Mixed with salted fish in Hongwudang

Chapter 608 The cunning Grand Duke of Moscow!

While Rafael and a group of young people were eagerly learning the idea of ​​loyalty and patriotism, the City Lord's Mansion issued a series of orders one after another.

The first is to determine the date and content of the imperial examination in the Kangju area, and second, to recruit [-] local intellectuals and let them learn Ming characters and language with pay, as future reserve officials.Finally, it is to continue to strengthen the military occupation of the Kangju area.

Samarkand is not just a capital, it radiates a very large area, with dozens of cities of different sizes, as well as countless villages and manors.

In addition to leaving enough defensive forces for the city, Lan Yu sent out other soldiers to occupy various strategic strongholds, and completely forged the Kangju area into a monolithic one, hoping to build the forward position for attacking the West envisioned by Zhu Yunxi as soon as possible.

The reason why Zhu Yunxi spent so much financial and material resources to build a Kangju area was that he wanted to have a stable rear when he attacked the West.

After all, Daming is too far away, and material transfer is too difficult.

Furthermore, the population of Daming is too small, and the soldiers cannot afford to lose, so they can only use as many locals as vanguards as possible to create blood debts for him.

When the time is right, together with Ming's navy, all Western dynasties can be packaged and thrown to Borneo.

While the Kangju area was enjoying the all-round transformation of the Ming Dynasty, the Golden Horde finally reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Timur.

However, after forming an alliance, there is a very serious problem facing Tuotuo Lost, that is, he has to cooperate with Timur to send troops.

If he wants to send troops, he must have money, but his biggest problem now is that he has no money!

Tutuo was lost and had no choice but to gather all the noble leaders of the Golden Horde together.

Like the Mongolian Yuan Empire, the Golden Horde has been a tribal alliance system from the beginning. Even for conquered areas such as Kiev and Ross, it also adopts a rough management model of regional autonomy and regular door-to-door tax collection.

Therefore, the finances of the Golden Horde have always been very chaotic. When they have money, they eat wildly, and when they have no money...they grab money everywhere with a knife...

But the current Golden Horde has long since lost its prestige in the past. They have been challenged by the vassal states below one after another, and they have been beaten by Timur several times in a row. They no longer have much strength to suppress the former vassal states.

After Tutuo Lost expressed his idea of ​​asking for money, the people in the big tent became extremely silent, even Erdigai, who had once supported him, shut his mouth wisely at this time.

This made Tutuo Lost very dissatisfied, holding the scepter in his hand and kept hitting the ground.

"Are you all dumb?"

"Didn't the discussion before be very happy and honest, once you asked you to raise money, you stopped talking?"

Seeing that Tuotuo was lost and angry, everyone couldn't help but look at Erdigai in unison.

"Great Khan, the land should be generous with words and martial arts. This time, the negotiation with the Timur Empire has put pressure on Timur and given us back a large area of ​​territory. Why don't you ask him for his opinion?"

Tutuo Mizuo knew that this was a counterattack from the group of capitulators under his command, but at this moment he had no other choice but to bite the bullet and ask Erdika for his opinion.

Erdi should hear Dahan calling his name, so he could only bite the bullet and get up.

"Sweat!"

"We haven't been to the Duchy of Moscow to collect taxes for several years. It is said that there is a lot of money there now. Why don't we send people there to collect taxes to supplement the lack of military expenditure?"

Tutuo Lost's eyes lit up when he heard Erdi Gai's words.

Right!

He still has many vassal states that haven't collected taxes yet, so he just took this opportunity to search them all.

"And Lithuania, this country is also very rich..."

As soon as Tutuo lost his words, not to mention all the seemingly incompatible noble leaders in the big tent, even the forehead opened his eyes wide in surprise.

If he remembers correctly, Lithuania sent troops to help Tutuo when he was lost and inherited the Great Khan.

Faced with such a country that has favored him, Khan actually wanted to rob him?

"Khan, is this inappropriate?"

Tuotuo asked in a puzzled way.

"What's wrong?"

"Lithuania attacked our vassal state several times, and Kiev, which once surrendered to us, was snatched by him. It's not too much for us to rob him?"

Hearing the words, he could only nod repeatedly.

"Not too much!"

"Khan is wise!"

Seeing this, the others shouted Khan Wise in unison, making Tuotuo lost even more lost.

"Now that the plan to attack Lithuania and the Principality of Moscow to raise military expenses has been finalized, who will lead the troops?"

When everyone heard this, they all looked at Eden Gai again, and his scalp felt numb for a while.

"Sweat!"

"Really not!"

"I have never led a soldier before!"

Tuotuo lost his eyes when he heard the words, scanned the tent again, and finally fell on a person, his clan brother Timur Hugelut.

This is a person he is extremely afraid of. In principle, Hugelut is also qualified to inherit the position of Khan.

Therefore, after he became Khan, he has been deliberately suppressing Hugelut, unwilling to let him get involved in military power.

But now that no one is available, he can only use Hugroot and let him conquer Lithuania and the Principality of Moscow for himself.

"Huglut, you are the most outstanding warrior in our Golden Horde, why don't you lead the troops to the Principality of Moscow to collect taxes."

A trace of surprise flashed across Hugelut's face when he heard this, he never thought that such a good thing would happen to him.

However, just when he was about to accept his fate, Tuotuo Lost spoke again.

"It's time for you to practice and practice, so I will be with you and be a lieutenant general for you!"

After hearing this, Hugelut finally understood. It turned out that Tuotuo Lost was still worried about himself, so he deliberately put a supervisor by his side!
But he is not angry, all he needs is a chance!
"Yes!"

"The humble minister is willing to die for the Great Khan!"

"it is good!"

"As expected of a fierce general of my golden family!"

As soon as Tutuo lost his mouth, he gave Hugelut a strong position and told him to give up his unrealistic fantasies.

After arranging the candidates for the expedition, Tutuo Milo equipped Huglut with [-] cavalry, and sent golden arrow envoys to various places along the way, ordering the local tribal leaders to prepare food and grass in advance for Huglut to replenish along the way.

Although Tutuo Lost 1 looked down on Hugroot, he not only did not restrain him in the conquest of the Principality of Moscow and Lithuania, but even fully cooperated.

This not only surprised the nobles of the Manchu Dynasty, but even Hugelut had a higher evaluation of Tutuo Lost.

Could it be that Tutuo lost is not as unbearable as I thought?

Tutuo Lost is indeed not a hero, but he has always been quite proud of the glory of his ancestors. In his dreams, he wants to restore the glory of his ancestors and bring back all the vassal states that have left the Golden Horde these years!

Based on this idea, he fought against the air, hitting Lithuania in the west, Timur in the south, and Moscow from time to time in the north.

Although he failed to conquer Lithuania several times, it still did not affect his self-confidence both internally and externally.

He believed that as long as he persevered in his efforts, he would eventually make the whole West crawl under his feet!
Hugelut was full of ambition and prepared to go out with confidence.But when he dressed neatly with the help of his wife and came outside the tent to inspect the assembled Khanate army, he was directly shocked by the shabby appearance of the army.

Although the standard equipment of one man and two horses can still be maintained, both the armor and the saddle are too old. Many people don't even have armor, wrapped in cowhide, and rushed over with a toothless saber.

This made him doubt himself for a while, is he going to fight with such a group of beggars?
Just when Hugelut was doubting his life, his lieutenant Edi should be wearing bright armor and rushing over on a fast horse.

Although Erdi should shoulder the important task of monitoring Hugelut, but for the comrades-in-arms who are about to go to the battlefield with him, his nominal general still respects him very much.

When he was still a certain distance away from Hugelut, he dismounted on his own initiative and came to meet him on foot.

"The humble one should meet the general!"

Hugelut responded enthusiastically to Erdigai, and stepped forward to help him up.

"You and I are working for the Great Khan, why are you so polite!"

The forehead should be just and right.

"Rules cannot be broken!"

"Don't worry, the Lord, I will fully cooperate with you in the battle and will never interfere with any of your orders!"

When Hugelut heard this, he immediately understood Erdigai's heart and gave him a promise.

"Er Digai, if you have meritorious service this time, this king will definitely let you take the lead!"

The two greeted each other a little, then took the soldiers to Khan Court to bid farewell to the Great Khan, and then embarked on the long road to conquer the Principality of Moscow.

Hugroot asked curiously on the way.

"Er Digai, why did our Khan Court army fall like this?"

"It's nothing more than the tribal army. Those tribal leaders are not willing to lend their elites to the Khan Court. The Qixue Army directly under the Khan Court is so poor. The weapons and armor they are equipped with are so simple. Many people don't even have all the arrows... "

The forehead should hear the words and shake his head bitterly.

"The general doesn't know something. The Great Khan has been fighting for years, but he has been defeated repeatedly. He has already emptied the family of our Khanate."

"It is also based on this that the humble official does not agree to form an alliance with Timur. Once we form an alliance with Timur, we will definitely be involved in the war."

"But with the current strength of our Khanate, it's too late to suppress the disobedient vassal states. How can we have the energy to manage the bad things between Daming and Timur?"

"This……"

Hugelut suddenly realized that he seemed to be wrong about Erdi. Before that, he had always thought that Erdi should be a loyal loyalist of Tutuo and a traitor of the Golden Horde.

"My lord, what do you think is our chance of winning the conquest of the Principality of Moscow?"

Hearing this, he first stretched out five fingers, and then drew back two after thinking about it.

"Thirty percent, no more..."

"Only [-]%?"

Hugelut immediately cried out in surprise.

"My lord, you must be mistaken. Let's say there are 10 people. There is a high probability that 10 people will lose Lithuania, but there is absolutely no reason for defeating the Principality of Moscow, right?"

The forehead should hear the words and shook his head.

"Hard to say!"

"Although I don't know how to fight, I have been helping the Great Khan to manage the empire's finances these years. I have met many businessmen who have traveled from south to north. From their mouths, I know that the Principality of Moscow has developed well in recent years and is quite prosperous. .”

"And the Grand Duke of Moscow, Vasily Dmitrievich, is a very cunning man. While trying to curry favor with us, he competes with Lithuania..."

"If our expedition is just for some taxes, as long as it is not too much, Dmitrievich will probably give it. But if he asks for too much and makes him unbearable, then he will most likely resist."

"Once we fight Moscow, the outcome will be hard to tell."

"After all, Lithuania is still watching. If they send troops, we will be defeated by the enemy!"

"This……"

When Hugelut heard the words, he shouted in his heart, what the hell is this called I don't know soldiers?
Uh, this old boy can really pretend, the entire Golden Horde has been deceived by him!
"Your Excellency deserves your opinion!"

Hugroot and his party finally arrived in Moscow more than ten days later. Before they could send someone in to deliver a message, the Grand Duke of Moscow, Vasily Dmitrievich, took the initiative to run out with a group of guards enthusiastically. came to greet me.

Although Dmiritjevic gave Hugroot enough face, Hugroot was still not satisfied.

Because a few decades ago, when their envoys from the Golden Horde came to the vassal states like Moscow and Kiev, the grand dukes of the vassal states wanted to leave the city as soon as possible, kneel respectfully in front of their horses and be cast as stones!
It's just that with the decline of the Golden Horde and the independence of various vassal states, or being annexed by others, the etiquette has been simplified a lot, and it is no longer as humble as it used to be.

Dmiritevich, while giving the envoy of the Golden Horde enough face, also maintained his dignity as a grand duke, only bending slightly to express his submission.

"My dear envoy, our country has already prepared the tribute for the Great Khan, please check it out, my lord special envoy!"

Hugroot laughed jokingly when he heard the words, as expected, this Dmiritjevic is really a wonderful person.

"Oh!"

"Give me a list first!"

"Yes!"

Dmiritjevic immediately took a list from the attendant behind him, and handed it over respectfully.

Hugelut looked at it, and his face suddenly became extremely ugly.

"Only so much?"

"Reporting to my lord, it's not that I don't want to pay more tribute to the great sweat. It's because Moscow is poor and there are few people. In addition, Lithuania has bullied us year after year. We really don't have time to farm and raise sheep..."

"Please also ask the special envoy to make the decision for us and crusade against Lithuania, so that we can farm the land and raise sheep for the Great Khan with peace of mind, and concentrate on serving the Great Khan!"

"This……"

Hugroot looked at Erdiga for help, not knowing how to reply Dmiritevich for a while.

After all, from a practical point of view, the Golden Horde received the tribute from the Grand Duke of Moscow, so it should defend them against invasion and ensure their safety.

Seeing Hugelut looking at him, he immediately stepped forward and sneered at Dmiritevich.

"Dmiritjevic, don't cry poor in front of me. Since you annexed the Grand Duchy of Nishgorod, the land has almost doubled, but your taxes are still the same. Do you think this is true? In the past?"

"You must at least pay the taxes in the Nishgorod region, right?"

(End of this chapter)