Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 647: Conquering Hami

Just as the Western Expedition was about to begin, the grassland coalition forces in the Hetao area, led by Huang Cheng, had already set out from the Yinshan Mountains with 20,000 elite cavalry from the Qian Dynasty and more than 70,000 cavalry from the coalition forces. Their target was the Ili River and the Dzungar Khanate.

After losing the Western Regions for hundreds of years since the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains Dynasty finally embarked on the journey to recover the Western Regions again!

In the Western Expedition, Gulbuha led more than 10,000 cavalrymen as the vanguard, galloping ahead. The iron hooves of the war horses rolled forward, shaking the Hexi Corridor.

The six garrisons established during the Ming Dynasty outside Jiayuguan, namely Chijin Mongolia, Handong, Shazhou, Anding, Quxian and Arei, were now occupied by the joint forces of Dzungar and Yarkand.

However, there are only a small number of troops stationed in these six guards for the purpose of warning. The one with slightly more troops is in Hami Guard, with about 3,000 infantry and cavalry, including 2,500 infantry and more than 400 cavalry.

As for the city of Turpan, the gateway to the Western Regions, it was the city that Sengge attached the most importance to. Sengge had already formulated a strategy to avoid fighting and delay the Qian army, and Turpan was the city that Sengge chose to defend.

Sengge believed that Turpan was the gateway to the Western Regions and Yarkand had undergone a hundred years of repair and the city was strong. At that time, the main army would defend Turpan to the death, and the light cavalry would take advantage of the situation to attack the grain route of the Qian army from Jiayuguan to Turpan.

Therefore, after the Qian army marched westward, the cavalry led by Gulbuha captured the six guards of Chijin Mongolia, Handong, Shazhou, Anding, Quxian and Arui without a battle.

By mid-November, Gulbuha's troops arrived at Hami City.

Hami Guard was an important military institution established by the Ming Dynasty in the Western Regions. Hami is geographically located at the hub of the Silk Road and is also the westernmost end of the Ming Dynasty's military force.

After arriving at the city of Hami, Gulbuha sent envoys to persuade the city to surrender, but was rejected by the defenders. Gulbuha's troops were all cavalry and were not good at attacking cities, so they temporarily stopped their advance.

When the military intelligence was passed to Lin Shiqi who was still in Shazhouwei, Lin Shiqi ordered the army to continue moving forward and sent someone to send Babaksu to Gulbuha's army.

Shortly after Babaksu arrived at the city of Hami, the Yarkand cavalry in the city took the opportunity to attack Gulbuha's camp at night.

However, there were fewer cavalry in the city, and the defenders did not dare to attack with all their forces, so there were only 300 cavalry who attacked the camp. Such a small number of cavalry could not break through the Qian army camp, and the only gain was that the noise was too loud, causing Gulbuha's troops to stay awake all night.

Sengge ordered Apakh Khoja to defend Turpan to the death and abandon the six guards outside Jiayuguan and even the Hami Guard.

Although Apak Khoja was a puppet, the politics, economy, and even the army of Yarkand were under the control of Dzungar, but Apak Khoja still had some remnant forces of the Black Mountain faction in his hands, and this force was the only army in Apak Khoja's hands.

Babaksu fled to the Qian Dynasty and asked for reinforcements from the Qian Dynasty. He wanted to come back to compete for the Khanate of Yarkand. The news had already spread widely in the old place of Yarkand, which made Apak Khoja very frightened.

Therefore, Apak Khoja secretly sent an army loyal to him to Hami. On the one hand, he wanted to know whether Babaksu was in the Qian army, and on the other hand, he also wanted to see the combat effectiveness of the Qian army.

At the foot of Hami City, in the camp of the Qian army.

At this time, Babaksu kept talking to Gulbuha, saying that he, Babaksu, was the orthodox of the Yarkand Khanate. As long as his flag was raised, the defenders of Hami Guard would definitely turn against him.

These confident words made Gulbuha a little confused, but since the Prince of Yarkand was so confident, Gulbuha was willing to send him to give it a try.

Naturally, Babaksu did not dare to enter the city alone. If something happened, he would be dead. Therefore, Babaksu sent his confidant who had followed him all the way from Shache to Qian Dynasty to persuade him to surrender.

Seeing his confidants getting closer and closer to Hami City, Babaksu couldn't help but pray in his heart. If he could subdue the defenders of Hami Guard, then his power would grow like a snowball.

But the final outcome made Babaksu extremely disappointed. A large part of the defenders of Hami City were Apak Khoja's trusted troops. When they heard that the messenger was sent by Babaksu of the White Mountain Sect, the defenders did not listen to the messenger at all, and pushed him directly to the city wall, beheaded him, and threw his head outside the city.

After hearing the news, Gulbuha sneered and said, "What a boast! He said he was very famous in Yarkand, but he couldn't even recruit the first city to surrender. It's fine if he couldn't recruit the surrender, but he even killed the envoy. Is that all? He still wants to trick His Majesty into helping him restore his country."

Laxi, a subordinate standing by, echoed, "The general is right. I have long disliked this pretty boy. He only knows how to talk big all day long, but when it comes to real work, he can't get anything done."

Gulbuha nodded, agreeing with Laxi's words, and then ordered his men to lock up Babaksu, who had messed up the matter. Originally, the defenders had a chance to surrender, but now that the messenger had been killed, they had to defend to the death. Gulbuha naturally put the blame on Babaksu for this crime.

In late November, Lin Shiqi led the main force of the infantry to arrive at Hami Wei. For a while, outside the city of Hami, the Qian army set up camps for several miles. Outside the camps, cavalry galloped, and inside the camps, flags covered the sky, with a huge momentum.

The defenders in Hami city became somewhat panic-stricken upon seeing this. Half of the defenders were Apak Khoja's trusted troops, who had just been transferred from Shache, and the other half were the original defenders.

The day after Lin Shiqi arrived in Hami, a small-scale internal conflict broke out in Hami City, which directly led to the split of the Hami defenders.

Apak Khoja captured Shache with the help of the Dzungar Khanate. In the eyes of many people in Yarkand, he was a traitor. If Apak Khoja could rule Yarkand for a long time, his rule would become stable over time.

However, Apak Khoja had just ascended the throne not long ago, and the Yarkand people were dissatisfied with the fact that there was still an emperor emeritus, a Dzungar, and a puppet over their heads.

Now with the external factor of the Qian Dynasty and the army approaching the city, Hami is no longer able to be defended. It is understandable that the original defenders are unwilling to be buried with Apakh Khoja.

After the internal strife ended, both sides suffered casualties. The generals sent by Apak Khoja believed that they could no longer defend Hami, so shortly after the internal strife, they abandoned Hami City and fled to Turpan.

The defenders who did not escape opened the city gates and surrendered to the Qian army.

When Lin Shiqi heard about the internal strife among the defenders, he was overjoyed and urgently ordered Gulbha to send 3,000 cavalry to hunt down the fleeing troops.

The elite Mongolian cavalry under Gulbuha caught up with the fleeing army sixty miles west of Hami and killed more than a thousand enemy soldiers, but only about two hundred cavalrymen escaped.

(I wish all my friends a happy Lantern Festival! O(n_n)O)