It was almost the same as what Zhu Ying expected.

Here in the Indus River Basin, Timur's army was unstoppable and encountered no decent resistance at all.

Historically, when attacking the Delhi Sultanate, Timur had only an army of 100,000 to push forward, but today, due to the joint threat from the Ming Dynasty and the grassland, Timur directly dispatched an army of 300,000.

This made the situation even worse for the local forces of the Delhi Sultanate.

Of course, not all local governors in the Indus region surrendered directly; some even resisted to the death.

However, facing Timur's army of 300,000, although not all of them were elite soldiers, they were still like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

After the siege, according to the tradition of Timur's army, they massacred the city for three days.

"If it weren't for the increasingly cold winter, we would have conquered the capital of the Tughluq Dynasty this year and tied up their Sultan and sent him to Samarkand."

The speaker was Khalil, the son of Miranshah, Timur's third son.

He stood on the city wall, laughing wildly as he watched the soldiers being slaughtered below.

Standing next to him was Pirma Heima.

Pierma Heima frowned and said, "Actually, there is no need to massacre the city. We are building post stations and cement roads now, and we need a lot of slaves."

"If you kill them all, no one will come to build roads for us."

Khalil's eyes flashed with disdain: "I think you have been in Ming Dynasty for so long that you have been infected by their pedantry."

"To deal with these untouchables, we must make them feel fear, and then they will surrender. Massacre in the city is a tradition of our army, and you don't need to teach me how to do things."

The army that marched into Delhi Sultanate this time belonged to Miran Shah's army, which was controlled by Khalil.

Piermahemada came here not to command a major battle, but to look at the terrain and then prepare to build a cement road.

Because the formula of cement was brought by Pirmahem, Timur put him in charge of the construction of cement roads across the country.

Pirhmah now has no army under his command. The army left by his father Jahangir is now led by his elder brother Mahmud Sultan.

As the second legitimate son, Pirmahema is more noble than Khalil in status, but without an army, he can do nothing to Khalil.

"The Ming Dynasty's ocean-going fleet will pose a threat to us from the sea. The Eastern Chagatai Khanate has also now united a large number of troops, so grandpa will send 300,000 troops to fight the Delhi Sultanate."

"I heard the news that the Ming Dynasty seemed to have sent envoys to the Delhi Sultan, who did not want Grandpa's plan to succeed."

"If you were smart, you wouldn't have chosen to massacre the city. This would only make the Delhi Sultan hate us even more. If they cooperate with the Ming Dynasty, this attack would become much more troublesome."

Pirmahema said coldly that he really didn't want to bother with Khalil, even though they had a blood connection.

But in fact, the relationship has never been very good. If his grandfather hadn't asked him to come over and follow him, he would not have wanted to work with Khalil at all.

Khalil glanced at Pierma Hema and said with sarcasm: "You have tarnished your noble bloodline, and you are actually afraid of the Ming Dynasty."

"The Ming Dynasty was once a vassal of Mongolia, but the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang took advantage of the opportunity to succeed. Just wait and see, sooner or later our army will set foot on the land of the Central Plains again."

"This time in Delhi Sultanate, no one can resist me, even if Ming Dynasty helps Tughluk."

"If they dare to send people to interfere, I will let them know what fear is."

Khalil's arrogant laughter formed a sharp echo with the slaughter in the city below.

Even the sunset was dyed blood red.

Seeing Khalil like this, Pirmahemah didn't want to continue arguing.

Only by visiting the Ming Dynasty in person can you know how powerful and prosperous the Ming Dynasty is.

It is a very foolish act to go against the Ming Dynasty. Even Timur now regrets that he should not have detained the Ming envoys, which led to the current passive situation.

…

The capital of Tughlaq, Delhi.

This place is more prosperous, cleaner, and even more beautiful than the Ming envoys had imagined.

Compared with the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, the city of Delhi seems much more spacious, especially the large number of garden designs located in every corner of the city, making the whole Delhi seem to be in a beautiful garden at all times.

Even now in winter, there is still a lot of green cover.

This is thanks to the previous Tughlaq dynasty Sultan Firuz.

Firouz was a descendant of his elder brother, as his elder brother Muhammad was killed in battle against the rebels in Sindh.

During his 37-year reign, he first gave up the conquest of the south and then concentrated a lot of manpower and financial resources on building Delhi.

There are many temples here, as well as a large number of hospitals and schools.

Even though Timur's army was approaching the Indus River area, most of the people in the city still had expressions of happiness on their faces.

"The merchant woman knows not the sorrow of losing her country, and still sings the song of love across the river."

"I didn't really understand the meaning of this sentence before, but today when I came to Delhi, I seemed to really feel it."

The speaker was Wang Jinyi, an envoy from the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Jinyi was not an orthodox Han Chinese, but a descendant of the Jin Dynasty. His ancestors were the Wanyan clan, but they changed their names to avoid being hunted down by the Mongols.

These are all past events. Wang Jinyi himself graduated from the Ming Military Academy and had the title of scholar, but he was finally assigned to the commander of U-Tsang.

Because he could speak Turkic, Persian and Pashto, the main official languages ​​of the Delhi Sultanate, and had graduated from the Ming Military Academy, he became the leader of this delegation.

Wang Jinyi communicated with his colleagues in Chinese, but the Tugruluk nobles next to him naturally could not understand him.

After all, Chinese is the most difficult language to learn, not to mention that Wang Jinyi also used poetic metaphors.

"Dear guests from afar, our Sultan is already waiting in the palace. Please follow me in."

When we arrived in front of the Delhi Palace, someone immediately came to greet us.

It is clear that Sultan Nahir al-Din Mahmud Shah of the Tughlaq dynasty attached great importance to the prestigious Eastern dynasty.

Sultan Mahmud originally wanted to go to the palace in person to greet him, but he canceled the plan after being persuaded by his ministers.

After Wang Jinyi and five other envoys entered the palace, they were given a warm welcome ceremony.

On both sides of the road, pure virgins wearing colorful clothes, holding flower petals in their hands, celebrated the arrival of Wang Jinyi and others.

The appearance of flowers at this time shows that a lot of thought has been put into it.

In the palace hall, Sultan Mahmud did not sit on the throne, but stood to welcome the arrival of Wang Jinyi and others.

"Welcome distinguished guests from the Far East. I have prepared a lot of delicious food and wine. I hope you like them." Sultan Mahmud said loudly with his arms open.

Unlike the solemn court etiquette of the Ming Dynasty, the culture of the Delhi Sultanate is quite different and more similar to the West.

This hall is not only for meetings, but also for the monarch to entertain his ministers.

There was a long table below with barbecue and fine wine on it, and maids serving at the back.

Except for Wang Jinyi, the other four were obviously confused by this situation. They didn't expect that the scene of meeting with King Tugruluk would be to have a meal first?

Under the service of exotic maids and the stimulation of alcohol, it was obvious that the Ming envoys' favorability towards the Tughlaq Dynasty increased rapidly.

Wang Jinyi and others felt that the mission was not in vain.

After three rounds of drinking, at the signal of Sultan Mahmud, Tughluk's ministers asked Wang Jinyi: "I wonder what kind of support the noble Ming Dynasty will bring us this time."

"Now Timur's army has already reached the Indus River area. They are very brutal and fierce. We really want the support of the Ming Dynasty."

When it came to the point, Wang Jinyi and the others, who had been somewhat unruly, began to restrain themselves. Wang Jinyi said in a serious tone, "According to the order of His Majesty the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty, 50,000 elite troops have been assembled in Tubo. We only need to wait for His Majesty the Sultan to stamp his seal, and then we can set out to Delhi and obey His Majesty the Sultan's command."

After saying this, Wang Jinyi took out a contract from his pocket and handed it to Tugruk's minister next to him.

The minister took it and looked at it carefully. The contents of the contract were written in Chinese and Persian.

The general idea was that the Tughlaq Dynasty would contribute 100,000 taels of gold, and the Ming Dynasty would be responsible for providing 50,000 soldiers to participate in the war between the Delhi Sultanate and Timur.

The court minister quickly stood up and handed the contract to Sultan Mahmud.

Mahmud took the towel from the servant next to him and wiped the oil off his hands, then began to read carefully.

After watching it, I felt bad.

He asked in Persian, "Dear oriental guest, the price of one hundred thousand taels of gold is not much, but the terms of the agreement state that the spoils of these soldiers will be completely returned to the Ming Dynasty."

"At this point, is it worth re-discussing?"

Although one hundred thousand taels of gold was a lot for the Tughlaq Dynasty, it was not excessive.

However, it seems a bit excessive that all the spoils of these soldiers belonged to the Ming Dynasty.

Because during the war, the Tughlaq Dynasty had to provide food and logistics, and the soldiers' behavior was often uncontrollable.

Their spoils may have been not only for the Timurid army, but also for the Delhi Sultanate itself.

Mahmud did not think that the soldiers would not harm anyone while marching.

Wang Jinyi replied in Persian: "I'm sorry, Your Majesty the Sultan, the contract has already been stamped with the seal of my Great Ming Grandson. If Your Majesty the Sultan wants to change the content, we can only reapply to Your Majesty the Great Ming Grandson."

"If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince agrees with His Majesty the Sultan's proposal, then another contract document with a seal will be sent from the capital of the Ming Dynasty."

After hearing this, Mahmud felt speechless.

It would take about four months to travel from the Delhi Sultanate to the Ming capital at the fastest speed.

Including the round trip, it would take eight months.

Eight months later, Timur's army had already reached Delhi. By that time, it was possible that the Tughlaq Dynasty would not even exist, so what contract was needed?

This was because the Ming Dynasty was in urgent need of support as it had strangled the current Tughlaq Dynasty, so there was absolutely no room for negotiation.

Wang Jinyi's words were just a way of giving a way out, and were a bit euphemistic.

"I wonder how your army will maintain its discipline and how strong they are to fight against Timur's army."

After a moment of silence, Mahmud asked Wang Jinyi.

He knew that the fate of the Tugrulk Dynasty was likely in the hands of these 50,000 elite soldiers.

Wang Jinyi smiled and said, "Your Majesty, please do not worry too much. This army was formed through the Beiyuan Mercenary Guild established by His Royal Highness the Grandson of the Ming Dynasty."

"Among them, 30,000 are the most powerful warriors on the grassland. They have superb riding skills and exquisite archery skills, and are not inferior to the cavalry of Timur's army."

"There are also 20,000 infantrymen from various Tibetan tribes. They are also the elite of Tibet and cannot be compared with Timur's slave army."

"With the help of these 50,000 troops, the Delhi Sultan can definitely withstand the attack of Timur's army."

Mahmud and Tugrul's ministers understood everything after hearing this.

It turned out that the Ming Dynasty did not send any troops at all. All the soldiers who came were from the grassland and Tubo, and the Ming Dynasty charged high intermediary fees from behind.

In fact, this is also because they don’t understand that the market conditions in the Ming Dynasty are still very fair.

For the 100,000 taels of gold offered by the Tughlaq Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty only took 30%, or 30,000 taels.

The rest is included in pensions and military pay.

Although they felt that the Ming Dynasty was a bit shady, Mahmud and Tugrul's ministers felt relieved when they heard that they had the support of 30,000 Mongolian cavalry.

Mahmud also did not expect that the Delhi Sultanate, which had been resisting the Mongol invasion, now needed the Mongols' help.

Mahmud called his trusted attendants, brought the seal of the Tughlaq dynasty king, and stamped it on the contract document.

At the same time, he instructed the Minister of Finance to prepare 100,000 taels of gold for the Ming Dynasty delegation to complete the transaction.

After the matter was settled, the banquet became noticeably more lively.

Large amounts of drinks were continuously delivered for everyone to enjoy.

Mahmud was in a good mood when he thought about being able to repel Timur's attack.

As long as the Tughlaq dynasty can stabilize its rule over the Delhi Sultanate, any cost will be worth it.

"I wonder who will be the commander in charge of your army this time." Mahmud asked with great interest.

Hearing this, Wang Jinyi put down the drink in his cup, stood up and saluted, and asked in Persian: "Your Majesty the Sultan, I will be the commander-in-chief of the army from now on."

Wang Jinyi was not only the head of the mission, but also the deputy commander of the U-Tsang Command and an outstanding graduate of the Ming Military Academy.

This means that for the Tughlaq Dynasty, the rise and fall of their dynasty was controlled by Wang Jinyi.

After knowing that Wang Jinyi would be the future commander-in-chief, the banquet reached its climax.