Chapter 377 The Crisis of the Mughals

Having made up his mind to be the mastermind behind Humayun, Gao Yuan naturally wouldn't sit idle. Thus, he sent a message to Humayun through Wu Guiyi:

Since he had already gained a great advantage, he suggested that Humayun quit while he was ahead and not push the Persians too far.

However, consecutive victories had already gone to the Mughal Emperor's head. Furthermore, Gao Yuan's sudden cutoff of the leather armor trade had caused Humayun to harbor some resentment toward him.

Consequently, he completely ignored Gao Yuan's "well-intentioned" warning and even told his ministers during a court session:

"This is just Gao Yuan worrying that we will threaten him once we become powerful. Pay him no mind. Order the army to continue their advance; I want to strike all the way to Samarkand."

The Persians indeed retreated just as he expected, and the Mughal army continued to advance, advance, and advance, completely failing to notice anything unusual.

On the contrary, Gao Yang, who was stationed in Gaoda City, was the first to sense the danger. He sent someone to report to Gao Yuan while also sending an envoy to Delhi to warn Humayun, only to be ignored once again.

In fact, if Humayun could have calmed down at this moment, he would have noticed something fishy. Since when were the Persians so fragile? This was a total rout.

If he had come to his senses then, stopped his advance, and consolidated his current gains, all the Persians' schemes would have been for naught—suffering in silence with no way to complain.

Unfortunately, at this moment, what the entire Mughal Empire lacked most was a clear head.

Upon receiving Gao Yang's 800-li urgent report, Gao Yuan could no longer sit still. The dog he had painstakingly raised could not be stewed for meat by the Persians; even more, he feared the Persians would drive straight in and threaten Great Qian.

At this time, Great Qian had not yet fully established its foothold on the Indian Peninsula, and many newly occupied areas had not even completed their immigration work.

The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became. Gao Yuan immediately shouted toward the door:

"Someone, summon Gao Yao, Yu Qian, and Yue Fei for a council."

"Yes, sir!"

Within moments, the three arrived at the Grand Marshals Mansion one after another. Seeing Gao Yuan's anxious expression, their hearts couldn't help but skip a beat.

However, after hearing the reason for Gao Yuan's anxiety, they all couldn't help but laugh. Gao Yao stroked his beard and said:

"Your Highness, you are too close to the situation to see clearly. It is just Persia. Even the Mughals can defeat them head-on; would our Qian Army fear them?"

Reminded of this, Gao Yuan also had an epiphany. He was indeed too involved; he only thought about how strong Persia was and how weak his 'dog' was, forgetting that the one truly dealing with the Persians was himself.

Persia might be a lion, but Great Qian was a dragon. No matter how strong a lion was, it was still a mortal creature; before a dragon, it could only obediently act like a docile kitten.

Gao Yuan slapped his forehead and said with a laugh:

"Thank you for the reminder, Courtesy Name of Gao Jiong. I was indeed blinded by the situation, but we still have to take some precautions."

Saying that, Gao Yuan turned his gaze to Yue Fei.

"Pengju, I'll have to trouble you again this time."

Yue Fei stepped forward without hesitation and cupped his fists in salute.

"This humble general awaits Your Highness's orders."

That same day, the Grand Marshal of the Great Qian Military and Prince of Tang, Gao Yuan, issued an order:

With Yue Fei of the Central Corps as commander and Yue Yun and Yue Yun as deputies, they were to lead the Iron Pagoda and the First Division of the Beiwei Army, along with a Cavalry division drawn from the Anxi Army Corps, to be stationed at Tianzhu Circuit in case of emergencies.

Gao Yuan only hoped that the Mughals could stabilize their front line as soon as possible. He was nearly forty years old, yet the world had not been unified, and he felt anxious.

Just as Gao Yuan feared, news arrived two months later that the main Mughal army had been surrounded. Seeing the army of tens of thousands, which had been armed at great expense, about to go down the drain, Humayun finally panicked.

His first reaction was to seek help from Gao Yuan, even offering a generous reward of three prefectures and a hundred catties of gold, hoping Great Qian would send troops to break the siege.

To this end, Gao Yuan presided over a high-level meeting to discuss whether to accept Humayun's request and send troops to relieve the Mughals.

"The situation is as follows: if we allow Persia to consume this main force of the Mughals, the Mughal Empire will soon be destroyed by Persia, and the pressure on our Southwest border defenses will increase greatly."

Compared to the ambitious Persians, the more laid-back Mughals were clearly better neighbors; thus, Gao Yuan was more inclined to preserve the Mughal Empire.

Yu Qian was the first to speak up, but the plan he proposed did not quite align with Gao Yuan's thoughts.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness, I believe we should not go to the Mughals' rescue, but instead take the opportunity to send troops to annex more territory."

Gao Yao understood Gao Yuan's thoughts better; he shook his head and opposed Yu Qian's opinion.

"It is easy to occupy a place, but long-term peace and stability require the imperial court to invest a vast amount of resources. Migration, relocation, and cultural identity all take time;"

"Currently, the migrations to the Southwest, Northwest, Taiwan, and Yingzhou have not yet concluded. The court simply lacks the capacity to expand the scale of migration. Therefore, I suggest keeping the Mughals for the time being;"

"With Great Qian's strength, annexing the Mughals in the future is merely a matter of whether we wish to do so or not. There is no rush."

Zhao Xiyao looked toward Gao Yao.

"Does Minister Gao mean to send troops to aid the Mughals?"

Gao Yao nodded.

"Precisely."

Zhao Xiyao nodded and turned her gaze toward Gao Yuan once more.

"Husband, what do you think?"

Gao Yuan also nodded.

"I also think we should send aid. However, compared to the reward of those three prefectures, I am more inclined to take the spoils of this battlefield."

As expected of a couple who shared one heart, Zhao Xiyao immediately understood Gao Yuan's meaning.

"Husband, you've taken a liking to the Persians' warhorses, haven't you?"

"Exactly. Persia was able to sweep across all of Central Asia and the Middle East with their Cavalry; those warhorses must be extraordinary. If we can bring them back to improve Great Qian's horse breeds, it will surely make our Cavalry even stronger."

Persia occupied more than half of Central Asia, which must include the region of modern-day Turkmenistan. Ferghana horses—how could Gao Yuan not be tempted by such a high-quality breed?

While Chinese horse breeds had good endurance and load-bearing capacity, they were generally smaller and slower than the Central Asian breeds.

"And those Persian prisoners, each one strong and robust—if brought back to work in the mines, they would likely be excellent labor. Of course, it would be even better to bring back some Persian beauties as well."

Having clarified Gao Yuan's thoughts, Zhao Xiyao nodded.

"Fine, then we shall proceed as Prince of Tang suggests."

With the couple in agreement, Yu Qian, Mu Sheng, and the others no longer objected, taking their orders and departing to make preparations.

The next day, the Grand Marshals Mansion issued an order appointing Yue Fei as the Commander-in-Chief of the Tianzhu Circuit Expedition, with Gao Yang and Xia Luqi as Deputy Commanders-in-Chief, leading the Iron Pagoda and the First, Second, and Third Divisions of the Beiwei Army to rescue the Mughals.

Simultaneously, Zhao Xiyao issued a decree sending Wu Guiyi to negotiate with Humayun regarding the costs of the military intervention.

Hearing that Great Qian actually didn't want the three prefectures but instead wanted all the spoils of the battlefield, Humayun was so happy he couldn't sleep all night.

Ceding three prefectures would have pained Humayun greatly; now that it wasn't necessary, what more could he ask for? He immediately agreed to the request.

As for the additional hundred catties of gold and one thousand High-caste young women proposed by Wu Guiyi, Humayun agreed without a second thought and immediately ordered the domestic nobles to gather them.

Which of these noble families didn't have eight or ten daughters who weren't favored? Gathering a thousand women was simply too easy.

As for why High-caste women were specifically requested, it was because the Low-caste people in the Mughal Empire were generally quite plain-looking, and Gao Yuan's subordinates wouldn't be interested in them.