The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 689 Gansu Governor, Managing Guanzhong

July and August are the hottest months in Hami. It is truly scorching hot in July. When Jia Huan led his troops to the outskirts of Hami City, it was midday. The sun was blazing overhead, and everyone was sweating profusely. However, the Tianshan Mountains in the distance were covered in snow, a stark contrast of hot and cold.

Hami Prefecture is located in the eastern part of the Tianshan Mountains, with the majestic Tianshan Mountains running through it. The mountains are high in the middle and low on both sides, and the meltwater from the snow and ice on the Tianshan Mountains nourishes this land, turning the original desert into a lush oasis. Since the Han and Tang Dynasties, Hami has been an outpost for China's expansion into the Western Regions and an important node on the Silk Road, known as the "throat of the Western Regions and the passage between East and West".

As the saying goes, a happy event makes one feel refreshed. Duan Yong, who had recently "personally" captured Hami City, was in high spirits. Upon hearing that Jia Huan and the others had finally arrived, he immediately led his men out of the city to welcome them.

"Congratulations to Eunuch Duan on pacifying Hami! After this battle, Eunuch Duan will be remembered in history. He is undoubtedly the most outstanding official in our dynasty!" Jia Huan's first words upon meeting him were full of flattery, demonstrating his mastery of social etiquette.

Duan Yong was immediately tickled, feeling as if he had eaten a hundred ginseng fruits and felt completely refreshed, grinning from ear to ear.

Other eunuchs loved money, but Duan Yong loved fame more. Eunuchs who made great contributions to the expansion of territories were extremely rare in history. Now that he had become one of them, hehe, what an honor that was! However, Duan Yong still humbly said, "You flatter me. It's all thanks to Lord Jia's strategic planning and the bravery of the soldiers. I'm just lucky to have benefited a little from it. I'm ashamed!"

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the two welcomed Princess Kangle's carriage into the city and had her stay directly in the palace of the King of Hami. Along the way, they encountered mostly local people with cold, even wary and hostile eyes; presumably, in their eyes, the Jin people were foreign enemies invading their homeland.

Upon seeing this, Jia Huan frowned. The Yi people, who lacked cultural identity, would be difficult to govern. It would probably take decades, or even centuries, to assimilate and integrate them. Fortunately, he still had Ayina and Amulang as his two cards.

After settling the women, Jia Huan immediately instructed Amulang to draft a proclamation in the name of Ayina's royal family to reassure the people. The proclamation explained that the Jin army's occupation of Hami was due to Baiwa's collusion with Turpan to plot a rebellion, and promised not to harm the people in the slightest. He also summoned the leaders of various tribes to appease them in person, promising to only execute the core stubborn elements led by the traitor Baiwa, and to forgive the rest of the followers. At the same time, he instructed Amulang to arrest and purge the die-hard loyalists of Baiwa's faction.

After these measures, Hami City quickly stabilized, the local people's attitude towards the Jin army improved significantly, the depressed market began to recover slowly, and the Jin army was able to buy supplies.

Having witnessed Jia Huan's methods, Duan Yong couldn't help but sigh inwardly. No wonder it's said that martial prowess can stabilize a country, while literature can bring peace to a nation. Governing a country truly depends on these scholars. If he were to manage it, he feared that chaos would surely ensue in no time!

Now that Jia Huan has temporarily resolved the internal troubles, the next step is to prepare for the external enemy. It is believed that Turpan will soon receive news that the Jin army has occupied Hami, and it is only a matter of time before a large army presses on the border.

Therefore, Jia Huan focused on reinforcing the city's defenses while sending out scouts to closely monitor the movements of Turpan. Before the raid on Hami City, Jia Huan and Duan Yong had already sent people into the pass to request reinforcements, but the reinforcements from inside the pass were estimated to arrive at least a month later. In other words, Jia Huan and his men would have to hold out for at least a month, relying on only a thousand men to resist the attack of the Turpan army.

However, when Jia Huan climbed to the top of Hami City to inspect the city, his expression became serious. The city of Hami before him was far too rudimentary, even inferior to some county towns in the country. The walls were only about six meters high, while the city walls in the Great Jin Dynasty were generally ten meters high, with an outer layer of blue bricks. The walls here were made of rammed earth, greatly reducing their defensive capabilities and making them easy to breach.

At this moment, Man Gui complained, "These Hami people are far too lazy. Not only is the city wall low, but they can't even spare a single brick. They haven't even dug a moat to protect the city. If the Turpan army were to attack the city, it would be really difficult to defend it."

Actually, it's not that the people of Hami are lazy, but rather it's determined by their lifestyle. Nomadic peoples live by following water and pasture, so cities are not really necessary for them; in fact, they are a burden. Later, influenced by the Han people, the nomadic people gradually learned to farm and then slowly settled down. Today, many people in Hami still live a semi-agricultural, semi-nomadic life, so they naturally don't go to the trouble of building cities like the Han people.

Another reason is that the nomadic civilization was far behind the agricultural civilization in terms of construction technology. They didn't know how to make bricks or smelt many things. Asking them to build a strong city like the one in the Great Jin Dynasty was asking too much.

Of course, digging a moat outside the city was easy, so Jia Huan immediately ordered the digging of a moat around the city, which was the most effective and cheapest way to defend against cavalry attacks.

Meanwhile, Jia Huan also laid a smokescreen. He wrote a letter and sent one of Amah's men back to Turpan to deliver to Amah's father, Khan Sutan Ali. The letter rebuked Amah for plotting against the Great Jin and ordered him to immediately bind his hands and feet and rush to Hami to plead guilty. Otherwise, the Great Jin would send an army of 300,000 to wipe out Turpan, and then it would be too late to regret it! Meanwhile, Khan Sutan Ali of Turpan had been waiting for good news from his son Amah, but instead of good news, he received the devastating news that his son Amah had become a prisoner. Moreover, the 1,500 Turpan cavalrymen that Amah had brought with him had been completely wiped out, and the city of Hami had been occupied by the Jin army.

In an instant, it was like a bolt from the blue, shocking Sutan Ali to the point of utter panic. As Baiwa had said, although Turpan was strong among the Western Regions, it only had a few thousand cavalry and about forty or fifty thousand infantry. The loss of fifteen hundred cavalry in one fell swoop was an absolutely devastating blow.

Furthermore, Jia Huan's threatening letter, claiming that the Great Jin Dynasty was preparing to mobilize 300,000 troops to sweep through Turpan, actually intimidated Sutan Ali. Of course, Sutan Ali wouldn't be foolish enough to actually tie his own hands and run to Hami to apologize. While gathering troops to strengthen the city's defenses, he sent envoys to meet with Jia Huan, attempting to buy time through negotiations.

Little did he know that this was exactly what Jia Huan wanted. He wrote a letter to threaten Sushan Ali in order to buy time to wait for reinforcements. So, while negotiating with Sushan Ali's envoy, he also fortified the city's defenses and waited for reinforcements from inside the pass to arrive.

As a result, more than half a month passed, and the two sides remained at peace, only sending messengers to argue.

Leaving aside for now how Jia Huan outwitted the Khan of Turpan, let's talk about how, after the news of Jia Huan and Duan Yong capturing Hami City reached Jiayuguan, the general guarding the pass immediately sent a report to Suzhou Guard. However, the commander of Suzhou Guard was also unable to make a decision, so he immediately sent a report to the general of Ganzhou.

The General of Ganzhou, the highest military commander of Gansu Town, was named Hong Chengtao. Upon receiving the report, he was shocked. "Tsk tsk, Jia Huan is really bold. He dared to attack Hami with only a thousand or so men, and he even managed to capture it. He's really got some skills. No wonder he was invincible in Liaodong, and even the mighty Nurhaci was defeated by him."

Hong Chengtao paced back and forth, pondering for a long time, before finally deciding to send only two thousand men to support Hami. It wasn't that Hong Chengtao was stingy; it was simply that Gansu Garrison was one of the nine important border towns, responsible for defending against the Western Regions and guarding against the Oirat people to the north. In addition, in recent months, peasant uprisings had broken out in Shaanxi, Ningxia, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, and other places, and local garrisons had been mobilized to suppress them, leaving the troops stretched thin. Hong Chengtao simply couldn't spare any more men.

In addition, a long-distance expedition is an extremely expensive undertaking. Without the court allocating special funds and provisions, the Gansu garrison did not have the capacity to send a large army on a long-distance expedition. Mobilizing two thousand men was already the limit for Hong Chengtao.

Before they knew it, it was August of the eleventh year of the Qiansheng reign. The news of the victory in Hami, along with the head of Baiwa, was finally delivered to the capital and presented to Emperor Qiansheng, causing a great shock in the court.

Who would have thought that Jia Huan, this kid, would go to Hami to deliver a wedding and end up conquering Hami as well? Baiwa, the "groom," didn't even get to be the groom; instead, he became a victim of the sword. Tsk tsk, how incredibly awesome he is!
Emperor Qiansheng was overjoyed because the events of the past six months had infuriated him. Various natural and man-made disasters, countless rebels across the country, sprang up like mushrooms after rain. One wave was suppressed, but another would emerge. The local garrisons were exhausted, and money was being spent like water. Emperor Qiansheng was so angry that he gritted his teeth.

How could Emperor Qiansheng not be overjoyed to receive the good news from Hami at this time? It was like a long-awaited rain after a drought, sweeping away the bad luck of the past six months and also serving as a powerful stimulant to boost the morale of the entire nation.

Of course, Emperor Qiansheng did suspect Jia Huan of treachery, but compared to that, he valued the result more. Moreover, at this time, the Great Jin Dynasty was indeed in dire need of a victory to boost morale and people's hearts. Taking Hami was undoubtedly a great joy to comfort the ancestral temple. What's more, Jia Huan had also presented Baiwa's head, and the victory report also mentioned the capture of Turpan Taiji Amahei.

"Tsk tsk, although Jia Huan is not a likable fellow, he is indeed a rare general, a lucky general." Emperor Qiansheng sighed inwardly and immediately ordered the cabinet to draft an edict appointing Jia Huan as the governor of Gansu, the commander of the Guanzhong region's military affairs, and the chief administrator of the Western Regions, with the additional title of Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

In addition, the eunuch Duan Yong was appointed as the military supervisor, and all the soldiers who participated in the Hami expedition were rewarded.

It must be said that although the current Emperor Qiansheng has developed a hedonistic mindset and begun to neglect state affairs, he is still a monarch with great courage and will not abandon his duties because of others. He dares to delegate power at critical moments.

(End of this chapter)