"Someone's arming!"

"There was a castle, and a breastwork and a moat were built."

"The other side of the Kuzhang River is also fortified, and there is at least a breastwork and a trench."

"It's like it's going to be hard, and I don't know if there's a way to get around."

"You don't have to go around, just go straight into it from the west, it's just a piece of high ground, the top of the sky is more than ten zhang high, and the slope is not steep, how can you not go in?"

"The breastwork and the moat, at first glance, are anti-artillery, and maybe muskets, bed crossbows, cannons, or something. It's hard to fight during the day, but ...... Can be attacked at night. Throw in 10,000 steel-armored soldiers to charge with shields, and fight for a night at most to capture the breastwork and trench on the high ground. ”

Several division commanders were chattering while observing, and soon had a way to capture the Tongtianguan Plateau. It's very simple, it's to let the steel armor soldiers rush up to hand-to-hand combat while the night is dark. Timur was the poorest of the Khan's kings in Mongolia today, and his soldiers were usually protected only by leather armor, and only Timur's cowardly army (the Mongol Khan's own army was sometimes called Cowardice) barely equipped with chain mail. And whether it is leather armor or chain mail, it can't stop the horizontal knife from stabbing directly.

The scimitars used by the Mongols could not cut through the steel armor, and the only weapons available were hammers. But the hammer is so heavy that it doesn't matter, where can the efficiency of smashing people compare with stabbing people?

Moreover, the Western Expeditionary Army is not the Eight-Nation Alliance on Tianzhu's side. In the Eight-Nation Alliance, Shi Tianze's soldiers can fight, the other countries are mediocre, and the roots of the four Xintantric sects are tofu scum that make up the numbers.

The Western Expeditionary Army is a real elite! There are tens of thousands of old soldiers in the six Ming army divisions, all of whom have been in the army for seven or eight years or even longer, and they have been fighting! Guo Kan's silver armor division is even more powerful. Many veterans have fought the Hulegu Western Expedition! More than ten years of horse career, the elite stepped out of the sea of corpses and blood! As for Liu Cheng and Yan Zhongji. That is no less than Shi Tianze's fierce general. Although the combat strength of the department is not as good as that of the Ming army and Guo Kanjun, it is enough to bully the poor soldiers of the busy brother Timur.

Therefore, the current Western Expeditionary Army is not afraid of hand-to-hand combat with the Mongols at all...... Hit all the way from the Central Plains. The Western Army has never lost in hand-to-hand combat! Many times, they didn't bother to fire their guns, and just put a burst of muskets, and then it was a spear assault. None of the Mongols could stop such a wave of killing.

"How many days will there be enough food and grass in the army?" Zhu Sijiu put down the binoculars and asked suddenly.

"Back to the marshal, there are still two and a half months of food in the army. If you want to kill pack horses to satisfy your hunger, you can support it for more than a month. ”

The staff officer who accompanied him replied. This time, the Western Expeditionary Army came with food from thousands of miles, which is strictly a taboo in the art of war. But the two river basins are dilapidated, except for carrying grain for thousands of miles. What else can be done?

"In half a month, we will be able to lay down the city of Felt City." Zhu Sijiu said, "By the way, did we bring the potatoes we planted last year?" ”

The staff officer was stunned for a moment, and then hurriedly replied: "I brought it, there are more than a dozen carts pulling it." ”

Potatoes were also imported from Mingzhou, and like sweet potatoes, they were planted on a small scale in the land of the Ming Dynasty. And because the Western Expeditionary Army had the need to tuntian, they also got some potatoes (sweet potatoes are not very cold-tolerant and not suitable for the Western Army). I planted a season on a farm on the edge of the Ili River, and the harvest was not bad. Sow in the spring and harvest at the turn of summer and autumn. The yield is not low, and the yield per mu is several hundred catties. It's a baby! Therefore, Zhu Sijiu took special care of taking tens of thousands of catties of potatoes to the expedition.

Zhu Sijiu smiled: "Okay." I went back and made a plan to arrange for the accompanying people to replant potatoes on the banks of the Kuyu River, so that they could harvest some things in the autumn. ”

What the? Want to farm here!?

This time everyone was stunned. Turned his head and looked at Zhu Sijiu steadily. Zhu Sijiu swept around to meet everyone's gaze, and then said lightly: "The people take food as the sky. The soldiers are in chaos without food. Let's farm for a season first, and wait for the guests by the way. ”

"Guests? Handsome. What do you mean......" the staff officer asked again.

Zhu Sijiu smiled coldly: "The lips are dead and the teeth are cold...... I don't believe it, Abaha will watch the kingdom of Timur be destroyed! ”

Guo Kan put down the binoculars, looked back at his son-in-law, and frowned: "Do you want to wait for the Abha army to come north and annihilate it?" ”

Zhu Sijiu nodded and said: "The Ilkhanate is strong, if it fights in Persia, if it is defeated, it will go west to Kublai Khan." It's better to fight it on the banks of the Kuzhang River, outside the Ferghana Basin! ”

For the Western Expeditionary Army, it was only a matter of ten days and half a month to lay the felt. But Zhu Sijiu's vision looked far away and kept seeing Europa. If Abaha was defeated in Persia, he would inevitably go west to Europa and join Kublai Khan. In this way, Kublai Khan's strength will increase, and Zhu Sijiu doesn't want a strong enemy to sleep peacefully on the side of the couch. Therefore, it is a more advantageous choice to lure Abha to the Kuzhang River to eliminate it.

However, Zhu Sijiu couldn't be sure if this Ah Baha would come, so he didn't wait long, just waited for a month, and Ah Baha didn't come. And this month can not only wait, but also leave some foundation on the bank of the Kuzhang River, and it is necessary to build a large camp. Also plant some potatoes in case you need them. In case the occupation of the Ferghana basin did not receive enough food and grass, the army could also eat potatoes and move south to Persia.

In addition, planting sweet potatoes on the banks of the Huzhang River was also to confuse Timur, a busy brother, so that he thought that the Ming army had no way to take his subordinates' defense lines for a while, and could only make a long-term plan.

It was here that the Mongol cavalry of the brigade was passing through a pontoon bridge over the Kuzhang River, the only way to communicate the two sides of the river, with a fortress on each side of the pontoon bridge, which was closely guarded by the pontoon bridge.

The commander of Zhu Sijiu's guard battalion had been paying attention to the pontoon bridge, and then suddenly roared loudly: "Lord, the Mongols have crossed the river, probably a cavalry of a thousand people!" ”

Zhu Sijiu put away the binoculars and smiled at the few people around him: "It seems that the busy brother Timur is going to pick up people, let's go back to the camp, it's not too late to visit another day!" ”

Guo Kan replied with a smile: "Haole, come back another day, even if the soldiers are pressing, I don't know if the busy brother Timur dares to send someone across the river?" ”

"If he dares to come to fight, then he will have no return!" After Zhu Sijiu said this, he laughed a few times. Then he waved his whip violently and drove the horse away.

……

"What? Zhu Sijiu has already led the army to the battle? ”

Daming Palace, Beijing. Chen Dexing, who had just returned from the Jinlianchuan grassland, had just entered the palace. Before he had time to visit his pregnant wife Li Cuixian, he saw Lu Hu, the secretary of the War Department, and Lu Fei, the secretary of the Army General Staff, hurriedly entering the Zichen Palace. The two major officers of the Ming Army came together and brought Chen Dexing a shocking piece of news.

Zhu Sijiu has already pulled away the main force of the Western Expeditionary Army from the banks of the Ili River! The target is said to be Timur, a busy brother in the valley of the two rivers. The battle plan for the sortie was sent out on the day Zhu Sijiu left the county seat of Daqing, and it was delivered to Beijing by the War Department's own 600-mile express horse - in addition to the War Department's own messaging system, Daming also had a post and telecommunications department dedicated to this matter, but it was much slower to let them send letters.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that the Ming Dynasty did not have a pavilion system, and officials had to stay in hotels opened by merchants when they traveled.

"When?" Chen Dexing was silent for a long time before continuing to ask.

"It's been almost a month!" Cold sweat was oozing slightly from Land Rover's forehead. Zhu Sijiu really played a little big this time! Although he, the general army of the Western Expeditionary Army, will have the right to act cheaply. But this time it was to use an army of 100,000 to fight a decisive battle with Timur, a busy brother. How could the soldiers be taken out so quietly and without informing the army staff in advance?

Now the War Department and the Army Staff Department are in chaos, and the officers and staff officers of various departments and bureaus are like ants on a hot pot -- 100,000 troops marching thousands of miles are a big deal. The War Department and the Army General Staff must make various plans to deal with this, and once these plans are issued, half of the Ming Army will be involved!

Even the Tianzhu battlefield and the Nanyang Fleet will be implicated, and the Tianzhu armies will consider going north to Afghanistan to open the road to the two rivers in order to provide support to the western expeditionary forces if needed. The South Sea Fleet, on the other hand, had to be prepared to land in the Persian Gulf in response to the western expeditionary forces.

It's really a one-shot move for the whole body!

Zhu Sijiu's move. The whole Ming has to follow him! Although theoretically he has the power to act cheaply, it is really too much to use this step.

"Sijiu is really second-hearted!" Chen Dexing slammed the table. "This kid will definitely not return to the Central Plains."

Land Rover and Wang Lufei were both stunned and looked at each other. He shook his head again and again. Chen Dexing's analysis is good, Zhu Sijiu must have some ulterior motive when he launched this offensive without concealing it. Otherwise, he will be the number one reckless man and fool in the world.

If you win the battle like this, there will be no prize. If you lose, I'm afraid you will have to bear Chen Dexing's monstrous anger!

Wang Lufei saw Chen Dexing's face was pale, and he said profusely: "Sage." The army staff can issue secret orders to the three lieutenant generals and division commanders of Xiao Da, Wei Zhutar, and Chen, as well as the cavalry commander of the Western Expeditionary Army, Lieutenant General Hai Dawei, and the three major general cavalry division commanders. Let them ......"

"Secret order? What cipher? Chen Dexing glared at Wang Lufei angrily. Now the 100,000 soldiers of the Western Army don't know where they are! To whom? And...... The Western Army went to fight the Mongols, no matter what Zhu Sijiu was calculating, the tens of thousands of soldiers in the Western Army were good. What if there is infighting in the battle, which makes the people in the army panic, loses the battle, and loses the soldiers? ”

Chen Dexing took a few breaths and asked again, "Is there anything abnormal in Tianshan Province?" ”

"Nothing out of the ordinary." Wang Lufei said, "The Western Army is indeed the ...... of the westward advance"

Chen Dexing breathed a sigh of relief, he now understood the ancestors of the old Zhao family a little. Controlling the army is really a headache, even if the Ming army and navy have so many systems from later generations, it cannot guarantee that the army will not be chaotic at all.

Now the "solitary" of 100,000 soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army is a big mess! Fortunately, Zhu Sijiu took them to fight the Mongols, and it is estimated that most of the Ming officers in the Western Army did not know that this was a solo operation without consulting their superiors...... And as one of the twenty-two brothers and a senior officer in the army for a long time, Zhu Sijiu's prestige is too great, who would have thought that such a character would actually have a second heart?

"Zhu Sijiu's battle plan has been reported?" Chen Dexing had already suppressed his anger and asked coldly.

"It's been reported, and it's been delivered with an expedited 600 miles." Wang Lufei replied, "The documents of the General Staff Department are being copied, and a copy will be sent to the palace later." ”

Zhu Sijiu didn't think about turning his face with Chen Dexing, he really wanted to rebel, he was a dead end. Now he just wants to build a rich land so that he can become a king. The first target right now is Persia.

"What does it say? Where is Zhu Sijiu going to fight? ”

"The first step is to take the two rivers, Ferghana, Samarkand, Bukhara, and other places. It was also planned that Liu Quan and Yan Zhongji would guard Ferghana, Samarkand, and Buhuara, respectively. The second step is to plan south to Persia......"

"South to Persia? He wants to be the king of Persia? Chen Dexing gritted his teeth and thought about it in his heart.

It's not impossible for Feng Zhu Sijiu to be the king of Persia, I'm afraid that others will follow suit, and everyone will use the country's army to raise their own turf, which will cause chaos in the world!

Chen Dexing thought in his heart: But if he doesn't seal it, Zhu Sijiu will not be the king of Persia? He's come this far, and there's no going back...... If he returns to the Central Plains, the best result will be captivity and a prisoner for the rest of his life!

Moreover, if Zhu Sijiu proclaimed himself the king of Persia, then the Ming court and his saint would be disgraced! Not only did he lose face, but he also had to face the consequences of Zhu Sijiu's public rebellion. And Persia is so far away, it is not so easy to put down the rebellion.

When Chen Dexing was in a dilemma, the secretary on duty in the Zichen Hall came to report: Prime Minister Ren Yijiang, Vice Minister Kong Yu, and Chairman of the Advisory Council Zhao Fu had all arrived.

Ren Yijiang, Kong Yu and Zhao Fu were all summoned by Chen Dexing. The Ming Dynasty practiced the "separation of military and government", and the Cabinet Office could not control the four military departments, and the four military departments were not responsible to the Cabinet Office. If there is any major or minor matter, as long as it is not directly related to the Cabinet Office, it will not be reported. Although the advisory council in charge of Zhao Fu has the responsibility of supervising the army, it is mainly responsible for reviewing the army's budget expenditure. As long as the army's money is not spent too far, the council will not be able to control it.

The army and navy of the Ming Dynasty are, to some extent, two independent kingdoms, which are only under the control of Chen Dexing. But in his heart, Chen Dexing's control over the army, especially the army that was placed outside, was still a little lax. Of course, the Ming Empire can expand to the point it is now in a short period of time, which is inseparable from the great autonomy of front-line officers.

But the power of the border generals is also a double-edged sword, which can open up territory and make the army difficult to control. (To be continued.) )