After the emperor left Turpan, which was becoming more and more prosperous, the Gaochang New City in Xizhou had begun to take shape, and the Tianshan Fort in the west had been built. The imperial army guarded the emperor through Boluotu Mountain and Haidu Mountain.
Suddenly, it suddenly opened up. It was no longer the vast Gobi Desert, but now it was an open basin oasis.
Yanqi Basin, this is the former Yanqi Kingdom.
Zhu Yihai looked at this mountain basin on his horse. The scenery here was completely different from the scenery along the Hexi Corridor to Turpan.
Compared with the dryness of Turpan, the climate here is humid, with luxuriant water and grass, crisscrossing rivers, vast farmland, and dense towns.
Bosten Lake, Yanqi, Kulongle, Yugur, Yuli, Tiemenguan...
"This is the most suitable place to live in the Western Region. Yanqi has richer water resources than Kashgar, Hotan, Aksu and other places in southern Xinjiang, and is rarely troubled by sandstorms. Compared with the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, the Ili Valley, Tacheng, Altay and other places in northern Xinjiang, the climate is
It is warmer.
This place is like a paradise beyond the Great Wall!”
Wang Hong is a senior spy of Jinyiwei. He has stayed in the Western Regions for more than ten years. He has traveled almost all over the Tianshan Mountains, crossed the Congling Mountains east and west, and even went deep into the Hezhong area. He can say that he knows the Western Regions as well as he knows his own courtyard. He is telling the emperor
When introducing the Yanqi Basin, I bluntly stated that this is the most livable place.
Even in terms of strategic position, it is still very prominent.
The Yanqi Basin is an intermountain fault basin, surrounded by high mountains on all sides, and is relatively closed. It is about 350 miles long from east to west and about 160 miles wide from north to south. It is not only a transportation artery between the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, but also a climate ecotone.
Regulated by the waters of Lake Boss, the cold and heat changes here are not great, the climate is livable and grapes are abundant.
What's even more rare is that Bosi Lake is a huge natural freshwater lake. The main river in the basin, the Kaidu River, also has a large amount of water. In Journey to the West, this river is the famous Tongtian River.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Yanqi State here was the most prosperous city-state among the thirty-six kingdoms in the Western Regions. In the Tang Dynasty, a governor's office was established in Yanqi, and it became one of the four Anxi towns in the Tang Dynasty.
Yanqi connects Turpan to the east, Urumqi to the north, Kuqa and Aksu to the west, and Ruoqiang and Dunhuang to the south.
This area has both fertile soil for farming and water and grass for grazing. It also has convenient transportation and is located on the Silk Road, making it extremely beneficial for industry and commerce.
From a military perspective, the Yanqi Basin is relatively small compared to large basins such as the Turpan Basin, Junggar Basin, and Tarim Basin, but it is more conducive to defense.
Its Iron Gate Pass was once one of the famous passes in the world.
Yarkand established the Governor of Kulonle here.
Previously, the Junggar and other Oirat coalition forces attacked Yanqi twice and occupied half of the basin. The Junggar people even renamed Yanqi Karasha'er, which means black city.
It's a pity that the Junggar people failed to capture it in the end, and finally lost the Wu, Tu, and Ha they had obtained.
It's just that Yarkant repelled two Oirat attacks before, but this time the Ming army captured the entire basin in one fell swoop.
It was relatively easy for the Ming army to capture the Yanqi Basin.
Amulun, the governor of Turpan, established himself in eastern Xinjiang and surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, which caused Yanqi to directly lose the barrier support in the east.
Although Yarkand Khan Abdullah Khan personally raised an army to leave Yarkand and march eastward, as soon as he left the capital, his eldest son Yaolebas, the governor of Kashgar, rebelled and proclaimed himself khan in Kashgar under the instigation of the Baishan faction.
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Abdullah was so angry that he turned around and went to quell the chaos.
Although his younger brother, the Governor of Aksu, claimed to send troops to serve the king, he actually took the opportunity to recruit troops and established his own rule in Aksu.
Chechen Khan Oqiltu of the Lut Khanate led his troops from the Ili Valley in the north to the south, crossed the Tianshan Mountains, and attacked Baicheng and Kuqa, leaving the Aksu Governor with too much to worry about.
Southern Xinjiang was also in complete chaos.
Governor Kulonle led troops to rescue Kuqa in the west. As a result, Zhu Yihai, who had built Gaochang City in Turpan, decisively mobilized troops southward.
The emperor had been staring at Yanqi for a long time.
Previously, they took advantage of the white hat riot in Hami and took advantage of the opportunity to seize Hami before the Dzungars. Then they used the Dzungars' attack to force Amulun, the governor of Turpan, to surrender. When they fought hard and Turpan could no longer hold it, the Ming army took advantage of the situation and entered.
Turpan and even a static army was established in Manas.
Yanqi, a soft-spoken man, has long been regarded as a forbidden favorite by the emperor.
Had Prince Yaolebas rebelled and stood up for himself, Oqirtu would have sent troops south to Aksu according to the order.
Aksu in the west and Turpan in the east were in chaos, so Yanqi was naturally isolated and helpless.
The Ming army's dispatch of troops at this time was just a matter of success and capture.
However, the Governor of Kulonle also led troops to rescue Kuqa, only focusing on the head and not the end. The elite Ming Forbidden Army had been waiting for this moment, and the army quickly moved westward, marching two hundred miles a day.
Governor Kulonle was still assisting in the defense in Kuqa, but a fire broke out in the backyard. By the time he received the news, the Ming army had quickly occupied four cities in Yanqi and blocked the mountain passes on all sides of the basin.
Governor Kulonle was blocked outside and could not return. There were still some Yarkand troops in the basin, but they were already trying to catch turtles in an urn behind closed doors.
The most elite Imperial Guards of the Ming Dynasty raided the black hat militia, almost as easily as the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, effortlessly.
The emperor looked at the fertile land of the oasis in the Yanqi Basin and felt the cool wind in the basin, which was much more comfortable than Turpan.
“What a great place!”
"We need to speed up immigration."
The Ming army captured the Yanqi Basin in one fell swoop, and also captured the oases in the south of the basin such as Kulongle, Yuli, Tiemenguan, and Yugul. The oasis in front reached the Tarim River in the south, and the Taklimakan Desert was on the other side of the river.
Kulonla was later called Korla. The oasis was very large, but militarily it was not as good as the Yanqi Basin.
For the emperor, the best way to conquer the Western Regions, once and for all, is to change people. The land remains unchanged forever, but the people on it can change.
Simply replace the current people in the Western Regions, move away the Yerqiang people in Yanqi, and move in Han people, then this place will be completely stable.
Historically, the Dzungars conquered the Yarkands, but they still used the Black and White faction as the Lords of Burke to rule the place. Although they were allowed to surrender for a short period of time, they paid taxes, served, and were very docile. However, they did not share the same heart with the Dzungars. Not only did they continue to riot,
They even took the initiative to lure Qing troops to attack the Junggar people.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Later, when the Qing army destroyed Junggar and took over the northern and southern Xinjiang, they still appointed these Burkes as lords and allowed them to govern themselves. In the end, they still rebelled less often.
After all, the biggest problem is still a human problem.
Zhu Yihai was welcomed into Yanqi City. This black holy city that was once renamed Karashaar by the Junggars is actually very small. The city circumference is only more than 200 feet, and it is only a mile and a half. The city wall is only 1.3 feet high.
There are two doors, east and west.
A city built with rammed earth.
The layout of the city is also relatively simple, with streets, markets, and not a large population.
The governor was not in Yanqi, but in Kulongle City.
The Forbidden Army cleared the entire Black City long before the emperor's arrival, and even underwent a simple rearrangement.
A wooden fence was also built around the outside of the city, and troops were sent to defend it as the first line of guard. The original city was used as the inner city, and cannons were mounted on the city. The Forbidden Army was heavily guarded.
"Yanqi, where are the original Yarkand people of Kulongle?"
"The indigenous people here are mainly Uighurs, and there are also some Mongolians. The majority are black hats, and there are fewer white hats and red hats. After capturing Yanqi, we have killed all the black and white Wuchang Ahuns, and the rest of the people have been temporarily taken to build the city.
After the roads are built to transport materials, and when the situation is stable, the craftsmen will be transferred to the craftsman camp, and the rest, some of the docile ones will be left and taken to the towns to be slaves to the government, while the rest will be escorted back to the interior or to the border areas as slaves."
At this time, Zhu Yihai no longer had the pretentiousness he had when he first came. The times are like this. In this era, it is difficult to transcend the constraints and limitations of the times. If you don't do it, others will.
“Don’t be too harsh on these people, just work hard, keep them fed, behave well and keep them together as a family.
Tell them that even if they resisted the Ming Dynasty and were defeated and reduced to prisoners and slaves, I am kind and as long as they work hard, I promise to give them their freedom after ten years of work. Then they can change from slaves to tenants. If they can
No matter how stable, honest and law-abiding you are for ten years, you can still settle in a border area and become a new citizen of the Ming Dynasty, a free man, a yeoman farmer, a free handicraftsman, or even a landlord or a wealthy businessman."
Give them a hope.
Allowing them, who are drowning in darkness, to see a glimmer of light and have the motivation to grit their teeth and obey, is an effective incentive for management.
For the Ming Dynasty, these people could not be directly regarded as Ming ministers, as they were unstable factors, especially they could not directly stay in the local area and let them live freely.
But we cannot let them feel hopeless, otherwise they will definitely continue to resist, which will increase management costs.
Give some hope appropriately. After working as a slave for ten years, you can become a free citizen. Although you will have no property, you can become an official tenant. Then you can make money for yourself. If you work for another ten years, the court can still
Move them to the border areas to divide the fields and grant land to settle down.
Twenty years may be the second half of their lives for them, but at least their next generation has more hope.
There are definitely some people who will not be satisfied with such a result, but it can divide the group and facilitate management.
This is a cruel fact, but the rise and fall of every dynasty in history has been accompanied by such cruelty, and even the conflicts and attacks between countries have become more bloody and cruel.
To be kind to your enemy is to be cruel to yourself.
Conquering the Western Regions and seizing land is also the best reward for the soldiers. They will be given fields and land so that their battles will be richly rewarded. At the same time, the court can also use some land to relocate new immigrants and stabilize the newly occupied areas.
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"Report!"
"Your Majesty, Junggar Jinong Chu Hu'er has withdrawn his troops and returned to the west. He has also contacted several Otuoks to retreat together. They have abandoned Batur Khan!"
"Yeah." Zhu Yihai didn't seem too surprised when he heard the latest news. Human nature is like this. He had already calculated carefully. The emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty formulated several strategies for the disintegration and disintegration of the Junggar Khanate based on the internal details.
Use the Turpan Khanate and Durbot Khanate to block Junggar's eastward expansion, use the Jingsai Army, Han Navy, etc. to block Junggar head-on on the battlefield, and then send envoys to contact the powerful lords and princes of Junggar, Taiji, to win over them.
They, high-ranking officials and nobles, even tempted them to betray Batur Khan by offering them the title of Khan.
Junggar's military defeat and the squeeze from the external environment will inevitably aggravate their existing internal conflicts. Chu Hu'er is already unruly. He even killed his brothers and beat his father. If the conditions are sufficient, let him betray Ba
Tours is stress-free.
This guy wanted to be the Great Khan, but he was unwilling to take action directly. He wanted to go back and wait for the Ming Dynasty to deal with Batur, so that he could take advantage of it.
Zhu Yihai saw through this guy, but it didn't matter. Chu Hu'er retreated at this time, which was a fatal blow to Batur and Junggar, and of course it was good news for the Ming Dynasty.
The next day, another good news came.
The Ming army defeated the 8,000 troops left behind by the Junggars in Wusu, west of the Manas River, and occupied the city of Kulkara Wusu, and also occupied the Jinghe River south of Aibi Lake to the west, and headed west to Talqi Mountain.
, and also occupied Alashan Pass to the north.
The Junggar were defeated, thousands were killed and more than 20,000 were captured. The Junggar tribes in the Wusu and Jinghe areas were wiped out by the Ming army.
Another day passed and another good news came from the north.
Batur Khan was betrayed by his own brothers. Chu Hu'er suddenly led his troops to leave, causing a large gap to the west. Heshuo Qi Khan and Zhu Cunwu led their troops to attack in a hurry. Batur was defeated in every battle, and many princes were defeated.
Ji abandoned Batur and fled.
The Chinese army led by Batur became less and less as they fought, and now they fled to the stone fort of Hobokseli, the old capital. There were only a few thousand soldiers and horses left. Heshuo Qi Khan and Zhu Cunwu surrounded it in the stone fort with 20,000 troops.
Batur Khan's generation of tycoons has been unable to escape. Zhu Cunwu is transferring artillery from Burqin Fort to temporarily besiege and not attack.
There is also excellent news. Yarkand Khan Abdullah Khan returned to the army to attack his son Yaolebas, but he was ambushed in Yingishar and was defeated.
Abdullah Khan escaped from the battlefield with only a few hundred horsemen. After escaping back to Yarkand, he had to send people to tell his son Yaolebas, who was chasing after the victory, that he was going to the holy land of Mai* for pilgrimage, and was forced to abdicate.
Yaolebas accepted his father's abdication and asked him to leave Yarkand with more than ten cavalry. Yaolebas entered Yarkand, officially proclaimed himself Khan and became the tenth Great Khan of Yarkand.
"This is a bit beyond my expectation. Abdullaha is quite capable, but why was he beaten so hard by his young son that he couldn't stand up?"
Ma Jixiang told the emperor that Abdullah Khan had been suspicious and jealous in recent years, and no one believed him. He even killed many ministers out of suspicion, including some of his early confidants. This made everyone in the Khan's court feel in danger.
Many local governors secretly supported Prince Yaolebas.
It is not so much that Abdullah Khan was defeated by his son, but rather that he was betrayed and separated from his relatives. Therefore, this battle was bound to fail. Once defeated, he would not be able to stand up. He originally wanted to hold on to Yarkand City, but there was no one in the city.
Although he was willing to follow him to defend the city and fight, he had no choice but to abdicate in favor of his son on the grounds of pilgrimage.
Yaolebas succeeded to the throne as Khan, but Zhu Yihai was not too worried.
Even if he defeated his father and drove him away, now the uncles and nephews of Chechen Khan and Gushi Khan are attacking from the south and the north, and the Uzbeks are also coming from the west. He is now too overwhelmed to deal with them and can't spare any time to take care of the east.
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After Zhu Yihai captured Yanqi and Yuli, he could digest it calmly.
"Summon my Duke Yan, and Zhu Dadian is here." He called the two bachelors who were accompanying him, and Zhu Yihai asked them to draft an edict, formally canonizing Chu Hu'er as the new Khan of the Junggar Khanate, and giving him the title of Mergen Khan.
