Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 648: Rapid Attack on Turpan

After capturing Hami, Lin Shiqi obtained 1,200 surrendered soldiers from Yarkand. After careful consideration, he decided to place these people under Babaksu's command, but as a restraint, all the top generals in this army were transferred to Qian Army officers.

At the same time, Babaksu was only a nominal commander, and the real command of the army was in the hands of the deputy general Qi Youlin, who was an old subordinate of Zhang Yingwei.

Those who followed Lin Shiqi on this expedition included Wang Fugui, Wu Tiao, Zhang Yingwei, and the fierce general Liang Sanhu. The soldiers on the Western Expedition were all the best and most brave.

After the army captured Hami, Lin Shiqi ordered 3,000 laborers to stay in Hami to cultivate the land, and ordered nearly half of Gulbuha's Mongolian cavalry to guard the army's grain route from Jiayuguan to Hami.

At this time, Lin Shiqi had some worries in his heart. The food route was too long, and the escorting cavalry was too few. If the Junggar bypassed Hami from the Tianshan Mountains, they could still threaten the food route of the Western Expedition Army. Moreover, in the southwest, there was U-Tsang on the plateau.

Lin Shiqi knew something about U-Tsang. He knew that Sengge's younger brother Galdan was quite prestigious in the plateau. Galdan's teacher was the Fifth Dalai Lama. If he sent troops, he would be under strategic threat on the flank.

Therefore, although the war was going relatively smoothly, Lin Shiqi still requested reinforcements from the rear, or rather, not reinforcements, but a cavalry team to maintain the safety of the food route.

However, Lin Shiqi knew that speed was of the essence in war. Whether U-Tsang would send troops was another matter. Meanwhile, Dzungar was now facing the threat from Huang Cheng in the north and would not be able to spare any strength to rush to the aid of the Western Regions for the time being.

Lin Shiqi then ordered Gulbuha to continue leading the vanguard cavalry and march into Turpan City.

Turpan is the gateway to the Western Regions. The garrison commander Muhala, who is Apakh Khoja's confidant, has received strict orders from Apakh Khoja and Sengge to defend Turpan to the death.

Turpan is located at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains. It is an important transportation route leading to the Western Regions. It is also a city that Lin Shiqi cannot avoid no matter what. This is also the reason why Turpan is known as the gateway to the Western Regions.

As the gateway to the Western Regions, Turpan was naturally the top priority of defense. The five cannons that Sengge bought from Bogdan were placed on the city wall of Turpan.

Originally, Sengge planned to place a total of 40 cannons in Turpan City, but unfortunately, before Bogdan's firearms were delivered to Junggar, the Qian Dynasty had already sent troops and even arrived at the gates of Turpan City.

However, although there were no artillery, Turpan, as a gateway, had been repaired many times during the Yarkand Khanate era. Therefore, the city of Turpan at that time was quite strong, even comparable to the cities in the Central Plains.

Moreover, there are many defenders in the city, more than 30,000 people. It is also the city with the largest number of troops among all the cities in the Western Regions controlled by Apakh Khoja. Or it should be said that Apakh Khoja has already placed most of his troops on defending Turpan.

On the tenth day of the twelfth month, Gulbuha led 5,000 cavalrymen to attack the city of Turpan and defeated the Yarkand cavalrymen under the city several times.

The city defender Muhara thought that although there were not many Mongolian cavalrymen under the city at this time, the reinforcements from the Qian Dynasty should arrive soon. To be on the safe side, Muhara ordered everyone to retreat into the city and stop fighting outside the city.

More than ten days after Gulbuha arrived at the city, the main force led by Lin Shiqi also arrived at the city of Turpan, but heavy supplies such as artillery had not yet arrived. Therefore, Lin Shiqi ordered the digging of deep trenches, the strict maintenance of military camps, and the temporary suspension of the siege.

Muhara in the city always believed that the Qian Dynasty was powerful and had a large population. Therefore, Muhara believed that these troops outside the city should not be the entire main force of the Qian army. He even thought that this was a strategy of the Qian army to lure the enemy.

Muhara thought about it and decided to rely on the city and defend it to the death. As the saying goes, he is as still as a mountain. No matter what conspiracy or tricks the enemy has, he will defend the city and not go out. No matter how strong the Qian army is, they can't do anything to me.

The Qian Dynasty claimed to have sent out an army of 200,000, but in reality, it only had 40,000 cavalry and infantry. Sengge judged that the Qian army would definitely send out a large army to attack, so he issued a strict order that Yarkand should not engage in a decisive battle with the Qian army, but should use the strong city to consume the Qian army and wait for the Dzungar cavalry to raid the Qian army's food supply route.

However, the actual number of troops dispatched by the Qian Dynasty was far less than Sengge's estimate. After hearing the news that 200,000 Qian troops were marching westward, Sengge laughed at Meng Jun for not understanding tactics, saying that 200,000 troops should be called an army of 500,000.

The city was heavily defended and a large army was gathered outside the city, but in the one month since Jin Shiqi arrived in Turpan, strangely enough, no conflict had broken out between the two sides.

The soldiers fighting outside could not even celebrate the New Year properly. Only on New Year's Eve, the food in the army was a little better, but as for alcohol, there was not any at all.

On the 16th day of the first lunar month, the artillery finally arrived at the city of Turpan.

At this time, all the generals gathered in the camp of the Western Expedition Army. Lin Shiqi spread out the map provided by Babaksu and asked in a deep voice: "Have the scouts found any Junggar cavalry or Uszang people?"

Hearing this, Gulbuha shook his head and said, "General, after I arrived in Turpan, I sent out scouts everywhere. Except for the conflict with the cavalry in Turpan at the beginning, I didn't see any enemies during this period."

At this time, Zhang Yingwei touched his short beard and frowned, saying, "It shouldn't be like this. I see that the defense of Turpan City is very tight. It doesn't look like the Junggars are going to give up this city."

Wang Fugui shook his head and said, "Impossible. We all know that Turpan is the gateway to the Western Regions. How could Hezhuo, who has spent his whole life in the Western Regions, not know this? He would not give up any city no matter which one was lost. In my opinion, the enemy thinks that we cannot take Turpan, so they are defending the city to the death and are preparing to wear us out."

"Defend to the death?" Zhang Yingwei stopped stroking his beard and said, "Haven't you heard that if you defend too long, you will lose? Now our artillery has arrived. I have seen that Turpan City is strong, but it is not as strong as Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Shanhaiguan, etc."

Lin Shiqi interrupted everyone's discussion and said, "Sengge wants to use the strong city to hold us back. The journey from Jiayuguan to Turpan is long, and the food transported by the court has been greatly wasted. They must be waiting, and when we can no longer hold on, they will take the opportunity to counterattack."

Liang Sanhu snorted and said, "That's a good idea, but now is not the past. We have elite soldiers and cannons to clear the way. If Turpan wants to defend the city, then we will quickly capture the city. If the defenders want to defend the city, they will definitely store a large amount of food and grass in the city. Taking the city can also reduce the pressure on the food supply."