Just when Yunxi set off for Ganzhou, on the 21st day of the fifth month of the Ming Dynasty (the 9th day of the twelfth month of the Muharram calendar), the streets of Yiwu City were already filled with red round flags with black backgrounds.
Timur held his clairvoyance in both hands and stood three miles away from the city, guarded by guards, looking at the top of Yiwu City. After a long time, he looked back and said softly: "It is indeed a strong city."
"The Great Khan, no matter how strong the city is, it cannot stop the Great Khan's troops. Let's officially start the siege tomorrow morning." Salha said enthusiastically.
Tamerlane shook his head and said: "Tomorrow we will send out people to test the situation, and when all the troops and horses arrive, we will officially start the attack."
"Great Khan, didn't you say before we set off that we would attack Hami City on the second day?" Salha asked.
"But there are still 60,000 to 70,000 people who have not arrived at Hami City, and these people carry more than one-third of the siege equipment and cannons. Without these, our army's attack power on the city will be much smaller, but it will make Ming Ming
Through this relatively low-intensity war, the country's army has figured out how our army fights. Even if it can consume a certain amount of soldiers and supplies to defend the city, the gain outweighs the loss."
"Besides, if we attack, we must ensure an uninterrupted onslaught and not give the enemy a chance to breathe until the city is breached. But now we don't have enough cannonballs and siege equipment, and we need to accumulate them for a few more days.
It's time to make preparations before the last tens of thousands of people arrive." Timur said.
"Great Khan, we already have so many artillery shells, are they not enough? As for the siege equipment, there are very few trees here, and the only woods have been cut down and only the roots are left, making it difficult to prepare." Shaharul couldn't help but prepare.
asked.
"Shaharu, when dealing with a country like the Ming Dynasty, you must not take it lightly, and you must be extremely prepared in tactics." Timur taught.
"As for the siege equipment, it does not have to be made of wood. I ordered the craftsmen who came along to bake the bricks, even if the quality is very poor."
"Yes, Khan." Everyone didn't quite understand the purpose of his last order, but they still bowed and agreed.
Having said this, Timur glanced at the city of Hami again, turned his horse's head and headed towards the camp.
"Where are all the people from the Eastern Chagatai Khanate?" he asked Yesbu again while pacing his horse.
"Great Khan, we have found out through investigation that most of the people from the Eastern Chagatai Khanate escaped from the city of Urumqi and went south across Jueluotag to Korla and stationed near Bosi Teng Lake. A small number of people first arrived in Turpan. I heard that
The Great Khan sent people south and crossed over to Kuruktag to the Lop Nur area. There is a large lake there, which is enough for hundreds of thousands of people to survive in a short period of time."
"After Shami Chagan himself met with Zhu Shangbing, the king of Qin in the Ming Dynasty, in Turpan, he led 30,000 horsemen and 10,000 cavalrymen under Zhu Shangbing to gather together. He first withdrew eastward to the Hami Basin, and after the army attacked, he went southward.
Wandering.”
"The 20,000 soldiers led by Mahama who stayed in the Gurbantunggut Basin turned out to be old, weak and disabled, and their combat effectiveness was very low. They were defeated by the 10,000 cavalry led by Barma and killed about a thousand people, including three.
Thousands of people surrendered, and the remaining 16,000 people fled in all directions. Among them, Mahama personally led five or six thousand people. They once wanted to flee eastward to Qijiaojing City, but were intercepted and fled northward. They were killed by our army again.
He managed to escape after killing a thousand people. Balma is leading his troops to search for him." Jesb replied.
"Order Balma to return to the city of Urumqi and stop pursuing. Mahama's few defeated soldiers are not worth pursuing with 10,000 elite cavalry. Besides, we have to guard against the Wala people. But let him leave two to three thousand people in Qijiaojing City.
To the north, Qijiaojing City is located at another choke point from the Gurbantunggut Basin to Hami, so it must be guarded against."
"The Ming Dynasty also built a city north of Korla called Tiemenguan?" Timur asked again.
"Yes, Great Khan. According to the Semu people who took refuge, the Ming Dynasty did not know where our army would pass by at that time. In order to prevent our army from sending a small number of soldiers across the Pamir Plateau to the Tarim Basin, they built a city there. It is said that
More than a thousand years ago, when the Khitans ruled the land that is now the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, they built a city there and named it Tiemenguan. However, later civil strife broke out among the Khitans, and they abandoned the entire area west of what is now Jiayuguan.
places, including there.”
"There should be a thousand Khitan soldiers there now, and maybe a few hundred craftsmen and civilians." Jesbu replied.
"Order the soldiers stationed near Turpan to divide five thousand, and then send five thousand infantry and ten thousand auxiliary soldiers from the soldiers who have not yet arrived. Go south and attack Tiemenguan." Timur ordered.
Jesb agreed and quietly asked the guard beside him to write it down.
As they spoke, they had returned to the army camp. At this time, there were more than 500,000 people stationed near Hami City. In addition to 150,000 main troops and 250,000 auxiliary troops, there were also some who had taken the initiative to defect to the Kingdom of Samarkand.
There are more than 30,000 Mongolians, more than 20,000 Central Plains Semu people, and thousands of other ethnic groups. In addition, there are some people who are in the camp unwillingly.
Timur led the generals to patrol the camp, and soon came to the place where the craftsmen were stationed. The leader of the craftsmen hurried over, bowed and saluted: "Nayosa has seen the Great Khan."
"Oh Najosa, my friend, may Allah grant peace to you." Timur got off his horse and said with a smile to him.
"May Allah grant peace to the Khan." Najosa responded with a smile.
"My dear Najosa, how is the progress of the artillery shell production now?"
"Khan, the cannonballs are being manufactured quite smoothly, but the quantity of gunpowder may not be enough. I don't know where the various minerals here are buried. I can only rely on those transported thousands of miles from the city of Samarkand. If possible, I hope
When the Great Khan attacked Hami City, he could push the cannon forward as much as possible to save gunpowder," Najosa said.
"This is not guaranteed. The situation on the battlefield is unpredictable. What's more, the cannons placed at the top of the city have a farther range than the cannons below the city. The closer the cannon is to the city wall, the greater the risk of damage. But I will try my best to give it a try."
Mu'er said.
"Thank you Khan. As long as the gunpowder is enough, the cannonballs will be enough." Nayosa said again.
"That's good."
Just as he was talking, a large cart was suddenly pushed out from the camp. Timur and Nayosa did not pay attention and continued talking. Shaharul did not care at first, but he glanced at the things in the cart and immediately ate.
I was shocked because in the car were corpses with disheveled clothes.
"How come there are so many dead people?" he asked Najosa in great surprise.
"Shaharu, they are all Khitans. Khitans who were killed due to fatigue or being beaten by supervisors."
"How come there are so many Khitans? Why do they have to be killed?" Shaharul asked again.
"In addition to Hami City, the Ming Dynasty also built several small cities in the entire Hami Basin, which were called Weisuo City according to the name of the Ming Dynasty. There were also Khitan soldiers, craftsmen, civilians, and even female relatives in these guard cities."
"After our army captured the city of Urumqi, Zhu Shangbing sent an order to move all the people in the guard city to Hami city, but they didn't expect Sarha to arrive so quickly. Some people were blocked in the city, and some were in the middle of the city.
They were caught on the road. A total of more than 30,000 people were arrested. Another 10,000 people were massacred because of their resistance."
"They were both enemies and heretics. He did not execute them all immediately but sent them to the craftsman camp to work. The Great Khan was very lenient. It is normal for a few of them to die from exhaustion." Najosa said in a very normal tone.
"However, they did not resist, but surrendered to our army? They should not be treated like this." Shaharul continued. It is not that he has never seen dead people, he has commanded thousands of troops to fight, and killed enemies with his own hands.
There are dozens of them, and they have commanded soldiers to kill countless enemies. They also devoutly believe in the Tianfang religion, but they have always disagreed with killing those who surrendered. They also advocate that the Tianfang religion civilization should absorb the essence of all civilizations and treat heretics leniently.
"Shaharu," Timur said to him: "They are just a few heretics. They will die when they die. There is nothing worth remembering. Besides, the Semu people who surrendered to us hate the Khitans very much and let them beat them to death."
A few Khitans also help to unite."
"But," Shaharul still disagreed.
"Nothing!" Tamerlane interrupted him: "I can't control what you do in your own fiefdom in the future and I don't want to, but now that I'm still alive, I will personally command this army. You can only obey the order.
No right to object."
"If you are willing to be tolerant to the Khitans, when the Ming Dynasty is conquered in the future, I will grant you the south of the Yangtze River in the Ming Dynasty, and you can be tolerant to them." Timur said again.
"Yes, Khan." Shaharul could only say.
…
…
About one hundred and fifty miles west of Yiwu City, there is a small city. On the surface, this guard city is still very complete, but when you walk in, you can see the mess and countless broken items all over the ground.
It was scattered everywhere and no one was cleaning it up, and you could occasionally see dried blood stains.
Two soldiers wearing leather armor were walking around casually in the ruins, poking the ground with their spears from time to time. Suddenly, one of them probably had a small stone stuck in his shoe, and he found a flat piece on the spot.
He sat down, took off his shoes and leaned outwards. While he was leaning down, he said, "I don't know what General Mirza thought, but he still asked us to patrol here."
"Of course the general is worried that there are still Khitans who have not been discovered in the city," the other person said.
"How many days has it been? Even if there was, he would have died of thirst." The person who spoke at the beginning said again.
"The general asked us to search, so let's search. Although it's boring, it's much better than being transferred to the city of Hami, where we have to work hard. Although it's our duty to sacrifice ourselves for Allah, it's better to live as long as we can."
"That's true, and it may not be without its benefits." The man said with a sinister smile at first: "I found a young woman the day before yesterday, and I was very happy for two days. But she committed suicide yesterday, which is really a pity. If we can still find another one,
A younger woman would be fine."
"Don't think about this good thing. How could such a good thing happen to us twice? Okay, let's get up and continue wandering around."
The man who started talking put on his shoes and started spinning again.
But they didn't know that just below where they were sitting, a man in ragged clothes, with scars all over his body whose appearance, age and gender could not be identified, was putting his mouth on a place where water dripped from time to time.
