I

Turpan.

Babai Khan, who was under house arrest, regained his freedom and asked: "Lost?"

"We lost," Abdullah Shit said hurriedly with lingering fears. "The Han army is too powerful. Their artillery is countless, and their cavalry is braver than the Mongolian cavalry. I don't know what my brother thinks. , even if we want to resist, we should stay in the city, how can we fight in the wild?"

Babai Khan said: "Send an envoy to ask for surrender."

Abdullah Shit worried: "But the Han army slaughtered nobles everywhere, and we also fought a war. I am afraid we will not be forgiven."

Babai Khan asked: "Otherwise? Where should we flee? Now there are two kings in Yarkand, and Aksu is the closest to us. Do we have to flee to Aksu? Your cousin is a puppet king, and he can't decide anything. , has long been controlled by He Zhuo. Do you think Aksu can be defended when the Han soldiers attack it?"

Abdullah Shit was silent.

Babai Khan asked again: "How many more troops do we have?"

Abdullah Shit said: "Many of the nobles, commoners and serfs in Turpan and the surrounding areas were conscripted by my brother to fight. I only brought back a few hundred cavalry, and there are more than 300 soldiers in the city. If I recruit them by force, We should be able to recruit one or two thousand civilians."

Babai Khan said: "Tell the nobles who followed you back that if they don't want to surrender, they should flee to Aksu as soon as possible."

The Datong Army arrived very quickly. In only half a day, thousands of leading troops had arrived in Turpan.

Babai Khan, along with his family and ministers, opened the city gate and knelt down to ask for surrender. They were all detained by the vanguard general Liang Zhen.

Liang Zhen is of Mongolian descent from Jeju Island. He once led troops to pursue Doduo, and now he has become the deputy division commander. He led his troops to take control of the Turpan Castle, and immediately sent people back to report the news. Then he asked Babai Khan: "You resisted stubbornly before, how come you surrender now?"

Babai Khan explained: "I was going to surrender, but my son put me under house arrest."

"You are really a kind father and a filial son," Liang Zhen couldn't help but laugh. "The nobles who fought with our army before, can their families be here?"

Babai Khan said: "After hearing about the massive defeat at the front, many people fled to Aksu."

Liang Zhen's smile faded: "You are dishonest. You must have decided to surrender yourself and then let those people escape in advance!"

"I don't dare, they escaped on their own." Babaihan argued.

Liang Zhen called his lieutenant: "You lead two thousand cavalry and immediately chase west. The families of those nobles, men, women, old and young, and they also brought a lot of property with them. They must not have gone far at this moment. Since they have escaped, they are With other thoughts in mind, all the men will be killed, and only the women and children will survive."

"yes!"

Lieutenant General Zhong Qi immediately led two thousand light cavalry to pursue westward along the tracks of the wheels.

It was already evening at this time, so I didn’t dare to run too fast at night. Fortunately, the roads along the way were relatively flat. After chasing for two hours, they stopped to rest, fed their horses with salt water and bean cakes, and then slept in place and waited for dawn.

As the morning light faded, we continued our pursuit. By mid-morning, we finally caught up with the fleeing team.

There are about a hundred noble cavalry here, as well as countless nobles' wives, children, and children. Some even bring their slaves on the road, and their carts and carts are filled with goods. Many rural nobles were reluctant to part with their cattle and sheep, and took their livestock with them to escape westward.

Hearing the sound of horse hoofbeats from behind, the hundreds of noble cavalrymen immediately said to their families: "Quickly, we don't want anything!"

These guys ran away on horseback, leaving behind countless old, weak, women and children.

The abandoned people, the men in their families, basically died on the battlefield.

Zhong Qi led his troops to kill him, leaving behind a hundred cavalry to guard the prisoners who had not escaped. There were also many old, weak, women and children who fled towards the Gobi Desert. Eight hundred cavalry were responsible for chasing them. The remaining 1,100 cavalry, led by Zhong Qi, chased the more than 100 noble cavalry.

The noble cavalrymen were accompanied by their families and could not run fast at all. Seeing that the pursuers were getting closer and closer, they finally ignored their wives, children and children, leaving their relatives behind and fleeing quickly with whips.

Zhong Qi stopped chasing and went back to clean up the scene.

The male prisoners, whose clothes were of better quality, were all beheaded on the spot indiscriminately, and their cries were loud. Only slaves, women and children can survive. The slaves will be released as free people, and the women and children will be arranged for single men who immigrate in the future.

Over there in Turpan.

Jiang Liang finally arrived and said to Babai Khan: "If you surrendered early, you could keep your property. But you surrendered too late. Take your family and go to Liaoning to be a civilian. Except for a change of clothes, you can't take anything else." Take it with you, and the government will provide you with food along the way."

"Thank you, General, for sparing your life!" Babai Khan breathed a sigh of relief. He had a cowardly character and just wanted to save his life.

Even if the nobles of the Western Regions can survive, they cannot stay here, otherwise they will be the source of turmoil. The imperial court had already decreed that only civilians should be kept among the foreign races in the Western Regions, because the civilians had little culture and no social influence, which would facilitate the subsequent education work.

After Jiang Liang occupied Turpan, he did not march immediately.

While resting the large army, he sent out small groups of troops to sweep the surrounding castles and villages.

There are still a few nobles who still control the place.

For example, there is a castle in Shanshan, and He Zhuo inside did not follow Touluntai on the expedition. When the Datong army passed by the castle, He Zhuo sent someone out to negotiate terms, and he would only surrender if he retained his power and position.

This guy also incited the people, and all the civilians in the streets outside the city rushed into the castle to hold on.

Now, five thousand Datong troops are besieging the city, and dozens of artillery are bombarding them in turn. It is estimated that they will receive news of the city's destruction tomorrow.

Before waiting for tomorrow, Jiang Liang received good news that night.

The next day, a cavalry force was detached, leading the Qinghai cavalry to the southwest to capture Luobu (Lop Nur), Youtai (near Qiemo), Hotan and other places. Another cavalry force was detached, with thousands of infantry, and went northwest to attack but failed.

And the power was lost south of Urumqi, which was Turpan's sphere of influence.

And Urumqi, still called Yangji Bali at this time, was the pasture of Kubenoyat, the Mongolian leader of the Heshuote tribe. Although this person belongs to the Heshuote tribe, he nominally obeys the Junggar Khan.

In other words, Jiang Liang only sent troops to the south of the Tianshan Mountains, facing Urumqi across the mountain pass.

After capturing and losing strength, leaving an army stationed to prevent the Mongols from coming from Urumqi, Jiang Liang led the main force towards Aksu.

…

Aksu.

The Yarkand king here is called Ismayel, and the Yarkand king of Kashgar is called Yaolwas.

Before the two kings started fighting, Aksu was already fighting among themselves.

The exiled Montenegrin sect and Draupadisha used their religious power to murder the governor of Aksu and turned the king into a puppet to control the power of Aksu alone.

When he heard that the Han army was coming, King Ismayel was not panicked, but was secretly a little excited. He has long since stopped wanting to be a puppet. Governor Aksu controlled him before, and now Padisha controls him.

After surrendering, you might be able to regain your freedom.

Padisha was panicked. This Hezhuo from the Montenegrin faction had a strong desire for power. He will not hand over power even if he dies, and he will never surrender, nor can he run away, because further west is the power of the Baishan Sect, and the Baishan Sect heretics are more hateful than the Han heretics.

"Holy war, please send a message to the nobles and common people of Aksu that I will launch a holy war to defend our homeland!"

He Zhuo, who was supported by thousands of people, launched a holy war. In just half a month, tens of thousands of people gathered, and even slaves came carrying farm tools.

Then Padisha started having a headache.

Due to the successive wars with the Kashgar region, Aksu's food supply has been almost exhausted. Tens of thousands of jihadist troops also had to eat. He couldn't provide enough military rations, and the nobles didn't bring much food.

If they wait where they are, they will all starve together in a month without the Datong Army taking action.

After hesitating for several days, Padisha was forced to take the initiative and brought the puppet king Ismail with her.

The battle-hardened Governor of Aksu has been murdered by Padisha, and his cronies have also been liquidated.

There were no generals in the army, and Padisha herself had never fought in a war. Not to mention fighting, the march was a mess. After all, there were too many civilians and serfs in the jihadist army.

Some noble generals felt bad that this kind of army was fighting a fart war.

Several nobles, armed with their own personal weapons, deliberately slowed down the march. While walking, he suddenly ran away and went to Kashgar to join King Yaolewas.

The troops under her command became deserters, but Padisha didn't even notice.

He only had the experience of preaching to thousands of believers, but he did not have the talent to command an army of tens of thousands. This guy drove forward without paying any attention to the situation behind him. Someone finally came and told the truth the next day.

Padisha was a little flustered, but pretended to be calm, saying that she had sent those deserters back to defend the city.

After marching for three days, Padisha's jihadist army collided with the vanguard led by Liang Zhen.

Liang Zhen only had 5,000 cavalry in his hands. He originally planned to retreat, but he saw tens of thousands of enemy troops in a noisy manner, like refugees gathered together.

"Attack the enemy's left flank!"

Of these five thousand cavalry, two thousand were dragoons, and the remaining three thousand were all gallant cavalry.

They rushed towards the most chaotic formation of serf soldiers. When the Datong cavalry rushed in front of them, Padisha had not even fully deployed the formation.

First, two thousand dragoons fired a volley of muskets, beating the serf soldiers into more chaos. Then they put away their muskets, drew their sabers, and charged into the formation with the heroic cavalry.

Thousands of serf soldiers who were still more than ten steps away were already frightened and fled, and the nearby serf soldiers followed suit. The real enemy elites were all gathered around Padisha, and there was no time to rescue them at this moment, because the jihadist army was too chaotic, and miscellaneous troops blocked all the troop exit channels.

The five thousand Datong cavalry were divided into battalions when chasing the defeated troops.

A group of five hundred cavalry was divided into ten groups to chase the defeated troops. Those broken troops would help rush into formation and disrupt all nearby formations. Often five hundred Datong cavalry would quickly overwhelm thousands of enemy troops.

Not long after, the entire left wing of the Jihad army fled, and the front army also became chaotic. Then the Datong cavalry rushed from the left, and the entire front army collapsed completely.

The elite troops under Padisha's command had not even engaged in the battle at this time, but they saw troops routed in front and on the left.

"run!"

The noble generals who had long felt something was wrong immediately fled with their private soldiers. They all had the same idea and fled to Kashgar to join another king.

Padisha stood up from the carriage and looked at the chaotic battlefield blankly. He had no idea how to direct. At this time, he wanted to shout a few jihadist slogans, but he saw that the elite around him were also fleeing. Even his close followers began to flee, and no one listened to him anymore.

Finally, Padisha pulled out her dagger, cut the rope of the carriage, and followed the rebels on horseback to escape from the battlefield.

Ismayel realized that no one was taking care of him anymore, so he excitedly rushed out of the carriage and shouted: "I am Yarkand Khan, and I am willing to surrender!"

But when he saw countless defeated troops coming, Ismayel's face changed drastically and he shouted: "I am the Great Khan, don't come here!"

The defeated soldiers didn't care about this. They ran away from the king one after another, and finally someone knocked the king down. Immediately afterwards, another broken army stepped on the king, one kick after another, trampling the puppet king to death alive.