"Phew-"

In April, in the vast Gobi Desert, a wild fox came to a withered poplar tree to dig through the sand, and several insects crawled out of it, all of which were swallowed by it without exception.

Suddenly, it jerked its head up at the sky, not knowing what it felt, and it clinged to the poplar tree, looking for something that could shelter and protect it.

I saw black clouds rolling in the sky, as if they would descend on the Gobi at any time, when a gust of wind suddenly struck, bringing up a patch of yellow sand.

In just one moment, a strong wind blowing from the northwest swept the Gobi Desert, bringing up a cloud of yellow sand.

This was just the beginning, because when the gale passed, the sky suddenly darkened.

The wild fox cautiously opened its eyes, but saw a black and yellow "wall" blowing from the northwest, and it was so frightened that it hurriedly dug a pit.

Along with the wall of sand came the swift wind.

The frenzied winds blew up the dust and debris across the Gobi Desert to the southeast like a tornado.

The wild fox hid in the pit, his eyes tightly closed, and his body trembled uncontrollably.

It couldn't open its eyes, and could only smell the thick earthy smell that permeated the heavens and the earth, anxiously waiting for the storm to pass.

I don't know how long it took, the yellow sand squirmed under the poplar tree, and soon the wild fox came out of the sand and walked into the distance.

Similar to its encounter, on the Gobi Desert at this moment, an embarrassed team is slowly advancing in the southeast direction.

They were ragged and scrawny, each dressed in burlap, and the most valuable of the whole team was probably the hundred or so camels carrying buckets.

The hike up the barren mountains is a smooth descent from here, whether you go southeast or northwest.

Xingxing Gorge, the only way from Guazhou to Hami, the soil of the entire mountain range is black-brown land, very sticky.

The muddy road delayed the team for a long time, and it took them three days to walk more than 100 miles.

It wasn't until the fourth day that they walked out of the range of Xingxing Gorge and found a waterhole along the old road of the Han and Tang Dynasties.

It's a pity that the pool of water that still existed when they set out has been flooded with yellow sand at the moment, and if they want to drink water, they have to dig down at least three feet of earth to make it possible.

Helplessly, they continued to set off towards the southeast, and after walking for more than 100 miles in this uninhabited area, what appeared in front of them was a large black mountain.

"After here, whether you go to the south or southeast, you can see Handongwei and Shazhouwei, one of the seven guards in Kansai, but they are not easy to get along with, and they often have the habit of plundering missions."

"We don't have armor, if we pass by, we will give them the money from the sale of robes and clothes, in exchange for the opportunity to go to Suzhou."

The team stopped in front of the Great Black Mountain, and when he spoke, the man looked to be at least fifty or sixty years old, tall and fleshy, like a dry mummy, with sunken cheeks and eye sockets, and dark skin.

But no one could laugh at him now, for almost everyone in their line was in the same situation as him.

Soon, they continued to walk forward, uneasy on the way, for they all knew how powerful the bandits were in this area.

With apprehension, when they crossed the Great Black Mountain in two days, what appeared in front of them was actually the existence they had ever dreamed of.

"What's that......"

Under the wind and sand, a stone castle built of unknown materials appeared at the foot of the Great Black Mountain, and the snow water on the Great Black Mountain was also collected into the stone castle by the canal, and the wind on the stone castle was the familiar "朙" character flag.

"Wow!"

While everyone was stunned, the gate of the stone fort opened, and out of it rushed a group of armored cavalry.

They rushed towards the procession, and the team held a yellow and white red sun flag with a yellow and white background in the Yangtze River Delta, which was waving in the wind, causing many tears in the embarrassed team to unconsciously leak tears.

"Da Ming! My Da Ming!! ”

"It's back!"

"We're back!!"

When the cavalry was less than a hundred paces away from the disadvantaged team, the people in the group ran forward with a mad cry.

Even the most thin body is bursting with tremendous energy at this moment.

Their actions startled the cavalry team, but at this moment a man took out a triangular red sun flag made of silk cloth from the back of a camel.

This banner, even if they were in difficulty, never thought of selling it, in order to explain their identity at such a moment, so that they would not become lonely ghosts.

Hundreds of people rushed around the cavalry ranks, gathered them around, and cheered incessantly.

Such a scene made the chief flag officer of the cavalry team scratch his head, and it was even more difficult to draw his weapons.

The red sun flag on a yellow background is not a flag that ordinary teams can use.

In the noisy crowd, a scrawny man grabbed the wrist of the flag officer, and the sunken eye sockets burst with a glint of hope.

"I'm Fu An in the matter of Likedu, please tell Your Majesty that we are back!"

Fu An's words were like a thunderbolt on the ground.

The chief flag officer did not dare to delay, and hurriedly sent Tang Qi to Guazhou to report the matter, and at the same time received Fu An and the others to go to Shibao to rest.

The small stone fort could not accommodate this team of nearly 1,000 people, but the food and vegetables stored in it were enough for them to eat a good meal.

Even if it was just a simple boiled cabbage and white rice, they ate it with tears in their eyes, and everyone felt satisfied.

Fu An and Deputy Envoy Guo Ji were received into the residence of the Chief Banner Officer in the Stone Castle, and they already knew a rough idea of the situation of the Ming Dynasty on the way back to the Ming Dynasty, such as Zhu Yuanzhang's death, Zhu Yunwen's cutting of the domain, Zhu Di's martyrdom and so on......

But they can figure out the big things, but they can't figure out the small things.

They were curious as to why the imperial court's stone fort was built to the Great Black Mountain, so they inquired.

"To the west of Suzhou, isn't it the jurisdiction of the Guanxi Zhuwei, why did the imperial court build a stone fort here?"

Fu An, who had eaten enough, leaned forward and asked the chief flag officer, and the chief flag officer also explained:

"Since the beginning of the fourth year of Yongle, the imperial court began to migrate the seven guards of Guanxi to Gan, Su and other prefectures for grazing, and granted the heads of the tribes to disperse the ranks, so as to teach them to keep to themselves."

"Guo Du commanded the servants and was ordered by the imperial court to build three guards such as Yumen, Guazhou, and Shazhou to the west of Suzhou, and led the Shule River, Dang River, and Chijin River to irrigate the fields of the three guards."

"Right now, the far west of the imperial court is the Black Mountain Fort of the Last General."

After the chief flag officer said all this, Fu An and Guo Ji looked at each other, unable to believe that in the past thirteen years, so much change has taken place in the imperial court.

"I wonder when Guo Du's commander in Guazhou will be able to meet with me?"

Fu An asked the chief flag officer, and the chief flag officer returned the salute when he heard the words: "According to the distance, the news should have arrived in Guazhou, but the march of the army is no faster than that of the Tang cavalry, and there are still one hundred and twenty miles from Montenegro Fort to Guazhou." ”

"If Guo Du commands the cavalry to come, at most tomorrow evening will be able to arrive, if it is a horse infantry officer, you have to wait until the day after tomorrow."

"Good ......" Hearing this, Fu An breathed a sigh of relief, he never thought that Guazhou was so close to here.

"Since that's the case, then let's go to Guazhou tomorrow and meet Commander Guo Du on the way."

Fu An hurried back to the mainland, because he had not returned home for thirteen years, and on the way to Nanjing, he would pass through his hometown of Kaifeng, Henan Province, which was the only chance he could briefly see his family.

In addition to him, there are many guards in this team of more than 900 people whose hometowns are in Guanzhong, Henan, Shandong, and Jiangnan.

After learning about the Jingyan Battle, none of them was sure whether their hometown had been affected, and whether their wives and children were still alive.

"It's all up to your lord, the last general can send Tang Qi tomorrow morning to remind Guo Du of this matter."

The chief flag officer did not have the right to stop him, and Fu An also said when he saw this: "Thank you, little brother." ”

After 13 years away from the country, in the face of people with bright faces, they all have kindness and cherishment.

"The last general will retire, and the two adults have a good rest."

Seeing this, the chief flag officer returned the salute and slowly exited the concrete bungalow after greeting him.

After he left, Fu An looked at Guo Ji and sighed on his face: "I don't know what the attitude of the new monarch is, if it doesn't work, you and I will go home early." ”

Guo Ji shook his head when he heard this: "I met Your Majesty in my early years, Your Majesty is open-minded, and when the prince was in Nanjing, he was also famous for his courtesy to his ministers, so he should not be harsh on us." ”

"What's more, you and I still have a piece of news in our hands about the Yuan descendants to report to Your Majesty, this is related to the situation in Mobei, even if Your Majesty does not reward it, but you will not be harsh."

"I hope so." Fu An sighed, and then chatted with Guo Ji about his plans after returning to Beijing, and did not fall asleep separately until Hai Shi.

Early the next morning, the chief flag officer prepared horses for Fu An, Guo Ji and other officials, and sent 20 cavalry to participate in the escort.

Although the road to Guazhou was very safe, and the Guanxi horse bandits were also wiped out by Guo Yong in the past two years, yesterday this team ate up most of the reserves of Fort Montenegro, because these more than 20 cavalry needed to go to Guazhou to transport a new batch of supplies.

Early in the morning, the group set out, but this time many of them were on camels, and the buckets on the camels' backs were left at Fort Montenegro.

Upon arrival at Fort Montenegro, there are six post stations along the way with places to supply water and food.

Although they may not have enough food, it is still fine to feed the entire team with one meal.

Time passed little by little, from early morning to noon, and then from the scorching noon to the afternoon at 15 o'clock, walking on the cleared official road, Fu An and the others also saw the cavalry galloping from afar.

Thousands of cavalry rushed from the direction of Guazhou, waving flags from afar.

Fu An and others dismounted one after another, after all, Guo Yong's official position was still relatively large.

Soon after they dismounted, thousands of cavalrymen spontaneously lined up on the left and right of the team, and Guo Yong also turned over and dismounted, and walked in front of Fu An, Guo Ji and others, and the three of them fought each other.

Several years of military career in the northwest have added a bit of vicissitudes to Guo Yong's face, as well as a man's perseverance.

Fu An, Guo Yong and Guo Ji had met each other when they were in the capital, but they were not particularly familiar at the time, so the first words Guo Yong said caught Fu An and Guo Ji off guard.

"I really didn't expect that Fu Du would actually come back in the middle of the matter."

"Uh... This ...... "Fu An and Guo Ji looked at each other, not knowing what Guo Yong meant.

Seeing this, Guo Yong also knew that they had misunderstood, and hurriedly smiled: "I didn't mean that, I meant that His Highness's efforts were in vain." ”

"Your Highness?" Fu An asked in surprise, and Guo Yong also explained:

"Your Majesty and Your Highness have ordered Zheng He to go to the West with more than 27,000 officers and soldiers to Kurumus, ready to demand your release from Timur and compensate for your losses."

"The last time I read the Di Bao, Zheng He and the others had already arrived in Banggara, maybe they had already arrived in Kurumus, so I said that His Highness's efforts were in vain."

Guo Yong's explanation made Fu An and Guo Ji gasp, and at the same time, they couldn't help but have a sour nose.

"For the sake of more than 1,000 people such as us, we are ......ashamed to bother the imperial court, Your Majesty, and His Royal Highness to dispatch a large army."

Fu An slammed towards the sky, his voice carrying a cry that he tried his best to suppress.

"If this is the case, Your Highness, they will be very happy to learn that you have returned."

Guo Yong said, and immediately asked the cavalry under his command to give up the horses under his crotch, and ordered them to hand over the horses to the guards behind Fu An to ride, and the cavalry to ride war horses.

Anyway, as long as you don't run, you won't lose many horses if you ride a war horse slowly, at most you can feed two more beans.

Compared with these, Guo Yong is more concerned about Fu An's experience along the way.

He asked the military officials to be responsible for the records, and he communicated with Fu An and Guo Ji.

What they said was recorded, and it was not surprising that they would be expedited to the city of Nanjing after arriving in Guazhou.

Unable to return to Guazhou City in a short time, they camped near a post station and rested overnight, and arrived in Guazhou the next day.

When they set off thirteen years ago, Fu An and his team passed through Guazhou, but at that time Guazhou was the grazing land of Shazhou Wei.

When they returned thirteen years later, they were greeted by a city made of concrete.

The length and width of the city are more than one mile, the circumference is less than five miles, and it is built by relying on the Shule River.

On both sides of the Shule River, former pastures have been developed into cultivated land, and concrete canals are everywhere.

As far as the eye can see, the entire city of Guazhou and the cultivated land outside the city are surrounded by canals, which are flanked by rows of small trees.

These little trees are six or seven feet tall and have seven or eight rows.

They are like walls that block most of the wind and sand that blows through the cultivated land.

Outside the small trees, there are also rows of small squares made of straw, which, according to Guo Yong, are the means of sand fixation taught under the East Palace.

Although Guazhou is near the Gobi, there is a lot of yellow sand blowing in every year when there is a strong wind, and these squares can effectively fix the yellow sand and prevent it from blowing into the cultivated fields.

"I never thought I would be able to see trees and cultivated land in Guazhou."

Walking on the official road of rammed earth, Fu An, who was side by side with Guo Yong, looked at the "oasis" in the Gobi deep in the depths with a sigh.

"Guazhou and Yumen were successfully reclaimed because of the rivers flowing down the Shule River and Qilian Mountain."

Guo Yong pointed to the southwest with a horsewhip, and although he couldn't see anything, Fu An and the others, who had seen Qilian Mountain, nodded in approval.

They walked through the sand-control forest and met many people working in the fields.

Seeing them, Fu An asked, "Are these military households?" ”

"No, it's the Han people who migrated from Suzhou." Guo Yong shook his head and replied, and at the same time said:

"The imperial court began to move the people of Hexi three years ago, many Hui and Tatar were moved to Guanzhong, Henan and Sichuan, and many Han households were moved to Longxi, Gansu and other towns."

"I think the meaning of the imperial court is to prepare to set up three divisions under the jurisdiction of Hexi after the Han households in Hexi occupy the majority in the future."

"By the way, the imperial court has taken the land of Modong, Bohai and Annam, do you know?"

Guo Yong reacted and asked Fu An and the others, but the two were very confused.

Seeing this, Guo Yong also happened to tell them what had happened in the past few years.

He didn't say anything about the things before the Battle of Jingjing, he mainly talked about the things that happened after the first year of Yongle.

For example, the two northern expeditions, the south to destroy the Annan Hu clan, the west expedition to destroy the Luchuan, the internal reform of the land and return to the stream, overseas to the East, two to the West and so on.

These great achievements have made the territory of the Ming Dynasty reach the highest in all directions except the northwest direction.

Even the Han and Tang dynasties did not send the Han army to garrison troops in the upper reaches of the Yinma River to build a city, and Fu An and others were proud of it when they heard it.

In the more than ten years that they have been trapped in Samarkand, they have complained and worried, especially when they learned about the Battle of Jingyan, they were very worried that the Ming Dynasty would become the Tang Dynasty after the Anshi Rebellion, and they would never have the opportunity to return to China.

Fortunately, the Battle of Jingjing ended quickly, and Timur's death also gave them a chance.

Haril was unwilling to offend the increasingly powerful Ming and could only release them shortly after he ascended to power.

Now, they have returned to Daming, and although they came back a little late, they have finally returned.

"By the way, Guo Du commands the affairs, we have something important to tell you, please be sure to tell Your Majesty."

Fu An thought of the information he had obtained, and Guo Yong also restrained his smile when he heard this, waiting for Fu An to tell the story.

The two looked at each other, and Fu Ancai took a deep breath and said, "When we were in Samarkand, we met the Yuan descendant Benyasui. ”

"He is the son of Timur of Elberke, and he is now a descendant."

"When we met him, he was no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, and he had only a hundred guards with him to protect him as he fled to Samarkand."

"After Timur's death, there was a great turmoil in the Hanzhong region, and a civil war broke out between Timur's two grandsons, and we were released shortly after the outbreak of the civil war.

"Last year, we met with the lord of Yili Li, Sha Michagan, and we also learned that Benjamin was also in Yili Li.

"He was very close to Mahama, the younger brother of the lord of Shami Chagan, and it is said that he was preparing to recruit guards to reclaim the position of the Mongol Great Khan from the hands of Gelichi."

"Although I don't know what the situation is, I think this news may be useful to the imperial court."

Fu An said everything he knew, Guo Yongquan frowned and listened to the whole process, and finally said: "This matter must be told to His Highness immediately, and I will send Tang Qi to tell His Highness now." ”

Guo Yong said, he turned his head and instructed the military officer in charge of recording to confirm that the contents of the document were correct, and then sent someone to send the document to Nanjing City.

It is more than 4,000 miles from Guazhou to Nanjing, and even if 800 miles is expedited, it will take nearly 10 days to arrive.

Over the next ten days, Guo Yong helped Fu An make clothes and official robes, and sent military doctors to conduct physical examinations on them.

After confirming that most of them were fine, Guo Yong prepared food and fresh water for them and saw them off on the fifth day of their arrival in Guazhou.

When Fu An and the others arrived at the Yumen Guard, Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu in Nanjing also got the news of their return to the Ming Dynasty.

"I thought that Fu An and they had surrendered a long time ago, but I didn't expect them to be captured for so many years without revealing the information of the imperial court."

In the Wuying Palace, Zhu Di held the detailed document and sighed at the tenacity of Fu An and Guo Ji.

In front of him, the three tall, short, fat and thin figures were particularly abrupt.

The tall and sturdy Zhu Gaoxu, the obese Zhu Gaochi, and the thin Zhu Gaosui.

When the time entered May, Zhu Gaochi finally returned to Nanjing after a long absence, and his fat body was also scolded by Zhu Di, and asked him to fast as the eldest son to pray for Empress Xu.

Only then did he return to Nanjing for three days of fasting, Zhu Gaochi was a little depressed, even if he knew about Fu An and them, he couldn't get excited at all, just said flatly:

"Dad, this Fu An and they are all back, do we still want to continue to fight with Timur?"

Zhu Gaochi's words exposed that Daming also received news from Kurumus, Zheng He and others.

In the past month, the news brought by Zheng He and others was too explosive, and even Zhu Di couldn't help but sigh.

Destroy the 50,000 army of Ceylon, smash its capital, capture its lord alive, appease the 13 kingdoms of the Tianzhu domain, bombard Kurumus, and capture Kurumus......

This major event made Zhu Di's blood boil when he heard it, and he couldn't wait to replace Zheng He with himself.

However, the original pretext for the shelling of Kurumus was caused by Timur's seizure of the Ming mission, and now that it is known that Timur has been released back to Fu An and others, it seems a little ...... that they continue to occupy Kurumus

Zhu Di touched his beard and glanced at Zhu Gaoxu, who was there with the old god: "Second brother, your eldest brother asked you a question." ”

"Huh?" Zhu Gaochu looked at Zhu Gaochi in surprise, and then looked at Zhu Di, thinking that the boss was obviously asking Ling, why are you asking me.

Just seeing Zhu Di's expression, Zhu Gaoxu could only say helplessly: "After all the fights, you can't retreat directly, right?" ”

"What's more, although the mission was released, there were more than 1,500 people when I sent the mission, but now only more than 900 people have returned, and 500 of the remaining 600 people basically died in Samarkand."

"If the imperial court ignores this kind of thing, does that mean that as long as the vassal states are unhappy in the future, they can slaughter the officials of our Celestial Empire's subordinate states in other countries without authorization?"

"In Erchen's opinion, this matter must be given an explanation to the imperial court, otherwise Erchen would rather let Zheng He help the Black Sheep State fight against the Timurid State and assign the entire West Persia region to the Black Sheep State for management."

What Zhu Gaoxu said was categorical and left no room at all.

After Zhu Gaochi heard this, he said cautiously: "Second brother, you are not in line with the way of a gentleman by doing this......

"Gentleman?" Zhu Gaoxu glanced at his eldest brother speechlessly, sometimes he really felt that his eldest brother was ruined in the way of this Confucian gentleman.

Zhu Gaochi smiled awkwardly, while Zhu Gaosui was wandering out of the world, thinking about what to eat at noon.

Faced with Zhu Gaochi's embarrassment, Zhu Gaochu looked at Zhu Di and said solemnly:

"Sage Kong said, repay virtue with virtue, repay grievances with directness, and now is the time for the imperial court to repay grievances with directness."

"Fu An, Guo Ji and other more than 1,000 people adhere to morality and are not ashamed of the Han family, should the imperial court be ashamed of the Han family?"

"If Timur does not apologize and compensate, he will die in battle!"

(End of chapter)