The weather in Xi'an is much warmer than in the northeast, Li Laiheng accompanied Li Guangdi, followed by Liu Tichun, Hao Shaoqi and others, and walked to the edge of the military reclamation field. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The auxiliaries of the loyal battalion were digging in the field, digging up sweet potatoes and potatoes. In a short time, the baskets around the auxiliary soldiers were filled with sweet potatoes and potatoes.

The auxiliaries of these loyal battalions were actually the original displaced people, and Li Laiheng swept through Ganshan, ransacked countless villages in the northwest, and engulfed the common people as homeless people. However, Li Laiheng only knew how to destroy, not to build, and the troops were fighting more and more, but the food was getting less and less. Later, at the suggestion of Li Guangdi, some of the displaced people were converted into military reclamation households, and a large amount of abandoned land was developed.

Although Li Guangdi formulated a plan for the Loyal Battalion to go west, implemented the strategy of nourishing the war with war, fought all the way to the west, and fought to a place to grab a place, the army needed food security when it went out! More than one million horses and horses had to leave the Yumen Pass and fight all the way to the Yarkand Khanate, all the way through the deserted Gobi Desert, but there was no supply along the way, so it was still necessary to have sufficient food security before the Yarkand Khanate could conquer the west.

Everywhere they went, villages were destroyed, land was deserted, food was looted, and even seeds were snatched and eaten. Fortunately, thanks to Li Guangdi's efforts, a batch of grain was brought from Huguang and Sichuan, allowing the Loyal Battalion to tide over the difficulties temporarily. But relying on long-distance transportation is not an option, so the south sent another batch of sprouted sweet potatoes and potatoes. Under Li Guangdi's supervision, Li Laiheng reorganized some of the displaced people into military reclamation households, developed the abandoned land, cut the sweet potatoes and potatoes that had sprouted, and planted them in the soil.

Sweet potatoes and potatoes have a short growing season, planted in early autumn and harvested just before the weather turns cold. Although the harvest of sweet potatoes and potatoes was not up to the target due to the wrong planting season, these crops were able to meet the food needs of the camp for the time being.

"These sweet potatoes and potatoes are really good! The planting season is not right, and you don't need to take care of it after planting, and the harvest can be so good. Li Laiheng said as he looked at the sweet potatoes and potatoes in the basket.

Li Guangdi stroked his beard and smiled: "These things are originally high-yield crops, and planting them is not as intensive as rice and wheat, and you should pay attention to the row spacing, as long as you cut the tubers that have sprouted and bury them in the soil, they can grow casually, and you don't need to care about them, just dig them up when they are ripe." ”

A batch of winter wheat is also planted in the nearby farmland, which will mature in the following summer. When the winter wheat is ripe in the next year, corn can be planted, and when the corn is ripe, winter wheat can be planted, so that the farmland that crops once a year becomes two crops a year, which greatly increases grain production.

After the sweet potato and potato harvest here, the land is temporarily empty in the winter, and the next year, two crops of sweet potatoes and potatoes can be planted.

Preparing to unite with Dzungar to attack the Yarkand Khanate, Li Guangdi naturally sent his own students to Dzungaria. Now the envoy returned to Xi'an and reported a series of news.

When the Ming envoys arrived in Dzungaria, there was a rebellion among the Dzungar nobles, the Dzungar Khan monk was killed, and Chuhubu Ubashi and Ozirtu Khan were fighting for the Dzungar Khan. However, after the praying mantis caught the cicada and the yellow finch, Galdan rushed back from Tibet.

Galdan had been in Tibet before and had a close relationship with the Dalai Lama. The Dzungar Mongols believe in Tibetan Buddhism, and sooner or later, Galdan with the support of the Dalai Lama, can ascend to the throne.

"There is civil strife in Dzungaria?" Li Guangdi was stunned when he got the news.

The messenger replied, "My lord, when the students arrived, they were in the midst of a civil war, and the students were almost killed in the chaos. Because the two were vying for the throne, they did not agree to the student's plan to join forces with us to destroy the Yarkand Khanate, but both of them hoped that we would support them. ”

Li Guangdi frowned, thought for a moment, and said slowly: "We don't support either side, before Li came to the northwest, the marshal asked a certain to find a way to support Galdan. It's just that we don't know where Galdan is now. ”

The messenger replied: "Galdan is the sixth son of the old Khan king Batur Huntaiji, and he has been in Tibet. ”

At that time, the news was very ill-informed, and neither Li Guangdi nor his students knew that Galdan had left Tibet and was rushing to Dzungaria to prepare for the seizure of power.

"In Tibet? Then we will send someone to Tibet to find him. But now it is imperative to store enough food and prepare to go to the Yarkand Khanate! Since there is civil strife in Dzungaria, then we can only rely on ourselves! The march of thousands of miles is a long distance, and the pressure on logistics and baggage transportation is very great. Li Guang said.

The messenger asked, "My lord, don't we feed our wars with war?" ”

"The soldiers went out of the Yumen Pass and arrived at the Yarkand Khanate, there are thousands of miles in between, and the Gobi Desert is used along the way. It can be said that there is a long way for us to transport food ourselves. Li Guangdi replied.

Next, Li Guangdi first sent an envoy to Tibet to find Galdan, and at the same time, Li Laiheng and others, with the help of Li Guangdi, intensively prepared for the westward expedition.

Li Laiheng sent people to buy a large number of camels from the Western Regions and prepared to form a camel army. Entering the Gobi Desert to fight, not only war horses, but also camel soldiers are needed. Compared with the cavalry on horseback, the camel soldier had a great advantage, the camel could walk in the desert for days without dying of thirst, while the war horse could not run long in the desert before drinking water. In addition, camels are taller than horses, as if elephant soldiers can restrain cavalry. In addition, the camel's large size and larger load allow camel soldiers to carry different types of weapons, camel soldiers can carry bows and arrows, spears and machetes at the same time, or exchange bows and arrows for muskets, which is a type of troops that can attack from a distance and fight in close combat.

Camel is also the best means of transport for the westward expedition, after leaving the Yumen Pass, there is no straight official road, only the rugged Gobi desert and the soft desert, in those terrain conditions, it is not conducive to vehicle walking, and the efficiency of transporting materials by mules and horses is far less than that of camels.

In addition to the problem of long distances, the western expedition to the Yarkand Khanate, there is also the Mongols of the Heshute tribe in Qinghai, who can enter the Hexi Corridor from the Qinghai Plateau. The Hexi Corridor was an important gateway to the Yarkand Khanate, and if the Mongols of the Shuote tribe were hostile to the camp, they could threaten the transportation lines of the camp at any time.

"Maybe Li should personally go to Xining and talk to the Mongolians about the conditions." Li Guangdi said secretly.