So don't think about anything else, not even the way back, and concentrate all the troops you can to attack Hami! ”

Listening to Timur's words, Jesbu suddenly realized. Timur's program grasped the crux of this war. The city with the longest operating time, the largest population, and the closest city to the headquarters of the Ming Kingdom near Yili Jiangli is Hami, as long as Hami is defeated, it is impossible for them to send heavy troops to Yili Jiangli if they want to come to Mingguo, and half of this war will be won.

But Jesbou had his own concerns. "Great Khan, Shami Chagan has at least five or six hundred thousand troops in his hands, and he also understands that if the Ming State defeats his own Khanate in Hami, he will definitely not be able to hold it, will he send troops to attack the army left by our army under the city of Turpan?"

"No, even if Sha Mi Chagan wants to attack our army with the Ming army defending Turpan, he will definitely fail." Timur said confidently: "My prestige has long spread throughout the Eastern Chagatai Khan, and all the tribal leaders will not be willing to lead troops to attack my army, Shami Chagan is young and does not have much prestige, at least he can't gather many troops to fight our army before our army is defeated by the Ming army." ”

"As for the most trusted clan in the hands of Shami Chagan, he will definitely not be willing to take it out to fight our army, and the 10,000 cavalry and 20,000 auxiliaries left under the city of Turpan are enough to repel his half-hearted attack. So don't worry. ”

"But, why are there so many guards left in Urumqi?" Jesbu asked again, puzzled.

"You think too little about defending Urumqi. You probably only think that Shami Chagan may take advantage of the opportunity of the battle between the army and the Ming army to attack the city of Urumqi, but you don't consider that in the north of the Gurbantunggut Basin, it is uncertain whether they are friends or foes. ”

"Is it uncertain whether the north side of the Gurbantunggut Basin is friend or foe?" Jesbu didn't think for a moment who Timur was talking about.

He bowed his head and pondered for half a minute, and when he raised his head and was about to ask, he heard Timur tell him a few more things, and Jesbu hurriedly put aside his thoughts and retreated to carry out Timur's orders.

Looking at Yesb's back, Timur said to himself: "The people north of Gurbantunggut are more noteworthy than Shamichagan, but fortunately, although they did not accept my kindness, they did not express their hostility. ”

……

……

At this time, at the foot of the Altai Mountains north of the Irtysh River, from a distance, many bright lights were shining in the stars. But if you walk by, you will see that it is not a myriad of fireflies flying, but the light of a fully 50,000-horse camp lit when the minimum light is guaranteed. Of course, before you find out all this, it's more likely that you've been killed by people lurking in the woods and grass.

At this time, in the tent in the center of the camp where 50,000 horses were stationed, three people who looked about the same age were talking fiercely.

"Big brother, you accepted a gift from someone sent by Samarkand, but you pushed back Timur's request; I had promised Zhu Shangbing to fight with Timur with him after the soldiers of Samarkand came over, but now you are not moving, what is your idea of fighting? A man in his thirties, dressed in a traditional Mongolian robe, said.

"Don't you know what I'm up to?" The man sitting in the middle of the three said in a deep voice: "Just hold your troops for the time being, and wait for the battle situation to be clear." ”

"Big brother, you should understand what the third brother means." The person sitting on his left hand side said: "The two ends of the first rat are not pleasing to both sides, and in the future, whether Samarkand wins or Ming won, they will not treat us, how can we stay here?" ”

These three people are naturally the three leaders of the Warat Mongols, Mahamu, Taiping and Polo, and the 50,000 horses stationed north of the Irtysh River at this time are also the only elite soldiers in Warat.

Every time there was a war, before the army was dispatched, Timur would use political means to divide and win over the enemy, and of course he did not forget to divide and win over the camp of the Ming side. Among them, Shami Chagan's Eastern Chagatai Khanate belonged to the party whose interests were directly damaged, and even the tribal leaders under him who believed in the Heavenly Sect did not dare to resist, but they also opposed Timur's Eastern Crusade: Shami Chagan was a heretic, but his prestige was very small, and he did whatever he wanted in the tribe, and if Timur brought troops over, even if he gained a momentary advantage, he would not have such power in the future.

Therefore, the attempt to divide and win over the Eastern Chagatai Khanate failed unexpectedly; And the Ming state still does not quite understand the mode of operation of its power, although it seems that there is room for use, but it has not yet been effective. In this way, Warat, which was very close to the battlefield, became the object of Timur's efforts to win over.

As early as the end of the third month of the Ming calendar, when Salha led the vanguard army to arrive outside the Alashan Pass, the envoy sent by Timur had already come to the Simon steppe and found Taiping, who was leading his troops to graze in the north of the Altai Mountains, hoping that he would lead his troops south to attack the Ming with the troops of Samarkand.

"The Khan of our country has always known that the three princes of Warat are all heroic and heroic, although it is enough to attack Hami with our own army, but how can the opportunity to loot from the Khitans be swallowed by our country alone? If the prince is willing to lead troops to follow our Timur Khan to attack Hami, after conquering Hami City, all the gold, silver and precious goods in the city will be selected by the prince first. ”

"Besides, there will be a chance to attack the land of Ming again in the future! There were also people in the warat who lived in the hinterland of the Ming Kingdom back then, and they should know how rich they were, and when the Ming Kingdom was destroyed and became the masters of that land again, all the warriors of the Warat could have a hundred slaves, fifty beauties, and inexhaustible wealth! You will also have millions of slaves, and every time you go out, you can only see the backs of the Khitans along the way, because they are all kneeling respectfully on the ground! ”

This envoy tried his best to exaggerate the richness of the Ming Kingdom, which made Taiping a little moved for a while.

But fortunately, he still had the only remaining reason, and knew that the combined strength of the three brothers could make anyone have to pay attention, so he did not make a decision on his own, but while entertaining the envoy of Samarkand, he sent someone to quickly inform the Balpolo and Mahamu.

At this time, the two of them led their subordinates to graze not far from Taiping, and they arrived one after another on three or five days. On the third day of the fourth month, Mahami received the envoy of Samarkand, and after listening to his encouragement, he said: "Timur Khan summoned him, he should not have refused, but my department has recently fought with the surrounding tribes, and the losses are not small, and it is difficult to send troops to follow the Great Khan for a while, please forgive me." ”

Looking at Maham's sincere expression and listening to Mahmu's sincere words, the envoy was a little confused for a while whether his words were true or false. Although he has been here for a few days, he has not been allowed to interact with other herders and does not know what is going on; On the day he first met Taiping, Taiping's face was not very good-looking, and he couldn't make a judgment.

The envoy could only try his best to preach the benefits of victory, and at the same time slightly threatened: if the Khan and the Ming did not contribute to the war, it would be difficult to say what would happen after the war was won.

But no matter what he said, Mahamu had a sincere expression on his face, refusing to send troops on the grounds of insufficient population, and the envoy had no choice but to leave in the end.

But after the emissaries of Samarkand left, Mahamu immediately ordered the Taiping and the Balpola to gather all the soldiers they could fight and lead them south to the north bank of the Irtysh River. After the three brothers agreed on a meeting place, Mahamu left the place and returned to his tribe.

After that, the three brothers completed their assembly here today. After settling the soldiers, Taiping, who did not know much about Mahamu's plans, inquired.

"Second brother, third brother, how did you say that our Warat Department has always existed and even grown in the former Yuan?" Mahamu asked rhetorically.

"To the Yuan, Chagatai and Ogedai Khanates, they all showed deference and did not disobey their will, but they never participated in the war between themselves, but only grazed cattle on the western side of the entire steppe." Answer the vulture. Although this answer is embarrassing, there is nothing to avoid between brothers, so he said directly.

"That's it." Mahamu said: "At the beginning, Haidu established the land of the Seven Rivers, once controlled the Chagatai Khanate, and repeated battles with the Yuan State in the east, the battlefield was in the Gurbantunggut Basin and the Altai Mountains, which was very close to the nomadic land of our Warat, but the population of our Warat was not consumed, which was the relationship between the leaders at that time who implemented the correct strategy. ”

"Now the Ming State is in the east, deeply rooted, just like the Yuan State of the year, and Timur came from the west, just like the Ögedai Khanate of the year. The national strength of the Ming State is much stronger than that of Samarkand, and it must be the final victor. This is also the reason why I agreed to form an alliance with Ming Guo and Yili Jiangli a few years ago. ”

"But now, the Ming Kingdom may not be able to win the Samarkand Kingdom in Yili Jiangli, so we must not throw ourselves to the Ming Kingdom now."

"Big brother, why do you say that the Ming Kingdom may not be able to win the Samarkand Kingdom now, but you still think that the Ming Kingdom is the winner in the end?" Taiping is puzzled.

But Maham did not answer his question, but continued: "What we have to do now is to wait, wait on the north bank of the Irtysh River, wait until Samarkand is defeated, and then cross the river and go directly south to the Gurbantunggut Basin, cut off the way for the Samarkand army to return, and help the Ming army destroy them." With such a great contribution, Ming Guo does not care about the things that we are not doing now. ”

Taiping and the Bald Polo still didn't understand why Mahamu was so sure that the Ming Kingdom would win, but Mahamu suddenly stopped talking, and asked them to go back to rest under the pretext that it was getting late.

Because it was indeed not early, the two Bald Polo Taiping brothers had no choice but to leave here and return to their camp. But even though they were already lying in bed, they still couldn't understand: "Why does the eldest brother think that the Ming Kingdom will win?" ”

……

……

At the same time, the city of Ganzhou in the Hexi Corridor was in chaos.

If you sit on the flying ball and overlook Ganzhou City, you can clearly notice how many troops are gathered inside and outside Ganzhou City now. To the north, west, east, and south of the city, there were vast military camps.

Countless soldiers were coming and going in and out of the barracks, and the dust they brought up was several meters high, choking people from opening their eyes, as if the storm from the north had not stopped.

At this time, in a military camp outside the north gate of the city, a man of about thirty-seven or eighteen years old, dressed in the costume of a military general, stood in a tent, surrounded by people who were bending over and waiting. I saw that he kept instructing the people around him, and after listening to a few words from him, each of them bowed down and stepped forward.

I don't know how long it took, but there was finally no one waiting around this man, and a young guard hurriedly walked up, wiped his sweat with a handkerchief, and helped him sit down at the same time, and complained: "Master, even if the military situation is urgent, you will not be busy like this." I didn't go to bed until the end of the night last night, but I got up early this morning and continued to arrange. You only slept two hours a day, how can this be! In the long run, how can your body stand it, sir! ”

"No, it can't be done!" The man sighed and said: "Wu Jie led the troops to Yiwu, and His Royal Highness King Su is not in the city now, if I don't do these things, no one can do them." ”

"That's not going to be like that."

"Saving the troops is like fighting a fire, Timur moved his troops in advance, disrupting the whole arrangement, and in order to send as many troops into the city as possible before the enemy army reaches the city of Yiwu, this is the only way. When His Highness comes back and hands over some things to His Highness, I will be able to save some time. ”

This person is Xu Huizu, the current Duke of Wei, who was appointed as the commander of the Shaanxi Dusidu. After the Chinese New Year, Shaanxi was put into preparation for the battle of Samarkand. According to the plan formulated, nearly 30 health offices and 155,000 men and horses in the entire Shaanxi Metropolitan Division and Shaanxi Xingdu Division were dispatched to Yiwu.

However, the specific transfer of those guards was decided by Xu Huizu and Wu Jie, the commander of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division, and Zhu Ji, the king of Su who was sealed in Ganzhou. Therefore, after making the preliminary preparations, Xu Huizu left Xi'an in early April and went to Ganzhou to discuss the matter.

After he came to Ganzhou, he learned that Zhu Ji, the king of Su, was not there. It turned out that just a few days ago, there was a Xifan tribe who took refuge in Daming, but the general stationed in the nearby guard post had a grudge against the Xifan tribe and opposed Daming accepting refuge.

After deliberation between Zhu Ji and Wu Jie, they believed that the war was about to be fought now, and the more people the better, so they decided to accept it on the premise that the tribe promised to send troops to fight in the northwest. In order for things to go smoothly, Zhu Ji personally went out to appease the general.

But he didn't want to the day after Xu Huizu came to Ganzhou, an urgent report came from the north: Samarkand sent troops ahead of schedule, and had broken through the Alashan Pass on the first day of April, and it was likely that it had reached the city of Urumqi. Request Sima Shang, the capital of Shaanxi, to send troops to rescue.