When Chongzhen personally led the three fleets of the Ming Dynasty Navy and the 3rd Army Division to capture cities and territories in Nanyang, the two armies led by Zhu Cijiong and Li Yan also attacked from the west and north respectively against the Mo Mo, which had ruled the South Asian subcontinent for more than a hundred years.
The Wol Dynasty launched a war to destroy the country.
At this moment, Zhu Cijiong was sighing in a long and narrow valley.
"Brother Duan, how far have we walked?" Zhu Cijiong asked Xia Wanchun.
Xia Wanchun was stunned for a moment and asked Zhu Cijiong: "Does it start from Samarkand?"
"No, I mean the valley in front of me." Zhu Cijiong pointed at the nearly 100-meter-high mountains on both sides with the riding whip in his hand and said, "How far have we walked in this valley?"
Xia Wanchun groaned and replied: "Almost a hundred miles."
"We have actually walked a hundred miles." Zhu Cijiong exclaimed, "This is simply a place no less beautiful than Tongguan Road. If the Moguls build a pass at both the east and west ends of this valley, we will be able to mobilize
With a 4-inch field gun, it would not be easy to blast through such a majestic pass."
"What King Ding said is absolutely true." Xia Wanchun said with deep conviction, "In terms of the degree of steepness, the Kelbo Pass is far above the Tongguan Road. It has been more than a hundred years since the Mughals entered India, but they have always been
It was really stupid not to think of building a pass at Kelber Pass. It was so stupid."
"Kelber Pass?" Zhu Cijiong asked, "This is called Kelber Pass?"
Xia Wanchun didn't say much, he just waved to a guide wearing Arab robes to come forward.
The Arab who was following Xia Wanchun quickly urged his horse to come forward. He crossed his right hand across his chest to salute Zhu Cijiong first, and then made a cross-chest salute to Xia Wanchun.
Xia Wanchun said to Zhu Cijiong: "Prince Ding, this man's name is Abdullah. He is a jewelry merchant who travels between Samarkand and Delhi. He occasionally goes to Samarkand, and has even been as far as Xi'an.
He knows the Gor Empire well and is the guide and interpreter we just found."
Zhu Cijiong smiled and asked: "Abdullah, can you speak Ming Dynasty Mandarin?"
"I can speak a little bit," Abdullah said in a stiff tone, "but there is no problem with daily communication."
"Very good." Zhu Cijiong nodded happily and added, "Tell me about this valley, oh, Kelber Pass."
"Okay." Abdullah said respectfully, "The Kelber Pass is the only passage connecting the Indian mainland and Persia. It is more than a hundred miles long. To the west of the pass is the city of Landikana, and to the east of the pass is Peshawar.
"
"Peshawar?" A cruel smile appeared on Zhu Cijiong's lips, "How about Bilandikana City?"
The city of Landikana was a small border town in the Bukhara Khanate. It had just been massacred by Zhu Cijiong's army three days ago. Tens of thousands of residents in the city, regardless of gender, old or young, were all killed.
Abdullah licked his lower lips greedily and said: "Compared to Peshawar, Landikana is like a stone or a pearl. Peshawar is a pearl in the Indus River Valley and was once the capital of the Kushan Dynasty.
, is also the most important trade transit point between the Indian mainland and the Persian Empire. Xuanzang, the high puppet of the Tang Dynasty, also praised this place as the land of abundance..."
Seeing that Zhu Cijiong seemed a little impatient, Abdullah quickly put away his showoff and went straight to the point: "In a word, Peshawar is the largest city in the entire Indian continent after Delhi, the capital of the Mughal Empire, with a population of more than five
One hundred thousand, there are countless merchants from all over the country, and the shops are lined up in rows. It is a golden city."
"City of Gold?" Zhu Cijiong just smiled when he heard this, with no special expression on his face.
Going back five years, Zhu Cijiong might be tempted when he hears the word gold, because at that time, the Ming Dynasty had not yet issued silver and gold tickets, and needed silver and gold as currency in circulation, so a large amount of gold and silver was needed.
But now the situation is very different. The Ming Dynasty still needs gold and silver, but they no longer use gold and silver as currency in circulation, but as jewelry.
"Yes, the Golden City." Abdullah swallowed and continued, "In fact, Peshawar is not the only Golden City in the Indian continent. There are many other cities also called the Golden City. This is a vast area.
In a continent rich in gold, Emperor Shahjahan of the Mughal Empire even used gold to build a mausoleum for his beloved concubine.”
"Building a mausoleum with gold?" Zhu Cijiong was stunned when he heard this. Such a luxury?
"Yes, it is said that the guardrails of the Taj Mahal are made of gold. The tops and walls of all buildings are inlaid with various gems and gold. The floors are also paved with gold bricks. It is extremely luxurious. Oh yes, this
The Taj Mahal was designed by the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan himself. Shahjahan loved architecture and was more of an architect than an emperor."
"Love architecture?" Zhu Cijiong couldn't help but recall his imperial uncle, Emperor Xizong Zhu Youxiao.
It's a pity that the imperial uncle is no longer here. Otherwise, he could have discussed art with Shah Jahan.
After smiling, Zhu Cijiong asked again: "How far is it from Peshawar to here?"
"It's not far away, about thirty miles." Abdullah replied.
The smile on Zhu Cijiong's face became stronger and stronger: "Send the order, the entire army speeds up the march, and must arrive at the camp outside Peshawar before evening, ha!"
After saying this, Zhu Cijiong galloped away on his horse.
Xu Wuniu and several hundred other riders quickly urged their horses to catch up.
Xia Wanchun did not rush to chase Zhu Cijiong. Instead, he took a step forward and asked Abdullah: "Abdullah, are there any of you Arabs in Peshawar?"
"Yes." Abdullah hurriedly said, "Yes."
Xia Wanchun asked again: "How many people are there in total?"
Abdullah replied: "I'm not sure exactly, but there are still hundreds of thousands of people."
After a short pause, Abdullah added: "They are all my people."
The reason why Abdullah insisted on adding this sentence was because he was worried that the Arabs in Peshawar would be massacred.
Because the Ming army was really merciless in killing foreigners, the four major khanates in Central Asia were almost wiped out by them.
"Okay." Xia Wanchun nodded and asked, "Now, on behalf of His Royal Highness King Ding, I will give you two options. One, I will give you 10,000 taels of gold as a reward, and you can take your clan members to leave Peshawar and return to the Mesopotamia; Secondly, you and your tribe can stay in Peshawar, and I can even recommend you to be the head of an Indian business."
"The big boss of an Indian company?" Abdullah couldn't believe his ears.
Although he had not been in contact with the Ming army for a long time, Abdullah had already heard about some things about the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty established the Western Regions Trading Company in the Western Regions and the Central Asia Trading Company in Central Asia. The chief proprietor of the Central Asia Trading Company, Abaiyi, was a Turghut.
Abdullah also knew that merchants in the Western Regions and Central Asia were called merchants, which were actually government officials.
Because the Western Regions and Central Asian merchants were in charge of almost all the affairs of the Western Regions and Central Asia.
Now, Xia Wanchun actually said that he could be recommended as the head of an Indian company. This was like a big pie falling from the sky and hitting him on the head, almost knocking him unconscious.
The reason is also very simple. If he really becomes the boss of an Indian business, he will be equivalent to the emperor of mainland India. Except for officials and envoys from the Ming Dynasty, he will have the final say in all affairs in India.
However, Abdullah remained calm, knowing that there must be conditions.
At that moment, Abdullah suppressed his excitement and asked: "What do you need from me and my tribe?"
"What you have to do is very simple." Xia Wanchun said word by word, "Convert to Mahayana Buddhism, and it is Mahayana Buddhism from the Ming Dynasty. Your children must enter the Ming Dynasty official school to study, change to write Chinese characters, and change to speak Chinese."
"Ah?" Abdullah was stunned when he heard this, and converted to Mahayana Buddhism? This is undoubtedly a harsh condition.
Xia Wanchun did not rush to force Abdullah to express his position. He just patted him on the shoulder and said: "Don't worry, you still have time to think about it slowly. Just make a decision before the army captures Peshawar."
…
At the same time, Li Yan's army was already gathering near Shigatse.
Li Yan originally only brought two cavalry divisions into Tibet. Previously, the Tibetan serfs rebelled repeatedly under the encouragement of the nobles, which made Li Yan very anxious. In the end, he was even forced to divide his troops for garrison.
Later, after Central Plains Buddhism entered Tibet in a large scale, the situation changed.
Because Central Plains Buddhism and Yellow Sect, that is, Lamaism, have the same origin and are both branches of Mahayana Buddhism, the serfs in Tibet did not even need to change their beliefs and directly switched to the protection of Central Plains Buddhism.
[Note: The previous article said that the Yellow Sect is a Theravada Buddhism, but they are all Mahayana Buddhism]
The foreign monks can chant sutras. The key is that the foreign monks also bring food.
Therefore, Tibetan lamas quickly lost their influence among the serfs.
Now, even the Jokhang Temple, the home of Tibetan Lamaism, has become the Tibetan Shaolin Temple.
Without the support of the serfs, the Tibetan Bahans and the remaining nobles under Gushi Khan were quickly expelled from Tibet by the Ming army, and finally took refuge under the Mara dynasty.
Li Yan decisively summoned one and a half cavalry divisions to prepare for a crusade against the Mara dynasty in Nepal.
After defeating the Mara Dynasty, he continued to send his troops southward and cooperated with Zhu Cijiong to defeat the Mughal Empire.
Li Yan was still very cautious. Even though he had an absolute military advantage, he did not underestimate the enemy at all. Before sending troops to Nepal, he sent a large number of monks to inquire whether the Nepalese had any feuds or enemies.
In the end, these monks really brought good news to Li Yan: there was a real feud between the Malla dynasty of Nepal.
"General, the Gorkhas are the feudal enemies of the Malla dynasty in Nepal, and now the Gorkhas have become strong under the leadership of their leader Prithvi and are ready to resist the tyranny of the Mallas."
"Very good." Li Yan was overjoyed, "Immediately sent someone to contact the Gurkhas and convey the goodwill of the Ming Dynasty to them first, as long as they are willing to assist the Ming Dynasty in attacking the Mala Dynasty in Nepal and killing Zangba Khan and Gushi
For the remnants of the Khan, the Ming Dynasty can even reward them with the Kathmandu Valley."
