Chapter 756 Mongolia (8) Junggar destroys the country
Just as Baturhun was preparing to lead his tribe to retreat toward the Kuchatengis (Lake Balkhash) on the lower reaches of the Yilie River, another scouting horse suddenly reported that Ming cavalry had also been spotted in the west.
Moreover, there were tens of thousands of Ming army cavalry coming from the lower reaches of the Yilie River.
Upon hearing this, Baturhun's heart instantly sank to the bottom of the Nine Nether Valley.
Baturhun immediately realized that the Ming army was determined to destroy the Junggar tribe.
Because Ming troops were coming from the north, east and west, but not from the south, but to the south were the vast Gobi Desert and the boundless Tarim Desert.
No one can cross the Tarim Desert alive.
"Great Khan, what should we do now?" The leaders who rushed to the Khan's court one after another turned their attention to Baturhun.
Baturhun was actually panicking in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face. He said calmly: "Gather all the strong men in the clan who can be summoned, including men over ten and under sixty years old, as well as women.
Gather them all and distribute weapons to them. If there are not enough weapons, give them daggers or stones, and then board the city to defend it."
At this point, the only way left is to stick to Yili Bali.
Even if surrender is inevitable in the end, a battle must be fought first.
…
Two days later, three Ming armies attacking from the north, west and east met outside Yilibali City.
"Father/Your Majesty!" Zhu Cijiong and Hu Guozhu came to Chongzhen at the same time and gave a military salute on horseback.
Chongzhen returned the military salute and asked with a smile: "Didn't the herdsmen and livestock of the Junggar tribe escape from your side?"
"No." Zhu Cijiong waved his hand and said, "I have sent hundreds of scout cavalry teams to both sides of the Yilie River. Not even a single sheep of the Junggar tribe can escape from the west."
Hu Guozhu also said with a smile: "There are no Junggar herdsmen, cattle, sheep and horses that escaped, but we caught a lot of herdsmen, cattle and sheep who had no time to escape back to Yilibari."
"Oh, yes, yes, yes." Zhu Cijiong also said repeatedly, "We also arrested a lot."
Hearing this, Chongzhen felt confident. The four cavalry divisions led by Zhu Cijiong and Hu Guozhu were like two big brooms sweeping over from the east and west directions, driving away the Junggar herdsmen who were grazing throughout the Yilie River Basin.
When they got together, they all gathered near Yilibali.
There is a city in Yilibali, but it is not big and is obviously different from the cities in the Central Plains.
Strictly speaking, the cities in the Western Regions and even Central Asia can only be regarded as fortresses, and most of them are soil embryos. This is also related to the arid natural environment of Central Asia.
In addition to the central fortress where the Khan Court is located, Yilibali has a small fortress at each corner, guarding the large fortress in the middle like stars over the moon.
Junggar herdsmen, cattle, sheep, horses, mules, camels and other livestock who had withdrawn from the Shihe (Orqis River) and Yilie (Ili River) basins in Yeer all gathered in the open space in the middle of the fortress.
The eight cavalry divisions of the Ming Army have completed the encirclement of Yilibali.
Zhu Cijiong pointed at Yili Bari and said: "Father, there are only a few forts in Yili Bari, and they are earth-embedded forts. They cannot withstand a wave of volleys from the mountain artillery group. Do you want to attack now?"
Chongzhen said: "Conquering Yilibali is not a problem. The problem is how to deal with Junggar?"
"Father, I was thinking about this issue just now." Zhu Cijiong said, "If we still follow the old rules, and all the men are sent to Shaanxi to build railways, and the women and children are given to the cavalry officers who have no families, that's fine.
Well, after all, many of the nearly 160,000 cavalry soldiers who participated in the Western Expedition did not have families yet."
Chongzhen said: "And then use this to form the Western Region Zhentai?"
Li Yan's cavalry and the more than 80,000 cavalrymen who followed Xin Sizhong had no families, so the women of the Junggar tribe were given to them as wives, and their children were also given to them as descendants.
"Yes, we will set up the Western Regions Zhentai." Zhu Cijiong nodded and said, "When the Western Regions Zhentai is established and launches a longer-distance Western Expedition, there will be no need to start from Horqin, Chahar, Tumote and even Kar.
If you deploy cavalry from Ka Zhentai, you can directly send troops from Zhentai in the Western Regions, which will save a lot of trouble."
Chongzhen said: "But according to you, is there any better idea?"
"Father, the Emperor Mingjian." Zhu Cijiong said with a smile, "It is safest to follow the old rules, but delaying time, waiting until the Western Regions Zhentai is established before starting the Western Expedition, it will take a year anyway, but I can't wait that long anymore."
Chongzhen nodded and said: "So you want to continue to imitate the Mongols, drive the Dzungars as the vanguard, and continue to attack the Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Nogai people in Central Asia?"
"Yes." Zhu Cijiong smiled and said, "We used the women, children and livestock of the Junggar tribe as threats to force the Junggar people to serve as the vanguard of our Western Expedition, pushing all the way from the Yile River until we conquered the Nogai, Kyrgyz and Kazakhs.
After that, they coerced the herdsmen of each tribe and continued to push westward, all the way to the Danube River that my father mentioned."
"Okay, then let's do it as you wish." Chongzhen nodded happily and added, "As for the Western Regions, my father will select 150,000 strong men from the pseudo-obedient, pseudo-Western and slave-building warriors to train here to station here."
After undergoing labor reform, many of the pseudo-submissives, pseudo-Westerners, and slave-building warriors have changed their minds and have a considerable degree of military literacy. As long as they are equipped with a group of outstanding military cadets, it is still worth giving them a chance. Chongzhen did not want to because
Once they make a mistake, they never give them a chance to turn around.
In any case, they are also descendants of Yan and Huang.
"Father, do you agree?" Zhu Cijiong was overjoyed.
"Yes, agreed." Chongzhen nodded and said, "But we have to divide our troops into two groups. After destroying Junggar, you will lead six divisions to continue the westward expedition. Li Yan will lead two divisions to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to defeat Heshuote.
The Khanate is destroyed."
"What about you, Father?" Zhu Cijiong was stunned and asked, "Are you going back to the Central Plains?"
"Well, I won't go." Chongzhen nodded and said, "I plan to go on an expedition with the navy. Maybe by the time you reach the Danube River, the navy commanded by my father will have already reached the Danube River."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "That's really great." Zhu Cijiong laughed.
Chongzhen waved his hand again and shouted: "Let's attack the city. First attack the four surrounding fortresses."
At this time, the 24 mountain artillery regiments of the eight cavalry divisions had set up 648 2.5-inch mountain artillery pieces, and the black muzzles were ready for the four forts around Yilibali.
With just one salvo, four forts were easily destroyed.
Amidst the smoke and dust in the sky, the four forts suddenly collapsed.
The Junggar herdsmen who guarded the fortress were also buried alive.
After destroying the fortresses at the four corners, the obstacles to the attack were cleared.
But just when Zhu Cijiong was about to launch an attack with infantry, he was stopped.
"It's better to send people to persuade them to surrender." Chongzhen said, "The Mongols and us Han people actually have the same ancestors, so if we can save a few deaths, we should try to persuade others to surrender."
Human resources are always the most valuable resource.
Especially now that there are only 600 million people in the world.
…
The Junggar people had been frightened by the Ming army's artillery salvo.
One is that the Ming army's artillery has too many, and the other is that the Ming army's artillery is too sharp. After realizing this, Junggar completely lost their will to resist.
Because the Junggar people have fully realized that continued resistance will only lead to annihilation. Only surrender may allow the Junggar Khanate to continue to exist.
Therefore, when the Ming army sent envoys to persuade Baturhun to surrender, even if Baturhun was unwilling to surrender, dozens of big and small heads gathered in the Khan's court forced him to surrender, and even tried their best to ask Baturhun to surrender.
Bring Aizimu with you, because Aizimu is the most beautiful girl in the Junggar tribe and a pearl of the Yiliehe grassland.
Baturhun had no choice but to take Aizim out of the city.
…
"The guilty minister, Taiji Baturhun of the Junggar tribe, comes to see His Majesty the Ming Emperor." After saying this, Baturhun took his baby daughter Aizimu and knelt down on the ground, his head almost hanging to the ground.
Chongzhen asked with a smile: "Who is next to you?"
"The guilty minister's daughter." Baturhun sighed inwardly.
However, Baturhun was mentally prepared for this matter, because this is the rule of the Mongols. The victors enjoy everything of the losers, including their women, cattle and sheep, and even themselves.
The ancestor of their golden family, the great Genghis Khan, loved to do the most: to subdue the mob, defeat the enemy, seize everything they owned, ride his horses, and take in his beautiful wives and concubines.
But now they are losers, so they have to be plundered by others.
Thinking of this, Baturhun couldn't help but feel ashamed of meeting his ancestors.
Chongzhen turned his eyes to Aizimu and said: "Raise your head and take off the veil."
Aizimu had learned Ming Dynasty Mandarin, so he raised his head and took off the veil from his face without waiting for the interpreter to translate.
The next moment, a pretty oval-shaped face appeared in front of Chongzhen and his son and a group of cavalry generals, including Chongzhen. Everyone's eyes lit up, and they thought of a beautiful girl.
Moreover, the beauty of this young lady is different from that of women from the Central Plains. She has an exotic charm.
The three major enjoyments sought by the powerful in the Tang Dynasty are Silla maids, Kunlun slaves, and Bodhisattva Man. The Bodhisattva Man in there is probably referring to the little Anxi lady in front of her, right?
Chongzhen was no longer polite this time and decisively accepted the Aizimu.
Although she is already forty-one years old, this little girl is only seventeen years old at most. The age gap is a bit big, but it is nothing to the emperor. The old dog Shi Quan is still drafting at the age of eighty.
In order not to leave any future troubles, Chongzhen also brought the whole family, including Baturhun, back to Beijing, leaving only the eight-year-old Galdan to serve as the Ji of the Junggar tribe and follow Zhu Cijiong in his western expedition.
In late August of the 24th year of Chongzhen (1651), the Junggar Khanate was destroyed.
At this point, the Horqin, Chahar, Khalkha, Tumut and Junggar tribes of the Great Mongol Kingdom were all wiped out, leaving only the Heshuote tribe still lingering on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
