Chapter 366: The rise and fall of the empire in one fell swoop
Armenia's purpose of showing its loyalty is simple...
Just for business rights.
They are the most important commercial people in West and Central Asia.
As for the Jews, it was only after the fall of the Fortress that they were protected by the Ottomans because of their contribution in the capture of the Fortress. Later, due to the attack of the Spanish Inquisition, they relied on the help of the Ottoman navy to migrate to the Ottoman Empire on a large scale, and
With the support of the Ottoman Sultan, he gradually controlled the Ottoman trade along the Mediterranean coast.
But Armenia remains the commercial controller of Central and West Asia.
The business of the Ottoman Empire was basically controlled by Armenians, Jews, and Greeks.
Generally speaking, the secular monarchs in their system like to support these pagans to control business, because as Dimi they need to pay heavy taxes, which can allow the secular monarchs to gain more benefits. After all, they cannot expect to drink fermented grape juice and eat short-nosed elephants.
The guys have too much moral integrity. But the result of this is that the pagans often live better than their co-religion brothers, which eventually leads to widespread hatred. When the monarchs can suppress it, they suppress it. When they cannot suppress it, they let the killings go, and then take the opportunity to kill them.
Slaughter these fattened guys.
Very common routine.
The Qing Dynasty also liked to deal with salt merchants and gentry in this way.
But these commercial nations don't care. After all, the secular monarchs still have to make money from them.
As long as it's not you who's being killed, then keep singing and dancing.
Then history will move forward by repeating itself over and over again,
And now Zhu Di's powerful force has obviously allowed the Armenians to see a good opportunity to develop a broader market.
Belief is not important.
Ethnicity is not important either.
Only money is the most important.
Because of Yang Feng's favor, the Armenians can trade directly with the Ming Dynasty, which means that the source and the transportation line to the river are open. Although there is still the obstacle of Timur, they know very well that Timur cannot jump at all.
It has been a few days. Just Zhu Di and a bunch of miscellaneous people have forced Timur to this predicament. So it goes without saying how the real Ming Dynasty crushed him. Those Armenian businessmen who have been to the Ming Dynasty all praise the Ming Dynasty.
Powerful. The vast and boundless territory, the impressive population size, the extremely powerful army and the man who was said to be the sacrifice to King John, all come together. What can Tamerlane do to compete with him?
An invincible army?
It is said that there were more than a dozen princes like Ming Dynasty.
So for Armenia, their future depends on Ming Dynasty.
Of course, Zhu Di also needs them...
Need their money.
Zhu Di knew very well that it would be difficult for the Ming Dynasty to have many immigrants to the west, at least in the foreseeable future. It would take at least several decades for Anxi and Beiting alone to be filled with immigrants.
But his expansion into the West could not wait that long.
His bodyguard is his body, but he also needs two hands, one holding a knife to kill people for him, and the other holding goods to make money for him. The killing knife is already available, and Zhao Shengjun is the best.
thug.
What about the money-making hand?
Of course they are Armenians.
This nation is surrounded by enemies on all sides. Without the protection of strong forces, it will be torn apart in minutes. However, Zhu Di can provide them with protection, and their business capabilities are beyond doubt. In the future, Armenians will continue to make money for him, and he relies on these
He used money to expand his military strength, and then continued to expand westward. Similarly, his expansion also opened more markets for the Armenians, made more money, and supported him to expand stronger military power. This is such a nightmare group step for the West.
Step forward.
Perfect.
After losing for a while, Bayezid did not realize that Zhu Di was destroying the morale of his men. After receiving Zhu Di's invitation, he readily agreed to the second round of fighting.
He even prefers this way of fighting.
His army is really just like Zhu Di said, essentially a rabble, except for his own Yenicheri Guards, Sipaxi cavalry, Kapukuru cavalry, Akinsi cavalry, and conscripted Azap infantry
, the remaining Serbs and the Aries Turkmen are just vassal forces. The former are still enemies in the past, and the latter are not friends. It is not even just them, the main force of his army is also the people on the Anatolian Plateau.
Beys, the latter's loyalty to him is also extremely limited.
The Ottoman Empire did indeed originate in the Anatolian Plateau.
but……
It was also a routine operation for the Ottoman beys on the Anatolian Plateau to rebel against His Majesty the Sultan.
Zhu Di's fighting method allowed Bayezid to conduct small-scale battles while controlling the overall situation, ensuring that the situation would not get out of control.
He has an army of 80,000 men.
With such a large army and such a complex composition, half the battle is won if there is no chaos.
Of course, the key is that the previous battles did not allow him to see the absolute superiority of the Ming army. He admitted that these soldiers with rat tails on their heads were very brave, but they defeated the Serbs, who were originally defeated by the Ottomans.
If he had dispatched his Xipaxi cavalry, he might have won the battle. So he chose to dispatch his Xipaxi cavalry in the next battle, but Zhu Di still did not dispatch the escort, but handed it over to Tuotuo
Lost.
The latter dispatched his direct line, that is, two elite cavalry led from Siberia, and they did nothing fancy.
The equipment level and combat effectiveness of both sides are at the same level.
Let's bump into each other and start a melee!
But at this moment, the distant southern Xinjiang.
Ambassador Yang, who was tired of his travels, was being welcomed by the Khotan Emir or the Khotan Chief Officer of the Shule Xuanwei Envoy of the Ming Dynasty, and the Aduanwei Commander of the Gansu Capital Commander's Office, and brought his 30,000
The army entered Atuan Acropolis...
In fact, these two families are the original Western Khotan and Eastern Khotan.
Or the modern Hotan and Yutian, the former is the emir and the latter is the Buddhist Sali Uighur. After Yang Feng’s last western expedition, these two forces that were originally killing each other all became honest, and then used Cele as the boundary
, the west side belongs to the Khotan chief official, and the east side belongs to Atuanwei. But Atuanwei belongs to the Acropolis, and is directly under the command and envoys department of Gansu Province, so the imperial court has a Han household office here, and then there are banks and land customs.
All trade with India must be completed and taxed here.
So it became a commercial center.
However, the Aduanwei commander was still a Mongolian from King Hami's system. During the last western expedition, he also gathered two thousand cavalry to follow King Hami.
From here to Hami, there are seven such guards in total.
The commanders were Mongolians from the Hami family, all Taiji descendants of Chagatai, and their subjects were Buddhist Mongols or Sali Uighurs. They then maintained the trade line to India for the imperial court and belonged to the Gansu Capital Command Division.
Dominate.
"Are the military supplies ready?"
Ambassador Yang looked at the two guys kneeling on the ground in front of him.
"Ambassador, I have slaughtered one thousand cows and five thousand sheep and smoked them into dried meat. I also have five thousand kilograms of cheese for the king to eat on his way."
Commander Aduanwei said quickly.
"Well done, the imperial court didn't want you for nothing. Here are 20,000 guan notes, which can be considered as buying these things."
Yang Feng said with satisfaction.
Then an officer held a box full of treasure notes and handed it to Commander Atuanwei.
The latter accepted it overjoyed. Although these were only banknotes, his two grandsons had spent more and more money over the years while studying in the capital. They just received a letter asking for money. It was said that they were obsessed with growing orchids, which had various miraculous effects.
Nowadays, many people in the capital are raising this bird. Another one is obsessed with some kind of magical bird. It is said that it was brought back from overseas Lingshan Mountain. Each bird has thousands of strings. Raising this bird can purify the dirt on the body, and it will change after death.
A soul that is extremely pure and pure can directly become an Arhat.
The masters all say so.
Although the commander did not understand this and felt it was a bit unreliable, when he thought of his grandson in the capital and himself in such a remote place, it must be his grandson who knew more.
You don't have to worry about anything else, just give them money if they want it.
Anyway, he forced the subjects to hand over their cattle and sheep.
As long as the subjects eat one less sheep, their grandchildren can have money to spend in the capital. Why not do such a good thing?
What if the subjects are dissatisfied?
He is the commander of the imperial court, how dare they rebel?
"what about you?"
Yang Feng asked the chief minister of Khotan about the case.
"Go back to the ambassador, I have prepared 20,000 shi of military rations for Master Wang."
The latter said quickly.
It is different from Atuanwei in that they mainly rely on farming. In addition, they are the main jade producing area, so there are still many jade merchants from the Ming Dynasty who are mining jade. However, the consequence of this is the increase in population, and they are all people who do not farm.
, so collecting 20,000 shi of food was considered as all he could do. But what the jade brought him was a steady stream of banknotes. These banknotes allowed his son to live a rich life in the capital, helped him make friends with powerful people, and had already obtained
The Queen Mother rewarded the new crop of sweet potatoes from overseas. It is said that this crop can produce thousands of kilograms per acre, and that as long as sweet potatoes are planted in the future, the food problem can be solved.
It is also drought tolerant.
In short, as long as he has sweet potatoes, his hot fields will be able to support more jade-picking workers in the future, allowing him to make more money.
But the sweet potato cultivation technology was all taught by Ambassador Yang.
Therefore, even if I try my best, even if I make my subjects endure it for a while, or even if they starve to death some old and immovable trash, I still have to scrape together 20,000 shi of military rations for Ambassador Yang.
Isn’t it just suffering?
For the sake of the good days in the future, it is necessary to be bitter. Without the bitterness now, how can there be the sweetness in the future?
"Twenty thousand gu, I'd better give you 20,000 gu. After all, we can't favor one against another. The price of rice in the capital is now enough to buy three gu."
Yang Feng said.
Then the officer also handed 20,000 Guan banknotes to the Khotan chief.
Of course, the latter thanked Ambassador Yang sincerely, even though he really had to use treasure money to buy it here, which was almost five dollars and one stone.
There were more people but less food, and those jade merchants also used treasure banknotes, resulting in a large circulation of local treasure banknotes.
However……
Ambassador Yang has already given the money, why should he care about the amount?
Even if he doesn't pay, doesn't he still have to pay for food?
It was so touching that he actually returned the money when he could have taken it directly.
"They are all loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty!"
Ambassador Yang said with emotion.
And at this moment, a pair of eyes were looking at him from the window of a small building on the side of the road...
"Yang Feng actually did the conquest himself."
He Feng, a businessman from Guangdong, looked at Yang Feng with interest and the seemingly endless carriages behind him.
These four-wheeled carriages are all drawn by two horses, and the carriages are equipped with shields. The Beijing soldiers wearing red military uniforms are sitting in carriages or riding horses and camels. In addition, horses can be seen in the team from time to time.
The cannons were towed, and the cannons were followed by supply ammunition trucks. However, after thousands of miles of long march, they all looked dusty. In order to protect themselves from the wind and sand, all of them simply covered their faces with only their eyes exposed, even though they were
We first took a boat to Kaifeng before turning to land, and we had already traveled more than 7,000 miles.
Even if they take a carriage, it is only seventy or eighty miles a day, so they have been walking for more than three months, and they have to keep walking.
The battle on this expedition is not important.
This is the most elite legion in the Ming Dynasty. Even the Tuocheng cavalry cannot defeat them in a field battle.
Dealing with Tuocheng is very simple, as long as there are enough cannons, and the most indispensable thing for the Beijing camp is cannons. Even an infantry battalion has two kilograms of field cannons.
As for infantry engagements…
At this time, what infantry can break through the volley of tens of thousands of magical guns?
They are truly invincible in a fight.
But the march is the most difficult.
An expedition of thousands of miles.
Real miles.
"Let's go back to Dhaka quickly so that we can spread the news back to Guangzhou as quickly as possible. Yang Feng has gone to the Western Regions and is still moving forward. He probably won't return to the capital within a year. The news from the capital has not reached the Western Regions yet."
It will take a few months, and it depends on whether our emperor can return to the capital."
he said.
He is He Di's subordinate...
At this time, Guangdong's merchant ships had already established stable trade with Dhaka and other eastern Indian ports, and even had their business names in Dhaka. Because Guangdong's textile industry was developing rapidly and it urgently needed more cotton, Indian cotton was undoubtedly the best choice.
, and India also needs spices from Southeast Asia, silk, porcelain, sugar, etc. from the Ming Dynasty. It happens to be shipped to Dhaka, and then shipped back to cotton. The use of schooners has also greatly shortened the sailing time between Dhaka and Guangzhou, and even one
The merchant ship set a record of one and a half months from Guangzhou to Daka. It would have been faster if it was an empty ship.
They are now setting off to return. They will only have one and a half months to reach the destination at most, and the remaining one and a half months are enough to send the news to Guangzhou, and Guangzhou has already been prepared. They even know about Yang Feng's Western Expedition, but they don't dare to confirm that it is true.
Fake, after all, Yang Feng likes to play with feints the most. But now that he has appeared in Khotan, there is no such thing as a feint. He is really on the Western Expedition. As long as Guangzhou moves quickly, he will be defeated in less than three months.
If he could attack the capital, let alone Yang Feng's return, he would not even know the news of Guangzhou's troops in such a short period of time. As long as he could capture the capital before returning, Jianwen could command the whole country as the Ming Emperor and wipe out Yang in one fell swoop.
Rich party members.
What can he do if he goes back then?
What's more, as long as the princess is captured, it will be enough to threaten him.