On the seventh day of the fourth month, Zhu Cihong led his army to Huiyuan City, the head of the "Nine Cities of Ili".

After the arrival of the army, the officers and men of the three armies set up camp on the bank of the Ili River, the tents like wild flowers are densely covered with grasslands, there are 40 camps, and the company camps are 60 miles, and they are connected from end to end, standing like a mountain, and they are magnificent.

On the banks of the Ili River, the Ming army made a tent for a group of ten people, made wooden walls, dug trenches, and sprinkled the perimeter of the camp with thistles, and the patrol officers worked day and night.

It was night, and the lights in the military line in Huiyuan City were bright, and the inside of the big tent was surprisingly quiet.

Zhu Cihong was carefully examining the wooden three-dimensional topographic map in the big tent, and a group of generals and ministers stood behind him without saying a word, filled with the tense atmosphere before the war.

After a long time, Zhu Cihong finally raised his head and said: "Uncle Dingyuan, do you know that Ili is the place where our Ming army and the enemy are in a head-to-head confrontation, and you only stay here with 20,000 horses, in case of loss, it will be in danger of the entire Western Regions!" ”

Dingyuan Uncle Qi Guangyang straightened the rocker and replied loudly: "Back to Your Majesty, the minister understands, how dare you ignore the military situation in this important place." ”

He continued: "Over the years, the minister has built eight acropolis around the city of Ili, and recently built a hundred bunkers in the outpost, even if the enemy comes to attack, our army's 20,000 horses are enough to be as stable as Mount Tai!" ”

Zhu Cihong nodded and said, "What's the situation with the enemy army?" ”

"Tanma reported that the combined forces of Tsarist Russia and the Kazakh Khanate were twenty miles away from our army, and they were surrounded by mountains and rivers, with camps and camps, and were well defended.

After more than a month, the two sides fought several battles one after another, and the Ming army, under the command of Qi Guangyang, used deception and sneak attacks to win one after another, winning more with less, and taking advantage of a lot of advantages.

On the flat terrain of the Ili River Valley, the coalition forces were defeated and suffered heavy losses, and the original 150,000 horses were tossed out of 40,000 or 50,000 people, and they were forced to retreat to the mountains and continue to confront the Ming army.

Han King Zhu Heqi said: "My father and emperor led an army of 100,000 to come, not to fight a draw with the coalition army, but to destroy them in one fell swoop!" Since our army is in place, Erchen is willing to lead the troops as the vanguard and thwart the enemy's sharpness! ”

Zhu Cihong waved his hand to stop him, and said: "Please put aside the battle in advance, in the past few days, I have received some information, in addition to the combined forces of Tsarist Russia and Kazakhs, there are also troops of the Mughal Empire and the Bukhara Khanate heading to the Ili River Valley......

Within a month, Zhu Cihong received secret reports from more than a dozen Jinyiwei intelligence points, all of which said that there were signs of troop movements in various countries.

Due to the long distance and the difficult terrain of Central Asia, the delivery of information was relatively slow.

Zhu Cihong collected and summarized a lot of information, and vaguely guessed the trend of several countries conspiring.

Hearing this information, the generals' hearts sank, and Xu Mingwu was even more surprised, secretly saying that this era has really changed, and several Asian countries have come up with the trick of conniving against the Ming, and the deterrent power of the Ming Dynasty is very strong, and the whole world will unite to engage in the Ming Dynasty!

Today, the situation of the Ming army is not optimistic.

First of all, the battle situation on the northern front, the Russian army and the Junggar coalition army of 100,000 confronted the Yenisei River with the Northern Army, if the Mobei Third Division participated, 80,000 people could be gathered, cut off the supply line of the Northern Army, and copied their back road.

If this really happens, Zhou Yuji's 50,000 troops will be in danger of being caught in the front and back, and may be swallowed by the coalition forces!

In Ili on the Western Front, the 100,000 Ming Army faced the 150,000 Russian-Kazakh coalition troops, and they had more than 100,000 follow-up coalition troops to join, that is, the Ming Army on the Western Front had to face nearly 300,000 coalition attacks.

In this battle, several neighbors of the Ming Dynasty can be said to have made a bloody investment, especially the Kazakh Khanate, where the number of troops was as high as hundreds of thousands, and they really gambled on the national fortune!

However, Zhu Cihong was fearless about this, the Qin State during the Warring States Period, in the face of the many mergers of the Six Kingdoms, still defeated and retreated, and then swallowed the Six Kingdoms in one fell swoop and unified the world!

Today's Ming Dynasty has a stronger national strength than the Qin State in the past, and Zhu Cihong has no reason to be afraid!

It's a big deal to break them, learn from Genghis Khan's expedition to the west, and level Central Asia in one go!

"Your Majesty, if the three divisions of Mobei really have objections, and the soldiers of the Northern Army are in danger, please order the north to support Dingguo Gong!"

It was Lu Xiangkun, Marquis of Suning, who spoke, and as soon as he said this, the generals present who wanted to invite the war did not know what to say.

Suning Marquis Lu Xiangkun was scolded with forty military sticks because of the loose military discipline of his subordinates, and he was greatly embarrassed.

Zhu Cihong's expression moved, and he did not immediately reply to Lu Xiangkun.

Seeing that the Son of Heaven seemed to be unwilling, Lu Xiangkun, who had gray temples, suddenly bowed and said: "Holy Lord, the minister has never fought since he quelled the rebellion of the King of Jin, although the minister is old, but the heart of serving the country is still there, and I am willing to ask Your Majesty for a meritorious service!" ”

Zhu Cihong stared at him for a long time, and finally said: "In this way, I will allocate 20,000 horses and horses for you to go north to reinforce the northern army, but the king of Han will be with you." ”

"Command!"

Lu Xiangkun responded, but he didn't like it in his heart.

Since ancient times, leading troops to fight, the most taboo than their own officials together, the king of Han is a prince, in terms of identity and status, he is many grades higher than the Marquis of Suning, in case he arrives in front of the two armies, this young man does not listen to the order, does he refuse, or dare to kill him?

Hey, admit it, it's good to have a fight!

Seems to be able to read minds, Zhu Cihong turned to look at Zhu Heqi and said, "King Han, whoever obeys the command of the Marquis of Suning, must not act beyond his authority, understand?" ”

"Sons obey orders!" Zhu Heqi was overjoyed and was busy.

"Well, okay, that's it!"

Zhu Cihong said again: "But the matter of the war is changing rapidly, we have to adapt to the situation, we can't just look at the map in the big tent, Uncle Dingyuan, you go and prepare, tomorrow morning at eight o'clock, I will personally go to the front line to see the terrain!" ”

When Qi Guangyang heard this, he was overjoyed and surprised, and he was glad that if the emperor could come to the front line in person, it would be very good for boosting morale.

Surprised, in front of the two armies, the artillery roared, and the swords clashed, the emperor came in person, in case there was a mistake, how could he explain it?

Out of the idea of loyalty to the monarch and the country, Qi Guangyang hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the so-called alliance of several countries is just a group of frogs at the bottom of the well, jumping off the beam clown, please Your Majesty sit firmly in the Chinese army, if the minister can't eliminate them, please remove the title of minister and kill the whole family!" ”

Xu Mingwu was shocked, and secretly said that this General Qi is really strong! No wonder his daughter has such a temperament and dares to beat her fiancé in the street!

For if there is a father, there must be a son! Disrespectful!

I heard that the Son of Heaven said with an unhappy face: "If this battle is lost, it is not a matter of removing your title and killing your whole family, the matter of going to war will be exempted for the time being, and I will discuss it tomorrow when I come to the front line in person!" ”

After everyone retreated, the tent fell silent again.

In the tent, milk tea was boiling on the blazing charcoal fire, with layers of white foam, because the king of Han was about to personally lead a group of people to the north, Zhu Cihong's mood was difficult to calm down for a while.

After a while, he said to Wu Zhong: "Wu Daban, you go and find Qi'er, I have something to tell him." ”

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