Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

The Ming army severely damaged the Tatar tribe and swept across three thousand miles of Mobei. The military power deeply shocked the Oara tribe and the Ulliangha tribe.

With a series of actions by the Ming Dynasty, the geopolitical situation on the northern border of the Ming Dynasty also began to undergo drastic and far-reaching changes.

Outside the fortress, the Ming Dynasty established the Onan River Guard to govern the Tatar tribes who moved inland, and established the Hailer Qianhu Station at the southernmost side of the Hailer River, and restored the Yiji Nai Old City, Zhenfan Guard and other guard stations. Hezhaibao, with Kaipingwei as the core, built the Monan buffer zone, which greatly expanded the strategic space of the Ming Dynasty and prevented Beijing from being directly exposed to the attack range of the Mongols.

At the same time, at the end of the second year of Yongle, the Oara tribes jointly sent envoys to Beijing to request Emperor Yongle's canonization.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Ming court conferred the title of king on Mahamu, Taiping and Batu Boluo. Mahamu was named the Doctor Jin Ziguanglu and King Shunning. Taiping was named the Doctor Jin Ziguanglu and the King of Xianyi. Ba Tubolo was named the Doctor Jin Ziguanglu. , King of Anle.

Zhu Di's political considerations are implicit here. Many people may not know the difference between the Tatar tribe and the Oara tribe, thinking that they are both Mongolians, but in fact, the origins of the two are completely different.

The word "Tatar" is not the self-proclaimed name of these people who inherited the Northern Yuan Dynasty, but was given to them by the Ming Dynasty in the official caliber. It refers to "the Han people who escaped from Dadu with Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty and migrated northward." "Di Mongolians and Monan Mongolians", for the Tatars themselves, they still call themselves Yuan people, and are regarded as orthodox of the Yuan Dynasty because their great Khan is a descendant of the Yuan Dynasty.

It is not difficult to guess the meaning of this word play of the Ming Dynasty, which expresses that the Yuan Dynasty, which inherited the Mongol Empire, has perished. If this is the case, then these people will naturally become barbarians and barbarians, losing their understanding of the Ming Dynasty. The orthodox legal demands of the Central Plains.

In other words, the Tatars are actually composed of two parts. One part is the Han Mongols who followed Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty and a small number of Han people, and the other part is the Monan Mongols who were grazing in Monan and were incorporated by the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

"Wala" refers to a Moxi tribal alliance developed by the ancient tribe "Oyila" and some forest people. This tribal alliance originally lived in the upper reaches of the Yenisei River before the 13th century. During the Jin Dynasty, people fought for forest land and hunting places, and moved westward to the Delenger River (today's Mulun River), a tributary of the Selenge River, to Xishixi, the upper reaches of the Huakemu River. Dehe area.

In the second year after Genghis Khan proclaimed himself Khan, the Onyila tribe voluntarily surrendered to Genghis Khan and became an early shareholder of the Mongol Empire, and helped him conquer more than ten eastern forest tribes. He was appreciated and rewarded by Genghis Khan and founded the Onyila area. The Thousand-Hundred Household System appointed nobles of the Onyila clan as heads of thousands of households, and enfeoffed tribal territories step by step. From this, Onyila society began to gradually transform into an early feudal system. After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, the Onyila tribe nominally belonged to It was under the jurisdiction of Lingbei Province in the Yuan Dynasty and was actually in a state of autonomy.

In Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, when it was time to bring the Qing Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, the Oara tribe evolved into the Weilat Mongolia. This is more famous because the Oirat Mongolia is composed of four major tribes, namely the Junggar, Durbot, and Shuote, Turgut. These are all familiar historical terms.

But now it is the early Ming Dynasty, and Wala is still entrenched in the west of the desert. It has no contact with the Ming Dynasty and no grudges.

The one who had a grudge against the Ming Dynasty was the Northern Yuan Dynasty, which had a great lack of virtue in the past. The Tatar tribe inherited the main body of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, including its army, which was the direct line of the Taishi Arutai. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty had no control over these Mongolian tribes. The Alliance, what they hate the most and what they want to do the most is the Tatar tribe. If the Ming Dynasty does not concentrate its efforts to defeat the Tatar tribe first, then as soon as Timur's expeditionary army arrives, the Tatar tribe will definitely be dispatched, and the people who control the strings will definitely More than 100,000 people went south to herd horses and approached the old capital.

The Oara tribe has stayed in their Moxi territory for hundreds of years and has not moved. If there were no particularly big changes in the geographical environment, they would not come to attack the Ming Dynasty. The reason is very simple. Now the Tatar tribe can directly attack Beijing when they go south. But when the Oara tribe went south, they faced Gansu and Ningxia. There were only tens of thousands of people guarding the cities and forts in the Ming Dynasty. They were basically military households. Not only could they not grab anything, but their teeth could easily break if they tried too hard. It's completely a trade that doesn't pay off.

As for why Wala and Ming later fought the Battle of Tumubao along the "Datong-Xuanfu-Beijing" route, it was because Zhu Di beat the Tatar tribe too hard, and the Tatar tribe completely declined.

One thing I have to mention here is how Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Zhanji, who succeeded him, dealt with external issues after the death of Zhu Di in Jiang Xinghuo's previous life.

In addition to abandoning Annan, abandoning the Nanyang economic strategy such as the Old Port Xuanwei Division, the Lucchuan Xuanwei Envoy Sirenfa invaded Nandian, Tengchong and other places and ignored them, which caused the later Burmese dynasty to expand and abandon the Kaiping Wei northern strategy. In addition to the brain-hemorrhaging operations such as the space that allowed the nomads to directly attack Beijing, the tacit approval of the Tatars to occupy the southern foothills of the Yinshan Mountains also produced bitter consequences.

Arutai, a master of escape, was famous for his ability to run. Zhu Di failed to kill him during his five northern expeditions. Later, when he saw that the Oara tribe was getting bigger, Zhu Di turned to support Arutai against the Oara, and Arutai was beaten by Zhu Di. He was too ruthless and couldn't fight against Wala, so during the Xuande Dynasty, Arutai became moist again.

We couldn't stay in Mobei anymore, and we couldn't stay in Monan anymore. Alutai directly reached the blank area between the old land of Oara and the border of Ming Dynasty, which is the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain. Regarding Alutai going south, Zhu Zhanji was motivated by " The consideration of "using barbarians to control barbarians" acquiesced to the fact that the remnants of the Tatars occupied the southern border of the Yinshan Mountains, which prompted the political boundaries between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia to be clarified. Under the pressure of the Wasac tribe and the Uliangha tribe, the remaining Tatar tribes along the Daqingshan, Wula Mountain, and Langshan continued to move westward to the outside of Gansu, thus completely opening up the Yinshan border and turning it into the "Yinshan Corridor" for smooth communication between various Mongolian ministries.

The area vacated by the Tatar tribe after the Arutai Run was taken advantage of by the Oara tribe to move eastward and annexed most of the Tatar tribe's territory and population. This is why they had the ambition to imitate the Mongol Empire and move southward.

The fate of the Mingbao Sect was partly due to his father, Zhu Zhanji.

To be honest, I didn't think much of it before, but now the more I look at the poor map of the Ming Dynasty, the less Jiang Xinghuo of Nanjing wants Zhu Gaochi to be the emperor anyway.

Mobei, give up!

Monan, give up!

Yinshan, give up!

Annan, give up!

Nanyang, give up!

Luchuan, give up!

Is this something a human can do?

The actual control or control of these areas was achieved through more than fifty years of hard work by the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties. The Renxuan dynasty only lasted ten years, and the strategic contraction was all abandoned.

——It doesn’t feel bad to sell Ye Tian.

The gentry must pay for the war. If you don't fight, you can rest with the people. Theoretically, these distant border affairs do not seem to have anything to do with the gentry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but they are very relevant to the Ming Dynasty and China. .

Losing these strategic spaces is like losing the protection of fat in a person's belly. In the past, when someone punched someone, the fat could cushion the punch, but now it hits the abdominal muscles that look very beautiful and hard. Well, if the abdominal muscles cannot stop it, the internal organs will be directly injured.

Later, countless foreign invaders proved that Ming's abdominal muscles were really not strong enough.

Looking back at the later Mingbao Sect, although they were both naive and stupid, the young people were both energetic and iron-headed. The Baozong's courage in foreign strategies was actually better than that of their father. The Baozong Zhenglu was rarely mentioned in history. There is no such thing as the Battle of Sichuan, but it was this battle that stopped the southwest border for decades.

Talking back to the present, the Oara tribe at this time was not only not unified, but also in a state of equilibrium among the three pillars. It was jointly ruled by the three great feudal lords of Oara, Mahamu, Taiping and Batu Polo, so the Ming Dynasty had to confer three kings. .

The Oara people were weak at this time and had no contact with Timur. So when they saw the Ming Dynasty sweeping across Mobei, they were trembling with fear. The Ming Dynasty was also happy that the Oara people could keep their peace, so they gave the Oara people quite generous rewards. , Wala was overjoyed and entered the Ming Dynasty's tribute sequence.

In the far west, considering that the Ming Dynasty is likely to break out in a war with the Tamerlane Khanate in the next one to two years, Zhu Di deconsecrated a special member of the Zhongyi Guard, a descendant of King Anding. In order to be loyal to King Shun, he went to Hami to establish the Hami Guard and regain the local Uighurs and Mongols. As an outpost of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di not only assigned a part of the soldiers and horses to escort Totuo, but also gave him a civil and military team. Those who fear Wuer Mahamahuo are the commanders, Gu Sicheng and Haji Mahama are the experience, Zhou An is the long history, and Liu Xingji is good.

Hamiwei is located at the throat of the Western Region, and is home to many ethnic groups such as Mongols, Uighurs, and Kazakhs. The tribal leaders around Hamiwei are basically related to the Chagatai Khanate in blood, and are descendants of Chagatai, the son of Genghis Khan. With the establishment of Hami Guard, the Ming Dynasty also established a number of Jisi Guards, namely Chijin Mongolian Guard, Handong Guard, Handong Zuowei, Anding Guard, Quxian Guard, Arui Guard, etc., each headed by their tribal leader rule.

Zhu Di didn't expect these people to be able to block Timur's troops, but it would be good if they could play some intelligence role.

The first northern expedition severely damaged the Tatar tribe in the middle, shocked the Oara tribe in the west, and naturally the Uliangha tribe in the east also responded.

When the returning Ming army made a circle from the east intentionally or unintentionally, there was no natural danger to rely on. The nomadic pastures were still gifted by the Ming Dynasty. The Uuliangha people said, as the loyal Duoyan Sanwei of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor's will is our way forward. direction.

Zhu Di did not play tricks with these people. In addition to rewards, he also asked the Wuliangha people for two things.

The first thing is that the Nuer Gandu Division was newly established, and the three Duoyan guards were under its management.

In the past Hongwu Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty had established more than 130 health stations through the policy of restraint in the vast area of ​​​​the Songhua River, Heilongjiang, and Wusuli River basins in later generations.

These guard posts basically appointed tribal chiefs to serve as Ming Dynasty officials to rule their tribes, similar to the chieftains in the south. As more and more of these guard posts were set up, the establishment of a unified higher-level administrative organization became the Ming Dynasty. inevitable choice.

In the third year of Yongle, the Ming Dynasty decided to set up the Nuergan Capital Command and Envoy in Nuergan, the former site of the Yuan Dynasty's Eastern Expedition Marshal's Mansion, at the suggestion of Hulu Dongnu, the local chief of Nuergan who came to pay tribute. The nature of the Ergan Dusi is similar to that of the Liaodong Dusi. It focuses on military affairs and also manages civil affairs. It is nominally affiliated with the Ministry of War's Qingli Division, but in fact reports directly to the emperor.

The management scope of Nurgan Dusi stretches from the Yinma River in the west to the vast sea in the east, to the Mobei Snowfield in the north (theoretically it can reach the Arctic Ocean directly, but no one lives further north), and to the south in the south. The Tumen River borders Liaodong Dusi.

The second thing was to issue headhunting rewards on the grounds that the Jianzhou Jurchens were rebellious, driving various Jurchen tribes to kill each other, and also moved part of the Duoyan Three Guards eastward to join the headhunting sequence.

After repeated exchanges of letters, Zhu Di and Jiang Xinghuo finally decided on the strategy that the Jurchens would be far more harmful than North Korea in the future. That would be the case if a country like North Korea gave it another three hundred years. Therefore, the Jurchens were originally used to prevent North Korea from advancing westward. The strategic buffer zone needs to be abandoned, first to stir up conflicts within the Jurchens and between the Jurchens and the Ulliangha, and then gradually move to Liaodong, expand the Ming Dynasty's actual control area, and push the actual control area eastward at least to the Yalu River area.

According to this plan, Ming Dynasty would need to immigrate at least 50,000 to more than 100,000 households to Liaodong to achieve actual control.

Of course, the current Ming Dynasty does not have such population conditions. After the Jingnan War, the population of the north has declined and is in urgent need of supplementation. Even for immigrants, Henan, Shandong, and Beizhili will be given priority, and Liaodong will not have their turn.

But people have to take a long-term view. If you can't do it now, it doesn't mean you can't do it in the future. There are fewer people now and more land, but in the future there will definitely be more people and less land, so you have to occupy the land first, and then you can take your time in the future.

The first Northern Expedition had a huge impact on the geopolitical situation in the north, just like dropping a bomb in a stinky ditch that had stopped flowing.

The Hamiwei and Oara tribes in the west, the Tatar tribe in the middle, the Uliangha tribe, the Jurchens and even Korea in the east were frightened by this battle and accelerated the pace of opening up trade. Li Fangyuan was afraid that Zhu Di would lead With troops and horses, he destroyed the country.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty had gradually awakened to the concept of external expansion. On the map, the territory started from Hamiwei in the west, to the east of Nurgandusi in the east, from Onan Riverwei in the north, to Jiaozhi Chief Envoy in the south.

There is no greater country than this.

At the same time, in the third year of Yongle, another great country thousands of miles away in the world was eyeing the Ming Dynasty.

——————

“On the vast grasslands of Central Asia, the Timur Khanate was like an awakened lion, shaking its strong muscles and preparing to challenge the Ming Empire in the east.

The army of Timur Khan was like a strong wind on the grassland, sweeping away the yellow sand and fighting spirit, and marched toward the east in a mighty manner.

At the front of the team is a group of majestic cavalry. They are wearing iron armor and holding spears in their hands. Their eyes are shining with the desire for war and glory. Wherever their horse hooves step, the grassland seems to be trembling. Behind them, They were countless infantry and camel teams, carrying heavy, dismantled siege equipment and provisions, preparing for a protracted expedition.

Following the order of Timur Khan, the army rushed towards the border of the Ming Empire like wild horses. They crossed the desolate Gobi Desert and crossed the steep mountains and snowfields. No matter what difficulties they encountered, they could not stop them. As they move forward, they have only one goal in mind, and that is the fertile land in the east. "

Clavijo, the Spanish envoy to the Samarkand court, put down his quill. He was extremely convinced that the records in his notes would become important historical materials in the future.

As the main writing instrument in the Western world for thousands of years from the 6th century to the 19th century, the quill was the first choice for Westerners because it was highly compatible with parchment and vellum, but Claviyo looked at the brush on the desk. I feel very uncomfortable. These brushes look much thicker than my own quills. The light and fluffy quills are actually not as useful as these brushes when writing on ordinary paper.

"Fu, do Easterners really use wolf-hair pens and rabbit-hair pens?"

"These are called wolf hair and rabbit hair."

Beside Claviyo, a man wearing a worn but cleanly starched Ming Dynasty official robe answered seriously.

Both sides spoke Persian.

Paradoxically, Klavyo's Persian was not fluent, but this man wearing Ming Dynasty official robes spoke quite idiomatically.

In addition to various professions such as nobles, officers, civil servants, soldiers, businessmen, and civilians, there was also a group of people in Timur's expeditionary army, namely diplomatic envoys.

Claviyo's full name is Luo Gozerez Claviyo. He was a court minister, diplomatic envoy, traveler and writer of the Kingdom of Castile in Spain. He went on a mission to the Timurid Empire a few years ago and went to Satan. Markand made a pilgrimage to Timur.

The Ming official named "Fu" next to him, whose full name is Fu An, whose courtesy name is Zhidao, was born in Taikang County, Kaifeng Prefecture. He served as a county official in the Hongwu Dynasty and served successively as general secretary of Siyi Hall, Shiren, and prefect of Honglu Temple. In the 27th year of Hongwu's reign, he was appointed to the military department, Shizhong. In the 28th year of Hongwu's reign, he was appointed to the rites department, and was sent to the Western Regions. He went to Samarkand to reward Timur with seals, coins and silk.

The main reason why he was chosen as the envoy was that he had served in the Seiyi Pavilion and was quite diligent and studious. He mastered many foreign languages, including Persian, which is the most widely used in Central Asia.

The establishment of the Siyi Pavilion was due to the tribute paid by the four barbarians and the language barrier. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Ministry of Rites to select Jiang Li, a student from the Imperial College, and other 38 people to be affiliated to the Hanlin Academy to study translating books and translated texts. Those who passed the test would be admitted.

The place where Persian was taught to Ming officials and supervising students was in the back hall below. The teachers were all authentic people left over from the Yuan Dynasty, so it was not surprising that Fu An's Persian words were well-spoken.

It was precisely because of the barrier-free communication between the two parties that Timur's attitude was beyond Fu An's expectation. Timur was different from what he learned at Honglu Temple. He no longer treated Ming respectfully, but detained him roughly. Fu An was captured, and escorted Fu An and his envoys to visit the vast territory of the Timur Khanate to show off its vast territory and national power. After completing the several-year visit, they forced Fu An to An followed the army on the eastern expedition.

At first, Fu An did not understand the huge contrast between Timur's actions before and after, because in the 27th year of Hongwu, when the Timur Khan came to Nanjing to pay tribute, his attitude was extremely respectful, not only paying tribute to 200 pieces of khan. Blood horses (these top-quality war horses that Ming Dynasty did not produce are quite sincere to Ming Dynasty), and what is said in the above table is even more humble, full of flattery to Ming Dynasty and Zhu Yuanzhang himself.

"Respectfully, the Ming Emperor was ordered by Heaven to unify the four seas. His benevolence spread widely, he nourished the common people with kindness, and was admired by all nations. Knowing that God wanted to rule the world peacefully, he specially ordered the emperor to create a lucky number and be the master of billions of trillions. The light is vast, It is as bright as a celestial mirror, no matter how far or near it is, it shines upon it. My minister Timur is thousands of miles away, respectfully hearing that the saintly virtues are magnanimous and transcendent in eternity. All merchants who come to China will see the cities and towns, which are rich and majestic, such as Out of the darkness, I suddenly saw the sun, how lucky it was! I also received the imperial edict and asked for my kindness, so that the stations and post offices were connected, and the roads were not blocked. People from far away countries can benefit from it. Admiring the Holy Heart is like a cup that illuminates the world, and envoys My heart suddenly became bright. When the tribes in my country heard this virtuous message, they danced and expressed their gratitude. I have no way to repay my kindness, but I can only look up to the sky and wish you longevity and good fortune, just like the heaven and the earth are endless."

There are many foreign countries that can lick, but most of them have no culture. Apart from North Korea, the Timur Khanate is the only country that can lick so heartfeltly without leaving any traces of flattery. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy to send Fu An to Timur. The Erhanate rewarded Timur.

Unfortunately, what Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know was that the reason Timur was so respectful and sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty so frequently was to prepare sufficient intelligence for future expeditions.

Timur never fought an unprepared battle. In order to prepare for this unprecedented expedition, in addition to constantly wooing the nobles of the Western Region countries and the Eastern Chagatai Khanate (Beelse Bali) through marriage alliances, he also patiently carried out After more than ten years of continuous intelligence reconnaissance, Timur had a good understanding of the terrain and general troop deployment of the Western Regions and the Ming Dynasty. In the second year of Jianwen, when the Ming Dynasty was busy fighting a civil war, Timur's Sun Tzu Iskanda launched a small-scale exploratory war in the Western Regions, captured Yutian and other places, and advanced to the middle reaches of the Tarim River.

In this way, the Timur Khanate had a complete grasp of how to march and how to obtain water west of Khotan. As for the area east of Khotan, Timur also knew very well. He already had an extremely detailed military map. According to the optimal route he chose, the cavalry of the Timur Empire can start from Khotan and reach Longxi along the Hexi Corridor. As long as they cross the Longshan Mountain, they can follow the stories of the Uighurs and Tubos and march to the gates of Xi'an. And occupying Guanzhong means that he has a stable foothold in Ming Dynasty.

Timur could then use Guanzhong as his base to consolidate Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia, and then wait for reinforcements from the rear to arrive. After a year or two of stability, he could leave Tongguan to plot the Central Plains. And if the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty are willing to cooperate, then they can march eastward along the Yellow River, cut off the Grand Canal, and besiege Beijing with the Northern Yuan Dynasty, and take Shanxi and Hebei into their pockets. This is a variant of Mu Huali's extermination of Jin. .

As for the Jianghuai River Basin, Timur knew very well that his cavalry was not suitable for large-scale deployment there. The Song Dynasty relied on the linkage of the three theaters of Sichuan, Jinghu, and Lianghuai to resist the Mongols for decades without being destroyed. Yes, Tamerlane was not so arrogant as to think that he could do something that the Mongols could not accomplish in one go.

However, considering the problems of supply and water sources, even if all water sources have been marked in detail on the map, it is still not enough to support a large-scale expeditionary force to collect water. Therefore, the first expeditionary force led by Timur himself was 200,000 Elite soldiers.

This is nothing compared to the previous expeditions of the Timur Khanate.

You must know that the expedition against Ottoman Turkey was about the same distance as the expedition against the Ming Dynasty. The Timur Khanate used 500,000 troops to capture the Ottoman Turkish Sultan Bayezid in the Battle of Ankara.

The Delhi Sultanate in North India, which was much closer to the southern expedition, dispatched a terrifying army of 800,000 troops including civilians and servants from various countries.

"Can you tell me about this expedition?" Although Fu An was under house arrest and had not obtained news about the Ming Dynasty for many years, no matter how Timur tried to coerce and induce him, Fu An did not give in. Instead, he led With his few remaining envoys, he worked hard to find out all kinds of news about the Timur Khanate and tried to send it back to the Ming Dynasty.

"Fu, I often hear you mention the story of Su (Su Wu), and I admire it very much. But although I have never been to the Ming Empire, an obvious fact is that no one in this world is Timur's opponent."

Claviyo shrugged and said helplessly to Fu An.

"Let's talk."

Fu An insisted.

Claviyo's blue eyes turned, and he said slyly: "Let's exchange it for equal value. I am also very interested in the Eastern Ming Empire. I will record your news in the notebook. It will be a priceless treasure of our family. Since then, After Marco Polo, very few Eastern customs and customs are known to us.”

"Tell me what you know first."

"Well, you are really a person who doesn't want to suffer losses."

Clavijo took out a very simple map from his notebook and described the situation in the west to Fu An.

"Fu, there is no unified great empire in our west. In fact, it may be difficult for you to imagine that for us, the Ottoman Turkish Empire is already an unbeatable opponent. A few years ago, the Ottoman Turkish Empire That terrifying cavalry group had just severely damaged the coalition forces of the Holy Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire and France in Bulgaria. You must know that this coalition army in the West was recognized as the best army at the time and was composed of powerful knights from various countries. , there aren’t any farmers with pitchforks in there.”

Fu An listened and looked at the map carefully.

The Holy Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and France, these countries can all be clearly found on the map. They may be the size of a chief envoy in the Ming Dynasty, but for such a barbarian land, they are already "big countries." .

"Then where is your country?"

Clavier held his forehead and clicked on the southwest corner of the map, Spain on the Iberian Peninsula.

"oh."

After Fu An hit his soul with a critical blow, he concluded: "So the coalition forces of the three most powerful countries there are still unable to defeat the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and the Ottoman Turkish Empire was defeated by the Timur Khanate in a decisive battle (Battle of Ankara). ), and the emperor was captured by Timur."

In fact, Bursa, the capital of the Ottoman Turkish Empire at that time, this thousand-year-old capital designed by Hannibal, also fell. With the help of Greek sailors, a few Turks were able to cross the Dardanelles Strait and escape the fate of being massacred. .

The ironic thing is that this is what Western countries want to do at this time.

In the Christian world, Ottoman Turkey has three major enemies, namely Hungary, Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire. Among them, the most intimate enemy is the Kingdom of Hungary. In order to deal with the threat of Ottoman Turkey, King Sigismund of the Kingdom of Hungary lobbied the entire Christian world, and Planned the last "Crusade" in the history of Christianity. At this time, the Hundred Years War between England and France was temporarily suspended, and there was no war within the Holy Roman Empire. Therefore, Sigismund's request was received in various feudal countries in Europe. There was a widespread response, and the elite of Europe's knightly class came together for the last time to launch an expedition. Their goal was Ottoman Türkiye and they wanted to completely drive them out of the Balkans.

Unfortunately, claiming to have "God's protection" ended in a defeat with heavy casualties. Bayezid used the tactic of luring the enemy deep into the ground, defeated 100,000 European Crusaders in the Balkan plains, and captured more than 10,000 knights, but Soon the emperor of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, who was revered as the "King of Light", fell under Timur's army.

"As you heard."

Claviyo pointed to the sky humorously and said: "Even God is afraid of Timur."

This time it was Clavijo's turn to ask.

"So Fu, why do you think Tamerlane launched a war against the Ming Dynasty?"

Klavyo was a little hard to understand: "The Ottoman Turkish Empire is not Timur's opponent, and the Mamluks are not Timur's opponent. Baghdad, Damascus, and Delhi. These famous cities were all slaughtered by Timur. He can continue to the west. To achieve the unfinished business of the Mongols and reach the westernmost part of the sea, our countries are unable to resist, so why did he suddenly withdraw his troops back to Samarkand and prepare for this huge expedition?"

From the perspective of Westerners, it is difficult for them to understand Timur's behavior of sacrificing the near and seeking the far, because it seems completely unreasonable in terms of benefits and convenience.

But it is not difficult for Easterners to understand, because it also involves "legal system".

Fu An was silent for a moment and replied: "He wants to be the second Genghis Khan and become the Great Khan of Mongolia."

"Genghis Khan? I know, this is an unavoidable name."

"The Great Mongol Empire established by Genghis Khan and his descendants was divided into four major khanates. Before Timur, the Ogedai Khanate was destroyed, and the remaining three khanates, namely Chagatai Khan The country, the Ilkhanate, and the Golden Horde have all surrendered to Timur at this time. According to you, even the Egyptian Mamluk cavalry that defeated the Mongolian army hundreds of years ago, under Timur All he can do is flee in panic. Then look at the world. Timur re-established the second great Mongol Empire. What else is missing?"

"Great Yuan! Great Yuan where Marco Polo arrived!"

"I think this is Timur's answer. Now there is no Yuan Dynasty. There are some Ming Dynasties. You should have seen them. The three circles of signs arranged in an inverted glyph can be seen everywhere in the city of Samarkand. According to the introduction of the locals, This symbolizes that Timur Khan had conquered three-quarters of the known world."

In fact, through Fu An's observation of Timur, this conjecture is not wrong.

During the expedition, Timur heard the news that Zhu Yuanzhang had died and Zhu Yunwen had succeeded to the throne.

Later, Timur heard that "King Zhu Di of Yan", Zhu Yuanzhang's fourth son and the most talented feudal lord who was highly valued in Timur's intelligence, led his mixed Mongolian and Han people. The Border Guard Corps began its rebellion against the new emperor.

Later, on almost the same day as the battle with Ankara, Zhu Di's rebels captured the capital of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yunwen disappeared. The news spread to West Asia. Timur immediately decided to let go of his defeated Ottoman Turkish Empire and the Mamluk Dynasty of Egypt and return. He went to Samarkand to prepare for his expedition against the Ming Dynasty.

Not only did the Ottoman Turkish Empire dare not pursue, but the Mamluk dynasty was also beaten down. The latter occupied Egypt and Syria and was a standard military aristocratic country. The king's Turkic guards abolished the legal dynasty and sent their generals to the throne. The throne they sent to Cairo was roughly the Egyptian version of "checking and becoming emperor", but it did not have the "right to drink and release the troops".

The reason why Timur was so magnanimous was that he believed that only by conquering Mongolia and the Ming Dynasty could he legitimately become the Great Khan of all Mongolia and become the second Genghis Khan.

Looking at the huge territory of the Timur Khanate, all this does not seem impossible.

At least, Timur's current conditions are much better than those of Genghis Khan.

The decision to expedition to the Ming Dynasty was precisely related to the outcome of the Battle of Jingnan.

After more than ten years of intelligence collection, Timur had a considerable understanding of the Ming Dynasty. He even spoke some Chinese. From the result of Zhu Di's victory in the Battle of Jingnan, Timur drew his judgment. , Zhu Di only occupied a corner of Peiping, and the number of his border troops was not amazing. There should not have been any hope of victory against the Ming Dynasty, but in the end the war dragged on for a long time and even Zhu Di succeeded in making a comeback. This speaks for itself. After Zhu Yuanzhang's purges in his later years, the Ming army had lost the amazing combat effectiveness it had shown when fighting the Yuan Dynasty. After the Jingnan Campaign, both sides of the Ming army were bound to suffer losses.

In terms of the size and combat effectiveness of the standing army, Timur believed that he already had considerable advantages. This advantage, combined with detailed intelligence and careful planning, would provide all the foundation needed for the expedition to the Ming Dynasty.

Fu An then asked Claviyo a seemingly unimportant question.

"What do you know about Bayezid, Emperor of the Ottoman Empire? He should be your main enemy."

"Frankly speaking, although the emperor was a prisoner in this army with us, I actually don't know much about him, because the word 'us' is not accurate and refers too generally to Spain. The kingdom does not have too close ties with France or even the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire, and due to the long distance between countries, the Ottoman Turkish Empire poses almost no real threat to the Kingdom of Spain."

Klavyo paused and continued: "My understanding of the details of the Battle of Ankara and my understanding of Bayezid originally came from my trip to the Timur Khanate from Spain. At that time, we came from From the Caucasus region, follow the Euphrates River south to the city of Sivas. Under the snow-capped mountains, there are green pastures. This is a beautiful city. There are many Armenians and Georgians here, including many Christians. , in a place that served as both a post station and a church, they told me about the Battle of Ankara. In fact, the Ottoman Turks fought quite tenaciously."

"Is Christianity spread so widely?" Fu An expressed great curiosity about this religion that is different from Buddhism and Taoism.

"certainly."

Klavyo thought for a while and said: "Didn't Buddhism in India also spread across mountains and seas to China? But starting from Sivas City and going southeast to Tabriz in the southeast of the foothills of the Caucasus, there are only a few Christians. , which is the easternmost point where Christianity is currently spreading.”

Claviyo showed a complicated expression: "Fu, did you know? In the center of Tabriz, there are not only the 'Bone Palace' built with the bones of the rebels massacred by Timur, but also beautiful flower beds and Clean aqueducts, this is really a twisted capital. Later, I came to Termez, where there are well-tended rose gardens, historic Central Asian wines, and cotton fields bathed in sunlight. What impressed me the most It's Samarkand, it's really the center of the world, Turks, Persians, Syrians, Armenians, Greeks and Indians all gathered here. And then, that's the day we met."

Fu An didn't want to recall. In short, he was insulted after not being summoned by Timur for a long time, and he learned the latest news about the Ming Dynasty - King Yan Zhu Di ascended the throne through rebellion.

Timur was sitting on a throne covered with silk and quilts, wearing a white felt hat decorated with gems, facing the Mamluk ambassadors from Egypt, the Golden Horde envoys from the north, and Delhi from India. The envoys of the Sultanate and representatives of the vassal states or local lords who were canonized by Timur publicly declared that Zhu Di was the "Pig Khan". This sentence was said in Chinese. Apparently Timur understood some of the homophones in Chinese.

Here, Claviyo also heard for the first time Timur's story about his early life, including how he started from a fallen royal family, led hundreds of cavalry to rob caravans, and was disabled in the battle.

Obviously, Fu An did not get the information he wanted.

"If you want to know more about this person and your Jing"

"The shame of Jingkang."

"Yes, for the Ottoman Turkish Emperor who is similar to your Jingkang disgrace, maybe you can apply to Tamerlane's grandson. He will definitely be happy to show off their achievements to you. The emperor is locked up in the circus."