Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 705: The Situation in the Northwest
"Clang!" After a sharp sound, the sharp crescent blade successfully broke through the armor with its powerful potential energy. Then it continued to move forward, quickly cutting through the skin and muscles under the armor. With a puff, a handful of warm and smelly blood splashed on Wu Sangui's face.
"Hahaha, so refreshing! This is a real battle!"
Wu Sangui let out a sigh of relief after pulling the crescent-shaped sword out of the enemy's neck, which was chopped in half. Then he looked up and saw that, except for those who had escaped far away, most of the enemies had been chopped down.
"Director, we have won another victory. This time, we beheaded at least three hundred people."
"How many of our brothers have been killed?"
"About two hundred and sixty-seven."
"Well, with 500 cavalrymen against the enemy's 500 cavalrymen, the forces are equal. We used our best efforts but the casualties were almost the same. It can't be called a great victory."
"Director, we at the Public Security Bureau are doing pretty well. Look at the Military Service Bureau . They were defeated by 6,000 troops against 2,000 the day before yesterday. If we hadn't rescued them in time, they would have been completely wiped out."
"Humph, that pedantic scholar Yuan Chonghuan, with only 6,000 reserve troops, actually wanted to do some kind of split-and-joint attack and heavy encirclement. What a fool he is! How can he set up an ambush in this vast prairie when everyone has telescopes? Wouldn't it be better to just grab a knife and go straight in? But in order to set up an ambush, he had to divide the 6,000 people into three teams , with each team very far apart. Then the first team was wiped out, and the second team couldn't get here yet... Partnering with such an idiot, I'm sure he'll kill me sooner or later!"
It was late June of 1641, and nearly four months had passed since the beginning of March when the Ottomans, together with the Uzbeks and Turkmen from Central Asia, invaded Xinjiang and Mongolia with a total of 70,000 cavalry.
The Ming Dynasty set up a group army in Xinjiang and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with Man Gui as the commander. It had three divisions under its command, stationed in the snowy area, Qinghai, and Xinjiang. In the past one or two years, because India had fallen, Man Gui concentrated most of the troops of the three divisions in the snowy area just in case. Therefore, when the Ottomans came in, Xinjiang had only one regiment of standing troops.
Moreover, because of the special relationship between the Ottomans and this land... In short, the people here generally support the Ming Dynasty, and it is definitely not as good as Zhu Youdong thought.
Fortunately, the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway had been completed and opened to traffic, so when something happened in Xinjiang, the news spread quickly. The Ottoman invasion occurred in early March, but on March 20, a regiment of the Ming Army stationed in the Greater Mongolian Autonomous Region entered Xinjiang. Later, the entire Greater Mongolian region was mobilized. Public Security Directors such as Wu Sangui and Military Service Directors such as Yuan Chonghuan also entered the battlefield with armed police and reserve forces.
The Great Mongol Autonomous Region of the Ming Dynasty was larger than the Inner Mongolia and Mongolia of China in the 21st century combined. Because the living area of Western Mongolia at that time covered not only the Tannu Uriankhai region of later generations, but also some areas in southern Central Siberia of Russia in the 21st century, which were also pastures for some tribes of Western Mongolia - these places naturally belonged to the Great Mongol Autonomous Region.
Therefore, at this time, the Mongolian area of the Ming Dynasty was not only bordering Xinjiang. The area directly north of the Xinjiang Provincial Administration was basically surrounded by the Mongolian area. Therefore, when something happened in Xinjiang, Man Gui, who was in charge of the defense of this area, had not received the news far away in Lhasa. Mongolia had already dispatched a large number of troops.
The reason why they were able to move out quickly and on a large scale, in addition to the geographical advantage, was that the great improvement in people's livelihood in the Mongolian region in recent years made the herdsmen here support the Ming Dynasty from the bottom of their hearts, which was the most important point.
Since the destruction of the Mongolian Khanate headed by Lin Danhan in the second year of Tianqi, the Ming Dynasty has brought Mongolia under the unified jurisdiction of the central government for more than 20 years. In the past 20 years, the Ming Dynasty has established heavy industrial zones in Baotou and solved the employment problems of a large number of young and strong Mongolians. Then with the advent of peace, the living standards of the local people in the Ming Dynasty have improved. The mainland of the Ming Dynasty has a great demand for meat, milk, woolen fabrics, and leather goods in the Mongolian region. Nowadays, throughout the Greater Mongolian Autonomous Region, there are bacon factories, milk powder factories, and garment factories. Not to mention everywhere, but their total number exceeds 100.
Thus, the prosperity of heavy and light industries solved the problem of the excess population that could not be accommodated by animal husbandry. The vast market provided extremely high profits for the development of animal husbandry. Therefore, the past twenty years can be said to be the most comfortable twenty years for the herders on the grassland in the thousands of years since the Xiongnu unified the grassland.
For this reason , when the General of the Guards of Mongolia gave the order, the entire pastoral area quickly took action. In just one month, the Greater Mongolian area, with a total population of less than three million, handed over 30,000 cavalry to the General of the Guards, and these cavalry were equipped with war horses, knives, and bows and arrows!
Of course, this plane has now fully entered the era of hot weapons. These herdsmen may be excellent riders, but if they directly form a cavalry army and rush forward, I am afraid that there will be few left in the face of the enemy's machine guns. Therefore, the countermeasures adopted by Xinjiang General Sun Zushou are: two regiments, 6,000 regular troops are squeezed together. The other 30,000 people are all scattered and used-the 20,000 people of the Ottomans are well-equipped. But the Turkmen and Uzbeks they encircled are basically still traditional cavalry. After crossing the Pamir Mountains, in order to ensure logistics, the Ottomans also divided the traditional cavalry such as Turkmen and Uzbeks into countless small teams, and asked them to "collect" food and grass everywhere in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains to maintain the logistics of the army. Therefore, the main job of the cavalry from Mongolia is to fight against these invaders who also mainly use cold weapons.
Central Asia in the 16th and 17th centuries was also known as the "Monster House". The Turkmen and Uzbeks here were very brave and good at fighting. Therefore, when they were forced into Xinjiang by the Ottomans, although they still mainly used cold weapons, their combat power was still difficult for the grassland men from Mongolia to deal with.
"Director, why did the higher-ups let Yuan Chonghuan, that idiot, who is so bad at fighting, command our battles? If you were the one commanding the cavalry on the right wing, the Turkmen on the opposite side would have been wiped out long ago."
"Humph, Yuan Chonghuan may not be a good fighter, but he's much better at bragging than me. Didn't you hear Colonel Sun bragging the last time he came to inspect our troops? 'If I can lead an army alone, I can wipe out all the bandits within three months.' Bah! With his command, it's us who will be wiped out in three months!"
"Director, what can we do? This old thief has the trust of Colonel Sun. Not only has he become the commander-in-chief of the right wing, but he has also been targeting you everywhere. The troops allocated to you have never exceeded one thousand people... Damn, our Public Security Bureau has brought over more than three thousand people. I don't ask for more from this damn Yuan Chonghuan. As long as he lets our bureau bring our own people, I don't have to worry all day long!"
"Why? Are you afraid of death?"
"Hey! What am I afraid of? I've been living a life of luxury in Mongolia with the Director for so many years. I've slept with all the women in the Golden Family and have a lot of children with them. What's there to be afraid of? It's just that dying in a glorious battle is fine, but if I have to die miserably because of Yuan Chonghuan's blind command, then I don't want to."
"Don't worry, Colonel Sun is still young after all, and he was fooled by Yuan Chonghuan. But his father, General Sun Zushou, will not fall for it. Hehe, after his defeat two days ago, I have privately contacted several directors of our Mongolian region to write to General Sun. Haha, General Sun is an experienced veteran, and he will not be fooled by Yuan Chonghuan."
"That's good. Director, the battlefield is almost cleaned up. Where are we going next?"
"Well, bring up the map."
In the 21st century, China's Xinjiang covers an area of 1.6 million square kilometers. In this era, the total area of Xinjiang is more than 2 million. It sounds large, but in fact, the battlefield is quite limited when fighting.
Because the whole Xinjiang, from north to south, can basically be divided into five geographical units: Altai Mountains, Junggar Basin, Tianshan Mountains, Qaidam Basin, and Kunlun Mountains. In this area farthest from the ocean, there is almost no rainfall all year round. Almost all the water here comes from the Altai Mountains, Tianshan Mountains, and Kunlun Mountains. Therefore, Xinjiang's cities and population are basically concentrated on the four lines where the mountains and basins meet. And naturally, the battle between the Ottoman army and the Ming army will only be concentrated on these four lines.
Now, the mainstream of the 20,000 Osman troops equipped with heavy machine guns and submachine guns is taking the line between the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains and the Jungar Basin. Relying on the superiority of troops, they have repelled the resistance of two regiments under Sun Zushou and occupied Yili. They are heading towards Shihezi.
Since it was the main force, the logistics requirements were even greater. Although the Ottomans still had a way to transport their troops thanks to the winding mountain road built on the Pamirs after the Ming Dynasty conquered Xinjiang a few years ago, it was difficult for a purely animal-powered transport force to ensure the ammunition of 20,000 main forces, let alone food. Therefore, all the food was collected locally by the more than 30,000 Turkmen cavalrymen that the Ottomans had brought with them.
The troops of Yuan Chonghuan and Wu Sangui were supposed to fight against these more than 30,000 Turkmen cavalry.
After looking at the map for a long time, Wu Sangui raised his head and said, "I don't want to go back and see Yuan Chonghuan's ugly face. So, let's go south and go around to Bayinguoleng Village. The residents here are mainly Mongolians. It's more convenient for us to replenish supplies and even a little bit of troops there. Damn, I dare not enter some villages again... Then we will see the situation and see whether General Sun has withdrawn Yuan Chonghuan. After that, we will decide on the next step."
"Okay, I'll listen to the director."
