Please call me Your Majesty!

Chapter 123 The fall of Khwarezm and Chu Jimin’s entry into the historical stage!
This battle was another one that Chu Shizhao had to fight. From a strategic and national economic perspective, he had reasons and necessity to fight.

One is dignity, the other is interest.

The profits that could be earned from foreign trade in the feudal dynasty era were terrifying.

Compared with other places, the Central Plains dynasty was blessed with luxury goods, and such luxury goods were scarce and difficult to produce in other places.

One of them is called tea and the other is called silk.

The thing that nomadic people cannot live without is tea.

Because nomadic people's diet is mainly based on meat and dairy products, and their vegetable intake is relatively low, which leads to the lack of vitamins and trace elements. Tea can make up for this dietary deficiency, and this is the reason for the tea-horse trade.

The nomadic people provided excellent horses in exchange for tea from the Central Plains dynasty.

The Silk Road and Zheng He's voyages to the West are both derivatives of foreign trade.

Today, as the exclusive owner of silk and tea, Chu Shizhao has absolute control over the prices of these things.

In foreign trade, Chu Shizhao could easily increase the price of silk and tea several times, and then use the defective products from the Zhou Dynasty for trade. Anyway, the countries involved in the trade might not be able to see it, and even if they did, they would have no way to stop it.

It was the Central Plains dynasty that had silk and tea.

However, these methods are left over from our ancestors.

Now, due to technological issues, Chu Shizhao is temporarily unable to open this overseas trade route. The extra income that the Silk Road can provide has become an economic source for the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The construction of a country requires economy.

Whether it is military expenditure or preparation for other projects, without money, a country is doomed to collapse.

Of course, in addition to the extra economic income, the Silk Road also allowed the Zhou Dynasty to be influential outside the Great Wall and possess the majesty of a great power, which was a bonus in terms of its image and history books.

Compared with trade income, the monarchs of feudal dynasties seemed to be more obsessed with the status of the country and the honor in history books.

Chu Shizhao could have chosen not to fight, but this time the dignity of the Great Zhou Dynasty was won through fighting.

Well, Chu Shizhao couldn't just let it go and swallow it so easily.

However, this time, it is impossible for Chu Shizhao to lead the army in person. On the one hand, he is too old. If he dies on the way, the impact on morale will be enough to cause the entire army to collapse. Secondly, if he wants to further hone his son's ability, experience like this kind of battle is inevitable.

Only by actually fighting on the battlefield can one have sufficient experience to deal with various emergencies and defend the country.

In fact, Chu Shizhao was inclined to let his eldest son Chu Jiyue lead the war, but for various considerations, he still let Chu Jiyue and himself sit in the central government.

Moreover, due to the importance he attached to this Western Expedition, Chu Shizhao did not just talk about the fighting power he would bring out, nor did he let his second son Chu Jimin travel thousands of miles to send him there.

Chu Shizhao knew very well that it would be impossible to attack Khwarezm by relying solely on infantry during this long journey. Only cavalry could support such a long-distance assault.

So this time, Chu Shizhao mobilized all the cavalry that could be mobilized within the territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Even...all the cavalry forces that Chu Shizhao had accumulated over the years were assigned to Chu Jimin in one go.

There were 10,000 Beiwei troops, 20,000 Jinyang cavalry, 50,000 Liangzhou cavalry and 20,000 regular cavalry of the Great Zhou Dynasty. In addition, there was a group of grassland cavalry who had surrendered. These were non-staff mercenaries.

In terms of military strength, there are as many as 150,000 cavalry.

It is worth mentioning that the army established by Chu Shizhao, due to the increasingly perfect military merit system, is not only well-organized and has high morale, but its combat effectiveness is also not to be underestimated, and the accuracy of its weapons is what Chu Shizhao has maintained for a long time.

When it comes to combat strategy, Chu Shizhao was not stingy with his opinions and told Chu Jimin in advance how to respond.

Therefore, in this Western Expedition, Chu Shizhao was bound to win.

[In August of the 20th year of Kaihuang, Chu Jimin led the Great Zhou Dynasty's army on the westward expedition to Khwarezm. The first battlefield they arrived at was the city of Otrar, which was the place where the Great Zhou Dynasty's caravan was killed when it was doing business near the Silk Road.]

[Khwarazm did not take the Great Zhou Dynasty's declaration of war seriously, especially Khwarazm's monarch Muhammad. ]

[In the eyes of these people, the Great Zhou Dynasty's statement was more of a symbolic statement. No monarch would fight a war without a chance of winning. Muhammad believed that Khwarezm was in a period of national strength and had such a large army. How could the Great Zhou Dynasty dare to declare war easily? How could it be sure to conquer his country after a long pursuit? ]

[All kinds of favorable conditions were put on the books. This was the confidence of Khwarezm, and the reason why Muhammad dared to kill the caravans of the Great Zhou Dynasty and monopolize the benefits of the Silk Road.]

[On August 7, the 20th year of Kaihuang, the cavalry of the Great Zhou Dynasty had already approached the border of Khwarezm. Over the years, the horses of the Great Zhou Dynasty had grown strong, and the soldiers were also eager to fight. Chu Shizhao believed that this western expedition was an opportunity to confirm the absolute status of the Great Zhou Dynasty in the surrounding countries, so Chu Shizhao invested a lot of resources in this western expedition.]

[On August 9, the 20th year of Kaihuang, Chu Shizhao sent an army to the west. In addition to the cavalry of the main force, there was also a cavalry unit in the follow-up battle line to provide cover. The army carried many skilled craftsmen and crossed the Altai Mountains and began the long westward expedition.]

[On August 13, the 20th year of Kaihuang, Muhammad received news that the Great Zhou Dynasty was coming to attack him, but he still didn't take it seriously. Later, he heard from scouts that countless cavalry appeared outside their borders. They were so dense that they could not see the end. After hearing the news, Muhammad was sure that the Great Zhou Dynasty had really sent troops to attack Khwarezm.]

[When the battle was about to begin, Muhammad quickly dispatched his troops to defend. However, there were many different races in Khwarezm. Although they were kings and hegemons in this western land, most of the time, they relied more or less on the terrain advantage they occupied due to their numbers.]

Compared with the cavalry of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the army of Khwarezm was not well organized and had unclear military discipline due to its different organization and the integration of different ethnic groups. Its training was also not as good as that of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

[Faced with the Zhou Dynasty's thousand-mile attack, Mokomo decided to delay the attack. He took the initiative to give up some marginal areas and made a hasty decision to split up his main forces to guard the various large castles. 】【Khwarezm, which relied on numbers for defense, dispersed its forces and turned its greatest advantage into a disadvantage. 】

[To make matters worse, Mokomo himself planned to retreat to the south of the Amu Darya River and was ready to give up the Transoxiana region at any time, which further weakened the morale of the frontline defense forces.]

[The reason that forced Mokomo to make such a decision was that he believed that the Great Zhou Dynasty could not provide food and fodder for the thousand-mile raid. As long as the key areas were guarded, the enemy would retreat without a fight. Therefore, the surrounding marginal areas could be abandoned, and guarding the main castles would slow down the enemy's offensive, trapping them in a long front line, being detoured and delayed, and ultimately unable to advance to the main cities of Khwarezm, and they would retreat without a fight.]

[On the other hand, facing the war, Mokomo felt the pressure from other ministers. Many people who had supported him before suddenly began to disobey his orders when facing the attack of the Great Zhou Dynasty. He needed some time to eliminate the voices of dissatisfaction within the country, so that he could better deal with the Great Zhou Dynasty's westward expedition.]

[On August 16, the 20th year of Kaihuang, Chu Jimin began to besiege the city of Otrar.]

[Muhalu, the chief general defending the city of Otrar, was the leader of the killing of the Great Zhou merchant caravan. He accepted the secret instructions of Mokomo and killed those innocent Great Zhou merchants and robbed all the goods of the Great Zhou Dynasty in foreign trade. This not only caused losses to the Great Zhou Dynasty, but also damaged the dignity of the country.]

[On August 17, the 20th year of Kaihuang, Chu Jimin initially had a relatively "mild" attitude towards the city of Etra, saying that as long as the culprit who killed the Zhou Dynasty merchant caravan was handed over, he would forgive the people there. However, the defenders of Etra were clear-headed and resolutely resisted, which made Chu Jimin spare no effort to launch a fierce attack.]

[In September of the 20th year of Kaihuang, after more than ten days of fierce attack, Chu Jimin still failed to capture the defenders of Edala City. Cavalry does not have an advantage in siege warfare.]

[So Chu Jimin used the mobility of his cavalry to temporarily bypass the city of Otrar and launched an offensive towards the small city nearby. The main reason for this attack was to obtain supplies.]

[The army sent out by the Great Zhou Dynasty this time needs to be self-sufficient. After all, the distance between the two places is too far, and it is impossible to have such a strong logistical force to supply food and grass. ]

[This also means that when Chu Jimin leads the army here, he must consider the issue of food and grass, and this issue is also the key to whether the entire army can fight in Khwarezm for a long time. ]

[Since there is no food, then rob it. This is Chu Jimin's idea. The Khwarezmian army gave up small cities and focused on defending large cities. This allowed Chu Jimin to easily defeat those small places and obtain basic food for the army.]

[In October of the 20th year of Kaihuang, Chu Jimin continued to attack the city of Otrar, but still failed to break out of the city. However, with such a fierce attack, there was no other support near the city of Otrar, and the food supply was depleted day by day.]

[On the other hand, Chu Jimin would go to other places to rob food whenever there was no food, which seriously damaged the production capacity of Khwarezm and forced many farmers to give up growing food.]

[In November of the 20th year of Kaihuang, craftsmen from the Great Zhou Dynasty arrived at the battlefield and began to manufacture siege equipment on the spot.]

[Due to the inconvenience of transportation, it was difficult for the Great Zhou Dynasty to bring many effective siege weapons, and they could only rely on craftsmen to arrive at the battlefield and manufacture them on the spot. ]

[In December of the 20th year of Kaihuang, Chu Jimin paid the price of 3,000 casualties and finally captured the city of Edala.]

【Muhalu knew that the Great Zhou Dynasty came for revenge, and he would not gain any benefit no matter what, and would surely die, so he fought stubbornly. Even after the city was captured, he led the remaining people to continue fighting in the streets with the Great Zhou Dynasty's army. This desperate fight caused Chu Jimin, who entered the city, to lose many soldiers again.】

[This made Chu Jimin extremely angry, and he ordered the soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty to kill all the people in the city of Edala.]

[Muhalu was skinned and stuffed with straw, and his head was hung high above the city gate.]

[The reason why Chu Jimin would rather bear the infamy and carry out such a brutal massacre in the city of Otrar was not simply because he was angry and humiliated, but because Muhalu was the main leader who killed the Great Zhou caravan.]

[The reason why the Great Zhou Dynasty was justified in its struggle for power lies here. 】

[Chu Jimin must give an explanation to the Great Zhou Dynasty. Even if he loses the subsequent war, as long as this matter is done, he can give an explanation to his father and tell him that this war was not fought in vain.]

[Secondly, if we want to completely destroy Khwarezm's defensive power, in a war launched thousands of miles away, we must completely crush the enemy's morale in order to achieve greater results.]

[Massacre in a city is the simplest and most convenient method. ]

[Such actions can directly weaken the enemy's manpower and undermine its war potential.]

[In addition, massacring a city can also deter the enemy and reduce their will to resist, thus reducing the difficulty of conquering. ]

[However, the massacre of a city may also trigger resistance and dissatisfaction among the people, affecting the conqueror's long-term rule. ]

[Chu Jimin came from the west to fight. He was never interested in the territory of Khwarezm, so the Great Zhou Dynasty did not need to establish a long-term rule here. Chu Jimin did not care what the people here thought.]

[If he wanted to win this Western Expedition and have the army he led return home in high spirits, he had to weaken the enemy as much as possible and suppress the enemy's war potential.]

【Then massacring the city was a choice he had no choice but to make.】

[In March of the 21st year of Kaihuang, Chu Jimin gradually took the lead in the war with Khwarezm. The Beiwei army captured cities and was invincible, while Mokomo committed the taboo of dividing the troops and was defeated step by step.]

[In August of the 21st year of Kaihuang, Chu Jimin conquered Samarkand, the capital of Transoxiana in Khwarezm. The tens of thousands of defenders did not dare to fight and finally surrendered the city.]

[In December of the 21st year of Kaihuang, Mokomo was defeated and fled, and Khwarezm was destroyed.]

[In the 22nd year of Kaihuang, Chu Jimin won the Western Expedition. In order to consolidate his rule in Khwarezm, he could only stay here temporarily. He did not expect that with the support of his father's army and the full cooperation of the Great Zhou Dynasty, he would not only be able to take revenge in two years, but also directly conquer Khwarezm.]

[At first, he just wanted to avenge the Zhou Dynasty's caravan, enhance the country's prestige, seek justice, and eliminate the main culprit, and then planned to return to the court, but now he has destroyed Khwarezm in one go. ]

[In April of the 22nd year of Kaihuang, the news reached the Great Zhou Dynasty. Chu Shizhao specially established the Western Regions Anzhen Protectorate and arranged for Chu Jimin to be the governor of the Khwarezm area.]

[This battle was called the Great Zhou's Conquest of Khwarezm, also known as the Zhou Dynasty's First Western Expedition.]

(End of this chapter)