However, when the leaders of the various departments heard about this, they refused to leave their own people behind. In their opinion, it is unknown who will kill Timur in the collision with the Ming Kingdom, but they themselves will lose the war with Timur, and those who stay will be sent to death, so they resolutely do not agree to keep people. Although Shami Chagan is the Great Khan of Yili Jiangli, he is only about thirty years old, and he has not won any big battles, so his prestige is not great, and the leaders of the various tribes have no choice if they don't listen to him.

Since the other ministries did not leave any people, Shami Chagan would not leave his cronies behind: the ministries did not listen to him now, and if his cronies were damaged again, they would be even more uncontrollable. Finally, he took into account the overall situation, knowing that he would have to delay time for the city of Urumqi, so he forcibly asked for some old and weak people from various departments, and he left 10,000 to gather 20,000 men and 50,000 horses, and used his younger brother Ma Hama as the commander to fight guerrillas in the Gurbantunggut Basin.

After a long while, Shang Bingcai held back his anger and said, "In this case, nothing else is enough, but the tribes that have migrated to Turpan must fight the enemy together with my subordinate soldiers; If the army of Samarkand attacks the Iron Gate, the tribes near Korla and Bosten Lake will also help defend the Iron Gate. ”

"There is no problem for the tribes near Korla and Bosten Lake to assist in defending the Iron Gate Pass, but the tribes of Turpan may not be able to assist in defending Turpan City." The tribes of Yili were reluctant to fight Timur, and moved to the vicinity of Korla and Bosten Lake, because there was no way to retreat—it was not easy for the Tarim Basin to find a place to support hundreds of thousands of people—so they would agree to assist in the defense; But the tribes that retreated to Turpan all thought that if the troops of Samarkand reached Turpan, they would continue to flee south across Kuruktag to Lop Nur, and would not be willing to help defend Turpan City.

Shang Bing heard him say this, and recalled the news sent back by the fine work sent to Beshibali, and suddenly understood in his heart that he could not fully control the tribes under his command, and his anger suddenly disappeared by half, and he thought about it and said: "Brother Sha Micha, I am not doing anything to you, but if Yiwu falls, the Ming Dynasty has no place to stand in the Western Regions, and you also know that the Hexi Corridor is very barren, and it is impossible to counterattack the Western Regions based on this, and the initiative of the war will be all in the hands of Timur!" Your khanate will not be able to hold it! ”

"So don't worry about the loss of strength in your hands. You don't have to send troops to defend the city of Turpan, but your soldiers must be combined with my cavalry to defend Yiwu! ”

Hearing this, Shami Chagan twisted his beard and pondered. Shang Bing's words are of course reasonable, but if all his cronies are gone, even if Timur is defeated, he will not be able to hold the khanate. Of course, the clan leaders under his command did not dare to usurp the throne, but he was not the only one with the surname Xiao'er, and they could kill themselves and set up someone else.

"How do you join forces?" Sha Micha asked after thinking for a while.

"I'm not asking your men to mix with my cavalry, I'm just forming a coalition to command, but we must set strict discipline, and those who violate orders will be severely punished!" Shang Bing replied immediately.

"Yes, but I must be among the generals commanding the coalition forces." Shami Chagan said.

"Now leave all the cavalry under the command of my brother. It's just that after the reinforcements from the Central Plains arrived, the brother could only be one of the commanders. "Shang Bing's cavalry is basically Mongol, and now it is nothing to hand over to Shami Chagan to command.

"Good. I am willing to take out 30,000 elite main forces and the cavalry of the Shang Bing brothers to command in a unified manner. Shami Chagan finally said.

When Shang Bing heard the number, he knew that he was still hiding some of the people, and he was angry but did not show it, but only agreed on the details again, and invited him to have dinner together and then go to rest separately.

On the morning of the second day, on April 23, Shang Bing set out for Yiwu and arrived on the 28th.

But after he entered the city, he did not return to the palace immediately, but walked into the Thousand Buddhas Temple in the city, knelt down in front of the Buddha statue of the Buddha, bowed his head and prayed silently.

'Buddha, if you have a spirit, bless me.' If I finally defeat Timur in this battle, I will spread Buddhism throughout the Western Regions, and let the light of you, Buddha, shine again on this vast land. ’

After praying for a while, he stood up, looked at Master Fang Sheng, the temple presiding officer who was hurriedly running from the backyard beside him, and said to him: "From tomorrow, the Thousand Buddhas Temple will hold a puja, pray that the Buddha will bless Yiwu City!" ”

"Yes, Your Highness." At this time, Fang Sheng didn't quite know what was going on, and although he was surprised by this order, he bowed down and agreed.

Shang Bing then left the Buddhist temple and returned to the palace to summon Song Sheng.

"What is the matter with Your Highness's summoning of ministers?" Song Sheng asked after saluting.

"Shami Chagan did not stay in the Gurbantunggut Basin to defend against the troops of Samarkand, but led his troops south to Korla and near Bosten Lake, leaving only 20,000 old and weak people to harass them. Today is the 28th, and most of the troops of Samarkand have already arrived under the city of Urumqi, and even the city of Urumqi may have fallen. Shang Bing said.

When Song Sheng heard this, his face flashed with panic, but he immediately recovered and saluted Shang Bing: "Your Highness, since the situation is so critical, please ask Your Highness to move all the people of the Acropolis into Yiwu, and ask Your Highness and the princess to lead the prince and the county kings to retreat south to Jiayu Pass." "If Urumqi has been lost now, then we can only prepare for the defense of Yiwu! Although the city of Turpan is almost completed, the enemy army can surround it without fighting, and the main force will drive directly to the city of Yiwu!

"Why this, why this." Shang Bing muttered. Although he was already mentally prepared, it was still difficult to accept Song Sheng's words for a while.

After a while, he came back to his senses and said to Song Sheng: "Arrange for the princess to lead the lonely children to retreat south to Jiayuguan, and stay alone in Yiwu." ”

"Your Highness, Yiwu may not be able to hold it, please ask Your Highness to withdraw to Jiayuguan!" Song Sheng shouted.

"No, Lone is in Yiwu, and he will never retreat south." Shang Bing said firmly: "Lone's hard work in the past five years has been in this city, if this city falls, Lone would rather die with the city!" ”

Of course, Shang Bing is unwilling to die, but he is even more unwilling to ruin the career he has worked hard for more than five years. Timur's style of warfare was the same as that of the Mongols back then, and the resolutely resisting cities were basically slaughtered after they were defeated, and only beautiful women and craftsmen survived. If he had fled, he would have been ruined even if he had come back with the army. He would rather perish with the inheritance he had worked so hard to save.

Song Sheng saw that Shang Bing was so resolute, and he actually secretly hoped that His Highness would stay, so he bowed down and said, "The minister knows." Then he remembered something and asked, "Your Highness, do you want to send someone to Warat and ask Mahamu to send troops?" ”

"Sending people to Warat? Send somebody, but don't expect anything from it. These Mongolians, the first thing they think about when they encounter things is to preserve their strength and let the Ming Dynasty contribute. Now that the army of Samarkand is unstoppable, how can they be willing to send troops? ”

"They don't seem to understand at all, if the Ming Dynasty is expelled from the Western Regions, they will never be able to stop the soldiers of Samarkand!" Shang Bing couldn't help but complain.

"Yes, Your Highness." Of course, Song Sheng didn't expect Warat, just to fight, that is, to increase his own strength and weaken the strength of the local area as much as possible, even if Warat only sent a few thousand men and horses to harass it, it was better than not moving at all.

Song Sheng was about to retreat. But Shang Bing stopped him again: "The general who escorted the princess, prince and others back, let Song Ying be arranged." ”

"Minister, thank you for your grace!" Song Sheng knelt down and kowtowed, and retreated.

He called Gao Xiang again, first introduced the current situation, and then said: "Gao Aiqing, you immediately post a notice in the city, telling the people in the city that the soldiers of Samarkand will hit the city of Yiwu within twenty days at the earliest. ”

"Timur, as the son-in-law of Temujin's descendants, his style is also similar to Temujin, after breaking through the city, he often slaughtered the city and slaughtered the people in the city, except for the beautiful women, no one can live, even the children are not spared, for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, for the Qin Domain, for the family, for their own lives, call the people in the city to assist the officers and soldiers to defend Yiwu City!"

"Lone will not leave Yiwu to flee for his life, he will stay in command to defend the city." Shang Bing felt that instead of letting the people guess, it was better to tell them the truth generously, anyway, it was not to let them go out of the city to fight, but the city defense would be willing to cooperate with the soldiers.

"Your Highness, here, it is enough to have the ministers and Song Xiang stay behind, and there is no need for His Highness to stay in the city." Gao Xiang's reaction was the same as Song Sheng's.

"I am the king of Qin, and Yiwu is my fief, how can there be any reason that the vassal king has lost his fief! You don't have to persuade the lonely, you have made up your mind, and you will never leave Yiwu City! Shang Bing said firmly again.

Gao Xiang persuaded a few more words, and seeing that His Highness was determined, he had to keep his mouth shut.

Shang Bing also instructed Gao Xiang to write another letter asking for help, and asked him to retreat.

He was then about to lean back in his chair to rest for a while, when Princess Tang Yuewan of Qin heard that he was returning, she rushed from the backyard, and asked after a few words of concerned greeting: "Husband, you are not going to Urumqi, why did you return to Yiwu now?" She had traveled through Urumqi to Beshbali with Shang Bing, and knew the time to go back and forth from Yiwu to Urumqi, and even if she was fast, she would not be able to rush back now.

"Urumqi doesn't have to go, Shami Chagan has fled south. By the way, Yuewan, you let your subordinates pack up their luggage, wrap you and your concubines, children's clothes, food, precious treasures, etc., and send a lonely general to escort you out of Yiwu early tomorrow morning. ”

"What's going on? Why did you suddenly let your concubine leave Iwu? Tang Yuewan asked in surprise.

Shang Bing gave a brief introduction to the situation, and then said: "Yiwu City may not be able to hold it, you take the children to Jiayuguan, and then go to the palace of the fourteenth uncle." ”

"How can the situation get so bad!" Tang Yuewan said in surprise, then noticed something, and asked, "Husband doesn't leave together?" ”

"Husband can't leave." Shang Bing said: "I am the backbone of this city, if I leave, the soldiers and people in the city will inevitably be demoralized, even if they can hold the city in the end, they will not be able to defend it." ”

Tang Yuewan wanted to persuade again, but somehow opened her mouth but didn't say anything, but said after a while: "Husband, send a general to escort Zhiwen and them to the place of the fourteenth uncle, and the concubine will stay with the husband." ”

"Yuewan, you, what are you staying for?" Shang Bing said in surprise.

"The concubine stayed to accompany her husband." Tang Yuewan said: "National affairs, the concubines don't understand, since the husband said that he should stay in Yiwu, then stay in Yiwu." But the concubine is the wife of the husband, the husband and wife are one, and where the husband is, the concubine is there. ”

"Yuewan," Shang Bingben also wanted to persuade her to leave, but in the same way, he couldn't say the words, just took her hand and said emotionally: "In this case, you and I will stay in Yiwu and live and die together!" ”

"Well, live and die together." Tang Yuewan leaned into his arms and said.

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This chapter was written last night, and it will be revised and sent out today.

For the place of Hami, Timur is called Hami, and the Ming side is called Yiwu, and the previous error has been corrected. Word count is not counted.