Whether it was Xiong Tingbi, who was newly appointed as Privy Councilor, or Man Gui, who had been stationed in the snowy area for several years, they actually underestimated the difficulty of marching in the snowy area.

According to the plan of the Privy Council, in July of the fourteenth year of the Apocalypse (1632), the Ming army sent troops in two directions. Because shipping by sea was much faster than crossing the Himalayas, the Privy Council’s arrangement at that time was: In August, Cao Wenzhao and the main force led by Liu Zhaosun were in the east

Then, in late September, Mangui's partial divisions came out from the northwest of Delhi and went straight into the heart of the enemy - not seeking to capture the enemy's capital with the partial divisions, but to panic the enemy.

, withdraw the troops confronting the main force of the side, thereby creating an opportunity for the main force to win the decisive battle.

It's a pity that the idea is beautiful, but this is reality.

In July, Mangui led a team of nearly 20,000 people, assisted by more than 10,000 mules, horses, and more than 10,000 yaks, starting from Lhasa and going upstream along the Yarlung Zangbo River Valley. In August, at the Pulan Pass

(the junction of China, India, and Nepal in the 21st century) met 10,000 Gurkha mercenaries waiting there. After the two teams met, they continued westward along the southern foot of the Himalayas, preparing to cross the Shibuqi Pass.

The Himalayas moved south. But when the army arrived, they found that the mountain pass was completely destroyed due to winter avalanches...

Mangui had no choice but to send out engineers to build roads and scouts to find other roads: in this era, directly crossing the Himalayas is not brave but stupid. It is necessary to pass through the few gaps in this mountain range to ensure the safety of the brigade.

The troops and horses headed south where it was safer.

In fact, road construction and finding roads are not the most important thing. The most important thing is food: the Gurkhas also brought their own dry food after accepting the employment of Ming Dynasty. But after Man Gui saw their highland barley noodles, he waved his hand

He gave them the canned food that the soldiers in the army were tired of eating. In this way, the loyalty of the other party was overwhelming, but the Ming army's own food inventory began to show red lights.

So Mangui had to detach a force and return with the remaining civilians on his side to re-obtain supplies.

In September, the short summer on the plateau ended, and the weather became cold again. The engineering team still had not opened the road: when working in the plateau area, the intensity of work that the Han people from the mainland could do every day could not be too high, resulting in low efficiency.

Of course, it is very difficult for humans to reverse the natural force of avalanches that cause road damage.

In late September, the temperature began to drop significantly. When the second batch of supplies arrived, Mangui decided not to wait any longer. The army continued westward, crossed Pangong Lake, and took the Kazan Pass.

In mid-October, the army came to the Kongka Pass: there was no landslide here, and tens of thousands of troops passed here smoothly. However, the price they paid for walking out of the Himalayas from here was: they failed to appear in Punjab, India, as planned.

Instead it entered Kashmir.

"General, good news, good news, the forward scout team has found a big river. According to the geographical calculation of the engineering team, this should be the Indus River on the map."

"Indus River?" Mangui, who had been marching hard for three months, was already extremely haggard. His entire face had peeled off due to long-term exposure to the sun at high altitudes, and there were many signs of forty-year-old strength on his forehead.

Deep wrinkles that no man should have.

He took off the map he had carried with him and said, "His, our army has deviated so far from its intended target."

"General, there is nothing we can do about this. Who knew there was an avalanche at Shibuqi Pass?"

"Hey, that's all, let's not talk about it anymore. At least we didn't encounter an avalanche during the march. Otherwise..." He raised his head and took a sip of water: "How is the situation of the troops now?"

Sun Zushou simply found a piece of relatively dry sand to sit down and took out a small notebook: "When we set off, we had 13,000 soldiers. Now we have less than 9,000 who can immediately go into battle. The ones hanging behind are, the military doctor said.

It will get better after the altitude drops. There are about 3,000 people. In other words, in terms of combat soldiers, we have permanently lost more than 1,000 people. There are 3,200 engineers, medical officers, and craftsmen, etc., and now only 2,000 are left.

, mainly because the engineers and soldiers at the front of the entire team suffered heavy losses. There were 3,500 civilians, those who died of illness, those who fell to death, those who were seriously ill and later lucked out... Now there are only 1,800 people left."

"..." After a while of silence, Mangui said: "Where are our livestock and food?"

"The mules have died long ago, and the yaks, well, the last yak also died last night. As for food, we have lost all our animal power now, and the civilians only have so much, so now the whole army still has five days of food."

"Haha, it seems that we are even worse off than Deng Ai back then."

"Hey, General, you can't say that. At least we have basically passed through the Himalayas now, and there shouldn't be an army led by Zhuge Zhan standing in front of us."

"Huh, if Zhuge Zhan is standing in front of me, I won't be afraid. I'm afraid Jiang Wei is standing in front of me." After joking for a while, Mangui asked again: "Where are those Gurkhas?"

"General." Sun Zushou's spirit was obviously lifted: "Where did the emperor find these people? They are really good soldiers! He is a little short, but he was absolutely hardworking along the way, obeying orders and prohibitions, and resting in the middle.

During the exchanges between the two armies, it can be seen that these people are not lacking in courage. Hey! These are really good soldiers! The key is that these guys have far less altitude sickness than us. You said we should bring them out this time

Most of our more than 10,000 soldiers have been stationed on the plateau for more than two years. Some of the soldiers have married wives and have children here. However, along the way, it is obvious that the persistence of our soldiers on the plateau is

Not as good as these Gurkhas..."

"Humph, I was born and raised here, and we can't compare with us who have been stationed here for just two years. But you are right, these Gurkhas are all good soldiers, and the emperor has found us a very good soldier this time.

A good helper.”

The two of them were talking when they saw Hei Yunlong, who was leading the vanguard, running over: "General, Lao Sun, we found a village in front of us. We took it down. It's such a pity that we finally saw the people there."

"Okay!" Upon hearing the news, both Man Gui and Sun Zushou jumped up from the ground with excitement. After calming down for a while, Man Gui asked in a trembling voice: "How is the communication?"

"Okay, okay, the other party speaks Urdu, and our Urdu translator who accompanied the army was still alive along the way."

"Tsk! What are you talking about, you surnamed Hei? Okay, let's get to the point."

"Yes. According to the local villagers, they don't know what the Mughal Empire is, nor what state it belongs to, but they know that starting from here, walking west along the Indus River for less than thirty miles, there is a place called

The towns of Leh.”

"Very good, more than thirty miles, just a day's journey. Let's capture this place first and get the supplies we need... General?"

"Hey, it's because of my incompetence that it took me three months to cross the Himalayas. I don't know what's going on with Cao Wenzhao and Liu Zhaosun on the eastern front."

"General, what can we do about this? The men have worked very hard along the way, but with this terrain and altitude, what can we do?"

"Haha." After a very hearty smile, Mangui said: "I don't want to think about it so much. Let's solve the problem of eating now. Now that we have entered the Mughal territory, everything here is an enemy. Send the order, except the frontier

Except for the security troops and the scouts who are investigating the road conditions, the entire army will rest for a day. Tomorrow, we will capture that Leh city!"

"Got the order!"

"In addition, today, the chief officers at all levels must once again emphasize discipline on the soldiers under their command. Kill the enemy's soldiers when they need to be killed. Try not to harm ordinary people."

"I will obey the general's orders."

…

The next day, the Ming army captured Leh very easily: there was almost no defense force in this small border town. After a few bearded men rushed out with matchlock guns and were swept into a hornet's nest by submachine guns, the entire town quickly

succumbed.

However, Mangui's idea of ​​getting sufficient supplies here came to nothing: after searching the entire town, he only got more than a thousand stones of food: for a team of more than 20,000 people, it was just a waste of food.

Three to five days’ worth.

"General, we are in a bit of trouble." Hei Yunlong, who had finished interrogating the prisoners, walked over with a gloomy face and put his hand on the map in front of Man Gui and Sun Zushou: "According to the locals, we now have two ways to go.

.The first road goes northwest, along the Indus River. The transportation is convenient along the way, and there are towns along the way. The second road goes southwest, crosses the Nungon Mountains, goes to Srinagar, and then breaks through Khyber.

Through the Nihal Pass, you can enter the Ganges Plain."

When they mentioned climbing over the mountain, the muscles on Man Gui's and Sun Zushou's faces twisted unconsciously. After the two looked at each other, Sun Zushou asked: "How high is that mountain?"

"According to the locals, it is so high that it would take an ordinary caravan about five or six days to climb over it. (Author's note: The highest peak is 7,135 meters above sea level)"

"It's really troublesome. Our army's physical strength and supplies don't allow us to do this."

"Yes, General. I also heard from the locals that Srinagar is indeed the largest city in Kashmir, but the Bonihal Pass to the south has extremely steep terrain. The Mughal Empire has stationed heavy troops here all year round."

"Well..." After standing up and pacing repeatedly, Mangui sighed sadly: "The general's idea is to divide the troops into two groups. The main force will go along the Indus River, obtain supplies along the way, and then enter their Indus River.

Plain. On the other way, there should not be too many people. They are mainly Gurkhas. Thirty or fifty people are enough. We sent four or five people to mix in. The task of this team is to find a way to pass through the Bernihal Pass and enter Hengda.

Hepingyuan, to inquire about news about our Eastern Route Army."

"General, do this... Our army does not have heavy weapons. Although it has more machine guns and ammunition, it cannot be replenished. Once the Eastern Route Army does not take away the main Mughal force, we will be in the Indus Plain.

The entire army is destined to be annihilated."

"I believe Cao Wenzhao and Liu Zhaosun. At this time, they must have attracted the main force of the Mughals to the east. Besides." Mangui turned around with a smile: "When we accept the order of the Privy Council, we will take this road.
Chapter completed!