The Ming Dynasty: The most ruthless imperial grandson, Old Zhu begged me not to kill him.

Chapter 522: Defending in the East and Attacking in the West
After the Great Khan of the Timurid Khanate formulated the corresponding strategies, he began to try to contact various countries in the west, and similarly built large defensive fortresses and defensive depth in the east.

Cao Guogong Li Wenzhong frowned as he looked at the changes in Timur's Khanate during this period.

Although battles frequently occur between the two sides at the border, these battles are not large-scale and are merely small-scale conflicts.

Timur's Khanate currently lacks the strength and confidence to wage a decisive battle against the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty also needs to stabilize the territory it has just acquired.

The Central Plains have lost the Western Regions for a long time, and now that this area has been taken back, stabilizing it will not be an easy task.

Various rebellions frequently occurred in the area, so his main forces were still suppressing these rebellions and were unable to fully confront the Timurid Khanate.

Duke Li Wenzhong of Cao gathered all his generals together, and after they finished reporting their findings, he frowned.

"This is indeed a bit strange!"

"The Timurid Khanate's army was never like this before!"

"Although our two armies are locked in a stalemate, they are still mainly on the offensive while we are mainly on the defensive. But the current situation is somewhat unexpected!"

Everyone nodded after hearing this, and then Chen Heng spoke.

"Could it be that they're planning some large-scale operation, and therefore want to adopt a defensive posture for the foreseeable future?"

Li Wenzhong nodded after hearing this.

"We can't rule out that possibility. Let our spies who have infiltrated investigate thoroughly and see what exactly happened!"

The group nodded in agreement. At that time, the Timurid Khanate was allied with several other western states and was preparing to take over the neutral areas in Transoxiana first. Other matters would be discussed later.

Since Genghis Khan's westward expedition, the khanate in this region suffered heavy losses, and since then, this region has been divided into many large and small states. These states are not particularly powerful, but they are united, making it extremely difficult to conquer this region.

More importantly, this place can be considered a border between countries. If this place is gone, then the major powers will inevitably be directly adjacent to each other, which may lead to unnecessary conflicts between these countries.

But now, the Timurid Khanate is so eager to acquire the land it already possesses that it can no longer afford to worry about such things.

The strength of the Ming Dynasty had far exceeded their expectations.

They originally thought that by uniting with the Delhi Sultanate to the south, and combining the strength of several countries, they could defend against the Ming Dynasty's attack.

However, he felt that these allies were really unreliable.

First, the Khmer Khanate and the Ming Dynasty were flirting with each other, and even considered forming an alliance through marriage. But in the end, it became the first country to be destroyed, which is truly laughable.

As for the Delhi Sultanate, which was known as a powerful country in the south, the Ming Dynasty only dispatched a force to contain them, yet they were turned upside down and suffered heavy casualties.

Although the country has not yet been destroyed, it is on the verge of collapse, barely clinging to life.

Thinking about this, he felt extremely helpless. Why did he always encounter such unreliable people?

Therefore, this time the Khan of the Timurid Khanate was also very determined.

Even the Khan of Timur transferred a significant portion of his troops from the east to the west. When Cao Guogong Li Wenzhong learned of this, he was extremely surprised. It seemed they intended to attack the west first, conquer those territories there, expand their power, and then fight us to the death.

Everyone was extremely surprised to hear this, which prompted Chen Heng to speak.

"According to the intelligence we have obtained, there are many countries in the west. These countries may not be very powerful, but they do have a large population. If the Timurid Khanate were to gain access to these people, it would not be a good thing for us!"

"When their strength increases, it won't be an easy task for us to take them down!"

Duke Li Wenzhong of Cao nodded.

"So they have built a lot of defensive fortifications in the east, but the style of their defensive offensive is Western, which we have never seen before!"

He looked at Xu Yungong beside him and said.

"With our current strength, can we completely destroy their defensive offensive?"

Xu Yungong shook his head after hearing this.

"This matter is probably not that simple. We just received news that they have devoted almost all of their resources to this one place for this defense, which means that their forces are no less than ours!"

"Besides the troops we send out to attack, we also have a large portion of our army that we need to use to defend the Western Regions!"

"If we could commit all our resources, then perhaps it's possible, but in that case, our losses would definitely be substantial!"

Upon hearing this, Duke Li Wenzhong of Cao sighed, feeling a surge of anger within him.

"It's outrageous! If it weren't for those rioters in the Northwest, this wouldn't be so troublesome. I wonder how long it would take to completely resolve their issue!"

Everyone frowned. This matter was not so easy to resolve, especially since there were many different ethnic groups in the Northwest region, speaking various languages, making them very difficult to manage.

"If someone with ulterior motives tries to incite knowledge, things could easily go wrong," Zhang Yu said from the side.

"The officials who came from Yingtian Prefecture have been assigned to various places to familiarize themselves with the relevant affairs, but they are not particularly familiar with these places!"

"Especially the language aspect needs attention, which is why their effectiveness is not particularly great, and they still need a period of time to adapt!"

"I've even planned to relocate some of the people to the mainland, and bring some people from the mainland to this place to alleviate the pressure on this area!"

Upon hearing this, everyone sighed. Relocating people was no easy task, and the amount of money and resources consumed was certainly not insignificant.

Many local residents were unwilling to relocate, which caused great unrest.

Thinking of this place, he sighed deeply.

At this moment, Li Wenzhong spoke firmly.

"Although doing this does bring many troubles, we have no choice but to do it. I believe you are very clear about the current situation. We simply do not have that much time to govern the people!"

(End of this chapter)