Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 205: Soldiers Arrive in the Urals

Although Man Gui's words sounded too arrogant and made the Ross envoy feel very uncomfortable, what Man Gui said was indeed true. The Ross army was indeed no match for the Ming army.

Fortunately, Man Gui did not refuse outright, and just followed Man Gui's words and said: "We can discuss this specific amount. Generally speaking, we hope to pay for the jurisdiction of Siberia. , and will also pay an extra sum of money as the travel expenses for the Ming army to go back."

Hearing what the Ross envoy said, Mangui couldn't help laughing again. He had never heard that this territory could be traded like a commodity.

This is also a big difference between Chinese and Western cultures. Westerners advocate colonization and plunder. Territory is like a trophy. It is common for them to sell and change land to each other.

The Ming Dynasty is different. The Ming Dynasty rarely invades the territory of other countries. It only accepts vassal submission and tribute from other countries. At the same time, it has always been resolute in "not giving up an inch of territory" to its own territory. This is something written in the ancestral precepts.

However, today, the territory of the Ming Dynasty has indeed become much smaller, but what has been lost is mainly places such as Liaodong in the northeast and Jiaozhi in the southwest. Strictly speaking, it is not the inherent territory and core jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the imperial court did not pay much attention to these places.

But no matter what, with the entry of the Ming Dynasty's elite soldiers, there is absolutely no reason for the territory occupied by the Ming Dynasty to be handed over to others, and it is even more impossible to sell it to foreigners.

After listening to the explanation of the Ross envoy, Mangui directly rejected the matter with a wave of his hand, and said to the Ross envoy: "My Ming Dynasty will never cut off an inch of land from foreign countries, and will never give away the land that the soldiers exchanged with their blood and lives. , selling gold and silver!
You go back and tell those 'cowards' that you Russians don't have to rush to send us your gold and silver. We will get it ourselves after we fight! "

The Ross envoy did not expect that the other party would be so unwilling to enter the market. He directly rejected his proposal without even discussing the price with him.

Although he didn't understand Man Gui's "dead-heartedness", he could still understand the meaning of Man Gui's words, which was: "I don't need to sell the land to you to get gold and silver. I plan to directly lead the way." The army will go to your hometown, not only to occupy all the land in Siberia, but also to take your gold and silver as my own. I don’t make a choice, I want them all!”

After the Ross envoy left Nalim, he hurried back to the Stroganov family and brought back the bad news that the Ming army refused to negotiate peace and sold the jurisdiction of Siberia to itself.

At the same time, they also told the Stroganov family that the Ming army did not intend to stop here. It seemed that they would continue to advance westward, not only to occupy the entire Siberian region, but also to cross the Ural Mountains to plunder the wealth of the Russians.

The Stroganov family was shocked when they heard the news. They finally realized that the severity of the matter seemed to have far exceeded their estimates and beyond their ability to deal with it, so they hurriedly sent People went to Moscow and reported the matter to the Tsar.

The Tsar was also very shocked when he heard the news. He did not expect that the Ming Dynasty in the east would come to Siberia to compete with him for territory.

But even though the Tsar had heard about the reputation of the Ming Dynasty and knew that the Ming Dynasty was a powerful eastern country, after all, the Ming Dynasty's army had bullied him at his doorstep. If he fought on his doorstep, could he still suffer a loss?
In the Tsar's perception, the Easterners were indeed very powerful in the past, and the Russian state was once oppressed by the Tatars and was conquered by the Tatars.

But times have changed, and the current national strength of the Rus' country is no longer what it used to be. All the nearby khanates have been defeated by the Rus' people. After obtaining advanced firearms from the Western countries, the Rus' people are no longer afraid of the nomadic armies in the east. .

And what about the Ming Dynasty at this time?However, the Tsar heard that the Ming Dynasty was still suffering from the intrusion of nomads, and was miserable!

So from this point of view, Ross's army has far surpassed Ming's army. The defeat of the Stroganov family does not explain any problem. After all, their army is just a group of Cossack mercenaries, and their number is small. If not, it is normal to lose to Ming Dynasty's regular army.

Once Ross sends a large force of regular troops to conquer the Ming army that invaded Siberia, the Ming army will have no choice but to die!

Although the tsar has already made the determination to go to war and is sure of victory, in disputes between the two countries, war is always the last resort. It is the most costly and least cost-effective last resort. If the problem can be solved through negotiation, it will not Losing is the best thing to do.

The Tsar planned to send an envoy to the Ming Dynasty to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty on the issue of Siberia's ownership before sending troops. He hoped that the Ming Dynasty would understand the current affairs, recognize the reality, take the initiative to withdraw its troops, and compensate Ross for its losses during this period.

Of course, it would be great if the Ming Dynasty, intimidated by the strong national power of the Romanov dynasty, took the initiative to surrender to Rus.

But although the Tsar's thoughts were beautiful and his words were beautiful, in fact, the reason why Russia did not directly send troops was limited by its national strength. Whether it was the number of soldiers or economic strength, the Romanov dynasty was not particularly strong. Organizing everyone to go on an expedition still requires a period of mobilization and preparation.

Man Gui naturally didn't know about these things and plans within the Ross State, and he didn't care about them. After learning that the strength of the Ross State was no more than this, Man Gui let go of his hands and began to march towards the west. .

More than a dozen Ming armies advanced hand in hand. It was difficult for the Russians hiding in the forests of the West Siberian plain to escape the Ming army's detection and search. They were either annihilated or captured alive.

From Nalim to the Ural Mountains, there are no decent Russian strongholds anymore, only the cities of Tobolsk and Ob.

Both castles were built near the Ob River. In terms of geographical location alone, the Russians had a good vision. After the Ming army occupied these two castles, they only made simple modifications and used them as their own. The stronghold was stationed.

After occupying Ob City, the Ural Mountains were already in sight. Mangui did not rush forward, but first asked his dozen or so cavalry troops to explore the Ural Mountains in detail.

According to the news brought back by the soldiers, the Ural Mountains are indeed a natural wall as shown on the map given by the emperor, extending to the end of the earth in the north and to Kazakhstan in the south. As long as the Khanate builds strongholds and fortresses along the mountains, it can prevent the Russians from entering Siberia.

The overall terrain of the Ural Mountains is not too high. The highest mountain is only over 600 feet, which is still beyond the reach of the Ming army. Moreover, the middle section of the Ural Mountains is generally lower and gentle, with the highest mountain not exceeding [-] feet. Zhang, this is also the main channel for the Russians to enter Siberia.

Man Gui summarized the information returned by various people and horses, and then ordered to build a fortress in the middle of the Ural Mountains. The fortress on the top of the mountain does not have to be as big as the stronghold fortress along the way, but should be modeled on the pier and beacon of the Great Wall. The platform was built into a strong fortress that could accommodate ten to 20 people.This ensures that soldiers can use small artillery or muskets to attack enemies in the fortress, and can also light beacons on the top of the fortress to warn friendly forces.

Because this kind of fortress built on a mountain is small and sturdy, and can accommodate a small number of soldiers, even if it is equipped with artillery and firecrackers, it will be difficult to resist if it is besieged by too many enemies.

Therefore, such small fortresses must be built densely enough. It is definitely not possible to build them hundreds of miles or dozens of miles apart. The standard set by Mangui is that places with low terrain and gentle mountains should not be separated by more than three miles at most. , where the terrain is higher and steeper, the distance can be five miles.

Because when the enemy attacks, the easiest places to attack are naturally low-lying areas with gentle mountains. Even if our own side occupies high ground, we cannot form an absolute advantage, so we must ensure that we have enough troops to be safe.

In places with higher terrain and steep mountains, even if the fortresses are not dense enough and there are fewer soldiers, it will be difficult for the enemy to break through the Ming army's defense line by taking advantage of the geographical advantages and being condescending.

At this point, the Ming army began to build large-scale construction projects on the Ural Mountains, digging trenches and building fortresses. They were very busy. However, the Russians no longer dared to venture eastward before the Tsar sent an army, and the Stroganov family also We dare not send any more Cossack mercenary teams to try to pass through the Ming army's defense lines and enter Siberia.

Because the Ming army had too many soldiers, the soldiers of the Ming army not only did not feel tired, but were very relaxed, and lived in Siberia as leisurely as on vacation.

Man Gui wrote the news that he had successfully occupied the Ural Mountains and sent people back to the capital, and then began to urge the soldiers to build and manage the area occupied by the Ming army so far.

In addition to the Ming army strongholds built every one hundred miles along the way from Guihua City to Lake Baikal and then to the Ural Mountains, with three to five hundred soldiers required to stay at each location, Mangui had five soldiers. 6 people.

Although Mangui was very strict with his soldiers on weekdays, he still treated them very well. Now that there was not much work at hand, but there were so many manpower, Mangui simply let them take turns to participate in the construction work, while the rest went to the forest. Hunting, fishing in Lake Baikal, etc., treat it as a holiday for them.

August in Siberia is a good time for warm weather. The maximum temperature is around [-] degrees and the average temperature is in the [-]s. It is neither cold nor hot and warm.

Man Gui's memorabilia was sent back to the capital, and Zhu Tianqi was very pleasantly surprised after reading it. He specially asked Qian Longxi to read Man Gui's memoir in front of all the ministers in the morning. Although most of the officials did not know that Siberia was However, they were very happy to hear that Mangui was expanding territory for the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Tianqi immediately ordered Man Gui to be named "Northern Bo", and naturally no one among the officials objected.

Mangui gradually established a firm foothold in Siberia, and the corresponding affairs were also going very smoothly. In the northeast of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army's progress in Liaodong was also very smooth.

Since the Ming army continued its march north in March and April, it had captured Shenyang City, and then continued its march north to capture Tielingwei, Kaiyuan City, and Liaohaiwei.

Then the Ming army began to divide into two groups, continuing to march north and then turning east.

The Northern Route Army, led by Zhao Lijiao, entered the Liaohetao area all the way. The Tatar tribes living here surrendered one after another, and the Ming army fought all the way to Qiqihar with almost no bloodshed.

The East Route Army, led by Zu Dashou, first marched northeast from Kaiyuan to capture Changchun City, and then moved east to capture Jilin City. After occupying Jilin City, they began to send out multiple Ming troops to sweep away the surrounding Jiannu strongholds and villages. Town, and then went straight to Ninggu Pagoda.

Now this Ninggu Pagoda is Amin's hometown. Last year, in order to avoid the Ming army's front, he moved the forces gathered on the North Korean border to the northeast and snatched Jilin City and Ninggu Pagoda from Mang Gurtai. city.

Then, after Mang Gurtai settled Ye Bushu and Yan Zashi, mother and son, he gathered his troops and began to attack Amin, hoping to regain his territory.

Although Mang Gurtai is powerful, his foundation is mainly in the Aihui area further north. Jilin City and Ningguta City belong to the fringes of his sphere of influence. It is impossible for him to mobilize all his troops to attack Amin .

Although Amin's sphere of influence was small, his forces were relatively concentrated. Therefore, Manggurtai sent troops to attack Jilin City and Ningguta City several times, but all returned without success.

But now that the Ming army has arrived, Mang Gurtai hastily withdrew his troops upon seeing this, quickly shrinking his sphere of influence and abandoning cities on the edge of his sphere of influence, such as Tieling, Kaiyuan, Changchun and other places. Even he himself did not dare to stay in Alchuka any longer, so he hurriedly took Ye Bushu and Yanzha's mother and son to hide in Aihui's lair.

Zhao Lijiao on the left has conquered the Tatar tribes and reached Qiqihar. If he doesn't run away, he will be bypassed by the Ming army. Once his retreat is cut off by the Ming army, won't it be a dead end?
Compared with Mang Gurtai, who had a huge sphere of influence, Amin did not have so many escape routes. After the Ming army captured Ninggu Pagoda, Amin had no choice but to continue fleeing to the northeast.

Although the north was Mang Gurtai's territory, and Amin had to run away and fight all the way, which was very hard, but he had no choice.

Because if he fled directly to the east, he would not be far away from the sea. When the Ming army caught up with him, he would have no choice but to jump into the sea.

Going south is a dead end. Now the Ming army deployed on the border of North Korea is going north to cooperate with Zu Dashou to encircle itself. Wouldn't it mean that if you go south, you will die?

After much deliberation, he had no choice but to run to Mang Gurtai's territory. Fortunately, Mang Gurtai was not much better than himself. He had already given up when the Ming army arrived and had all his troops. After being evacuated, it was easy for him to attack the city and plunder the territory along the way, and encountered almost no obstacles.

(End of this chapter)