Emperor Chongzhen also fulfilled his promise and did not encircle and annihilate the Ottoman troops when they left the city. Even after they left the sight of Bitlis, even the troops monitoring them withdrew, with only a small number of Ye Fushou continuing to follow.
People who don't know will naturally worry about this. What if the Ottoman army fights back? Or they also admired Emperor Chongzhen's self-confidence or something.
Only Emperor Chongzhen himself knew that the Bitlis guard Maklu had Class-A eavesdropping seeds on his body, so he was not afraid of them suddenly returning with carbine.
The Battle of Bitlis is finally over.
Emperor Chongzhen did not want to continue attacking westward. He began to select prisoners, choosing those who were farming, about 30,000 of them, and escorted them south to Mesopotamia, which was later known as Baghdad.
Yan Yingyuan's troops over there have already conquered most of the land. With these captives, production can be resumed as quickly as possible. No matter what, the best logistics for the army here is local supply. Otherwise, even shipping food over by sea would be very costly.
The remaining approximately 100,000 captives were all used to rectify the main transportation routes in Persia. To rule such a huge place, convenient transportation is the first prerequisite.
……………………
On the other side, in the Ottoman Empire, news of Bitlis' defeat spread quickly. Suddenly, people everywhere were panicked. Those powerful and powerful people, thinking about the Ming army's policy, were afraid that the Ming army would attack, so memorials asking for help were urgently sent to Istanbul, the Ottoman Empire.
The Ottoman envoy Mustafa did not rush back as quickly as possible, so he only reached Istanbul. Upon hearing that he was back, the imperial prime minister Ahmed immediately put down his work, sent away the others, and secretly met with Mustafa alone.
At the first moment, he couldn't wait and asked with expectation: "How is it? Have you met the Ming Emperor? What did he say?"
"I saw it, it's just..." Mustafa didn't care about the fatigue from the journey. After hearing the question, he replied with a bitter look, "It's just that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty looked down upon the Arabian Peninsula."
"He doesn't even care about such a large territory?" Ahmed sighed in surprise after hearing this.
If a reconciliation between the two countries can be reached, he is ready to say that the territory of the Arabian Peninsula is actually semi-out of control. In exchange for this, the empire can rest and recuperate, and when it becomes stronger one day, it can be recaptured. He believed that this reason was reasonable and could resolve the current empire crisis.
But the result was not what he expected, which made him very disappointed. After sighing, he said angrily: "Then what else does he want? He can't necessarily destroy us Osman, right?"
"That's not the case!" Mustafa sighed after hearing this, "If we can meet his demands, we can cease the war."
"Oh?" Upon hearing this, Ahmed immediately suppressed his anger and asked quickly: "Then what is his request?"
Mustafa heard the question and sighed again: "He wants all the places east of the Black Sea Strait!"
"East of the Black Sea Strait..." Ahmed listened and repeated in his mouth while thinking in his mind. After thinking about it, he suddenly jumped up and said angrily: "Is he crazy? He actually opened his mouth to ask for such a big place?"
To the east of the Black Sea Strait, that is most of the territory of the Ottoman Empire! Ahmed was really angry that he made such a greedy request.
After hearing this, Mustafa smiled bitterly and said: "We think the area east of the Black Sea Strait is big, but in the eyes of the Ming Emperor, it is not worth mentioning!"
"Ah...hahaha..." Ahmed couldn't help but burst out laughing after hearing this. After a while, he stopped laughing and said sternly, "You're still young? You can even rival Western Europe. The combined territory of most countries. Haha, what a big tone..."
Mustafa couldn't stand listening anymore, so he interrupted him and said to him with a serious expression: "Don't compare yourself to those small countries in Europe. Do you know how big the Ming Dynasty is?"
"How big can it be?" Ahmed said angrily after hearing this.
Although he knew that after the Ming Dynasty destroyed the Mughal Empire and the Persian Empire, its territory would definitely be several times larger than the Ottoman Empire, but he was angry, so he added: "Give him five times the size of our Ottoman Empire. Alright?"
Hearing this, Mustafa showed a bitter self-deprecating smile on his face and said: "Five times? No, it's fifty times!"
"..." Ahmed was speechless, thinking he heard wrongly. However, looking at Mustafa's face, he was convinced that his brother-in-law was not lying.
Suddenly, he felt a little unimaginable. The Ottoman Empire was already very large, and it would take several months to travel north, south, or east to west on horseback. However, the Ming Kingdom could be fifty times as big. Is this possible?
Or maybe he saw what he was thinking at this time, Mustafa conveyed what he knew to Ahmed: "The territory controlled by the Ming Emperor, from west to east..."
As the prime minister of the Ottoman Empire, Ahmed certainly knew what the world was like at this time. After listening to it, I went through it in my mind. I was a little dumbfounded and muttered to myself: "It's so big, can he manage it?"
Even though the Ottoman Empire was so big, it was already unable to cope with the Arabian Peninsula. He really couldn't imagine that the Emperor of Ming Dynasty ruled such a large territory, how could he manage it?
"It has nothing to do with us whether we manage it or not." Mustafa sighed and said, "Just because he controls a large territory, he doesn't care about the Arabian Peninsula."
Well, it really has nothing to do with you whether you can manage it or not. Ahmed thought in his mind, and for a moment, he didn't know what to say, so he fell silent.
Needless to say, he would never agree to this request of the Ming Emperor. At least Mustafa is unlikely to agree, so there is no need to ask what the final result will be.
At this time, suddenly a guard came hurriedly outside and said that the Queen Mother had sent Mustafa and Ahmed to the palace for an audience.
When the two of them looked at each other, they knew that Mustafa was back. Someone had reported to the palace, and the Queen Mother was also anxious to know.
Thinking of this, Ahmed couldn't help but frown. If this happens, he will definitely not be happy. But now is not the time to deal with this matter. After dealing with the Queen Mother, we must conduct a strict investigation to find out who reported it to the palace.
………………
Not long after, the two hurried to the palace. As expected, as soon as they met, the Empress Dowager immediately asked about the results of her communication with the Ming Emperor. For her, she really wants the two countries to reconcile!
However, when Mustafa recounted the entire story to her, she was disappointed.
Her focus was different from Ahmed's. After listening, she just immediately asked: "What should I do? What should I do if the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty calls?"
Hearing this, Mustafa glanced at Ahmed, and then replied to the Queen Mother: "Please rest assured, Queen Mother, nearly 200,000 troops of the empire have been assembled on the Bitlis side, only to defend but not to attack. Based on what Wei Chen saw along the way, it is estimated that the strength of the Ming army will not exceed 50,000, and the war will definitely not start lightly. At least in the short term, the security of the border should be guaranteed."
He deliberately ignored the Arabian Peninsula, because the war there had already started. The Ming army was attacking like a dragon and had already captured all the places along the Persian Gulf. Also, Baghdad, a place that had escaped from Persia, is now very dangerous and is likely to be captured by the Ming army.
The Queen Mother was slightly relieved when she heard his words. But when he remembered something, his face became nervous again, and he asked again: "It's okay in the short term, but what about the long term? What should I do in the long term?"
"In the long run, I will definitely seize the time to train elites." Ahmed replied quickly, as if he was confident to reassure the Queen Mother, "As long as the elites are 10%, even if the Ming army does not come to attack us, we will take revenge. Fight Persia, take Persia!"
Hearing this, the Queen Mother stroked her heart with her hand and finally breathed a sigh of relief. But then, she looked at Ahmed and said: "Forget it, don't get into trouble. If you are defeated again, I'm afraid it won't be so easy!"
After hearing this, Ahmed glanced briefly at Muhammad IV, who was sleeping in Ruhalazi again, and then replied: "I obey your decree!"
In fact, in his heart, he didn't care at all about what an old woman said. Later, when the Ottoman emperor grew up, he must want to make a difference. I definitely want to get back the humiliation I suffered in the past. According to his estimate, nine out of ten people will take the initiative to launch an offensive. Of course, the premise is that they can defeat the Ming army at that time.
In Ahmed's view, the Ming Dynasty's homeland was too far away after all. The emperor of the Ming Dynasty could not be away from his capital for a long time. Otherwise, it would be common for the emperor to lose his position.
Therefore, it is basically impossible for the Ming army in Persia to resist the Ottoman Empire army after they have recuperated.
After the Queen Mother asked for Xin'an's answer, she lost interest in other things, so she yawned and said, "I'll leave the training of the army to you."
After saying that, she was ready to leave.
But at this moment, the guards outside the palace gate rushed in. When they reached the gate of the palace, they turned around and hurried into the palace gate. They loudly reported: "The Queen Mother is not good, Bitlis has been lost!"
Just these six words "Bitlis was lost" were like a bolt from the blue, hitting the foreheads of several people in the palace. Of course, the little emperor doesn't count. No matter how big the news is, it will not prevent him from sleeping.
