"Our fleet is gone, and Ursa has lost Khurumus?"

In a mosque with pale blue glazed tiles, when a young man of twenty-four or five unfolded the letter in his hand, kneeling under his throne was a fast horse who had come to deliver the news.

Samarkand, the capital of the Timurid Empire, was also the prosperous capital that Timur had spent his time building.

Over the past few decades, Timur has placed skilled craftsmen and scholars from Persia, Syria, Iraq, and India in his capital, Samarkand.

In order to realize his ambition of building a vast empire, and to satisfy his own vanity of great achievements, Timur instructed them to build Samarkand into one of the richest and most ornate capitals in the world at that time.

In addition to the cities of Nanjing, Suzhou and other cities in the Ming Dynasty, there are indeed few cities comparable to it in the world.

The person sitting on the throne of the palace is the current Sultan Khalil, and Khalil is in a very happy mood at the moment, because his opponent Ma Mahei was assassinated not long ago.

Therefore, Ursa and others in the region of Kurumus will inform themselves of the matter, and if it were not for the timely death of Ma Mahei, the port of Kurumus would have almost nothing to do with him.

But now it's different, Ma Mahei is dead, and his opponents are only the rebels at home.

Moreover, for Da Ming, he also released his kindness early.

Unlike Zheng He and others who believed that Timur was still detaining Fu An, Guo Ji and others, Fu An and others were released in September of the sixth year of Yongle in Haril, so he believed that Zheng He had just not received news from China.

"Send someone to communicate with them again, and say that the Ming mission has been released by me, and if they need compensation, I can give them some compensation, but the port of Kurumus must be returned."

Due to the limited amount of letterheads, Khalil could not fully understand the situation of Hurumus, but in his opinion, it was just a plague of moss.

The Ming army came from afar by sea, and even if they brought enough troops, they were only a few tens of thousands.

As long as he cleaned up this group of guys in the country, he would soon be able to free up his hands to clean up Zheng and them.

Moreover, such an answer can also satisfy the nobles of the Persian region, at least their sultan still has the intention of sheltering them.

"But Shah Ruh in the south did not obey us, and there was ...... in the city."

The minister kneeling on the ground tentatively dissuaded Haril, but Haril frowned and said, "The city is full of my faithful men. ”

"Anyway, that's all about Kurumus, we've sent back their mission, what do they want?"

"Needless to say, put the soldiers and horses in order, I want my uncles to know that their nephew is not Jianwen of the Ming Dynasty in the east!"

Khalil got up and left the palace, and when the minister saw that persuasion was fruitless, he shook his head and left the palace.

A few days after the conclusion of the negotiations between the monarch and the ministers, the news of the Ming army's shelling and capture of Kurumus began to spread, and the state of Timur, which had gradually stabilized due to the death of Ma Mahei, also undercurrents.

On land, Herat, which was closer to Kulmus than Samarkand, also got the news.

This was the place where Timur's fourth son, Shahru, was stationed, and as soon as he received the news, he was the first to summon a man.

"This is your gift to me?"

In a domed mosque, a man in his thirties in a silk robe and a jeweled turban sits in his chair and looks directly at the man sitting at the bottom of the table.

Different from the appearance of the people in the Hanzhong region, although the man sitting was dressed in the costume of Timur, his face was a real Han Chinese.

"The shelling of Kurumus was only the lead of the stone cannon, and now the lead is ignited, and unrest is about to break out in Samarkand."

"If you can seize this upheaval, you will be one step away from becoming the sultan of the kingdom."

When the man spoke slowly, Shaharu leaned forward as well: "What do you want?" ”

"We only need the islands in the Strait of Kurumus, and at the same time we want to build an officialdom near the port of Kurumus to supply the fleet."

"If you agree, we can give you back Hurumus and increase your presence."

The man replied with a smile as he continued: "Your superiority is more in our interests than Haril, because you are willing to develop the economy, especially the maritime economy. ”

He was praising Shaharu, who was very helpful when he heard this, leaned back in his chair and said: "Silk, porcelain, tea, and brown sugar from the Central Plains are all things we need, and I have no reason to refuse to communicate with you, not to mention that I can also collect taxes on it." ”

He was testing whether he could collect taxes from the Ming merchants, and the man chuckled when he heard this: "This is natural, if my Celestial Dynasty merchants break the law in your country, your country can also contact the subject country pavilion to deal with it jointly." ”

"Then there's no problem." Shaharu raised his silver cup: "I hope you can stir it up bigger." ”

"You can rest assured." The man returned a glass of wine and left the palace at Shahru's signal.

As he walked out of the palace, the local army escorted him to his residence.

Walking the streets of Herat, although there are many houses and mosques here, the streets are very sparsely populated.

The sparse population of Herat was due to the massacre of Timur more than twenty years ago.

Although Shaharu later became the governor of Herat, Herat disappeared for a whole generation, and these populations could not be replenished in a short time.

I have to say that judging from the situation alone, Shaharu's situation is similar to Zhu Di's situation, the difference is that he is much luckier than Zhu Di.

"Alright, that's it."

Walking to a river-style house, the man stopped the two and walked into the courtyard as the servant pushed the door open.

There are many people moving in the brick and stone courtyard, but the difference is that their faces are the same as those of the men.

The man walked into a room where another man was wiping his waist knife.

"How's it going?"

He wiped his knife and asked the man who walked in, and the man let out a loud breath: "You can report the news to your father, Shaharu is really kind to us." ”

"Looks like it's done." The man smiled and narrowed his eyes, and his identity was the official of the hundred households of the Daming West Factory stationed in the river, and he was also the commander of the West Factory, Hu Ji, the second son of Muyang Bo Hu Lun.

It has been three years since he led the brothers of the hundred households in the river to the river area, and at first they were only responsible for collecting intelligence, but since last year, the East Palace has begun to let them contact Shahru and set up a layout in Samarkand.

It's just that in more than half a year, they didn't have time to arrange it at all, and Zheng He had already shelled Kurumus.

Even they had just learned the news of Haril's release of Fu An and the others, and had just confirmed the location of Fu An and the others with the Xichang Hundred Households in the Western Regions.

Although they were released, due to the war, they did not arrive in Yili until October last year, and according to the time, it will take at least another month to reach the two states of Guasha where Guo Yong is stationed.

But even so, they didn't feel inappropriate for Zheng He and them still using Fu An and others as an excuse.

Of the more than 1,500 members of the Fu An mission, less than 1,000 were released, and the remaining 500 or so basically died of illness.

With these more than 500 lives, it was enough for the Ming Dynasty to bombard Kurumus.

"Although our army division is famous this time, the eunuch of the Three Treasures does not know much about Timur's domestic situation, and I am afraid that Haril is at war with Ma Mahei."

"I am going to go to Khurmus in person and tell them about the situation in Timur and make them ready."

Hu Ji put the knife in his sheath and told his plan.

"Without you, what will I do here and Samarkand?"

The man asked Hu Ji, and Hu Ji also patted him on the shoulder: "With you Liu Mian here, I can rest assured." ”

"What's more, the problem in Samarkand is already very obvious, and Khalil is too young to control his subordinates."

"If nothing else, he will probably be expelled from Samarkand, or he will fight with the group in Samarkand."

Hu Ji touched his bare chin, and Liu Mian frowned when he heard this:

"If that's the case, why are we supporting Shaharu?"

"A divided Timurid state is better than a united and unified Timurid state."

"That's not right." Hu Ji shook his head, looked at Liu Mian with a calm gaze and said: "The Timurid country is the centering needle of the Hezhong region, and the existence of the Timurid country can allow a large number of Hu Tatars in the Hezhong region to continue to live peacefully here. ”

"Not only that, but the Kipchaks (Golden Horde) in the north were able to maintain loose alliances under the influence of external powers."

"If there is no Timurid state, then the war in the Hezhong region will begin, and many Hu people will move east to join the Warat or Yili Sholi, which is not a good thing for the imperial court."

When Hu Ji said this, he couldn't help but get up and pick up the bags he had packed next to him, and pinned the waist knife to his waist: "I'll leave it to you here, and Hu Da and a few of them will go to Kurumus." ”

"If it's fast, I'll be back in three months."

"You've made your decision, and it's useless for me to object." Liu Mian shook his head and got up, and sent Hu Ji to the backyard.

In the backyard, five Xichang wrestlers wearing local robes were ready, leading the horses and camels, and Hu Ji took the reins of the horses and turned over on the horses.

They tied the reins of the camel with a saddle book and walked out of the yard under Liu Mian's gaze.

It was also when Hu Ji went to Kurumus that the news of Kurumus being taken by the Ming army began to spread throughout Central Asia.

The first to get the news was undoubtedly the Black Sheep Dynasty, which had just defeated Timur's army and successfully restored the country.

During the Hongwu period, the Black Sheep Dynasty was established and became a vassal of the Zarayer Dynasty.

However, with the invasion of Timur, the two countries were destroyed, and the lords of the two countries fled to the Ottoman Empire for refuge.

After Timur returned to the river from his western expedition, they led their army back to Baghdad and captured Baghdad in the second year of Yongle, but the good times were short-lived, and within a year they were expelled by Timur's army and interned by the Mamluks.

In the fifth year of Yongle, after learning that Timur had died in Tatara, the Mamluks released them, and after being released, they returned to Azerbaijan and defeated Timur's army the following year and recaptured Tabriz.

Timur's son, Milan Shah, as the governor of Azerbaijan, immediately gathered his army to fight Yusuf, and the two sides fought inextricably in the Azerbaijani region.

Not only that, but the Baghdad region was also in rebellion, and the Timurid Empire's westward invasion was blocked.

Although they blocked the army of the Timurid Empire, the two lords still felt that they were alone, so after learning that the Ming Dynasty had attacked the port of Kurumus, they sent an envoy to secretly smuggle to Kurumus to meet Zheng He.

They came into contact with Zheng He in April, during which time Ursa organized numerous attacks in an attempt to recapture Khurumus, but was consistently thwarted by the Ming army.

Faced with four consecutive attacks without success, Ursa could only garrison northern Kurumus like an ostrich, and no longer wanted to recapture Kurumus.

"We want to unite you and put an end to Timur's destruction of Persia and Azerbaijan together."

In a mosque in the port of Kurumus, when the envoy of the Black Sheep Dynasty standing in the hall said these words, Zheng He, who was sitting on the main seat, and Chen Xuan, who was beside him, looked at each other.

"What can you give us?"

Zheng He looked back at the envoy, who said, "I heard that Timur had wanted to attack your country, and if they can be destroyed, I believe it will be good for your country." ”

"Hehe......" Hearing the envoy's words, Chen Xuan couldn't help laughing, but Zheng He glanced at him, held back a smile and coughed:

"Ambassador, before you came here, you must have seen our warships in the harbor, and we were already in the city's army, right?"

"Of course, your army is sacred and invincible!" The envoys did not hesitate to praise.

"Then let me tell you, this is just the tip of the iceberg of my Celestial Empire army?" Zheng He smiled:

"With such an army, I still have a million in the Celestial Empire."

"Well, now you still think that we will worry about a Timurid state?"

"One... Million? The envoy stumbled to say this amount, he instinctively thought that this was lying, but when he thought that Daming could organize such an army from such a long distance to come to such a distant place, maybe Daming could really pull out a million troops.

"If so, your country is undoubtedly the most powerful country in the world."

"That's right!" Zheng He was not polite at all, and said directly:

"Because of this, we have no interest in foreign lands, and the reason why we took Khurumus is only because Timur once seized our mission, and has not yet released it."

"We are only here to teach them a lesson and ask for justice."

"If he is not willing to give, then we have no choice but to assign this land to a capable and peace-loving country."

Zheng He spread his hands, and the envoy's eyes suddenly lit up: "My country is undoubtedly the most peace-loving country!" ”

"You don't count what you said, we have to investigate it carefully." Chen Xuan interrupted him and waved his hand at the same time:

"As for the pincer attack on the Timurid state, we need to see if the Timurid state will release our mission."

Chen Xuan said, and Zheng He picked up the conversation: "Your envoy will go down and rest first, and we will give you an answer after we discuss." ”

"Then I'll wait for news from both of you." Hearing this, the envoys of the Black Sheep Dynasty could only salute and leave.

But after he left, Chen Xuan touched his short beard: "Why hasn't this Timurid country moved yet?" ”

"It should be that the news has not yet arrived, and I remember that there are more than 2,000 miles from north to south of their country." Zheng He explained.

"Alas!" Sighing, Chen Xuan reluctantly said: "I feel that this place is not bad, taking this place, we can collect taxes on the countries in the strait, and we can also rely on the route to hoard enough supplies, but I don't know how much is left on this voyage." ”

"It's almost 50,000 miles, if you count the distance to the advance team in Dongzhou, it's even farther." Zheng He sighed.

It has been more than a year and five months since they sailed to the Western Ocean this time, and the sailing distance has exceeded 20,000 miles early.

Counting the 50,000 miles they have not yet traveled, they will probably travel 70,000 miles before and after.

Of course, they were fine, because they still had to leave a lot of soldiers and horses to be stationed in various parts of the waterway.

In the final analysis, they have not communicated with the peoples of Dongzhou, so if the advance team is driven away and cannot gain a foothold, then they will also withdraw to the Ming Dynasty like the Western Ocean Fleet, and bring the news back to prepare for the third voyage to the Western Ocean.

However, if they can establish basic diplomatic relations there, then Zheng He and them will be able to go to the west again, go directly to the northern region of Dongzhou, and send a larger advance team to cross the land between Dongzhou and Beizhou to build officialdom in their western coastal areas.

As long as that officialdom can be built, Daming will be able to take the closer Daming Sea route in the future.

Although no one has walked that route yet, they have basically had no problems along the way according to the route set by His Royal Highness, and the same is true for the route they want to take in the Great Ming Ocean.

"By the way, what happened to the private merchants?"

Chen Xuan asked Zheng He, he was very curious about what this group of private businessmen was doing these days.

Due to the falling out between the Ming and Timur, the private merchants did not dare to go to Baghdad to trade.

These days they have been haunting the streets of Khurumus, trying to sell their goods to merchants from other countries who have stayed there.

These merchants were also very aggrieved, and the merchant ships were requisitioned by Timur and then destroyed by the Ming army.

Now the Ming merchants came to buy and sell forcibly, and they did not dare to resist, for fear of causing the inspection of the patrolling Ming army.

Zheng He told Chen Xuan what this group of people had done, and Chen Xuan didn't say anything after hearing it, but Zheng He said to him:

"Brethren of the Navy, you have to tell me that many of my brethren are mingling with those dancing girls in the city."

"What's it with a dancer?" Chen Xuan frowned and looked at Zheng He, feeling that it was normal for men to look for women, not to mention the navy soldiers who would not go ashore for ten days and half a month.

"It's okay to mess with the dancers, but I'm worried that some people will rob the people's girls." Zheng He voiced his worries.

His words reminded Chen Xuan, so he got up and said, "I'll go talk to Chen Zuo." ”

Chen Xuan walked out of the palace and rode towards the dock.

I have to say that after Zheng He's reminder, Chen Xuan did see many soldiers who acted out of the ordinary along the way.

Even if you whistle, there are people who will do it in the name of inspection.

If it was placed in the past, Chen Xuan would naturally not care about this kind of thing, but now the Ming army is highly disciplined, if this kind of thing is stabbed to the capital, then he Chen Xuan will not be able to eat and leave.

For a time, the prosperity of Kurumus was ignored by him, and in his eyes only the soldiers with questionable military discipline remained.

Back at the dock, Chen Xuan asked someone to call Chen Zuo.

"Dad, are you looking for me?"

"Call me what?"

Chen Xuan was sitting in a courtyard on the dock, Chen Zuo walked in and asked curiously, but after seeing Chen Xuan's face, he straightened his attitude: "Commander Chen Zuo, see Pingjiang Hou!" ”

"Let me ask you, the group of soldiers in the city who manipulate people are also soldiers of the imperial court?"

As soon as Chen Xuan spoke, Chen Zuo was in trouble, and hurriedly said: "Master Hou, the brothers are ...... at sea."

"I don't want to listen to excuses, if I want a woman, go to the dancer and the orchid, and don't go to the good family's women."

Chen Xuan scolded angrily, then got up and walked in front of Chen Zuo, hating iron and steel: "Do you think that you can do evil if you make meritorious contributions in Ceylon?" ”

"The last general didn't ......" Chen Zuo hurriedly explained, and Chen Xuan also reminded:

"Let me tell you, there are people from the West Factory on the ship, if you don't want to offset the merits, you can honestly lead the army for training from today."

"If Zheng He hadn't reminded me of these things, I wouldn't have known that you were making such a big fuss."

"The last general commands!" Chen Zuo hurriedly stood upright, and Chen Xuan also patted him on the shoulder when he saw this.

"It's good to mingle with the brothers, but don't forget what kind of character the person above you is."

"Your Highness, it's not a good ......"

(End of chapter)

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