Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 654 An unknown premonition

It took the Qian army a day and a half to enter Turpan City, and another four or five days to fully control Turpan City. As for the fleeing defeated army, Lin Shiqi rarely sent cavalry to chase them, but let them escape.

As the saying goes, promoting yourself as strong does not mean you are truly strong. Only the enemy's propaganda is more convincing. The success or failure of a war depends on many factors, such as weapons, training, tactics, and even weather, terrain, etc.

But what is more important is the people's hearts and the army's morale. Just like Jin Shenghuan in the past, he was defeated by Meng Jun in a battle in Nanling City, and then his army was defeated like a landslide. His generals and relatives deserted him, and he died as a laughing stock of the world.

Lin Shiqi witnessed with his own eyes how quickly Jin Shenghuan's troops collapsed after the battle of Nanling City when they had no will to fight. So no matter how large the army was, it would still be a mess. Therefore, after conquering Turpan, Lin Shiqi did not rush into the Western Regions.

He wanted to let the cities in the Western Regions understand that even a strong city like Turpan could not withstand the Qian Dynasty's army for three days, let alone the other desolate and remote cities.

Therefore, after stabilizing Turpan City, the gateway to the Western Regions, Lin Shiqi changed his previous plan of rushing to attack Turpan. Instead, he stationed troops in Turpan, strengthened the city's defenses, and used the city as a place to store grain.

………………

On the banks of the Ili River, the court of the Dzungar Khanate.

At this time, Sengge had already received news that the Qian army was launching a massive attack on the Western Regions, and that Meng Jun had recruited a large number of cavalry from the tribes south of the desert to march from the grassland to attack west of the desert.

Sengge issued orders to gather troops on the western grasslands of the desert, and countless messengers rushed to various tribes to convey the Khan's orders.

At this time, the Khan's court was filled with snow-white military tents. Looking around, it was a densely packed area with countless herdsmen and war horses passing through.

Dzungar unified the western part of the desert and controlled the Western Regions. If the Qian Dynasty could give it enough time, Dzungar would have expanded into a huge nomadic empire. Unfortunately, Sengge had to deal with the Qian Dynasty's massive attack just after he conquered the Western Regions.

Sengge was angry but helpless because his brother Galdan had already replied, saying that his teacher Panchen Lama Bogdo refused to send troops. At that time, U-Tsang was jointly ruled by the Khoshut Mongolian nobles and the Panchen Lama. Most of the upper nobles in U-Tsang refused to help Dzungar.

Sengge's original strategy was to use delaying tactics to consume the Qian Dynasty's logistical supplies when the Qian Dynasty launched a large-scale attack on the Western Regions, and then wait for an opportunity to use the Dzungar light cavalry to harass the Qian army's food supply route.

But Sengge did not expect that the Qian army would be so arrogant. They divided their troops into two groups. One group was mainly composed of infantry and went straight to the Western Regions from Jiayuguan. The other group was mainly composed of grassland cavalry and went straight to the Ili Khanate.

What made Sengge extremely annoyed was that these tribes south of the desert slaughtered many tribes that surrendered to the Dzungar Khanate along the way. Moreover, the Mongol-Qian coalition army that marched from the grassland greatly tied down the power of the Dzungar Khanate, so that Sengge could not spare the strength to rush to the aid of Yarkand for a while.

Therefore, Sengge decided to use the elite cavalry of the Dzungar to seize the opportunity to defeat the coalition forces on the grassland. In order to achieve success in one battle, Sengge was waiting for the opportunity to send troops. He suppressed his generals who were ready to move and allowed the Qian army to run rampant in the direction east of Moxi.

At this time in the royal court, the Dzungars had assembled more than 60,000 elite cavalry. This was a huge cavalry and the largest army that Sengge could muster.

This is the foundation for Junggar to dominate the west of the desert. Sengge refused to allow his subordinates to advance eastward and fight a decisive battle with the Qian army. On the one hand, Sengge wanted the Qian army and the tribes in the south of the desert to go deeper so that he could find a more suitable opportunity to fight. On the other hand, this was a war that could determine the survival of Junggar. Sengge was not completely sure, so he did not dare to throw this force out easily.

Just waiting for an opportunity to fight was a rather boring thing. In order to prevent his troops from becoming slack, Sengge frequently held hunting events on the pasture, which served as a way to train his soldiers and kill time.

In mid-February, the earth revives, the grass on the grassland is tender and fragrant, many animals are multiplying rapidly, and teams of cavalry are galloping on the grassland, chasing various prey.

At this time, a Junggar cavalryman came galloping with an antelope on his horse. He shouted as he ran: "This is the Khan's prey!"

Sengge reined in his warhorse, nodded with satisfaction, and said to his subordinates on both sides: "It seems that my riding and archery skills are still not rusty, hahahaha!"

"The Khan has a great archery skill!" All the nobles present exclaimed in admiration.

Riding a warhorse across the grassland calmed Sengge's gloomy mood a little. Compared with the Qian Dynasty, the rise of Dzungar was too short. From unifying the west of the desert to controlling the Western Regions today, it took only five years at most.

If Sengge wanted to break the current predicament, he had to first defeat the Mengqian cavalry, then rush to the Western Regions to provide assistance and defeat the Qian Dynasty infantry fighting in the Western Regions.

If the Qian Dynasty was still the previous Central Plains dynasty, then even if the Qian army was powerful, he would not be afraid. The Western Regions and the Central Plains were so far apart, and he could only delay the Qian army and make it difficult for them to supply. Sooner or later, the Qian army would not be able to bear it and would withdraw to the Central Plains.

But the Emperor of the Qian Dynasty, who had the title of Khan of the grassland, could no longer be considered a regular emperor of the Central Plains. The Emperor of the Qian Dynasty could easily recruit cavalry and herdsmen from various Mongolian tribes. Now it was Sengge himself who was held back.

After the hunt was over, Sengge held a bonfire party. All the nobles laughed and talked happily around the bonfire, and Sengge couldn't help but indulge in this happy scene.

At this moment, a small group of scout cavalry came galloping, which made Sengge put away his smile when he heard the sound.

Soon, a scout came to Sengge in a hurry. He looked around and whispered to Sengge, "Great Khan, the Muhalla from Yarkand is here."

"Muhalla?" Sengge couldn't help but frowned when he heard it.

Sengge had some impression of Muhalla. He had invaded Shache under the guidance of Apakh Khoja and knew that Muhalla was Apakh Khoja's confidant. At that time, Muhalla should be stationed in Turpan, an important city in the Western Regions.

Upon hearing the news that Muhalla was coming, Sengge's heart sank. He had a bad premonition. In Sengge's estimation, the Qian army should be fighting a fierce siege battle in Turpan at this time. How could he have time to come to Yili at this time?

Could it be that this person was afraid of death and fled from the battlefield? But thinking of this, Sengge felt that something was wrong. Even if he wanted to run away, he should have gone to Shache. Why did he run to his place instead?

Sengge couldn't figure it out, so he said to the scout, "Go, bring that Muhalla here. I want to question him personally!"