《Dotting the Crimson Lips · Wolf Smoke》
Wolf smoke of the great battle, how much dust rolls by?
Men's righteousness, drawing swords startles the flying birds.
Iron horses and golden spears, blood stains the river grass.
Flute sound rises, a long sigh, only loving the good spring light.
This was a lyric composed by the Mongol Khan Sultan, inspired by the life-and-death struggle between the Oirat and Khalkha people in those years.
The lyric was intense, but in fact, his Huit Tribe had always been careful to preserve their strength during the great battle, and their losses were not large.
"Great Taiji, according to your command, we have taken in nearly a thousand-household of refugees from various tribes on the Yulduz Grassland," Tiemuer and others respectfully reported to Nomudalai.
At the beginning of the great battle, Nomudalai followed the suggestion of his son Sultan and dispatched generals Tiemuer, Ba'er Si, and Xi Rimo with troops to patrol the borders and take in refugees from the Dzungar, Torghut, Dörbet, and other tribes.
Unexpectedly, this increased the population of his own tribe from 2,300 households to 3,300 households, greatly increasing their strength.
Now, he liked his eldest son more and more; this boy, at such a young age, knew to advise him to preserve his strength and weaken outsiders, truly a wise "sage"!
"Hmm, you have all worked hard.
Guard the tribes well and await my command," he ordered sternly.
"Yes," the generals responded in unison.
Nomudalai called Sultan to his side: "Son, you advised your father to avoid battle and expand our power.
Now your father Has taken in a thousand-household of herdsmen, greatly increasing our strength.
What should we do next?"
"E Qi Ge, next you should build city and plant crops," young Sultan was only seven years old, but his voice was mature.
"Building a city is easy; just expand the camp in Yingsuo River of the great yulduz river valley and pile up earth around it, and it will be a Tu City.
But planting crops is very difficult; we Mongol only know how to ride horses and herd sheep, not plant crops."
"The Mongol don't know how to plant crops, but the Yarkand people to the south do.
I heard that this country Has been in internal conflict for years, and even their Khan was assassinated, making them weak.
Why don't you raise an army and go south, plunder their wealth to enrich the national treasury, capture their people to plant crops for you, and have their craftsmen forge weapons for you?"
As soon as robbery was mentioned, the little fellow's eyes shone brightly.
"Rob the Yarkand people?"
Like father, like son.
The old father nodded repeatedly after listening.
In the past, the Yarkand Khanate of the Eastern Chagatai lineage was a giant compared to himself, and he dared not provoke them.
But in recent years, they had split apart, while he had a strong army and horses, making them a large piece of fat meat that could be gnawed on.
Starting from Sayyid Khan, the Yarkand Khanate had believed in the Naqshbandi order within the Sufi school.
After the death of their fifth religious leader, Makhdoom, the faction of his eldest son Amin became the White Mountain Sect, and the faction of his fourth son Ishaq became the Black Mountain Sect.
At first, the two factions fought in the Transoxiana region, but later Ishaq came to Yarkand City and gained the trust of Mahamman Khan, giving the Black Mountain Sect great power in the court.
After Mahamman Khan died, according to the tradition of succession by the eldest, the throne should have been inherited by Mahamman Khan's younger brother Prince Abduraim, the governor of Turpan, or his Nephew Prince Shah Haidar, the governor of Hotan.
However, Ishaq's son, the Khoja Shadi of the Black Mountain Sect, supported Mahamman Khan's eldest son Ahma to succeed.
This caused trouble; first, Prince Qasim, the governor of Chalish, rebelled; after being suppressed, Abduraim, the governor of Turpan, seceded and became independent in Turpan; then Prince Sharaf, the governor of Kashgar, and his son-in-law Iskandar rebelled one after another.
Ahma no longer trusted these great nobles and promoted minor nobles and commoners to counter the powerful official Sha family, which aroused the jealousy of this family, who planned to send assassins to assassinate the Khan.
Someone told Ahma Khan this news, but the Khan did not believe it, thinking that he had shown kindness to the Sha family, and if they were to rebel, "the Most High God is the observer and witness."
As a result, when he was hunting, he was surrounded by rebels; in order not to implicate others, the brave Khan shouted before his death: "You are looking for the Khan, the Khan is here!"
Then, he turned into a pile of bones.
The turmoil did not end; the Sha family supported Khushidai, Ahma Khan's cousin, as Khan; after only nine days, Prince Latif, Ahma Khan's son, killed Khan Khushidai, eliminated the Sha family, and expelled Khoja Razzaq from the country.
The powerful great nobles either died or fled, and the real power of the khanate shifted into the hands of Khoja Shadi of the Black Mountain Sect.
This Khoja was best at assassinating political enemies.
A joke circulated in the Yarkand Khanate:
Khoja Shadi visited the Yarkand A Qi Mu.
"I am the black mountain Khoja Shadi, I want to speak with the widow of A Qi Mu Mahamman."
"Widow? But A Qi Mu Has been alive all this time?" the gate guard exclaimed in surprise.
Khoja Shadi walked out the gate and shouted to the Khalifa beside him: "Bastard! Why did you postpone the scheduled time of action?"
Such a chaotic and terrifying political situation naturally led to the decline of national strength.
Great Taiji Nomudalai led 2,500 five thousand hui te warriors from the great yulduz river valley, crossed the celestial mountain, and suddenly appeared below the city of Kucha in the Yarkand Khanate.
The military stronghold, which should have been heavily guarded, surprisingly did not have many soldiers; the city gates were wide open, and passing merchants and travelers blocked the gates.
As the Hui Te general Tuoli rushed onto the city wall and cut down the defending general Ishaqa Bek Halai with a single stroke, the battle ended.
The Mongol bandits plundered the entire city, looting a large amount of gold, silver, jewels, and livestock, and tied the people in the city, including nobles, commoners, craftsmen, and Tariyachi (serfs) who knew how to plant crops, into strings with ropes and escorted them back to the Yulduz Grassland.
Next, the army took Bicheng without any effort, plundering heavily again, with a rich harvest.
Logically, with such a huge harvest, they should have stopped while they were ahead.
But the victory came too easily; after taking two major strongholds, the Hui Te Army suffered only over thirty casualties.
Nomudalai saw through the weakness and incompetence of the Yarkand army and led his troops further west, directly to Asu (Aksu), another major stronghold of Yarkand.
An incredible thing happened; the defending general of Asu, Muhammad A Qi Mu Bek, actually dared not fight and sent an envoy to seek peace: as long as the Mongol Army retreated, he was willing to offer 10,000 gold coins and 100,000 silver coins.
Nomudalai, who had already eaten and drunk his fill, actually intended to return home; he took the opportunity to extort a large sum of money and returned to the Yulduz Grassland.
This time they made a fortune, not only filling the previously somewhat empty national treasury but also plundering a large amount of cloth, livestock, and over 11,000 people.
Nomudalai followed his son's suggestion and settled the 1,000 captured craftsmen in Yingsuo River, and settled over 5,000 people each in the great yulduz river valley and the Xiao Yule Duosi river valley to plant crops and build cities.
Sultan suggested that he build these two small cities into the Huit Tribe's grain bases and manage them according to the official system of the Great Ming Dynasty.
Nomudalai agreed deeply, establishing Da Yu Leidus County and Xiao Yule Duosi County, and setting up officials such as Magistrate, county assistant, registrar, and jail warden to manage them, encouraging farming and collecting taxes, vowing to turn these two places into his great granary.
