stubborn thief

Chapter 513
To the north of East Tianshan Mountain, the old place of Beiting.

Liu Chengzu led the horse, bent down and took out a handful of dirt, crushing it in his palm.

The Tianshan Army set off from Hami at the end of March, and went to Weilumu, that is, Urumqi, via Balikun. It was already May when they arrived.

Batur Huntaiji has his own affairs to be busy, and Liu Chengzu also has his own mission to do. The first thing is to build a post station.

From Hami to Urumqi, along the valley north of the East Tianshan Mountains, there is a total of [-] miles to the west. This road will be the Oiratkin Road, and it will also be the lifeline of the Tianshan Army.

Therefore, Liu Chengzu planned to build fifteen post stations and four cities on this road, namely Beiting, Mulei, Balikun, and Yizhou City.

But that's just a long-term plan, Liu Chengzu's energy is now focused on how to let the soldiers survive the winter safely.

This place has been cultivated and farmed since the Han Dynasty, and now the time has passed, and it is a place where no Han people have settled for hundreds of years. The ancient city walls have already collapsed, and only fragments of Tingzhou are left in front of Liu Chengzu.

Fortunately, everything is difficult at the beginning. Liu Chengzong led the army to move to Qinghai, which has laid the foundation for the Marshal's soldiers. Handy.

Sunday’s strong construction site is in full swing.

From Qinghai to Beiting, this traditional civil servant suffered from exhaustion. At first, he ate fried noodles every day, but later changed to tsampa. After entering Balikun, he neither ate tsampa nor fried noodles, but ate Mongolian noodles. Fried rice.

Along the way, I forced out the fear of eating Sunday, and now I retch when I see these special staple foods of the Marshal's Mansion.

Liu Chengzu is not surprised by this, human is a kind of animal that pays attention to talent after all, a talented person may memorize words for a while, but as long as he is alive, even in the turbulent era of earth-shaking, he will live a better life than most people after all.

Zhou Riqiang is a person who has never had a hard life. Even if Tong Zhi, the Xuanwei Envoy of Qinghai who became Liu Chengzong from Zhiningzhou, lived a poor life, it is not hard.

In ordinary soldiers, the symptoms of retching food like Zhou Riqiang would not appear at all... Of course, this does not mean that it is no problem for Liu Chengzong to prepare this kind of food for soldiers.

In fact, as far as Liu Chengzu knows, before Liu Chengzong, no one used these things as a staple food. It was a snack when people traveled far, and it was also an emergency ration in the army.

Only in the hands of Liu Chengzong, their army is always in emergency, and people must get used to living on this kind of military rations.

Liu Chengzu led the army, and he was a very busy person. The Tianshan Army and officers he led had all been trained by Xincheng Academy. They belonged to martial arts students, and the requirements were very strict.

Their marching speed was faster than normal, and the extra time was spent on surveying the terrain and drawing plans. The whole army had long been fully prepared to endure hardships and hardships. After all, there were 200 people in the army, and everyone had Liu Chengzong's promise. .

The shortest period of garrison at the border is three years, and the longest period is five years. As long as they return alive, soldiers will be promoted to a hundred generals;

To be promoted to the third level in five years without fighting, for anyone, such a promise of ascension to heaven is enough to make people go all out for it.

In fact, for them, the biggest risk is not that they die in Tianshan, but that Liu Chengzong will not be wiped out by the court during the past few years of guarding the border... Then no one will fulfill their promise to them.

Zhou Riqiang was different, Liu Chengzong didn't promise him, in fact he didn't need Liu Chengzong to make any promises to seduce him, he just pumped himself up.

Since regaining Hami, Zhou Riqiang has used spiritual encouragement to overcome his physical discomfort, and he has been full of energy along the way. Although he didn't say anything on the way, Liu Chengzu knew that this uncle's generation of Confucian scholars was full of ideas of opening up new territories. excited.

Before he reached Tingzhou, he drew up a series of plans for building from scratch, starting from burning bricks, digging wells, planning roads, building nests, building waterwheels, irrigating fields, and reclaiming wasteland. The charter of the stronghold.

Zhou Riqiang even gave Oirat a Mongolian version of centralization after talking with Batur Huntaiji for several days and nights. He even found out where the opponents should go, and sent them to him without going anywhere. Open canals and build city walls.

Batuer Huntaiji respected Sunday Qiang very much, and he was kind, and he was summoning the Oirat nobles to announce his new policy.

Soon, Liu Chengzu's diwozi in Beiting had just been repaired, and Dai Daozi, who followed Batur Huntaiji to the Junggar tribe, returned.

The Beiting is not so cold at the moment. Although people have repaired the nest, the Tianshan Army still lives in the barracks outside. Dai Daozi found Liu Chengzu's general felt tent all the way, and asked people to carry documents inside without saying a word.

Several boxes of documents.

Facing Liu Chengzu's confusion, Dai Daozi was not surprised at all, and explained: "The commander-in-chief asked us to come here, isn't it just to win over Oirat and detect intelligence in the northwest, which are the documents that Oirat has been fighting with neighbors in the east, west, north and south over the years. "

After all, Dai Daozi shook his head in distress and said: "I thought it would be enough to copy it once, but who knows that their documents are in various languages. Many battle reports have to be asked by old people who have experienced the war. I can't understand what the old people in the department say. died."

Liu Chengzu nodded seriously. He attached great importance to these battle reports, and quickly ordered his trusted guards to sort out several boxes of documents, and asked Dai Daozi to get milk tea. It will be much bigger, and in the future Weila will set up special counties, and the counties will place edicts, and the situation will gradually improve."

Dai Daozi nodded casually. In fact, both of them are very clear about this. The important task of spreading language and characters is not easy to achieve results in three to five years. I am afraid that none of them will still be in Tianshan after three to five years. stay.

But what can he say, even if it is consolation, the placement of edicts in various counties is their only consolation.

To put it bluntly, when two Oirats with a generation gap stand together, they have to communicate with each other even if they want to communicate, let alone a Han man like him who only understands the Monan dialect.

However, seeing that Liu Chengzu attached great importance to these documents, Dai Daozi still reminded: "But General, these documents are only a way to understand, and you must not listen to one side or believe it."

Liu Chengzu expressed his understanding for this, nodded and said: "It's good to have hearsay information, more accurate things, we still have to look at them ourselves in the future."

Comparatively speaking, Liu Chengzu cared more about Dai Daozi who had second-hand information than he paid attention to these documents. He asked, "Just now you said, who are they fighting with their neighbors in the southeast and northwest?"

Just when the soldiers brought milk tea, Dai Daozi took a sip, found the map from the document box, sat opposite Liu Chengzu, and introduced: "Oirat is a place where the Four World Wars were fought, and the Kazakh Khanate in the west has been fighting for it. The Seven River Basin; in the lower reaches of the Irtysh River in the north, it is integrated with Chahan Khan, which is the Rakshasa in the mouth of the commander; in the east is the powerful Mobei Khalkha, and in the south is the desert oasis Yarkand."

"Now, because of the surrender to the commander-in-chief, Junggar has negotiated peace with Khalkha in the east, but we have just defeated Hami in Yarkand, and there is no room for sound sleep on the side of the couch. Sooner or later, the two sides will go to war."

Speaking of this, Dai Daozi moved his hand along the Irtysh River to the northwest on the map, and finally settled at the intersection of the three forces of Kazakhs, Oirats, and Luocha, and said: "Now, Oirat has joined forces with Kazakhs and Luocha. The war is on."

Liu Chengzu was surprised: "Batur has just gone back for a month, and the war has already started?"

"It's not that he wants to fight with others, it's that they have already beaten him, and he wants to take revenge."

Dai Daozi pointed to the confluence area and said: "This place is called Yamesh. It is located in the middle reaches of the Irtysh River. There is a salt lake there. It was originally the pastureland of the Durbert tribe. The initial conflict between Oirat and Luocha was caused by this. from the lake."

"Since the 44th year of Wanli, the Junggar tribe and the Duerbert tribe agreed to assist in the defense of the Salt Lake and started a war with Luocha. The war has lasted for seven years. Since the two sides negotiated peace 11 years ago, the border has always been between you and me. ...just like Tumed and Daming after I reached Tonggong."

Tumed and Daming after I reached Tonggong?

Liu Chengzu was a little hard to understand this explanation: "Who is An Da, who is Daming?"

"The Rakshasa is Ida, and Oirat is Daming."

Dai Daozi actually thinks his metaphor fits very well.

In this relationship, the Oirats occupy the dominant position. They occupy all the salt ponds, pastures, animal husbandry, agriculture, and handicraft industries along the upper reaches of the Irtysh River. The most basic supplies are needed.

It's like a backward version of Daming.

The stronghold established by the Raksha people in the lower reaches has no production capacity except for a small amount of food, but in Tyumen City in the northwest, they can resell some firearms and precious handicraft products from Europe to Oirat.

It's as if Mongolia can sell horses in the mutual market.

Before Ming and Mongolia maintained the mutual market, they experienced a long war, and until both sides were unwilling to fight any more, the mutual market became a product of compromise; the same was true for Oirat and Russia, and Batur Huntaiji’s entire prestige in Oirat was almost lost. It was obtained by raiding and looting Russian strongholds.

Dai Daozi said: "The war ended, and the two sides made an agreement. The Oirats allowed the Raksha people to establish strongholds in the upper reaches of the Yenisei River and the Ob River, and Tsarist Russia also allowed the Oirats to graze around the strongholds."

"In addition, the Raksha people opened Tyumen City as a place for mutual trading, Oirat provided fur and food, and Tsarist Russia gave back handicrafts and firearms."

Listening to Dai Daozi's explanation, Liu Chengzu nodded slightly. It sounds like this agreement does not do much harm to Oirat...Of course he doesn't think there is any harm, because to some extent, the agreement between his younger brother and Junggar is almost the same. Reprint.

He asked: "If that's the case, they should live in peace, why are they going to war now?"

Dai Daozi spread his hands together and said: "Because Oirat is not big enough, the Kazakh Khanate is also fighting for this salt lake. The Raksha people have not been idle these years. Didn't the commander say that the Raksha people are expanding eastward? Check it out below." Some documents from the Junggar tribe, and the words of Raksha slaves in the tribe... It is true."

"They couldn't beat Junggar to the south, and they continued to expand after the peace talks. To the east, they had established a stronghold in the north of Mobei, and had contact with the Khalkhas; to the west, they established contact with the Kazakh Khanate. The tripartite They are all enemies of Junggar."

"In recent years, Oirat's power has been weakening. First, the Duerbote united with Junggar seven years ago to drive out the Turhut tribe. Last year, they suffered an unprecedented defeat in Qinghai."

Dai Daozi shook his head with a sad expression: "If the commander hadn't been kind-hearted, only [-] of the [-] troops returned from the expedition, and the Weilat might be gone in two years."

"Isn't it?"

Liu Chengzu frowned and said: "I think they have a large population, and they lost tens of thousands of troops in a big defeat, so it shouldn't hurt their vitality."

"Vitality is seriously injured." Dai Daozi said these four words very seriously, and said: "I have read their battle reports over the years, and they dispatched more than [-] troops, and many of them fought at their doorstep. The old soldier is gone."

"In this way, when the news of the defeat on the front line came back, both the Kazakhs and the Rakshas were ready to move. Last year, the Kazakh Khan led the troops to retake the Qihe, and the Kazakhs are still grazing in the western section of the Yili River."

"The Raksha people are weak, so they first sent envoys to Oirat to inquire about information, but they didn't see any nobles who could talk to them. When they returned, they attacked the Oirat subjects stationed near the salt lake, and closed the city of Tyumen to Junggar. , and are currently trading with Kazakhs.”

Following Dai Daozi's introduction, Liu Chengzu had a general understanding of the current situation facing the Junggar tribe. He asked, "Batur intends to take revenge. He asked you to come back because he wants the Tianshan Army to help him avenge him?"

Dai Daozi shook his head and said: "The general underestimates Batur too much. I feel in my heart that he views us just like he treats the Raksha people, and he is wary."

"Now the strength of the Oirat tribes has been greatly reduced, and the Junggar family who returned with [-] veterans is the only one. He wants to inherit the Khan Court, the leader of the National Teacher Khan. Now the nomadic tribes west of the Altai Mountains are in chaos, and they have no energy to initiate confrontation. any enemy expedition."

Dai Daozi got up and looked around in the paperwork, found a letter written by himself, handed it to Liu Chengzu and said, "No, it's his plan."

Expanding the letter, the content of the letter is about the restructuring and centralization of Oirat. The first step is to establish four ten thousand household departments, and each ten thousand household department has five thousand household departments under its jurisdiction. Liu Chengzu wondered if these are the four guards. household.

Looking further down, the situation is different. A department of one thousand households has one thousand standing troops under its jurisdiction, and is in charge of [-] people.

Qianhu is still filled by the nobles of various tribes and owns the wealth of the territory, but the military and civil affairs of the Qianhu tribe are in charge of Zaisang, who is directly dispatched by the leader Khan. The nobles are only responsible for leading troops and paying taxes in addition to being rich.

In addition, the leader Khan Ting has a guard army of 3000 people, which is the 3000 people from the Junggar tribe.

In name, this is the guard of the Khan court, but in fact it is Batur Huntaiji's private soldiers. On this basis, the Junggar tribe will have overwhelming power over the other three Wanhu tribes.

"The first batch of confiscated furs and livestock is already on the way. After being counted by Khan Ting, they can be shipped to Jiayuguan. As for revenge..."

Dai Daozi smiled and said: "Batuer Huntaiji is not in a hurry to take revenge. He will wait for the commander's equipment to arrive before giving them a big gift."

"Who is he going to hit first?"

Liu Chengzu estimated the strength of Oirat after reorganization, and asked: "Kazakh or Rakshasa?"

"Huntaiji intends to completely destroy the Tyumen City this time, and cut off the supplies and supplies of the Raksha strongholds in the north and east. First clean up the troublemakers, and then talk to Kazakhs in detail."

Listening to this plan, Liu Chengzu nodded slowly. This position is equivalent to seven inches of Luocha. It is foreseeable that the enemy will be violently counterattacked in the next two years, and it will be the place where the Tianshan Army will come in handy.

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)