Beijing, Daming Palace, Zichen Hall Conference Hall.

The full Ming civil and military forces sat solemnly, looking at the Ming sage Chen Dexing in a daze. And Chen Dexing sat on the throne at the top of the conference table with his arms crossed, squinting his eyes and not knowing what he was thinking.

Outside the window, the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming in spring, and the sun is shining in. When I arrived in this conference room, under this gloomy atmosphere, it became a little cold and damp.

Zhu Sijiu's actions have crossed the red line - although compared with the provisions of the "Daming Army Regulations", his approach is reckless at best...... If you lose, you are reckless, and if you win, you are like a god!

But what's actually going on, there are a lot of people in this room. Zhu Sijiu is using the army of the Ming Dynasty to fight his own territory! And it hasn't been allowed by Chen Dexing! This is not the same thing as Chen Huaiqing and Chen Defang's behavior in Tianzhu. The latter's army is its own, and its military expenses are all borrowed, and it is natural to use its own soldiers and its own wealth to fight its own territory.

And Zhu Sijiu's behavior is enough to rebel!

But Chen Dexing and the Ming court had nothing to do with this traitor for a while. Monk Liu has only arrived in Hami now, he is almost sixty years old, and he has been staying in Liangjing all these years, and he is used to being pampered, and he can no longer bear hardship. Chen Dexing is not good at urging strictly, in case this old man is really tired and dies outside, it will seem that he is too ruthless.

And even if Monk Liu now plugs in his wings and rushes to Daqing County, there is nothing he can do. Zhu Sijiu had already pulled away the main force of the Western Expeditionary Army. Each infantry division left a brigade to guard the home. How could Monk Liu use this little force to pursue Zhu Sijiu? Do you want Ili Mansion anymore? What if the Sea of the Golden Horde came from the west? Although Zhu Sijiu has a second heart, Ili Mansion is indeed doing well. If the Ili Mansion is lost, the Ming Dynasty will not have a reliable foothold in the Western Regions.

Chen Dexing didn't say a word, and in the conference room, the air pressure was getting lower and lower. Secretary of the Army Land Rover sat there. I just felt that the afterglow from the corner of Prime Minister Ren Yijiang's eyes kept coming over, and this afterglow seemed to be full of schadenfreude - the army poked out such a big basket. In the future, we will have to strictly control it!

Land Rover stood up suddenly, "Sage, the last general is willing to lead troops to quell the rebellion!" Give two divisions to a certain family, keep and catch Zhu Sijiu's kid for you! ”

Lu Fei, the Shangshu of the Army General Staff, shook his head: "Two divisions? How many divisions does the army have in the Western Regions? Can you draw that many soldiers? Now the Tianshan Province is not peaceful, and Wusizang also needs to be cleaned up...... If you want to transfer troops from the Central Plains, it would be good to be able to arrive this winter. If you want to send troops, you have to send troops next spring, and by then Zhu Sijiu will have already taken Persia! ”

The Ming Empire has swelled so much that it is so big that it is unresponsive! If the empire wanted to send two infantry divisions to the northwest border, it would be a dispatch of 8,000 to 10,000 li, and a large amount of grain and grass would need to be prepared to transport it over. There is no month that cannot set off at all, and with a large number of troops with a large number of baggage, it is fast to be able to travel fifty miles a day. Isn't it more than 200 days to travel thousands of miles? When the army arrived, it was a cold winter month, and the winter at the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains in the Western Regions was not easy. It was impossible for the past armies of the Han region in the Central Plains to fight in winter, so they could only wait patiently until the spring blossomed.

Land Rover stamped his feet, "What then?" Did you watch him become king of Persia? ”

Before his words fell, Chen Dexing's cold voice had already sounded.

"The king of Persia cannot give it to him! If he wants to, he should tell me that he can only take it if I agree, and if I don't agree, he can't take it! ”

Chen Dexing paused, and said word by word: "The north of the Huzhang River, including the Fergana Basin, is directly under the jurisdiction of the Governor of the Western Regions of the Ming Dynasty. Amu Darya and Persia were given to Yan Zhongji, Liu Quan and Guo Kan, how to divide them. They negotiated it themselves. As for Zhu Sijiu...... I will make him the king of the Qing Dynasty! Tell him to go west of Persia and establish a state! ”

This is actually a clear reward and a secret punishment, the king was sealed but there was no fief, and Zhu Sijiu was asked to go west of Persia to take it for himself...... When Zhu Sijiu reached Persia, Chen Dexing would be able to send people by sea to seize his military power. Having lost control of the six divisions of the Western Army (three infantry divisions and three cavalry divisions), what did Zhu Sijiu do to "take for himself" a country? Rely on his little Doorman Scouts? What territory can these people help Zhu Sijiu take? Without the territory, Zhu Sijiu's group would not be able to sustain itself. Without the doorman and the Scout, Zhu Sijiu is just a tiger without minions, and it will not be difficult to catch him again.

"Land Rover!" Chen Dexing turned his head to look at the War Department's Shangshu Land Rover, "This time you go to Persia and go by sea!" ”

The Land Rover bowed. took the errand, and then he asked: "If you can catch Zhu Sijiu, do you want to ......?"

"Arrest ......" Chen Dexing certainly wants to arrest him, but Zhu Sijiu has a doorman, a boy scout, and has been in charge of the army for many years, so he has always had prestige in the army, so how easy is it to talk about him? If it was in the Central Plains, it would be easy to do, but if it was done in Persia, it would force him to defect to Kublai Khan.

"You don't have to arrest him now," Chen Dexing waved his hand, "Zhu Sijiu has come this far, he won't fail to plan for the worst, so it's hard for you to hold him." Maybe you won't even see him. If you really force him to Kublai Khan's side, it will be even more ugly. Moreover, he has led the Western Expeditionary Army for too long, and it is inevitable that there will be some ...... of party henchmen."

Listening to Chen Dexing's words, Land Rover also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. It is definitely not easy to go to Persia to arrest Zhu Sijiu, and he said this to win Chen Dexing's trust. Moreover, listening to Chen Dexing's words, it seems that he wants to cover up this matter. Let outsiders not know that there was a rebellion within the Ming army...... The advantage of this is that it is easier to step down, if Zhu Sijiu is defined as a traitor and he cannot be caught, it will be too shameless. If you are not careful, it will really cause a rebellion in the Western Army, and it will be difficult to clean up.

Therefore, for this "traitor" who is thousands of miles away, we can only seize his military power first, and then apply a light punishment to reassure him, and then find an opportunity to arrest him in the future. Chen Dexing felt that as long as Zhu Sijiu did not have the Western Expeditionary Army, there would always be a chance to settle accounts after the autumn in the future. The most important thing at the moment is to separate him from the Western Expeditionary Army.

"Land Rover, you hand over the War Department to Lu Fei as the manager, and let Wang Hu act as the secretary of the Army Staff." Chen Dexing instructed again, "You can't go to Persia empty-handed, bring the Fourth Infantry Division and the First Cavalry Division with you." Then set up a big food army, and you will be the general of the army. In addition to the 4th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division, one more infantry division and one cavalry division were transferred from the Western Army. The rest of the Western Army headquarters will return to the Ili River and be under the command of the monks. ”

Chen Dexing thought for a while, and then said: "In addition, set up another big food governor's mansion." The Governor's Office was responsible for the military, political and foreign affairs of the Ming Dynasty in Dashi and North Africa. Let Zhang Shijie be the governor. ”

After listening to Chen Dexing's last words, everyone here knew that Chen Dexing was already making amends. Previously, in order to facilitate the command of the former enemy commander. Chen Dexing adopted the method of integrating the military and the government.

For example, Zhu Sijiu was the general of the Western Army and the governor of the military and political affairs west of the Tianshan Mountains. The military and political power is in his hands! Only then did he be able to hide from his superiors and organize this expedition. If he did not have political power, there would be no way to mobilize the material and manpower of the four counties under the Ili Prefecture, and it would be difficult for this expedition to succeed.

And now, at the same time that Land Rover is serving as the general of the Great Food Army, Chen Dexing has appointed Zhang Shijie, a general with older qualifications and who has semi-retired, to be the governor. The purpose is obviously to let Land Rover and Zhang Shijie contain each other.

……

When Chen Dexing and the Minister of Civil Affairs and Military Affairs discussed how to rectify Zhu Sijiu, Zhu Sijiu did not seem to realize the seriousness of the problem at all. At this time, he had already strayed to a high slope on the north bank of the Kuzhang River, surrounded by generals and doormen. He was staring at the hot construction site below the high slope - a construction site located on the battlefield.

On the banks of the Kuzhang River, at least six musket regiments and three artillery regiments have already formed battle formations. More than 10,000 muskets and 72 cannons were placed on the banks of the Kuzhang River. If the Mongols in the south of the Huzhang River want to cross the river to fight. I'm afraid that immediately it will be drowned by bullets and shells.

Behind the musketeers and artillerymen, there were twelve pikemen, already in phalanx, ready for hand-to-hand combat.

In front of such a lineup, the Mongols in Huzhang Henan simply became a shrunken turtle. Not to mention the decisive battle of the river, even the head that came out from behind the breastwork was trembling.

The Mongols did not dare to move, and Zhu Sijiu's Western Expeditionary Army was naturally able to build cities, farm land, and build houses with peace of mind.

"What are they doing?"

Above the castle tower of Tongtian Pass. Timur, a busy brother, was holding a telescope to observe the movements of the Ming army on the other side of the Kuzhang River.

"Digging trenches and building forts." Wanhu Mazartai replied.

"Not these people, over there. What are those people doing over there? ”

"It's like ...... Farming? ”

"It's farming!" Busy brother Timur put down the telescope and frowned, "How many months has it been now?" ”

"Today is the Hijri main motor. The fourth day of the month of Aowailu (equivalent to the fifth month of the Julian calendar) ......"

"The farming time has passed, what kind of land are you still planting?"

It's a bit late to plant spring wheat in May (Julian calendar), but it's not too late to plant potatoes. The ripening period of potatoes is relatively short, more than 100 days, which is about the same. Sow in April (Taiyi calendar) and harvest in August. And the yield of potatoes is not low. One harvest season can make Zhu Sijiu's army eat for several months!

"I don't know," Mazartai shook his head, "how do we Mongolians understand the matter of farming?" ”

"That's right." Busy brother Timur nodded, let alone farming. Even if he and Mazartai are grazing, they can't figure it out, they are the grandsons of Batu, nobles raised for generations, where they still understand agricultural and animal husbandry production?

Mazartai thought for a moment and then said, "King Khan, they are building houses and farming, so they want to live here for a long time?" ”

Long stay? The face of the busy brother Timur suddenly became ugly. He originally planned to hold on to the danger to delay time and find a way to exhaust the Ming army's rations. But now, the Ming army is building houses and farming on the other side of the Huzhang River, looking like they want to live for a long time. If the other party is not playing tricks, then it will be a big trouble.

Timur, a busy brother, muttered to himself: "It's okay for them to build a city on the north bank of the Kuzhang River, but if they build another village to the west of Tongtian Pass, they will block us in the valley......

Timur's army is now in the Ferghana Basin. If Zhu Sijiu built a city in Huzhang, Hebei and Tongtian Guanxi. Then it is equivalent to sealing the busy brother Timur in the Ferghana Basin. Although there are some mountain paths that lead out of the valley, those are not suitable for large armies. In winter, it is basically blocked by heavy snow.

At that time, Timur, the busy brother, could only sit in the valley, and he didn't know what was going on outside.

"King Khan, we can't be sealed in the valley by them." Mazartai reminded him, "There are only a million people in the valley today......

There are now more than 2 million people living in the two river basins – not endangered, but definitely rare. And only one million of these rare human beings were brought to the Ferghana Basin by Timur, and the remaining more than one million are outside the basin.

If the Ming army sealed the basin, it would give people outside the basin the impression that Timur, a busy brother, had been defeated and hid in the mountains and did not dare to come out!

And the Mongols must be unpopular in the place of Lianghe, before the Mongols came, the Lianghe Valley was also a rich land in the world. There are always 20 or 30 million people. But what's left here? The Mongols killed so many people in the valley of the two rivers that almost every survivor was an enemy of the Mongols. Perhaps in a few generations, this hatred will be slowly forgotten, but not now.

If the Mongols were defeated by the Ming army, they would gladly submit to their new masters...... Even if the busy brother Timur believes in Tianfangjiao, and the Ming army believes in Tiandao!

And once the people of the two rivers outside the basin voted for the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty will be able to establish its rule smoothly, and how long will the busy brother Timur be trapped in the basin?

"It really can't be sealed in the valley...... "Busy brother Timur looked at the Ming army on the other side of the Huzhang River again, and shook his head, "I can't cross the river!" ”

The river can be crossed, the pontoon bridge erected on the Kuzhang River is still there, and the Mongols have a bridgehead on the other side of the Kuzhang River. But what to do when crossing the river? Looking for a beating? Which of the Ming army's muskets, cannons, and pikes on the other side of the river was easy to deal with?

"You don't have to cross the river." Mazartai pointed to the open flat land west of Tongtian Pass, "If they want to seal our way out, they must also build another city in the west of Tongtian Pass." It is better to strike at that time, or you can attack halfway, or you can attack the enemy camp at night. ”

"Let's attack halfway!" Busy brother Timur thought for a while, nodded and said, "If they want to build a city in the south of the Huzhang River, they will inevitably divide their troops to cross the river, and they will definitely not be under the Tongtian Pass, but they will not leave too far." We can send scout horses and rangers to search carefully along the Kuzhang River, but if we find something, we will report it immediately. When the time comes, I will lead a large army to attack, go straight to the ferry, and take him by surprise! (To be continued.) )