Since ancient times, the Western Regions have been enfeoffed by the Central Plains dynasties.

If this area was not so vast and desolate, it would have been incorporated into the territory of the Central Plains Dynasty long ago.

The Ming Dynasty's military operations in the Western Regions caused a great shock to the entire Western Region.

Although many upper-class nobles knew that the Central Plains was very powerful now, they could not express this power in words, and they did not know how to express it.

Anyway, in the eyes of people living in the Western Regions, the Central Plains dynasties have always been powerful.

After all, it was once the Silk Road, and many countries with some heritage still have some hidden treasures in their treasury.

Timur's cavalry looted crazily, but it also made things difficult for the Ming army.

Five thousand cavalrymen are already invincible in the entire Western Regions.

When facing armored cavalry, light cavalry has no other advantages except that they can run a little faster.

The remaining Timurid cavalry decisively abandoned the Western Regions and headed directly towards Tibet to join the main force.

Without artillery, they would be slaughtered by the Ming cavalry.

Half a month later, intelligence about the Western Regions had been sent to the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty Palace.

Zhu Yuanzhang called his eldest grandson.

"We thought Timur was so powerful, but he was totally vulnerable. Our Ming cavalry swept through the entire Western Regions without losing a single soldier."

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a hearty laugh.

A battle loss ratio of zero casualties is a very rare thing in any dynasty.

Timurid's cavalry was also famous, but was easily crushed.

Zhu Ying smiled and said, "The thousand-forged steel we are producing now cannot be broken by arrows or muskets. Besides, most of Timur's cavalry nowadays still rely on bows and arrows."

"If this can still be killed, it would be too incompetent."

As a cavalry unit that has undergone long-term training, it is naturally impossible for them to make any low-level mistakes.

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said, "It is just that the Western Regions are too desolate. Even if they are incorporated into the Ming Dynasty, it does not make much sense."

As of now, the entire Western Regions is in chaos because of Timur's cavalry.

Now the Ming cavalry came out to sort out the situation and drove away Timur's cavalry, but now how to deal with the Western Regions has become another problem.

It is obvious that neither Zhu Yuanzhang nor his other ministers wanted to deal with the Western Regions.

The Western Regions are too poor now. Incorporating them into the Ming Dynasty would not only bring no benefits, but would increase the Ming Dynasty's burden.

Zhu Ying said: "Although the Western Regions are poor, they are vast. There have not been many dynasties in such a large area since ancient times. In addition to the population, we may explore whether there are other resources, such as coal."

"It's a little far, but as long as we build a train from Ming Dynasty to the Western Regions, the distance won't matter much."

"Generally speaking, places with small populations usually have many mineral deposits, but perhaps they have not been discovered yet."

Zhu Ying didn’t have much impression of the Western Regions in later generations, but there should be quite a few mineral deposits there.

As for the exact location, there is no way to remember it. I will just ask someone to find it when the time comes.

For now, let’s first bring it under the scope of governance.

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a while and said, "Since my grandson thinks it is useful, let's incorporate it into the Ming Dynasty first. However, it may be troublesome to migrate the people there. I'm afraid the people are unwilling to go to such a wild place."

Zhu Ying said: "It is not necessary to relocate the people. We can set up garrison troops in the Western Regions, which can rotate every three to five years. The local government can be run by the local chieftains, who only need to obey the laws of the Ming Dynasty."

"In the Western Regions, the main language used now is the Turkic language, which is not conducive to the education of our Ming Dynasty. When the time comes, we will establish more Chinese schools so that all the natives of the Western Regions can learn Chinese and use Chinese characters."

"When the Turkic language disappears in the Western Regions and everyone speaks Chinese, the Western Regions will naturally become the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Let's follow your suggestion, Grandson. However, we still need to build trains to the Nine Borders first, and then consider the Western Regions."

"The Timur army in the Western Regions has suffered a defeat, so they will definitely want to get back at us, and they will definitely agree to join forces with the Northern Yuan Dynasty."

"Perhaps the next step is to attack our Uszangdusi City."

Zhu Yuanzhang analyzed and said.

Zhu Ying also thought of this: "There are still 70,000 to 80,000 Northern Yuan cavalry still staying near U-Tsangdusi. I think they will attack U-Tsangdusi city at the same time as a pincer attack."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "In that case, let's send a message to the Ministry of War to dispatch 200,000 troops to support the U-Tsang Dusi City so that we can defeat it in one fell swoop."

"Since the Northern Yuan has taken action, the Nine Frontiers should also make some moves."

…

Just as Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying guessed.

The Northern Yuan cavalry who remained near the U-Tsangdusi city received orders from the Northern Yuan court.

The combined forces of Timur immediately launched an attack on the city of U-Tsangdusi.

At this moment, the original friendship between the grassland and the Central Plains was completely broken.

The first thing was that the border market was immediately stopped.

It is forbidden to transport any goods to the grassland.

Especially for concentrated feed like corn, if you dare to transport it privately, you will be punished by death.

This is undoubtedly a huge blow to merchants on the border.

In fact, the ones who suffer the most are the ordinary herdsmen.

Because it is early winter, they need to store a lot of food to survive the winter, but now the Ming Dynasty has closed trade and transportation, which means that many herdsmen will have a hard time this winter.

Two hundred miles west of the city of U-Tsang.

Hundreds of thousands of troops gathered, this was Timur's army.

On the north side, there were nearly 80,000 Northern Yuan cavalry.

The city of U-Tsangdusi was not big, and it was impossible to defend the city.

Xu Huizu's army camped ten miles outside the city of U-Tsang.

"Duke, the Northern Yuan cavalry really betrayed our Ming Dynasty and joined forces with the Timurid cavalry."

After hearing his subordinates' report, Xu Huizu nodded slightly and asked, "Is Duke Ying here?"

The subordinate replied: "The news has been spread to the city, it should be arriving soon."

Xu Huizu summoned all the generals and immediately went to the outside of the military camp to welcome them.

In terms of status, Xu Huizu is also a duke, but in front of Fu Youde, he can only be a junior.

Outside the tent, Fu Youde and his party came from Dusi City.

"Greetings, Duke Ying."

Xu Huizu has a very humble attitude.

Fu Youde saw Xu Huizu laughing, so he dismounted and patted Xu Huizu on the shoulder: "You and I are uncle and nephew, why do we need to be so polite? Let's stop with these false formalities and go in and talk."

In his early years, Fu Youde had always been under Xu Da's command. He had accompanied Xu Da in the Northern Expedition and the Northern Expedition to the Desert.

Fu Youde was of course very familiar with Xu Huizu, the eldest son of Xu Da.

"With my uncle here to guard, I feel much more at ease."

Inside the big tent, Xu Huizu said with a smile.

This is also true.

Now, these generals in the big tent are like good children in front of Fu Youde.

Fu Youde fought in almost half of the Ming Dynasty, and all his achievements were earned with real swords and guns.

That is to say, Xu Huizu, as the son of Xu Da, still had some weight. Many other generals had followed Fu Youde in battle when they were still soldiers.

Fu Youde waved his hand and said, "I am old. Now the world is ruled by you young people. I was supposed to retire, but His Majesty didn't want me to have such a leisure time, so he sent me here again."

The peak of Fu Youde's life was in the 25th year of Hongwu, the year when Crown Prince Zhu Biao passed away.

At the beginning of that year, Fu Youde was appointed General of Conquering the Enemy and prepared his army in Beiping. He followed Prince of Yan Zhu Di to conquer Hazheshil and pursue the army of the Mongol Yuan and Liao princes.

In this battle, Fu Youde used a trick again. He suddenly ordered the army to return during the pursuit. When the enemy learned about it, they relaxed their vigilance and precautions.

At this time, Fu Youde ordered his army to sneak into Heiling and defeat the enemy.

After the victory, he was appointed as the general of military training in Shanxi and Shaanxi, and was given the title of Prince Grand Tutor.

However, just after he was appointed as the Prince's Grand Tutor, the Prince fell seriously ill and was bedridden, and died not long after.

This scared Fu Youde.

He knew the character of his Majesty very well, so he sent him back home, handed over all his military power, and left him at home idle.

Even so, Fu Youde still felt uneasy and couldn't sleep well every day, fearing that when he woke up one day, the emperor would send someone to execute him.

Therefore, he followed the example of Xiao He, a famous official in the early Han Dynasty, and bought land to defile himself.

Zhu Yuanzhang severely reprimanded Fu Youde for this, but it also made Fu Youde feel much better. At least he proved to the emperor that he was indeed a well-behaved person.

However, later, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered him to be executed.

There is no other reason, it's just a death sentence.

In fact, when it comes down to it, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that Fu Youde was the father-in-law of the third Prince of Jin, Zhu Gang.

If Zhu Gang did anything bad to his grandson Zhu Yunwen, Fu Youde would definitely help.

However, in this era, Fu Youde was not only not executed, but also controlled the most powerful cavalry team of the Ming Dynasty.

This is naturally because of Zhu Ying's existence.

In fact, after Zhu Ying entered the palace, there was no disturbance in the world. Even the military did not question Zhu Ying's identity. This was inseparable from the secret support of the entire Huaixi noble group.

Even though they had never explicitly or implicitly expressed their intention to join Zhu Ying, they no longer had any choice.

The eldest grandson of the emperor who has disappeared for ten years is the one who best suits the interests of the Huaixi noble group.

The reason why Zhu Ying was successful was, of course, first and foremost due to Zhu Yuanzhang’s doting.

Secondly, almost all the generals and nobles chose to remain silent.

It just so happened that the entire court was massacred because of the Hu Weiyong case, which led to such a wonderful balance.

But no one could have imagined that this returning crown prince would bring about such great changes in the Ming Dynasty.

Let Fu Youde take charge of the military power again.

Fu Youde said so, but those in the big tent, including Xu Huizu, would not go along with it.

Xu Huizu asked: "Duke Ying, what should we do now? Should we defend or take the initiative to attack?"

Fu Youde said with a smile: "The Tartars are just defeated generals of my army. Why should we be afraid of them?"

"Besides, these barbarians from the west think they are fighting against the natives. We must let them know how powerful our Ming Dynasty is."

"I will lead 15,000 cavalrymen to defeat the Tartars on the north side first. You stay here and do not allow the Tartars on the west side to provide support."

"After I return, we uncle and nephew will unite our forces and show the Tartars from the west how powerful we are."

The generals present only felt their scalps tingling.

They were still thinking about how to defend, but Fu Youde didn't take it seriously at all and took the initiative to attack directly.

The army turned their eyes to Xu Huizu.

What else could Xu Huizu say? He could only bow and say, "I will obey Duke Ying's orders."

Fu Youde laughed out loud.

He knew that this was because Xu Huizu simply did not understand the combat power of the 15,000 cavalrymen under his command.

Even without breech-loading flintlock rifles, Fu Youde knew very well that with just these 15,000 heavy cavalry, they were invincible in field battles except for being unable to attack cities.

"There is no time to lose. You all get ready here. I will go and defeat the Northern Yuan Tartars first."

"If it weren't for the Crown Prince's kindness, how could these treacherous guys be here today?"

The generals escorted Fu Youde out of the military camp, and then they saw Fu Youde getting on his horse and leaving. In the distance, tens of thousands of cavalrymen could be seen.

"Duke Ying is truly a god."

A general sighed and said.

The general on the other side said, "Even the Duke of Ying is like this, I wonder how powerful the King of Zhongshan was back then."

Having said that, the deputy general still asked carefully: "Duke, should we prepare to take care of Duke Ying?"

In fact, everyone still feels that Fu Youde is a bit boastful, it's just like a novel.

Xu Huizu was also hesitant in his heart, but finally said: "Since Duke Ying has given the order, we should obey it."

"According to Duke Ying's orders, the entire army is ready for battle and we must immediately cut off the connection between the two Tartars. If Timur's army makes any unusual moves, we must march out immediately."

Upon hearing this, the generals immediately clasped their fists and said, "As you command."

The other end.

Fu Youde was already wearing armor and riding on a warhorse.

Holding the long sword tightly in his hand, Fu Youde couldn't help feeling excited.

Then he whispered, "Old brother, maybe this is our last battle. In a few years, I'm afraid I won't be able to defeat you."

This long sword has accompanied him in his battles for more than ten years, and he can't count how much blood it has drunk.

The blade had once bent, but Fu Youde was reluctant to throw it away, so he asked the craftsman to polish it again.

In fact, Fu Youde no longer needed to charge into the battle himself.

The long sword is more like a symbol of glory.

At this moment, surrounding Fu Youde were 15,000 armored cavalrymen of the Ming Dynasty.

Fu Youde could not imagine that there was any army in the world that could not be defeated by his 15,000 cavalrymen.

The so-called iron cavalry of the Northern Yuan Dynasty is nothing.

If we had this equipment back then, there would be no Northern Yuan Dynasty today, and the grasslands would have been incorporated into the Ming Dynasty.

Thinking of this, Fu Youde sighed in his heart: The Crown Prince is good in every way except that he is too cautious.

Then, he raised his sword and shouted, "All the generals, listen to my orders and follow me to kill the enemy."

Suddenly, the war drums began to beat.

Fifteen thousand Ming cavalry immediately charged towards the Northern Yuan army camp.

Thousands of horses galloping, making the whole earth tremble.

How could the Northern Yuan Dynasty have imagined that the Ming army, with only 15,000 cavalry, would dare to attack their nearly 70,000 cavalry.