I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 890: Supporting Minions
Shen Wanxiang cut to the chase and went straight to the point, telling Xu Wei the two most important issues: joining forces with Persia to support two or three khanates in the area south of the Yuezhi River, and Kodaban Shah's need for the Ming Dynasty to send an officer training team and political advisers.

Xu Wei pondered for a while, raised his head and answered: "The first thing is very important for stabilizing the border from Yuezhi River to Congling! It is difficult to deal with wild bees that have been blown up. Only by turning them into bees with owners can they be tamed.

This governor has also been planning to support one or two Khanates to stabilize the situation in Henan. However, our influence is too weak, and we have just made a deadly feud with these people, so it is difficult to attract most people.

To build up the new Khanate, we must win over the majority of the people and gain a firm foothold so that they can become our minions and help us stabilize the situation on the border.

If he is a hopeless person, not only will he be unable to help us stabilize the border, he will also require us to go through a lot of trouble to protect it, only to end up making things worse!
It would be easier if Persia got involved.

They have been the dominant power in the area south of the Yuezhi River for hundreds of years and have a great reputation. If we win over some of them and they win over some of them, together we can win over the majority of them, and that will be effective.”

Shen Wanxiang nodded: "Director Xu, the student and Mingshou also mean the same thing."

Xu Wei stroked his beard and continued, "As for sending a training team of military officers and political advisers to Persia, it is different from the previous matter.

The first thing is to pacify the border, which is my duty. The second thing is...

Xu Wei pondered in silence.

Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji looked at each other.

This is what the two of them are worried about.

Xu Wei had to take responsibility for deciding to send a training team of military officers and political advisers to Persia. Maybe some censors would accuse him of having secret dealings with foreign countries.

This is a serious crime.

Xu Wei continued, "When I left the capital, the emperor gave me instructions to take care of the safety of the three frontiers and to grant me the power to act at my own discretion.

By chance, Qianhe and Mingshou were on a diplomatic mission to Persia, and they happened to encounter the turmoil in their government. You two worked hard to support Kodaban as the new Shah, for the stability of the western border of our Ming Dynasty.

Persia has sided with the Ming Dynasty and joined forces to suppress it. The southern part of the Ming Dynasty's western front is as solid as a rock, so we can wholeheartedly follow the emperor's strategic deployment on the north side and continue to advance westward!
The area west of the Ural Mountains and the Volga River is a vast expanse of steppes and black land. Countless tribes have come and gone and lived there. In the eyes of the Ming Dynasty, it is a land without a master given by God. "

Xu Wei raised his head and looked out the window.

As the sun sets, the orange-red sunlight makes Dayuan City seem to float in a halo, and the boundless land becomes full of vitality in the sunset. The rolling mountains seem like wheat waves swaying in the wind.

“According to the world map drawn by the Geographical Society, Zhenzhou and Duizhou are connected continents.

The emperor drew a circle on the map of the continent. What belongs to the Ming Dynasty must be included in the territory. No matter whether it is the Celestial Religion or the Eastern Religion, they cannot be kept, and it is useless to call their God.

Their God must also listen obediently to the words of me, the Emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty.

Let them keep their jobs, work hard, and continue to live their lives on their own land."

Xu Wei drew a circle in the air, "Your Majesty has already drawn this circle. Now the east, north, south, and the south side of the west line have been circled, leaving only the north side of the west line.

Therefore, stabilizing the southern part of the Western Front is the top priority. Only by stabilizing it can the Western Front Army go all out to the Western Expedition, and the resources in the hinterland can be allocated to support the Western Expedition. "

Xu Wei said this without hesitation, "I have decided to select a company of soldiers from the Yuezhi Dusi, as well as 40 sergeants, 20 lieutenants, and 10 colonels to form a military training team to help Kodaban Shah train the new army.

Ten officials were selected from the staff of the Three Frontier Governor's Office to form a political advisory group to help Kodabanshah carry out political and economic reforms.

The military training team and the political advisory group will set off together."

Shen Wanxiang said hesitantly: "Governor Xu, I am worried about sending a military training team and a political advisory group to Persia, and I have been hesitating whether I should tell Governor Xu."

Xu Wei waved his hand and said, "I know Qianhe's worries.

The emperor expects me to be brave enough to take on responsibilities. If I don't have this responsibility, I will fail the emperor's expectations. You don't have to worry. This is not the previous dynasty. This is the Wanli Dynasty, and the emperor is wise!"

Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, today’s emperor is wise and enlightened.

Ten days later, the candidates for the military training team and political advisory group to be sent to Persia were decided. Shen Wanxiang selected four volunteers from the diplomatic corps, including the interpreter Xiao Liubao, to join the advisory group.

Some of them knew Arabic, some knew Latin, and they were very familiar with the situation in Persia and the Ottoman Empire, and could provide great help to the teaching team and advisory group.

After a little preparation, the teaching team and advisory group set off immediately.

About a month later, Wang Fengmeng led his troops back, first bringing the good news that the teaching team and the advisory group had successfully entered Persia and were about to arrive in Isfahan.

Secondly, it brought the results of the negotiations with Nahmardan.

The two men joined forces to eliminate the most brutal and arrogant remnants of the Henan region and drove hundreds of thousands of Bukharan and Khivan people to Afghanistan.

The two also selected three suitable candidates.

The first one was Yar Janib, the grandson of Yamgurchei Khan of the Astrakhan Khanate and a little prince from the Volga River basin.

In 1554, the Principality of Moscow sent troops to attack the Astrakhan Khanate and killed Yamgurchei Khan. Janib and his father fled south in a hurry, passed through the Kazakh Khanate, and came to the Bukhara Khanate to seek refuge with Iskander Khan.

The Astrakhan Khanate was separated from the Golden Horde, and the Khanate was the descendant of Batu, the eldest son of Jochi, who founded the Golden Horde. Shaybani, who founded the Bukhara Khanate, was the descendant of Shaybani, the fifth son of Jochi, so they were all relatives.

Iskander Khan married his daughter to Janib and allocated several hundred tribesmen to him.

The Ming Dynasty marched westward to recover the former territories of the Han and Tang dynasties, and its troops swept across the Seven Rivers region, the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and the Fernagan Valley.

Iskander Khan united the Khanate of Khiva and many Afghan tribes, assembled 70,000 troops and marched north, but was defeated near the city of Dayuan.

Iskander Khan was killed in the battle, and only less than 20,000 of the 70,000 soldiers and horses escaped back to Transoxiana.

Then tens of thousands of Ming troops marched southward, sweeping across the Khanate of Khiva and the Khanate of Bukhara like autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves. Hundreds of thousands of Khivan and Bukhara people fled south in panic.

Janib saw the opportunity quickly and led his people to the south of the Yuezhi River, while he continued to gather many Bukhara people along the way.

He was the son-in-law of Iskander Khan. When Iskander Khan and his sons and nephews died in the war, many Bukharan people regarded him as the successor of the Bukhara Khan and flocked to him.

Janib was also very capable. He led tens of thousands of Bukharan people to retreat to Bamiyan in an orderly manner and gradually recovered vitality.

In the chaotic Henan region, it is truly a shining wonder.

Now more and more Bukharans and even Khivans are coming to him for help.

Janib had long ago sent envoys to pledge loyalty to the Ming and Persia.

He was a descendant of the Khanate of Astrakhan, and the Principality of Moscow was the one that had a grudge against him.

The destruction of the Bukhara Khanate had nothing to do with him.

Now he just wants to live a stable life under the protection of the two big guys. He doesn't want to run away again, and he has no relatives to turn to.

The second candidate was Farid Sur, the great-nephew of Sher Shah, the founder of the Sur dynasty.

Sher Shah was from the Sur tribe of Afghanistan and served as a soldier under Babur Khan of the Mughal Khanate at an early age.

Because of his bravery and outstanding talents in combat, he was awarded the title of "Sher Khan" and became the leader of the Afghan tribe in eastern India, with his fief in Bihar.

After Babur Khan's death, Sher Shah raised an army and led the Afghan tribal troops in eastern India. He defeated Babur Khan's son Humayun and drove him out of Delhi. He established the Sur Khanate and replaced the Mughal Empire.

Later, Sher Shah died in battle. With the support of Persian Shah Tahmasp I, Humayun made a comeback, defeated Sher Shah's sons and nephews, recaptured Delhi, and rebuilt the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire.

Seeing that he could no longer stay in India, Farid Sur's father took Farid Sur back to the Sur tribe in Afghanistan.

After enduring humiliation for more than 20 years, he had been plotting to counterattack Delhi and rebuild the Sur Dynasty.

Unexpectedly, there was a thunder in the north, and the once powerful Bukhara Khanate was gone.

Farid immediately seized the city of Ghazni and tried his best to gather the Bukharans, Khivans and Kazakhs who fled south. Then he sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty and Persia, shouting to his two adoptive fathers, "Please lend a helping hand to your son."

The boy is going back to India!
The third one was called Khorasan. He was the leader of a tribe near Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was smart, capable, fair, and had a high prestige among the surrounding tribes.

Seeing the demise of the Bukhara Khanate and the Khiva Khanate in the north, he also had his own ideas and took the lead in sending people to Herat, the Persian ruling center in Afghanistan, to express his loyalty, hoping to get Persian support like Humayun.

Xu Wei summoned Shen Wanxiang, Wang Yongji and Wang Fengmeng to discuss the matter again and again, and finally decided to support Janibeg to establish a new Khanate in Merv. The place was called Mulu in the former Tang Dynasty, and now it is called Mulu City again. The new Khanate is called Mulu Khanate.

The demarcated territory extended from the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea, along the southern edge of the Kipchak Steppe, and the southern bank of the Yuezhi River all the way east to the northwestern mountainous area of ​​Afghanistan (approximately present-day Turkmenistan), and mainly included Kazakhs, Khivans, and Bukharas.

He supported Farid Sur to establish the Kabul Khanate, gathered the Khivans and Bukhara people who fled to Afghanistan, and overlooked the middle and upper reaches of the Indus River.

He supported the establishment of the Herman Khanate in Khorasan, gathered the affected Afghans, and overlooked the lower reaches of the Indus River.

Xu Wei and Nahamardan were busy working together to support the three khanates and consolidate the peace in their respective border areas.

Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji, accompanied by Wang Fengmeng, led the diplomatic corps and set out on the journey back east.

Everyone rode on horseback, walking on the main road of the Pearl River Valley (Fergana Basin), six carriages followed behind, and the group meandered for nearly a mile.

Shen Wanxiang asked, "Colonel Wang, are you going back to Beijing too?"

"Yes, I will also return to Beijing. After reporting on my duties, I will first study at the Hongwu Military Academy before being assigned a new position."

Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji were delighted and congratulated him, "Congratulations, Brother Wang, on your promotion!"

"A colonel is promoted to major general! From now on, you have to address me as general when you see me!"

Wang Fengmeng smiled widely, "I was lucky enough to have made some contributions. I still need to work harder to live up to His Majesty's expectations."

The three of them were chatting and laughing. Wang Yongji accidentally glanced at them and was startled. He pointed to the front and said, "Colonel Wang, what's going on over there?"

(End of this chapter)