The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 252 The new situation in the Caspian Sea
On March 1731, 3, spring has arrived, but the temperature has not yet risen. In the season when spring is returning to warmth, I can feel the continuous rain in the rain season, giving everything a refreshing rain, and the breath of life sprouts in the cold spring.

Although the temperature is as cold as winter, the recovery of all things has begun. They are growing upwards regardless of all costs, quietly sprouting, breaking out of the shell, rushing out of the soil, revealing the color of life. The power of growing toward the sun is immeasurable. Grow up slowly.

The weeping willows growing along the Ejil River (today's Volga River) are already looking extraordinarily green, and the new buds exposed have bloomed under the nourishment of the spring rain, and they are growing one by one, like a tree. The jade necklace is particularly dazzling.

In this early spring, everything seems to be filled with vitality, showing that a new Mongol Khanate has a brilliant beginning.

However, in the city of Astrakhan, thick smoke billowed into the sky, adding a bit of disharmony to all this beauty.

Liu Yanqi, the person in charge of the Astrakhan branch of the Qi State Black Guards and Xuangjie Colonel (major), was riding a horse and stopped on one side of the street corner, looking coldly at the relatively majestic Holy Trinity. The church was engulfed in raging fire, and countless Turgut people around it cheered and jumped for joy, as if this fire would destroy in one fell swoop the centuries of humiliation suffered by the Russians.

Although the cathedral looks much plainer than the royal palace across the street, it is still a large and complex complex from the perspective of craftsmanship.

Back then, in order to change the religious beliefs of the Torgut people, the Russians spent huge sums of money to "aid" in building this sacred church, hoping to convert these ignorant and barbaric people into "civilized people."

Today, the proud and unrestrained Torgut people took advantage of Russia's internal and external difficulties, and with the support of the Qi people and the Persians, they got rid of the bullying and oppression of the Russians for a century and officially declared their independence.

Well, from the perspective of the Turgut people, there is no clear concept of whether to establish a country or not. It is nothing more than relying on the Russians in the past and now relying on the Qi people and the Persians.

What made the Torgut tribe even more frightened was that after the Qibo coalition defeated the Russian army, one of them entered the Makhachkala area, the traditional grazing land of the Torgut tribe. It seemed that they were going to plunder the northern coast of the Caspian Sea and invade the Turgut tribe. Special Department.

More than a hundred years ago (1625), the leader of the Torgut tribe and Orlek did not want to get involved in the internal disputes and turmoil of the Oirat Mongolia. Baturhuntaiji annexed it, so he took his six sons and more than herdsmen from the three tribes of Turgut, Heshuote and Duerbot to embark on the long journey to the west.

They abandoned their hometown of Junggar and headed towards the sunset, continuously conquering the Tatar tribes along the way, and finally arrived at their destination - the Egil River Basin in 1630.

During the reign of Ayuqi Khan, the leader of the Torgut tribe, he used all kinds of methods to oppress and enslave the Russians. He never recognized the suzerainty over Russia, and repeatedly stated that the Torgut tribe was just a The "allies" of the Russians resolutely maintain their independence.

However, just when the Torgut Ministry was developing in such a humble way and struggling to survive, it encountered a huge external crisis in recent years.

At that time, the Ezil River had not yet been controlled by Russia. At first, the Russian nation, which had not yet risen, had equal exchanges with the Torgut tribe who had just moved here. The Torghut people grazed and lived on the banks of the Ezil River. Be independent of the world.

Regarding the unequal treaties that the Russians forced Ayuqi Khan to sign, he never seriously implemented them. Instead, he prevaricated, perfunctory, and was extremely diplomatic, leaving the tsarist government helpless.

In order to obtain external support, the Torgut Ministry also strengthened close ties with the Junggar Khanate. Ayuqi Khan married his daughter to Galdan's nephew Cewang Alabutan, and actively supported the other party to obtain the power of the Junggar Khanate. Dominance, as a way to counter the coercion of the Russians.

Later, I saw that the lords and tribal leaders in the city did not stop him, but instead indulged and encouraged him in words and deeds. Immediately, the residents became more and more courageous, and eventually evolved into throwing garbage and urine at the church. They also beat church clergy who were alone when they went out, and shouted to them to get out of Astrakhan.

The house leaked and it rained all night. Four years ago (1727), the Junggar Khanate, which the Turgut tribe relied on for support, was defeated by the Qin State in the east. Not only did it lose tens of thousands of elite Khanate soldiers, but it also lost its foundation. The land - Ili, fled to the Issyk-Kul grassland (today's Almaty area) in embarrassment, and the situation was once precarious.

Today, these daring Turguts actually started to set fire to the church, venting their hatred against the Russians in a hysterical way.

Five years ago, at the strong request of the Russians, the Torgut Ministry had to send 4,000 soldiers to join the Russian army's combat sequence and go to the nearby Caucasus to launch a war against the Persians.

Under such oppression, the strength of the Torgut tribe has been exhausted to the extreme. If this continues, they are likely to face the fate of extermination.

The most egregious thing is that Tsarist Russia arbitrarily recruited young men from Torgut to participate in Tsarist Russia's external expansion war. They put the Torgut soldiers at the forefront and served as their cannon fodder. A large number of Torgut warriors sacrificed their innocent lives in wars that had nothing to do with the tribe, and the population of the Torgut tribe began to decrease.

After more than a year of brutal fighting, almost all of the more than 4,000 brave Torgut warriors fell under the guns of the Qibo coalition forces or the scimitars of the Persian cavalry. After the two sides ceased fighting and signed a peace treaty, they were finally safe. Only more than 700 Torgut people returned to their hometown, which was the tribe's heaviest loss in the war for Russia in the past years.

However, in the Battle of the Kula River, more than 40,000 Russian troops, including the Torgut troops, were defeated by the Qibo coalition forces and suffered heavy losses. In the subsequent series of battles, in order to get rid of the pursuit of the coalition forces, the Russian army continuously assigned soldiers from the Turgut Department to block the rear and cover the Russian army's escape.

By the 18s, the population of the Torghut tribe had dropped sharply from more than 30 people in households at its peak more than years ago to more than people in more than households.

However, with the rapid expansion of Tsarist Russia, the Torgut tribe gradually began to be treated as vassals and subjects by Tsarist Russia. The Cossack cavalry of Tsarist Russia constantly harassed, occupied and reduced their land, extorted property, forced tribute, and even forced the Torgut tribe to believe in Orthodox Christianity. This made it difficult for the Torgut tribe who believed in Buddhism. accept.

As early as a few months ago, some bold residents threw stones and vegetable leaves at the church, and even verbally insulted the priest in the church.

In agricultural civilization, wealth means how much land you own, but in nomadic civilization, population is a symbol of power. And due to the Tsar's "not caring about the power of the people" - of course, Tsarist Russia did not rule out the intention of consuming the population through this move in order to strengthen its control over the Torgut Ministry.

This cathedral, which symbolizes the Russian colonization and enslavement of the Turgut people, naturally became the target of venting.

In panic, Chelingduan Dobu Khan, who had just succeeded to the throne for a short time, recruited a large number of tribal warriors to respond to the invasion of the coalition forces and protect the safety of the tribe. At the same time, he sent an envoy to visit the coalition commanders and stated that he had no intention of confronting Qi and Persia. It was only due to the coercion of the Russians that tribal soldiers had to be sent to participate in the battle.

It is not known whether the coalition forces believed the words of the Torgut envoy or were limited by insufficient troops. After looting the northwest area of ​​the Caspian Sea for several days, the coalition forces turned their forces and headed towards the middle reaches of the Manech River, preparing to follow. The Crimean Khanate fighting in the Don River Basin attacked and mopped up the remaining Russian troops.

Just when the Torgut tribe had just relaxed their tense nerves and secretly rejoiced that the war was over, the greedy and cruel Russians sent another envoy, asking them to contribute another 3,000 tribal warriors to Moscow to resist Invading Swedes.

Che Lingduan Duobu Khan had a heated debate with many princes and nobles at the Zargu Conference (similar to the Qing Dynasty's meeting of kings and ministers), and finally reached an agreement, that is, to ignore the Russian recruitment for the time being. Take a wait-and-see approach to the ongoing Russo-Swedish war.

If the Russians are beaten by the Swedes until they cannot take care of themselves and their strength is greatly reduced, then naturally there is no need to pay attention to them anymore. We Torgut people will tighten the fence and live our own small lives.

If the Russians gain the upper hand in the war, they will dispatch two to three thousand tribal warriors in due course to continue to express the "alliance (dependence)" relationship between the two sides.

However, the tree wants to be quiet but the wind keeps on.

The Turgut tribe wanted to stay out of the matter, hang high, and continue their fence-sitting attitude. However, the Qi people and the Persians, who had achieved unprecedented victory in the Caucasus, did not want to see a wallflower swaying in the wind in the Caspian Sea.

On August 1730, 8, two months after Sweden won the Battle of Riga, a mission from Persia arrived in the city of Astrakhan, where the royal court of Turgut was located.

This mission was composed of Persians and Qi people. The purpose of coming here was very clear, that is, to immediately let the Torgut Ministry express its position.

Should you continue to follow the Russians into battle and serve as cannon fodder for their war, or should you sever all relations with the Russians and become an alliance partner of Qi and Persia.

If you choose the former, the tens of thousands of Qibo Allied Forces stationed in Shirfan will not mind crossing the Caucasus Mountains, attacking the Torgut tribe, and wiping out your tribe or driving them out of the Ezil River, which has been inhabited and multiplied for more than a hundred years. watershed. If the latter is chosen, then the Torgut Ministry will become a close ally of Qi and Persia, and will not only receive military protection from the two countries, but also receive continuous economic support from the two countries.

You are a nomadic tribe with a population of only about 300,000. Under the care of the powerful Qi State, just a little bit of your fingers can make earth-shaking changes in the lives of you miserable Mongolians.

Not long after, the Qi people, who obviously played a leading role in the entire mission, said that if the Torhut Ministry was willing to sever the "alliance" relationship with the Russians and instead form an alliance with Qi and Bo, then they would fully support the Turhut Ministry. The Special Department established a centralized Mongol Khanate.

Hearing this promise, Che Lingduan Duobu Khan was immediately excited.

It is not important for the establishment of a Mongol Khanate, but the ability to bring the power of tribes to the "center" and become a centralized modern country is what Che Lingduan Dobu Khan yearns for.

At that time, Galdan unified the Oirat tribe and established the centralized Junggar Khanate. In the following period, he conquered the east and west, almost restoring the supreme glory of the Mongols in the past. If the Torgut tribe did not have any idea about this, Envy or jealousy is definitely self-deception.

The whole clan moved to the Ezil River Basin. After decades and hundreds of years of reproduction, the Torgut Tribe was repeatedly recruited by the Russians and fought for its expansion, losing a lot of people.

But for now, in the entire Caspian Sea region, the Torgut tribe is considered a very powerful separatist force with a strength of 50,000 troops. Even if it cannot be compared with the Persian Safavid Empire, it does not dare to compete with the Russians, but To some extent, it can also compete with the fragmented Kazakh Khanate.

If the Torgut tribe establishes an independent country with the support of Qi and Persia, will they be able to use their strength to continuously expand eastward, then penetrate Kazakhstan, and finally connect to their beloved hometown of Oirat?

Therefore, after a slight hesitation, the Torgut tribe, which wanted to establish a country (depend on it), immediately agreed to the proposal of an alliance with Qibo, stopped paying tribute to Russia, and began to prepare for the establishment of a country.

The support provided by Qi and Bo to the Torgut Ministry was not empty talk. After signing a series of cooperation agreements, Qi State donated a large number of Russian weapons captured on the Caucasus battlefield to the Torgut Ministry free of charge.

In the following months, Qi State provided another 20,000 yuan in free aid and 50,000 yuan in low-interest loans to the Torgut tribe, which they used to reform their internal affairs and repair the royal city-- As the ruling center of the Turgut tribe, Astrakhan is actually a herdsman settlement surrounded by a fence, and it doesn't look like a capital at all.

In order to reorganize the armed forces of the Torgut Department, Qi State also sent more than ten professional officers and non-commissioned officers to guide and train the newly formed Kingdom's standing army.

That's right, now that the country has been founded, we can no longer rely on the nomadic tribes period. When a war comes, we use the model of all people as soldiers, recruit a large number of herdsmen, wield knives, ride horses, and pounce on them. .

Times have changed, and the military organizational model must also change. There is no way a group of herdsmen with no combat experience can fight each other with a modern army armed to the teeth. That is not a war, it is simply a death wish.

You may not have seen how vulnerable the once tough nomadic cavalry were to the new armies equipped with artillery and muskets, whether in the ancient East or the vast southern Russian grasslands.

Russia, Torgut's close neighbor, has been experiencing a steady upward trend in national power for more than a century. Even though it was bullied by the Poles and beaten by the Swedes, its population, economy, and armaments continued to improve. It was finally able to achieve a strong rise during the Peter I period, dominate the Baltic Sea, and expand its territory to the west.

The rapid growth of Russia's national power and its increasingly manifest military expansion ambitions have put a heavy pressure on the surrounding forces and brought them more fear.

Although the Torgut tribe is backward in civilization and slow to respond, they also feel a strong threat from the increasingly aggressive Russian attitude.

The Turguts knew very well that the Russian Empire probably could not eat them in one bite - of course, if they were determined to pay some price, it would not be to swallow them. But if time goes by, with their population of three to four hundred thousand, as the Russians slowly encroach and continue to weaken, they will definitely not be able to hold on in the end.

And now, while the Russians are facing internal and external troubles, and with the strong support of Qi and Persia, why not hurry up and find a backer.

Although we have the support of Qi and Bo, we cannot leave our own safety to others. We have to strengthen our armaments.

Although the large number of matchlocks, flintlocks and bronze artillery they accepted were basically backward equipment captured from the Russians and handed over by the Qi people, for the Turghuts, they were definitely rare "sophisticated weapons" .

Having been living in the Ezil River (today's Volga River) basin for more than a hundred years, they were unable to equip themselves with advanced firearms in large quantities. They could only occasionally pick up some hot weapons from the fingers of the Russians, and even provide tribal warriors with help. The Russians have always had a miserable life fighting wars and exchanging their lives for firearms.

The people of Qi State sold tens of thousands of firearms, half sold and half given to the Turhut people. It was really a windfall for them. At least, in the future, when facing the threat of force from the Russians, we can straighten our backs a little.

Of course, this undoubtedly provided more confidence when they moved eastward to conquer other nomadic tribes as well as the Kazakhs.

Since they have invested in Qi and Persia, the Torguts should naturally know how to choose and make decisions in foreign and domestic affairs.

They accepted the opinions of the people of Qi and regarded the Safavid Empire of Persia as their nominal suzerainty, but they still regarded traditional Tibetan Buddhism as the only belief in the country.

Although the Persians felt a little embarrassed at this point, the Qi people who were more talkative supported their choice.

After several months of dealing with the Qi State and the Persians, the Turgut people gradually figured out that although the Persians tried their best to show themselves as a superior big country, in many important matters, they always behaved like the Qi people. It seems that all arrangements are based on Qi Guo's lead.

Co-author, Persia is such a big empire, but it is also a small follower of Qi!

Although the Qi people put forward a series of suggestions for internal affairs reform and the establishment of a modern national government, which were highly valued by Chelingduan Duobu Khan, they were limited by the existing primitive grassland tribal democratic system of the Turgut tribe. Time was temporarily put on hold.

Deep down in his heart, Che Lingduan Duobu Khan was actually very much in favor of the national centralism proposed by the Qi people, which was to transfer all the power of local lords and tribal chiefs to the "central government", thereby strengthening his own authority and becoming a true kingdom dictatorship. monarch.

But the reality does not allow it!

Those Zhargu Council elders, local lords, and tribal chiefs all control a large number of people and wealth. If their power is easily taken away, it will definitely cause civil strife in the Turgut tribe. Then the new Astrakhan The kingdom will immediately fall apart.

In this case, we can only figure it out slowly.

As the person in charge of the Black Guards station in Astrakhan, Liu Yanqi was ordered by his superiors to help the Turghut people form an internal police force in the name of military advisor to carry out the attack on the city of Astrakhan. Settlement mode management.

If you want to strengthen centralization, you should first work hard to build the capital of the kingdom and slowly move the main population and resources of this nomadic kingdom to the city. The best thing is to turn into a half-pastoral and half-cultivating way of life and production, gradually fading away the ignorance and ignorance of the nomads.

As time goes by, the settled population of the kingdom will increase day by day, and the wealth and resources will gradually increase. When the strength of the royal court is strong enough, then with the support of Qi State and Persia, the Kingdom of Astrakhan will eventually A strong central government will be formed and then transformed into a modern and civilized country.

Qi will also use this to extend its power to the north shore of the Caspian Sea, thereby consolidating and strengthening Qi's influence in the Caucasus.
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(End of this chapter)