the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, which was ruled by the Mongol aristocracy; The Western Chagatai Khanate, now known as the Timurid Khanate, was ruled by Turkic nobles.

Even without explicit instructions from the emperor, the front-line generals were unanimously inclined to destroy the Eastern Chagatai Khanate first.

The current Great Khan of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, who had just succeeded to the throne for three years and was only 20 years old. A large part of the western part of the Khanate was ruled by its great uncle, Yunus.

The Eastern Chagatai Khanate had been effectively split in two, making it easy for each to defeat each one.

Moreover, the current capital of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, Yili Jiangli, that is, the Ili that Zhu Qiyu had in mind, must be taken, which is an important part of the cultural and martial arts of the Jingtai Dynasty, and it is also the key to preventing the Mongols of the Western Regions Khanates from advancing eastward.

Cao Guogong saw that everyone had no opinions, so he smiled and said: "Three days later, our army set off one after another, with the Shaanxi-Gansu border army and the Shenji battalion in front, and the guards of King Su and the King of Han and the Shenshu camp in the middle; Xiao Cavalry Battalion and Duoyan Wei are behind.

Now that we have a straight road, we can just walk along the avenue, and we won't get lost like the flying general Li Guang.

The army each carried enough grain and grass for March and quickly went to Hami. ”

There is nothing to be done in this battle, it all depends on whether you can quickly reach Hami and annihilate the Hami defenders in one fell swoop. If you take Hami, you will have a strategic fulcrum, and if you further take Turpan, the overall situation can be determined.

Three days later, Cao Guogong led 30,000 Shaanxi-Gansu border troops and 20,000 Shenji battalions to set off. This army had 100,000 auxiliaries, of which 80,000 were captured in the decisive battle of Mengming, and they were used to repair the straight road and then continue to be auxiliaries to transport supplies, and 20,000 Han Chinese, mainly for supervision.

King Su and King Han each brought 10,000 guards, plus 10,000 Shenshu battalions and 50,000 auxiliary soldiers, and acted in the center, which was the safest and safest.

The Xiao Cavalry Battalion and Duoyanwei were behind, which played a role in protecting the retreat and grain routes of the whole army. It also serves as a reserve to break the deadlock.

With a straight, the biggest advantage is that you don't get lost and don't walk around. The front, middle, and rear armies were separated by less than 100 miles, and even if they were attacked, they would have time to call for help.

Cao Guogong's meaning is that the Shaanxi-Gansu border army will cooperate with the Shenji battalion to fight this battle, and the army behind will clean up the battlefield.

If something goes wrong with King Su and King Han, it will be a bit troublesome.

However, it was said that King Su and King Han led an army of 30,000 and marched in the center, which was relatively easy.

The first time the King of Han entered the Yumen Pass, everything he saw was very novel.

Just out of the customs, the king of Han was still in the mood to recite the poem: "The Yellow River is far above the white clouds, a lonely city and ten thousand mountains." Why should Qiang Di complain about the willows, the spring breeze does not pass the jade gate. ”

King Su shook his head and smiled.

King Han asked, "Why is Uncle Taizu laughing?" ”

King Su replied: "It's nothing, just another poem comes to mind: Qin Shimingyue Han Shiguan, the Long March has not been returned." But to make the dragon city fly will not teach Humadu Yin Mountain. We are also a long march now, if we succeed and form a new strategic depth, even if there is no Dragon City Flying General in the future, Huma will not be able to survive Yinshan. ”

King Han asked again, "Is this expedition significant?" Although there are many troops used, I don't feel that the atmosphere is very serious. ”

King Su explained: "This battle is said to be difficult to fight, and it is easy to fight. I had a hunch that the battle of Hami would probably not be fought, and that the troops of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate and the Timurid Empire would withdraw on their own. ”

Hearing this, King Han was quite surprised: "Withdraw by yourself? ”

"Yes, withdraw yourself. As the saying goes, every family has a scripture that is difficult to read, and now the most stable internal affairs are our Ming Dynasty, and the Eastern Chagatai Khanate and the Timurid Empire are all engaged in civil strife, and it is a question whether they are in the mood to fight with us.

Hami's garrison will most likely be withdrawn to fight a civil war.

Even if there were still some troops left, they had no intention of fighting. The biggest evidence is that when we built the straight road, people didn't come to disturb it at all, so we let it be repaired.

It's only a little more than 100 miles, and we'll be repaired to Hami. The Hami garrison is not optimistic about its success, but it can be regarded as indifferent. It can be seen that their upper echelons may have already become a mess. ”

King Han also shook his head: "Why is my father's luck always so good, when he fights, the enemy is either caught up with the great drought or the rainy season, and now there is no heavy rain and drought, and the enemy has begun to fight again." ”

Su Wang Zhengse said: "You can't say that, the strategic layout of the Holy Lord is extremely clever. Take the current battle as an example, at the end of the decisive battle of Mong-Ming, the garrisons of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate and the Timurid Empire were in Hami.

But at that time, their internal strife was not serious, so the Holy Lord did not attack Hami in one go without annihilating Meng Yuan's might, but built a straight road unhurriedly.

While repairing and waiting, he finally waited patiently until their internal strife became more and more serious, and then the Holy Lord ordered to send troops.

And most countries will have infighting, as long as you wait patiently, sooner or later, it's not all about luck.

Even our Daming is infighting. It's just that our Ming Dynasty survived, and completed Zhongxing in the hands of the saint, and reproduced the prosperous era. ”

King Han nodded, thoughtful.

The two talked and laughed as they rode forward.

King Han looked around from time to time, this straight road has been repaired for more than three years, he only heard of its name before, but he has not seen it in person, this time it is easy to have a chance to take a closer look.

In open areas, the straights are even five to ten zhang wide, and low walls are built on both sides of the road to block the wind and sand. Outside the low walls, drought-tolerant plants such as poplars are planted. Outside the poplar forest, a low wall was built to block the wind and sand.

Every 10 to 20 miles along the straight road, a village is built. The village set up a restaurant inn next to the road, and the villagers were composed of Han Chinese and Mongolian prisoners who moved from the mainland, and were responsible for maintaining the straight road.

Every fifty miles, there is a post station. In every place where there is a little danger or a little abundance of water and grass, build a city or fortress and station guards.

On the whole straight road, there are thirteen cities and thirty-six fortresses. In many cases, the caravanserai were close to the castles and fortresses.

After only looking at it for one day, the King of Han was full of praise: "There is such a road, the army and materials of the Ming Dynasty can be quickly sent to the Western Regions, not to mention too far, at least to control the territory of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, which is not a problem at all."

No wonder Qin Shi Huang wanted to build the Qin Straight Road, it is easy to use.

However, I am a little curious, the trade with the Western Regions has mainly shifted to the sea route, if this road is not profitable, can it be maintained for a long time? ”

King Su smiled, "As far as I guess, the Holy Lord wants to use this road to operate the horse trade. The horse trade was not easy to trade by sea, and the khanates in the Western Regions, such as the steppes occupied by the Golden Horde, were generally stronger than those of the Warat and Tatars, and trading with them could provide us with a large number of horses.

There is also the fur trade, the cotton production of Daming is not enough, and many poor people are frozen in winter. The solution is to trade more sheepskins, wool and the like. It's also a good idea to make them into bedding and use them for warmth.

There are also some unspeakables, such as human trade.

With these trades, the route can be lively.

Of course, this is my personal opinion, and I don't know what the Holy One actually thinks. ”

(End of chapter)