"Great Khan, you are seventy years old this year, and the expedition to the Ming Dynasty will definitely not be successful in one or two years from now. If something that no one wants to happen happens before your plan is completed,
what to do?"
Jesb pointed out the biggest problem in this Eastern Expedition: Timur's age. He is already seventy years old this year according to the Hijri calendar. It is hard to say how many more years he can live. If he dies of illness before the Ming Dynasty is destroyed, it will not only affect the Eastern
Conquest would be a disaster for the entire Khanate.
The Timur Khanate was a fairly loose country. Although there were 20 million people in total, only 3 to 4 million people directly took orders from the Khan. Timur's more than 200,000 elite soldiers came from these 3 to 4 million people.
Selected from among people.
But because there is no effective management method, even the more than 200,000 elite soldiers under his command belong to different generals and his descendants, and they are not completely integrated.
Now the entire Khanate can operate normally because of Timur's huge prestige. No tribe dares not to listen to him. Once he dies suddenly and his successor does not have enough prestige, the entire Khanate will quickly fall apart. This is not even as good as it was back then.
The Mongol Empire was founded by Temujin, and at least after Temujin's death, the regime achieved a smooth transition.
Jesbu would never dare to say this publicly. Even if he said it in private, he hesitated for a long time before finally making up his mind. 'For the sake of the Khanate, even if the Great Khan wants to kill me, I must say it.'
Timur stood up from the sofa, walked around the house for a while with his hands behind his back, and said to him: "Now, you are the only one who dares to say such things to me."
"I know you have good intentions, but the Eastern March will never stop!"
Timur turned his head, stared into Jesb's eyes and continued: "All the powerful countries in the world have been defeated by me, whether they are the Golden Horde, the Ottomans, the Tudluq Dynasty, the Mamluks
The Ilkhanate and the Ilkhanate have all been defeated by me, but only the Ming Kingdom, only the Ming Kingdom in the east, has not been defeated by me."
"I am not coveting the land and population of the Ming Kingdom. I have now ruled a land similar to the Ming Kingdom. Although the population under my jurisdiction is not as good as that of the Ming Kingdom, it is still the leading power in the entire west and the center of the continent. Countless people have conquered the entire continent.
All the people who looked down upon me bowed their heads high to me."
"I also know how difficult it is to conquer the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty has only been thirty-seven years (Hijri) since their first emperor named Zhu Yuanzhang was officially called the emperor, and for more than thirty years, the Ming Dynasty has been fighting with the surrounding people.
When the country is at war, the generals can still command, and the soldiers can still fight."
"But I still have to send troops to attack the Ming Kingdom. Only by conquering the Ming Kingdom, or at least defeating it and occupying several of its provinces, can I become the Great Khan of Mongolia and the greatest conqueror in the world surpassing Genghis Khan!"
"Did you know that in the west of the continent, there was a man named Gaius Julius Caesar more than 1,400 years ago? When this man conquered Egypt, he once said: 'I am here.
, I saw, I conquered. 'Since I already know the existence of the Ming Kingdom in the East, I must conquer it!"
"But,..." Jesbu wanted to say more, but was immediately interrupted by Timur: "My meaning is already clear, you don't need to say it anymore!"
"Yes, Khan." Jesib could only sigh helplessly in the end, bowed and left.
After Jasbu withdrew, he suddenly bowed down and coughed a few times, then stood up straight again, called the eunuch in and said: "Give me the order, from today onwards, no one is allowed to enter or leave the city of Samarkand, and no one is allowed to leave."
Government officials or military generals and their subordinates are not allowed to leave the city, even the leaders of the tribes under my rule. If anyone wants to force his way in, he will be killed without mercy."
In the following days, the entire city of Samarkand fell into a short-lived economic boom. Almost all the grain stores selling grain were bought, and almost all the carriages in the city were purchased by the government. The craftsmen were also busy, working day and night.
They stopped making iron tools. The government also purchased tens of thousands of pieces of cloth and asked women in the city to make clothes from the cloth. They had to complete the work within ten days. Violators were severely punished. All of this made the people in the city know that they were going to make clothes again.
There was a war, and the scale of this war was very large.
However, they are not afraid, even those who have family members serving in the army. In the past few years, Timur's reputation for being invincible has become so loud that the people in Samarkand have become blind to him.
They felt that as long as the Great Khan was there, the war would never be defeated. They had even begun to discuss how many things the family could get back this time.
This atmosphere also spreads in the army. All soldiers and middle- and low-level generals are blindly optimistic and gearing up to defeat anyone who dares to stop the army.
Only the senior generals who understood the internal situation of the Ming Dynasty were worried. Although the Khan's plan was clever, it was difficult to predict how things would develop. The most important thing was that the Ming Dynasty seemed to be monolithic, and there was no room for sowing discord. This time he attacked the Ming Dynasty.
It was another labor-intensive expedition. Even if Hami could be captured, it was hard to say whether the subsequent war to conquer the Ming mainland would be successful.
But no one dared to express this emotion. Even Jesb, who had followed Timur Khan for nearly forty years, kept his mouth shut and was just busy dispatching the army, and others did not dare to speak.
On August 13th, early in the morning, Salha led 50,000 troops to set off first and headed north. Two days later, on August 15th, Timur personally led the remaining 180,000 troops and more than 100,000 troops.
The servants officially set off. There were another 100,000 servants waiting for him north of the Syr Darya River all the way to Lake Balkhash.
After two months of marching, Salha led 50,000 pioneers to the west of Alashan Pass on October 17.
…
…
"Your Highness, the Hijri calendar is a completely different calendar from the Ming Dynasty calendar. The Hijri calendar is entirely a lunar calendar, while the Ming Dynasty calendar is a lunisolar calendar. The Hijri calendar has twelve months in a year, with six months: January, March, Five, Seven, Nine, and Eleven.
Each month has 30 days, and the five months of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 all have 29 days. If it is a leap year, December has 30 days, and in an ordinary year, December has 29 days in total.
So the Hijri year is 354 or 355 days."
"Don't they have leap months?" Looking at the man returning from Samarkand, Zhu Shangbing asked strangely: "There are only 354 or 355 days in a year, which makes it ten times shorter than the real year.
Around the day, the Ming Dynasty’s calendar used leap months to increase the time. If there were no leap months in the Hijri calendar, wouldn’t there be ten days missing every year?”
"Your Highness, in the Hijri calendar, the month with one more day than usual is a leap month. It is true that every year in the Hijri calendar is ten or eleven days shorter than the real year, so approximately every thirty-four years, the Hijri calendar will have an extra year.
Their four seasons are not fixed. As the sun and moon rotate, they may have summer in February and winter in August, or summer in October and winter in April.”
"It's really strange." Shang Bing couldn't help but say.
"Your Highness, this is the calendar of this lustful man. I am definitely not deceiving Your Highness." The man said quickly.
Since the news came that the Samarkand Kingdom was about to march eastward, Shang Bing actively prepared for war with his country. At the same time, he took time every day to chat with Xi Zuo who returned from Samarkand City to learn about the situation in the Samarkand Kingdom.
Shang Bing sighed a few more words, glanced at the engraving, and said with a smile: "It is already noon. You can leave first. I will call you into the house in the afternoon and continue to introduce the customs of Samarkand."
"
"Yes, Your Highness." The man agreed, bowed and stepped back.
Shang Bing stood up and stretched, and said to the eunuch beside him: "Send someone to the kitchen and order to prepare meals for more than ten people. Remember to tell them not to cook mutton anymore, but to kill a pig to eat."
"You personally invite the generals and Zhuo Xiang to come into the house, and you want to have dinner with them. If they refuse, tell them that although you are very busy because of the Samarkand Kingdom's Eastern Expedition, it is not enough.
While eating."
"I know, I know." The eunuch agreed and left with a few young eunuchs.
After a while, Zhuo Jing, the right minister of the Qin vassal, entered the palace. When he saw Shang Bing, he bowed and said, "I have met your highness."
"You don't need to be polite, Zhuo Aiqing. The generals haven't entered the palace yet, so they can't serve meals. But let's go to the dining hall first and let the chef serve a bowl of soup to appetize." Shang Bing said to him with a smile.
"Yes, Your Highness." Zhuo Jing agreed and followed him to the dining hall.
When the two of them arrived at the dining hall, Zhuo Jing saw the snacks on the table and ignored etiquette. He grabbed a few and stuffed them into his mouth, then picked up the bowl of soup and drank the soup in one gulp.
"Zi Aiqing didn't have breakfast today? How can this be okay? The emperor once said: People are like iron rice and steel. If you don't eat one meal, you will feel hungry. Besides, if you don't eat, you will be in low spirits. How can you not eat breakfast!
"Shang Bing said immediately.
"Your Highness, I really don't have time. As soon as I open my eyes, there are countless things waiting to be arranged. Looking at the people who have stayed up all night to finish their errands and wait for me to deal with them, I really can't have breakfast first.
We can only arrange their things first and then make plans. But as we arrange, time passes unknowingly. By the time I am free, it is often past noon. I have to eat a few mouthfuls of food in a hurry and start busy again. No.
Hiding it to Your Highness, I was relieved when I heard His Highness summoning me to the palace." Zhuo Jing sat on the chair and said with a wry smile.
"From tomorrow on, no one else is allowed to enter your mansion before you wake up. You are now the pillar of the Qin Dynasty. If you are so busy, tired and sick, how can you live a good life?" Shang Bing said.
Although Shang Bing's words are compliments to Zhuo Jing, they are also true. Zhuo Jing is now the right minister of the Qin vassal, and all general affairs are handled by him. If he falls, no one else can make the decision. Although Shang Bing
It can be done, but first of all, he is very impatient with the general affairs, and secondly, Zhuo Jing has been handling it in the past few years, so I'm afraid he won't be able to do well if he takes over rashly.
After listening to Shang Bing's words, Zhuo Jing was in a good mood, but of course he still had to be humble on the surface.
Shang Bing asked again: "Zhuo Aiqing, how are things arranged?"
"Your Highness, the 20,000 cattle and 30,000 sheep sent from here have all been counted and handed over to the specially set up 'herding army' for grazing; the 20,000 pieces of cloth shipped from Shaanxi have also been placed in the warehouse.
, I am going to take out 10,000 horses for the civilian women under my rule to make into clothes for the soldiers to replace; the twenty cannons sent the day before yesterday have also been accepted and handed over to Prime Minister Geng..." Zhuo Jing
He told Shang Bing everything about the arrangements for the past few days.
Just as he was talking, several generals in armor walked into the house. When they saw the two of them, they hurriedly saluted Shang Bing and said, "I have met His Highness." He also greeted Zhuo Jing: "I have met Zhuo Xiang."
"Sit down, everyone, there is no need to be polite." Shang Bing said with a smile: "You generals haven't eaten yet, so I will order the cook to bring the food, and we will eat."