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Chapter 1048 – 1044 [War In The Western Regions]

Chapter 1048 1044 [War in the Western Regions]

Chijin Town, Yumen City, Jiuquan City, Gansu Province is the hometown of Iron Man Wang Jinxi.

The word Chijin comes from Chijin Mongolia.

During the Ming Dynasty, between Yumenguan and Jiayuguan, the imperial court set up Chijinwei, where a large number of Mongolians lived. With the rise of Yarkand, more than a hundred years ago, Chijin Mongolia was killed and returned to Jiayuguan, and the local religious beliefs changed color.

Now, the Chinese imperial court sent troops here again, and the vanguard tribe of 5,000 people came outside Chijin Fort.

The name of the local nobleman is Ma Hemu, and his official position is Chijin Boke, which means Chijin Lord. Relying on the business taxes collected from the Silk Road, he has been living well for the past twenty years, and he never thought that he would be besieged one day.

He sent his cronies out of the city to negotiate, and the cronies came back quickly and said: “Master Burke, the Han generals want you to surrender immediately, and they don’t discuss any conditions for surrender.”

“How can I surrender without talking about it?” Ma Hemu was quite annoyed.

The confidant said: “They said that this is the homeland of China, and it must be taken back. Last year, documents were sent to the Burkes in the Western Regions, but no one was willing to donate soil, so they brought troops here to collect it this year.”

“Nonsense, my grandfather beat down this place!” Ma Hemu was furious.

Chijin Fort and its surrounding areas belong to the flood plain of Qilian Mountains. Compared with the generally barren western regions, this place is suitable for farming and grazing. It has been identified as a resettlement site, and two thousand Han people will migrate here.

Mahemu made money by collecting business taxes. Although he did not expand the army aggressively, he repaired his castle.

He stood at the top of the city, looked at the thousands of Datong troops outside, and said with a grim face: “My castle is strong and tall, and thousands of Han troops can’t take it down!”

The reason why Ma Hemu was unwilling to surrender was that he was reluctant to pay taxes here.

He has already tasted the sweetness. How can he who has eaten meat be willing to go back to eat grass? Once surrendered, even if he survived, the right to collect taxes would definitely be taken away by the Han officials.

The vanguard of the 5,000 Datong Army saw that Mahemuzhen would not surrender, and immediately withdrew several miles to set up camp. They were all cavalry, and they didn’t bring any siege equipment. They had to wait for the big troops to come.

Dang didn’t just sit around and wait, the next day he began to sweep the surrounding villages.

The Yarkand Khanate has developed to the present, and it implements the aristocratic manor system. All the land in the country belonged to the sultan, and then distributed to the local lords, who in turn distributed to the minor nobles.

Basically in every village, there are nobles, and the land in the whole village belongs to the nobles.

Five thousand Datong cavalry, divided into ten groups to sweep the village. They do not bother the common people, but go straight to the best house, which must be the home of the minor nobles.

Kill the men and capture the women, without saying anything at all.

There will be absolutely no innocent people, because these little nobles lived in Turpan more than a hundred years ago, and this land was snatched by their ancestors. At that time, the process of grabbing territory was extremely **** and cruel, far exceeding that of the Datong Army.

The little nobles in the village who were not killed by the Datong army all fled to Chijin Fort, which happened to be a one-pot meal.

The more the Datong army “looted” the village, the more Ma Hemu felt at ease in the castle. He felt that China didn’t send many troops, so it must be robbed and left, and his castle should not be in danger.

After more than ten days like this, Ma Hemu was stunned on the top of the wall when he saw the army in the distance.

How many people should there be?

Under the warm sun, countless troops marched forward, and horses, livestock, and vehicles stretched beyond the horizon.

The 5,000 vanguard troops had already circled to the west of the castle to prevent the enemy from fleeing to Yumen.

“Siege!”

Start fighting as soon as you come, no nonsense.

The coach of this battle is Jiang Liang who is based in Xi’an. After he regains the Western Regions, he should also be transferred back to Nanjing to take up the post. If the battle is fought well, it is very likely that he will be named the Duke of the State—he is also a Duke now, but he belongs to the Duke of the county with a double prefix.

Outside Chijin Fort, there is a small river coming from Qilian Mountain.

The Datong Army had no intention of filling the moat at all. The infantry protected the artillery and stepped forward, setting up a fort on the other side of the river towards the castle.

A total of sixty-four cannons were laid out by the river.

When Ma Hemu saw the black gun barrel, his pants were almost peeing in fright.

Chijin Fortress is just a small castle. Not to mention sixty-four cannons, even if there are only six cannons, they can knock down the rammed earth walls.

“I am willing to surrender, quickly… open the city gate!” Ma Hemu roared.

The little nobles who fled from various villages stepped forward to stop them one after another: “Lord Burke, you can’t surrender. Those Han soldiers will kill the nobles when they see them, and they will kill the nobles if they surrender. It doesn’t make sense at all.”

Ma Hemu said: “If you don’t surrender, you will definitely die. If you surrender, you may survive. Get out of the way!”

While entangled in the city, the Datong artillery had already started test firing.

A shell landed in the city, smashing the roof, only ten steps away from Mahemu.

The little nobles were frightened and scattered on the spot, mounted their war horses, and fled towards the west of the city in a swarm. They also knew that they couldn’t defend the city, so they ran as far as they could, and fled all the way to Hami to seek refuge with Hezhuo.

Ma Hemu was stunned for a moment, and he did not leave the city to surrender, and fled with his wife and children.

These 5,000 vanguard troops who had only escaped ten miles away and ambushed in Dadun Mountain suddenly rushed out from the only way they had to pass.

“All the men were killed, and no one was left behind!”

Five thousand Datong cavalry turned into tigers and wolves in an instant.

And those red gold nobles, already frightened, did not dare to resist at all, and turned to flee towards the Gobi area.

Many aristocratic wives and children were left in place and captured along with their belongings.

The Chijin Fort was easily won, and the mayor of Chijin had already been appointed to set off with the army.

The mayor used to belong to the sequence of officials, but now it has been changed from a ninth-rank official, and a more prosperous place is a regular ninth-rank official. Many college graduates failed to pass the Jinshi exam, and were thrown to the local town to become mayors.

Shen Jian is the one who failed the imperial examination last year. He has a university diploma and has taken the imperial examination twice, and now he only has one chance left.

If all three opportunities are used up, you can’t even be a ninth-rank official, you can only go to the official examination by yourself.

Shen Jian didn’t dare to take the exam anymore. He heard that the imperial court needed a large number of low-level officials to recover the Western Regions, so he rushed to sign up for it. The officials in the Western Regions are also officials, and the newly occupied land is easy to make political achievements, and the promotion speed may be faster.

So, he drew lots to be the mayor of Chijin.

The castle is too small to accommodate the common people, so it will be the official residence of the mayor in the future.

The street market is outside the castle, similar to the castle towns in Japan. Hundreds of craftsmen and merchants who accompanied the army were placed in the market and they were the first batch of town residents.

And the two thousand peasant husbands with their families who helped transport grain and grass before can now stay and settle down.

The fertile land along the river was allotted to Han immigrants.

As for local farmers, as long as they come to the town to register and settle down, they can also be allocated land. The nobles of the village have been killed, they are equal to liberation. The government will not force them to change their beliefs, but if they are willing to convert, the amount and quality of the land they will be allocated will definitely be better.

Shen Jian and several officials were busy all day long.

After finishing the affairs in the town and resettlement, we have to go to the countryside to preach the policy.

The two thousand immigrants all distributed armor, mainly spears, crossbows and leather armor. The land they cultivate will be exempted from tax within five years, and will be halved within ten years, and they will be drilled during the slack season. To put it bluntly, they are quite military settlements, but they all belong to civilian registration.

There is a small merchant of different races in the town, who is very cooperative in his work, and Shen Jian stays by his side as an interpreter, and will apply to help him become a small official in the future.

Shen Jian took the interpreter to the nearest village, accompanied by a team of peasants and soldiers.

He was afraid that the local farmers would violently kill people, but those farmers were afraid of him. Because the local farmers are all serfs under the aristocratic manor system, they were used to being bullied by the aristocrats in the past, and they beat and scolded anyone who came.

A few farmers chatted with Shen Jian tremblingly.

Ask them what ethnicity they belong to, and these people can’t tell.

The translator said next to him: “My lord, they are all Sarta.”

The original meaning of Salta is “merchant”, and it is specially designated for the believers of various ethnic groups in Central Asia, and many of them have moved to Xinjiang and Gansu. There are Turks, Tajiks, Kazakhs, Persians… After leaving their homeland, many of them can’t figure out which ethnicity they are, and the outside world collectively calls them Salta.

Those who can lecture are nobles, and the nobles have been killed.

Facing this group of confused serfs, Shen Jian muttered, “The town needs a few eminent monks!”

Shen Jian returned to the castle, and immediately reported to the court, introducing himself to the situation here. He suggested that a large number of monks be placed here. Now is the best time to preach, and the opportunity will be missed in a few years.

The imperial court attached great importance to this, and Zhao Han even personally issued an order to check the situation of temples across the country. Once a fake monk is found, he will be sent to the Western Regions immediately, and a ultimatum will be issued at the same time.

In addition, it called for encouraging monks and Taoists across the country to go to the Western Regions to open up religious territories. The imperial court was responsible for helping them build temples, and as long as they went there, they would have a great chance to become abbots, and even if they failed to become abbots, they would still be the second or third in command in the temple.

According to history, eight thousand monks entered the Western Regions!

But said that the imperial army marched all the way to Yumen.

The Yumen Pass in the Han Dynasty has long been abandoned, and the Yumen here is Yumen County.

The lord of Yumen heard that the Han army was coming, so he ran away ahead of time, and fled to Hami to ask for asylum. These so-called lords have a standing army of at most a few hundred people, and if they are armed with the small nobles in the village, they can have two to three thousand troops. How dare they fight against the Datong army?

The Datong Army dispatched more than 50,000 horsemen and more than 100,000 civilian husbands (most of them will stay in the Western Regions to reproduce). On the other side of Qinghai, there are still thousands of cavalry of various ethnic groups, who are about to cross the mountain pass and enter Xinjiang.

The army quickly regained Yumen, Guazhou, and Dunhuang. All the nobles along the way fled and crowded together in Hami in an attempt to resist.

Hami lord Muhanmaiti Xia Hezhuo, who was dying of illness, was lying on the hospital bed to hear the news. He called his son Ebedura: “We can’t beat the Han people, so don’t try to keep Hami. You have only two choices, one is to take people to Turpan, and the other is to surrender to the Han people immediately. I am too sick to walk Alright, you can figure it out yourself.”

Ebedura hesitated: “I heard from the nobles who fled to Hami that the Han army would kill the nobles when they saw them. After we surrender, will the Han army also kill us?”

Muhan Mai Tixia and Zhuo frowned, and then said: “I don’t know.”

“I see.” Abedura said.

Ebedulla planned to run away and took people to Turpan for help. I definitely can’t win with this strength, so I will lure the Han army to Turpan and force the governor of Turpan to join forces to fight.

This man, in history, first surrendered to Galdan, then played backstab, surrendered to Kangxi in a hurry, and finally became King Hami.

He actually wanted to surrender directly in his heart, as long as he continued to rule Hami.

He can even tolerate the imperial court sending troops to station, but the position of Lord Hami cannot be lost. But the Nanjing court obviously didn’t intend to do so. They killed the nobles they saw along the way, knowing that they wanted to eradicate the nobles and leave only the common people of all ethnic groups.

Ebedura could only be forced to fight to the end!

(end of this chapter)