"Woo ......"

On the Gobi steppe, thousands of miles away, there is no one inhabited, and the wind and sand loom in the sky.

The entire Gobi is cut off by a river, and the grass grows on both sides of the river, and the place away from the river is the barren Gobi.

Under the watchful eye of the goshawk in the sky, the horse galloped briskly, kicking up a cloud of yellow dust.

Dozens of armored cavalrymen, carrying muskets, galloped into the depths of the wasteland.

Shortly after they left, the sound of cannons rattled in the air, and from the direction from which they had come, a large contingent slowly moved.

They marched westward along the river, and the scale was so large that it stretched for more than ten miles.

The two wings of the whole team are guarded by neat and orderly cavalry, and in the team are Ming soldiers wearing mandarin duck battle jackets, as well as auxiliary soldiers and people.

They were in teams of ten, each with a wagon.

The carriage was pulled by two horses, and the carriage was placed with saddles, grain, armor, fresh water, coal, and other supplies.

In addition to the carriage, the Ming army also had unsaddled military horses and riding horses around them.

They led their horses to the west, and at other times they had to walk unless they were ordered to do so.

From noon to dusk, as the sun began to set, the army began to set up improvised camps in horse-drawn wagons hundreds of paces from the river.

In the big tent in the army, Zhu Di stood in front of the sand table with a length and width of six feet and observed, and at the same time said to Zhu Neng, Meng Zhang, Wang Yi, and Xu Zengshou in the tent:

"We have reached the point of Kulan sudden hypothermia, count the days, today should be May 16, it seems that Mahamu, the old dog, really doesn't dare to fight with us."

Zhu Di stroked his beard, and although his tone was calm, anyone could feel his anxiety.

The cost of this northern expedition is huge, and it can be compared to the blue jade northern expedition to the fishing sea, so if there are no achievements in this battle, it is easy to criticize.

"In the previous attack on Tatars, many small Tatar tribes moved west to take refuge in Warat, and Mahamu should have known the power of the imperial court's firearms, so they avoided fighting."

"Calculating the distance, we are now about seven or eight hundred miles away from the former Hala and Lin area, and after the people have transported the grain to Hala and Lin, they will be able to retreat under the escort of auxiliaries and horse infantry."

"At that time, we will count the 20,000 cavalry of Alitai in our hands, a total of 60,000 cavalry, and it will be easy to clean up the Warat troops."

Meng Zhang expounded his opinion, and Wang Yi, who had been sent by Zhu Gaoxu to patrol Hulan and lost his temperature, also spoke:

"With the combat strength of our army, it is completely easy to defeat Warat, but during this period, we still have to guard against Alitai to prevent him from rebelling."

"That's right!" Zhu Neng also echoed: "We are not afraid of the confrontation between the two armies, or their collusion to attack us, the only thing that needs special attention is grain and grass." ”

The three of them have grasped the key point, and if such a key point is seen by Zhu Di of the Northern Expedition in history, he will probably go crazy with envy.

But in this life, Zhu Di didn't think there was anything about it, but waved his hand: "Let the two guards on the left and right of Zhaozhou guard the grain and grass, without my edict, no one can easily approach." ”

"In addition, the army will continue to set off tomorrow, and after arriving at Hala and Lin, search for traces of Warat in the north and south of Hangai Mountain."

"Yes!" The three of them responded, and soon the Ming army began to act according to Zhu Di's command.

At this time, it was more than 1,300 miles away from Hailaer City, and only 120,000 of the 230,000 auxiliaries and civilians remained.

Counting the 80,000 Ming troops and 20,000 Mongolian cavalry, the entire army still numbered as many as 220,000.

Such a trace is naturally difficult to conceal, so when Zhu Di began to move west of Hulan Huan, Wara's sentinels also began to move.

On 22 May, Warat, who was entrenched in the northern part of Hala and Lim, learned of the sudden hypothermia of Kulan.

The appearance of this news undoubtedly put Mahamu and them in a dilemma.

In the yurt with an area of more than 100 square meters, Mahamu sits in the first place, and on the left and right are Benjami and Dehuan.

At the top of the left and right below are the Taiping and the Bald Polo, and the hundreds of thousands of households behind them.

"Zhu Di is coming here, and our sentinels can't get close to the center of their team, but judging from the traces of the places they have walked, their number should not be less than 150,000."

"One hundred and fifty thousand?"

When Mahamu explained the matter, everyone's hearts sank.

In this regard, Ma Hamu also raised his hand and pressed the commotion: "Although there are 150,000 horses, the vast majority of them should be minfu and auxiliary soldiers, and I estimate that their main force should not exceed 50,000." ”

"Don't forget that Alitai pup." Taiping lifted Alitai, which made Mahamu's face twitch.

"Counting Alitai, Zhu Di has at least 70,000 troops, and according to the last time he fought Arutai, the basic troops were all cavalry, this time I am afraid it is 50,000 cavalry, and counting Alitai is 70,000 cavalry."

"I think we should go south to avoid it."

After all, the Mongols have not defeated the Ming army with the same number of troops since decades ago, not to mention that now Warat can only pull out 60,000 troops, how can it be the opponent of Zhu Di's 70,000 army.

"It's late!" Hearing this, Mahamu had a headache, but his words made everyone wonder: "What's late?" ”

"I just received the news that not long after the death of Ghost Lichi, the Ming army sent troops to Hami in Guazhou, and it is estimated that Hami is about to be taken now......"

"Boom, boom, boom!!"

Facts proved that what Mahamu said was true, because when they were still thinking about war or peace, Hami City had already been bombarded by the Ming army.

"Keep banging for Lao Tzu!"

Outside Hami City, Guo Yong on horseback held a whip in one hand and a rein in the other, and commanded his subordinates to ride artillery with an excited face.

Beside him, twenty field guns lined up, and the position was filled with gunsmoke.

In front of him is a sandstone city at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

Hami, as the big gateway of the Western Regions, its topography can be described as four mountains and three basins, the middle of the whole city is high and low in the north and south, the terrain is different, and the main water source basically comes from the snow water of the Tianshan Mountains.

However, due to the large desert in the south, once the snow water here is exposed, the evaporation is terrifying, so the qanats will be used in large quantities.

Due to the unique geographical and climatic environment, even during the global humid period, the population here is only 20,000 or 30,000, and in the Yuan and Ming dynasties, when the overall temperature was low, the population here was even smaller.

Because of this, the Ming army on this expedition took Guo Yong as the main commander and Ping'an as the deputy commander, commanding 3,000 cavalry, 30,000 people, and 20 artillery pieces.

They crossed more than 600 miles of the Gobi Desert from Guasha, and the hardships were unknown to outsiders.

I thought that after arriving in Hami, Anke Timur, the king of Hami, would directly open the city and surrender, but I didn't want him to refuse to open the city.

Such an approach directly annoyed Guo Yong and Ping'an, and ordered the shelling of Hami City.

"Boom, boom!!"

The cannon sounded again, and twenty five-pound iron cannonballs smashed on the wall of Hami City, smashing the sand and soil into the air, and the vibration made the faces of the Mongols entrenched here pale.

The circumference of Hami City is only more than two miles, the city wall is only one zhang and five feet, the face width is one zhang and two feet, there are no moats and moats, and the population in the city is only more than 3,000 people.

Faced with the eyes of 3,000 Ming troops and 20,000 people outside the city, Anke Timur at the head of the city finally couldn't bear the pressure and chose to raise the white flag and surrender.

"Stop!"

On horseback, Ping An saw the white flag with a telescope and immediately raised his hand to stop the continued shelling.

"Surrendered." Ping An turned his head to explain to Guo Yong, and at the same time added: "I will take 500 people into the city first, and if there is a trumpet sound, you will immediately respond to me." ”

"Good!" Guo Yong nodded, he had not fought any big battles, although Anke Timur was not much stronger than the horse bandits, but there was peace, and he had no reason to take risks himself.

"Five hundred men come with me into the city!"

Shaking the reins of the horse, Ping An rode his horse towards Hami, and his brave appearance made everyone follow the charge.

Ankh Timur had already had the gates opened, and when he entered the city with his troops, he saw sand huts and nervous Mongols.

There were not many of them, and even if they were gathered, they would be only a few thousand.

"Whistle." When Ping An saw this, he knew that Ankh Timur was powerless to resist, and as long as they dared to make a move, 500 men under his own hands could destroy them.

"Beep-beep-

"Enter the city!"

Hearing the whistle, Guo Yong opened his mouth to enter the city with his army, and after a short time, he rode into the city first, and saw Anke Timur himself.

He was no stranger to Anker Timur, so as soon as he saw Anker Timur, he turned over and dismounted, removed the long box from the saddle, and took out an edict from it.

"On behalf of the edict of the Son of Heaven, he enshrined Anke Timur as Gong Changbo, moved to Lanzhou, and his subordinates moved to Gan and Lan Prefectures, and each household issued a thousand acres of pasture, and set off on the same day."

After reading Zhu Gaoxu's edict, Guo Yong immediately stepped forward with a smile and helped Anke Timur: "Why do you say you are doing this? ”

"I'm scared......" Anker Timur didn't expect that Zhu Gaoxu would treat him well, and the subordinates behind him were no longer afraid, but instead excited.

Although the land west of the river is considered to be infertile by the people of the Kanto and Jiangnan regions, in the eyes of the Mongols who do not know how to govern, Hexi is simply a paradise.

Now that they have been broken up, each household can still have a thousand acres of pasture, which makes them not excited.

For a moment, the idea of supporting Ankh Timur in his mind was instantly discarded, and it was replaced by flattery.

"Okay, tomorrow I will lead two thousand cavalry to escort you to Guasha Erzhou, and the rest will not be strictly respectful."

Seeing the situation in Hami City, Guo Yong just wanted to leave here early, and Hami City was handed over to Ping'an.

"Stand down! Guo Yong waved his hand, and then motioned for Ping An to go out of the city with him, and handed over the city defense to three thousand household officials to take over. ”

When the two of them rode out of the city, they basically saw thin grassland and the Gobi in the distance.

Guo Yong looked at this place, only felt that it was not as good as Guasha Erzhou, and at the same time said to Ping'an:

"According to His Highness's decree, the cavalry will leave you 1,000 first, and 20 artillery pieces will be left behind, and more than 1,000 prisoners and 1,000 horses and 70 tons of cement among the other 20,000 people will be left for you."

"As for the grain, I will leave 3,000 stones for you, and the rest will be sent to you when I return to Guazhou, and then organize soldiers and horses to send to you."

Guo Yong hurriedly finished talking about his arrangement, and when Ping'an heard this, he knew that this guy was disgusted with Hami, and he couldn't help but despise him a little, and at the same time bowed his head: "That's it." ”

"Okay, then I'll take Minfu to boil water and replenish supplies now." Guo Yong shook the reins of his horse and left, and Ping'an looked at the humble Hami City.

A short time later, an official arrived on horseback and stopped in front of peace.

"How?" Ping'an looked at the civil official wearing the regular clothes of the eighth grade and asked, but the civil official did not have a crepe:

"Look, there are no rivers around, only some small streams that flow down from the Tianshan Mountains."

"If you can bring the creeks together and build dams and qanats to prevent evaporation, you should be able to save a lot of water to cultivate the land."

"As for the specific amount, as far as I have just explored, it is estimated that it is only more than 10,000 acres of watered fields."

"Of course, now at the end of May, the snow water in the snow-capped mountains is almost gone, but even if it doubles or three, it will only plant 30,000 or 40,000 acres of water at most.

The civil official said many things, and Ping An had a headache when he heard it, and finally only asked: "You only need to tell me how many acres of cultivated land can be cultivated in this place, and how many soldiers and horses can be raised." ”

"At present, it is estimated that it is 30,000 mu, and the maximum number of people to support is 6,000, and the military salary needs to be transferred from the customs area." The civil official replied without thinking, and after hearing it, Ping An bowed his head:

"The situation here, Your Highness, I'll go and inspect the city defense first to see where the seventy tons of cement can be used."

Shaking the reins of the horse, peace gradually disappeared from the field of vision of civil officials.

At the same time, the civil official also wrote down the situation in Hami overnight, and brought it back in the early morning of the next day by Guo Yong, who was anxious to return to Guannai.

Half a month has passed, Guo Yong has just returned to Guazhou, and Zhu Di has already led the increasingly small team to Hala and Lin.

"Is this Hala and Rin?"

"It's not what I thought......"

On the grassland, when a ruined city appeared in front of the Ming army, Zhu Di on horseback looked at this city that was once the center of the world, and couldn't help but sigh.

As the center of the world in the mid-thirteenth century, from Vienna on the Danube to Bianliang on the Yellow River, from the cold Russian steppes in the north to the desert of the Arabian Peninsula under the scorching sun, most of Eurasia was shrouded in the power and might of the city.

Missionaries of the Pope, envoys of the Southern Song Dynasty, camels and horses of Persian merchants, tributes of the Kingdom of Goryeo...... It's all gathered here.

Buddhist halls, mosques and Christian churches...... Various religions and cultures are blended here.

From here, the Great Khan's edicts were sent to the Mongol armies around the world.

Here is a collection of Genghis Khan, Ogedei, Möngke, from Central Europe, Eastern Europe, West Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia countries loot rare treasures, gold, silver and jewelry, tens of thousands.

However, all of this came to an end after the Mongolian Civil War, which destroyed a central city of the world, and although it was later repaired, with the civil strife in Mongolia and the Northern Expedition of the Ming Army, this once central city of the world is now less dilapidated than a town in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, this place is too dilapidated, let's camp outside, shall we?"

Xu Zengshou opened his mouth to Zhu Di, after all, the situation of Hala and Lin was indeed very bad.

Crumbling walls, burned and blackened houses, and crumbling aqueducts all indicate that it is not suitable for camping.

Zhu Di also nodded when he heard this, his heart was full of sighs.

"Your Majesty, the Tang cavalry has been dispatched, and the 30,000 cavalry will soon be able to search for Mahamu's traces!"

Alitai and Wang Yi rode their horses and reported the situation to Zhu Di.

"After finding Mahamu, tell me as soon as possible that I will meet him personally."

Zhu Di stroked his beard, took a look at the surrounding situation, and began to order the army to camp.

Soon, a team of more than 100,000 people began to build a camp, and at the same time, Meng Zhang also led the way for Zhu Di after the tent was built, and said on the way:

"Along the way, there have been horse infantry escorting the people and auxiliaries back to Hailar City, and now there are still 60,000 people and auxiliaries left, and more than 15,000 horse infantry."

"The military rations that arrived were less than expected, only more than 43,000 buckets, and the horse feed was about the same as estimated."

"In addition, the horse feed in the rear is already on the way, and in a month it will be escorted by the horse infantry to Hulan and lose temperature.

"After calculation, the army's grain, grass and horse fodder can last for about two months, and counting the time of retreat, the time we can spend in Moxi is almost twenty-four days."

Meng Zhang explained most of the things, Zhu Di listened to it very satisfied, and at the same time walked into his big tent.

After sitting down, he gave an order to Meng Zhang: "Arrange for all horse infantry, people, and auxiliaries to withdraw to Hailaer tomorrow, and leave the rest to us." ”

"Edict of the Minister!" Meng Zhang did not hesitate to respond, turned around and went out to convey the general's order.

When the military order was conveyed to Alitai's military tent, he couldn't help but complain to Arutai: "I feel like I'm his subordinate. ”

"There is also the matter of his reward, now the people below are very excited, they give too much, I am afraid that it will be difficult to control the tribe in the future."

Alitai's words made Arutai frown and nodded: "That's true, but we can't do it now." ”

"You have also seen the flintlock pistols of the Ming army, and now they can reload and shoot on horseback, and we are no opponent at all."

"In the past, we could still attack them with cavalry and archery, but now even the side that attacked and harassed has changed positions, we ......"

Arutai didn't know what to say, and Alitai was even more silent.

The two brothers couldn't talk anymore after chatting, and it seemed that they also realized that since the Ming army was able to send troops from the northeast, Eastern Mongolia could not escape the control of the Ming Dynasty unless it was willing to move west.

"Let's disperse, I estimate that Mahamu and they will be exposed in a few days, and when the time comes, we will choose to do it depending on the situation, you don't lose too many people, it's not easy to recover now."

Arutai explained, Alitai nodded when he heard this, and the two brothers dispersed after greeting for a while.

The next day, as the sky gradually cleared, the horse infantry began to escort 60,000 auxiliaries and civilians to retreat to Hailar City.

At the same time, the Eastern Mongolian cavalry and the Ming cavalry in the army also began to search along the north and south of Hangai Mountain.

Gradually, traces of the cavalry of Warat began to appear in the north, and on a large scale.

Upon learning of this news, Zhu Di immediately ordered his troops and horses, gathered the Tang cavalry in the south, and formed 50,000 Han and Mongolian Jurchen cavalry to rush to the north.

On the way north, the 10,000 sentinels sent from the north also began to return to the army, and brought good news to the army.

"The Warat tribes are migrating to the northwest, and the number is no less than 200,000!"

On the grassland, the pond rode thousands of households to kneel on the ground and reported the situation to Zhu Di on horseback.

When Arutai heard this, he immediately said to Zhu Di: "Your Majesty, they should want to move to the pasture of the Wai Rabu back then, where there are some ruined earthen cities. ”

"If Your Majesty believes me, you can send my younger brother Alitai to raid the Tucheng of Wairabu first, and intercept their way!"

Arutai knew that Zhu Di would not let him go, so he suggested that his younger brother lead his troops to attack.

After Zhu Di heard this, he naturally knew that Arutai wanted to help the Tatar Ministry reap benefits, but he didn't say anything, but said:

"King Changning, you lead the cavalry of your headquarters to intercept Mahamu in the outer department, and I will lead the army to pursue on the avenue."

"Yes!" Hearing this, Alitai clenched his fists, and after a while, he summoned more than 16,000 cavalry of the Chinese army to take a shortcut to the outer division.

As for the remaining more than 3,000 Tang cavalry people who have not yet returned, he is ready to ignore them for the time being, and Zhu Di will not do anything to slaughter them anyway.

"The army is marching, I want to see what tricks Mahamu is playing."

Zhu Di stroked his beard, he didn't believe that Mahamu only knew how to escape, if he really only knew how to escape, then he would not have gotten to the height he is now.

Clearly, he has his own plans and is most likely ready to ambush himself.

But it doesn't matter, in the face of absolute strength, any conspiracy is useless.

It is just the right opportunity to show the power of the flintlock pistol and test the deterrent of the flintlock bayonet against the cavalry.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di squinted his eyes, and the cavalry of the 40,000 Ming Army, under his leadership, pursued in the northwest direction along the traces of horse dung and cow dung left by Ma Hamu and others......

(End of chapter)