Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 203 The Stroganov Family
In Bratsk, the Ming army found more than 300 fine furs, as well as some Russian gold and silver coins. They also found a large amount of wood piled behind the Russian barracks. The wood was in good condition. , it doesn’t look like it was used to build a stronghold, it was probably intended to be transported away.

Through the analysis of these trophies, Mangui believes that the Russians occupied Siberia most likely to obtain furs and timber. These furs and timber were also valuable in the Ming Dynasty.

After staying in Bratsk for a few days, the Ming army continued to march northwest. At the end of June, they discovered a larger Russian stronghold, Yeniseisk.

Through investigation, it was found that the Russians were well prepared this time. Not only were there many guards, but they also set up many cannons. It must be that the Ming army's actions were too high-profile and had already alerted the enemy, which aroused the vigilance of the Russians.

If we rely on the strength of the Ming army, it will not be a problem to capture Yeniseisk. However, judging from the current defense of the Russians, I am afraid that the casualties of the Ming army are inevitable.

Mangui once observed the situation in Yeniseisk at close range with a military telescope. The main reason was that he was not sure about the power of the Russian artillery and did not know how far their artillery could hit.

However, even if the Russian artillery failed to live up to expectations, it would definitely have a farther range than the Ming army's Crouching Tiger Artillery. Therefore, to be on the safe side, Mangui had no choice but to send people back to the stronghold on Lake Baikal to transport the giant steel cannon. , three doors are enough!
The weight of the giant steel cannon is so heavy that it requires six to eight horses to pull the cart each time. However, even if it is pulled by a horse-drawn carriage, it will take several days longer than usual in Siberia, where transportation is inconvenient. .

While waiting for the giant steel cannon to arrive, the Ming army selected the location for the giant cannon in advance, built a fort for the giant steel cannon, and dug trenches in advance to prepare for the Russian attack. Raid.

In mid-July, the steel cannon finally arrived, and the end of the Ross people came.

Three giant steel cannons began to bombard Yeniseysk wildly. Just two or three rounds of shelling collapsed the walls of Yeniseysk, but the Russians in Yeniseysk could not even see the shadow of the enemy. , could only bear the Ming army's bombardment unilaterally, and the city was instantly in chaos.

It wasn't until a guard standing on the watchtower saw bursts of smoke and fire six or seven miles away that the people in Russia realized the enemy's location. However, the enemy's cannons could actually hit such a distance, even if they knew the enemy What about the location?

The artillery set up by the Russians on the city wall of Yeniseisk was quickly blown up. The Ming army slowly emerged from the forest and began to approach Yeniseisk with the squatting tiger cannon.

The Russians did not dare to lose, and immediately stabilized the situation. Under the organization of the leader, they formed a cavalry team of 200 people. They shouted: "The enemy only has three cannons. As long as we rush close, they will be defeated." There is no way to fight back, and the enemy's cannon can be captured by then!"

Then they rushed towards the Ming army's position.

When the Ming army saw the Russians rushing towards them, they immediately stopped and began to set up squatting tiger cannons on the spot. The muzzles of hundreds of squatting tiger cannons were aimed at the Russian cavalry that was charging towards them. Just wait for them to launch in unison once they are within range!

When the Russian cavalry saw that the enemy's cannons had stopped firing, they became even more convinced that their judgment was correct. They believed that the enemy had probably abandoned their cannons and started running away, so they quickly accelerated their charge.

But then, a burst of fire and white smoke suddenly appeared on the ground two miles in front of them. The continuous sound of cannons was deafening, and then hundreds of black cannonballs flew into the air and exploded in the air. , scattering countless shrapnel, lead bullets and caltrops that covered the sky and the sun.

Although the Russians were all wearing heavy armor, they were subjected to intensive bombing at such a close range. No matter how thick the armor was, they could not save their lives. In an instant, they were turned upside down, and even the men and horses became a bloody mess.

The Ming cavalry in the forest then rushed out, gave the Russians who had not been killed by the explosion a blow, and then rushed towards Yeniseisk.

When the Russian people in Yeniseisk saw this Russian cavalry team being instantly annihilated by enemy artillery fire, they were immediately frightened and fled in all directions.

Some Russians were greedy for property and were still desperately snatching furs, gold and silver from the warehouses. However, the Ming army quickly rushed into the city, annihilated all the guards in the city, and occupied Yeniseisk.

Those Russians in the city who had not had time to escape also gave up resistance, attacked the Ming army in a sneak attack, and became prisoners.

Those Russians who were lucky enough to escape fled westward to Nalim, and then continued westward without stopping too much, bringing the news back to the Stroganov family.

The Stroganov family was the leader and organizer of the Russian expansion to the east and the invasion of Siberia. The original Stroganov family was just a down-and-out family in Russia. After Tsar Ivan the Terrible conquered Kazan, he Large tracts of land on the upper reaches of the Kama and Chusovaya rivers were allocated to Grigory Stroganov.

The Stroganov family established new settlements and cities there, officially began to settle, and developed salt iron ore, timber and fur trade here.

Later, Ivan the Terrible authorized the Stroganov family to recruit Cossacks as mercenaries to serve as the Stroganov family's private armed force.

It was also with the instruction and support of Ivan the Terrible that the Stroganov family began to gather the Cossacks to cross the Ural Mountains and begin the invasion and expansion to Siberia in the east.

Initially, they invaded Siberia and defeated the Siberian Khanate, which had tens of thousands of troops. There were only 800 Cossacks who occupied the Western Siberian plain, but today they have developed into a mercenary force of several thousand people.

The Cossacks are not a certain race, but a community, a local group with a unique culture. They are somewhat similar to the Jews. They are a wandering group that lacks national identity and a sense of belonging, and has no fixed place to live. However, the Cossacks and The Jews have always been incompatible with each other.

The Jews like to amass wealth, study and do business, but the Cossacks despise education and commerce and advocate force. The Cossacks rely on nomadic fishing and robbery to obtain wealth, and gradually develop into a bandit group that specializes in robbing homes to survive. .

Because the Cossacks were good at riding and shooting, and were brave and good at fighting, they gradually began to be favored by the rulers and began to hire Cossacks as mercenaries. The Cossacks also gradually began to become an important fighting force under the Eastern European regimes.

The Cossacks are very tolerant and open, and anyone regardless of national origin can be accepted by them and can easily integrate into this group and become one of them.But there are exceptions. The Cossacks resolutely reject the Jews, and similarly, the Jews avoid the predatory Cossacks.

The reason why Russia's Tsar Ivan the Terrible supported the Stroganov family in hiring Cossacks to invade Siberia was not only to expand Russia's territory, but also to help Russia get out of the predicament of internal and external troubles.

Whether it was the period of Ivan the Terrible or the Ross Romanov Dynasty, where Mikhail I was the tsar today, they were all under the oppression of neighboring countries. There was Sweden in the north and Poland in the south. Ross was caught in the middle and struggled.

In order to solve the dilemma faced by Ross, Ross urgently needed to find a breakthrough in the east, so Ivan the Terrible began to encourage the Stroganov family to explore and expand eastward.

Facts have proved that this decision is very wise. Although Ross is unable to defeat powerful countries such as Sweden and Poland in the west, it can easily defeat the nomadic Siberian Khanate in the east. The occupation of the Siberian Khanate has also benefited Ross a lot. Furs and timber plundered from Siberia helped Rus out of financial difficulties.

Fur is known as soft gold. Both the Ross and Stroganov families have benefited greatly from the fur business. Today, Siberian fur and timber resources account for a large part of the overall income of the Ross and Stroganov families. proportion.

Now, an army that came out of the way suddenly attacked the Ross camp in Siberia and seized the Ross people's territory in Siberia. This shocked the Stroganov family.

However, in view of what those who escaped and reported the news said, this unit was quite well-equipped and far more powerful than the Russian troops. Therefore, the Stroganov family decided after deliberation to be polite first and then send troops to negotiate with the other party first, so as to better understand the other party. identity of.

Just as the negotiating envoys sent by the Stroganov family were rushing towards Yeniseisk, Tomsk to the southeast of Nalim had also fallen into the hands of the Ming army. When the envoys finally arrived at Nalim, When Mu, the Ming army was about to attack Nalim.

Faced with the envoy sent by Ross, Man Gui originally did not want to receive it. After all, the emperor's order to him was to fight all the way to the Ural Mountains, but he did not say that he would negotiate with the Ross people. Man Gui believed that the two sides had nothing to talk about. Yes, after all, no matter how he talks, he still wants to fight to the Ural Mountains.

But since everyone on the other side is here, maybe they are here to beg for mercy and surrender. I am invincible along the way. Maybe this Russian is frightened by me and won over!
The further the Ming army fights to the west, the more Russian strongholds there will be. Mangui doesn't know how many Russian strongholds and garrisons are ahead. It's already July, and he doesn't have much time left for him. If he can't If he goes to the Ural Mountains before winter, he won't be able to report to the emperor.

If the Rus could surrender to the Ming Dynasty, then their march to the west would be much smoother.

However, when he met the Russian envoy, he realized that he thought the Russians were too smart. They were not as knowledgeable about current affairs as he thought, but they had not understood the situation at all.

The Ross envoy mistook the Ming army for Tatars, so he spoke Mongolian as soon as he arrived, so that everyone could barely communicate.

However, although the two parties can understand each other's language, their opinions are completely unable to be unified, and they are basically completely unable to communicate.

The main reason was that the Ross envoy's attitude was too arrogant. Rather than coming to negotiate, it was better to say that he came for a "showdown" and to give the Ming army a warning and an ultimatum.

As soon as the Ross envoy saw Mangui, he said arrogantly: "Although I don't know which country or tribe you belong to, but this is the territory of the Romanov dynasty and the Stroganov family. If you don't do it as soon as possible, If you release the Russians captured by you, compensate the Russians for the losses caused by the war, and immediately withdraw from Siberia, we can only regard it as your provocation and declaration of war against the Romanov dynasty and the Stroganov family.

The Romanov dynasty and the Stroganov family will send out armies to make you pay a heavy price for what you have done! "

Mangui didn't expect to deal with such an arrogant and arrogant person. If he hadn't been more disciplined and would not have killed the envoy during the war between the two countries, he would have had to cut this guy to pieces first.

Mangui shouted angrily at the Ross envoy: "In that case, you should go back and tell your 'cowards' that our army is coming tomorrow, and anyone who dares to use a mantis as a chariot to block our advance will be killed without mercy!"

Afterwards, he directly asked his men to drive away the Ross envoy.

The Ross envoy immediately went back to inform the Stroganov family of the results of the negotiations, and even told how the enemy was defiant and stubborn.

Therefore, the Stroganov family immediately decided to send a large army to conquer the Ming army, drive the Ming army out of Siberia, and avenge the dead Cossack mercenaries!
The Stroganov family naturally knew about the Ming Dynasty. In the 46th year of Wanli (1618), the Tsar sent the Siberian Cossack Ivan Paterson to the Ming Dynasty. However, Ivan’s visit to the Ming Dynasty was not on behalf of the Russian state. A formal visit to the Ming Dynasty, so Ivan's trip did not allow Ross to establish contact with the Ming Dynasty.

However, through the "Records of Experiences" written by Ivan, the Russians still have a basic understanding of the strength and prosperity of the Ming Dynasty.

However, if you imagine it through text description, you can probably only think of the power and prosperity within your own cognitive level. If you have not been to the Ming Dynasty in person, you cannot truly understand how powerful the Ming Dynasty is.

The same goes for the Stroganov family. They admit that Ming is very powerful and may be comparable to Ross. However, even so, Ming's army will definitely not be able to compete with Ross's army.

After all, the Ming Dynasty's army traveled thousands of miles to Siberia. They were far away from their homeland and had difficulty in supplying supplies. How could they carry out a long-term battle with their own army?

The Stroganov family is located in the rear of Siberia and can continuously supply materials and troops to the troops. Even if it is exhausted, it will kill the Ming Dynasty.

The Stroganov family kept their word. They quickly gathered a large army and set out to attack the Ming army in the Nalim area. They also asked the Nalim garrison to send a declaration of war to the Ming army to express their gratitude to Ross. Determination to defeat the Ming army!

Mangui is naturally not afraid of the Russians, but since the Russians are serious this time, he naturally does not dare to underestimate the enemy. He still has to be prepared to avoid underestimating the enemy and easily suffer losses!
(End of this chapter)