I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 645 Tsar Anna
Before the Yecheng report was delivered to Nanjing, Yang Gong, who had returned to Beijing to report on his work, had already returned to Beijing by boat.

When Yang Gong returned north, he also brought the emperor's imperial edict and the troop deployment order issued by the Privy Council.

The imperial court has officially made a decision to launch the Mobei War next year to completely wipe out the Khalkha Mongolian tribes and quell the Mobei grassland war.

The military supplies and supplies for the Mobei War in the north have been prepared for transportation a few years ago. Now it is nothing more than making final pre-war preparations, including recruiting civilians, assembling regular army and auxiliary troops, coordinating the transportation of supplies, etc.

Governments in various places must cooperate fully, and the South will continue to transport food and supplies for them in the next six months or so.

The general plan of the Mobei War:
Yang Gong led the Central Route Army, coordinating the troops in Hebei, Monan Dusi and Liaoning Province. It is expected to send 6 troops, including 3 infantry and 3 cavalry, and there will also be many Mongolian cavalry accompanying them.

At least 10 civilians must be recruited to respond, and the rest must be recruited in large numbers to transport civilians by mules and carriages.

After all, this time we are not fighting in the south and in a place with a lot of water. We can only rely on land transportation for supplies, which puts a lot of logistical pressure.

As a support force, the West Route Army is supported by Fu Yunsheng's troops from Shanxi, the Mongolian cavalry coalition from Yunzhong Dusi, and the governor's office of the Shaanxi-Gansu Right Army. It is expected to send 4 troops, including 2 infantry and 2 cavalry.
The number of civilian men corresponding to the conscription is about 8, and there are also a large number of mules and horses.

Moreover, the Heilongjiang Dusi in Liaodong will also send troops to cooperate in the battle this time.

Yu Kecheng's Liaodong Army is expected to dispatch 5000 troops, the main force of which are dragoons. The Heilongjiang Navy will also be dispatched, together with the Sauron Army, to attack Nerchinsk along the Heilongjiang River and via the Shilka River to the west.

Then they directly took the Cossacks there, and the Chita City built along the river, controlled the confluence of the Shilka River, Yingoda River, and Onen River, and blocked the retreat route of the Khalkha Mongols to the north along the Hulunbuir Prairie.

Of course, if Nerchinsk's Cossacks were not beaten, it would not be impossible to hunt rabbits and easily recover Lake Baikal... no, the Ming Dynasty's Beihai Lake.

The outbreak of such a war would cost at least tens of millions of taels of silver in military expenditure, not only the soldiers' salaries and food, but also the conscription of civilian laborers, mules and horses, which would also cost money.

After all, the Ming Dynasty has abolished corvee service, and all civilian laborers must be paid wages. Otherwise, with so many wars, the people would either rebel or flee.

In this regard, the Manchu Dynasty's civil and military officials did not reprimand the people for wasting money and wasting money. The war to conquer Mobei had been decided a long time ago, and Mobei had already surrendered to China during the Tatar period. Now it is justifiable to send troops to conquer.

Of course, the most important thing is that there has been no war for two years, and the national treasury has become increasingly abundant, which can support the emperor to fight foreign wars.

Now that Mobei is in a mess, it can be decided in a direct battle.

If you fight quickly, it might not even cost much money.

……

During the Ming Dynasty, China was fully preparing for the Mobei War, and the Tsarist Russian envoys had also returned to St. Petersburg.

According to historical time, this year is the fifth year of Queen Anna I's accession to the throne, and there are still five years left before her death due to gout attack.

In just five years, Her Majesty the Empress of Tsarist Russia successively won over the radical nobles headed by Count Osterman, and used the power of the other party to force the conservative nobles to make concessions, until the Supreme Secret Council, the basis of the conservatives, was completely abolished and took advantage of the opportunity. The cabinet was reorganized, and a secret criminal investigation department (equivalent to the Imperial Guard) was established outside the cabinet to further monitor noble ministers and cabinet bureaucrats.

In terms of political means alone, the Empress of Tsarist Russia is quite similar to Lao Zhu. Both of them first abolished the bureaucracy that controlled the imperial power by force, then reorganized the cabinet to further strengthen the imperial power, and then established an intelligence department to monitor the officials and dynasties. Hall.

When the Tsarist Russian envoy returned to the new capital of St. Petersburg, the conservative aristocrats in the country had been basically eliminated.

In order to please Queen Anna and further benefit the radical nobles, Count Ostermann, the actual leader of the secret criminal investigation department, abused his power for several years, collected bribes, and plundered conservatives and The property of the small and medium-sized Moscow nobility.

When the matter is over, these conservative nobles will be exiled to Siberia on a large scale on unfounded charges. In just five years, the number of nobles exiled in Siberia has exceeded 10,000.

Even Duke Ivan, Peter II's childhood friend, was not spared. Last year, Count Osterman took the opportunity to arrest him on charges of rebellion and sentenced him to death without trial. His family also All were exiled to Siberia.

The local aristocracy in Moscow suffered a severe blow.

The domestic political situation was in turmoil, and the queen still had the energy to go to war with the Ottoman Empire.

Just last year, taking advantage of the victory in the Polish War, Tsar Anna took the opportunity to turn her target to the Ottoman Empire in the south. The reason was that the Crimean Khanate was plundering the border of Tsarist Russia. The actual purpose was of course to seize an inlet from the Ottomans. Ease the dilemma of being besieged by European countries.

Returning to Biron in St. Petersburg, he was summoned by Tsarina Anna on the same day: "Your Majesty, the Khitan Emperor refused to return the Yakutsk War District of the empire, and also declared that if the Cossacks did not withdraw from Siberia, the Khitan would enter into conflict with the Russian Empire. , always in a state of war.”

Tsar Anna was not angry, but rather incredulous: "What confidence does the Khitan Emperor have that he dares to say such arrogant words?"

Bilong said: "Actually, Your Majesty, when I first went to the Khitan Empire, I also thought that the Khitan people were poor and backward. But until I arrived in Khitan... No, they no longer call themselves Khitan. The original Khitan emperor, for many years They had already overthrown them before, and the person who led them to overthrow the Khitan Emperor was said to be the royal family of the Ming Dynasty that had long since perished. "

Tsar Anna became interested: "The Ming Dynasty? Is this the new name of the Khitan country now? It is actually the revival of a destroyed dynasty called Huangkong. It seems that the other party must be a Khitan with outstanding military and political talents."

Bilong continued: "Yes, the current Khitan Emperor Ming is indeed a wise and wise emperor. He easily saw through my words. But although the Khitan Emperor is wise and wise, he is also very irritable and irritable, and he is still A fanatical war activist. He thought that Russia had deceived him, so he ordered the thumbs of everyone in the envoy to be cut off, and ordered us to leave Nanjing immediately... By the way, the capital of Khitan China is no longer in Beijing. It’s in Nanjing.”

"He actually ordered to cut off everyone's thumbs. He is indeed a violent and warlike monarch." Count Ostermann nodded and said.

Such a punishment seemed very merciful. No members of the envoy were killed, but if the thumbs of both hands were cut off, even if they were alive, they would be disabled from now on, which was equivalent to life being worse than death.

Tsar Anna's focus was different: "In Nanjing? Not Beijing... Then where is Nanjing?"

Bilong was prepared in advance and took out a world map bought in a Chinese bookstore. Although he was expelled from Nanjing, Honglu Temple did not prohibit him from buying books and maps to take back. He quickly found the area of ​​Ming China, pointed to a red dot in the south and said: "This is Nanjing City, the most prosperous city in Khitan China. This city alone has a population of one million (actually the flow of people ). And there are dozens of cities like Nanjing in Khitan China (deliberate exaggeration).”

At this time, not only Tsar Anna was surprised, but even Count Ostermann, who had always been calm, could not help but widen his eyes: "How is this possible in a city with a population of one million? Not to mention St. Petersburg in the empire, the entire Europe There is no city with so many people, and there are dozens of such cities. Does the Khitan Empire have such a large population? "

Bilong nodded: "There are more than imagined. A few years ago, the population of Khitan China exceeded 100 million, which is more than six times that of the Russian Empire."

Count Osterman stopped talking. For him, the population exceeding 100 million was too shocking. Since the founding of the entire Russian Empire, the population has not exceeded 100 million, even 50 million is enough.

There is no way. In a purely serfdom country, most of the population is slaves. How can you expect it to have an explosive population growth?

Tsarist Russia was really awesome during the Little Ice Age. Its population dropped directly to one million. Wars, disasters, taxes... caused the population of Tsarist Russia to decrease rapidly.

Tsar Anna looked at the map for a long time. It was just a civilian map. There were no mountains or rivers marked, so it had no strategic reference value. However, the basic outline of the territory was drawn: "Are these red circles all Khitan?" The territory of the empire? " Not only did she see the huge and prominent Ming Dynasty on land, especially Eastern Siberia, which had been completely enclosed, but there were also many islands outlined in red circles in the southern islands.

Bilong said: "Yes, the red lines draw the territory of the Khitan Empire, while the blue areas are all the vassal states of the Khitan Empire, and only the yellow areas are the enemies of the Khitan Empire."

Now it was clear and even more surprising.

The entire Asia is a red and blue area, and red accounts for the majority. There is only a large area of ​​yellow in the north, which is Central Siberia and the territory of the Tsarist Russian Cossacks.

Tsar Anna fell silent for a moment, but Count Ostermann couldn't help but said: "You mean the Khitan Empire has conquered the entire Far East, what about the Dutch and Spanish? Don't they have colonies in the Far East? ? Don’t they know how to resist?”

Biron said: "Both the Dutch and the Spanish were defeated by the Khitan Emperor, who was a powerful and invincible monarch. In the Khitan Empire about ten years ago, the Khitan Emperor led his followers, He launched an uprising from a small island called Taiwan and quickly defeated and overthrew the original Khitan emperor. In the following ten years, he defeated all enemies of the Khitan in the Far East, including the Dutch and Spanish, and even the British. and the French, and also maintained friendly relations with the Khitan emperor.”

Count Ostermann said: "With such a large expansion of collars and war with the Netherlands and Spain at the same time, isn't the Khitan Empire very poor and backward? Where did the Khitan emperor get the money to support the military of the war and territorial vassals? "

Bilong said: "The Khitan has never been poor and backward. At least the Khitan Ming Dynasty established by this Khitan emperor is very rich. Their Nanjing city is extremely prosperous, and even beggars can't be seen. Even the poorest peasants can eat Under the leadership of the Khitan emperor, the Khitan Empire was filled with silver and gold, and silk, porcelain and tea, which were extremely luxurious in Europe, were just ordinary things in the Khitan Empire's Nanjing city. , the wealth in it is enough for the nobles of St. Petersburg to squander it for a hundred years. "

"This is impossible." Count Ostermann first exclaimed, then realized that he had made a mistake, and then asked, "The Khitan Empire has so much wealth, how did the Khitan Emperor do it?"

After all, according to what Bilong said, it is not possible to exploit serfs casually, and it is impossible to accumulate so much wealth even by exploiting nobles in Qian Kingdom.
Bilong said: "The Khitan Empire has a large population, but the Khitan emperor does not levy head tax, only land tax and commercial tax. Therefore, the Khitan people respect the Khitan emperor very much, and the Khitan Empire is rich in porcelain, tea and silk screens. It is said that they also There is a machine that can quickly spin cotton cloth, which also earns them a lot of overseas profits. But in the capital of the Khitans, a large number of merchant ships sail from the dock every day, including even Dutch and Spanish merchant ships. Although Spain was defeated by the Khitan Emperor and took away most of its colonies in the Far East, they also reached commercial cooperation with the Khitan Empire and were willing to submit to the Khitan Emperor and bring him a large amount of silver from Europe and America."

Hearing that silver from Europe and America was flowing into Ming China, Count Ostermann's eyes first showed greed, and then quickly turned into fear.

China swallowed up the silver of Europe and America, so the Chinese emperor was not short of money and could support a huge army, foreign wars and vast territories.

These are things that the Russian Empire does not have. Even though Tsarist Russia is currently at war with the Ottoman Empire, in fact it is all forced. If we don’t start with the weak Ottomans, Tsarist Russia will be blocked in the west by the British, thus leading to a severe economic crisis.

Tsar Anna then asked: "The Khitan Empire has such a vast territory and vassal states. How many troops does the Khitan Emperor have?"

Bilong said: "There are hundreds of thousands of standing troops, hundreds of thousands of local troops (inspectors), and hundreds of thousands of security management troops (yamen agents). Moreover, there are no serfs in the Khitan Empire, and the Khitan emperor abolished slaves , so farmers all over the country are willing to fight for the Khitan emperor. Once there is a war, the Khitan emperor can mobilize millions of troops in a short time. "

Tsar Anna was also completely shocked. Apart from the shock, she was also deeply afraid. The power of the "Khitan Empire" in the Far East had exceeded her imagination.

An army of millions!

This is something that Russia would never dare to think about. Even if adult men from all over the country join the battlefield, it would be difficult to gather so many troops.

Moreover, just the financial expenditure to maintain such a large army would cause Russia to collapse and disintegrate in an instant.

Regardless of military strength, territorial area, or financial economy, Tsar Anna felt beaten in all directions.

If at first she thought the Chinese emperor was arrogant and actually dared to declare war with Russia, then now she felt that the other party had the confidence to do so.

Moreover, he only declared war and did not directly send an expeditionary corps to launch an attack. The Chinese emperor was already quite gentle and restrained.

Count Ostermann suddenly asked: "Is there really no serfs left in the Khitan Empire?"

After all, from the perspective of Russia, where 80% of the population are serfs, it is simply incredible that China has no serfs at all.

Bilong nodded: "Yes, it's not just serfs. The Khitan Emperor ordered the abolition of all slaves in the country. Anyone who dares to buy slaves again will be sentenced to exile and death."

Tsar Anna asked: "The Khitan Emperor abolished slavery. Is there no one among the nobles of the Khitan Empire who would oppose him?"

Bilong shook his head: "Anyone who opposes has been executed by the Khitan Emperor and exiled to remote areas to open up wasteland. Even nobles cannot disobey the powerful Khitan Emperor in the Khitan Empire. Moreover, nobles in the Khitan Empire are not allowed to own fiefs. All nobles only have nominal titles, and all power belongs to the Khitan Emperor. Even the governors and lords across the country (provincial system) have their own terms, and they are not allowed to control the army when their terms are up, or they have to leave. If someone commits a crime and commits corruption, he will be deposed and prosecuted by the Khitan Emperor."

When Tsar Anna heard this, she felt a sense of fear for the so-called "Khitan Empire" for no reason. While fearful, he also sincerely admired the Khitan emperor: "All power is concentrated in the emperor. The Khitan emperor is indeed a great oriental monarch."

Bilong still had something to say, that is, unlike Europe and Russia, Chinese nobles could not directly serve as officials. All officials could only be selected through the imperial examination.

But there is no need to say more, because even if Bilong himself is a noble, how can he dig his own grave?

And even if you say it, it's actually of no use.

Seeing that Tsar Anna seemed to be interested in China's centralized power, Count Osterman quickly interrupted his thoughts with an excuse: "Your Majesty, the Khitan Empire is powerful and is no longer as weak and poor as it once was. The Russian Empire has declared war on the Ottomans, and the Empire Our enemies include the Poles and the Swedes, and we can no longer antagonize the powerful Khitan Empire.”

Tsar Anna ignored Count Osterman's little thoughts, and after thinking for a while, nodded and said: "The enemy of the empire is now the Ottomans. It is true that there should no longer be a war with the Khitan Empire, but the Khitan Emperor wants Russian Siberia. This is absolutely unacceptable. Immediately send an order to the remaining military governors in Siberia, asking them to defend with all their strength, not to initiate a war with the Khitans, and to send more food, weapons and Cossacks, and to protect the empire's interests in Siberia."

After Tsar Anna issued the order, she immediately said: "Bilong, you have made great achievements on your mission to the Khitan Empire this time. From now on, I will leave it to you to take charge of the secret criminal investigation department!"

Biron didn't know what the official position of the secret criminal investigation department was, but when he saw Count Ostermann's instantly frozen expression, he realized that he must be a fat clerk. He accepted the order with a smile: "I obey the will of Her Majesty the Queen!"

Count Ostermann was so angry that he finally lost the position of secret criminal investigation department that he had obtained while Biron was away in St. Petersburg with just one word.

But he couldn't fight back immediately, because Bilong was the queen's lover, which was a fact that everyone knew.

Nowadays, a little separation is better than a new marriage...you still have to think about it in the long term.

During the reign of Tsar Anna, although she had many favored ministers, the internal struggles among these favored ministers were fierce in order to compete for power.

Historically, Tsar Anna died less than two years ago, and there were three regents, all of whom were Anna's favorites during her lifetime.

Within the palace of Tsarist Russia, a war without gunpowder is brewing secretly.

Not many people care about Ming China in the Far East.

(End of this chapter)