At the same time that Yunxi set off to Ganzhou, on the 21st day of May in the Ming calendar (December 9th of the Hijri calendar), under the city of Yiwu, it was already full of flags with red circles and black backgrounds.

Timur stood three miles away from the city with clairvoyance in his hands, and looked at the head of the city under the escort of his guards. After a long time, he withdrew his gaze and whispered, "Sure enough, it's a fortified city." ”

"The Great Khan, even the strongest city, cannot stop the Great Khan's soldiers and horses. Let's start the siege early tomorrow morning. Salha said feverishly.

Timur shook his head and said, "From tomorrow, we will send people to test it, and when all the soldiers and horses have arrived, we will officially start the onslaught." ”

"Great Khan, didn't you say before you set out that you would storm the city of Hami the day after you arrived?" Salha asked.

"But now there are still sixty or seventy thousand people who have not arrived under the city of Hami, and these people are carrying more than one-third of the siege equipment and artillery, without these, our army's attack on the city is much smaller, but it will allow the army of the Ming State to figure out the way our army fights through this relatively less fierce war, even if it can consume a certain degree of soldiers and materials defending the city, it will not outweigh the losses."

"Besides, if you attack, you must ensure that you will continue to attack without interruption, and that you will not give the enemy a chance to breathe, until the city is breached. But now we don't have enough shells and siege equipment in our hands, and we will have to accumulate them for a few more days. Just take advantage of the last tens of thousands of horses to prepare for it. Timur said.

"Great Khan, there are already so many shells, not enough? As for the siege equipment, there are very few trees here, and the only woods have been cut down, leaving only the roots, which is difficult to prepare. Shaharu couldn't help but ask.

"Shaharu, when dealing with a country like Ming, you must not take it lightly, and you must be prepared to the extreme in terms of tactics." Timur taught.

"As for siege engines, they don't have to be made of wood. The craftsmen who came with him were ordered to burn the bricks, even if the quality was very poor. ”

"Yes, Great Khan." The crowd did not quite understand the purpose of his last order, but they bowed down and agreed.

Saying this, Timur glanced at the city of Hami again, turned his horse's head and headed towards the camp.

"Where are all the people of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate?" As he paced the horse under him, he asked Jesbous again.

"The Great Khan, it has been investigated and understood, most of the people of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate have escaped the city of Urumqi, and then went south to cross Jueluotag to Korla and camp near Bosten Lake, and a small number of people first arrived in Turpan, and I heard that the Great Khan sent people to the south and then crossed Kuruktag to the area of Lop Nur. There is a large lake there, which is enough for more than 100,000 people to survive in the short term. ”

"After meeting with Zhu Shangbing, the king of Qin of the Ming Kingdom, Shami Chagan himself led 30,000 horses and 10,000 cavalry under Zhu Shangbing to gather together, first retreated eastward to the Hami Basin, and then went south after the army attacked, wandering nearby."

"The 20,000 soldiers who stayed in the Gurbantunggut Basin led by Mahama turned out to be old and weak, and their combat effectiveness was very low, and they were defeated by 10,000 cavalry led by Balma, killing about 1,000 people, 3,000 people surrendered, and the remaining 16,000 people scattered and fled, of which Mahma himself led 5,600 people, who once wanted to flee east to Qijiaojing City, but after being intercepted, they fled north, and successfully escaped after being killed by our army after killing 1,000 people. Balma is searching. Jesbu replied.

"Ordered Balma to return to Urumqi and stop chasing. The remnants of Mahama's defeat would not be worth the pursuit of 10,000 elite cavalry. And beware of the Warats. However, let him keep two or three thousand people north of Qijiaojing City. Qijiaojing City is located in another choke point from the Gurbantunggut Basin to Hami, so it is necessary to take precautions. ”

"The Ming Kingdom also built a city north of Korla, called Tiemen Pass?" Timur asked again.

"Yes, Great Khan. According to the Semu people who took refuge, the Ming did not know where our army would pass through at that time, and in order to prevent our army from sending a small number of soldiers to cross the Pamir Plateau to the Tarim Basin, they built a city there. It is said that more than 1,000 years ago, when the Khitans ruled the land of the present-day Eastern Chagatai Khanate, they built a city there and named it Tiemen Pass. However, when the Khitans had civil strife, they abandoned the entire area west of what is now Jiayuguan, including there. ”

"Now there should be a thousand Khitan soldiers there, and maybe a few hundred craftsmen and people." Jesbou replied.

"Order the soldiers stationed near Turpan to be divided into 5,000, and then send 5,000 infantry and 10,000 auxiliaries from the soldiers who have not yet arrived. Go south and attack the Iron Gate. Timur commanded.

Jesbu agreed, and whispered to the guards beside him to write it down.

As they spoke, they had returned to the Grand Army camp. At this time, more than half a million people were stationed near the city of Hami. In addition to the 150,000 main army and 250,000 auxiliaries, it also included more than 30,000 Mongols, more than 20,000 Central Plains Semu people, and thousands of other ethnic groups who took the initiative to take refuge in Samarkand. In addition, there are some people who are not willing to be in the camp.

Timur led his generals around the camp and after a while came to the place where the craftsmen were stationed. The leader of the craftsmen hurriedly ran over, bowed and saluted, "Nayosa has seen the Great Khan. ”

"Oh Nayosa, my friend, may Allah give you peace." Timur got off his horse and said with a smile to him.

"May Allah grant peace to the Great Khan." Nayosa replied with a smile.

"My dear Nayosa, how is the manufacture of shells progressing now?"

"Great Khan, the shells were made quite smoothly, but the amount of gunpowder was not necessarily enough. It is not known where all the minerals are buried, so they can only be transported all the way from Samarkand. If possible, it is hoped that the Great Khan will push the cannon forward as much as possible when attacking Hami City, saving gunpowder. Nayosa said.

"That's not guaranteed. The situation on the battlefield is unpredictable, not to mention that the cannon placed at the head of the city has a longer range than the cannon under the city, and the closer the cannon is to the city wall, the greater the possibility of damage. I'll try to give it a try, though. Timur said.

"Xie Da Khan. As long as there is enough gunpowder, there must be enough shells. Nayosa added.

"That's good."

As he spoke, a large cart was suddenly pushed out of the camp. Neither Timur nor Nayosa cared and continued; Shaharu didn't care either, but he glanced at what was in the car and was taken aback. Because in the car, there was a disheveled corpse.

"How can there be so many dead people?" He asked Nayoza in astonishment.

"Shaharu, they are all Khitans. Khitans who were killed by overseers because of fatigue. ”

"How can there be so many Khitans? Why shoot them? Shaharu asked again.

"In addition to Hami City in the entire Hami Basin, the Ming Kingdom also built several small cities, which are called Weisuo Cities according to the name of the Ming Kingdom, and there are also Khitan soldiers, craftsmen and civilians in these Weishou Cities, and even female dependents."

"After our army conquered Urumqi City, Zhu Shangbing ordered to move all the people in these guard cities to Hami City, but they didn't expect Salha to come so quickly, some people were blocked in the city, and some people were caught on the way. More than 30,000 people were caught. More than 10,000 others were massacred for resisting. ”

"They were both enemies and heretics, and they were not all executed at the time, but sent to the artisan camp to work. Nayosa said in a very normal tone.

"But instead of resisting, they surrendered to our army. They shouldn't be treated like that. Shaharu continued. It's not that he hasn't seen a dead man's chicks, he has commanded thousands of troops to fight, he has killed dozens of enemies with his own hands, and he has commanded soldiers to kill countless enemies, and he also sincerely believes in the Heavenly Religion, but he has always disapproved of the killing of those who surrender, and also advocates that the Heavenly Civilization should absorb the essence of various civilizations and treat the infidels leniently.

"Shahru," said Timur to him, "are only a few infidels, dead and dead, and nothing to remember." What's more, the Semu people who surrendered to us hated the Khitans very much, and letting them kill a few Khitans would also help to unite. ”

"But," Shaharu still disagreed.

"Nothing!" Timur interrupted him: "I can't control what you will do in your fiefdom in the future, and I don't want to care, but now that I'm alive, I will personally command the troops this time, and you can only obey orders and have no right to object." ”

"If you are willing to be tolerant of the Khitans, and when you conquer the Ming Kingdom in the future, I will give you the Jiangnan of the Ming Kingdom, and you can be tolerant of them." Timur said again.

"Yes, Great Khan." Shaharu could only say.

……

……

About 150 miles west of Iwu Castle, there was a small castle, which on the surface appeared to be very intact, but when you walked in, you could see a mess all over the ground, countless tattered items scattered everywhere and no one to clean up, and occasionally you could see dry blood.

Two leather-clad soldiers were walking haphazardly through the ruins, poking their spears at the ground from time to time. Suddenly, one of them got a small stone into his shoe, found a flat place and sat down, took off his shoe and poured it out, and said as he poured: "I don't know what General Mirza thinks, and let us inspect here." ”

"Of course, the general is worried that there are still Khitans in the city who have not been discovered." The other man said.

"How many days has it been? Even if there were, I would have died of thirst. The man who spoke at first said again.

"The general asked me to search, let's search, although it is boring, it is much better than being transferred to Hami City, and I will have to work hard at that time. Although it is incumbent upon us to die for Allah, it is good to be alive. ”

"That's right, and it's not necessarily without benefits." At first, the man laughed and said, "I found a young woman the day before yesterday, didn't I just have fun for two days?" But yesterday she committed suicide, which is a pity. If only a young woman could be found. ”

"Don't think about this good thing, how can such a good thing let us meet twice. Alright, let's get up and wander around. ”

The man who began to speak put on his shoes and spun around again.

But they didn't know that just below the place where they had just been sitting, a man in ragged clothes, covered in scars and unable to distinguish his appearance, age and gender, was putting his mouth on the spot where water was dripping from time to time.

Remember the mobile version URL: