Under the winter sunshine in Hami, hot wind swept across the earth, like a steamer, baking everyone.
On the vast land, the cavalry phalanx moved forward rapidly.
Like a huge monster, it opens its fangs and huge mouth, constantly devouring the distance between the two sides.
People and horses were rushing back and forth in the distance, and the reflection of their sharp weapons made stars nod in the sea of people.
As the distance got closer, a crackling sound broke the entire battlefield.
"Musket——" Su Litang gritted his teeth, his face ashen.
In the vast Western Region, only the Kazakhs and the Junggars have sporadic muskets, which they bought from the Russians.
As for the Yarkand Khanate, which is located at the southern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains and the Turpan region, most people often only hear its name but don't see it.
Suli Tang only had a few personal soldiers, and the rest of the soldiers had never even heard of him.
"not good--"
Suddenly, his face turned pale.
The strength of the cavalry with muskets is unpredictable, let alone such a huge number of muskets?
Sure enough, with the contact, the power of the musket exploded instantly, and thousands of people were wiped out in one encounter.
The most heroic warriors at the front were massacred and passed away before they could react.
But the cavalry in the rear were shocked by the brutal massacre, and the horses were frightened because they were afraid of the muskets, and the formation was in chaos for a while.
How could the Ming army give up such a good opportunity?
With such a huge gap, tens of thousands of Ming troops continued to rush forward, directly defeating the forward army.
In this way, a chain reaction occurs.
The defeated army at the front was swept up and rushed towards the central army, causing chaos in its camp.
Su Litang immediately turned around and charged towards the west, while a large number of Ming troops over there were galloping in groups towards the south, shooting with "thunderbolts" and arrows in the air like locusts.
The roaring noise made people's ears buzz.
Suri Tang looked around, he could no longer control the situation.
There were horse soldiers charging and surging everywhere, and a large area of the Turpan coalition army was divided into countless groups by the charging troops.
The battlefield was moving everywhere, but they were unable to break through from all sides. The Ming army was like the scythe of death, constantly chasing and killing, leaving the coalition forces unable to evade and fleeing in a hurry.
At this time, the coalition forces composed of tribes were immediately frightened and couldn't wait to gather their own armies and prepare to retreat, for fear of falling into the hands of the Ming army.
Suli Tang was even more afraid of death. He anticipated that he was about to be defeated and immediately fled back with his soldiers.
When they arrived in Turpan, they still had a city to defend.
At this time, the sun has just reached its zenith.
The scene at this time was even more terrifying. There were corpses everywhere, and the corpses of people and horses were piled up!
On the messy battlefield, the rebel soldiers no longer fought hard, but were completely massacred! Some tribesmen dismounted and surrendered, but they were treated like animals by the Ming army cavalry and were killed and chased around.
The hearty victory made the Ming army so aggressive that it was difficult to stop them.
Even half of the Ming army was composed of grassland tribes. They continued to attack and harass as if they were hunting, making the fleeing coalition forces miserable and had to surrender.
In less than an hour, the war came to an end, and Gao Yigong was overjoyed.
He stood on a high place, looking at the one-sided battlefield and the raging massacre, and immediately raised his hand and said: "Tell them not to massacre."
"Immediately organize ten thousand cavalry for me, and together with the remaining army, we will enter Turpan and sweep the land."
In this great battle, in which a small number defeated a large number, our own losses were minimal, but Turpan's vitality was severely damaged.
For Gao Yigong, the Marquis was already beckoning to him in this battle, and taking Turpan was the finale.
Following a remnant and defeated general like Suli Tang, it was only natural to sweep into Turpan.
The weather was still hot in the afternoon, but the battlefield was filled with smoke and a murderous atmosphere.
Many people in Hami City were carrying headless corpses and throwing them into the big pits. In the pits all around, the bones were burning with firewood, tung oil, and black smoke filled the air.
There was an unpleasant smell in the air, the smell of burnt flesh and blood, fishy smell and various mixed stenches.
The sergeants held their weapons and were slashing on the battlefield to make sure nothing was missed; the common people and the men were picking up weapons and arrows on the ground, everything was in order.
A large number of war horses were gathered together and became prisoners of the Ming army. The prisoners could only squat in the corner of the city unhappily, waiting for the trial of the Ming army.
Of the 50,000-strong army, no more than 10,000 were actually killed or injured, 20,000 surrendered, and more than 10,000 fled.
"General Soldier, we are prosperous."
The baggage officer ran over and said happily: "There are 10,000 injured horses and more than 20,000 intact ones. We can directly form 20,000 cavalry and sweep across the Western Regions."
Hexi Dama has been famous in the world since ancient times. It was the breeding base of Dawan horses in the Western Han Dynasty, so the horse breeds are excellent.
Turpan has a vast oasis, and there is no shortage of horses in Hexi. What's more, the Mongolians are good at nomadic herding, and horses are their life.
"If we occupy Turpan, our Ming Dynasty will truly own the horse breeding land."
Gao Yigong sees further.
He was deeply aware of the importance of Turpan, and also understood how great his achievements were.
It would really be unreasonable for my brother-in-law not to give himself a marquis.
"First starve the prisoners for two days and only give them water."
"All the disabled horses were slaughtered to replenish the health of the Alangs."
Gao Yigong ordered, his face filled with joy.
The tens of thousands of cavalrymen who entered Turpan in pursuit of Suli Tang relied on their prestige on the battlefield to act unscrupulously along the way.
Su Litang was afraid of his possession of muskets and did not dare to confront him. Sometimes, as soon as he entered the city, the Ming army came after him.
He could only run away regardless.
Escaped back to his base camp, Anle City.
This chase well informed Turpan that the Yarkand Khanate was defeated and the Ming army was victorious.
Therefore, when the Ming army stopped, those tribes who took advantage of the situation immediately surrendered to them and joined forces to besiege Anle City.
What a great guy, we immediately went from defeated to victorious.
As a result, the number of soldiers and horses gathered under Anle City exceeded 20,000.
However, since most of them were cavalry, it was difficult to capture the city.
Gao Yigong took the remaining soldiers and hurriedly arrived at Turpan and arrived at the foot of Anle City.
By this time, the Ming army had expanded to 30,000 people, and was still increasing.
It is human inertia to stand on the side of the winner.
"Tell Suli Tang that as long as he hands over Anle City, I am willing to let him go."
Gao Yigong did not want his men to suffer heavy casualties, nor did he want to get a severely damaged Anle City.
After all, this is the capital city of Turpan and is the property of the Ming Dynasty. With years of savings from the Silk Road, I don’t know how wealthy it is.
Don't those eager tribes just want to take advantage of the opportunity to plunder?
Moreover, as the younger brother of Yerqiang Khan, Suli Tang had a high status and killing him would outweigh the gain.
Soon, Suli Tang gave in and headed to the west with two thousand die-hard loyalists.