The Ili River Basin of snow-capped mountains and horses is an extremely important northwest frontier land for China, and it is still a pain for the Chinese people.

The Ili River Valley is also the mainstay of the development of animal husbandry. You must know that in the cold weapon era, excellent war horses were very important war materials.

The Yili region has abundant precipitation, humid climate, beautiful mountains and clear waters, and rich products. It is the hometown of the famous Xinjiang sheep and Yili horses.

Therefore, such a treasure land with geographical advantages and natural resources has always been a battleground for military strategists in history.

In the tenth year of Tongzhi, Tsarist Russia took advantage of Agub's invasion of Xinjiang and occupied Ili, Xinjiang. The entire Ili River Basin was about to fall.

With the unremitting efforts of Zuo Zongtang, Zeng Jize and others, China barely saved half of the Ili Valley...

Today, China and Kazakhstan each occupy the Ili River Basin, and China controls the upper reaches of the Ili Valley, covering an area of ​​56,400 square kilometers.

Another part of the Ili River Basin that Tsarist Russia occupied back then became Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan.

Zhu Cixi knew this very well. After taking the Seven Guards of Kansai and Turpan, he then took the Ili Valley and Yarkand, and the Yarkand Khanate was destroyed.

Because in other parts of the Yarkand Khanate, humans simply cannot survive...

Sun Yingyuan and Cao Bianjiao led the army and entered the desert a few days later, advancing silently in this barren land.

On the ancient Silk Road, in the high mountains and deserts, everything was desolate, with dazzling sunshine and windy sand everywhere.

In this difficult environment, the Ming army was well-organized and had high morale. They kept inquiring about information from the front all night long and kept reporting back and forth on the military situation along the way.

The water tanker was forced to give up after entering the desert for a few days, and the camels could only be used to carry the heavy baggage. During this period, camels kept falling...

If the Ming army was an undisciplined mob, it would be extremely difficult to get out of the desert in the yellow sand, not to mention the enemy cavalry sneak attacks from time to time.

The Ming army had strict military discipline, and everyone had firm beliefs. Their most firm belief was to open up territory for the Ming Dynasty!

The two hundred thousand troops marched arduously in the desert for several days. Fortunately, they were well prepared, otherwise they would have been drunk to death.

Looking at the soldiers, I saw that their morale was all tanned and their lips were chapped, but their morale was pretty good.

But looking ahead, there was still endless desert as far as the eye could see. Sun Yingyuan and Cao Bianjiao discussed a few words, and then waved their hands:

"Give me the order to stop moving forward and replenish water and food."

"Here!"

The messengers and cavalry ran back and forth to convey Sun Yingyuan's orders.

The army stopped, some soldiers took turns standing on the outside of the camel caravan with guns, and other soldiers began to replenish water.

In order to facilitate portability, horsemeat and pork are made into jerky, which can be eaten dry or cooked in a pot, and both taste good.

There were more than 20,000 camels, and more than 300 of them died from exhaustion along the way, but the rations left by the camels were still enough for the Ming army to consume for many days.

Marching in the desert, I didn't feel very hungry, but I needed more water.

When he saw an oasis, Sun Yingyuan would order the drinking water in front to be poured out and replenished with fresh water to prevent the drinking water from deteriorating, which would be beneficial to the health of the soldiers.

After advancing in the desert for seven days, the Ming army suffered no casualties except some dead camels.

After all, there are 200,000 troops. Sometimes when they encounter a small oasis, the army can almost consume all the water resources.

Sun Yingyuan jumped off his horse, and his guards immediately handed him the kettle and dried meat. He grabbed the kettle and drank for a while before stopping.

At this time, several young generals were holding kettles and drinking gulps of water while walking towards Sun Yingyuan and Cao Bianjiao.

"Sun Shuai, when can we get out of the desert..."

Sun Yingyuan smiled slightly:

"We rode horses all the way slowly, and transported dry food and drinking water on camels. You are impatient now. Zhang Qian, under the orders of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, led more than a hundred people on an envoy to the Western Regions. It took thirteen years to open up the Silk Road. Thinking about my predecessors,

Not tired anymore..."

Sun Yingyuan's words made the young generals blush, but in fact they were just joking.

"Hey, Sun Shuai, I'm just talking..."

Sun Yingyuan laughed loudly:

"Haha, don't worry, hurry up, I heard there is a plum forest ahead..."

Mao Yuanyi looked at Sun Yingyuan. He couldn't help but smile and thought to himself:

"Sun Shuai is asking the young generals to look at the plum blossoms to quench their thirst..."

"Sun Shuai, the desert is still more than thirty miles away..."

"We're leaving the desert..."

When the soldiers heard this, they cheered loudly...

Suddenly, another night-time team came urging their horses. They turned over and dismounted in front of Sun Yingyuan and saluted:

"Commander Sun, the Yarkand Khanate cavalry is attacking..."

"Ready to fight!"

Sun Yingyuan waved his hand, and the generals immediately returned to their respective armies.

"Don't panic, how many troops does the other side have? Where do they come from?"

"You can't see clearly due to the rolling yellow sand. There are at least 30,000 cavalrymen coming quickly from the northwest. At this time, we are still about 20 miles away from our army..."

Twenty miles is not far for the cavalry, but the cavalry cannot run fast in the desert, so they will not be able to reach it in a short time.

Sun Yingyuan nodded:

"Thank you for your hard work, let's go down and rest."

"Thank you Sun Shuai!"

When the Ming army rested to replenish water and food, the Huotou army and the camel team were in the middle of the team. This was to prevent the enemy cavalry from causing damage.

When 30,000 cavalrymen attacked, Sun Yingyuan did not panic at all. Instead, he was thinking about how to keep them all.

"The order was sent to our headquarters to stay behind to protect the camel caravan and non-combatants. The other troops immediately fanned out and used the sand dunes as cover to hide themselves and catch turtles in a jar..."

"Here!"

Sun Yingyuan gave the order, and he and Cao Bianjiao Mao Yuanyi led 50,000 troops to stay behind to protect the baggage.

The five young generals Zhang Jiayu, Li Erniu, Yang Bao, Chen De, and Tong Dingguo immediately led their men in three directions...

Zhang Huangyan led his troops in a detour, preparing to cut off the Yarkand cavalry's retreat when they retreated, leaving the Yarkand cavalry with no way to escape...

No matter how fierce the Ming army was, it was impossible to kill all the hundreds of thousands of troops in Turpan without leaving any one behind.

When he learned that Turpan had fallen and the Ming army was preparing to march towards the Ili Valley, Abdullah was shocked.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Although he felt heartbroken when his son died in battle, he still had several sons, and Abdullah could not accept the Ming army's continued westward march.

I originally thought that even if the Ming army won a great victory, they would at most recover the Seven Guards of Kansai and Turpan, and would never continue to march westward.

Because the supply line is too long, half of the hundreds of thousands of troops may starve to death, let alone a war.

However, the Ming army unexpectedly continued to advance westward. Could it be that the Ming army still wanted to attack Yarkand? He immediately ordered Governor Yili to use the desert to defeat the Ming army.

The Ili River Valley is the Yarkand Khanate's most important production area for grain, war horses, cattle and sheep, and of course it will be heavily defended.

When there is no war, there are fifty thousand cavalry here.

After Hass led the army and left, Great Khan Abdullah immediately mobilized his troops. Now the number of troops in the Ili Valley has reached 100,000.

When they learned that the Ming army was still more than fifty miles away from the Ili Valley, they strengthened their defense and sent 30,000 cavalry to prepare for a surprise attack on the Ming army.

The leader of the Ming army in this raid was named Hami. He was not a brave man, but he was very cunning.

He led 30,000 cavalry straight towards the Ming army. When he was still about eight kilometers away from the Ming army, he ordered the army to stop temporarily.

Waiting for multiple scouts to be sent back and forth to report back, he wanted to have a real-time grasp of the Ming army's actions.

But he didn't expect that the Ming army sent more Ye Bushou than they did.

Because the Ming army did not collect the equipment of the Yarkand Khanate cavalry at night, they took advantage of the opportunity to get close to them and killed many Yarkant scouts, so Hami did not get the latest information in time.

Dozens of Yarkand scouts reported back and forth, but a few never came back.

Hami didn't pay much attention at first. It was normal for soldiers to get lost in the desert. They all brought water and dry food, and they could find it back in a few days.

For safety reasons, he decided to divide the 30,000 cavalry into three groups. The first group of 5,000 cavalry would launch a surprise attack on the Ming army first.

These five thousand people are mainly to test the strength of the Ming army. If something goes wrong, they will be withdrawn immediately.

Governor Erie did not give him a death order and would not punish him if he failed.

Hami urged his horse to stand on a slightly higher sand dune, and raised his eyes to look in the direction of the Ming army.

In fact, fighting in the desert affects everyone, it's just that the troops who often move here are more familiar with the environment.

Just when he looked in the direction of the Ming army, a gust of wind suddenly blew up, and the dust covered up the traces of the Ming army's activities. Hami only saw yellow sand flying all over the sky.

It is very common in the desert. Hami did not panic. He waved the big knife in his hand and issued an order:

"The first team attacks."

Five thousand cavalrymen drove their horses to attack the Ming army. The yellow sand brought by the horses flew all over the sky, as if a sandstorm was coming.

Zhang Huangyan stood on the tall sand mountain in the distance, using the high-power telescope in his hand to clearly see the men and horses led by Hami.
To be continued...