When Sa Zhe'er died at the head of Shazhou City, his brother Ta Ding was standing in front of the gate tower of Liucheng, looking at the plain in the distance. ()
Liucheng, also known as Liuzhong City, is also known as Shanshan. It is more than 600 miles away from Hami, nearly 1,500 miles away from Shazhou, and 2,500 miles away from Ganzhou where Zhu Shou is located. Since ancient times, it has been the northern and southern parts of the Tianshan Mountains.
The east gate of the road has an extremely important strategic position.
For all the Central Plains dynasties in the past, if they wanted to conquer the Western Regions, Liucheng was the first hurdle.
To the east of Liucheng, there was a river in the Ming Dynasty, which was the main road to the Central Plains. History records: "There are many skeletons beside the road. According to legend, there are ghosts. Traveling in the morning and evening and losing lovers often lead to death."
Walking on the official road by the river, the British Duke Zhang Mao smiled at the supervisor Ma Yongcheng and said: "It is rumored that ghosts are everywhere here. I expected it to be a land of dark clouds, but I didn't expect it to be a land of clear skies and great scenery. There is no trace of the ghosts."
gas?"
Ma Yongcheng yawned: "What kind of beautiful scenery can there be in such a remote and remote place? Brother Zimei has accomplished this battle. A hundred years later, a prince will be inevitable. I just pity our family. Since we have left the Holy Land, we have traveled a long way.
For thousands of miles, there is not only wind and sand, but also strong wind and sand. I am afraid that my old bones will be lost in this barbaric land."
The job of supervising the army has always been the responsibility of Admiral Zhang Yong. Regardless of the east, west, north or south, as long as there is war, it is the place where Admiral Zhang reaps military glory. Ma Yongcheng is among the Eight Tigers, oh, he should be among the Seven Tigers now.
He is not the oldest, but he is the oldest in terms of qualifications. What he dislikes the most is going to the battlefield to supervise the army.
However, since Zhu Shou issued the imperial edict, Lao Ma did not dare to disobey him. He and Zhang Mao were old acquaintances. In the first year of Zhengde, the two fought side by side against Liu Jian, Xie Qian and others, and their relationship was very harmonious.
Therefore, the title is more casual. Zimei is Zhang Mao's name. Except for famous eunuchs like Ma Yongcheng, there are not many people in the Ming Dynasty who dare to call Zhang Zimei.
Kings with different surnames in the Ming Dynasty all died miserably. Therefore, returning to the Ming Dynasty to become a prince may be a very tragic thing in reality. Zhang Mao did not want to be crowned a king during his lifetime. As for the posthumous title, it is not
Don't care anymore.
"Your Majesty is not here, but we old ministers all have no backbone," Zhang Mao's flatterer opened his mouth, regardless of whether Zhu Shou was two thousand five hundred miles away.
.”
Ma Yongcheng smiled and said: "Zimei, you brought hundreds of thousands of people with you. Even if each person dropped a shoe, they could flatten that small Liucheng."
Zhang Mao replied worriedly: "The army rations and ordnance cannot be transported. One stone of army rations was still full when we set off from Ganzhou. When we arrived at Hami, we only had four dou, and when we arrived at Liucheng, I was afraid there was only one dou."
Ma Yongcheng understood what he meant. He frowned and whispered: "Now is not the time."
Zhang Mao sighed and said, "That's true."
The two chatted all the way, and after leaving Dachuan, they crossed a vast sea of sand and saw a flaming red mountain in the distance. A large city about two or three miles wide stood at the foot of the mountain.
The city is surrounded by fields, surrounded by running water, and lush trees, giving it a beautiful scenery of the south of the Yangtze River outside the Great Wall.
"Is this Liucheng?" Ma Yongcheng opened his eyes wide and looked at the beautiful scenery in front of him.
"It's Liucheng," Zhang Mao said with a smile. "It's a good place to grow wheat, beans, hemp, peaches, plums, jujubes, and melons. According to the Records of the Western Regions, it's also a great place to grow grapes and cotton.
Fine wine and cloth are both goods that travel through the Western Regions."
"History of the Western Regions" is a very important classic in the Yongle period. Most of what later generations know about the Western Regions in the Ming Dynasty comes from this book.
While the two were chatting, they saw a group of veiled women in a small village dozens of feet away. They were driven to one place by the Ming army's vanguard and driven into a large room. Dozens of strong men and women
The Ming army, led by a hundred households, walked in. After a while, there was a sound of yin and yang.
When Ma Yongcheng saw this, he was furious and said: "These little bastards, do you think my military law is not strict enough?"
Zhang Mao quickly advised: "This is the intention of the Holy One."
Ma Yongcheng said in astonishment: "Your Majesty?"
Zhu Shou's words have the highest deterrent power for Lao Ma. Military law, human ethics, and morality are all not as effective as Zhu Shou's words.
At this time, a handsome young general with a face as red as a jujube rode up to the two of them. He dismounted and bowed his hands in salute: "Former Army General Huang Yuan has seen two adults. The last general's four thousand men have arrived in Liucheng."
We will camp three miles outside the east gate on the east side of the river. I hope you will tell me where to go."
He was originally the sixth-rank chief of the Qing Li Department of the Ministry of War. He was a mid-level civil servant and logically had a bright future. But who made Zhu Shou like military generals? So Mr. Huang immediately joined the army without hanging around in the civil service group for a few months.
, joined the Western Expedition and became a general.
Ma Yongcheng and Huang Yuan, a young man, knew each other well and knew that the other person was Zhu Shou's confidant. In the Western Expedition Army, his status was only lower than that of Qian Zhu and Song Jixian. Together with another former army guerrilla Ji Gongxun, he was the Ming Dynasty guerrilla.
The two most famous people in the second phase of the martial arts academy.
"What's going on with him?" Zhang Mao is known as the Iron Turtle. He does not seek victory in everything, but calculates defeat first and understands the enemy's every move. This is his fundamental starting point.
"There is no movement in the city!" A loud voice came from the three of them. A young general, with a group of soldiers, came galloping through the wind and sand, and said loudly from a distance, "He is only guarding the city.
, even the houses outside the city have been demolished, and except for these remote small villages in front of us, there are no good people left for us."
This young man has a yellowish complexion, a high nose bridge, and a pair of piercing eyes. He looks quite heroic. However, his eyebrows are very thin, in the shape of an inverted figure, and his lips are also very thin. When they are closed, they look pale.
Se's lips were biting together, forming a deep groove. It was the official Ji who had not seen him for a long time.
After he became famous in the battle of Wuli Village, he was given a second-class background by Zhu Shou. His official position was the commander of the Andong Zhongtun Guards, the Commander of the Zhenfu Division, and the current position was as a former guerrilla army, specializing in military intelligence investigation.
Ji Gongxun and Huang Yuan had quite a romantic relationship. Both of them were halfway through the martial arts academy, but Huang Shenjiang was born in Wenju. Ji Youyi was just a small side soldier, so they looked at each other.
It's common for it to be unpleasant to the eyes.
Huang Yuan laughed when he heard this and said, "Weren't the ones who just dragged dozens of good women from Liucheng into that house the brothers of Ji Youyi?"
Ji Gongxun ignored the opponent's language trap, raised his hands to the east, and said loudly: "Before the expedition, the Holy Spirit instructed the general to take the Han and Mongolian families as the most important task. Attacking the city is a small matter, attacking the heart is a big matter; looting the land
It is easy, but it is difficult to win the hearts of the people! The words of the Holy Emperor are like the "Quotations of the Holy Emperor". The general will read it all the time and memorize it, unlike some people who camp by the river and actually avoid the old villages of the Turpan people. It's really
Do you think you are Yue Wumu of Qiu Wufang?"
Huang Yuan said sarcastically without showing any signs of weakness: "How can you be considered a hero if you bully ignorant women and children?"
Ji Gongxun was a border soldier, and his understanding of shame was naturally different from that of a guy like Huang Yuan who was full of poetry. Hearing this, he said proudly: "On his way to the west, the last general has brought together more than 700 pairs of Han men and Meng women.
.Regardless of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, if we all have boys and girls, aren’t they the Han-Mongolian family that the Holy One said?”
Huang Yuan almost spit out a mouthful of blood because of the shamelessness of the Discipline Inspector, and replied angrily: "Tens of thousands of women and children died to make more than 700 couples. What a matchmaker!"
Ji Gongxun spat, ignored him, jumped off his horse, gave a big salute to Zhang Mao and Ma Yongcheng, and then said: "I have found out that there are three thousand households in Liucheng. He only has a few soldiers under him, not
Even if he reaches 30,000, he is not a strong general. However, he is only known as the first general in Turpan and is very good at defending the city. If our army wants to capture Liucheng and directly take Turpan, I am afraid we cannot use ants to surround it.
Technique."
The ants are surrounded by a sea of people, which is a common siege tactic of the Ming army. The bloody martial spirit left by Chong Bage and Zhu Laosi has been exhausted by Zhu Shou's generation. It is really necessary to fight against the soil one-on-one.
When Lu Fan and other Mongolian races fight against each other, they are probably not the combined enemies of each other.
However, what the Ming Dynasty had most was not money, but population. Instead of relying on the tactics of a sea of people, could it still rely on horses and strong bows?
"What are your suggestions?" Zhang Mao is the military commander-in-chief of the Western Expeditionary Army. As long as he does not conflict with the military strategy set by Zhu Shou, he has the highest decision-making power on other matters.
"Surround three buildings," Ji Gongxun replied respectfully. He dared to confront Huang Yuan, but did not dare to be rude to Zhang Mao. "The Holy One's intention is to protect the people of Turpan. Massacre of the city will be of no benefit.
"
If you want to attack the city without a heavy reward, it won't work. Mansu'er's three days of military discipline after the war are a kind of reward. The ugliness of human nature will be displayed vividly during these three days.
.
The plan proposed by Ji Gongxun to surround Sanque Yi was to give the people in the city a way to live. As long as he is not the kind of crazy guy who "eats up the whole city", then most of the people in Liucheng, no matter what ethnic group they are
, there can be a way out.
Huang Yuan sneered and said: "If you don't massacre the city, you won't be able to establish your authority! The countries in the Western Regions are like wolves. They must be massacred in one battle in order to deter the wolves and show the might of our Chinese army!"
The shameless guy who killed thousands of women and children in broad daylight and encouraged his subordinates to commit adultery actually opposed the massacre of the city; and the young general who had strict military discipline and did not commit any crimes against the uninhabited villages of the Turpan people actually approved of it.
Massacre of the city. This sharp contrast made the two leading men a little confused.
A few miles away, in front of his eyes was a bare and flat field. Tens of thousands of Ming army's vanguard soldiers were walking slowly through the barren fields toward the city.
With their neat military appearance, distinctive weapons and high-spirited faces, against the blue sky and white clouds, the Ming army's military formation looked very solemn and solemn.
There was a low sound of drums, and the military formation separated from the middle. More than a hundred cavalry rushed out from inside and ran towards the bottom of the city wall.
"Da Ming?" He just touched his beard, smiled, and whispered, "Da Ming!"
"The Emperor of Heaven has a decree!" The cavalrymen ran to the city gate without any weapons. The leader, a man in green robes, shouted loudly in a tone that was neither male nor female, "The fireman is only a dick, kneel down."
Heed your orders!"
"Damn eunuch!"
He just narrowed his eyes, took a long bow from the bodyguard beside him, nocked the string and set an arrow without aiming. He loosened his fingers and the long arrow flew away.
With a scream, the green-robed eunuch held his chest and exposed an arrow tail, fell off his horse, and died on the spot.
"Fight for Allah!" He raised his left hand and shouted loudly, his voice powerful and solemn. (To be continued...)