After Xu Da received Zhu Yuanzhang's order, he immediately led his elite soldiers to Lanzhou at an expedited speed of 800 miles to preside over the overall situation.

Changing horses and resting on the way, never staying overnight, and finally arrived in Lanzhou in ten days.

At this time, a large number of materials and troops transferred from Guanzhong to Lanzhou had not yet arrived, and the officers and soldiers and people of Lanzhou Xingdu Division were in chaos.

A large number of victims flooded the city, and many warehouses of the Ming army were also destroyed in the earthquake.

Many people were worried that Wang Baobao would take this opportunity to attack Lanzhou, and many people fled their homes and poured into the city.

There were also many generals in the Ming army who were afraid that Wang Baobao would come to attack, so they took the initiative to shrink the defensive line, gave up some seriously damaged fortresses, and gathered their soldiers and horses in several large cities, but after Xu Da came, he had a completely opposite view on this, and he felt that the Mengyuan army must have received the news of the Lanzhou earthquake before himself.

But for such a long time, he has not come to attack Lanzhou, which shows that Wang Baobao must have other plans.

On the one hand, Xu Da presided over the affairs of the Lanzhou Xingdu Division, and on the other hand, he sent people to inquire about Wang Baobao's movements.

Sure enough, as Xu Da expected, Wang Baobao's Mengyuan army did not come to Lanzhou to attack, but turned around and went to the west to fight the Golden Horde.

"God help me! The opportunity to recover the Western Regions and conquer Huozhou is just around the corner! ”

After Xu Da got the news, he immediately slapped his eyes happily.

However, his words frightened his generals a lot.

The Ming army has now suffered considerable losses, and its reserves of various weapons and grain and grass are seriously insufficient.

In this case, how could it be possible to attack Huozhou, which was heavily defended by Wang Baobao?

"Marshal, think twice......"

"Marshal, this may be a trap set by the Tartars, just waiting for us to go to the scheme!"

"Yes, Marshal, we can't take risks easily now, once the attack on Huozhou fails, Lanzhou will also be in danger!"

……

Regarding the opposition of these generals, Xu Da insisted on his own opinions.

In the end, in the name of the generalissimo of Lanzhou Dusi, he made the decision to personally lead the army to attack Huozhou.

Xu Da's attack was a surprise attack, and it was naturally impossible to advance with great fanfare.

All of them are highlighted in one quick word.

Therefore, the scale of Xu Da's army is not large, and he only drew 10,000 of the 100,000 soldiers and horses in Lanzhou Xingdu.

These elites of the Ming army were all one man and two horses, and in addition to the necessary weapons, armor and gunpowder, they only brought a small part of the grain and grass they needed.

This does not mean that the elite of the army is not a person and does not need to eat, but Xu Da has his own way to solve the problem of eating for the 10,000 people of the Ming army.

When Xu Da was in charge of the Lanzhou Xingdu Division before, he had already secretly bought and attracted a large number of people who were afraid of Wu'er.

The ancestors of the Uyghurs, also known as the Uyghurs, lived in the steppes.

Originally, they also lived a nomadic life of chasing water and grass, but in the last years of the Tang Dynasty, they moved to the southern part of the Tianshan Mountains, and gradually merged with the local ethnic groups, forming a group engaged in agriculture and trade.

The Uyghurs have a high commercial talent and are an important link on the Silk Road.

They had frequent contacts with the Ming Dynasty merchants here in Lanzhou, and naturally gradually realized the strength of the Ming Dynasty.

The demise of Wang Baobao's Mongol court seemed to the Uyghurs to be only a matter of time.

So after Xu Da extended an olive branch to them, these Uyghur businessmen actively greeted them.

Now Wang Baobao led the army out to fight, the interior is very empty, Xu Da led the elite of the Ming army as long as they arrive outside the city of Huozhou, they can get the support of countless Uyghurs.

After all, Xu Da had made a promise to the Uyghurs to ensure the safety of their property and lives on their own land, and after returning to the Ming Dynasty, the Uyghur merchants would enjoy the same tax benefits as Ming Dynasty merchants.

Therefore, as long as the Ming army is under the city of Huozhou, there is no need to worry about logistics and food.

Xu Da led the elite of 10,000 Ming troops to march lightly, and after leaving Jiayu Pass, he quickly swept away the scouts scattered around the Mengyuan court with lightning speed.

When Timur and Empress Dowager Qi of Huozhou City received the news that the Ming army was coming to attack, the Ming army led by Xu Da was less than 200 miles away from Huozhou.

The distance of two hundred miles, if the infantry is marching desperately, can be reached in two days.

If the cavalry is moving fast, it will only be a day's time.

For the Mengyuan court in Huozhou, the sudden appearance of the Ming army led by Xu Da can almost be described as a divine soldier descending from heaven.

"What to do? What to do? Come up with a solution! ”

Empress Dowager Qi was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.

None of them expected that the Ming army in Lanzhou suffered an earthquake disaster, and they still had the courage and ability to come to attack Huozhou.

Moreover, they also knew that the general who led this Ming army was the famous Xu Da.

In the entire Mengyuan court, except for Wang Baobao, no one could survive two rounds under Xu Da.

In the face of the panicked Empress Dowager Qi, her brother-in-law Timur also had no way to deal with it.

"If you don't hurry up and order to gather the surrounding soldiers and horses to come to the rescue in Huozhou, the Ming army will definitely take the initiative to retreat after the attack is blocked, I heard that they don't have many soldiers and horses, at most only 20,000 people!" Taeki Timur was also a little unconfident when he said this.

Because the city walls of Huozhou were not as tall and strong as those in the Central Plains, it was difficult for the Mengyuan army to resist the artillery attack of the Ming army.

"No, no! The whole army defends Huozhou, once the Ming army breaks through the city wall, if you want to run, you can't run! ”

One of the people next to him immediately spoke out in disapproval.

This person is none other than Kong Kejian, the Yansheng Gong of the Great Yuan Dynasty.

As an official representing the Han people, Kong Kejian, the prince of Yansheng, became more and more important in the Mengyuan court.

Moreover, as a master of family learning, Kong Kejian has now grown into an escape master.

Kong Kejian's words were immediately approved by many Mengyuan nobles and generals.

They had already been frightened by the Ming army, and the successive defeats made them extremely afraid of the Ming army.

Even if Xu Da led more than 10,000 people to attack, most of the Mengyuan generals did not dare to go forward to stop the attack.

Even, in their eyes, even holding on to the city is extremely dangerous, lest they be dumpled by the Ming army and end up annihilated!

But he didn't even see the shadow of the Ming army, so he had to take the initiative to give up Huozhou City and run away, this kind of thing is really embarrassing.

Timur himself was still a little embarrassed, and he did not intend to agree to the proposal of Kong Kejian, the Holy Father.

However, a series of messages came a moment later, and Timur immediately changed his mind.

Because of the successive reports of information, there was a rebellion in many towns outside Huozhou where Uyghurs gathered.

These Uyghurs killed the generals and officials of the Mengyuan garrison, raised the banner of the Ming army, and shouted to welcome the Ming king.

Obviously, the Ming army dared to take the initiative to attack Huozhou City precisely because of the internal response of these Uyghurs.

The Uyghurs are the largest ethnic group in this area, and their annexation to the Ming army means that the Mongol Yuan has lost its basic roots here.

"Huozhou City will be finished sooner or later!"

Timur knew that Huozhou City could not be held, so he could only order the Mengyuan court to quickly pack up and prepare to run away again.

In order to delay the pace of the Ming army and buy time to escape, Timur sent thousands of cavalry to stop the Ming army.

It's just that these thousands of cavalry are demoralized, and they know that their mission is to die for a lifetime, so they naturally refuse to die obediently.

These thousands of Mongolian cavalry left the east gate of Huozhou City with their front feet, and their back feet had already run ten miles west of Huozhou City.

After learning of this situation, Meng Yuan in Huozhou City was even more panicked.

Timur protected the Empress Dowager Qi and the little Emperor Bayan and others, and took the lead in escaping from Huozhou City.

Before leaving, Deyin Timur ordered fires to be lit everywhere in the city!

All the houses, food and supplies that could not be taken away were burned down!

Resolutely do not leave anything useful for the Ming army.

Soon, Meng Yuan's team of escaping troops skyrocketed to nearly 100,000!

The towns and forts along the way were originally going to beat the water dogs, but they were too frightened to move at will by such a large scale.

In order to prevent the Ming army from pursuing in the rear, Timur ordered the destruction of local wells and ditches before leaving a place, so that the Ming army following behind him could not get drinking water.

Wang Baobao was busy sweeping thousands of armies in the middle of the river, and those Heavenly Fang Sectists were simply a flock of lambs to the slaughter in front of him, powerless to fight back.

Just when Wang Bao was killing Zhengshuang, he didn't expect that his nest would be destroyed by the Ming army again.

With the embarrassed army of fugitives, Timur met Wang Baobao.

After learning the news, Wang Bao almost fell off his horse in anger.

If it weren't for the quick eyes of the soldiers next to him and supporting him, I was afraid that he would have fallen into a dog to chew.

"Xu Da, you despicable villain!" It took Wang Baobao a long time to regain his sanity, and he was immediately furious.

The news was a shock to him.

Originally, he also wanted to use Yili to take the Li region as the foundation, and then expand the territory to the surrounding areas, at least to copy the appearance of the Western Liao Empire.

Now it's okay, even the old nest has been wiped out by the Ming army.

Don't say anything about Xiliao, now you can only embark on the road of escape again as a rogue.

Wang Baobao was angry and hated his younger brother Timur and Empress Dowager Qi, but there was nothing he could do about them.

The most important thing now is to unite all the remaining tribes and find a new way out for them.

Otherwise, once these hundreds of thousands of people lose confidence on the way to escape, they will easily collapse.

The region in the river is full of enemies, and once the Celestial Cultists see them fighting among themselves, they will inevitably launch an attack, leaving them dead with no place to bury.

"The world is big! Isn't there a place for my Dayuan to go? ”

Wang Baobao looked at the more than 100,000 subordinates and family scrolls who were in a panic and confused, and he had no idea for a while.

Just when Wang Baobao was worried, a voice came from beside him.

"Your Royal Highness, you have just defeated the Golden Horde, it is better to take this opportunity to take advantage of the victory and pursue until you reach the capital of the Golden Horde, Salai, as long as you take the city of Salai, then we will have millions of Slavs under your command!"

The person who said this was none other than the Slavic prisoner Andrei, who had surrendered to the Yuan army not long ago.

Andrei's full name is Andrei Vasilyevich, and he was a lord of the Nizhny Novgorod principality.

The principalities of Nizhny Novgorod and Muscovy were the two most powerful of the many Slavic states under the rule of the Golden Horde.

In order to compete for the trust of the Golden Horde, the Nizhny Novgorod and Muscovy not only helped the Mongols to oppress other Slavic compatriots, but also looked down on each other, and often skirmished each other.

According to their actions, Muscovy and Nizhny Novgorod were proper Slavic traitors.

Now Andrei Vasilyevich again began to think about the idea of the new Mongol master.

"Lao An, if you have any good ideas, say it quickly!" Wang Baobao said with a majestic face.

In these days, Andrei and these Slavic soldiers behaved very well in the process of slaughtering the Celestial Cultists, which was appreciated by Wang Baobao.

It's just that the names of these Slavs are too long, no matter how they are pronounced, they are very tongue-twisting, and Wang Baobao didn't bother to remember their long names, so he directly called Andrei Lao An.

After some time of study, Andre quickly mastered a lot of Chinese.

He was already able to speak some Mongolian, but now he can communicate with Wang Baobao more smoothly.

He often uses his rude image to say some flattering words, and the contrast effect shows that he is rude, straightforward and reliable, which is very pleasing to Wang Baobao.

Now, Wang Baobao admires him even more, and has put Andre by his side to become a member of the pro-soldier team.

"Since there is a strong enemy in the East, then we will go directly to the West!"

Then Andrei gave his advice.

It turned out that Andrei wanted Wang Baobao to let these Eastern Mongols attack the Western Mongols, that is, the Golden Horde.

The rule of the Golden Horde was so brutal and rotten that many Slavs simply could not stand it.

Now if there were a Mongol army from the east to replace the rulers of these Golden Hordes, then the Slavs would certainly not fight for the Golden Horde.

However, Wang Baobao was full of doubts about this suggestion.

Whether it is the Mongols of the Golden Horde or the Mongols of the Great Yuan Dynasty, aren't they all the same Mongols?

Why did the Slavs really welcome the Mongols in the East?

"Your Highness, of course, it's because of religion! The Golden Horde has chosen the evil Celestial Cult, they are proper pagan conquerors, if you can drive out and defeat these Celestial Cultists, Your Highness, and establish a country with Orthodoxy as the state religion! Those millions of Slavs will obediently obey you! ”

Andrei knew in his heart that if he could not let these Eastern Mongols kill back to the Slavic steppe, then they, the Slavic captives, would never have a chance to return to their homeland.

In the minds of the Slavic captives at this time, the Mongols were invincible.

Although the Golden Horde failed, it was defeated by another, more powerful Mongol force.

Moreover, Andrei had seen with his own eyes the strength of Wang Baobao's army.

He had nothing in mind about the independence of the Slavic people.

All he wanted was to use these new conquerors for his own benefit.

Andrei felt that if he could persuade these Eastern Mongols to convert to Orthodoxy.

That would not only help them return to the Eastern European Plain, but also give them the highest glory in the Church.

For any Christian denomination.

It was a great credit to convert a powerful conqueror without faith to his own religion.

After spending this time with Andrei and other Slavic captives, Wang Baobao already had a good understanding of the so-called Orthodox Church.