When Zhu Hexing held a dragon-headed stick and led a group of triad elders in the New World to swear allegiance to Zhu Yuanzhang's shrine and Zhu Hehao's portrait, they pledged allegiance to him. In the far south of Central Asia, a large army is traveling through the mountains of the Hindu Kush Mountains.
If you stand on the high slope next to the middle section of the army and look around, you can't see the end forward or the end behind you. It's so vast that the number of people and horses has already exceeded 100,000. The front army has almost entered the Bamiyan Valley, an important town located in the Hindu Kush Mountains, while the rear army is still in the cloud mountains.
The Great Mongolian Khan Zhu Cixuan was among this team, riding a Persian horse, wearing a Mongolian hood, a Mongolian leather robe, and a gold belt tied around his waist. Although he is Han, he is now wearing standard Mongolian attire. And the army he commanded was basically dressed in Mongolian hoods and robes. The reason why they do this is of course to save money...
Because of the earlier Mongol conquests and subsequent wars that lasted for many years, as well as the endless conflicts that followed, Hezhong under the rule of the Great Mongol Kingdom is now an out-and-out poor place. Cities including Samarkand, Bukhara, Khujand, Kokand, Tashkent, and Khiva are all in depression, and the population of each city is less than half of what it was before this round of Mongol conquest. The sharp decrease in population, of course, also means a major decline in the commercial and handicraft industries in the originally prosperous Hezhong area. After the commercial and handicraft industries in Hezhong declined greatly, Zhu Cixuan, the great Khan, became poor. Not only were there few merchants and taxes, but even daily necessities such as ironware and cloth were not available from time to time.
Therefore, Mongolian-style leather robes, which were easy to sew, became the military uniform of the expeditionary army led by Zhu Cixuan.
In the villages and grasslands in the Hezhong area, the population has not decreased much. But that does not mean that the long-term wars and conflicts have less damage to the countryside and grasslands in the river, but because the migration of 120 Mongolian and Han households has made up for the loss of population. By the eighteenth year of Hongxian's reign, the population of these 120 Mongolian and Han households had increased much more than when they first arrived. When the Thousand Households were reorganized in the 16th year of Hongxian's reign, the number of Mongolian and Han Thousand Households in Hezhong increased to 210, an increase of 90 from the original number. The number of Mongolian nomadic households on the Kipchak grassland has also increased from 100 to 180 now due to the continuous migration of Mongolians from the east.
Although the entry of these Mongolian and Han and Mongolian households supplemented the local population losses in Hezhong and Qinchak grasslands, these households only performed military service and did not pay money or food. Therefore, Zhu Cixuan, the great Khan, naturally became poorer and poorer, but he still could not escape the fate of becoming a poor man.
What troubles Zhu Cixuan even more than becoming a poor man is that his name is likely to be included in the "blacklist of untrustworthy persons" in the near future!
This is not because he refuses to pay back the debt - of course, he, who owes a lot of debt, has never thought about paying back the money! But as long as his father Chongzhen is still there, the Salt Bank controlled by his elder brother Zhu Cixiang will always find ways to lend money to his Mongolian country... But Chongzhen is almost 80 years old this year and may die at any time!
Moreover, Zhu Hehao, who succeeded Chongzhen in charge of the "Northern Army of the Ming Dynasty" eight years ago, had accepted inner Zen not long ago and became the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
Although this "tycoon emperor" went to the Western Regions several times and fought side by side with Zhu Cixuan, the relationship between him and Zhu Cixuan was due to the ownership rights of Mobei Mongolia, as well as the rights of Mobei, Monan, Dongdao, Qinghai, Beiting and other places. There were many conflicts over the ownership rights of more than a hundred Mongolian households - this was actually a trap dug by Emperor Chongzhen for his sons and grandsons. He hoped that the "powerful" Mongolia could become a threat to the western part of the Ming Dynasty, so as to avoid the Ming monarchs and ministers Feeling lazy because he is invincible.
But the problem is that Zhu Cixuan's Great Mongolia is not strong at all, and it is also heavily in debt. It is surrounded by enemies on three sides and has no power to threaten the Ming Dynasty. And Zhu Hehao's hostility made Zhu Cixuan feel a great crisis (in fact, the Ming Dynasty under Zhu Hehao's rule had always maintained friendly relations with Mongolia). He was not worried about a military encounter with the Ming Dynasty, but worried about the Ming Dynasty. They will use the debt problem to stick on Mongolia's neck... Mongolia has not only borrowed money but failed to repay it for decades, it has not even paid back a penny in interest. If Emperor Chongzhen had not been putting pressure on Zhu Cixiang, Mongolia's credit rating would have been downgraded to "Gui" by Shanghai Banking Corporation (the highest level is A), and by then it would have been impossible to borrow even a penny. arrive.
Chongzhen, who already knew that his time was running out (he couldn't live long, only 12 years), wrote to Zhu Cixuan at the beginning of the year, telling him that he must raise some money and pay off some of the interest owed to the Salt Bank. , otherwise when he dies, it will be difficult for Mongolia to borrow money again.
Zhu Cixuan was forced to have no choice but to order troops in March this year, summoning 100,000 troops to go to India to collect protection fees to repay the interest...
Going to India to collect protection fees is actually not easy!
First, the weather in India is too hot and humid. The Central Asian troops entering from the north across the Khyber Pass are not used to it and will easily get sick if they stay for a long time.
Second, the Afghan Plateau, which must be passed from Central Asia to India, is a mountainous area full of nail houses. It is not difficult for Zhu Cixuan's army to pass there, but it is not easy to firmly control the mountainous areas leading to India. It takes a lot of effort and time to fight for it over and over again - there are many valleys in the Afghan mountains, and most of them have difficult terrain, and there are heavy snowfalls in winter and relatively dry summers. Except for the local people who have lived there for who knows how many years, it is difficult for outsiders to enter and take root.
Therefore, it was not easy for Zhu Cixuan to collect protection money in India for a long time. Therefore, in the past twenty years, although he entered India several times through the mountains of Afghanistan, he did not stay for a long time, but just took a handful and left.
The money he made was not used to pay off debts, but was used to conquer the mountains of Afghanistan. After more than two decades of bloody war, Zhu Cixuan now controls more than half of Afghanistan, and the road into India is basically unobstructed.
His army marched into the Hindu Kush Mountains without encountering any resistance, not even a single harassing attack.
However, Zhu Cixuan's brows became tighter and tighter. It seems a little too quiet this way! Aurangzeb still controls half of Afghanistan!
In addition, he has not yet seen the messenger from Chahar Unger, a thousand households in Bamiyan Tuntian... The Bamiyan Valley is not only an important passage from Central Asia to the heart of Afghanistan, but it is also a place where A treasure land for farming.
Therefore, as early as ten years ago, Zhu Cixuan established thousands of households in Bamiyan and built a city in the Bamiyan Valley. He also moved 1,000 Mongolian and Han military households to garrison in the valley, and also built a Large granary, storing hundreds of thousands of stones.
Zhu Cixuan's army turned a corner on the mountain road and appeared in front of them, but there were still many bare mountains. Seeing the endless road ahead, the elderly Khan could not help but feel a little restless - if he could not conquer India this time In the northwest, he is afraid that the huge debt he owes will be passed on to his descendants...
At this moment, a burst of rapid horse hoofbeats came from ahead, and a dozen Mongolian knights were seen, holding an eagle flag of the Great Mongolia, galloping towards Zhu Cixuan's four black banners, until they were killed by one of Zhu Cixuan's timid Xue Changfei Stop it immediately.
The timid Captain Xue chatted with the visitor for a while, then came to Zhu Cixuan on Pegasus with a brocade box and loudly reported: "Great Khan... the Bamiyan Valley is safe and sound!
In addition, Aurangzeb's Governor-General of Afghanistan, Amir Khan (the ancestor of the Indian star) died last winter! "
"Amir Khan is dead..." Zhu Cixuan laughed loudly, "Blessed by the eternal God! Aurangzeb is firmly in the Deccan, and Afghanistan is completely presided over by Amir Khan. Once he dies, I will wait and see again. No worries!"
