Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 637: Unification of the Western Regions

When the Junggar general returned to Shache, he informed Sengge of Babaksu's escape. Although Sengge was somewhat dissatisfied, he did not blame him.

It was not until we heard the direction in which Babaksu fled and heard the pursuing generals interrogating the injured Yarkand soldiers that we learned that Babaksu's destination was the Qian Dynasty in the east.

Sengge felt somewhat uneasy. He actually did not want the news of Dzungar's control of Yarkand to be known by Qian Dynasty too early. However, the matter was already done and so much time had passed that even if he sent more cavalry, they would not be able to catch up with Babaksu.

About a month later, outside Jiayuguan, a team of more than ten cavalrymen were heading towards Jiayuguan.

The leader was Babaksu, who escaped from the pursuit of Dzungar. At this moment, Babaksu looked thin. The long journey made him go through the saddest days of his life.

Originally there were more than thirty riders, but after enduring disease, bandits, and problems with food and fodder, by the time they arrived at Jiayuguan, only twelve of the Yarkand cavalrymen who followed Babaksu were left.

Babaksu swore to the remaining twelve people that one day, when he, Babaksu, recovered the Yarkand Kingdom, he would share his wealth and glory with them.

With the change of climate, the northwest region has become drier. Because of the climate and war, places like Hami west of Jiayuguan have also become very desolate.

Therefore, after the Qian Dynasty recovered Guanzhong, Lin Shiqi, who was stationed in Guanzhong, stopped at Jiayuguan and did not continue westward to recover Hami and other places.

During these years, Lin Shiqi cleared out the bandits in Shaanxi, and under the command of Meng Jun, the army, which was not at war, carried out large-scale afforestation on the loess plateau.

The endless wars caused a large number of people in Guanzhong to disappear. However, everything has its own destiny. Perhaps due to the lack of human activities, the vegetation on the Loess Plateau is slowly recovering. Coupled with the large-scale tree planting by the army, the ecological environment in the Guanlong area is much better than that in the late Ming Dynasty.

However, with the booming maritime trade today, the ancient Silk Road from Guanzhong to the West has become somewhat desolate. Although it is no longer prosperous, this trade route has not disappeared and it still exists tenaciously.

However, during this period, the caravans heading to the Western Regions returned to Jiayuguan after reaching Hami. Merchants have always been sensitive to news, and war broke out in the Western Regions, so this trade route was temporarily interrupted.

The defenders at Jiayuguan had already received news of the war in the Western Regions, so they conducted very strict inspections.

At this time, the approach of a team of more than ten cavalrymen made the defenders a little nervous. With the sound of hurried whistles, the caravans that were still waiting in line to enter the pass were driven away from the gate, and Jiayuguan was slowly closing under the shouts of the guards.

Seeing this, Babaksu was worried about causing misunderstanding, so he ordered everyone to dismount and walk. He left four people to guard the horses, and the rest followed Babaksu on foot to Jiayu Pass.

At this time, the Qian army soldiers on the gate tower saw the nine people below approaching the gate and immediately ordered, "Stop, don't come forward!"

Babaksu: “******”

Defenders: “????”

The two sides could not communicate in the same language, which made Babaksu very anxious. Fortunately, there was a caravan protecting its goods in the distance. After some trouble, Babaksu finally found a merchant who was familiar with the Yarkand language.

After the merchant translated, the guards at the pass learned that this man was the Prince of Yarkand, and that they were going to the capital to request the court to send troops.

The garrison commander did not dare to make a decision on his own on such an important matter, so he thought about it again and again, and then sent people out of the pass to temporarily confiscate the weapons of more than ten people including Babaksu, and temporarily placed Babaksu and his entourage in Jiayu Pass. At the same time, he kept a close watch on them and did not allow Babaksu and others to go out at will.

........................

Outside the city of Xi'an, Guanzhong camp.

Lin Shiqi sat behind his desk, checking the military reports sent from all over Guanzhong.

In the past few years, the country has been at peace. Since Lin Shiqi moved his troops to Guanzhong, apart from fighting a battle with the Mongolian tribes in the western desert, he has only carried out small-scale anti-bandit operations in other places.

After a few years, almost all the bandits in Shaanxi Province were wiped out. Although Lin Shiqi knew that the emperor asked him to come to Guanzhong in order to march into the Western Regions, he had been dealing with bandits for several years in a row. After a long time, Lin Shiqi felt a little annoyed.

At this time, Lin Shiqi's aide Chu Zhangyin hurried in with a military report in his hand. As soon as Chu Zhangyin came to Lin Shiqi, he said, "Marshal Lin, urgent news from Jiayuguan!"

Lin Shiqi frowned and said hurriedly, "Bring it here."

Lin Shiqi actually already knew that the Dzungars were attacking Yarkand, but Lin Shiqi felt that the war had just begun and the battle between the two countries should not be decided so quickly.

Therefore, Lin Shiqi simply reported the news of the changes in the Western Regions to Meng Jun as usual. At the same time, in the secret report to Meng Jun, Lin Shiqi believed that they should be prepared to use military force, or at least intervene, and Yarkand should not be allowed to be destroyed.

Lin Shiqi also proposed a military strategy, which was to take advantage of the time when Dzungar attacked Yarkand and wait until Dzungar fell into a stalemate. The Qian army would be divided into two routes. One route would mobilize the tribes south of the desert and attack Dzungar directly on the grassland. The other route would be led by the main force of the Qian army, which would march out from Guanzhong. With a two-pronged attack, Dzungar would be wiped out in one fell swoop.

Lin Shiqi really wanted to lead the army westward to conquer the Western Regions and restore the territories of the Han and Tang dynasties. However, Lin Shiqi was not sure whether the imperial court would agree to send troops.

Lin Shiqi took the document from Chu Zhangyin, unfolded it and read half of it. He cursed: "The Yarkand Khanate is such a waste. It was destroyed by the Dzungar Khanate so quickly!"

Upon hearing this, Chu Zhangyin came over and asked, "General, has Yarkand been destroyed?"

Lin Shiqi slammed the document on the table, stood up, and said as he walked: "A prince of Yarkand has fled to Jiayuguan, saying that the Yarkand capital Shache was destroyed and the Khan was captured. This means the destruction of the country."

Chu Zhangyin frowned after hearing this, and after a while he said, "With the destruction of Yarkand, Junggar has already controlled both north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and the unification of the Western Regions is just around the corner. If the imperial court does not curb it, it will definitely pose a great threat to the northwest in the future."

After hearing that Dzungar Khanate had launched military operations against Yarkand, Lin Shiqi immediately sent urgent documents to the capital and requested to send troops. However, before the emperor's reply came, Yarkand was lost.

This caught Lin Shiqi off guard. Yarkand was a big country after all, but it was so vulnerable.

Lin Shiqi stopped walking and turned to Chu Zhangyin and said, "Old Chu, write an urgent report immediately to convey the news of the destruction of Yarkand back to the capital. Also write a military order and ask the commander of Jiayuguan to send someone to send the prince of Yarkand to Xi'an for me!"

"Yes, Marshal, I will do it right away!"