Chen Dexing set off from Tanggu on the same day that he began his western tour. Zhu Sijiu's army was crossing the river, crossing the Amu Darya River.

In the southwest of Buhuara, the ferry port called Amu is the place where the army crosses the river. Several pontoon bridges have already been erected over the wide river. A few long earthy dragons, from the northeast of the Buhua, rolled across the pontoon bridge, all the way to the southwest. Infantry, cavalry, baggage soldiers, eight pack-drawn cannons, and disarmed Mongols in leather robes followed the pack carts.

Zhu Sijiu has not been idle in the past few months, and the north of the Amu Darya, including Bukhwarat, Samarkan, Khorezm Oasis, Nabushahei and other places, have all been captured by his western expeditionary army.

Now, the Oases of Bukhara, Samarkand, and Khorezm were all guarded by the army under the command of Yan Zhongji. Liu Quanze remained in the Ferghana Basin.

Zhu Sijiu and Guo Kan led the rest of the army, including Guo Kan's silver armor division, Zhu Sijiu's musket division, as well as three infantry divisions and three cavalry divisions of the Ming army, as well as the Mongols assigned to Zhu Sijiu and Guo Kan (or maybe someone else, in short, they were all yellow faces), and there were still more than 150,000 men. Mighty, all the way in!

After crossing the Amu Darya, it is Persia in the geographical sense. Of course, the Persian state did not have it. Sassanid Persia, the second Persian empire in history, fell more than 600 years ago. Persia became the land ruled by the Celestial Caliphate, and as the Caliph gradually lost its secular power. Persia was ruled by many Sultans or Emir dynasties, and the last Celestial dynasty to rule Persia was Khorezm, which rose from the two rivers. And the rise of this country was short-lived, because they encountered the greatest ...... in human history Oh. Now Genghis Khan, the second great conqueror. In just four years after Khorezm defeated the Gur dynasty and occupied Persia, a Mongol army of 100,000 swept in. Crushed this great emerging empire to pieces.

More than thirty years after Genghis Khan crushed the Khorezm Empire, another Mongol army invaded Persia from the valley of the two rivers. This time they swept all the way to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean! Subsequently, the Ilkhanate rose to prominence in Persia and ate the homeland.

But no one could have imagined that more than ten years after the rise of the Ilkhanate! A new conqueror has come from the East again!

After the army crossed the Amu Darya, it was time for the troops to rest, and it was also time for dinner. Of course, the food of the Ming army's western expeditionary army was relatively difficult, and the current Western Regions were barren, even if it was a prosperous city in the past, such as Huara and Samarkan, the current population is not one in ten. If you put it in Jiangnan or Tianzhu, it is a bigger town.

The food that the army came from on the march was basically roasted beef with potatoes and mutton with potatoes -- a large amount of land and a little bit of meat, which made the troops cry bitterly. Zhu Sijiu circled around the troops with his hands behind his back. Each company formed its own food unit, and ate there in a field pot and stove. He was well-known in the Western Army, but he led a large army all the way from Shaanxi. Now it's time to take everyone to conquer Persia! is such a general who should be high, but when he leads the troops on the march, he can still share the joys and sorrows with the subordinates, and he will not eat. He's so handsome that he doesn't eat. If he doesn't sleep, he, the general general, won't sleep. He is still full of celebrity style. His chief of staff is also a Huaishang boy, a graduate of the military academy in the early years, and Zhang Xizai and Zhang Jiu are considered to be in the first period. After graduation, he has been following Zhu Sijiu. Now he is the honor of the lieutenant general, and he has also been named Hou. The "old gentleman" who was at the same time as him is now enjoying more than half of them. But he is now following Zhu Sijiu. I only gritted my teeth and held on.

The two of them took a turn to look at the veterans of the army who had already had the title of "sergeant" or even higher. Around a pot of potatoes roasted beef with only salt and some unknown wild vegetables, although the face is sad. But he still stuffed it into his mouth in a big gulp. Zhu Sijiu smiled with satisfaction: "Okay, if you have to suffer hard, you will become a master!" Our troops have been fighting for so many years, all the way from Shaanxi to here, in terms of merit, we want to recognize the second, and does anyone dare to recognize the first? Now the advance into Persia is the last battle, and when we have defeated Persia and that Asia Minor, our great work will be completed, and we will be able to enjoy happiness in the future. ”

Xu Ting's age is similar to Zhu Sijiu, a man in his thirties, and his years of military career have polished him black and rough. It looks like an extremely solid soldier. Tens of thousands of miles of battle, climbing ice and snow, and not being afraid of wind and frost is an extremely difficult errand. It's not something that a powerless scholar can do. Therefore, the staff officers in the Western Army are all as rough as Xu Ting. However, the military education skills of the people are not bad, not only went to the military academy with the battalion, but also went to the staff academy of the army military academy. Serious professional background, the rules and regulations in the army, I have memorized all kinds of rules and regulations. Naturally, he knew that Zhu Sijiu's actions this time had crossed the red line.

"Marshal, Abaha's capital has been lost in the previous war, and now the army marching west into Persia is just a walking march, and there will be no fierce battle in the future. It's just that the court is there, and the saints are there...... There's always a lack of explanation! In case a villain slanders the saint, you can ...... "He is Zhu Sijiu's confidant, but he has reservations about Zhu Sijiu's westward expedition." It's just that the coach is determined, and he can only do his best to assist. However, the battle has been fought so far, and it is considered that the merits have been completed, and the political matter should be carefully considered.

Zhu Sijiu was silent for a long time, and said in a low voice: "Until now, I won't hide it from you." If I just want to get a piece of territory in Persia this time, I really don't need to. This one...... It's not non-negotiable. But my ambition is not limited to Persia, but to sweep away the remnants of Mongolia and eliminate all the thieves who have offended my China! Everyone in the world knows that those who clearly offend China will be punished even if they are far away! ”

He said this beautifully, but Xu Ting knew that with the 100,000 troops here at the moment, he couldn't do this at all. In other words, the eradication of Kublai Khan's Mongol-Europa Empire is no longer the mission of their generation.

Those who clearly offend China will be punished even if they are far away!

The words are good, but Kublai Khan really ran a little far this time. It's all on to Europa! And Kublai Khan still has some strength in his hands. There are at least 200,000 people who can fight, and their tactics and equipment are not outdated. Cannons and muskets and everything. What Roman fire is there besides H-drug weapons!

Such a great country cannot be destroyed by an expedition at all. And. The destruction of the country is only the beginning. What to do after the destruction of the Mongol-Europa Empire? Let who rule there? How many troops have fought in the Amu Darya River now? And how many Han Chinese are among them? Even if these Han people all follow Zhu Sijiu and don't go back to Chen Dexing, how much territory can they rule? How is it possible to control the vast lands of Persia, the Great Eclipse, Asia Minor, all the way to the Atlantic coast of Europa?

Domination is always more complicated than conquest! Without effective rule, conquest is likely to be short-lived.

In order to establish effective rule, it is necessary to have a considerable number of its own population, and it is necessary to straighten out the relationship between the ruling nation and the ruled nation according to the actual situation, and to devise a practical method of dealing with the ruled nation - or assimilation. Either to destroy, or to oppress, or to co-opt, or to divide and conquer...... In short, it is a very painstaking and painstaking thing.

At least half of the reason for Chen Dexing's westward tour this time was to see how the countries conquered by China were governed?

……

Outside the port of Xianglin in the South Tang Dynasty.

This port city is located in the middle of the coastline of the Indochina Peninsula facing the South China Sea. It is about the location of Da Nang, Vietnam, in another time and space.

This place once belonged to the Han Dynasty of China and was the jurisdiction of Xianglin County in Rinan County, Jiaozhou. During the reign of Emperor Shun of the Han Dynasty, the local Cham people took advantage of the weakness of the Eastern Han Dynasty to launch a rebellion and kill the county commander. The base is independent. The Han Dynasty's Jiaozhou assassin Shi Fan Yan mobilized troops to conquer but encountered a mutiny, resulting in failure. Emperor Shun of Han wanted to send 40,000 troops from Jingzhou, Yangzhou, Yanzhou, and Yuzhou to the expedition, but was dissuaded by the minister Li Gu. Since then, the area has become independent from China and was initially known as the Kingdom of Linyi. Later, it was also known as the Champa State.

Neither Limyi nor Champa are officially named, and the official name of the country is "Champa Nadra". Just by looking at the name, you can see that this country is a country with Brahmanism as the state religion - the land of the Han family in the past. Later, he not only became politically independent, but also achieved a complete "detachment" from Han in culture. Become part of the Indian civilization!

However, when Tran Duc Heng's ship "Shenzhou" sailed into Da Nang, there were all traces of Brahmanism. All have disappeared from the thriving port city.

Built in a natural bay, this port is at the heart of the so-called Maritime Silk Road and has been a thriving commercial port for centuries. In the hilly area outside the port, Chinese-style buildings are densely arranged. Occasionally, there are several Taoist temples of the Heavenly Taoist Sect dotted around. In the port area, there is also a very magnificent Chinese-style yamen, and there are two tall flagpoles erected outside the yamen, on which the flags of the Ming Dynasty and the Southern Tang Dynasty are hung.

Above the port wharf, there are cargo warehouses everywhere. Shirtless on the top and shorts on the bottom, the small, black indigenous dock workers are shuttling back and forth carrying large and small bags of goods.

The sea is full of merchant ships of all kinds. There are all kinds of specifications. The warships of the Ming Nanyang Fleet with towering masts, the large fortune ships from the Ming Dynasty, the flat-bottomed wooden ships of the Annan Kingdom, and some narrow and long wooden ships with spinnakers -- this is a new type of merchant ship that has absorbed the advantages of the Arabian dhow, and it is more and more common on today's Nanyang routes.

The coastal defense fortress used to defend against foreign invasion stands on a peninsula jutting out of the ocean, with flags fluttering on the tall stone city wall, and a 3-inch cannon erected at the mouth of the city wall. The fort is not yet fully built, and several of the sites that are still under construction are busy with indigenous coolies carrying earthwork and stones.

The entire Xianglin Port has completely become a "Chinese port" at this time, and there is not much difference from Leizhou Port and Guangzhou Port.

The Shenzhou and the huge fleet of ships accompanying it had formed two columns, and under the guidance of two small galleys, they slowly crossed the channel and sailed towards the naval port where the Nanyang Fleet was located - next to the coastal defense fortress, which did not belong to the Southern Tang Dynasty, but belonged to the Ming Navy.

Chen Dexing stood in front of the window of his cabin, crossed his arms and looked at all this in front of him.

It doesn't matter what happens to the entire Southern Tang Dynasty, but this Xianglin Port seems to be completely integrated into China. Obviously, the Southern Tang Dynasty Mansion and the Heavenly Dao Sect Tang Guoda Sect still did something.

Seeing Chen Dexing's satisfied expression, Li Yanguo, the king of the Southern Tang Dynasty, breathed a long sigh. The king was embarkated in the port of Leizhou—the king who owned the port where Chen Dexing's fleet was to dock, and the king who owned the port had to meet him at the first stop where Chen Dexing arrived, and then board the ship and accompany him until Chen Dexing left his country.

"Nanshan," Chen Dexing called Li Yanguo's name, and nodded with a smile, "Not bad!" This Xianglin Port is the land of China. I don't know what the situation is elsewhere? ”

"Returning to the sage, Xiao Wang's capital Xinluo is also like a forest, and it is already the land of China."

Li Yanguo replied with a smile. Silla is the eastern capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty (Angkor in the west), just north of the port of Xiang Lam, which is about where Hue was located in later generations. Unlike Xianglin Port, which had long been a large commercial port of the Champa Kingdom, Xinluo was a new city that was built by Li Yanguo after conquering the Champong City. The city was large, with a circumference of forty li, and included a magnificent palace, but it has not yet been fully built.

"And what about Xinluo and Elephant Forest?" Chen Dexing asked with a smile. "Everything is the same?"

Li Yanguo smiled a little embarrassedly: "Sage, although Xiao Wang's Tang Kingdom is small, it also has a radius of thousands of miles and three or four million people, while the Han people are less than 300,000. Moreover, they are all concentrated in four places: Sinna, Xiang Lam, Angkor and Shui Chenla (referring to the area around Ho Chi Minh City in later generations, which was also an important commercial port). As for the rest of the place, it was mostly a miasma land, which was not suitable for the Han people to live in, so Xiao Wang appointed Tusi to make it self-governing ......"

"It's not easy!" Chen Dexing still smiled and nodded, "First the city and then the wilderness, from the point to the face...... This has been the case throughout the dynasties. As for dysentery, there are some ways to do it now. The Mingzhou Presidential Office reported that a tree that could cure dysentery had been found in Nanmingzhou, and that people from the Meito University School of Medicine and the College of Agriculture had been sent to it, thinking that medicine would be available in a few years. In addition, deforestation is also a method. As long as the place is reclaimed, there will naturally be less miasma. In the past, Guangdong and Fujian were also a place of miasma, but now it is much better? (To be continued.) )