Spring of 1665 AD, Samarkand.
This ancient city built on a fertile oasis in Central Asia has a history of more than 2,000 years and was founded in the fifth century BC. When Alexander the Great of the Macedonian Empire occupied this place in the fourth century BC, he was amazed by its magnificence. In the next 1,700 years, Samarkand was the most prosperous and wealthy city in Central Asia. It was not until the arrival of Genghis Khan's army that the city suffered a disaster!
More than a hundred years after the Mongol Empire destroyed Samarkand, Emperor Timur, who claimed to be from the Mongolian Beggar tribe and the same clan as Genghis Khan, spent countless financial and material resources to rebuild the city of Samarkand, and built a There are countless exquisite buildings left in the city that can be passed down from generation to generation, making the city full of vitality again.
It is a pity that the empire left by Timur the Great did not stand on the land of Central Asia for as long as the rebuilt Samarkand. After the death of the great emperor, his empire began to decline due to constant civil strife, which spread to his grandson Abu Said (this grandson did not succeed peacefully, but after a group of conflicts that occurred among Timur's sons and grandsons. (who won the civil war and seized the throne) was completely defeated by the Aries Dynasty of the Turkmen, and the empire fell apart. By 1500, the newly emerged Uzbek Khanate sounded the death knell for the surviving Timur Empire, and successively occupied Bukharin and Samarkand. In 1501, the Timur Empire's rule in the river came to an end. Six years later, the remnants of the Timurid Empire in Khorasan were also eliminated by the Uzbek Khanate.
However, the Timurid dynasty did not completely perish due to the Uzbek attack. After losing his homeland, Abu Said's grandson Babur went south to Afghanistan and Tianzhu to start a business, and actually opened up a Timurid dynasty in Tianzhu, which is the so-called Mughal Empire.
And the kings of the Timur Dynasty of Tianzhu did not forget their homeland in the north just because of Tianzhu's wealth and warmth. At least before the decline of the Timur Dynasty of Tianzhu, the emperors (emirs) of all dynasties had a dream in mind to regain their old capital. , the dream of reviving Timurid’s empire.
This dream has finally come true in the hands of Aurangzeb!
And what helped him realize this dream was the great emperor of the Eastern Celestial Dynasty who supported him to act as a shield for the Jungar Kingdom in the West!
Aurangzeb, who liked to overestimate himself, suffered heavy losses from nomadic cavalry in his early years, so he still maintained enough sobriety and humility when attacking the Bukhara Khanate.
A full 10 million rupees of silver coins were sent to the army of King Sengge in Jungar by thousands of camels. The piles of silver won the favor and commitment of King Sengge. Tens of thousands of Jungar Kingdom's cavalry swept in from the Great Yuzi Grassland like a violent storm!
This is not a traditional prairie cavalry, but a powerful army armed with matchlock guns and 6-pound cannon produced by Daming!
Moreover, this new army of Jungar is not only good at charging and galloping on horseback, but can also dismount and fight in formation, and is even good at using trenches and artillery to attack cities. King Sengge has two lamas who are both civil and military, named They are called Mingzhu Lama and Sanbao Lama. They are not only good at governing the country, but also proficient in military strategy, especially the use of artillery and digging trenches to attack cities. Under their command, the strong cities of the Bukhara Khanate were all vulnerable.
In addition to wooing the Sengha king of Jungar, Aurangzeb also sent 5 million rupees of silver coins to Abkhazi Khan of the Khiva Khanate and bought the cavalry from the Khwarezm Oasis.
In addition, Aurangzeb also scattered money on the Afghan plateau and bought many Afghan tribal leaders with the rupees scraped from Asan in India, making this land that had always been unruly temporarily surrendered to the war of the Timurid Empire. Under the flag.
Finally, Aurangzeb organized a force mainly composed of Hindu Rajput cavalry and heavily recruited Qizilbash musketeers (composed of warriors from Persia and Central Asia). The number of soldiers was about Thirty thousand elite expeditionary troops embarked on the journey.
This costly war is opposed by many people in India. Because Aurangzeb's father Shah Jahan had fought a war, and Aurangzeb had also served as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, but in the end he returned defeated.
However, Aurangzeb defied all opinions and insisted on launching a war.
Because in his opinion, although Central Asia is a remote country, it is the remote areas that produce elite soldiers! Elite soldiers from Central Asia and Afghanistan have always been the backbone of the Indian Tianfang Sect dynasty.
If the Timurid dynasty in India loses its sources of troops in Central Asia and Afghanistan for a long time, then its decline will be a matter of time.
In the original history, Aurangzeb was also aware of this problem, but he was unable to win over powerful enough allies, so he could only enhance the dynasty's combat effectiveness by strengthening the clear rules and precepts of Tianfang Sect... It is a pity that he Not only were their efforts unsuccessful, they also backfired, accelerating the collapse of the Mughal dynasty.
But this time, he was lucky!
Thanks to the support of the Jungar Kingdom and the Khiva Kingdom, Aurangzeb's conquest of Bukhara went very smoothly. Within a year of sending troops, he succeeded in capturing the Tajik and Samarkand regions.
The old capital of Timur's empire has been recovered!
So from now on, Aurangzeb is no longer the emperor of the Mughal Empire or the Emperor of Hindustan, but the real emperor of the Timurid Empire!
The great emperor of the Timur Empire is now sitting quietly in the magnificent Tianfang Temple in front of the tomb of his ancestor Timur the Great, without saying a word. He seems to be thinking about the great achievements of his ancestors and thinking about it. Where will the revived Tamerlane empire go?
Although the empire was revived, it no longer had the invincible power that the emperor had during his lifetime. On all sides of the empire, there are enemies who covet the vast and rich lands it occupies.
What worries Aurangzeb most now is the situation in the river. Although the Bukhara Khanate perished, the Khiva Khanate, which occupied the city of Bukhara, seemed to be taking its place. Compared with the Timurid Empire, which had been away from the river for more than 160 years, the Khiva Khanate was more likely to win over Bukhara. Allegiance of the Uzbeks in the Khanate.
Moreover, the Khiva Khanate also received assistance from Persia...Obviously, Abbas II of the Safi Empire of Persia, who was dying of illness, was very worried that a resurgent Timurid Empire would come to him to recover. Lost territory (Persia was also ruled by Timur).
What troubled Aurangzeb even more was the Jungar Kingdom in the north of Samarkand - they contributed the most in the war to destroy the Bukhara Khanate, and they were allocated the most and best land! They took away the fertile Fergana Basin and the Syr Darya-Chirchik River area outside the Fergana Basin, which is a rare fertile plain suitable for farming and grazing in the river area!
Unlike Aurangzeb's original imagination, the Jungar people were not just nomadic Mongols. They were good at managing cities and ruling agricultural areas.
Therefore, after seizing the fertile Fergana and Syr Darya-Chirchik River areas, they did not just grab a handful and leave. Instead, they began to occupy cities one by one. They also began to occupy land outside the cities and set up Tuntian farms also began to distribute taxes to villages in various places.
The most hateful thing is that these Mongolians are not Tianfang believers, but Buddhists. After they occupied Fergana and the Syr Darya-Chirchik River area, they began to build lamaseries and Confucius temples in the city, and also began to collect poll taxes from Tianfang believers!
Many nobles and people who were unwilling to be enslaved by the Jungar people poured into Samarkand during this period, making this once somewhat deserted famous city once again crowded.
The strength of Aurangzeb, the resurrected leader of the Timurid Empire, was also greatly increased by the addition of a large number of warriors from Fergana and the Syr Darya-Chilchik River region.
Emperor Aurangzeb, who was thinking in Tianfang Temple, thought: It's time to correct the mistakes made by those ignorant Mongols!
