Chen Duan added: "It is indeed possible to encounter a battle, but it will be difficult if the enemy presets a position to ambush it. The Yarkand soldiers will tie the camel's limbs and make it kneel down, then cover the camel with a felt cloth, and lay a layer of wet soil outside. If the distance is far, the rifled gun bullet may not penetrate it. It is difficult to aim the camel's head. Even if it hits, the camel cannot resist and cannot cause disturbance to the enemy. The Yarkand people call this kind of camel city, and it is said that the grassland tribes such as Junggar will also use this trick."

"It's okay, we have field cannons, so we are not afraid of camel city!" Cao Yu didn't care.

The Western Expedition Army set up a warning formation to continue advancing, mixing Mongolian cavalry with horse hunters to avoid harassment by the Yarkand people. This tactic is quite effective. The concentrated use of rifled rifles causes enemy cavalry to often suffer casualties before they get close, and people flee before they can be unfolded. The cavalry of Babaiboke is very familiar with the environment of the desert Gobi, and the pursuit is often very casualties. After several pursuits were damaged, Cao Yu ordered that he no longer pursued and only keep alert and advance. After arriving at Malian Altar, he repaired the Kanerjing and used all kinds of wood and straw left by the dilapidated village. The Western Expedition Army had a raw meal of hot food and continued to move forward.

Maliantan is less than 350 miles away from Hami, and more and more green appeared on the horizon, but it was already autumn, and the plants tended to be dark green or even yellow. When Hami's first village appeared in the sight of the forefront of the Western Expedition Army, the army burst into cheers like landslides and cracks.

Tursun volunteered to contact the village. Lin Junhong sent fifty cavalry to him. When Lin Junhong led his army to the side of the village, there were already people waiting on the road. There were more than a dozen animals and vehicles on the ground, and some food pockets. Tursun said: "Your Highness, Babaiboke's subordinates had already escaped last night. These people were recommended by the village. There were only 140 families in this village, and they presented 140 stones of food, fourteen animals, and these gold and silver to the army."

The bag was opened, revealing various coins and gold and silver dollars, and was placed at Lin Junhong's feet. Lin Junhong asked with a smile: "Mr. Tursun, they hoped that my soldiers would not enter the village, right?"

Tursun was embarrassed on his face and said carefully: "It's like this, there are children and women in the village, and they..."

Lin Junhong said: "You reassure them that my soldiers will not go in and harass me. I need the elders in the village to find me a piece of plain land with water to camp for me. Please take the money back and bring the animals back. My army does not need these things. If there are fresh melons, vegetables and fruits in their village, please send them some, and the other is fodder. I need them to provide some fodder."

Tuerxun translated Lin Junhong's words to those people. The few people cheered and praised them repeatedly, and then said a few words to Tuerxun. Tuerxun said: "They said that your army can use the straw from the outside of the village at will, cotton straw can be used as the fuel for the army, and wheat straw and sorghum straw can be used as feed for livestock. They will also send some wheat bran feed as much as possible before dinner. What do you think?"

Obviously, the people in the village are still afraid of the army. They are neither willing to enter the village nor come out to serve, for fear of unexpected accidents. Lin Junhong obviously understands this truth. He pulled out a guard's pistol and handed it to the oldest man, saying: "My army will not enter the village to harass you. If someone does not obey my orders, you can kill him with this gun. I pardon you for not guilty. In addition, my military officer will issue a document to you. You have contributed 140 stones of food to the army. You will not have to pay taxes this year. If someone collects taxes from you in the name of the empire this year, you can show him the document."

After sending the village elder away, Tursun said, "Your Highness, you are such a kind person."

Lin Junhong said: "I asked them for one hundred and forty stones of food, occupied their winter firewood for feed and fuel, and brought them fear. Am I still a kind person?"

"At least you are much more kind than Babai," said Tursun.

"If this is the case, that would be great." Lin Junhong smiled. His kindness was not for victory. If it was just for victory, he would let someone plunder the village and obtain all the food, property and people and animals to enhance his strength. But Lin Junhong would not do this, his kindness was for rule.

Lin Junhong took Tursun to the edge of the millstone, expanded the map, and asked, "This place is less than a hundred miles away from Hami, there should be many villages."

"Yes, there is a river that originates from the northern mountain range and flows south. I know that there are no less than ten villages on both sides of the river, and there may be two thousand families." Tursun said.

Lin Junhong nodded: "That's great. The army will stay here for three to five days and have a good rest. You are familiar with this place. Take the junket officer and the junket judge and go to all villages to collect military taxes, and don't have money or animals other than camels. Each household has one stone of food, but it's not enough. You can use silver from the junket officer and buy another two thousand stones of food."

"Your Highness, if you stay here, aren't you worried that Babai will be prepared?" said Tursun.

"How will he prepare?" Lin Junhong smiled.

Tursun remembered the strength of the Western Expedition Army that he had seen along the way. He felt that Babai should not be the opponent of the army, and it was unlikely to send an army to fight to the decisive battle. Tursun said: "He will dispatch reinforcements from Turpan and Korla, and perhaps he will also strengthen the walls and clear the fields of the territory, transport all the food and gunpowder to the city, and consume it with you."

"Isn't that great? No one will willingly hand over the food and livestock to Babai, and Babai cannot sit idly by and watch these resources use it for us. He can only send troops to rob. Once Babai sends troops, will I seem to be more kind than him?" Lin Junhong smiled proudly.

The army chose to stay here not just for Babai to plunder. In fact, according to the information learned by the army, the autumn harvest and taxation in the Hami area have basically ended. In other words, there is no shortage of food in the city of Babai, and it is more about to destroy it. Hami and Turpan are not big cities, and it is impossible to move all the people in the territory. If the entourage people bring wealth and food to the city to take refuge, there will be no resistance. But if the troops plunder and burn it, it would be a suicide, but Babai had to do so.

The army was not afraid of Babai's robbery, because Lin Junhong would not sit idly by. He had thousands of cavalry under his command and could go deep into Hami to attack the troops sent by Babai. For example, the matter of "staying the wall and clearing the field" had to be divided into divisions. If the troops were divided, they could not defeat the cavalry of the empire, and if they concentrated their troops, they could not stand firm and clearing the field. In the end, Babai got nothing but the reputation of tyranny.

On the other hand, Lin Junhong could take this opportunity to contact Sima Yiboke of Aksu to send troops and involve the enemies in Turpan, killing the numbers in one fell swoop.

Hami City, Burke House.

"What? The enemy has arrived on the banks of the Kalani River. How could it be so fast? They have tens of thousands of people and thousands of large animals. I personally destroyed the water source from Yumen to Hami!" Babaiboke looked at his subordinates in surprise, incredible.

"Burke, they have indeed arrived, with all men and our horses and camel cannons that failed to stop them. Their guns were much better than us." The man whispered.

Babai was still unbelievable: "There are all people and even if they cross the Gobi Desert, they will lose a lot of livestock..."

"Burke, some water sources in the desert are unknown to us, but the merchants know very well. And my subordinates heard that the enemy's guide was Tursun Meldan. I believe you have heard of his name, a man who claims to live longer than a camel. This guy collects military taxes for the enemy in the Kalani area and buys food. He is very famous. Moreover, the enemy does not harass the villages, does not plunder things, and even buys things at all. He will give away cloth, silk and tea as gifts. No one resists them. I want to wait until they finish the rest and store enough supplies to attack Hami." Babai's subordinates gave a judgment that cannot be ignored.

Babai naturally knew Tursun's name, a very prestigious and famous businessman. I remember that his brother died because he angered him in the early years.

"I think my brother Sima Yi is also sharpening his knife and aiming at my Turpan." Babai sat on the chair, his expression a little depressed, and he faced a choice.

In addition to his own strength, Babai also has many allies. The distant city of Yarkand and Kashgar already belonged to his nephews Bals and Apakhezhuo. When Sima Yi chose to cooperate with the empire, he was his most determined ally. The Qing regime west of Mount Altai was also his natural ally. They should not be afraid to send troops to kick the imperial army. On the contrary, the Sengge of the Junggar tribe was not that reliable. They might not want to see the empire destroy themselves, but they certainly did not dare to go to war with the empire for themselves.

"Send people to contact Apak Hezhuo and the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. We need their support. Turpan, Korla and Hami. All cities are strong and clearing the fields. Send soldiers out and do not leave a grain of food for the enemy. You go to Turpan in person and tell my son Rishit that he must defend Turpan, give up the loss of jail, and do not fight with Sima Yi's army. After the reinforcements of the saints arrive, they will attack Sima Yi, and then help me. And I will stick to Hami and wait for them." After thinking about it, Babai still didn't want to give up Hami.

In fact, within the Yarkand Khan, Chalimi was a very special existence, because the Khan Abudulla Khan raised an army here. Generally speaking, the ruler of Chalimi would serve as the next generation of heirs, but once Abudulla died, Babai occupied the place and expelled one of Abudulla's sons. At this time, he gave up and handed over to Sima Yiboke, in order to stimulate Apakhezhuo in Yarkand City and send troops to the east to aid quickly.

After deploying these, Babai walked out of the room and felt a little cool breeze. He felt very conflicted. He hoped that the weather would not be too cold so that reinforcements could arrive as soon as possible, especially the Qing reinforcements in the northern part of the Mo, but he also hoped that winter would come soon and snow soon, so that the enemy would have more difficulties and might retreat.

"Your Highness, Abdullah and Zhuo have arrived."

In the tent, Lin Junhong was busy writing official documents. When he heard Chen Duan say this, his face turned dark and he was obviously angry.

Since the discovery that the water source was destroyed and the army was exposed in advance, Lin Junhong has always suspected that it was Abdulla's actions, because Abdulla was one of the few people who knew that the empire was about to march into the Yarkand Khanate and had sufficient motivations.

First, Lin Junhong deceived Apark and Zhuo. He used the excuse of waiting for the emperor's will to stabilize Abdulla, put him under house arrest in Lanzhou, and then contacted Sima Yiboke through Tursun, avoided Abdulla, agreed on a combat plan, and made Sima Yiboke distrust Abdulla.

The second is Abdulla's own plan. Obviously, this plan is to use bait like Sima Yi and attack Babai to lure the empire to war against Babai. However, Abdulla did not want Sima Yi to be the Khan or the empire to rule the Western Regions. In essence, he still wanted to take the opportunity to expand his influence in the Western Regions and the Northwest and become the head of millions of believers in this area. Perhaps one day, he would seek to establish a theocracy.

Lin Junhong's rapid march plan was not good for Abdulla, and Abdulla secretly sent a message to Babai. Babai destroyed the water source, obstructed the empire's advance this year, and delayed the war, which was more beneficial to him. Even Sima Yiboke's death was beneficial to him. In this way, the empire that had no turning back would rely more on this influential saint in Yerkand.

"I really want to kill this idiot with one knife!" Lin Junhong said angrily.

But he just thought about it. Abdulla had a motive, but Lin Junhong did not seize the evidence, and Abdulla was of great use.

Chen Duan smiled: "Just just because he dares to plan to preach this in the empire, he should kill him, but His Highness, the people on this list, still need to be solved by him, and he still needs to be left with his life for several months. If it is useless, he will be killed."

The list Chen Duan mentioned was exactly where Lin Junhong was worried at this time, and he was even helpless. He originally thought that by forcing Babai to do tyrannical actions and show kindness, he would get the support of the local people, but things went against his wishes. It should be said that to a certain extent, Lin Junhong succeeded. Some villagers did offer military taxes to provide support, but some people took the lead in resisting the imperial army.

As lords who ruled Turpan and Hami for many years, Babai also had a group of religious people serving them, and they played a huge role at this moment. They bewitched the people of the villages and towns of Hami, claimed that the imperial army was an invasion of pagans, and asked all the people to launch the Jahad attack on the imperial army. Those ***, Hazi and Muftis from all over the country even personally led the local people to confront them. Some villages even killed the envoys and translators sent by Lin Junhong.

Obviously, the massacre and suppression of the imperial army will inevitably cause more resistance. If there is no choice, Lin Junhong will not be ruthless in the name of kindness. But now he has a choice. As long as he chooses to temporarily ignore Abdulla's betrayal, help him build an army and let him clean up those guys, it has nothing to do with the empire.
Chapter completed!