More than twenty fast horses galloped, rolling up the yellow sand.
Qianhu Chen Mao led his people to Dunhuang and reported everything in Hami to Song Sheng.
Song Sheng looked at Yang Rong's documents and was shocked to see that Queen Hami's grandmother wanted to expel King Zhongshun Tuotuo.
At present, the reason why the Ming army can enter Guazhou and Dunhuang is not occupation in the military sense, but the territory leased by the Ming Dynasty from Hami. Song Sheng also knew that this kind of lease had no time limit, and Ming Dynasty would not return it to Hami again, but after all, there was a problem of name and public opinion.
Now that Tuotuo is here, even if he is a puppet, as long as he supports the Ming Dynasty in leasing Guazhou and Dunhuang, the Ming Dynasty can safely garrison the army and move the military frontline from Jiayuguan. But if Tuotuo is expelled and Queen Hami comes to power, she, a woman, may not agree with Ming Dynasty to continue to stay in Guazhou and Dunhuang. Disputes and wrangling will inevitably happen, and it may even cause Ming Dynasty and Hami to directly turn from friendship to hostility.
Song Sheng did not want to expend some energy in Hami before confronting Timur. Maintaining Hami's surrender and stability would be beneficial to the Ming Dynasty's upcoming military operations.
Seeing Song Sheng's worried expression, Chen Mao quickly said: "Hami is fine. Yang Rong made a decisive decision and took action decisively. Zheng Dacheng killed the leader of Hami, Lu Shi, and declared that King Yan had brought an army of 300,000 to the Western Region to stabilize the situation. The situation was resolved. In addition, when Shamichagan learned that the supplies were blocked, he immediately sent a message and warned Queen Hami to open the passage and allow the Ming Dynasty to transport military supplies."
Song Sheng read the document carefully, relaxed completely, and laughed loudly: "A scholar has seen blood, this Yang Rongguo is extraordinary."
Chen Mao smiled and said: "What's more, Yang Rong is now closely related to the leaders of Hami. The power of Hami's queen and grandmother has also been eclipsed. The actual control of Hami has fallen into Yang Rong's hands. The overall situation of Hami has been decided."
Song Sheng nodded repeatedly, asked Song Xuan to take out the map, looked at it carefully, and said solemnly: "In this case, then move the front line to Hami."
Chen Mao looked at Song Sheng in surprise and asked quickly: "Are you really going to set the decisive battle in Hami?"
Song Sheng looked solemn: "The King of Yan and the Duke of Wei wrote a letter, agreeing with Yang Rong's suggestion and believing that a decisive battle on the plains from Hami to Turpan would be more attractive to Timur to come to the battle, and would also be beneficial to the use of firearms. Gunpowder Craftsman We are also worried that there is a huge danger in the decisive battle in the desert. Once the weather is too hot, it may cause gunpowder explosion. Without gunpowder, our military deployment will be disrupted."
"In addition, the decisive battle in Hami can give Shamichagan better support, allowing him to fight against Timur to the end, which will consume more of Timur's power. If we are too far away, Shamichagan may become desperate after being frustrated. , and finally chose to escape, which will not be conducive to our future control of the Western Region. Since they all support the decisive battle in Hami, let us prepare in advance."
Song Xuan nodded solemnly and pointed to Yiwu's position on the map: "If we choose to fight in Hami, a large army must be placed here to prevent Timur's army from appearing behind Hami."
Song Sheng looked at Yi Wu, this was indeed a key position.
Hami and Yiwu are both located in the eastern section of Tianshan Mountain. Hami is to the south of Tianshan Mountain, and Yiwu is to the north of Tianshan Mountain. The two cities face each other across the mountain.
Hami is located in the Hami Basin, and to the west is the Turpan Basin. The place where Yiwu is located is also a basin, connected to the west by the Junggar Basin. As far as the marching route is concerned, if Timur wants to perish but also tries to move eastwards, the best options are these two routes, either the Turpan and Hami lines south of the Tianshan Mountains, or the Ba'ersike line north of the Tianshan Mountains. To Yiwu line.
Except for these two roads, which are for cavalry, other routes are not suitable for cavalry.
Even if Timur really divides his troops from Khotan and goes straight to Dunhuang, Song Sheng is not worried. The worst case scenario is that the Ming army will withdraw from Dunhuang and within Jiayuguan. It is impossible for tens of thousands of people to open Jiayuguan with its magical cannon in a short time. thing. Although Jiayuguan is not big, it is stuck here. If you don’t bite it down, you will not be able to enter the Hexi Corridor.
After the Ming army stationed in Hami, it was unlikely that Timur would go north across the Altai Mountains. In that case, the Ming Dynasty could directly destroy Timur's logistics and even trap him to death in the mountains.
We are all men, and the main force of the Ming Dynasty has taken the initiative to seek a decisive battle. Tamerlane has fought all his life, won countless honors, and is invincible. Regardless of his own personality or military strategy, he must dispatch the main force to confront the Ming army.
Song Sheng looked at Chen Mao: "Tell Yang Rong to pass Tuotuo and allow the Ming army to station in Yiwu and defend the northern part of Hami. If the queen of Hami does not allow it, then we will use thunderous means. War will start, and we will not tolerate our soft-heartedness." .”
Chen Mao understood and waited for Song Sheng to draft the documents without resting. He took the prepared horses and led the people towards Hami.
Song Sheng looked up at the blue sky and smelled the smell of war. It won't be long before the war will begin completely.
Three days later, batches of troops marched out from Jiayuguan, Suzhou and other places. Camels stretched for dozens of miles, marching on the yellow sand and ancient roads of the Gobi Desert, heading towards Hami. Countless military supplies, divine machine guns, Gunpowder bombs, gunpowder materials, tents, food and grass began to be transported to Hami.
After Yang Rong received Song Sheng's military order, he no longer showed mercy and controlled Tuotuo. He cleanly eliminated the leaders who did not surrender to the Ming Dynasty. He supported and installed the Hami people who were close to the Ming Dynasty and completely cut off the hand of the Hami Queen's grandmother. In order to completely control In Hami, Yang Rong let Tuo take off his life and transferred the Ming army stationed in Haramti into Hami City to act as a guard for the royal city.
Tuotuo was very impatient and gave all the seals directly to Yang Rong, asking him to write the order and seal it himself. Don't bother him and Miss Ayi from having sex with each other all the time.
With such a Hami King who is unwilling to take care of things and indulges in drinking and sex, Yang Rong is even more comfortable in controlling the overall situation of Hami. The Ming army controls the royal city and isolates the connection between Hami Queen's grandmother, other royal families and Hami leaders, and prevents the Queen's grandmother and others from interfering with each other. Other thoughts.
In order to stabilize the Hami leader, Yang Rong took Zhu Yunwen's will to act expediently and Song Sheng's request to "act accordingly", integrated the 6,000-strong Hami army together, and nominally established the Hami Guard. He drafted documents and requested the imperial court to formally establish it. Hami Guards, the person who was named Maha Mahuo was the commander, Gu Sicheng was named the Qianhu, etc.
The court's paperwork was slow to process, after all, the journey was long, but the rewards came quickly. Yang Rong won over the Hami leader by rewarding him with materials and money, making him work for the Ming Dynasty wholeheartedly.
The city of Hami could not accommodate Song Sheng's army, nor could it hold such huge logistical supplies. Yang Rong chose twenty miles west of Hami as the place where the army would be stationed, and ordered his sergeants to cut down trees and build camps to welcome Song Sheng's army.
As a pioneer, Song Xuan led 3,000 cavalry into Hami first, and cooperated with Yang Rong to post notices to appease the people of Hami, strictly enforce military discipline, and not allow sergeants to bully the people and rob the people. He treated the people of Hami like the people of the Ming Dynasty, and Claiming that the Ming army came to fight Timur and protect the people of Hami, it won the support of the locals in Hami.
Song Xuan, who was tired of work, had no courtesy. After settling the army, he discussed military affairs with Yang Rong, Cai Xiongying, Chen Mao, Zheng Dacheng and others, and advocated building a concrete city gate in Yiwuhami to reserve materials and make subsequent deployments. Prepare.
Yang Rong thought over and over again and thought it was feasible. However, considering the supply of personnel and materials, he suggested: "Yiwu City is already dilapidated and is a strategic location between the east and the west. City gates should be set up first. As for the line to the west of Hami, trees can be cut down first. , mainly in Palisades City.”
Song Xuan also knew that the supplies were insufficient and it was difficult to take care of both ends, so he had no choice but to nod in agreement.
In mid-April, three large fence cities appeared in the west of Hami. The fence cities were set up in the shape of an inverted "pin". The two fence cities protruded outward and occupied the east and west wings. The middle fence city was at the back and served as the base camp of the Chinese army.
Song Sheng transferred back to Song Xuan, entrusted him with the important task of defending Jiayuguan, and ordered him to wait for Zhu Di's army at Jiayuguan and prepare the reception for the army. Then he ordered Yuan Yue to mobilize his cavalry to accompany the army to Hami.
Yuan Yue has been in Shandan Guard for more than two years. Since the victory of the Annan expedition in the fourth year of Jianwen, Yuan Yue requested an order to go to the northwest for training and was appointed by Zhu Yunwen as the commander of Shandan Guard.
At that time, the Governor's Mansion of the Fifth Army and the Ministry of War were quite dissatisfied with Yuan Yueming and thought that Zhu Yunwen was a little harsh on the meritorious officials. After all, Yuan Yue had made great contributions in the battle to conquer Annan, and was fully qualified to stay in the Beijing army and be entrusted with important tasks. Directly throwing people into the northwest would really chill people's hearts and bury talents.
Zhu Yunwen did not take back the order. Yuan Yue arrived at Shandan and was "buried" as many people expected.
Song Sheng did not seem to value and reuse Yuan Yue as expected, but only let him manage Shandan Guards and Shandan Army Racecourse. According to the opinions of some censors and officials, Yuan Yue's rising star has not yet shone. After a few flashes of light, he was beaten into a horse breeder, and he had no chance to stand out in this life.
But the reality is different from what it seems on the surface. Yuan Yue received Song Sheng's full support in Shandanwei. He became familiar with the habits of war horses while raising horses, and mastered the art of riding horses. From an infantry general, he gradually Transformed into a general on horseback, he learned the art of cavalry combat from the cavalry officers and mastered the essentials of cavalry. He followed Song Sheng out of the country many times, and repeatedly came into contact with small groups of Tatar troops in deserts and grasslands, and returned home victorious.
Yuan Yue sat on the horseback, his originally smooth face became rough. The grinding in the wind and sand left a few dents on his face, but he also exercised his superb skills.
Liu Qixia looked at Yuan Yue, who had excellent riding skills, and couldn't help but sigh: "How many people in the Beijing army wanted to become cavalry commanders, but in the end they were eliminated and could only live in a hundred households. Talents like you are rare."
Yuan Yue turned his head and looked at Liu Qixia, with admiration in his eyes: "What did Liu Tongzhi say? When it comes to cavalry command and cavalry combat, you are the real expert. The elite Mongolian cavalry in the 3,000 battalions of the Beijing army were all killed. The heavy cavalry you formed crushed them and became famous."
Liu Qixia laughed loudly and waved his hand: "The heavy cavalry is just thick-skinned and can withstand beatings, but you also have a way of dealing with heavy cavalry. After several drills, I didn't get any benefits."
Yuan Yue smiled and said: "It's just that the hands are long and the strength is strong."
Liu Qixia nodded heavily. Indeed, Yuan Yue's method of restraining the heavy cavalry was very simple, which was to have long hands and strong strength. If the two were combined, he would have the upper hand. No matter how thick the heavy cavalry wore, he would just throw a big iron on his head. No one can hold the ball.
What's more, Yuan Yue is a bit dark-hearted. He can throw iron balls, smash with sledgehammers, and chop with axes. When dealing with heavy cavalry, the horse has several kinds of equipment, weighing sixty or seventy kilograms, and cannot be used unless it is a Humvee...
Liu Qixia believed that Yuan Yue was a talent. This person not only pursued the improvement of the cavalry's individual abilities, but also pursued the cavalry's high degree of cooperation and obedience. He had a strong ability to train troops. He compared the words in "The Art of War" of "He is as fast as the wind, and his speed is like the forest." Invasion is like fire, motionless like mountains, unpredictable like shadow, moving like thunder." As the program of cavalry training, now there are ten thousand cavalry gathered behind him!
