In Persia, in the Coleman area in the southeast, Zhang Xianzhong led his men to gallop here. On the surface, he seems to be very beautiful, but he doesn't smile much. People who are familiar with him can tell that the Eighth King has something on his mind.
That's right, Zhang Xianzhong did not fulfill his agreement with Li Zicheng, send troops to attack the rear of the Persian army, and together with Li Zicheng, defeat the Persian and Mughal troops, but instead left these heavily assembled enemies to Li Zicheng and sneaked directly into Persia. within the territory.
Although what he did can be regarded as another way to contain the Persian army, after all, he did not have to face heavy troops, so the pressure was much less.
What he didn't expect was that the terrain in Persia was mostly desert plateaus, so his supplies were not as easy as in the Mughal territory!
Therefore, it is not practical for his rogue force to coerce civilians. He can only select his elite, mainly fast-moving subordinates such as horse teams and camel teams.
As a result, his cannon fodder will be reduced a lot, and he can only develop elite soldiers.
However, it is not easy to develop into an elite soldier. After all, everything he does depends on robbing. Only what he grabs can be obtained. On the Persian side, both materials and population were far less rich than the Mughal side, let alone compared with the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, although he seemed to be invincible and majestic in Persia, Zhang Xianzhong himself knew that he could not continue like this.
No, he finally received news that the Persian Emperor had decided to lead his troops back home.
Zhang Xianzhong was not sure whether Li Zicheng would allow the Persian emperor to return home without a sneak attack. However, one thing is certain, the Persian emperor will definitely lead his troops back.
In that case, Zhang Xianzhong would be under greater pressure in Persia.
Therefore, in the past few days, Zhang Xianzhong has been considering a question: whether to return to the Mughals to avoid powerful enemies.
However, military advisor Xu Yixian did not agree with this.
Xu Yixian believed that if the Persian emperor was allowed to return to Persia and calmly control Persia again, it would definitely not be that easy for them to come to Persia next time!
In the Mughal territory, there are still remnants of the Mughal army, and Li Zicheng's power will definitely be greater than before. Faced with this situation, the development prospects of Zhang Xianzhong's department are not very clear.
In addition, there is a deep-seated worry, that is, whether the imperial court will continue to move westward into the Mughals.
Zhang Xianzhong had to admit that what Xu Yixian said made sense, and this was also the reason why he was struggling these days.
Where to go from now on, that is the question!
……………………
While he was worrying about this matter, one day, military advisor Xu Yixian suddenly ran over very excitedly. Before he even got close, he shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, good news, great news, Your Majesty..."
Zhang Xianzhong listened without interest and didn't care much.
What good news can there be in this situation? At most it's just that the dispersed troops grabbed some more food!
Xu Yixian hurriedly came to Zhang Xianzhong, looked at his expression, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, this is really good news!"
"Oh?" Zhang Xianzhong seemed to have never seen his military adviser be so excited. Finally, he was a little curious and asked, "What's the good news?"
I only heard Xu Yixian report excitedly: "Tanma just captured a few Portuguese people and said they are here to do business with us."
"Business?" After hearing this, Zhang Xianzhong suddenly lost interest and said casually, "What business are you doing?"
He is doing business without capital, and yet you come to do business with him. Isn’t it funny!
"New guns and cannons, Your Majesty!" Xu Yixian quickly replied, "The Portuguese have new guns and cannons. In terms of range and accuracy, they far exceed the original firecrackers and are much better than the firearms used by the Persians!"
"What?" Zhang Xianzhong was overjoyed upon hearing this and quickly confirmed, "Seriously?"
After he said it, he suddenly remembered something, frowned and said: "The Portuguese are very close to the imperial court. It seems that their new guns and cannons are all purchased from the imperial court. Now they want to sell them to us, will they?" Is there some fraud involved?"
"No, no!" Xu Yixian heard this and said with confidence, "Your Majesty, you don't know that Western barbarians like them only care about money. All my subordinates have asked about this new Portuguese gun. The guns were indeed purchased from the imperial court, but they were resold to many countries in Europe. Including Spain and the Netherlands, which were enemies of the imperial court, they all used new guns and cannons!"
After hearing this, Zhang Xianzhong couldn't help but be very happy, but after thinking about it, he had doubts again, and immediately asked: "But why would these Portuguese come to contact us at this time and want to sell us new guns? "
"My subordinates have also asked about this carefully." Xu Yixian immediately replied, "The Portuguese have also heard that the Persian Emperor is going to lead his troops back to the country. Therefore, they come to us at this time to sell new guns and cannons, taking advantage of our urgent need. At that time, it can be sold at a good price.”
Having said this, after a pause, he continued: "Also, the Portuguese have been coveting the Persian Gulf for a long time. They had occupied the Persian Gulf before, but they were later conquered by the last emperor of Persia and the British. Drive them away. This time, if they sell us new guns and cannons, they can put an end to the chaos in Persia, and they can reoccupy the Persian Gulf!"
"So, to kill two birds with one stone, let the Portuguese come to us!" When Xu Yixian said this, his expression became more serious, and he said solemnly, "This matter, my subordinates think, although for the Portuguese , it’s a strategy that kills two birds with one stone; it’s not a good thing for us!”
Zhang Xianzhong had plenty of money, but he had nowhere to spend the money he grabbed from the Mughals and Persia.
Therefore, after thinking about it for a while, he finally became excited and asked again: "Then how many new guns can they sell us?"
"They said, as long as we can afford the money, we can have as much as we want. Let the money speak for itself!" Xu Yixian knew that Zhang Xianzhong would be moved, so he quickly replied.
When Zhang Xianzhong heard this, he waved his hand and said, "What about the Portuguese? Bring me here to see you!"
If he could buy a large number of new guns, the situation in front of him would be much better. Whether it is to sneak attack the Persian army returning home, or to compete with Li Zicheng for hegemony in the Mughals in the future, they will have an advantage.
The same is true. At this time, he made up his mind to buy as much as he could. Anyway, the money is gone, just grab it again! As long as you have an army in your hands, are you still worried about not having money?
The Portuguese had long expected that these bandits would definitely buy new guns. Therefore, their warships carrying new guns and guns docked on the Persian side of the sea. When the two parties meet, the most talked about thing is the price.
After all, Zhang Xianzhong wanted to buy as many new guns as possible; while the Portuguese wanted to sell them for as much money as possible.
In the end, the Portuguese sold Zhang Xianzhong's 10,000 rifled flintlock muskets and 50 large rifled artillery pieces at a price twice that of Europe.
Originally, Zhang Xianzhong's troops used cold weapons, some used matchlocks, and three-eyed muskets. Of course, there were also some flintlock muskets.
In short, the weapons are as diverse as a kaleidoscope.
Now it's a matter of exchanging shotguns for cannons, and Zhang Xianzhong's elite men give priority to changing their equipment.
At the suggestion of military counselor Xu Yixian, Zhang Xianzhong also hired fifty Portuguese people with high salaries to pretend to be British to train Zhang Xianzhong's firearms troops.
This was the revelation Xu Yixian got from Abbas I when he was studying the situation in Persia.
When Abbas I came to the throne, Persia was very weak and the local warlords were unable to defeat them.
Then Abbas I used slaves as soldiers, and the British as instructors, and established a firearms force imitating Europe. Finally, he eliminated local warlords and regained the territories occupied by foreign countries, and the country suddenly became stronger.
Speaking of which, it was for this reason that Abbas II agreed to be very vigilant in the local area and gave Zhang Xianzhong the conditions to operate freely in Persia.
Two months later, Zhang Xianzhong's troops ambushed Abbas II on his way back home. Sharp firearms were used for the first time in Persia and achieved unexpected results, defeating the Persian army.
Abbas II led the remaining troops back to Kandahar, occupied Lahore and other newly incorporated Persian territories, and prepared to reorganize his army and fight again.
After the Persian army retreated, Aurangzeb's Mughal army also retreated back to Delhi, and the situation was the most unfavorable.
As for Li Zicheng's troops, they were the most powerful. They occupied most of the territory of the original Mughal Empire, renewed their slogan of "equal land and tax exemption", and began to approach Delhi.
After the secret agent learned about the situation here, he quickly reported it back to Daming.
Since the news will still be delayed for several months, and communications are inconvenient, especially the military strength in Tibet and along the coast, Zhang Mingwei, Sun Chuanting and others decided to make an appointment after analyzing the situation in Persia and the Mughals. In the middle of the 27th year of Chongzhen, that is, in the middle of 1654, three armies attacked the Mughal territory together.
For this reason, Sun Chuanting rushed back to Dongwu and mobilized additional troops from Yunnan to gather in the Ava area. The navy gathered in Goa and transported the troops originally stationed in Dongwu to launch an attack from the sea.
On the Tibetan side, Gushi Khan personally led the troops to assemble, and also condescended to attack the Mughal territory within the agreed time.
Li Zicheng obviously knew nothing about this situation. At most, his eyes were limited to the Mughal territory, and his primary enemy was Aurangzeb.
No, he has led an army of 200,000 to Delhi and surrounded Delhi.
Niu Jinxing was already preparing to persuade them to move in. Once Delhi was captured, he would support Li Zicheng on the throne and proclaim himself emperor. He had even thought of the country's name, which he would call "Da Shun". It means everything will go smoothly in the future and don’t run around again!
