"But after all, the Mongols are barbarian tribes, although they are civilized, they are very immature, and it is difficult to influence the Han people, and they do not have the idea of spreading Mongolian civilization to all directions, so it is only a war between two countries or peoples, not a war of civilizations."

"But Samarkand in the West is different. Although the Ming Dynasty has always called them barbarians, even if they heard of Timur's prestige, they only thought they were barbarians who could fight, but in fact they were no longer barbarians, but a country with a civilization comparable to that of the Ming Dynasty! ”

"Official, is this too much to think of them?" Although Shang Bing knew that they were not ordinary barbarians in the second or third year of Yiwu, through talking with the merchants of the kidnapped Samarkand country, and through the rewards of the spies sent to Samarkand City, he still did not want to admit that their civilization could be compared with the Ming Dynasty.

"The civilization of the West is completely different from that of the East, not to mention the rest, one thing is the most important, that is, their civilization is centered on religion, and all people must believe in the same religion, which is the biggest difference with the Confucian civilization of the Ming Dynasty."

After that, Yun Xi roughly explained the difference between monotheism and polytheism, and then said: "Therefore, the civilization of Samarkand is more expansive, and in order to not exist, or even if it exists, it will not interfere with the glory of the mortal lord, they will continue to expand, and even if they cannot conquer through war, they will use various means to infiltrate, so that the natives will believe in their lord." Even if the true ruler of the nation does not want such a thing to affect his rule, it cannot be completely prevented, because the existence of the whole nation is based on faith in the Lord, and if such a foundation is lost, the nation will fall apart. ”

"Of course, the kingdom of Samarkand does not fully conform to this theory, and his kingdom is not entirely based on the belief in the Lord, but the belief in the Lord is still one of the foundations on which the nation was founded, and most of the subjects under his rule believe in the same Lord."

"Therefore, when Timur himself wanted to conquer the Ming Dynasty, in order to maximize the mobilization of his country and his subjects, he would adopt the propaganda method of 'spreading the glory of the Lord in the East'."

"The Han people have not had such a cultural tradition since ancient times, we are a Confucian civilization, and we do not believe in the real existence of gods, or worship ghosts and gods and stay away, which is naturally incompatible with the Western religion-centered system, so in the end it will inevitably become a conflict between the Tianfang civilization and the Eastern Confucian civilization."

Yun Xi said that later, he had forgotten that he was in the Ming Dynasty more than 600 years ago, and he also forgot that he still had an audience, but was completely immersed in his own thoughts, and his words also carried many modern words.

Shang Bing didn't understand these words, and he didn't want to understand them now because his head hurt from listening to them, so he just asked: "If Samarkand really destroys the Ming Dynasty, what will be the consequences?" ”

"Then, it is inevitable that China will sink again, and at the same time, the Chinese civilization will also sink or even disappear without a trace, and only a small part of the Han people will be killed."

Western monotheistic religions do not allow anything to be worshiped except the supreme god, whether it is another god or something else, so in their view, the worship of ancestors by the Han people is also strictly forbidden. And this will inevitably bring about a revolt of the Han Chinese. If you just don't eat pork, the Han people don't care about being a pseudo-believer, but it's not the same to prohibit ancestor worship. When the Manchus entered the customs, the mere change of the Han people's hairstyles and clothes provoked a large-scale revolt, and many places rebelled, and the monotheistic ban on ancestor worship was bound to cause an even larger revolt.

The result of a larger revolt was a much larger massacre, and perhaps fewer Han Chinese survived the Mongol butcher's knife.

Of course, there is also the possibility of succeeding in driving out the monotheistic religion, but even then there will be an unimaginably painful price.

"So," Yun Xi finally turned his head and said to Shang Bing word by word: "The Ming Dynasty must defeat Samarkand, not only for our Zhu family, but also for the sake of Chinese civilization, for all the Han people in the world, and for all the countries and people in the East who do not believe in monotheism!" ”

Everyone stood aside and quietly watched Shang Bing recall. After a long while, Shang Bing came back to his senses and told them what he had just thought.

Several people looked at each other, some of them couldn't believe that such a thing could happen in the world. However, when they recalled the witchcraft case in Guangzhou the year before last, the contacts they had with the Heavenly Sect in the northwest over the years, the speeches of Timur, and the meticulous remarks made by them after returning from Samarkand, they felt that they were not nonsense.

"Since this is the case, then we must defeat Samarkand, for Your Highness, for Your Majesty, and for Daming to defend Yiwu!" The first to speak was Gao Xiang.

After listening to Gao Xiang's words, whether the others believed Shang Bing's words or not, they also said: "Your Highness, we will fight to the death and defend Yiwu!" ”

Shang Bing listened to the speeches of these generals and understood that they were still skeptical of their words. But it's no wonder that if he hadn't passed the test in various ways many times, he wouldn't have believed Yunxi's words. When the captives are captured and interrogated by the generals, they will know that what Gu said is right. ’

He couldn't help but glance at Gao Xiang again: "But why did Gao Xiang believe Gu's words? ’

Shang Bing was about to ask, but Song Hu shouted: "Your Highness, the cannons of Samarkand have been pushed forward, and the soldiers who are going to attack the city are also coming, Your Highness hurry up and go down to the city!" ”

Shang Bing immediately came down from the city with his servants. His insistence on staying in the city was enough to boost morale, and he didn't need to wait at the head of the city at the risk of being killed by a cannonball.

As soon as he came down from the city, he heard the sound of drums beating outside the city, and the battle of Igo began!

……

……

"What's the latest news from Igo?" After stopping at the post station, Yun Xi didn't rest at all, so he called the herald and asked loudly.

"Qiqi, Your Majesty, the latest news is seven days ago, about 200,000 soldiers of Samarkand rushed to the city of Yiwu and surrounded the city, but the siege has not yet begun." The man immediately replied in a trembling voice.

"What about the rescuers?"

"Marquis An Lu led 70,000 soldiers to enter Yiwu City before the siege, and according to the order, the soldiers of Shazhou and other guards should rush to the vicinity of Yiwu City today."

"No! The guards of Shazhou are all locals who have been co-opted, so let them fight a good battle and fight a tough battle with the soldiers of Samarkand, unless they are surrounded and about to be wiped out! They will never be able to relieve the siege of Iwu. Yun Xi took out a simple map from his pocket, pointed to a place on it, and said, "Don't say rush to the vicinity of Yiwu City, most of them are still wandering around Xingxing Gorge. After all, after crossing the Star Gorge, there is no dangerous terrain, and even if they can escape, they can't bring back the cattle and sheep they brought as military rations! ”

"What about the other guards?"

"Your Majesty, Qingyangwei and the other seven guards should have passed Guazhou according to the regulations, and they will be able to reach Xingxing Gorge in about four days, because there is no railroad west of Xingxing Gorge, so they can only walk, and it will take three or four days."

"It can't be counted like that! Now that Iwu has been surrounded, the soldiers who rush to relieve the siege must ensure the strength of the soldiers, and they must also prevent Timur from sending cavalry to wander, and they must walk a maximum of thirty miles a day. Yun Xi analyzed.

As he was talking, Yun Xi saw the herald's confused and timid eyes, and understood that his words were purely chicken and duck, so he stopped talking, asked a few other messages, asked him to step back, and continued to analyze the map by himself.

While analyzing, Song Qingshu walked in with a few guards, bowed and saluted, "Your Majesty, everything has been settled." The horses were also fed fodder. However, a few horses were about to be too much of a servant, and they lost their strength, and the horseman at the post station said that they would not be able to run tomorrow. ”

"You can handle these things, and you don't have to report them to me. If the envoy is too much, he will change a few horses. Yun Xi didn't raise his head and said.

"But, Your Majesty, there are not enough good horses at the post station, there are a total of seven horses to be replaced, but there are only three horses left in the post station except for the horses that must be kept to pass on the military order."

"Then leave four people here to wait for Concubine Chen and the princess." Yun Xi raised his head this time and caught a glimpse of Zhang Wuji standing beside Song Qingshu: "Wuji, you stay and escort Concubine Chen and the princess to Ganzhou." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhang Wuji agreed unhappily. Although it is very tiring to follow the emperor, the future is good. The emperor will not forget the people who are with him. Although he sincerely believes in Taoism, he is not like Song Qingshu who still wants to go back, but plans to mix a hereditary and marry a little lady to live his own small life in the capital. If the children and grandchildren are successful, they will beg to be added to the palace as guards, and if they are not successful, they will be sent back to Wudang as lay disciples.

Yun Xi also saw that he was unhappy, and said with a smile: "You kid, I'm not happy to let you rest for a few days!" ”

"The minister is willing to protect His Majesty." Zhang Wuji said immediately.

"Okay, okay, you don't have to pat me on the back. Besides, it's not okay to keep you here, these seven horses have to be taken care of, if you don't wait for the princess to come, you can only ask. ”

"Your Majesty, rest assured, these horsemen will definitely let the horsemen take good care of them!"

After saying this, it was already dark, Yun Xi was relaxed because he didn't hear the bad news, and he also felt very tired, so he put away the map again, and fell asleep after dinner.

Early the next morning, Yun Xi got up and continued on his way. In this way, he rode for more than ten days, and in early June, Yunxi rushed to the east of Ganzhou City, twenty miles away.

Seeing that Ganzhou City was already in sight, everyone couldn't help but relax. Yun Xi couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He had never experienced it before, and every day he had never been able to get off the horse without pain, and his buttocks were almost worn out, so it would be better to rest in the city for a few days.

The relaxed crowd couldn't help but slow down, untied the kettle around their waists and took a few sips of water. "It's been a hard time in the Northwest! The weather is so hot, it's not much cooler than the capital, but there is a lack of water, and it's not easy to even take a cold shower, and I don't know how the people here survive. Someone also complained.

"The northwest has always been like this, so there are few talents, there are only more than 2 million people in the whole Shaanxi, and there are not as many people as Ying Tianfu."

"It's like this here, and Igo further west doesn't know what desolation has become!"

"Igo is not desolate!" Yun Xi suddenly interjected: "Even if the Western Regions are not as good as the Qin and Han dynasties, they are still rich land, and it is not a problem to feed tens of millions of people. Now there are few people in the Ming Dynasty, but in the future, after there are more people, the northwest side will not be able to live, if the Ming Dynasty has the Western Regions in his hands, they can let them run over to live, so it is very important! ”

"Therefore, it is very important to hold Igo now. If Yiwu is lost, it will be very difficult to recapture it, and it will be difficult for the Western Regions to be used by my Ming Dynasty in the future. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, the minister is ignorant." The man who had just spoken said immediately.