Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 110: Gaochang City was broken, and I am asked to retreat again?

"Khan, it's too late!"

"It's winter on the grassland now, and there are blizzards at any time. A group of women and children who have no ability to protect themselves entering the grassland are in great danger of death!"

Yalan was lying beside Ahama Khan, receiving treatment and bandage from the Khanate's witch doctor, and she spoke to Ahama Khan.

Winters on the grassland are always cruel, with temperatures often dropping to dozens of degrees below zero.

When they were still a nomadic people, there were many women and children with weak constitutions who could not survive the wind and snow on the grassland in winter.

One of the reasons why Yunusi Khan chose to build a city and settle down was that too many people died in the winter on the grassland, and it was easier to spend the winter in the city.

Ahema Khan was so angry that he gritted his teeth and pounded the ground hard.

The wound that had just been bandaged began to bleed again, so the witch doctor had to bandage it again.

The date chosen by the Ming army for the expedition was just right. If they marched to the grassland in winter, the nomadic peoples on the grassland would be greatly restricted.

When Lan Yu fought the Battle of Buirhai, he set out in the autumn, went deep into the grassland in the winter, and defeated the Yuan army!
Emperor Taizong Wen made five expeditions to the northern desert during the Yongle reign. The first two times he arrived at the grassland in winter, he achieved rich results.

The next three times they set out were all in spring. When they arrived at the grassland, the weather was the best and there was no one to fight with.

Zhu Di's next three expeditions were not for fighting at all, but to lead troops and control the army, and thus control the court.

It doesn’t matter whether you can beat the person or not, just treat it as a spring outing to the grassland.

Because since the 20th year of Yongle, Zhu Di found that he could no longer control some of the civil servants under his command.

In June of the 20th year of Yongle's reign, the Oirat tribe invaded Hami Wei, while Alutai seized Xinghe Wei on the border.

Zhu Di immediately dispatched troops to attack Aluta.

As a result, a few days after Zhu Di issued the order, Aluta immediately withdrew his troops back to the grassland, at a speed that was shockingly fast.

What's even more bizarre is that Zhu Di summoned the Minister of War Fang Bin, the Minister of Revenue Xia Yuanji, and the Minister of Justice Wu Zhong to discuss the Northern Expedition.

The three people gave a unified reply: the court had no money.

The Yongle Dynasty has no money, what a joke!

Zhu Di did all the most expensive things in the entire Ming Dynasty!

He conquered the Northern Yuan Dynasty in the north, conquered Jiaozhi in the south, built the Grand Canal, moved the capital to Beijing, and compiled the Yongle Canon...

Zhu Di had plenty of money. Zheng He's voyages to the West opened up maritime trade, which made Zhu Di a fortune. It was impossible for the Yongle Dynasty to be short of money.

Zhu Di knew that the civil servants under him were colluding to deceive him.

Xia Yuanji and Wu Zhong were immediately imprisoned. Fang Bin committed suicide out of fear and his corpse was later whipped by Zhu Di.

It can be seen that the rebellious nature of the Ming Dynasty civil servants had already begun to grow since the late Yongle period.

What is puzzling is that these civil servants’ rebelliousness only lasted for a long time during the Ming Dynasty, but not during the Qing Dynasty. How strange! How bizarre!

Closer to home.

After Ahama Khan retreated to Gaochang City, the Ming army also dealt with the prisoners of war.

Xu Chang only let the Ming army rest for two hours before continuing to march towards Gaochang City.

Xu Chang still understood the principle that in war, one must make a strong effort at the beginning, then decline at the second, and finally exhaust the force at the third.

As the saying goes, it is better to use the remaining courage to pursue the enemy rather than to seek fame by imitating the tyrant.

At this moment, the people of Turpan Khanate are fleeing like a stray dog. Xu Chang must make a final effort today to capture Gaochang City!
The long army marched on the cold grassland. The winter on the grassland not only affected the Turpan Khanate, but also the Ming Dynasty's expeditionary force.

But thanks to Ji Sheng's supervision, the logistics of the Ming army were guaranteed.

Compared with the isolated and helpless Turpan Khanate, the Ming expeditionary force had the entire Ming Dynasty as logistical guarantee, and the conditions were definitely much better.

The distance between the Ming army and Gaochang City was getting closer and closer.

When the Ming army arrived at Gaochang City, it was the day when the Turpan Khanate was destroyed!
There was chaos in Gaochang City.

The first thing that the new recruits who had managed to escape death did when they returned to the city was to look for their families.

And those wives and mothers who cannot wait for their husbands and sons to return can only cry alone.

Ahama Khan stood in Gaochang City, watching this scene, his heart ached and tears streaming down his face.

He felt no pain when he massacred the people of the Ming Dynasty.

He will only shed tears when his own country is about to suffer a devastating disaster.

Ahama Khan was really regretful at this moment. If he had not invaded Hami Wei, the Turpan Khanate would not have suffered such hardships now.

Only then did he realize that the current Ming Dynasty was no longer the moderate and conservative Ming Dynasty of the past.

The current Ming Dynasty is a powerful, ambitious, and extremely dangerous expansionist civilization.

Those who offend the Ming Dynasty will be punished no matter how far away they are.

It will no longer be an empty talk.

"Yalan, did I really do something wrong?"

Ahamakhan had a dazed look in his eyes, and the cold wind made his heart chilled.

Yalan felt a little sad at the moment: "Khan, don't think about the past."

“No one expected things to turn out like this.”

"I will definitely defend Gaochang City! Definitely!"

Ahama Khan put on his armor again, changed to a new saber, and gave orders with gritted teeth.

"Count all the troops, anyone who can still fight, follow me up to the city wall, and defend the city to the death!"

"Yes, Khan!"

At this moment, there are no more than 30,000 combat-capable people in Gaochang City.

Among them, 10,000 were new recruits who had originally stayed in Gaochang City and had not participated in the previous battle.

Among the more than 20,000 people who escaped, more than 4,000 were too seriously injured to participate in the battle.

There were only more than 8,000 elite soldiers and 11,000 new recruits left to participate in the battle.

With less than 30,000 troops in total, it was unknown how long they could hold off the Ming army. Soon, under the command of Yalan and Mansur, there were warriors of the Turpan Khanate who were capable of fighting.

After a brief reunion with his family, he had to go to the city wall and defend the city with Ahama Khan.

At this moment, offense and defense have changed!

The Ming Dynasty switched from defense to offense, vowing to wipe out the Turpan Khanate.

The Turpan Khanate switched from offense to defense and was forced to walk up to the city wall, vowing to defend the city to the death for the sake of their families and clansmen behind them.

After the Turpan Khanate's defenders hurriedly ate some beef and mutton, they heard bursts of noise coming from outside the city.

Less than ten miles outside Gaochang City, the dragon flag of the Ming Dynasty appeared.

More than 100,000 troops marched towards Gaochang City in an orderly manner.

The cavalry, infantry, and logistics troops were all in good order and had strict military discipline.

The walls of Gaochang City were also filled with garrisons.

The Ming army stopped after Gaochang City came within the range of the Shenji arrows.

Xu Chang gave the order to the commander: "Fifth Army Battalion, Shenji Battalion, get ready."

"Fire arrows!"

"Yes!"

The Shenji Camp and the Wujun Camp immediately drew their bows and arrows, and under the command of the commander, they all shot arrows into Gaochang City!
In an instant, thousands of arrows were fired!

The entire Gaochang City was shrouded in the range of the magical arrows.

"Enemy attack! Take cover!"

"Everyone in the city, stay in your houses and don't come out!"

"Warriors defending the city, shoot back with arrows!"

Ahama Khan roared orders and took the lead in shooting arrows to fight back.

The tribesmen behind him also shot arrows back at the Ming army.

The arrows from both sides intertwined in the air, covering the sky and the sun.

However, because the Ming army's magic arrows had a much longer range than the Turpan Khanate's feather arrows, after a round of volleys, the enemy suffered heavy losses, while the Ming army suffered very few casualties.

After three rounds of volleys, the enemy troops on the city wall were suppressed to the point where they could not raise their heads.

At this time, Xu Chang waved his sword and gave the order to charge.

"Army attack!"

"We must capture Gaochang City before dark!"

"The first person to enter the city will be rewarded with a thousand taels, a thousand households, and a thousand cattle and sheep!"

Under the reward, there must be a brave man.

Stimulated by high positions, generous salaries, gold, silver, cattle and sheep, the Ming army launched a fearless offensive.

The Xianzhen Camp, the Three Thousand Camp, the Five Army Camp, and the Shenji Camp all launched charges and launched a fierce offensive towards Gaochang City.

Ladders and battering rams appeared one after another. The five military camps used ladders on top and battering rams on the bottom to attack the fragile Gaochang City.

Countless soldiers from the five military camps climbed up the city walls of Gaochang City and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the warriors defending the city, engaging in a life-and-death fight in which there was no clear winner.

Ahama Khan sat on the central city wall and also led his troops to fight bravely against the enemy.

But bad news kept coming to him one after another.

"Report! Great Khan! General Jiriga, who defended the east wall, was killed! The east wall has been lost!"

"Report! Great Khan! General Qimuge led his troops to recapture the east city wall!"

"General Qimuge said that as long as we are in the city, we will fight to the death!"

"Report! Great Khan! General Qimuge was killed in battle, and the east city wall was lost again!"

The military situation changed so quickly that a city wall changed hands several times within the time it takes to burn an incense stick.

Such a battle situation made Ahama Khan extremely anxious, and he had no time to issue effective orders.

At this moment, a new piece of news shocked Ahama Khan so much that he trembled with fear all over.

"Report! Great Khan! The city gate has been broken open, the Ming army is about to enter the city!"

"what?!"

Ahama Khan was sweating profusely. He had never expected that Gaochang City could not even hold out for half an hour before the city gates were blasted open by the Ming army.

You know, it took them at least one night to attack Hami Wei head-on before.

The city was broken without any preparation, and Ahama Khan was slightly stunned. At this time, Yalan and Mansuer had already run over from the west city wall.

"Great Khan! Quickly lead the army to withdraw from Gaochang City!"

"Gaochang City can no longer be defended!"

Yalan rushed towards Ahama Khan while hacking at the Ming soldiers standing in front of him: "Great Khan, quickly lead the army to Aksu City to ask for reinforcements!"

Winter on the grassland is dangerous, but that is only for women and children with weak constitutions.

For an army that is well-equipped and strong.

It was not a big problem to rush from Gaochang City to Aksu City, the capital of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate.

"Retreat again?!"

"Let me retreat again?!"

Ahema Khan was like a madman: "If I retreat, what will happen to Gaochang City?!"

"What should we do with the hundreds of thousands of women and children in the city?!"

"I won't retreat! I'd rather die than retreat this time!"

　Thanks to A. Zhang Shensong for the second reward! Thanks to everyone who is still following and voting for the support! I am not very satisfied with the last few chapters I wrote. I feel that the rhythm is a bit stuck and the subscription data is also dropping. So I will continue to speed up the pace. Then in the next chapter, let's continue to enjoy it!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)