Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 519: Invasion of Beiming (Special thanks to book friend Houmulajiang for 2 monthly tickets!)

At the banquet that night, the emperor and his ministers were all having a great time, and Chai Zongxun repeatedly expressed his determination that "he would never kill a single Mayan."

At the end of the Hai Hour Banquet, the Mayan envoys were settled in the outer courtyard of the palace.

The next day, Chai Zongxun favored the Mayan princess Tifa in the harem, and immediately issued an edict to appoint her as a concubine, and selected six girls from twenty Mayan tribes to enter the palace.

As for the remaining girls, three were given as rewards to "King of Elegance" Chai Jijun, and the rest were given to the ministers.

After the Lantern Festival, on January 18th of the 41st year of Kaixi, He Yao, the chief eunuch of the palace, set out for Tikka with the Mayan envoys, accompanied by a thousand imperial guards, carrying the emperor's edict conferring the title of "Maya Prince", as well as many production tools and rare treasures.

On February 25th of the 41st year of Kaixi, He Yao and Chen Bing met up with Zhang Ning's unit of the 5th Corps of the Longxiang Army and Cao Kefan's unit of the 10th Corps, 20 miles outside the city of Tikka.

He Yao told the two generals about Emperor Chai Zongxun's strategy for ruling the Mayans, saying:

"My two governors, His Majesty has ordered that the surrendered subjects of the Mayan Empire be treated well, their tribes be allowed to govern themselves, and all taxes be exempted temporarily. All that is required is to disarm them.

After the Great Zhou government has developed this place for a few years, we will start levying taxes.

After the two governors stabilized the situation, they led their troops to the Great Lakes to assist the four corps of the Longxiang Army in encircling and suppressing the Liao Army.

After the mission is accomplished, I will immediately lead the Fifth and Tenth Corps to Xinshangjing to meet the Emperor."

The three men reached an agreement immediately and after lunch, they led the army into the city of Tikka and took over the city defense.

The Mayan Emperor Kamu led the priests to wait in front of the city gate and welcomed the Great Zhou Angel into the palace.

He Yao read the imperial edict to the Mayan monarch and his ministers, conferred the title of "Maya Prince" on Kamu, who would be his hereditary successor, and delivered a large amount of rewards from the emperor.

He Yao said:
"Your Majesty has ordered that the Mayans only need to surrender their army and continue to live as usual, with each tribe governing itself and all taxes temporarily exempted.

In the future, the government will send people to teach you various production skills so that you can build a beautiful home."

Kamu and others were overjoyed when they heard this. Even in wars between Mayan tribes, the people of the defeated side were often reduced to slaves by the victors. How could the Mayan people not be convinced by the Zhou Emperor's benevolent rule?

As a result, all the tribes cooperated with the Zhou army and disbanded their armies.

He Yao stayed in Tikka City for more than half a month. Seeing that everything was going smoothly under his control, he set off for Xinshangjing in early March.

On the seventh day of April in the forty-first year of Kaixi, the military situation in the northwest Ming was urgently reported to the Crown Prince Chai Jiyu of Bian Jing.

Since the Northwest Ming mobilized a corps to Maya at the end of last year, only one army is left in more than 50 states.

The rapid decline in the Great Zhou's military strength was soon noticed by the hunters of Kievan Rus.

The predatory Kievan Rus people soon began to invade the Zhou territory in large groups, killing local Han people and natives and looting their property.

After the development in the past decade, especially with the increase in the number of Han immigrants heading to Beiming, a large number of fertile fields, pastures and fisheries have been reclaimed in Beiming.

Although the climate here is cold, the hardworking Han people have accumulated considerable wealth through years of hard work.

The news that the Russian bandits returned with a full load from the Eastern Zhou quickly spread throughout the country, causing more and more Russian people to head to the northwestern Ming area to plunder.

Although the local Longxiang garrison tried their best to suppress the bandits and patrolled near the border every day, annihilating the Russians on sight, they were ultimately unable to defend the long border line of the "Longxiang Mountains" because they had too few troops.

Over the course of a year, the Russians' looting intrusions into Zhou territory intensified, with more than 50,000 Russians forming groups and wreaking havoc in Zhou territory.

These Russian bandits knew they were no match for the powerful and well-armed Great Zhou Longxiang Army. Although their numbers were several times greater than the Zhou army, they did not dare to engage in battle. When they saw the Zhou army from a distance, they would flee. When they encountered the people of Great Zhou, the Russian bandits were extremely vicious, often killing all the men and abducting women, girls and children to take back to their country as slaves.

In the 40th year of Kaixi, the Northwest Underworld Officials reported that more than 100,000 people were killed by Russian bandits, nearly 200,000 women and children were abducted, and the property loss was equivalent to more than 3 million taels.

Seeing the seriousness of the situation, local officials and garrison troops submitted a memorial to the imperial court.

After reading the memorial in the Yangxin Palace, Chai Jiyu flew into a rage, and deeply regretted not accepting the advice of the Chief Military Assistant Huyan Zan and transferring troops from Beiming, resulting in a lack of troop forces.

My experience in politics is still too shallow.

Chai Jiyu sighed:
"General Manager Tang, I was not careful enough and this has led to a disaster for the people. If the emperor knew about this, he would be furious and disappointed in me!
What to do now? "

Tang Qi, who was standing by his side, comforted him:

“Don’t worry, Your Highness.

On that day, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince mobilized a corps of troops from the North Sea in order to fulfill His Majesty's wish to conquer the Mayan continent as soon as possible. How could His Majesty blame His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?

I just never expected that the Kievan Rus were so brutal and arrogant. As the defeated generals of the Eastern Roman Empire, how dare they invade our Great Zhou?
As of now, the army that marched south to Angkor has already occupied three-quarters of the country's territory, and it will take at most half a year to achieve complete victory.

Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince can first dispatch one of the two corps stationed in Bian Jing to the northwest to annihilate the Kievan Rus bandits and save the people!

It will only take a few months for the army to return from the expedition to Angkor, and with the Imperial Guards, the Military Virtue Division, and the Dragon Army Corps stationed in Bianjing, there will be no danger. "

The next morning at court, the emperor and his ministers discussed the matter.

The chief military minister Hu Yanzan came out and said:

"Your Highness, the Kievan Rus are extremely cruel. If we don't beat them to the point of wanting to die, they will invade our country and burn, kill and plunder if they get a chance.

I think we should recruit soldiers from all over the country, expand two to four corps to ensure that we have enough manpower, and then send a large army to attack Kievan Rus in one fell swoop! "

Chai Jiyu pondered and said:

"I regret not listening to Prime Minister Huyan's advice! I never thought the Kievan Rus were so cruel and brutal. They killed so many people in my Great Zhou in just one year!

Kievan Rus must pay with blood!
However, expanding the army is a matter of great importance to the country, and I should not make any decision without the permission of my father.

My intention is that the victory of the expedition against Angkor is imminent, and we should immediately dispatch the 17th Longxiang Army stationed in Bianjing to the northwest to wipe out the invading Kievan Rus and save the local people from danger. "

After several days of preparation, the 17th Corps of the Longxiang Army set out from Bian Jing on April 12.

At this time, the Great Zhou straight road had been built to the North Ming, passing through Jinzhou, Zubuzhou, Xiajiasi and other places. On July 20th, more than three months later, it arrived at the largest city in the Northwest Ming, "Huyan Zan City".

After two days of rest, the 17th Corps launched a large-scale battle, dividing its troops into several groups to clear out the Kievan Rus bandits who were killing and looting in groups throughout the territory.

In February, the campaign was carried out, and more than 30,000 Kievan Rus were wiped out, and more than 10,000 others fled back to their country.

The soldiers of the 17th Corps originally wanted to chase across the "Longxiong Mountains" and enter the territory of Kievan Rus, but they stopped because they did not receive an imperial edict and did not dare to start a war between the two countries.

When the Kievan Rus saw that the Zhou army did not pursue them into the country, they thought that the Zhou army was afraid of going to war with their country, and they became even more arrogant. They just waited for the Zhou army to make any mistakes and then sneaked into the Zhou territory to plunder.

(End of this chapter)