Ming Dynasty: Is a mere unruly commoner rebelling against heaven?

Chapter 91: They Are Massacring the City!

Hami Garrison.

The 130,000-strong army led by Xu Chang could already vaguely see the city walls of Hami Garrison.

For this expedition, Xu Chang served as the Governor-General of the Northwest, in command of military affairs.

Ma Jinzhong, the chief supervisor of the West Depot, served as the supervising eunuch, overseeing military matters.

At the same time, the Five Armies Chief Military Commission also dispatched two Assistant Chief Commissioners and seventeen Vice Commissioners to oversee military affairs.

The Ministry of War also had two Section Chiefs, six Principal Officers, and eight Ambassadors, responsible for logistics.

"Governor Xu, Hami Garrison is ahead."

"Currently, the gates of Hami Garrison are tightly closed, and there is no one guarding the city walls. The number of people from the Turpan Khanate inside the city is unknown."

"This place is less than a hundred li away from Hami Garrison. A rapid march would only take four hours to arrive!"

Because this expedition included a significant portion of infantry, the overall speed of advance was not fast.

Xu Chang nodded and raised his hand: "Halt the advance, replace the scouts to explore a hundred li outwards."

"Twenty thousand troops on alert, the rest of the army, cook and eat, and rest in place."

"Tonight at Xu hour (7-9 PM), launch the attack on the city!"

"Yes!"

For the 130,000-strong army, capturing a small Hami Garrison was as easy as reaching into a pocket. Xu Chang was not anxious at all.

The one who was truly anxious now was Ahmad Khan, who was hiding in Hami Garrison.

Inside the Loyal and Obedient King's Mansion in Hami Garrison, Ahmad Khan paced anxiously in the hall, sweat constantly dripping from his face.

Just then, Yalan, the top general of the Turpan Khanate, hurriedly entered the Loyal and Obedient King's Mansion.

When Ahmad Khan saw Yalan, he immediately rushed forward and grabbed Yalan's arms.

"Is the intelligence true? The Ming Dynasty court really sent over a hundred thousand troops to seize Hami Garrison?"

"It's true!"

Yalan's expression was also very anxious: "The Ming Dynasty army has already gathered outside Hami Garrison and will attack Hami Garrison at any time!"

"How could this be?"

Ahmad Khan shook his head repeatedly in despair, turned around, and slumped into a grandmaster's chair, his face full of confusion and incomprehension.

Occupying the Ming Dynasty's border garrisons was not the first time these large and small khanates had done such a thing.

In the early years of Chenghua, Ahmad Khan's father, Yunus Khan, had done it more than once.

Even further back, during the Zhengtong and Xuande years, previous khanates had also occupied Hami Garrison multiple times.

But each time, the Ming Dynasty had never sent so many troops to reclaim Hami Garrison.

More often than not, the territorial issues of the border towns were either resolved by the border generals themselves.

Or the steppe homeland of the Western Region Khanates had problems, and they would voluntarily withdraw from the border towns and return to the steppe to defend their homes.

This kind of thing, gathering hundreds of thousands of troops to attack a border town, was unprecedented.

Suddenly, a glint of light flashed in Ahmad Khan's eyes.

He looked at Yalan again and asked urgently.

"The hundreds of thousands of Ming troops, are they all garrison soldiers from nearby, is that right?"

If it was just hundreds of thousands of garrison soldiers, then Ahmad Khan felt that he could still resist a little.

The Ming Dynasty's garrison soldiers were lax in military preparations. Not only was their equipment simple, but they also severely lacked combat skills.

Often, a battle had just begun, and only a few hundred people had died or were injured in the front, and the soldiers in the rear would lose their morale.

As long as the casualty rate exceeded ten percent, the Ming Dynasty's garrison soldiers would already be routed.

With such an army attacking the city, Ahmad Khan believed that he could defend Hami Garrison for a period of time.

But Yalan's reply left him in despair.

"This army of hundreds of thousands is definitely not garrison soldiers."

"This army has strict discipline and a grand momentum."

"Especially those cavalrymen in black armor and on black horses, each one is strong and powerful, and obeys orders without question."

"In my opinion, this is a brave and skilled elite force."

Yalan recalled the elite force in black armor and on black horses that he had just seen, and his expression became very solemn.

Ahmad Khan sighed deeply and turned his head back again.

Ahmad Khan really couldn't understand why the Ming Dynasty emperor would make such a big deal this time?

Mobilizing hundreds of thousands of troops just to recover a small Hami Garrison.

Was it really necessary?

If you wanted it, I would have just given it to you.

Ahmad Khan slapped the table and stood up: "Announce to the whole army, withdraw from Hami Garrison!"

"Leave now, not a moment to delay!"

As Ahmad Khan spoke, he prepared to ride his horse and withdraw from Hami Garrison.

It was absolutely impossible for more than 30,000 cavalrymen to defend the city against an army of 130,000.

What's more, this army of 130,000 was attacking from the east, where the defensive works were weakest.

Moreover, cavalrymen were not good at defending cities. Sticking to Hami Garrison would only lead to the annihilation of the entire Turpan Khanate.

There was no need to think much about it. Retreating was the most correct choice for the Turpan Khanate. Only a fool would fight to the death with the main force of the Ming army!

This Hami Garrison was originally territory they had seized, so they didn't feel bad about losing it.

"Huh!"

Yalan agreed and then asked again: "Khan, what about the five hundred or so Ming households in the city?"

A trace of ruthlessness flashed in Ahmad Khan's eyes: "Kill them all, seize the supplies, and return to Gaochang!"

"Huh!"

Under Ahmad Khan's orders, the soldiers of the Turpan Khanate began to massacre the city.

The remaining five hundred or so households in Hami Garrison, totaling nearly two thousand people, were brutally murdered.

Blood flowed all over Hami Garrison, and there were corpses of innocent civilians everywhere.

At the same time, Hami Garrison opened its west gate, and more than 30,000 cavalrymen, each carrying large and small packages of looted supplies, rushed out.

The Mongol Khanates were all cavalry, swift as the wind, and free to advance and retreat.

High mobility was the greatest advantage of their Mongol cavalry.

The disadvantage was that the logistics supply line was a big problem, so generally, grain and supplies were carried by each cavalryman.

But in this way, 30,000 cavalrymen could not carry much supplies.

There were still large amounts of grain, cloth, tea, salt, iron, and other supplies left in Hami Garrison.

Of course, this problem was also easy to solve.

After Ahmad Khan led the cavalry of the Turpan Khanate to withdraw from Hami Garrison.

He immediately ordered them to set fire and burn down the entire Hami Garrison!

… …

"General, Hami Garrison is on fire!"

"What?"

Xu Chang, who was eating, had a solemn expression. He quickly stood up from the ground and saw thick smoke billowing over Hami Garrison and flames flashing.

Xu Chang quickly ordered: "Beat the drums, the whole army sets off, advance to Hami Garrison at the fastest speed."

"Guo Hu, you lead three thousand Camp Breakers and nine thousand Three Thousand Camp cavalry as the vanguard to quickly investigate the situation in Hami Garrison."

"Remember, do not engage in battle, do not advance rashly!"

"Yes, Governor Xu!"

The Camp Breaker general named Guo Hu accepted the order and left.

He gathered his troops, formed a vanguard cavalry force of 12,000 men, and rushed towards Hami Garrison first.

At the same time, the soldiers who were eating and resting also got up at the fastest speed, packed their food, organized their equipment, and marched towards Hami Garrison at full speed.

The cold winter night in Hami suddenly began to snow.

At the third quarter of Chou hour (2:30 AM), when Xu Chang led his army to Hami Garrison.

The fire in Hami Garrison had been almost extinguished by the snow.

In the night, Hami Garrison was a mess.

All around were broken walls and ruins, scorched houses, and scattered flames still burning.

In the streets, in the broken houses, there were charred corpses everywhere.

"General!"

Guo Hu, who had already entered the city, had tears in his eyes and shouted hoarsely.

"They are massacring the city!"

Xu Chang looked at the tragic situation in Hami Garrison, his mood was heavy, and it felt like a fire was burning in his heart.

Not only Xu Chang, but everyone who entered Hami Garrison was moved by the tragic scene.

After all, those lying here were all citizens of the Ming Dynasty.

The Turpan Khanate's evil act of massacring the city deeply angered everyone present.

As long as one was a person of courage, after witnessing the scene of their compatriots being harmed, there would only be one thought in their hearts.

Revenge!

Must take revenge!

"Blood debts must be repaid with blood!"

Xu Chang gritted his teeth, looked at the mess everywhere, and said every word with blood and tears.

"Rest tonight, tomorrow morning, the army will set off for Gaochang!"

"The Turpan Khanate slaughtered one city of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty will slaughter one of their countries!"

"Until death!"

Everyone present raised their weapons and shouted in unison.

"Until death!"

"Until death!"

"… …"

Because Hami Garrison had been burned into ruins, everyone was still stationed outside the city that night.

The high temperature inside Hami Garrison melted the surrounding ice and snow.

Early the next morning, Xu Chang ordered people to dig a large pit outside the city and bury the poor people who died in Hami Garrison in a unified manner.

After doing this, the army continued to advance, with the target being the royal tent of the Turpan Khanate, Gaochang.

As for Hami Garrison, it had become a ruin, a dead city.

Before the Ming Dynasty rebuilt Hami Garrison, there was no value in stationing troops here.

Therefore, Xu Chang did not leave troops to garrison, but led the entire army to attack.

They only had one purpose in their hearts.

That was to take revenge, to slaughter the country!

… …

Deep in the Turpan Basin.

Ahmad Khan was leading his troops towards Gaochang when suddenly the scout came to report.

"Khan, it's not good!"

"The Ming army is still chasing behind us, they are coming to Turpan!"

"What?!"

Ahmad Khan was shocked, his face full of disbelief.

"The Ming army actually left Hami Garrison, what do they want to do?!"

From the Xuande years, Ahmad Khan had been harassing the Ming Dynasty's border town of Hami Garrison for nearly a hundred years.

During this period, Hami Garrison had changed hands several times, and the two sides had fought hundreds of battles, large and small, in Hami Garrison.

But not once had the Ming Dynasty army taken the initiative to attack Turpan.

Each time the Ming Dynasty sent troops, the goal was only to take back Hami Garrison.

This seemed to have formed a kind of tacit understanding. The Khanate's withdrawal from Hami Garrison was considered a surrender.

And after the Ming Dynasty regained Hami Garrison, it would never send troops to Turpan.

Over time, Ahmad Khan had the illusion that as long as he left Hami Garrison, the Ming Dynasty's army would bypass him and let him go.

But who knew that this time, the Ming Dynasty would actually take the initiative to send troops to Turpan?

Thinking of the fact that the Ming Dynasty had sent not garrison soldiers this time, but hundreds of thousands of well-trained elite soldiers.

Ahmad Khan's face was uncertain, and he vaguely regretted it in his heart.

If he had known earlier that the Ming Dynasty was going to get serious with them this time, he would never have forcibly occupied Hami Garrison again.

Ahmad Khan waved the leather whip in his hand and ordered loudly.

"Everyone advance at full speed, return to Gaochang immediately!"

"Huh!"

Ahmad Khan decided to return to Gaochang as soon as possible, where he still had more than 300,000 tribesmen.

After returning to Gaochang, he would make plans on whether to fight or make peace!