July of the tenth year of Zhengde.

Outside the Jiayu Pass in the northwest, the Ming army came out from here and marched all the way west.

The military song should sing the big knife ring, and swear to destroy Hu Nu out of the Yuguan. Only solve the battlefield and die for the country, why should the horse leather shroud be returned.

The banner with the word 'Ming' written on it danced with the west wind and made the sound of hunting.

They bypassed the Tianshan Mountains along the way, crossed the Red Mountain Pass, and then went south from the Balikun Grassland to reach Hami.

The concept of distance outside the northwest is different from that of the mainland, where the two cities may be hundreds of miles apart, and most of the sights along the way are the deserted Gobi Desert.

The biggest challenge and difficulty of the long-distance march comes from the material support, so after 40,000 soldiers, it is actually a huge baggage team.

This is why only when the national strength is strong, the Central Plains Dynasty has the strength to project power to the Western Regions.

In the past two months, Zhou Shangwen has been leading the soldiers and horses to hurry.

It wasn't until the Balikun grassland was about to finish that the first wave of Ming troops was encountered.

It's about the scout kind of people.

Hamiwei had received the news in advance, so he sent someone out to greet him.

"The last general, Ha Miwei, a hundred households, Jiang Daoqi has seen the general!" The person who came held up a letter above his head, which was also proof of his identity.

Zhou Shangwen was very excited when he heard that someone was coming early in the morning, so he immediately summoned this person in the tent, "Get up." ”

"General Xie!"

These are all pawns. The earliest emperor sent a first-class guard, with a monthly salary of 7.5 taels of silver, about 2.5 times that of ordinary soldiers.

The imperial court gave money and equipment, and from the commanders to the thousands and hundreds of households, all of them were people from the military academy.

So don't look at Jiang Daoqi as a small hundred, he has seen the emperor.

"Where is your commander Ling Weifeng? What is the situation in Hami City now? ”

Syllable.

Jiang Daoqi clasped his hands together, "General Yu!" Commander Ling is now in the city of Hami, after the rebellion of the king of Hami Zhongshun Baiya against the Turpan Khanate, there was a civil strife in the city between the khanate and the dead soldiers raised by Baiya, and Ling Commander led the soldiers to fight fiercely six times before and after, and still guards the city of Hami. However, there are not many Han people in Hami City, and the Turpan Khanate is not dead, and their Great Khan is also actively deploying troops, and it is Hami that the soldiers are referring to. ”

"Huh!" Zhou Shangwen patted the table arrogantly, "It's just right." After so many years of fighting in the north, the most headache is to find these people. He dared to take the initiative to send it to the door. How many of them are there? How far is it from Hami City? ”

"There are about 20,000 people."

As soon as these words came out, the expressions of most of the generals in the camp became relaxed.

Ma Sheng couldn't hold back, "General! The last general asked for 10,000 soldiers and horses to fight! ”

"There's no hurry." Zhou Shangwen is the coach, no matter how light the people below are, he can't underestimate the enemy, "Wait until you see Ling Weifeng and then make a calculation." Jiang Daoqi, you go down to rest first, and tomorrow with our army! ”

"Yes!"

"Bring the map!" Zhou Shangwen walked down to the sand table.

During the Hongzhi period, the Turpan Khanate also plundered Hami, although the emperor was weak during this period, and the national strength was relatively weak, but the Hongzhi Emperor was able to distinguish right from wrong, and most of the ministers he appointed also had a little conscience.

Therefore, Ma Wensheng, the secretary of the military department at that time, persuaded the emperor that this group of foreigners in the northwest was simply unruly and must be attacked with heavy punches. Later, Xu Jin, the general soldier of Gansu, led 4,000 Ming troops to attack.

It was four thousand!

Twenty years have passed, and the Ming army is back!

This time it's 40,000!

The imperial court allocated more than one million taels of silver to transport hundreds of truckloads of grain.

Although he didn't say it explicitly, Zhou Shangwen didn't know what the emperor meant, an ambitious emperor couldn't send troops once and nothing, and he couldn't explain such a big price when he returned to the court.

So Zhou Shangwen first set the tone, "In the eighth year of Hongzhi, when the Gansu general army attacked Hami, the Turpan Khanate chose to withdraw its troops, leaving us with an empty city, but as soon as the Ming army left, they went and returned. So this time, we can't give these people another chance. If these 20,000 people engage in battle, we will accompany him in this battle! If they retreat, we will chase them to their royal court, and destroy these 20,000 men no matter what! ”

"Yes!"

Ma Rong was also in the team, he was one of the four generals under Zhou Shangwen, "General, we are finally back with the Han people!" The last general looked at His Majesty's intentions, and he had no intention of rebuilding the Seven Guards of Kansai at all, so the last general wondered if His Majesty would establish the Imperial Protectorate after the Han and Tang Dynasties! ”

This guy is full of achievements.

Zhou Shangwen didn't want to go that far, "That's something Your Majesty and the court consider, let's win!" ”

Two days later.

A large number of Ming troops entered the city violently, in addition to a small number of Han people in Hami City, there are Huihui, Wuur, Hara Gray three tribes of people, although they are not Han people, but the Ming Dynasty has always named them officials, their leaders will also send envoys to the capital to pay tribute, in fact, it is a small tribe of Shun, basically can understand the feelings of the border minorities.

A place like Hami is inhabited by multiple tribes, so this is normal. But if you want to say how much heart is to the Ming Dynasty, it turns out that Hami is the rule of bondage.

And there is no unity among these people.

The constant rivalry in history is also one of the reasons for the successful invasion of the Turpan Khanate.

But when tens of thousands of troops entered the city, they still had loyalty to the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, Ling Weifeng has already made some of the people of these tribes very 'loyal' here, they live by herding herds, and are good at riding and shooting, which is very suitable as warriors.

Zhou Shangwen didn't care about this, he went to the Provisional General's Mansion for two things.

The first met Ling Weifeng, and the second discussed when to fight.

Ling Weifeng is less than thirty, he is different from ordinary Ming people, he is very tall, the whole person is more than eight feet tall, very strong, in the individual competition that year, he was orally commended by the emperor.

After some politeness, Zhou Shangwen got straight to the point and asked, "Commander Ling, you and these people know each other." The meaning of the imperial court, the Ming Dynasty wants to take back Hami this time and cut off the black hand stretched out by the Tulupan people. How do you think this battle should be fought? What kind of person is the opposing manager? ”

Ling Weifeng saluted, and then said: "General, the general who leads this enemy army is Man Suer himself, the last general is not a long man's ambition, although Man Suer is not a monarch like a god of war, he has been on the throne for many years, and he is aggressive, resolute and resolute, and his subordinates are basically loyal to him." Therefore, this battle, first of all, should not be underestimated!

In addition, the general led more than 40,000 soldiers and horses this time, plus the 4,000 men and horses in the hands of the last general and the three thousand households of the three tribes such as Huihui, our army's strength this time is very advantageous! ”

"Haha." Zhou Shangwen showed some pride, and he said proudly: "This is the benefit of a strong national strength, twenty years ago, the imperial court could only send 4,000 people. This time, Your Majesty has given enough silver, so we can fight a rich battle thousands of miles away. It doesn't make sense to always call them more people and bully us less, this time I have to change them to play! ”

"Hahaha!"

The generals in the room all laughed.

Ling Weifeng was also determined in his heart, "Since it is a rich battle, then I will feel that it is better to focus on stability and be upright." Daqiao is not working, invulnerable, let him come in every way, I only go all the way. ”

"I'm just going all the way?"

"Yes, just go all the way and push it to their royal court!" Ling Weifeng clenched his fists and said it categorically!

Zhou Shangwen nodded after thinking about it, but he had another question, "Can you believe the other three thousand households?" ”

"Yes." Ling Weifeng said.

"How sure are you?"

"When the general didn't come, the last general was only fifty percent, and I had to watch out for them all the time. The general is coming, and the last general is eighty percent sure, they were originally canonized by the imperial court, and the Turpan Khanate does not belong to the same tribe, there is no reason to work hard for Mansuer at this time. ”

"Well, then take them with you, it's even more dangerous to leave them alone in this Hami City."

(End of chapter)