October 7th, the 32nd year of Hongwu.

Cavalry from the nine borders have begun to enter the Western Regions and the Tubo area.

The order from the Crown Prince ordered Fu Youde to send a thousand cavalrymen to protect and clear the areas surrounding the Huhu Kingdom.

After all, the sisters, including the queen, have already sacrificed themselves for the king. It would be really despicable if they didn't even take care of this.

The person who received the order was He Rong.

With a thousand cavalrymen, He Rong went directly to the Huhu Kingdom.

"I heard that the princesses of the Huhu Kingdom are extremely beautiful twin sisters, and they have now won the favor of the Crown Prince."

The deputy general said to He Rong with a smile.

He Rong said: "If it weren't for this, would we be assigned here? I don't know if there are any Tartars here. Ever since I got this flintlock rifle, I've been itching to get my hands on it."

"But the general has strictly ordered that we only fire the gun in private. This thing is too precious. I think it's a waste to use it to fight the Tartars."

"If there are no Tartars here, we won't be able to use them."

He Rong's tone was a little unhappy. Others could directly track the Tartars, but he was still responsible for the defensive mission, which made him feel like he was unable to do his best.

The main reason is that this flintlock rifle is so cool, and I have to find a time to use it.

Of course, this was the Crown Prince's order, and he dared not mess it up.

If something happened in Huhu Kingdom, no matter what the reason, his future would be completely ruined.

The deputy general said: "There is a way, actually. We can go to Huhu Country first, and then place the infantry there to defend."

"With our soldiers guarding the city, how could the Tartars possibly capture it?"

"With our cavalry, we can look for traces of the Tartars in the surrounding areas."

He Rong's eyes lit up: "Good idea, it really is a good idea, let's do as you say."

He Rong found a few local people and asked them to take him to the Huhu Kingdom.

Don't underestimate the Ming Dynasty's auxiliary troops. Although they have no armor, they all carry muskets and cannons.

When stationed in place for defense, it is like a turtle shell.

It is now very easy for the Ming Dynasty to manufacture matchlock rifles, with monthly production exceeding 100,000 rifles. This is also the main firearm of the Ming Dynasty.

Due to its considerable lethality, the matchlock gun has become the mainstream of the military today.

The cavalry's charge could not cause any serious damage under the muskets.

To charge directly would be to seek death.

…

The first person to find traces of Timur's army in the Western Regions was Batu.

He ran all the way from the Golden Horde to the Nine Borders of the Ming Dynasty, crossing most of the grassland.

As a Mongol himself, he was more aware of the situation of Timur's army.

In fact, Timur's cavalry had no intention of hiding in the Western Regions, but the Western Regions were too vast, and tens of thousands of people were really inconspicuous in such a huge place.

"I didn't expect that we would fight together again, and it was against the army of Samarkand."

Hasbagen sighed as he rode on his horse.

Batu smiled and said, "I said at the beginning that it was right to follow me to the Ming Dynasty. With such sturdy armor and powerful flintlock rifles, if we were on the grassland, we would only become its target."

"With them, our cavalry will be invincible on this grassland."

Hasbagen tightly grasped the flintlock in his hand. They grew up on horseback and were the Baturu of the tribe. They were more accustomed to riding on horses than walking on the ground.

"Yes, with it, we are invincible cavalry."

"Let's fight side by side this time and kill to our heart's content."

Back then, Hasbagun let Batu go. Later, the Golden Horde underwent great changes. The Tatars rebelled, and Batu accidentally saved Hasbagun.

With nowhere to go, Hasbagen naturally followed Batu, and then went to the grassland military base together.

Their riding skills are at the pinnacle, so their performance in the grassland military base is outstanding.

In fact, Hasbagen originally had the opportunity to fight for the position of a thousand-rider commander, but he gave it up.

He wanted to fight alongside his childhood friend Batu.

Obviously, his wish has now become a reality.

But now they are fighting for the Ming Dynasty.

While the two were chatting, the scout returned and immediately reported the whereabouts of Timur's army in front.

"After passing two mountains, there is a lake, about fifty miles away. Timur's army is stationed there."

"It was the people whose country was destroyed by them who told us that they had already investigated and indeed could see traces of the army."

"They destroyed six small countries and plundered a large amount of wealth."

"We dare not get too close, as they may easily discover us."

After hearing the report from the scouts, Batu immediately decided to launch a direct attack on Timur's army.

A distance of more than fifty miles can be reached in half a day for a cavalry raid.

In the Western Regions, it is different from other places. Even at the hour of Hai, which is nine o'clock in the evening, it is still light.

This is because winter has already arrived. If it is the first two months, it will not get dark until the end of the hour of Hai, which is 11 o'clock in the evening.

It was just past noon when Batu received the news.

"Start cooking, and when we're full, we'll attack directly."

Batu ordered.

The auxiliary troops immediately began to prepare.

The cavalrymen also checked their own equipment.

Everyone was very excited because this would be the first battle with the flintlock rifle.

The power of the flintlock gave them enough confidence.

Each of these 1,000 cavalrymen was equipped with both a flintlock and a matchlock rifle. The main reason was that the flintlock rifle was too expensive and could only be used when attacking the enemy.

Good steel should be used on the blade.

Eat and drink enough.

Under the leadership of Batu and Hasbagen, a thousand cavalrymen just roared away.

…

Timur's camp.

These are just a branch of cavalry that came to the Western Regions.

In addition to nearly two thousand cavalry, there were also about ten thousand slave soldiers.

Originally there were not so many slave soldiers, and the reason why their number increased was entirely due to the act of Timur's cavalry destroying the country.

After they conquered the small country, they incorporated the surrendered troops into the slave army to serve their cavalry.

And also to bring them a lot of loot.

In the camp, many cavalrymen took a leisurely walk after dinner and taught the disobedient slaves a lesson.

These are all their wealth.

"It's still better here in the Western Regions. Tubo is too poor. We robbed several villages and still couldn't fill our stomachs. It's nothing like here in the Western Regions. Many small countries look small, but their treasuries still have some money. This time we can be considered rich."

A cavalryman said to his colleague next to him with a smile, raised his whip and hit the passing slave hard.

There's no other meaning, I just did it for fun.

The beaten slave knelt on the ground with his head down, and if he showed any resistance or anger, he would be killed immediately.

The cavalry just laughed wildly.

The cavalryman next to him also said, "I heard a few days ago that there is a place called Hu Hu Country. There are two very beautiful princesses there. They look exactly the same. It's a pity that their king sent them to Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, we can still taste their beauty."

The cavalryman replied: "Huhu Kingdom is too far away, and it is very close to U-Tsang Dusi. If our army goes there, it will definitely attract attention. However, I heard that the Northern Yuan Dynasty has formed an alliance with us. If they join us in conquering U-Tsang Dusi City, it will be a great fortune."

"Whether it's women or gold, we have everything."

The two men laughed loudly. In their opinion, it was only a matter of time to capture the U-Tsangdusi City.

They had conquered so many places before, even the powerful Ottoman Empire was defeated, and the emperor was captured in Samarkand. Victory was only a matter of time.

Long-term victory also brings them strong self-confidence.

At this moment, the ground suddenly felt like it was shaking slightly.

After just a moment of shock, the two men immediately realized that there were a large number of cavalrymen galloping.

In the distance, a fast horse came towards the camp, shouting in Turkish: "Enemy attack, enemy attack."

With a bang.

Just as he was about to approach the camp, he was knocked off his horse.

Immediately afterwards, Batu appeared with a thousand cavalrymen.

Just one glance and there was a huge commotion in the camp.

Because the cavalry they saw were heavy cavalry covered in full armor, even on the backs of their horses.

The cavalry commander in the camp shouted loudly, asking all the cavalry to mount their horses quickly and prepare for battle.

The slave soldiers were also driven to the front.

Batu just sneered, drew out his long sword and swung it in the air, and thousands of cavalrymen immediately rushed towards the camp.

The armor they wore, including the armor on their horses, was all made of Ming Dynasty's thousand-forged steel.

This kind of armor is thinner than normal ones, but it can defend all places, just like the Iron Pagoda of the past.

The Ming Dynasty did not have many cavalry, so it was very particular about its armaments.

"He who retreats will die!"

When the slave soldiers saw the cavalry rushing towards them, many of them were frightened and wanted to retreat. The Timurid cavalrymen behind them immediately swung their swords and killed a group of them.

The flowing blood and wailing forced the slave army to stand in front no matter how far they retreated.

When they were about to approach the camp, Batu shouted, "Disperse!"

The orderly cavalry split into two sides and began to gallop around the camp, with no intention of engaging in a head-on confrontation with the slave army in the camp.

"Damn it, are these cavalrymen from the Northern Yuan Dynasty? Aren't they our allies? Why are they attacking us?"

The Timurid cavalry were very familiar with this tactic, because they were invincible in Central Asia and used this siege tactic to deal with other infantry.

The leading commander Timur immediately ordered all the cavalry to assemble.

Only cavalry that runs are real cavalry.

They had more than 2,000 cavalrymen, while the enemy had only half as many as they did.

A cavalry showdown is about to begin.

Timur's cavalry was quickly integrated and, under the leadership of their commander, launched an attack on a group.

"A thousand cavalrymen dare to disperse. They really don't take us seriously."

The leading officer sneered, and then ordered a thousand cavalrymen to attack the periphery.

Because the enemy was dispersed, a thousand cavalry only needed to fight against two hundred cavalry.

In a cavalry confrontation, the scattered cavalry had no time to provide support.

Even if they are covered in armor, can a mere two hundred cavalrymen stop my one thousand cavalrymen?

Timur's generals thought so, but the situation soon gave him a cold blow.

The first tactic of light cavalry is arrow rain.

Even a light bow can reach a range of about 300 meters when thrown.

It doesn't matter if the hit rate is low. The rain of arrows can scare the enemy and kill some people at least.

However, this time it was completely different.

Faced with the rain of arrows falling from the sky, these Nine Border Cavalry had no intention of paying any attention.

The arrows fell on the armor like raindrops, but there was no way to penetrate it. They just left shallow dents and then slid to the ground.

From a distance, it seemed that the Ming cavalry who had forcibly endured this wave of arrow rain fell to the ground without a single injury.

"This is impossible. Absolutely impossible."

There were bursts of exclamations from Timur's cavalry. The bows and arrows that they were so proud of were completely unable to break through the defense.

At this time, more than a thousand cavalrymen had already rushed to the opposite side.

At this time, the Ming army knights took out their flintlock rifles.

"Fire!"

A loud shout was heard, and more than 200 cavalrymen immediately aimed and opened fire.

This was a crushing defeat from the level of civilization. In the face of the breech-loading flintlock rifles, dozens of Timurid cavalrymen fell to the ground in an instant.

This is impossible.

You have to know that the hit rate of muskets was notoriously low in this era.

Even though Timur had muskets, he relied more on bows and arrows.

By the time Timur's cavalry had time to reload their muskets, they had already shot more than ten arrows. The hit rate was almost the same as that of the muskets, and the number was more than ten times, so of course they knew how to choose.

But now, the muskets used by the enemy have exceeded their understanding.

And then, something even more terrifying happened.

After the enemy fired the first shot, they all knew that they had to take advantage of this opportunity to quickly cut in, as the speed of reloading the muskets would give them plenty of time to attack.

However, within just a few breaths, the enemy fired a second shot.

This is impossible.

In just a dozen breaths, three exclamations were heard from Timur's army.

When Timur's cavalry rushed to the vicinity of the Ming cavalry, nearly half of the more than 1,000 cavalrymen had been killed.

At this time, the other 800 cavalrymen had already begun to surround and shoot at the camp.

The horror of the flintlock rifle was fully demonstrated.

These Timurid cavalrymen had no ability to fight back at all.

In less than half an hour, the assault was over.

Batu's thousand cavalrymen took over the entire camp without any casualties.

After the cavalry collapsed, the slave soldiers knelt down and surrendered.

For them, it's just a change of owner, there is not much difference.

"What a bunch of idiots, so vulnerable that they won without even a bloody battle. This is too easy."

Hasbagen still couldn't believe it.

You have to know that these Timurid cavalry were so arrogant when they were in the Golden Horde.

Now I was easily defeated by myself.

So much so that even Hasbagen couldn't believe it.

Victory came too suddenly.

The camp was taken over by Batu, and scouts were sent out to inform the infantry troops to advance quickly and suppress the rebellion.

And in the camp, they found a large amount of gold and jewelry.

Some cavalrymen had greed in their eyes.