi wanted to mix up the work of opening up the territory and expanding the territory, the two shouted and shouted to recover Hami, Li Yu thought twice before saying: "Great imam, Fengzhou is currently unable to look west, Hami can only exercise autonomy, I don't collect your taxes, I don't want you to pay tribute, I can also train troops and provide weapons for you, but you have to protect yourself, if you agree, I will order the army to be sent to Hami." ”

Big Boss Wang and Dr. Ma whispered a few words on the side, and Mahad agreed with a smile, and only put forward two conditions - Fengzhou sent a Hami guard commander to give them courage, and Hami wanted to join the Fengzhou Chamber of Commerce.

Deal! Mahad went back satisfied that day, and three days later the combined forces of Fengzhou and Khalkha also turned around and drove westward - everything has been arranged, and the hundreds of soldiers stationed in Xingxing Gorge rushed out to greet them when they saw the Black Eagle Banner, leading the army to drive directly to Hami City, Mahad led the people of all ethnic groups in the city to respond, captured the nobles of the Yarkand Khanate, opened the city gate to welcome the liberators, and the Fengzhou army picked up a Hami City in vain without effort, but Hami City is too small, there are only three or four thousand men, women and children, and it is not as many as a thousand households in Fengzhou, If the Yarkand nobles want to resist, they are also looking for death.

The coalition forces did not enter the city, but camped outside the city and held a grand parade, which was arranged in advance, both to encourage the Hami and to frighten them. Li Yu pointed to the Hari Sulu ingots and Chagan Sulu ingots behind him to intimidate the Yarkand nobles: See, there is only me in the whole of Mongolia, Hutu Ketu Batulu, the defender of Mongolia, and the adjudicator are qualified to use the ancestor's Sulu ingots, read that you are from the Chagatai Khanate, I will not kill you, go back and inform your Great Khan, Hami is under my protection, don't think about coming back again, if you dare to have evil thoughts, I will destroy you.

The Yarkand nobles have long been frightened to the point that they will not possess their bodies, and they will flee if they are amnesty-the Western Regions are poor and sparsely populated, and it is great to send four or five thousand people to fight, and the armored soldiers are even less pitiful, and the ghost knows where such a large army came out, there are thirty or forty thousand people, and there are too many armored soldiers to count, especially those firearms, which are invincible when they are beaten, and they are scared to death when they hear the sound, and the Yarkand Khanate can't beat people even if they take out their old books.

In the next few days, Mahad took a group of imams to live in the Fengzhou military camp, and discussed Hami's future plans with Fengzhou officials, it is obvious that Fengzhou has another poverty alleviation object, the big old Wang wrote to the Fengzhou Chamber of Commerce, requesting approval of a loan of 30,000 taels of silver to Hami, Li Yu also wrote to the Commander's Office, requesting that the Governor of the Commercial Market Department Ma Qi be transferred to the command of Hami Wei - Fengzhou has been doing business freely in recent years, the government only collects taxes and does not ask about things, and the Commercial Market Division has almost nothing to do except for the business and business, and Ma Qi left a few people to watch the door, Led other people to start a partnership business, this person is also a return, his brain can do business, and he has been a superintendent guerrilla for a few days to understand some military affairs, Li Yu feels that it is appropriate for him to be the commander of Hamiwei.

At the beginning of April, news came from the West Sea that the Oirats had killed the Khalkha Tyuktu Taiji and repelled the Baili Tusi Dunyue Dorjee, and the power of the Lama Red Sect in the West Sea collapsed. Li Yu and Zasaktu Khan high-fived and celebrated, and the death of Yuketu was a lot less trouble, and now the banner of taking the Khalkha people home is justified, and he can bite to death and not admit that he has anything to do with the Red Sect. Da Lao Wang and He Jinlong stayed in Hami to set up a grain platform, 5,000 Khalkha people drove cattle and sheep behind, and Li Yu and Zasaktu Khan led 30,000 coalition troops to immediately set off to the West Sea.

Prairie operations are actually not complicated, who can quickly seize the advantageous battlefield, who will have a chance to win a big victory, the grassland tribes are sparsely populated, can not rely on the rear supply, often the population of the tribe drives cattle and sheep to fight, while walking and supplying, where to fight, compared with the Fengzhou army is simply armed to the teeth, not only armor, weapons are excellent, 15,000 people actually carry war horses, livestock 50,000 and a month's grain, ordnance, and even include camp artillery, heavy lifting guns, the daily march speed of more than 100 miles, combat power, Even if the equipment is the cowardly cavalry of the ancestor Genghis Khan, it cannot be compared, and the Khalkha cavalry of Zasaktu Khan, although one person and two horses, can only keep up with the speed of the march with the ability to eat milk.

After a few days of rapid march into the Xihai grassland, the scouts of the Fengzhou army found that the Oirats were approaching, and their forward cavalry of about 5,000 people had already occupied the crescent spring, and Li Yu did not hesitate to order the cavalry to seize the water source. The battle went very smoothly, Meng Ke led the two battalions of Tulichen and Fei Yangwu to attack head-on, and outflanked the iron cavalry of the first battalion of Chaolu, and the Oirats were taken by surprise and were routed before they could line up to meet the battle, and more than 2,000 people were captured. The first battle was successful, and the water source was in hand, and the Fengzhou army was mainly anti-guest, and the battlefield was set up in Crescent Spring, waiting for the Oirats to come desperately - Li Yu learned from the captives that the Heshuot leader Tulu Baihu and the leader of Junggar Batur combined 30,000 troops into the West Sea in the first month of this year, killed Yuketu in one fell swoop, and surrendered 40,000 of his men, and then defeated Baili Tusi Dunyue Dorjee, who came from Chuankang to reinforce Qiuketu, and originally planned to chase and kill Dunyue Dorjee in one go, but the news that Zasaktu Khan had seized the pastures west of the Wengjin River came, Tulubaihu was in a hurry, and invited Batur to go north to settle accounts with the Khalkhas, but he didn't expect the opponent to hit the door first. Li Yu sneered when he heard this, and immediately sent a war letter to Tulu Baihu and Batur, "I, Hutuketu Baturu is here, just wait at the Crescent Spring, you can fight if you want, and if you don't want to fight, return the Khalkha to me, whether to fight or not is up to you", and then handed the letter to the captives and told them to get out of the house immediately.

Tulu Baihu and Batur were angered by Li Yu's letter, they didn't know much about the fact that there was a Hutu Ketu Baturu in Eastern Mongolia, it is said that this person was the Mongolian Dajinong who was personally sealed by Chahar Khan before his death, and should be regarded as the head of Eastern Mongolia, and he is also known as the reincarnation of Altan Khan, which is even more dangerous, more than 50 years ago, Altan Khan of Eastern Mongolia led 30,000 households on the right wing of the two westward expeditions to beat the Oirats to death, this guy now dares to lead the Khalkha people to grab pastures and population, In the future, you must not follow the example of Altan Khan to fight Western Mongolia if you want.

Only by retrieving the water source can this duel between East and West Mongolia continue, otherwise it is likely that they will be defeated and flee back to their cold and impoverished hometown to suffer - the Oirats understand this truth, and more than 10,000 elite cavalry rushed to the Crescent Spring.

The war between the East and the West Mongolia resumed, but it was one-sided from the beginning, the horse rejection stakes wrapped with barbed wire, the impregnable array wall, the invincible guns and the overwhelming rain of arrows, and even the flowering bombs that fell into the crowd and exploded, the Oirats had never seen such a fierce blow, they had fought a few sporadic battles with the Rakshasa country before, and the Rakshasa ghosts also had terrifying firearms, but the scale of the battle was too small to deter them, but this time they tasted the bitterness, the cavalry lay in wait in front of the horse rejection stakes, and the tide of attacks was contained. The Oirats were red-eyed, and more elite people threw themselves into the battlefield, risking thousands of lives to break through the barbed wire, but before they could get close to the formation wall, the opponent's heavy armored cavalry immediately killed, and the Oirats could not bear the impact and were beaten to pieces, and the offensive retreated like a tide. Tulubaihu and Batur were so anxious that they jumped to their feet, but they couldn't think of a better way, so they could only continue to mobilize troops from the rear to launch repeated attacks, and the other side was always the same, first with a cannon bombardment, then covered with arrows, and then the heavy cavalry counterattacked, and the Oirats were also very cooperative to defeat again and again, except to pay for the dead and wounded.

The Fengzhou army is getting easier and easier, the opponent's troops are insufficient, the equipment is inferior, and the armored soldiers are only three or four thousand, which cannot shake the strength of the formation-Jin Guoding threatened that everyone else could watch the excitement on the side, and his artillery association alone was enough to win this battle; Tu Lichen and Fei Yangwu complained, their two battalions were mainly Zhushen soldiers who had joined Shunfeng Prefecture, and even the men and horses were equipped with heavy armor, and their family backgrounds were also big, so they couldn't wait to swallow the opponent in one bite, but the above requirements could only hurt the other party, not make the other party desperate, and they couldn't fight happily every time they attacked; Mao Yuanyi also took the young sentry with him at first, for fear that something would happen to these children, but later found out that the Oirats were inferior to the Chahars, so they simply didn't care, Li Dingguo, Kong Guoer and the gang each ran to the front with a smile and a grin - the children were tired to death from marching all the way, and it was time for them to have some military merits.

"Dajinong, it is a pleasure to fight with you, and the blood of the Oirats will be drained if we fight like this, and we will collect their corpses for them." Zasaktu Khan Subadi was so happy that he shot a few arrows and won a big victory, which had never happened before.

"I just want to force them to negotiate peace, I don't want them to shed blood, and if Terige and Subutai succeed, they can stop fighting tomorrow." Li Yu replied lightly with his hands behind his back.

At dusk, the Oirats were hungry and thirsty and retreated, it was obviously not possible to fight like this, Batur had the idea of retreating, and Tulu Baihu had nothing to do, the two quarreled for a while, and decided to send someone to invite the living Buddha of the East Kol Temple in the West Sea - the Mongolian tribes to fight between them is commonplace, but there are few things to kill all of them, and it is not ashamed to talk about peace if they can't fight, and the living Buddha can always help bargain, at this time they didn't expect that the old camp a hundred miles away was about to suffer a catastrophe.

After searching for two days on the grassland, they finally found the old camp of Oirat, and launched a surprise attack at dawn, and the Oirats surrendered after a short period of resistance - the young and strong of the Oirats went to the Crescent Spring, and the 40,000 newly surrendered Khalkhas in the old camp stood by and waited to throw themselves to the winning side again, and most of the remaining 10,000 Oirats were old and weak women and children who took care of cattle and sheep, and only a small number of young and strong, It is impossible for these people to withstand the attack of the elite of the coalition forces.

Tulubaihu and Batur were shocked when they got the news, and the battle was a complete failure, and they couldn't run away if they lost their cattle and sheep, and the Oirats were almost in a desperate situation. At this time, Li Yu sent someone to spread the word - everyone was originally a family, there was no need to fight endlessly, if they wanted, they could sit down and talk.

Anyway, Tulubaihu and Batur had no choice but to go to Crescent Spring.