When six armored monsters arrived in Jiayuguan, a group of soldiers approached them out of curiosity.
"Is this a cannon?"
"But why does it look like a car? If I read it correctly just now, it drove here by itself."
"It must be a cannon. Look at the barrel of the cannon. What is it if it's not a cannon?"
Dangdang
A soldier knocked twice with the handle of his knife.
The top cover was opened, and Zhu Zhanqi got out of one of the vehicles, and said with a serious face: "Everyone, stay away. This is the latest tank and combat vehicle. Don't knock it. What does it look like?"
The soldiers retreated one after another. The Second Highness was not as easy to negotiate with as the Fifth Highness. The Fifth Highness would only punish others when he and others made mistakes. The Second Highness might be punished if he got angry.
Zhu Zhanjuan sat on the tank and scolded the soldiers severely. Those who didn't know thought he invented the tank.
He just had some success in training infantry-tank coordination these days, so this time he came by himself in a tank, which was a show of prestige.
Although Zhu Zhancheng has no hope for his second brother, sometimes people are very magical. You think he is not good, but he is really good. The effect of Zhu Zhancheng's training of Butan synergy is really good, which is unexpected.
Good.
The soldiers were naturally very curious about the tanks, but in order to keep it secret, Zhu Gaoxu did not intend to let everyone know the purpose of the tanks.
Zhu Gaoxu counted his troops and prepared to go out early tomorrow morning, but at night he was still very uneasy.
Normally, he would not drink before going on an expedition. He did not need to be brave, and he knew how much he could drink, but recently he brought a small pot of wine to Zhu Zhanxi for a heart-to-heart talk.
Tonight, the moon is bright and the stars are sparse, the two of them are sitting at a small stone table in a small courtyard, with a small pot of wine and some side dishes, having a rare heart-to-heart talk between the uncle and nephew.
"Zhan Zhen, what do you think about tomorrow?"
"It will be auspicious to go on an expedition, and we will win the battle."
"Let's stop chatting in vain. I can talk to you better than that unsatisfactory boy in my family. I'm still worried about tomorrow's expedition."
Zhu Zhanxu poured a glass of wine for Zhu Gaoxu: "Second uncle, are you still worried about the wind and sand?"
"Yeah." Zhu Gaoxu did not deny it, but frowned: "If we touch him again, this battle will be unwinnable."
"Second uncle, it used to be a season with frequent sandstorms, but now there are less sandstorms. Moreover, we have asked many old people to find out that there should be no sandstorms recently."
"Even the people in the Kansai Seven Guards can't be counted accurately. It's normal for our people to be counted inaccurately. The wind and sand are sometimes unpredictable. Do you think there is such a thing as God forbids a fight?"
Zhu Zhanzhen shook his head: "Second uncle, you know I don't believe this."
"Second uncle, since we are about to go on an expedition, why should we worry about these things anymore? People plan things, and God decides to make things happen. If there is such a thing as destiny, I don't believe that the fate of the Ming Dynasty will not be able to defeat the Chagatai Khanate."
"Okay, what you said is good, and do you really not want to go with me on this expedition? Once we win, all the northeastern part of the Chagatai Khanate will belong to our dynasty, which should be regarded as a great achievement."
"There must be someone taking care of the rear for my second uncle."
Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Zhu Zhanzhen with admiration. He finally understood why Zhu Di had to ask Zhu Gaochi to supervise the country. He was really relieved to have such a person who was not greedy for merit.
"You look a lot like your dad."
"Grandpa Huang said the same thing, and dad himself said the same thing."
"Your father is shameless, and your grandpa Huang can see clearly." Zhu Gaoxu can always belittle his elder brother anytime and anywhere.
"I won't say much more. I wish my second uncle a successful start in this battle and come back with a great victory."
"It's rare to hear a lucky word from you."
The second uncle still firmly believed in his plan of a two-pronged expedition, and sent troops to take a detour to Tingzhou overnight. Zhu Zhanjuan was among the team heading to Tingzhou. The Tongzhou team had two tanks and the Turpan team had four tanks.
The army set out. This time, except for the necessary troops left behind, almost the entire army pressed in. If this battle was lost, Zhu Gaoxu would have no shame in going back.
Zhu Zhanzhen stayed behind and also guarded Jiayuguan to avoid enemy sneak attacks.
In the hot summer, the march became difficult. When he reached the previous position, Zhu Gaoxu was still worried, fearing that the evil wind would come again.
The weather was very sultry. Besides the heat, there was not even a hint of wind, not to mention the strong wind and sand.
Standing on a high place, Zhu Gaoxu looked ahead. The road seemed to be curved under the scorching sun, but there was no wind or sand anywhere he could see.
"My lord, this season, there is almost no sandstorm."
"This time God is on our side and has allowed them to survive for so long. It's time to let them know the majesty of my Ming army."
"The entire army is preparing to advance towards Turpan City, with the cavalry advancing."
This place was very close to Turpan City, so Zhu Gaoxu ordered a cavalry team to go first to find out the news.
The cavalry galloped forward, whipping their whips, and arrived at the surroundings of Turpan City as quickly as possible. But before they could do any more inquiring, there was a loud bang.
Cannons were deployed on all the high points around Turpan City. The Chagatai Khanate placed all its defensive power on Verumu and Turpan City, hoping that these two eastern defense lines could block the Ming army for them.
Therefore, they naturally did not sit still and wait for death during this period. They transported most of the domestic artillery and other firearms to the two cities, and also sent the most elite troops to guard them.
At this time, the total number of garrison troops in Turpan and Verumu was no less than 200,000, and if Tingzhou was included, the number was close to 250,000. In terms of numbers alone, it was not far behind the Ming Dynasty's army.
This was undoubtedly a tough battle, but it also meant that as long as the Ming Dynasty won this battle, the Chagatai Khanate would almost lose its power to resist.
When the artillery fire sounded and the horses were frightened, the Turpan garrison had been waiting for a long time. After they got the news of the Ming Dynasty's expedition, they were ready.
The artillery occupied the high ground, and it was obviously unwise to break through the line at this time, so the leading cavalry captain asked people to retreat back to the main force.
He hurriedly went to report to the King of Han: "Your Majesty, all the highlands around Turpan City, even small hills, are tightly guarded by Turpan soldiers. They have a lot of artillery."
Prince Han thought for a moment: "The air force is ready. Today, the sky is blue and the sky is thousands of miles away. The hot air balloon takes off and strikes from the sky."
The army pressed forward and the hot-air balloon took off. Zhu Gaoxu actually ordered people to paint the hot-air balloon with images of local gods and Buddhas. This sense of oppression was extremely strong.
Ten hot-air balloons took off, and Zhu Zhanzhen built a factory in Suzhou. It was not difficult to make hot-air balloons, and they could be made as soon as the materials arrived, so there were a lot of them.
Looking down from a high altitude, the enemy's formation was clear at a glance. Turpan's team was stunned when they saw the hot air balloon. Although they had heard that the Ming army could fly into the sky, when they actually saw people flying into the sky, everyone was still shocked.
It is difficult to suppress the fear in my heart.
"Don't panic, prepare the high-altitude crossbow."
If they had come to Turpan a few months ago, they would have been unable to do anything about hot air balloons, but in the past few months they have made a lot of preparations for the Ming army, including the development of high-altitude crossbows for hot air balloons.
The huge crossbow machine was more than twice the size of the artillery. The people watching the hot air balloons on the top of the mountain stared eagerly.
"Arrow the crossbow." Following the command of the commander, the crossbow was mounted and aimed at the hot air balloon in the sky.
"shoot."
Swish
The huge crossbow arrow shot out of the air and flew towards the nearest hot air balloon. The crossbow arrow passed through the hot air balloon at an extremely fast speed, causing the hot air balloon to lose power and fall down.
boom
The falling hot air balloon exploded hugely. Zhu Gaoxu did not expect that the hot air balloon would be shot down as soon as it met.
"Gao Fei, order to fly high."
In order to hold the hot-air balloon, Zhu Gaoxu asked the commander on the ground to wave the flag and ordered all the hot-air balloons to fly high to avoid the crossbow arrows.
The technology of this kind of crossbow machine is not yet mature, there are only four in Turpan City, and the reloading speed is extremely slow.
"Where are the tanks? The tanks advance, accompanied by infantry, to seize the high ground."
"Artillery fire suppression."
The battle officially started, and Zhu Gaoxu began to take command calmly. His demeanor before the battle was indeed like that of Zhu Di.
"The four tank formations, after being suppressed by artillery fire, went to these ten points to seize the high ground." Zhu Gaoxu clicked on four points on the map, two of which had crossbows. Only by destroying these crossbows could we
Let the high-altitude tactics of hot air balloons continue, otherwise they will lose their ability to strike from the air.