In February, Zhu Youjian ordered the Ministry of Rites to let Xu Xiake sign a trade treaty with Portugal, which has three contents:

First, the Ming Dynasty recognized Portugal as an independent and autonomous country.

Second, Daming provides a loan of 3 million taels with an annual interest rate of 3%, which will be repaid in ten years.

Third, the Ming Dynasty sold wheat, brown sugar, porcelain and other commodities worth 2 million taels to Portugal, and sold enough arms to equip 40,000 people and worth 1 million taels.

This whole treaty, to put it bluntly, is to advance Portuguese goods in advance, and then Portugal will pay 390,000 taels to Daming every year for ten years.

For Portugal, which has just returned to the country, this deal is worth it, and it is even more worth it for Daming.

Spain is one of the countries that has the ability to threaten the Ming Dynasty, and although the threat is small, the threat is always there.

After Portugal became independent, the population under Spanish control would plummet from 12 million to more than 9 million.

As far as Spain's fiscal revenue is concerned, Spain's fiscal revenue will also fall to about 16 million taels.

Sixteen million taels seems like a lot, but it can only be a drop in the bucket for Spain, which currently has 300,000 troops.

They spent more than 50,000 taels a day on the war, and Spain was also saddled with hundreds of millions of debts.

After the Ming cut off trade with them, it was clear that they were about to usher in their fifth national bankruptcy of the century.

In the current situation, Joao has already equipped a standing army of 16,000 men with the arms provided by Xu Xiake before the war.

Even if the number was small, Spain did not have time to deal with Portugal for the time being when there were no troops at the front.

By the time they had time, the arms in the agreement between the Ming and Portugal had already arrived in Libens.

At that time, Portugal could use this enough firearms to equip 40,000 men, raising the standing army of 16,000 to 70,000.

At that time, I am afraid that Felipe IV could only pray that João would not counterattack Spain.

The greater Spain's predicament, the better it is for the aligned countries.

Therefore, when sending a message to Xu Xiake, Zhu Youzhen also ordered someone to send a message to Jin Xuan of Qi State.

He needed Kim Hyun to build a city in the upper plains of the Linzishui (Missouri River) in the eastern part of Chengshan Province in the Qi state, and at the same time mobilize a mobilized tractor to cultivate fields and grow wheat in the area.

The reason why Zhu Youzhen wanted to do this was very simple, that is, he relied on Linzi water to transport grain to the Gulf of Mexico, and then transported grain by sea to Europe and the Levian domains.

According to the current situation, within three years, Qi will be able to reclaim more than 2 million mu of arable land in central China, and will transport more than 400,000 tons of grain, enough for more than 600,000 people, to be sold to various countries every year.

With gold and silver, more people can be immigrated, and more land can be cultivated in the country of Qi, and the scissors difference between agriculture and industry can be better used to develop industry.

As for the food problem of Qi country, there is no need to worry, Daming will also transport a different number of tractors to Qi country every year, and the development of Qi country will not stop because of this.

On the contrary, it was the reclamation of the central part that would allow the Qi State to build a railway connecting the east and west of North America in the central part of the country in the future.

Under such an arrangement, both Qi and Ming will firmly control Europe and Levia, but whether trade conflicts will break out is something that Zhu Youzhen does not know.

His current attention is focused on the westward expedition on the first day of the first month of March.

At the same time as he was concerned, with the arrival of the first day of March as scheduled, the Daming Jingjia Railway arrived in Gaotai County, Suzhou, which is less than 300 miles away from Jiayuguan.

The hoarding of materials in Jiayuguan has long been prepared, and with the opening of Jiayuchengguan, accompanied by the sound of majestic horns......

After 115 years of absence, the soldiers and horses of the Ming Dynasty finally walked out of Jiayuguan again.

The hunting and hunting "Xi" character banner walked out of the Yongdao of the city gate of Jiayuguan, and the army led by Man Gui walked out of Jiayuguan.

"! Lao Tzu will definitely go down in history this time! ”

On the tall horse, Li Zicheng held the reins tightly, and the background was the Gobi Desert, Montenegro, and Qilian Mountains outside Jiayu Pass.

His face flushed, and he looked very excited.

Not only him, but it should be said that all the Ming troops of the Southern Route Army were very excited.

The reason why they were so excited was because of a team of people, and this team of people were the historians sent by the capital to write the "History of the State".

The recovery of the Western Regions, this is a matter that Zhu Youzhen attaches great importance to, and Chongzhen in history did not forget to recover the Hetao in the face of internal and external troubles, and Zhu Youzhen did the same.

It's just that he is not thinking about the Hetao, but about the Western Regions, where the river has been lost for hundreds or thousands of years.

Zhu Youzhen asked the historians to write down all the process of recovering the Western Regions, and to hand it over to Man Gui for reading and approval before giving it to himself for reading.

In other words, the generals on this trip will be recorded in the "National History", and there is no need to say much about them, the general soldiers and generals.

After the expedition, Zhu Youzhen also granted the army of the Western Expedition a power, that is, "Le Shi".

Every time the old city of the Han and Tang dynasties was recovered, a monument was erected with concrete and cast iron, and the names of all the soldiers who recovered the city were written on the monument.

This actually delays time, but Zhu Youzhen just wants to let the army not fight too fast and give Lin Danhan a chance to escape.

Of course, the army can't fight too slowly, especially Sun Shoufa and Cao Meng on the North Road, the soldiers and horses must be noble and fast, otherwise the army will face the danger of running out of food.

Le Shi was not a particularly great power, but in the Apocalypse Dynasty, when the status of the warriors rose dramatically, the Western Expeditionary Army was the first army to be granted this power.

It's enough to excite them and keep their morale high.

"Appeal ......"

On the side of the road, Man Gui led the generals to the low hill outside the pass, and they watched the Ming army walk out of Jiayu Pass condescendingly.

The fiery red mandarin duck jacket made the whole team like a red dragon out of the pass, winding towards the west.

The army was divided into teams, and each team had eight horses, and eight horses pulled four carts, which were loaded with armor and a month's rations for the soldiers, as well as ammunition for a team of seventeen people, bean fodder, forage, and drinking water for the horses.

The four carriages were driven by eight men in mandarin duck jackets, who were not only responsible for driving the carriages, but also for helping the soldiers to wear armor before the war.

Due to the large number of horses, there were not many people in the vanguard of the Southern Route Army, less than 7,000 people, of which 1,000 were responsible for escorting artillery.

Although the Southern Route Army had six battalions of soldiers and horses, only four battalions of soldiers and horses were fighting, and the remaining two battalions of more than 6,000 cavalry were responsible for the follow-up grain route.

Therefore, counting the soldiers, horses and civilians, the number of people who went out of the customs first was 20,000.

After them, there were heavy caravans that carried large quantities of grain and grass.

The two battalions of cavalry have a total of ten posts, each post has 545 people, in addition to the six banners responsible for guarding the generals, about 600 people.

The pro-army banner is responsible for guarding the generals, allowing the generals to sit in the middle of the baggage route, and the ten sentinel cavalry is responsible for protecting the baggage team composed of people.

Each team of 5,000 people, each of them has a horse, and each horse is responsible for pulling a cart, and each cart has various materials such as grain, forage, bean feed, ammunition, and water weighing 3,000 catties.

Each baggage team can support the army and the baggage team for four months, and they need to start with one team every month and return one team every two months.

All in all, the baggage team of the Southern Route Army was the baggage team responsible for the main supply of the Third Route Army.

The nomadic baggage team of the Central Route Army was only enough for them to fight for eight miles before they could return, and the Northern Route Army could only defeat Yemili.

Both of these routes are nomadic warfare, and there is a possibility of running out of food at any time.

If there is a problem with the Southern Route Army, the other two armies will be completely annihilated, so the Southern Route Army can only fight steadily, and if it makes a mistake, the Western Expedition will be completely lost.

Therefore, Man Gui has a great burden on his shoulders.

He looked at the 20,000 soldiers and horses who walked out of Jiayu Pass, and his heart was extremely heavy.

At this time, Zhu Fuju next to him also spread out the map, and after measuring it, he explained without raising his head:

"After leaving Jiayuguan, three hundred miles of uninhabited, you need to march three hundred miles to reach Shazhou Wei in the Hongwu period, recover Shazhou, and then take a short rest, so that Jiayuguan can transport enough grain and grass to continue to march to Hami."

As the general of the Ningxia battalion, Zhu Fuju was also the official of the Governor's Office of the Northern Army, and he was responsible for supervising the grain, grass, baggage, and marching of the vanguard soldiers and horses.

"Shazhou is occupied by some Tibetans and Uighurs, and the local area is an earthen city, and with the power of a ten-pound cannon, a round of pre-fire can break the city wall."

"However, there are many horse bandits and robbers on the road from Jiayuguan to Shazhou and Hami, ranging from hundreds to thousands."

Zhu Fuju put away the map in his hand, and at the same time waved at Man Gui:

"Governor, you can first send a battalion of soldiers and horses as a vanguard to take Shazhou City, then take Handongwei in the west, and finally send a battalion of soldiers and horses to clear the road and the horse bandits and robbers in Yanbian."

"Good!" Man Gui responded in a deep voice, and at the same time, without waiting for him to speak, Li Zicheng and the two general soldiers said:

"Governor, the last general is willing to be the vanguard!"

Since the vanguard only had four battalions of soldiers and horses, and Zhu Fuju was only a general, he did not ask for a battle.

"Li Zicheng attacked Shazhou and Handong, Liu Zongmin, you lead people to clean the road, Li Guo, you stay, and you will go back when you fight Hami."

"The last general commands!" Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin, who heard this, were overjoyed, while Li Guo was a little disappointed, but when he heard that Da Hami made him a pioneer, he was no longer hypocritical.

When Man Gui saw that the two of them should go, he also turned his head to look at Zhu Fuju: "How far is it from here to Don't lose eight miles?" ”

"About two thousand miles, judging from the minimum daily march of fifty miles in the Military Law, it will take twenty days to arrive without delay."

Zhu Fuju responded, and Man Gui also nodded in response:

"Twenty days is enough, take Beishi Bali in advance, let the baggage team hoard grain and grass in Beishi Bali, and wait for Cao Bianjiao's kid to come, let him send food and lose it."

Man Gui said, clamped his legs, drove the war horse down the low hill, and the rest of the generals also rode their horses down the hill, and finally merged into the long marching procession.

Shazhou in the Ming Dynasty and Shazhou in the Tang Dynasty were not the same place, Shazhou in the Tang Dynasty was located in the area of Dunhuang in the later generations, while Shazhou in the Ming Dynasty was located in the area of Guazhou in the later generations.

There are rivers and lakes here, and it is not a problem to station soldiers and horses.

As for Han Dongwei, it is located in the area of Dunhuang in later generations, and it is also occupied by the Tukou people, more than 600 miles away from Jiayuguan.

Six hundred miles, for the Ming cavalry, is just a four-day rush.

But if it was a march, even if Mangui asked for a daily march of fifty miles, it would take six days to arrive.

Therefore, if Li Zicheng walked faster, he would be able to return to Shazhou City almost before Mangui and them.

Therefore, Li Zicheng, who received the order of the Mangui army, then led the Gansu battalion and fifty Yanshan ten-pound guns to attack Shazhou and Handong, while Liu Zongmin led the Zhangye battalion to clear the horse bandits and robbers on the roads in the two places.

As for Man Gui taking Li Guo, Zhu Fuju led a large army to march slowly.

They replenished the water source in a small lake more than 100 miles outside Jiayu Pass, and received the news that Li Zicheng had captured the city of Shazhou 200 miles away from Shazhou.

No one was surprised by this, after all, there was only a group of tribes stationed here in Shazhou City, and they could not make any resistance in the face of the Ming army's firing guns.

After walking for another three days, they received the news that Li Zicheng had recovered Handongwei and changed Handongwei to Dunhuang County.

Then, on the eighth day of the second month, when Man Gui and his soldiers and horses arrived in Shazhou, the rammed earth city wall that had been destroyed by artillery had been repaired.

Unlike the yellow sand they thought of in Mangui, the vegetation of Shazhou City was quite abundant, and the river flowing down the Qilian Mountains flowed into a lake in the northeast of the city.

The area of the lake is not large, at least more than ten times smaller than the "Guazhou Daze" described in the Tang Dynasty classics.

If the Guazhou Daze in the Tang Dynasty was Dongting Lake, then the current Guazhou Daze is just a West Lake.

"It's a nice place, and it's very convenient to plant trees or cultivate land."

Man Gui turned over and dismounted, bowed down by the lake and washed his face, washing away a lot of wind and sand.

Li Guo looked at this place from a purely military point of view, nodded in agreement, and said:

"It is not a problem to raise 100,000 soldiers and civilians."

"Governor!"

The two sighed, the historians were recording the style of Shazhou, and Zhu Fuju was adjusting the armies to camp outside the city.

At this time, Li Zicheng rode his horse out of the city to lead the way, came to the lake, turned over and dismounted:

"Governor, Liu Zongmin's house went to clear out the horse bandits and bandits in Dunhuang, Shazhou and Dunhuang do not have acres of households, they are all recorded by local bandits."

"The last general took a little look, there are almost more than 10,000 Tukou people in Dunhuang, and there are more than 30,000 acres of cultivated land cultivated by Tubo people outside the city, as well as a lot of grassland."

"As for Shazhou, there are more than 8,000 Tubo and Hui people, and they are very honest, there are more than 20,000 acres of cultivated land planted by Tubo people outside the city."

"In the end, I will run around the horse, and I am afraid that there will be no less than 500,000 acres of land that can be cultivated."

Even in the cold period of the late Ming Dynasty, there was still no shortage of water in Shazhou.

Due to the sparse population, the local water resources have not been consumed much, but it is possible that there will be more immigrants in the future.

Therefore, after Zhu Fuju arrived, he said to Man Gui:

"Governor, according to His Royal Highness's "Anxi Affairs", I think that Shazhou maintains 20,000 people, and one sentry of soldiers and horses is enough, and I am afraid that any more will make the lake disappear."

Zhu Fuju's words made Man Gui nod, since Zhu Fuju entered the Governor's Mansion, many things proposed by Zhu Youzhen were written in the book by Zhu Youzhen, and they were all fulfilled one by one.

Since he is not good at governing military towns, he can still listen to Zhu Fuju's words.

"You arrange the affairs of Shazhou, and we will set off to conquer Hami in three days."

"Yes!"

Man Gui's words had already been spoken, and everyone responded, but Zhu Fuju flipped through the map, measured the amount, and continued:

"From Shazhou to Hami, you need to climb a mountain, the distance is more than 600 miles, the army needs 12 days to march, and the cavalry can reach it in 5 days."

"At present, it is Abren who is stationed in Turpan and Hami, and he has more than 10,000 cavalry under his command, occupying the vast area from Hami to Qiuzi."

"Judging from the general, only the defeat of Abron's main cavalry can force him to surrender, after all, he has no way to retreat now."

Zhu Fuju's words made the generals nod, and Man Gui also said when he heard this:

"I'm the Ming Dynasty who has made four mistakes to Hami, and now it's the fifth time, and I must not lose it."

"Although it is possible for Ablun to surrender after the war, it is still necessary to focus on destroying the enemy."

"Li Guo, this time, as a vanguard, you led the Ningxia battalion and the Jiuquan battalion to send troops."

"The last general commands!" Hearing that it was finally his turn to send troops, Li Guo was excited, and then grinned at Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng felt a little bored, so he could only preemptively say:

"Fight Ab and let Li Guo this kid go first, and then Shule, Khotan and other places, and leave it to me and Liu Chuangzi!"

"Yes." Seeing Li Zicheng and them grabbing credit, Man Gui smiled heartily.

It's just a pity that before they could say anything, a group of pond riders from the north went south and rushed towards the lake where they were.

At this moment, Li Guo had a bad premonition, and this premonition also came true after a while.

I saw Tang riding a horse, and then skillfully turned over and dismounted:

"Returning to the governor, please surrender!"

"! Surrender before you can fight! Hearing this, Li Guo scolded, and the people around him also laughed.

Man Gui raised his hand to signal them not to laugh, and then comforted Li and said:

"If he really descends, the king tent of Hutudun will be handed over to you to fight."

"Tiger Rabbit Dun won't run away this time, right?" Li Guo, who heard the words, looked uncomfortable.

"This is not ......" Li Zicheng teased his nephew in a teasing tone, and Li Guo, the nephew who was older than him, also spat at his feet when he saw this.

"It's not fun to fight!"

"Okay...... Man Gui smiled and stroked his beard, put his eyes on Tang Qi, and asked:

"What does he want?"

"Back to the governor, Ablun just wants the governor to continue to canonize him according to his will."

Tang Qi opened his mouth to respond, and Man Gui also nodded: "This is not a difficult matter, the will is made by His Royal Highness and His Highness, and the two Highnesses will not go back." ”

The will of Man Gui and Tangqi is Zhu Youzhen's decree to appease Ab Lun this time, and its content is mainly to grant him the title of Earl of Xizhou after Ab Lun surrendered, and also to grant him 10,000 households, 1,000 households, and 100 households at all levels, which is basically the same as that issued to Dzungaria.

Compared to Dzungaria, who could still escape to Western Siberia, Ab Lun, who was surrounded by Lin Dan Khan and Daming, did not even have a place to run.

He didn't want to take refuge in Lin Dan Khan, after all, the Ming Dynasty went west, and whether Lin Dan Khan could fight was one thing.

Instead of taking refuge in Lin Dan Khan, who did not know the future, there was a lesson from Gushi Khan's past, and taking refuge in Daming was obviously the best choice for Ab Theory.

The earl's annual salary of 3,000 taels, plus his own family as the heirs of thousands of households, how can he say that there are also a few thousand taels of silver, which is not counting the pasture......

The grassland opened by the Ming Dynasty to Ablun is 200,000 acres of grassland in the Qinghai area, although it is not as large as the territory of his Turpan Khanate, but after not raising soldiers, the value of this grassland will be much higher.

Not only him, but also his subordinates were also allowed to go to Mobei and Monan to graze, with seven or eight people per household sharing 10,000 acres of grassland.

At present, there are more than a billion pastures in the south and north of the desert, and although they are extremely fragile, it is not a problem to feed millions of herders.

At present, there are only more than 200,000 herdsmen in these two places, and there are only 100,000 in the Turpan Khanate.

Move them away, let the Han people assimilate them, and then move the Han people to take over more than a dozen cities in the country of Turpan Khan, and the southern Xinjiang of the Western Regions will be able to sinicize more than half of them in an instant.

For Da Ming and Ab Lun, this is a sure deal.

Thinking so, Man Gui also looked at Zhu Fuju:

"You take a sentry cavalry of the Ningxia battalion to take a look at this matter, if Abu is sincere and submits to my Daming, I can take him to the top of the army, ask him to be the envoy of Lanzhou soldiers and horses, and give him a real power official position."

Man Gui knew that Li Guo was stupid, on the contrary, Zhu Fuju could speak good ways, plus his clan status in the Qin Palace, even if Abu repented, he would not kill him.

"The last general commands." Zhu Fuju also knew Man Gui's thoughts, and at the same time, he also accepted it happily, not afraid of danger.

He hated war, but he remained in the army because he didn't want to experience the cruelty of the bloody battle of Kitayama again.

In his opinion, the people who fought and died were the people of the Ming Dynasty and the children of the people.

If he can surrender without a fight, even if he can only kill dozens or hundreds of brothers, then his effort is worth it.

As in the current Abu theory, if Zhu Fuju can persuade him to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, then this western expedition will be able to kill hundreds or thousands of people.

Therefore, after receiving the order, he resolutely led a sentry of more than 500 cavalry to the northwest of Turpan City.

While he was rushing, Man Gui was also preparing to rest briefly on the sandbank for three days, and at the same time encircled and suppressed the horse thieves and bandits around him.

After doing this, no matter whether Zhu Fuju returns or not, he will continue to march towards Hami.

He didn't have much time to delay, after all, no one could guarantee whether Abu's move would be a delaying tactic.

If the man is full of plans and waits honestly, then the consequence will be the annihilation of the Central Route Army and the Northern Route Army.

He can't afford to gamble on such a price......