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

The word "chijin" comes from Chijin Mongolia.

In the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court established the Chijin Guard between Yumen Pass and Jiayuguan Pass, and a large number of Mongolians lived here. With the rise of Yarkant, Chijin Mongolia was killed and returned to Jiayuguan more than a hundred years ago, and the local religious beliefs changed.

Now, the Chinese court has sent troops here again, and the leading tribe of 5,000 people has arrived outside Chijin Fort.

The local nobleman's name is Ma Hemu, and his official position is Chijin Burke, which means Chijin Lord. He had been quite prosperous in the past twenty years by collecting business taxes from the Silk Road. He never thought that one day he would be besieged.

He sent his cronies out of the city to negotiate. The cronies soon came back and said: "Lord Burke, the Han generals want you to surrender immediately. They will not negotiate any terms for surrender."

"How can we surrender if we don't talk about it?" Ma Hemu was quite angry.

The confidant said: "They said that this is China's homeland and must be taken back. Last year, documents were sent to all the berks in the Western Regions, but no one was willing to donate the land, so this year they brought troops to collect it."

"Nonsense, my grandfather conquered this place!" Ma Hemu was furious.

Chijinbao and its surrounding areas belong to the flood plains of the Qilian Mountains. Compared with the generally barren Western Region, this area is suitable for farming and grazing. It has been identified as a resettlement site, and two thousand Han people will move here.

Ma Hemu made money by collecting business taxes. Although he did not expand his army significantly, he repaired his castle.

He stood at the top of the city, looking at the thousands of Datong troops outside, and said with a ferocious expression: "My castle is so strong and tall that thousands of Han troops cannot defeat it!"

The reason why Ma Hemu did not want to surrender was that he was reluctant to part with the business tax here.

He has already tasted the sweetness. How can someone who has eaten meat want to go back to eat grass? Once he surrendered, even if he survived, his tax collection rights would definitely be taken away by Han officials.

The five thousand leading troops of the Datong Army, seeing that Ma Hemu really refused to surrender, immediately retreated several miles to camp. They were all cavalry and did not bring any siege equipment. They could only wait for the large army to arrive.

Instead of just sitting around and waiting, they started raiding the surrounding villages the next day.

The Yarkand Khanate has developed to the present and has implemented an aristocratic manor system. The land throughout the country belonged to the sultan, and was distributed to local lords, who in turn distributed it to minor nobles.

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

Five thousand Datong cavalry were divided into ten groups to sweep the village. They did not disturb the common people, but went straight to the best houses, which must be the homes of minor nobles.

Killing men and capturing women without saying a word.

There will definitely be no innocent people, because these small nobles were still living in Turpan more than a hundred years ago, and this land was snatched by their ancestors. At that time, the land grabbing process was extremely bloody, and the cruelty far exceeded that of the Datong Army.

The small nobles in the village who were not killed by the Datong army all fled to Chijin Castle, where they could eat everything at once.

The more the Datong army "robbed" the village, the more at ease Ma Hemu felt in the castle. He felt that China did not send many troops and must have taken advantage of them and left. His castle should not be in danger.

After more than ten days like this, Ma Hemu saw the army in the distance and froze on the top of the city.

How many people should there be?

Under the warm sun, countless troops marched forward, with horses, livestock, and vehicles stretching to the horizon.

The five thousand vanguard troops had already circled to the west of the castle to prevent the enemy from escaping to Yumen.

"Siege the city!"

Start fighting as soon as you arrive, no nonsense.

The coach of this battle is Jiang Liang, who is based in Xi'an. After he regained the Western Regions, it was time for him to be transferred back to Nanjing to take up a post. If the battle is fought well, it is very likely that he will be made a Duke of the country - he is also a Duke now, but he belongs to the two-character prefix of the County Duke.

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

The Datong Army had no intention of filling up the moat. The infantry protected the artillery and set up a fort on the other side of the river towards the castle.

A total of sixty-four cannons were placed in a row by the river.

Ma Hemu almost wet his pants when he saw the dark barrel.

Chijin Castle is just a small castle. Not to mention the sixty-four cannons, even only six cannons can destroy the rammed earth walls.

"I am willing to surrender. Hurry... open the city gate quickly!" Ma Hemu shouted.

The little nobles who fled from various villages stepped forward to stop them: "Lord Burke, you can't surrender. Those Han soldiers killed the nobles when they saw them, and they killed them even if they surrendered. It's totally unreasonable."

Ma Hemu said: "If you don't surrender, you will definitely die. If you surrender, you may still survive. Get out of the way!"

While they were struggling in the city, the Datong artillery had already begun test firing.

A cannonball fell in the city and smashed the roof, only about ten steps away from Mahemu.

The little nobles were frightened and dispersed on the spot. They mounted their horses and fled towards the west of the city. They also knew that they could not defend the city, so they had to run as far as they could and fled all the way to Hami to seek refuge with He Zhuo.

Ma Hemu was stunned, surrendered without leaving the city, and ran away with his wife and children.

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

"Kill all the men, leaving no one alive!"

Five thousand Datong cavalry instantly transformed into tigers and wolves.

But those red gold nobles were already frightened and did not dare to resist at all. They actually turned and fled towards the Gobi area.

Many nobles' wives and children were left alone and captured along with their belongings.

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

The mayor of the town used to belong to the official rank, but now it has been changed to the ninth rank official, and the more prosperous and developed places are the ninth rank official. Many college graduates failed to pass the Jinshi examination and were thrown into local towns to become mayors.

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

If all three opportunities are used up, you will not be able to become a ninth-grade official, and you will have to take the official examination yourself.

Shen Jian didn't dare to take the exam again. Hearing that the imperial court needed a large number of grassroots officials to regain the Western Regions, he hurriedly ran to sign up. The officials in the Western Regions are also officials, and the newly occupied land is easy to produce political achievements, and maybe the promotion speed will be faster.

So, he drew lots and got the position of mayor of Chijin.

The castle is too small to accommodate the common people, so it will be used as the official residence of the mayor from now on.

The market is outside the castle, similar to a Japanese castle town. Hundreds of craftsmen who accompanied the army, as well as merchants who accompanied the army, were placed in the market. They were the first residents of the town.

The two thousand civilian husbands with families who had previously helped transport grain and grass could now stay and settle down.

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

As for local farmers, they can also be allocated land as long as they come to the town to register and settle. The nobles of the village had been killed, and they were liberated. The government will not force them to change their beliefs, but if they are willing to change their religion, the quantity and quality of the land they will be allocated will definitely be better.

Shen Jian and several other officials were busy all day long.

Things in the town are finished, resettlement is finished, and we still have to go to the countryside to preach policies.

Soldiers and armor were distributed to the two thousand immigrants, mainly spears, crossbows and leather armor. The land they farm is tax-free for five years and halved for ten years. They have to practice during the off-season. To put it bluntly, it is like a military camp, but they are all civilians.

There is a small foreign trader in the town who is very cooperative with the work. Shen Jian keeps him by his side as a translator. In the future, he will apply to help him become a petty official.

Shen Jian took the translator and headed to the nearest village, accompanied by a group of peasant soldiers.

He was afraid that local farmers would rise up and kill people, but those farmers were also afraid of him. Because the local farmers were all serfs under the aristocratic manor system. They were used to being bullied by the nobles in the past. They were beaten and scolded by anyone who came.

Several farmers talked to Shen Jian cautiously.

Asked what tribe they were from, these people couldn't tell.

The translator said beside him: "Lord Mayor, they are all Saltas."

The original meaning of Salta is "merchant", and it specifically refers to believers of various ethnic groups living in Central Asia, and many of them have also moved to Xinjiang and Gansu. There are Turks, Tajiks, Kazakhs, Persians... After being far away from their homeland, many people can't figure out which ethnic group they belong to, so the outside world calls them Salta.

Those who could preach were all nobles, and all the nobles had been killed.

Facing this group of confused serfs, Shen Jian muttered: "The town needs a few virtuous monks!"

Shen Jian returned to the castle and immediately briefed the court to introduce the situation here. He suggested that a large number of monks should be sent here. Now is the best time to preach. In a few years, the opportunity will be missed.

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

Moreover, he called on and encouraged monks and Taoists across the country to go to the Western Regions to open up religious territory. The imperial court is responsible for helping them build temples. As long as they go there, they have a good chance of becoming abbots. Even if they fail to become abbots, they will still be the second or third leaders in the temple.

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

But he said that the imperial army advanced all the way to Yumen.

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

When the Lord of Yumen heard that the Han army was coming to kill him, he had already fled in advance and fled to Hami to seek asylum. These so-called lords have a standing army of at most a few hundred people. They can pull up the small nobles in the village to arm themselves, and they can have an army of two to three thousand people. How dare they fight against the Datong Army?

This time the Datong Army dispatched more than 50,000 infantry and cavalry, and more than 100,000 civilians (most of whom had to stay in the Western Regions to reproduce). On the Qinghai side, there are thousands of cavalrymen of various ethnic groups, who are about to cross the mountain pass and enter Xinjiang.

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

Hami lord Muhammetisha Hezhuo, who was seriously ill, received the news while lying in bed. He called his son Ebedullah: "We can't defeat the Han people, so don't try to defend 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. It’s up to you to figure it out yourself.”

Ebedulla hesitated: "I heard from the nobles who fled to Hami that the Han army would kill the nobles on sight. After we surrender, will we also be killed by the Han army?"

Muhanmatixia Hezhuo frowned, and then said, "I don't know."

"I know." Ebedulla said.

Ebedulla planned to run away and take people to Turpan to ask for help. If you can't win with your own strength, you can lead 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 stabbed him in the back, surrendered to Kangxi in a fool's errand, and finally became the King of Hami.

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

He could even tolerate the imperial court sending troops to station, but the position of Lord Hami could not be lost. But the Nanjing court obviously did not intend this. They killed the nobles they saw along the way, knowing that they wanted to eradicate the nobles and leave only common people of all ethnic groups.

Ebedulla could only be forced to fight to the end!