"Dear His Majesty the King, I hope you still remember what your servant Roy Gozelez wrote in his last letter to you."
“In February of the 1404th year of the Lord’s Annals, Timur, the Great Khan of the Timur Khanate, suddenly decided to send troops to the east to conquer the Ming Kingdom, a country composed of the Seris people—called Khitans by the Turks and Mongols.
"(He selected several Latin letters to spell them into words with roughly the same pronunciation)
"This is quite a sudden thing. Although I have heard about Timur's plan to conquer the Ming Dynasty since I came to Samarkand, it is said that the original plan was to send troops in March or April. I don't know exactly what happened.
, but the final result was that Timur launched the Eastern Expedition in advance."
"Timur used 200,000 of his 240,000 main troops, leaving about 40,000 to defend Samarkand and other important places. In addition, he also recruited 300,000 herdsmen to follow the army eastward.
He recruited soldiers, provided food, cattle and sheep, transported various supplies, and served as cannon fodder during sieges. However, he later found more suitable cannon fodder. I recently heard that Timur has decided to continue recruiting herdsmen from the country.
."
"In May, Timur's army occupied Alashankou. This was the only way from the Western Chagatai Khanate to the Eastern Chagatai Khanate. The geographical location was very dangerous. Immediately, Timur sent one of his generals
Salha quickly moved forward to seize other strategic locations before the Ming people reacted."
"But between Alashankou and Hami, which is actually controlled by the Ming Dynasty, is the place of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate. I originally thought that the country's Great Khan Shami Chagan would lead troops to resist, but these Mongolians seemed to be the same as what I had heard since childhood.
As mentioned before, the Mongols who once ravaged Eastern Europe and West Asia are not the same species. After hearing that Timur sent troops eastward, Shamechagan immediately led his tribe to flee eastward, allowing Salha to easily occupy the rich Gurbantong.
In the Gute Basin, troops were sent to capture another strategic location, Urumqi."
"About this time, Zhu Shangbing, the prince of the Ming Dynasty who was enfeoffed in Hami and was titled King of Qin, learned about Timur's military expedition to the east, sent people to his headquarters to ask for help, and stepped up efforts to improve the defense of Hami City."
"Timur also knew that Zhu Shangbing would not sit back and die in Hami City, nor would he flee eastward, so in addition to leaving a small number of troops to defend Urumqi and surround Turpan, the army with a total number of nearly 500,000 went full force eastward.
They will all arrive outside Hami City at the end of the month and immediately begin to attack the city."
"The resistance of the Ming army in the city was very fierce. There were originally 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers in the city, and 70,000 reinforcements arrived before being surrounded. Therefore, there were at least 90,000 regular troops in the city, plus the civilians who were bound to be drafted.
In terms of military strength, Timur does not have much advantage, even if his siege materials are more than the defensive materials in the city."
"So when the siege lasted four days, Timur ordered the captured Seris to be driven out of the camp and use them as the vanguard to attack the city."
"This barbaric approach played a certain role, but it still failed to capture Hami City. And since then, the Ming army at the top of the city was no longer merciless in the face of such a situation. It could only consume the strength and arrows of the Ming army soldiers.
It worked, but the losses of these unprotected Seris were heavy. So Timur later decided to stop this practice."
"However, not only did the siege not stop, but it became more intense. This was to capture Hami City before the next batch of Ming troops arrived, so as to take the initiative in the war. As of today, the Timur Khanate's army has
The siege lasted for more than ten days, and while we suffered heavy losses, we also inflicted heavy casualties on the Ming army at the top of the city."
"But maybe a turning point has come. When I was observing the war next to Timur yesterday day, although batch after batch of soldiers were killed, his expression relaxed. He turned his head and said to me:'
The Ming army's defensive equipment is almost exhausted, and they will be able to break through the outer city of Hami tomorrow; if they are lucky, they can even conquer the inner city at once, completely occupy the city, and capture Qin King Zhu Shangbing alive.'"
"So today I will take the telescope I finally got, which Ming people call clairvoyance, to see. If Timur's soldiers successfully capture the inner city of Hami, I will continue to write this letter to His Majesty after I come back.
; If Tamerlane’s soldiers fail to do so, I will write down the course of the war in my next letter.”
"However, even if Timur's soldiers captured the city of Hami, it does not mean that Timur won the war. The territory of the Ming Dynasty was very large, and its population was greater than the population of the entire Europe. Far more
The population under Timur's rule is now the richest country in the world, and it is probably the most powerful country in the world. And the power of the Ming emperor is far greater than that of any monarch I have ever heard of.
, the defeat in Hami will not shake the rule of the emperor of this country. The possibility of Timur continuing his eastern expedition to win is very small in my opinion."
"This is not a good thing for the kingdom. Whether Timur is defeated in the east or there is a stalemate, it means that the energy of the Timur Khanate is contained in the east. The Ottomans who occupy Asia Minor can take the opportunity to regain their strength and reconnect with the kingdom.
Fighting for territory and routes in the Mediterranean. But I am powerless to stop this. I can only pray to the Lord to protect the kingdom."
"There is another person named Fu An who is very interesting. This person was mentioned in the previous letter. He was an envoy sent by the Ming Dynasty to Samarkand in 1395. He was detained by Timur. This time he accompanied the army.
Get up and go to the Eastern Chagatai Khanate."
"He was very worried that his motherland would be defeated by Timur. He sighed and sighed every day, trying to persuade Timur to retreat. However, he stopped persuading after Timur sent the captured Seris people to attack the city, and he spoke a lot less.
.But as long as Timur allows it, he will still go to watch the battle every day."
"By the way, the Seris people in the East are indeed as mentioned in "Marco Polo's Travels". The writing they use now is still hieroglyphics, not alphabetic writing. There are probably only Seris people and their vassals in the world.
People in China still use this kind of hieroglyphics called Chinese characters. This kind of writing is very difficult to learn. I started learning from Fu An after arriving in Samarkand about a year ago, but now I can only write a few dozen characters.
, the language is also very awkward."
"Your Majesty, it is less than six o'clock in the morning local time, it is already dawn, and Timur is about to send his soldiers to attack the city. So I will put down my pen temporarily and watch today's siege battle."
