In March, perhaps the heavens also wanted to hinder the Ming Dynasty's feat of recovering the Western Regions, and a sudden sandstorm swept across the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains.

Zhu Fuju was awakened by the sound of the howling wind.

When he opened his eyes, he saw only a faint light inside the tent.

He subconsciously glanced at the pocket watch he had put aside, and with the help of the faint light, he could see the time clearly.

"It's three quarters of the hour...... This smell ......"

Zhu Fuju was a little surprised at first, then got up, squinted his eyes and frowned, trying to open the curtain of the tent.

The curtain didn't know when it was pressed with a stone, and with a little effort, Zhu Fuju opened the curtain.

In an instant, the whistling wind hit his face with a slightly cool air, and if he felt it carefully, he could feel some grains of sand in the wind.

A trace of earthy smell rushed in his nostrils made Zhu Fuju feel a lot more energetic, and when he opened his eyes, a yellow like a retro filter came into view.

】

The dusk sandstorm hit the Western Regions, and Zhu Fuju walked out, only to hear the whistling in his ears and the pain of his cheeks being scraped by sand.

He looked into the distance with all his might, and saw a black wind rolling in front of him, as if a wall was approaching.

"General! Go back to the tent! This is a big sandstorm that has been rare for more than ten years! ”

In the whistling wind, Zhu Fuju seemed to hear someone shouting to him.

He tried to look over, but was quickly pushed into the tent by a figure in a mandarin duck jacket.

By the time he came to his senses, the figure had crushed the curtain with stone and several wooden nails.

Seeing this, Zhu Fuju lit the kerosene lamp in the tent.

The dim glow brought by the kerosene lamp calmed the mood a lot.

At this time, Zhu Fuju saw clearly who the person was.

"Ma Shunguo, is this a big sandstorm?"

The figure squatting in front of Zhu Fuju and beating wooden nails to make the tent firmer turned his head when Zhu Fuju's words sounded.

It was a face that looked to be forty or fifty years old, with wrinkles like a cracked riverbed, and it made people a few years older for no reason.

"General, this is a big sandstorm, we've experienced it before."

Ma Shunguo is not as old as he seems, in fact he is only thirty-six years old, and the reason why he knows so much about the affairs of the Western Regions also comes from his own identity.

He was a naturalized Mongol from the Heshuo Special Department, and because he learned the official language in Hexi and understood the situation in the Western Regions, he was chosen by Zhu Fuju as his guide.

I have to say that Ma Shunguo's experience has indeed helped the Ming army a lot.

"We are in Xingxing Gorge, and the sandstorm can't blow in too much, as long as we rest for a day, we should be able to set off tomorrow."

Ma Shunguo explained the impact of the sandstorm, and Zhu Fuju also patted the sand on his body when he heard this.

"I grew up in Shaanxi, but this is the first time I've seen such a big sandstorm."

"In the Western Regions, it's normal to have sandstorms at this time." Ma Shunguo explained:

"They all blow from the southwest, and they will blow in the windy season, and the wind and sand in the Hetao can't compare to here."

"It's really not as good as ......," Zhu Fuju nodded and acknowledged, and also said:

"Have a day off, so can we get to Hami in three days?"

"It should work." Ma Shunguo replied without thinking, and Zhu Fuju, who heard the words, breathed a sigh of relief:

"That's good......"

He was so nervous because when they arrived at Xingxing Gorge yesterday, they had already seen the 1,000 soldiers and horses of the Turpan Khanate stationed here.

After learning that Zhu Fuju was going to Turpan instead of Man Gui, they immediately withdrew their whole army to Hami, preparing to report the news to the tribe's Taiji, and then asked Taiji to tell the news to Ablun.

In this way, Ablun will also come from Turpan, and after Zhu Fuju rests for two days, the two sides will be able to meet in Hami.

Therefore, Zhu Fuju must hurry up and not be late.

"When the sand comes, we need to dig up the stream again and replenish it with water."

"On the way from Xingxing Gorge to Hami, there are only Gobi and desert, and there are strong winds."

"There isn't enough water to replenish, and we may die of thirst on the road before we reach Hami."

Ma Shunguo talked about the hardships and dangers of rushing to the Western Regions in this era, but after finishing speaking, he also said:

"As long as you get to Hami, and then go back, there are basically oases connected to oases, and the road behind will not delay the march of the army."

"Hmm......" Zhu Fuju nodded, and Ma Shunguo listened to the wind outside the tent a little quieter, and also judged that after about two hours, the wind and sand would stop.

Zhu Fuju originally didn't believe it, but when they chatted for two hours and the wind gradually became smaller, Zhu Fuju was also curious.

When two hours later, the wind returned to yesterday when they arrived at Xingxing Gorge, Ma Shunguo also took out the wooden nails with his hands and feet, picked up the stones, and opened the tent curtain.

This time, it was no longer a wall that was pressed by black pressure, but a slightly dim sky.

"It's time to go, I'll go inform them."

Ma Shunguo saw that the sky was gradually clearing, and he also went to other tents to inform the Ming soldiers who were hiding from the wind and sand in each tent to come out of the tent.

During this period, Zhu Fuju looked at the direction of the tent opposite the wind outlet, and saw that the sand in this direction had been piled up three feet high.

It is hard to imagine what kind of hardship Zhu Fuju will face if such a sandstorm lasts for a few days.

When pulling out the camp, Zhu Fuju recorded these things in his military newspaper, and prepared to submit the military newspaper after the war, so as to avoid the suffering of the Ming army team who took this road in the future.

While he was writing, he asked Ma Shunguo what he needed to pay attention to, how to spot the sandstorm, how to predict how long it would come, and other matters.

He wrote down all these things in the military newspaper.

By the time he had finished writing, the soldiers and horses had successfully gathered their tents.

The Ming army in the canyon dug up several springs buried by the wind and sand, and then filled them with enough water before they continued their journey to Hami.

Out of Xingxing Gorge, as Ma Shunguo said, Zhu Fuju and they were greeted by the endless Gobi Desert.

The Gobi Desert stretches as far as the eye can see, and people can't help but feel small.

Within a radius of more than 100 miles, it is difficult for even animals to see, and what can be seen and felt, in addition to the vastness of the Western Regions, is only the wind around them that is wrapped in sand and dust, whistling and coming and going.

Zhu Fuju rode a horse, sitting on horseback, and at the end of his vision was a dividing line between heaven and earth.

In the meantime, everyone will feel that their small self is lost in space and time, and there is no direction.

Most of the Gobi in the Western Regions are plain-like, and once they appear, they stretch endlessly to the edge of the sky.

The Gobi is a combination of gravel and soil, which has been washed, collided, split and broken by floods and stones coming down from the mountains for millions of years.

Some of the Gobi stones have been eroded by the wind and sand for a long time, forming a variety of shapes, which is very interesting.

However, although the road looked very smooth, not long after the march, the knife-like splinters of stone cut the tires of many carriages.

Fortunately, the Ming army did not have the technology of hollow tires and pneumatic tires, so they used solid tires, and the cut marks did not affect the carriage.

Zhu Fuju and they walked for a short time, and then a series of snow-capped mountains appeared on the skyline.

Since the wind and sand have passed, the sky overhead has turned blue.

The low white clouds floating in the clear blue sky, the flickering shadows on the Gobi Desert, and the white snow-capped mountains clearly visible in the distance, made Zhu Fuju almost think that he had returned to Hexi.

However, if you distinguish carefully, the snow-capped mountains in the Western Regions are even more distant.

"These snow-capped mountains look very close, but in fact they are very far away, and they can't even reach the fast horses that run to death."

Ma Shunguo explained the situation in the Western Regions, such a phenomenon they could not explain, but they knew that this beautiful snowy scene was full of dangers.

With Zhu Fuju and them, Ma Shunguo tried his best to choose some easier paths.

But even so, at the end of the day, there were still many carriages with broken wheels, and there was a lot of delay on the road.

When night came, they had not traveled more than seventy miles because they had been hit by the wind and sand in the morning, and had not traveled.

For them, cavalrymen with three horses, the speed was comparable to that of a snail climbing.

Before nightfall, they set up their tents to rest, and as time passed, when it was gray, they packed up and set off again.

It is still the familiar Gobi Desert, or the familiar distant snowscape.

So they walked for three hours, until they had crossed a ditch that had dried up and dried up, and at last they began to see a little bit of green.

The Gobi Desert, which had already made people feel a little tired, began to gradually become greener, and when the snow melted in the mountains and flowed down the mountain to form a turquoise river, and finally more and more, the green velvety meadows began to appear in the field of vision, and the cavalry of the Turpan Khanate began to appear on the steppe in the distance.

"May I ask if it is the messenger of the Ming Dynasty?!"

The visitor asked in Mongolian with a slight accent, and Ma Shunguo also replied "yes" when he heard the words.

The Mongol who heard the rumor rode in, and he hugged his chest on the horse and saluted Zhu Fuju:

"Baihu Temur, by the order of the Great Khan, please ask the envoys of the Ming Dynasty to camp outside Hami City!"

Ma Shunguo became the translator, and Zhu Fuju also responded after thinking about it.

Unless Ablun led more than 10,000 cavalry to besiege him, with one of them and three horses, even if they couldn't defeat him, they would be able to successfully run into the Gobi Desert.

Even if you abandon the carriage, with the water bladder on your body, it is not a problem to hold on for two or three days.

Two or three days later, it was time for them to come with a large army.

Therefore, after a short rest, Zhu Fuju led more than 500 cavalry to follow Temur to Hami City.

At dusk, they arrived at the foot of Hami.

Looking at the Hami city hidden in the evening sun, Zhu Fuju didn't know what Hami looked like in the Han and Tang dynasties thousands of years ago, but along the way, whether he saw herdsmen or farmers, they either had high noses and deep eyes, or they were common to Mongolians.

It's just that, no matter what they look like, they are all men wearing hats and women wearing veils.

Temur explained the situation in Hami to Zhu Fuju, and in general, in order to show his sincerity, Ablun only left 1,000 soldiers and horses in Hami.

Ablun had heard from Lin Dan Khan about the power of the Ming army's "burst muskets", so he believed that this bit of soldiers and horses did not pose a threat to the Ming army.

The place where he camped for Zhu Fuju and them was a grassland, and Zhu Fuju was also quite satisfied with this, and he believed a little more in his heart about Abu's desire to return to obedience.

After a brief explanation, Temur rode his horse and left, while Zhu Fuju looked at the distant city of Hami while the soldiers set up camp.

Under the sunlight, this city in an obvious halal style has lost a bit of the Hami appearance recorded in the early Ming Dynasty.

The history of Hami is very long, starting from the second year of the Western Han Dynasty and ending in the nineteenth year of the Apocalypse.

Of these nearly 1,700 years, nearly 900 years belonged to the Han people, of which 120 years were in the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

In March of the fourth year of Yongle, under the holy decree of Zhu Di, the Ming Dynasty officially established Hamiwei.

This made Hamiwei connected with the other six guards outside Jiayuguan, such as Aduan, Anding, Chijin Mongolia, Quxian and Handong, which were established successively during the Hongwu period.

After that, Zhu Di appointed the leader of the Hami Guard, Ma Ha Ma Huo, as the commander, thousands of households and other officials, and transferred the Han Zhou An from the mainland to tutor the Hami Changshi and Liu Xing Ji Shan, and Zuo Li was loyal to the king to get rid of.

Hamiwei is the bridgehead of the Ming court through the Hexi Corridor, against the remnant Yuan forces, and the balance of the Mongolian tribes, which is of great strategic significance.

As Zhu Fuju saw from the book, the existence of Hamiwei first strengthened the connection between the Ming Dynasty and the Western Regions, and secondly, became a barrier on the western border of the Ming Dynasty.

Finally, it also served the purpose of shielding the Mongol and Western alliances in the north.

Its establishment and abolition were closely related to the struggle between the Ming court and the Mongol tribes.

The fourth year of Yongle was the first time that the Ming Dynasty sent Han officials to master Hami, but in the eighth year of Chenghua, Hami City was broken by Turpan, which was a loss for one and one for all.

In the eighteenth year of Chenghua, the Ming army united with more than 8,600 guards such as Chijin and Handong to attack Hami, and Hami recovered.

But in the first year of Hongzhi, Turpan once again occupied Hami, which was two wins and two losses.

After that, the Ming Dynasty used a series of means to force it to abandon Hami and recover Hami in the fourth year of Hongzhi.

However, only two years later, in the sixth year of Hongzhi, the Turpan Khanate invaded again and captured Hami again.

After this incident, Zhu Youzhu was extremely indignant about this matter, so the Ming Dynasty closed Jiayu Pass, detained the Turpan envoy, and in the eighth year of Hongzhi, the Ming court sent the governor Xu Jin and the general Liu Ning to lead the troops to attack Hami at night, and the Turpan general Yalan fled, and the Ming Dynasty regained Hami again.

In the eighth year of Zhengde, Hami was lost again, and the Turpan leader Man Su'er led his troops to invade Suzhou, but was defeated by Chen Jiuchou, the deputy envoy of the military garrison, and arrested the collaborator Shu Yihuxian and others.

After Jiajing succeeded to the throne, Yang Tinghe listed the crimes of writing Yihu Xian and beheaded him, and only two years later, Turpan took revenge on the Ming court for writing Yihu Xian and attacked Suzhou again.

Under the pressure of Man Su'er, the Ming court once again argued around the Hami issue, and Zhang Xuan and Gui Cao took the opportunity to exclude dissidents, and they shifted the responsibility for failing to recover Hami to Yang Tinghe, who killed Yihu Xian, and raised the "Prison of Feudal Territory", and a large number of cadres who advocated the recovery of Hami were demoted.

In the end, Emperor Jiajing listened to the advice of Hu Shining, the secretary of the military department, and decided to abandon Hami and not recover it.

This is the whole process of Hami's four losses and four losses, the Ming Dynasty lost Hami and recovered it again and again in the 120 years after the establishment of Hamiwei, but in the end it lost in this battle due to the outbreak of the Great Rites Debate.

After setting off from Jiayuguan and before arriving at Hami City, Zhu Fuju didn't even know why he wanted to recover the Western Regions.

Because all he saw was the desolate Gobi Desert and thousands of miles of uninhabited scenes.

But after arriving in Hami and hearing what Ma Shunguo said about the situation in the northern and southern parts of the Tianshan Mountains, Zhu Fuju changed his mind.

The entire Western Regions is almost oasis after oasis, and grassland after grassland.

There may be some Gobi Desert, but they are all intermittent.

As long as the railway is built, the Ming Dynasty's rule in the Western Regions will be stable, and the local excellent iron ore in the Western Regions will also be used by the Ming Dynasty, and Hexi will also become the hinterland, no longer suffering from war.

Zhu Fuju recorded his feelings in the military newspaper, and felt the customs of the Western Regions in the next two days.

It's just that the Thousand Miles Buddha Kingdom of the past is no longer there, and all that remains is the boundless green.

In the records of the Ming Dynasty, Hami is obviously a place with a strong Buddhist atmosphere, but since the destruction of the Hami Kingdom, less than a hundred years, it is now a green place.

"If you leave it alone, I'm afraid that hundreds of years later, there will be no place for me to stand in the Western Regions......"

Zhu Fuju wrote down his feelings in the military newspaper, and after he finished writing this sentence, a conversation in Mongolian came from outside the tent.

After a while, Ma Shunguo lifted the curtain of the tent and said to Zhu Fuju in the tent:

"General, Ablun has arrived in Hami City......"

"Let's go, settle the matter early, the governor and they have arrived at the Star Gorge, not far from here."

Hearing that Ablun had arrived in Hami City, Zhu Fuju closed the military newspaper and got up to prepare for it.

Seeing this, Ma Shunguo told his party that he would go to Hami City in a few moments to discuss the matter of returning to the city with Ab.

After speaking, he went into the tent to help Zhu Fu torch his armor, and he also went back to the tent to put on a armor.

In mid-March, the Western Regions were already a little hot and dry, and the cloth armor of the Ming army couldn't help but make people sweat a little when they wore it.

"This stomach, I feel like it's time to change ......"

Feeling the touch in his hand, Zhu Fuju said with a slight sigh.

After all, now that all countries are beginning to be equipped with flintlock pistols, and the Ming army is even more equipped with a shooting rifle, and the simple cloth armor seems to be unable to withstand the impact and penetration of bullets.

If it is not improved, then on the battlefield, the armor in the stomach may also cause secondary damage to the Ming soldiers.

It's time for the Ming army to change its clothes, but Zhu Fuju only has the power to suggest from Shangshu, and has no power to change it.

With this thought, he led more than 100 cavalry and followed Baihu Temur into Hami City.

This was the first time they had entered Hami City since they arrived in Hami, and the scene in the city was similar to what Zhu Fuju thought.

On the streets, in the houses......

In this Hami city, which was once supervised by the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Fuju did not see a trace of the Han people.

The Uighurs and Mongols in the streets, as well as the mosques in the distance, all express who the owner of the place is.

This made Zhu Fuju feel unspeakably uncomfortable.

Fortunately, after today, Hami City will become a complete Han city, which makes Zhu Fuju soothe his emotions a little.

Under the leadership of Temur, they came to the palace of the former Hami Kingdom, although it was said to be a royal palace, but the scale was also pitiful, not as large as the mansion of a fourth-rank official.

Therefore, after entering, without passing through a few doors, Zhu Fuju saw Ab Lun sitting on the throne in a so-called palace of Bailaiping.

Ablun, whose father Abdul Ra, was the twelfth son of Ramad Khan, who was named the governor of Turpan during the time of Mahei Ma Khan, and ruled Turpan as a dictatorship for more than 40 years.

In the late Wanli period, Abdul Ra was independent of the Yarkand Khan court because of his continuous attacks to the west, and proclaimed himself Khan.

As his eldest son, Ablun accompanied his father on his expedition to the west at the age of seven, and was held hostage by Kucha Aqimu, until the death of his father Abdul Rain five years ago, and he was able to return to Turpan to inherit his father's throne.

In its original history, he first stabilized his rule over the territory, then concentrated his efforts westward, and four years later, he moved westward to reunite the Yarkand Khanate, which had been divided for thirty years, and ascended to the throne himself, known as Abdullaha Khan.

It's just that under the turmoil of Lin Dan Khan, he had almost no chance to go west, and was stuck between Daming and Lin Dan Khan.

Especially after Lin Dan Khan destroyed Yarkand in the west, his desire to unify Yarkand was frustrated, and the whole person could only live in fear in his own territory all day long.

Therefore, when the news of the Ming army sending troops to the Western Regions came, he was not ready to resist, but was ready to accept the will of the Ming Emperor and the King of Qi and surrender honestly.

"Great Khan, if ......"

On the palace, in addition to the thousand and hundred households guarding various cities, more than a dozen thousand and hundred households of the Turpan Khanate gathered here.

Here, Zhu Fuju also opened his mouth to convey the specific surrender treatment given by Da Ming Kai to everyone.

As the Great Khan, Ab Lun could be awarded the title of Xizhou Bo, and his heirs and the two Wanhu of the Turpan Khanate were awarded the rank of Martial Honor Protector of the Zheng Erpin.

In addition to them, thousands of households in the army were awarded the captain of the fourth rank of cavalry, and hundreds of households were awarded the captain of the fifth rank of Xiao cavalry, and none of them were treated badly.

Worried that they didn't understand the weight of these official positions, Zhu Fuju also made a special explanation.

The earl has an annual salary of 3,000 taels, a second grade annual salary of 2,000 taels, a fourth grade annual salary of 1,200 taels, and a fifth grade annual salary of 800 taels.

In addition to these scattered ranks, as the Great Khan, Ab Lun can also get the residence of the Huining County Royal Mansion under the command of the Su Wangfu of Lanzhou, and get the actual position of the Lanzhou Soldier and Horse Envoy of the Five Grades.

Although the five-grade soldiers and horses are not large, there are also 500 to 1,000 soldiers and horses that can be driven, which is a guarantee for Abu's safety.

In this way, Ab Lun's annual salary is 3,800 taels, and he will also receive 200,000 mu of Qinghai pasture, his descendants will each get 100,000 mu, 10,000 households, 1,000 households and other people will receive 50,000 mu each, and 100 households and civilians will be 10,000 mu per household.

The conditions for surrender issued by the Ming Dynasty are not abundant.

Although many thousands and hundreds of households are doing it, they know that the grasslands in Qinghai are fragile and not as fertile as the grasslands in the Western Regions, but they cannot support the large number.

Since Lin Dan Khan moved westward, he occupied most of the grasslands in the northern part of the Tianshan Mountains and southern Xinjiang, and the Turpan Khanate could only live in southern Xinjiang east of Qiuci and west of Hami.

Of course, there are thousands or hundreds of millions of acres of pasture here, but the pasture cannot all belong to them, and the herdsmen and soldiers who join the army also need to graze to support their families.

Three thousand eight hundred taels of silver is enough for Ablun to buy hundreds of cattle and thousands of sheep every year, not to mention the 200,000 acres of pasture.

Even if it is extremely vulnerable, it is not a problem to slaughter three to four thousand sheep a year.

The income of these sheep alone is thousands of taels of silver, and if they are driven to Shaanxi and Sichuan to sell, they can be sold for thousands of taels.

Five or six thousand taels of silver a year, counting his own heirs, a Xizhou Bofu can earn nearly 20,000 taels a year, and it can also raise more than 2,000 people when it is used to raise soldiers.

Save for a few years, and he can even pull out the troops of another Turpan Khanate.

In the face of Lin Dan Khan, who has an inconspicuous attitude in the west, it is difficult for Daming's conditions to be unimpressed.

Therefore, before Ablun could make a decision, many thousand and hundreds of households in the temple looked at him.

After all, according to the actual situation, if the conditions offered by the Ming Dynasty to the Ablun family are rich, then the conditions offered to them are fatal.

How much can they earn in a year when they are a hundred households? Dozens of cattle and sheep?

Can you return to the Ming Dynasty? Not to mention the output of 10,000 acres of pasture, the 800 taels of silver alone was enough for them to buy hundreds of cattle and thousands of sheep.

In the face of the treatment given by Daming, the treatment given by Abu is not bullshit.

In the face of their gaze, Ab Yan had no doubt that if he dared to refuse or fight with the Ming Dynasty, the group of people under him would directly cut off his head to submit to the Ming Dynasty and take away the "Xizhou Bo" that belonged to him.

Therefore, in the face of this group of jackal-like eyes, Ab Lun glanced at the content of the Mangui handwritten book handed over to him by Zhu Fuju, and then got up without thinking and hugged his chest:

"I am willing to bring 120,000 people from Turpan to the Ming Dynasty......"