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

Chapter 91 They are massacring the city!
Hamiwei.

The 130,000-strong army led by Xu Chang could already vaguely see the city wall of Hami Wei.

During this expedition, Xu Chang served as the Governor-General of the Northwest and was in charge of military affairs.

Ma Jinzhong, the head of the Western Factory, served as the eunuch supervising military affairs.

At the same time, the Five Military Governors' Office also sent two deputy governors and seventeen deputy governors to take charge of military affairs.

The Ministry of War also has two doctors, six directors, and eight ambassadors in charge of logistics.

"Commander Xu, the Hami Guard is ahead."

"The gates of Hamiwei are now closed, and there is no one guarding the city walls. It is not clear how many people from the Turpan Khanate are in the city."

"This place is less than a hundred miles away from Hamiwei. If we march quickly, we can arrive in just four hours!"

Because this expedition involved a considerable number of infantry, the advance was not fast for the most part.

Xu Chang nodded and raised his hand: "Stop advancing, and send another group of scouts to explore a hundred miles away."

"Twenty thousand men will be on alert, and the rest of the army will cook and rest on the spot."

"Tonight at 11:00 PM, set out to attack the city!"

"Yes!"

For an army of 130,000, capturing the small Hami Guard was as easy as taking something out of a bag. Xu Chang was not in a hurry at all.

The one who is really anxious now is Ahama Khan who is hiding in Hami Wei.

In the palace of Prince Zhongshun of Hami Guard, Ahama Khan paced back and forth anxiously in the hall, with sweat dripping down his face.

At this moment, Yalan, the first general of the Turpan Khanate, hurried into Prince Zhongshun's palace.

When Ahama Khan saw Yalan, he immediately rushed forward and grabbed Yalan's arms.

"Is the intelligence true? Did the Ming Dynasty really send more than 100,000 troops to seize Hamiwei?"

"it is true!"

Yalan also looked very anxious: "The Ming army has already gathered outside Hamiwei City and will attack Hamiwei at any time!"

"How could this be?"

Ahama Khan shook his head in despair, turned around and sat down on an armchair, his face full of confusion and puzzlement.

This was not the first time that these khanates, large and small, occupied Ming Dynasty border garrisons.

In the early years of Chenghua, Ahama Khan's father, Yunusi Khan, did this more than once.

Further back, during the Zhengtong and Xuande periods, the previous Khanate had occupied Hami Wei many times.

But every time, the Ming Dynasty never sent so many troops to retake Hami Wei.

More often than not, the territorial issues of border towns are either resolved by the border military officers themselves.

Or maybe something went wrong in the grassland homeland of the Western Region Khanate, so they voluntarily withdrew from the border town and returned to the grassland to guard their home.

This kind of thing of gathering hundreds of thousands of troops to attack a border town was unprecedented.

Suddenly, a gleam of light flashed in Ahama Khan's eyes.

He looked at Yalan again and asked anxiously.

"The hundreds of thousands of troops of the Ming Dynasty are all guards nearby, right?"

If there were only a few hundred thousand garrison soldiers, Ahama Khan felt that he could still resist.

The Ming Dynasty's garrison troops were in a state of disrepair. Not only were they poorly equipped, but they also lacked combat skills.

Often, when a battle had just begun, there would be only a few hundred casualties in the front, and the morale of the soldiers in the rear would be demoralized.

If the casualty rate had exceeded 10 percent, the Ming Dynasty's garrison troops would have been completely defeated.

With such an army attacking the city, Ahama Khan believed that he could hold Hami Wei for a period of time.

But Yalan's reply made him despair.

"This army of more than 100,000 men is definitely not a garrison army."

"This army has strict discipline and great momentum."

"Especially those cavalrymen with black armor and black horses. They are all strong and well-behaved."

"In my opinion, this is a brave and skilled army."

Ya Lan recalled the elite soldiers in black armor and black horses that she had just seen, and her expression became very solemn.

Ahama Khan sighed deeply and turned his head back.

Ahama Khan really couldn't understand why the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would mobilize such a large army this time?
More than 100,000 troops were dispatched just to recapture the small Hami Wei.

As for?
If you think of it, I will give it back to you.

Ahama Khan slammed the table and stood up: "Notice to the whole army, withdraw from Hamiwei!"

"Let's go now, without wasting a moment!"

As Ahama Khan spoke, he prepared to ride on horseback to withdraw from Hami Guard.

More than 30,000 cavalrymen defending the city are definitely not able to withstand the siege of an army of 130,000.

What’s more, this 130,000-strong army attacked from the east where the defenses were the weakest.

Moreover, the cavalry was not good at defending the city, and defending Hami Wei would only lead to the destruction of the entire Turpan Khanate.

There is no need to think too much. Retreat is the most correct choice for the Turpan Khanate. Only a fool would fight to the death with the large army of the Ming army!

This Hamiwei was originally the territory they had seized, so they didn't feel bad about losing it.

"call!"

Yalan agreed and asked again: "Great Khan, what about the more than 500 Ming people in the city?"

A fierce light flashed in Ahama Khan's eyes: "Kill them all, grab the supplies, and return to Gaochang!"

"call!"

Under the order of Khan Ahama, the soldiers of the Turpan Khanate began to massacre the city.

The remaining 500-odd households in Hamiwei, totaling nearly 2,000 people, were brutally killed.

Hamiwei was covered with blood and the bodies of innocent people were everywhere.

At the same time, the Hami Guard opened the west gate, and more than 30,000 cavalrymen, each carrying large and small bags of looted supplies.

The Mongolian Khanate is composed entirely of cavalrymen who come and go like the wind and can advance and retreat freely.

High mobility is the biggest advantage of their Mongolian cavalry.

The disadvantage is that logistical supply is a big problem, so general food and supplies are carried by each cavalryman.

But in this case, 30,000 cavalrymen would not be able to carry much supplies.

There are also a lot of food, cloth, tea, salt, iron and other supplies left in Hami Wei.

Of course, this problem is also easy to solve.

After Ahem Khan led the cavalry of the Turpan Khanate to withdraw from Hamiwei, he immediately ordered to set fire to the entire Hamiwei!
……

"General, Hamiwei is on fire!"

"what?"

Xu Chang, who was eating, became frightened and quickly stood up from the ground. Sure enough, he saw thick smoke and flashes of fire in the sky above Hamiwei.

Xu Chang quickly gave the order: "Beat the drums, and the whole army will march forward to Hamiwei as quickly as possible."

"Guo Hu, you lead the 3,000-man Xianzhen Camp and the 9,300-man cavalry camp as the vanguard and quickly go to Hami Guard to investigate the situation."

"Remember, don't fight too long, don't advance rashly!"

"Yes, Governor Xu!"

The commander of the Xianzhen Camp, named Guo Hu, followed the order and went out.

They gathered their troops and formed a vanguard cavalry unit of 12,000 people, which led the charge towards Hami Wei.

At the same time, the soldiers who were eating and resting also got up as quickly as possible, packed their food, organized their equipment, and marched to Hamiwei at full speed.

On a cold winter night in Hami, it suddenly started snowing.

At three quarters past the hour of the Chou Emperor, when Xu Chang led his army to Hami Wei.

The fire in Hamiwei has been almost extinguished by the snow.

In the darkness of night, Hamiwei was in a mess.

There were broken walls and charred houses all around, with occasional flames still burning.

The streets and dilapidated houses were littered with charred bodies.

"General!"

Guo Hu, who had already entered the city, had tears in his eyes and was shouting at the top of his lungs.

"They are slaughtering the city!"

Xu Chang looked at the tragic situation in Hami City and felt heavy-hearted, as if there was a fire burning in his heart.

Not only Xu Chang, but everyone who entered Hami Guard was moved when they saw such a tragic scene.

After all, those lying here are all citizens of the Ming Dynasty.

The Turpan Khanate's atrocities of massacre deeply angered everyone present.

As long as one is a man with blood in his veins, after witnessing the scene of his compatriots being brutally killed, he will only have one thought in his mind.

revenge!

Must take revenge!

"Blood debts must be paid with blood!"

Xu Chang gritted his teeth, looking at the mess on the ground, and his eyes bleed with every word.

"We will rest tonight, and tomorrow morning the army will march to Gaochang!"

"If the Turpan Khanate slaughters a city of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty will slaughter their entire country!"

"Till death!"

Everyone present raised their weapons and shouted in unison.

"Till death!"

"Till death!"

"..."

Because Hamiwei had been burned into ruins, everyone camped outside the city that night.

The high temperature inside Hami Acropolis melted the ice and snow around it.

The next morning, Xu Chang ordered people to dig a large pit outside the city to bury all the poor people who had died in Hami City.

After doing this, the army continued to advance, targeting the royal tent of the Turpan Khanate, Gaochang.

As for Hamiwei, it has become a ruin, a dead city.

Before the Ming Dynasty rebuilt Hami Guard, there was no value in garrisoning here.

Therefore, Xu Chang did not leave any troops to garrison, but led all his troops to march out.

They also have only one goal in mind.

That is revenge, massacre of the country!

……

Deep in the Turpan Basin.

Ahama Khan was leading his troops towards Gaochang when suddenly a scout came to report.

"Khan, it's bad!"

"The Ming army is still chasing us. They are heading towards Turpan!"

"what?!"

Ahama Khan was horrified and looked incredulous.

"The Ming army actually sent out the Hami Guards. What are they planning to do?!"

Starting from the Xuande period, Ahama Khan invaded the Ming border town of Hami Wei for nearly a hundred years.

During this period, Hami Wei changed hands several times, and the two sides fought hundreds of battles of varying sizes in Hami Wei.

But there was never any time when the Ming army took the initiative to march to Turpan.

Every time the Ming Dynasty sent troops out, its goal was just to take back Hami Wei.

It seems that a tacit understanding has been formed that if the Khanate withdraws from Hami Guard, it will be considered a surrender and defeat.

After the Ming Dynasty regained Hami Guard, it never sent troops to Turpan.

Over time, Ahama Khan developed the illusion that as long as he left Hami Guard, the Ming army would bypass him and let him go.

But who would have thought that this time, the Ming Dynasty would actually take the initiative to send troops to Turpan?
This is related to the fact that what the Ming Dynasty sent this time were not garrison soldiers, but hundreds of thousands of well-trained elite soldiers.

Ahama Khan's face was gloomy and he felt a little regretful in his heart.

If he had known that the Ming Dynasty was going to take real action against them this time, he would never have occupied Hami Guard by force.

Ahama Khan waved the whip in his hand and gave orders loudly.

"Everyone, move at full speed and return to Gaochang immediately!"

"call!"

Ahama Khan decided to return to Gaochang as soon as possible, where he still had more than 300,000 of his people.

After returning to Gaochang, we will make plans whether to fight or make peace!
(End of this chapter)