Xu Huizu watched the Hami envoy leave with a smile, picked up the tea bowl, and asked Zhu Di, who was studying the map with his back turned to him, "How is it?"
Zhu Di turned around and pointed to the document on the desk: "The emperor's feeling is correct. Although Anke Timur's document is written simply and lightly, it reveals a kind of urgency, which shows that the situation in Hami is not optimistic. , this King of Hami may live like a year."
Xu Huizu also felt this and became serious: "Anke Timur must have some information that we don't know. Timur's threat is not enough to make him so nervous."
Zhu Di sat down and flicked his clothes: "Timur's Eastern Expedition will definitely pose a threat to Hami, but it shouldn't be that urgent. After all, if Timur wants to do the Eastern Expedition, he must mobilize all combat forces. It will be long and dangerous. The high plateau and mountain lines, if you want to support hundreds of thousands of troops to go on an expedition, the logistics are difficult to imagine. Even if Timur wanted to march eastward, he would not be able to set off in less than a year of preparation time."
Xu Huizu agreed with Zhu Di's analysis and looked up at the map: "If it wasn't Timur, who would it be? It is unlikely that Song Sheng would send troops more than a thousand miles away to garrison Hami at this time, and he would also try his best to kill Shamicha inside. The enemies are Wala and Timur, and there is no conflict with Ankh Timur of Hami."
Zhu Di glanced at Xu Huizu and said calmly: "There are no enemies in the south, west or north, so the only thing left is the north. I heard from Shanxi merchants and Datong scouts that the Tatar tribe has moved westward, and their destination is very likely It's the Hexi area and outside Gansu. If this news is true, it can mean that Anke Timur was aware of the Tatar movement in advance."
Xu Huizu nodded solemnly: "This explanation makes the most sense, but the facts still require documents from the Shaanxi Xingdu Division."
Zhu Di walked to the desk and turned over a few documents: "Concrete road construction in the northwest has begun to stop. The weather has turned cold, and the quality of road construction cannot be guaranteed. Food transportation may also be affected. If there is heavy snow and road closures, it will be difficult for us. The plan is even more unfavorable. Regarding logistical issues, do the Fifth Army Governor's Office and the Ministry of War have a comprehensive plan?"
Xu Huizu shook his head, full of sorrow.
Zhu Yunwen wanted to plot the Western Region, which meant defeating Timur, occupying Hami, and occupying Yili. Such a huge military operation required a large number of sergeants, and its scale of operations could never be lower than the 30-year war in Annan. Ten thousand!
You must know that the Annan Kingdom is small and narrow, and it is no problem to travel back and forth in a month. However, Hami is a large area, and the area in Yili is larger than Hami. The total area exceeds the seven Annan Kingdoms (based on the Annan territory in the Ming Dynasty). allow)!
But the question is, can the Ming Dynasty really support more than 300,000 troops to march across the Western Regions?
The northwest is different from Liaodong. Liaodong's logistics can rely on Jizhou, Beizhili, and even sea routes to transport food. On average, seven or eight migrant workers can support the logistics of one sergeant. But to transport food for one person from the northwest, two people are needed. Thirty migrant workers, even if we take the minimum of 20 people, to provide material support of 300,000 sergeants, six million migrant workers need to be mobilized!
How many people did the entire Ming Dynasty have? More than 60 million. If one-tenth of the young migrant workers were mobilized to join the Western Regions, would the Ming Dynasty still have to live? No matter how rich Ming Dynasty was, no matter how strong Zhu Yunwen was, he would not be able to mobilize such a huge logistics force.
Concrete roads are one way to compensate for transportation difficulties, but they do not solve the root cause of the problem. Large granaries were built along the way to prepare for rainy days, which were indeed enough to support the army's march into the Western Regions.
But the question is, how to ensure the logistics after entering the Western Region? This requires a steady stream of logistical transportation! Judging from the current national strength of the Ming Dynasty, apart from the daily needs of maintaining the Shaanxi Xingdusi, being able to continuously support 50,000 soldiers to penetrate into the Western Regions is already the limit of the limits!
As for 50,000 soldiers fighting deep in the Western Regions, the dangers can be imagined. Once an accident occurs, the entire army may be defeated or even annihilated!
In the eyes of Zhu Di, Xu Huizu and others, it is not difficult to seek the Western Regions. The real difficulty is logistics. This war is all about logistics. As long as the imperial court can support 100,000 soldiers to penetrate into the Western Regions, Zhu Di will be sure to sweep away all enemies. Place the flag of the Ming Dynasty in every city in the Western Regions!
Xu Huizu said with embarrassment: "I have discussed with Tie Shangshu. His opinion is to mobilize 70,000 Beijing troops into the Western Regions, each with half a month's rations. The subsequent support will be provided by Shaanxi and Sichuan, and Hami will provide supplies. To supplement. He also proposed that after the Shanxi merchants leave the customs, they would trade a group of cattle, sheep and other livestock with the Tatars and rush to the northwest to serve as military supplies. But..."
Zhu Di sighed. Xu Huizu didn't need to explain, he knew very well, but these methods simply couldn't support the logistics needs of 70,000 combat troops going deep into the Western Regions for a long time.
Conquering the Western Region is not a matter of a day or two, it will take at least three months, but completely controlling the Western Region will take less than half a year or even a year, which is very difficult to achieve!
Restraint and actual control require completely different forces.
"If we really reach a desperate situation without logistics, we can only take another path!"
Zhu Di's tone became cold and stern.
Xu Huizu's Adam's apple twitched. The other way is to support war through war, to plunder for a living, and to kill for a living!
Timur was very good at this trick. He captured a certain place, robbed all the food, killed all the people, and then left with the well-fed and drunk soldiers.
But can Daming take this path?
cannot!
The wars launched by Timur were often not occupations in the true sense, but plunder. The territory there belonged to the Timur Empire in name, but in fact many places did not really obey Timur's management.
The Ming Dynasty's pursuit of the Western Regions was not a plundering process, but a true occupation. Since it is an occupation, we must consider the people's hearts and the local people. It is impossible to kill everyone, and it is impossible to wash the city with blood again and again.
Ma Enhui sat on the bedside, looking at Zhu Yunwen next to the flickering candlelight, feeling secretly sad. She was busy during the day, and had to review memorials at night. The weather was getting colder, and it was freezing outside. If it weren't for the heater in the house, it would probably be cold here too. Like an ice cellar.
Zhu Yunwen looked at the document in his hand intently. The document was sent by Xue Lu from Datong. Xue Lu believed that the Tatars moved westward to Gansu, Oara was dormant in the west, Timur was preparing for the eastward expedition, and he was also preparing for the northern expedition. This means that there will be great changes in the northwest. I hope that the imperial court will collect grain as soon as possible and send heavy troops to defend the northwest.
Xue Lu was able to stand on top of Datong and think about the wind and clouds in the northwest, which shows that he is by no means a reckless man, but a general who is good at grasping the overall situation.
The turmoil in the northwest has become a fact, but not many people can see this.
Zhu Yunwen thought of Yuan Yue in Gansu. Song Sheng did not place Yuan Yue directly on the front lines such as Jiayuguan, but placed him on Shandan Guard to serve as a cavalry commander and study cavalry tactics.
As for Yuan Yue, he was born in Guangxi and is good at fighting on foot. If he wants to grow further, he must be proficient in cavalry tactics. I heard Song Sheng’s letter some time ago, praising Yuan Yue for being able to encounter the wind of spring and being good at surprise attacks. I don’t know where he has grown. step.
northwest!
Zhu Yunwen opened the map and was very sad.
The Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Fifth Army Governor's Office are all cooperating with the northwest war, but they still cannot solve the logistical problem. It is not difficult to transfer two or three hundred thousand troops to the Western Region. What is difficult is how to keep these hundreds of thousands of troops alive in the Western Region.
They didn't go to the Western Regions for a seven-day trip to see Dunhuang and the murals and then come back. They needed to fight in the Western Regions for a long time. The long supply lines worried the senior officials of the Ministry of War and the Fifth Army Governor's Office.
If this problem is not solved, plotting the Western Region will be a joke.
Zhu Yunwen is not a god, he does not have the magic to move mountains and seas, and cannot transfer the food from the south of the Yangtze River to the northwest in an instant. But if he only relies on the people of the Ming Dynasty to transport food, then many things in the Ming Dynasty will be put on hold, and countless people will not be able to settle down in production and the development of the Ming Dynasty. It will inevitably be dragged into the abyss, and other methods must be found.
Seeing Zhu Yunwen's trouble, Ma Enhui couldn't help but walked over and asked, "But is it Timur that troubles the emperor again?"
Zhu Yunwen sighed: "Yes, this cripple is a bit powerful. I'm afraid it will take a hard fight for Fourth Uncle to face him. The most difficult thing right now is to supply food and grass. The road is too long."
Ma Enhui looked down at the map, with soft eyes, and whispered: "If I can give the emperor an idea, can the emperor promise that I will not stay past the third watch in the future?"
"oh?"
Zhu Yunwen was a little surprised and looked at Ma Enhui carefully: "If the queen can solve such a problem, why do I need to stay up late."
Ma Enhui walked up behind Zhu Yunwen, raised her hand and put it on Zhu Yunwen's shoulder, squeezing: "I just want to ask, the road is so long, how did Mongolia and the Northern Yuan Dynasty cross the sand sea and enter the far west? How? It's so far away, how did Timur ensure logistics? Yilipali and Hami also have a large population, how did they ensure logistics?"
Zhu Yunwen suddenly had an idea. He, Xu Huizu and others had always fallen into a logical trap. The Ming Dynasty's war logistics relied on migrant workers to transport food and materials. This was true and was in line with the reality of the Ming Dynasty.
But the problem is that logistics in the northwest does not necessarily rely entirely on migrant workers. As long as the soldiers have food and drink, isn't that enough?
What did Temujin and Kublai Khan do?
How did Timur do it?
We can always follow the gourd's example, isn't it just driving a group of livestock on an expedition? It's hard to find mares these days, but there are still many female camels. If you're thirsty, why don't you just get some camel milk to drink?
Camels are powerful and can carry three to four hundred kilograms of goods. One camel can carry three hundred kilograms of grain, which is enough to feed a hundred soldiers for three days. Combined with a wheelbarrow and some granaries in Gansu, Jiayuguan and other places, things will be easy. Is it over?
By the way, since camels are needed, can a camel city be built, which would be quite effective against Timur's cavalry?
"Inform the ministers of the Cabinet, the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of War, and the Governor's Office of the Five Armies."
Zhu Yunwen pulled Ma Enhui into a tight hug and shouted loudly.
There is no room for delay in this important logistical matter!
