Needless to say, his decision was of course to go on an expedition again.
Although it is too far away from the Persian Empire, it may be too late to arrive before the war starts, but no matter what, we still have to rush.
To be honest, Emperor Chongzhen still admired Abbas II a little. In order to deal with the threat of the Ming army, he actually bowed to his feud. This kind of decision cannot be made by ordinary people.
After thinking about it, Emperor Chongzhen felt that it was his own way of destroying the Mughal Empire that scared Abbas II. In other words, it frightened the aristocracy of the entire Persian Empire. Otherwise, after all, the Ottoman Empire is the feud of Persia. Even if Abbas II wants to surrender, he has to consider the impact at home.
Since they are so afraid, it means that this method is effective. Emperor Chongzhen thought, let's continue to use this method.
This time, he led a battalion of 10,000 hussars on the expedition. Just like last time, he took a train to Luntai, Tianshan Mountain, and entered the Tang Dynasty from there. No matter whether the coalition forces of the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire ultimately want to attack Hong Chengchou's side or Wu Sangui's side, he can move westward or southward for reinforcements.
Huangsha wears golden armor in a hundred battles, and Loulan will never be returned until it is broken!
This time, let’s just destroy these two countries. Otherwise, we would be so sorry for ourselves if we traveled thousands of miles!
Emperor Chongzhen made a decision in his mind, but he did not rely on it. Not only did he send an envoy to the west to report the news when he learned the news, but before setting off for the expedition, he also issued an imperial edict to the Hetao side and gathered 15,000 people. Qianqijun asked them to take the train from Guihua City to Tianshan Luntai to wait for him.
In his expectation, if he selects 5,000 cavalry troops from Tianshan Luntai and gathers 30,000 cavalry troops, that would be enough.
The reason why we have to come together like this is because the Guihua City on the other side of the Hetao is the gathering place for the Mongolian grassland tribes, including the three Mobei tribes, Eastern Mongolia and Central and Western Mongolia. Choose a cavalry army of 15,000 people, one person and two horses, or The three-horse configuration is more than enough.
On the Tianshan Luntai side, because Hong Chengchou led the army to attack Tsarist Russia, he not only took away the main force at that time, but also reinforced troops from Shaanxi and Hetao, so the remaining troops would not be too much. Pick five Thousands of cavalry troops, that's about it.
In the other direction, according to the Class A seeds from Togo Shipyard, a steam iron-clad battleship was built. Although it's a little less, it's still better than nothing. Emperor Chongzhen's decree has also been conveyed there, ordering the Ming Navy in Nanyang, together with the newly built steam-armored battleship, to immediately march westward for reinforcements upon receiving the decree.
The mobilization of troops this time was much greater than the troops used to destroy the Mughal Empire.
In addition to this, Emperor Chongzhen also gave a decree to the cabinet before leaving. Let the domestic side organize manpower, that is, select Ming bachelors and prepare to move to Persia and the Ottoman Empire. By the way, let them transport the subsequent supplies.
Of course, this matter is not forced, the focus is on publicity. For the Ming Dynasty at this time, most people may not be able to accept the ghostly appearance of Xiyi, but there are legends about Persian beauties.
………………
When Emperor Chongzhen rushed to the west, he was a little regretful that the discussions between the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire did not go far. This is mainly because Abbas II and Koprulu are both shrewd people who know how to advance and retreat. Therefore, it did not take long to reach an agreement.
Subsequently, the Persian Empire gathered forces together with the Dutch and British fleets, with a total of 150,000 troops, marching eastwards by land and sea to attack Li Dingguo's headquarters.
The Ottoman Empire recruited its vassals, including the Crimean Khanate, with 80,000 cavalry and 150,000 infantry, a total of 230,000 troops, to attack the Bukhara Khanate that had just been defeated by the Ming Dynasty. , and then depending on the situation, either go north to attack the Ming army in the Volga River Basin, or go south to attack Kabul, Lahore and other places, go to join forces with the Persian army, and then conquer the original Mughal Empire territory.
Although Emperor Chongzhen used the 800-mile express for the first time, flying cavalry, and carrier pigeons to deliver the news, it was still too far away. Whether it was Hong Chengchou, Wu Sangui, or Li Dingguo, Unexpectedly, the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire would join forces to attack them.
Previously, the Persian Empire adopted the strategy of strengthening the walls and clearing the country, turning the land adjacent to the Ming army into scorched earth to prevent a large-scale attack by the Ming army. This caused trouble for the Persian Empire's eastward advance, but it also made Li Dingguo and Wu Sangui unexpected that the Persian Empire would take the initiative to attack.
In the north, Hong Chengchou also misjudged that there would be no enemies at Fort Mingwei for the time being, so he was reorganizing the Torgut and Cossack troops.
Suddenly, the enemy attacked in a large scale, catching several Ming troops by surprise.
At the beginning, both the Persian Empire and the Ottoman Empire were overwhelmingly powerful, and the Ming army could not resist them at all.
Of course, this is also related to the decree that Emperor Chongzhen secretly gave to the local generals of the Ming Dynasty. Once a war breaks out, the city can be lost, but the number of people cannot be reduced. This is the so-called "If you save land, you will lose people, and you will lose both people and land! If you save people, you will lose land, and you will gain both people and land."
If this strategy was from Ming Dynasty, he would not ask for it like this, but stick to it. However, for those places that have just been conquered, there is not much burden to use this trick.
Although at this time, many Ming army soldiers had already sown seeds locally. However, the enemy's army was too powerful. If they stayed, they would only be defeated by the enemy one by one. With both men and land lost, both Wu Sangui and Li Dingguo finally chose to withdraw their troops to avoid the enemy's edge.
Of course, their public statement did not throw out Emperor Chongzhen's instructions, but said that only by retracting their fists and gathering scattered troops can they severely teach the invading enemy.
In addition to the losses suffered by the troops and civilians in the nearest enemy country, in other places, after hearing the enemy's large-scale invasion, all soldiers and civilians withdrew their troops. The army is restricted by military regulations. A military order states that you must retreat even if you do not retreat. But if the people are nostalgic for their homeland and don't want to retreat, they won't force it.
In this way, Wu Sangui's troops successively gave up large areas of territory, including the entire Bukhara Khanate and Kabul to the Ottoman Empire. His troops continued to shrink, and finally gathered in Lahore to face the enemy. Li Dingguo, on his side, also retreated in large strides and once again retreated to the Narmada River Basin.
As a result, King Tang was frightened. He did not expect that before he could truly enjoy the power of the vassal king, he would encounter millions of enemy troops. Although he knew that this was what it was said to be, in fact it was certainly not that much. However, the imperial troops who stayed in Tang State were defeated one after another, which really frightened him.
So, while he sent people to blame Wu Sangui and Li Dingguo, he asked them, as generals of the Ming Dynasty who were responsible for protecting the territory, they were living on the imperial salary, but they did not want to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country, and retreated when encountering the enemy, so they were not afraid of the emperor's punishment. At the same time, he also I begged the two Ming armies not to retreat any further.
Regardless of whether he had soft or hard tactics, with Emperor Chongzhen's advice as his backing, both Wu Sangui and Li Dingguo disapproved of the Tang king and did not say anything about withdrawing when they should. They even told the Tang king that if they wanted to save the Tang kingdom, they should mobilize quickly. Send manpower and materials to the front line, otherwise, they will retreat.
In this situation, King Tang had no choice but to do as they asked. However, he also had an idea. He sent people to King Fu and Zhu Cizheng to scare them as well. If the Tang Dynasty could not protect it, it would be their turn next. They have to contribute materials and manpower, and they have to support the front line.
In short, facing the attacks of the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire, the three major vassals were all panicked. Fortunately, all the original rich people and nobles have been killed. Otherwise, in this situation, it is difficult to guarantee that those whose interests have been harmed will have other thoughts.
After conquering the Bukhara Khanate, the Ottoman Empire encountered a problem for the first time.
Originally, according to Koprulu's original intention, he would have preferred to go north to attack the Ming army in the Volga River Basin. Because the Ming army there poses a great threat to the vassals of the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate, and may even further threaten the Ottoman Empire's homeland.
As a result, he did not expect that the Ming army retreated so quickly and gave up a large area of territory. He had to occupy those territories and give the Persian Empire an advantage!
Therefore, Koprülü's final decision was to divide his troops into two groups. The main force decided to go north, with a total of 50,000 cavalry and 100,000 infantry to continue going north to attack the Volga River Basin. Another 30,000 cavalry and 50,000 infantry effortlessly occupied the territory ceded by the Ming Dynasty, moved southward, occupied Kabul, and continued southward.
Hong Chengchou was shocked after hearing the news. He quickly ended the reorganization of the Torgut and Cossack tribes, reduced his troops, gave up part of the land in the Volga River Basin, and reorganized his army to prepare for war.
Many people in the Torgut tribe couldn't understand this, and even had opinions.
Originally, they reclaimed land in the Volga River Basin and diverted water for irrigation. After Hong Chengchou came, he increased his investment in this area. It can be said that the Volga River Basin has been transformed into a paradise on earth that combines planting and animal husbandry.
After destroying the Bukhara Khanate in the south, no one threatened this land anymore. Unexpectedly, the Ottomans came.
Logically speaking, we are not fighting to defend our hometown. However, the Governor's order told them to abandon this place, and they were really unwilling to do so!
However, Hong Chengchou did not show up to express their emotions. He just asked Punchuk to suppress them and force everyone to retreat north of Mingwei Fort.
This makes many people feel that the Ming army is actually nothing more than this. The Ottoman Empire is so powerful and invincible. As a result, some small tribes that had not completed the reorganization began to think about it and rebelled against the enemy under the leadership of their leaders.
