"Zhang Dingbian?" Zhu Su was stunned for a moment when he suddenly heard this long-lost name from someone else. It has been several years since we said goodbye to Ji Town. I thought that as Zhang Dingbian was getting older, he would have found a place in the mountains and lived in seclusion.
But I didn't expect that this old man's blood was not cold yet, and he was still in this foreign land, fighting for China.
"Master Zhang is also in Keshi City now?" Zhu Su looked extremely surprised when he came back to his senses. "He and I are old friends. I didn't expect him to be recruited by my second brother as a guest."
"The deputy gang leader has a chivalrous heart and shares the same goals with our gang. Naturally, one day we will get together." "Flying on the Grass" Bian Buping said. He was able to work with a person like Zhang Dingbian who has left a long history in the gang. There is nothing wrong with being proud.
Zhu Su nodded, Zhu Xiang considered this a mistake. When he recruited Zhang Dingbian for the imperial court in the past, Zhang Dingbian obviously did not want to have anything to do with the Ming Dynasty court. At that time, he did not expect to form a Jianghu gang and recruit Zhang Dingbian in the name of Jianghu gang.
But now that Zhang Dingbian has joined the Qin Gang, he can be regarded as working for the Ming Dynasty in disguise.
"Deputy gang leader Zhang is very skilled in martial arts. With a cooked copper stick, he killed many soldiers of the Timur Khanate outside the city of Keshi!" Gaoye, the 'Xiao Zhi Meng', said even more when he talked about Zhang Dingbian. A look of excitement. "The name 'Invincible Monk' is really resounding!"
"It's just that the Timur Khanate has too many troops. Even if Deputy Gang Leader Zhang kills a hundred or a thousand...it won't help."
"His Royal Highness King Zhou, don't hesitate, launch your troops quickly! If it's too late, what if the deputy gang leader is trapped in the city..."
Upon hearing the name "Invincible Monk", Zhu Su's mouth twitched slightly. It is said that Zhu Su himself started this trend of giving names to Jianghu people. Among the martial arts popular in the Ming Dynasty such as "The Condor" and "Tianlong", there is no one with a name who does not have a name. Famous names have also led to the prevalence of nicknames among Jianghu people nowadays. All of them sound similar to the heroes who robbed people in Liangshan.
Zhang Dingbian's name is so bright, and with the title of "Invincible Monk", it feels a bit nondescript and out of class, which sounds really awkward.
However, this was not the time to dwell on these minutiae. After listening to several rangers reporting on the specific situation of Keshi City, Zhu Su immediately asked someone to mark the distribution of the two armies on the map. It can be seen from the map that Keshi City is now guarded by Fei Ju, the Marquis of Pingliang, and outside the city are more than 80,000 Timur Empire's main force and 50,000 servants. According to the rangers, they had just defeated Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde in the north. Their morale was extremely high and they were extremely difficult to deal with.
In addition to the 70,000 troops of the Timur Empire, there is the Shenji Battalion of 5,000 direct descendants of the Ming Dynasty led by Zhu Di, and the 20,000 Oara cavalry. This army originally wanted to take advantage of Timur and Tuotuomis. When they are entangled, go south as quickly as possible to take the land of Persia. Hearing that Timur had returned to Keshi, he quickly withdrew under the leadership of Zhu Di. When the army arrived near Keshi, Keshi City was already surrounded.
Judging from the several battles these rangers have witnessed, Timur's strategy is very simple: surround the thirsty stone and attack Zhu Di's army on the periphery.
Zhu Su saw the ruthlessness of this strategy at a glance: Logically speaking, Keshi City was the place where Timur started, and it was also located at a strategic point. Since Timur returned to the army, he must be in a hurry. He hurriedly ordered a general attack and quickly took back the fortress. Only in this way can Persia be regained as soon as possible and the original boundaries of the Timurid Empire maintained.
It seems that Zhu Di and Fei Ju originally thought the same way: Timur would definitely do whatever it takes to get to Keshi City as quickly as possible. Therefore, they arranged for Fei Ju to defend Keshi, while Zhu Di went south to capture Persia, worsening the situation in Persia and making Timur anxious.
As long as Timur attacks Keshi City, even if Keshi falls, Timur's direct army will inevitably suffer heavy losses. The Timur Empire was originally formed under the power of Timur alone. As long as Timur's power is damaged, careerists will take advantage of the situation and the nascent Timur Empire will fall apart.
But Timur went against the norm. Facing Zhu Di, who was constantly eroding the foundation of Timur's empire in Persia, he still chose the longest siege with the least losses, and did not take the initiative to launch an siege. Zhu Di was forced to return to aid Keshi. After all, Keshi City was a military city with not many fields and people for farming and grazing. As long as the grain reserves were exhausted, the city would be destroyed without a single soldier.
In this case, it was Zhu Di's turn to panic. If Keshi falls, they can only retreat into Persia and fight a losing battle with Timur... Moreover, Fei Ju's men are the elite of the Suzhou Guards of the Ming Dynasty. In order to support him, Zhu Di, they came all the way here. In the land of the Yahe River, Zhu Di couldn't just sit back and watch them die trapped here.
A tug-of-war between the Timur Empire and the Ming Dynasty King Zhu Di began...
"This Timur is indeed no ordinary opponent." Zhu Su looked a little grim. Timur, the lame man who was known as the third world conqueror in later generations, should not be underestimated. He is a natural general, and he is a master of war. He has a good taste of ancient and modern military techniques.
He was also the leader of a country. Compared with him, Firuz Sultan, who thought that the war elephant was invincible and lined up outside the city to face the Ming army, used the army like a child playing house...
No wonder the Delhi Sultanate was repeatedly crushed by the Timurid Empire in history...
"In this case, without further ado, I will pass on the king's orders to urgently prepare troops, horses and supplies tonight."
"The city of Delhi is guarded by Cao Yuan and assisted by Huang Guan."
"Early tomorrow morning, I will personally lead the troops to Thirst Stone City!"
With a general order, the city of Delhi, which had just been under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, started to operate like a war machine all night long. Those sects knew that they could never escape Zhu Su's control, and would need to rely on Zhu Su and the Ming army to help them grow their sects in the future, so they spared no effort to help Zhu Su's army prepare for the expedition. Early on the next morning, 8,000 Ming troops, 10,000 followers and servants, and 20,000 war horses were ready.
The city was guarded by three thousand Ming troops newly transferred from the fleet and tens of thousands of sect believers.
Zhu Su even removed more than a dozen cannons from the ship. These ship cannons are extremely heavy and difficult to transport. Usually, nearly a hundred people are required to transport each cannon, responsible for pushing the cart, paving the road, installing the cannon, lifting the cannon, etc. But now, there is an excellent vehicle for transporting cannons: those war elephants are extremely powerful, and they can just be used to transport cannons.
Although the speed is a bit slower, it is enough to let them slow down behind and let the other armies ride ahead.
In this way, the three armies set off for Central Asia in a mighty manner, looking for an opportunity to join Zhu Di.
(End of chapter)
