The southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, Asu.

In ancient times, it was Gumo and the thirty-six countries of the Western Regions during the Qin and Han Dynasties. It was also an important post station on the ancient Silk Road. It is located on the northwest edge of the Taklamakan Desert, in the upper reaches of the Tarim River, and is known as the Jiangnan of the Fortress.

Asu has a pleasant climate and a flat terrain. What is particularly rare is that the land is fertile, rich water sources, and sufficient light and long frost-free period, which is very suitable for the production of various crops. This is a rare granary in the Western Regions.

Abdula rode a camel into Asu City. The originally prosperous commercial city is now almost in ruins. Seeing that the Junggars could not defend the city, they set fires everywhere in the city before breaking through, burning the city almost to white ground.

Looking at the ruins of the city, Abudula's heart was bleeding. Asu City is one of the six major cities of the Yarkand Khanate, but it is now destroyed.

Fifteen years ago, Abdula's father Abdula Mu died, and Abdula inherited the throne of the Great Khan of Yarkand. As soon as he succeeded to the throne, he immediately took advantage of the opportunity of his brothers' struggle for the rule of Turpan to lead troops to Turpan, unify the Yarkand Kingdom that had been split for many years and make the Hami region surrender. He made his younger brother Sulitang to be Turpan Akimu and directly govern the Turpan region.

After that, he sent troops to the Yili Valley, defeated the Junggar army, and regained control of the Yili Valley and the Qihe River Basin, the birthplace of the Yarkand Khanate.

After a series of wars, the Yarkand Khanate once again unified Tashkent and Fergan under his leadership. Its territory also reached its peak, including Turpan, Hami and Tarim Basins, the Yili Valley, the Qihe Basin and the Pamir Plateau. The Khanate's territory is Jiayuguan in the east, Wusizang in the south, adjacent to the river in the southwest, and across the Tianshan Mountains in the north, adjacent to the Junggar.

But Abudula led the rise of Yarkand with one hand, but it soon made Yarkand weaker again.

Sultan Said Khan, the founder of the Yarkand Khanate, was a Turkic nobleman with Mongolian blood. The state religion of the Yarkand Khanate was Islam. Later, he and the Zhuo faction began to enter Yarkand. Among them, the Montenegro faction was supported by the Khan and developed rapidly. Later, the Baishan faction also entered.

The two factions were fighting more and more fiercely. The nobles and the people in the Khanate supported each other, and the Khanate fell into severe civil strife. At this time, under the leadership of Batur, Junggar quickly rose on the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, seizing the Yili Valley and the Qihe Basin, and then occupied Turpan and Hami, and finally even captured the two major cities of Asu and Wuchi.

If the Han army had not come to contact us this time, sent a coach to send weapons, help them train and reorganize the army, and led them to counterattack the Junggar, not to mention that they took back Wuchi and Asu, they were afraid that the Junggars would have fought to Yarkand City.

As night fell, piles of bonfires lit up on the ruins of Asu City.

The climate of Asu is a typical desert climate. In June, Asu is extremely hot during the day, but it cools down quickly at night, making it cooler and even a little freezing.

Li Zhen did not have as much emotion as Abdullah. No matter how prosperous Asu was in the Yarkand people said, in his opinion, this was just a small city that didn’t even have 100,000 people.

There is no permanent population of 100,000, so what kind of prosperous city are you? There are not a hundred cities with more than 100,000 now, at least seven or eighty cities with more than one million. There are six or seven cities with more than one million people. As for cities with a population of 400,000 or 500,000 or 200,000 and 300,000 are really common.

There are currently some mining areas, large mining parks that integrate various mining, mineral processing and smelting, with dozens or hundreds of factories together, and some of the workers in each factory have no less than 100,000. This kind of mining park built in the wilderness mountains is much larger than this Asu.

As for the fields here, it is nothing. The whole arable land in Asu is said to be only 500,000 acres. Such a small amount of land is even less worth mentioning. In a town in the Central Plains, there is more arable land than this.

What Li Zhen cares more about now is the war. He caught the Yarkand people fighting the Junggars off guard and drove them out of southern Xinjiang. This is the best. Li Zhen did not expect the Yarkand people to fight until Turpan, where the Junggars were heavily guarded.

However, it is already very good to be able to raid Wu Chi and Asu, so that the Han army in Qinghai and Tibet can come directly.

There are quite a few coaches in the Yarkand army, about 1,000 people. The task of their coaching mission is very simple, which is to escort a group of ordnances to Yarkand and then help them quickly reorganize a new army.

However, the time given to them was too short, so after they arrived in Yarkand, they were actually unable to reorganize the new army. They just made a temporary reorganization and taught some simple things such as incisors and cannon coordination, musket arrays, etc. However, he still underestimated the role of firearms. When the Yarkand people got thousands of muskets and the first batch of mountain grenades, they immediately became as confident as if they were injected with chicken blood.

After that, Li Zhen and the others helped to formulate a marching battle plan, and the raid was indeed very successful.

The Junggars faced the Yarkand people who suddenly had many guns and cannons, and were caught off guard and ran away with their heads in their arms.

Li Zhen sat by the bonfire and looked at the map under the fire.

After taking down Wu Chi and A Su, they had actually achieved their goal beyond their deadline. But Li Zhen was not satisfied with this. He now stared at a new goal.

Iron Gate Pass.

Tiemen Pass, the throat of the middle road on the Silk Road, and the exit of the steep canyon in the upper reaches of the Peacock River, is also a natural obstacle to transportation between the north and south.

The canyon of Peacock River guarded by Tiemen Pass is 60 miles long. The canyon is extremely dangerous and winding and deep. The shore wall is like a knife and axe. It is a natural danger from the Tarim Basin to the Turpan Basin. It has been a place that military strategists have fought for since ancient times. During the Jin Dynasty, a pass was established here. Because of its dangerousness, it was called Tiemen Pass in ancient times and was listed as one of the twenty-six passes in ancient China.

Li Zhen was very clear that the court's goal of using troops this time was to conquer Junggar, and the first goal was to seize Hami, and the second goal was to capture Turpan.

If Yarkand could seize the Iron Gate Pass, it would be equivalent to slashing the Junggar people's waist with one knife. Not only did it have a great restraining effect on the court's seizure of Hami, but it could also directly threaten Yili.

If you seize the iron gate and keep it in your hand, it is equivalent to seizing the intersection between the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains. Here you can connect to the Turpan Basin, the Yili Valley, and the Junggar Basin.

After Yerkand took Asu, there was no obstacle between them and Tiemen Pass, and only a small number of Junggar troops were left along the way, which did not pose a threat to them.

However, it is not so easy to enter Tiemen Pass. Asu is still eight hundred miles away from Tiemen Pass.

Turpan is only 600 miles from Tiemen Pass. Tiemen Pass is in the hands of the Junggar people, and there are also many Junggar troops around.

To cut the iron gate, it is like pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth.

Jiayuguan.

After a month of march, the Beijing army led by Liu Jun arrived in the pass.

However, after entering the pass, the emperor did not immediately order to leave the pass. More than 100,000 troops and civilians gathered in the pass, and only practiced morning and evening every day, which made many generals find strange.

“Wait a little longer.”

Faced with the generals' questions, Liu Jun just replied with a smile.

After a day, two days and three days, more than ten days passed, Liu Jun answered again and again with these three words.

The soldiers were all very puzzled. What was the emperor waiting for?

Liu Jun was waiting for the left and right troops to fight westward. After leaving Jiayuguan, he was a thousand miles away from Hami. Therefore, he knew very well that this thousand miles was not safe. Junggar's strong soldiers and horses would definitely not allow the Han army to easily reach Hami. There will definitely be intercepting and attacks along the way, and field battles halfway through the road are not beneficial to the Han army.

"Report!"

"Report to Your Majesty, the Yarkand army has captured the two major cities of Wuchi and Asu, and is now advancing along the Tarim River to Tiemen Pass."

"Zhonggar divided his troops into 50,000 to intercept them."

When Liu Jun heard this news, he laughed.

OK, very good. One Yarkand divided the 50,000 troops from Junggar. Maybe Batur thought that he sent 50,000 troops to quickly defeat Yarkand, but Liu Jun would not think so. Yarkand had a group of instructors supported by the Han Dynasty and a group of new types of firearms. Of course, the most important thing is that Qinghai-Tibet and southern Tibet also dispatched troops to rush to meet with them.

Once the 50,000 Junggar army has passed, it is not so easy to go back immediately.

This time, the Junggar gathered 200,000 troops. Even though there was no moisture in it, it has been reduced by 50,000 at once.

When the generals heard the news, they all came to congratulate them.

Liu Yunsheng, Minister of War, couldn't help asking when the troops would be sent.

"Wait a little longer." Liu Jun still answered in these three words.

Waited for several more days.

Fast horse enters the pass and reports.

The 50,000 cavalry of the princes in the north of the Mo Mountain had crossed the eastern foot of the Jinshan Mountains. Five days ago, a battle broke out in the Junggar Castle Altan between the eastern foot of the Jinshan Mountains and the eastern foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

The Mongolian cavalry in the northern desert attacked and captured the small city of Altan in one battle and wiped out more than 5,000 enemies.

"What's Batour's reaction?" Liu Jun asked.

"Report to Your Majesty, the thief chief Batuer heard the news and sent 50,000 troops to Altan."

Batuer was anxious, and Liu Jun said with a smile.

Although Altan is a small castle, its location is very important, less than 500 miles north of Hami, especially the castle is located at the eastern end of the Jinshan Mountains, and is a channel in the continuous mountains. From the north and south of the desert, this is the best location, otherwise, you have to continue to go west far before the channel goes south.

The Yarkand army entered Tiemen Pass and threatened Turpan, while the princes in the northern Mobei captured the Altan Castle, but directly threatened Hami.

"Your Majesty, now the north and south wings stabbed to both sides of the Junggar like a sharp knife, forcing him to divide his troops into 100,000. Will we march into Hami immediately now?"

Army Commander Fu Shan asked.

“Wait a little longer.”

"What are you waiting for?" the generals were puzzled.

"I don't have to worry about having a good meal late. This is a feast. I believe many people want to participate. Let's wait for them and share it together."

Under the Flame Mountain, Turpan.

Batur was a little anxious at this time, and was angry and embarrassed.

Originally prepared to hunt the Han army, but the Han army in Jiayuguan did not make any noise. Instead, problems occurred one after another on both sides of the north and south.

After splitting out 100,000 troops, Batur only hoped to deal with Yarkand and the Mongols in the north of the Mobei, but now, the two armies have gone out but have no news for a long time, which makes him restless.

"Khan, I think the current situation is very unfavorable to us. If the main force of the Han army leaves Jiayuguan, this battle will be difficult to fight. It is better to withdraw the 50,000 troops from the south to regain Asu Wuchi first. We might as well put Wuchi and Asu aside for the time being. As long as we guard the Tiemen Pass, then the Yarkand people might as well be proud of it first."

Gushihan suggested to Batuer, "Iron Gate Pass is extremely dangerous, easy to defend but difficult to attack, only 10,000 or 20,000 people are enough to defend. We can leave 20,000 people to guard the Iron Gate Pass, and then withdraw 30,000 people to strengthen Hami's defense. Or transfer these 30,000 people to the north and take back Altan City."

Altan City is as important as Tiemen Pass. It is the northern defense of Hami, especially this is an important channel to move southward from north to south. Once it is thrown here, the cavalry in Mobei will continue to move southward, threatening Hami and even threatening Turpan.

"If you give up Asu, Wuchi and the two towns, you will be afraid that you will not be able to defend the Iron Gate Pass." Batur's eyes were red and his eyes were staring at the sheepskin map. "I have already received the news that a large army is advancing westward in Wusizang. Not only are there Han troops in Qinghai and Han troops in southern Tibet, but your five sons are also leading the Heshuote troops to come west."

Gu Shihan sighed when he heard this and lowered his head.

"When the Han army from Wusizang meets with Yarkand, let alone the 20,000 people left to guard the Tiemen Pass, I am afraid that 50,000 people will not be able to guard the city. You know that their firearms are sharp, and even the strong city defenses can be defeated. To deal with the Han army, only field battles cannot be fought against the city defense war."

"But it is difficult for Asu to seize Wuchi. It is not the director of our Mongolian soldiers to defend the city, so is it to attack the city." Gushihan said.

Batuer was not shaken, "We don't have to attack the city directly. From Asu to Tiemen Pass, there are only 800 miles. We will use the method of dealing with the Han army in Jiayuguan to defend these 800 miles and fight against the Yarkand people in the wild."

"Khan, 50,000 troops were divided from both sides of the north and south. Now we only have 100,000 troops left. If the main force of the Han army leaves Jiayuguan, our troops will not be able to dominate."

"That's all."

The main force of the Han army was stationed in Jiayuguan, but it was better to go out without moving at this time.

It was like a sharp sword hanging over the head of Junggar, which could fall at any time. This forced Junggar to keep enough heavy troops in Hami, otherwise the Han army might take advantage of the opportunity at any time. Once they were allowed to obtain Hami, it would be difficult to stop the Han army from entering the northern border.

"I am now worried that Bukhara and Shiva in the southwest will take the opportunity to fall into the ancient stone." Batur expressed his concerns. According to his spies' reward, in recent years, not only did the Han people enter the Hezhong and the Fergana Basin as merchants, but they secretly contacted the two countries, which was obviously instigating them to be enemies with Junggar.

"If the Han army was one year later and one year later, I could destroy Yarkand and even kill Shiva and Bukhara. Damn it, now we have to be careful about these three small states." Batur was so angry.

When you say Cao Cao, you will arrive, and you will come whatever you are afraid of.

"Report!"

"The two Khanate countries of Shiva and Bukhara each sent troops to invade our borders and rob our people."
Chapter completed!