Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2427 The Duke is not an assistant, but a regent (XVIII) March into the Ural Mountains!

In the first year of Taichang, i.e. in mid-August 1604, after about half a year of reorganization and firearms training, the First Naturalized Cavalry Army successfully passed the review of the Ministry of War, and the imperial edict was read out by the imperial envoy, officially approving the formation of the army.

On the seventh day of September, when the Siberian autumn wind swept across the Tom River with thumb-sized snowflakes, Erdemutu, deputy commander of the First Naturalized Cavalry Army and commander of the Second Regiment, reined in his horse and looked at the rudimentary wooden fortress on the opposite bank - Tomsk.

The Second Regiment of the First Army of Naturalized Cavalry behind him was now divided into twelve cavalry phalanxes, with eight hundred men in each row, holding five-foot-long Wanli Type III flintlock lances, the bronze animal heads on the butts of the lances glowing coldly in the twilight.

"Young prince, the Russian fortress seems to be stronger than the rumors say." Deputy Commander Amida handed the telescope to Erdemutu. Through the telescope, one could see some Russian soldiers nailing logs into the frozen soil, while the muskets and scimitars on the Cossacks' waists were swaying in the cold wind.

Suddenly, there was a commotion on the west side of the fortress. Hundreds of Tatar herdsmen from the frozen land drove their reindeer towards the river, followed by dozens of Russian cavalry.

Erdemutu narrowed his eyes and noticed that the herdsmen's yurts were engulfed in flames. He guessed that the Russian army might be forcing herdsmen from surrounding areas to live in the new city of Tomsk, which led to a conflict with some herdsmen who adhered to tradition. He took a deep breath and smelled the burnt and bloody smell in the air.

"Prepare to engage!" He drew out his saber, and the blade drew an arc in the sunset. Three thousand vanguard cavalry urged their Mongolian horses to rush down the river bank, their hooves crushing the thin ice, and the ice water splashed. The front row of cavalry suddenly reined in their horses and turned around, forming a large team in an oblique line. The cavalry stood up from their stirrups, and eight hundred flintlock rifles were raised to one side at the same time.

"Bang!" The first row of gunfire sounded like thunder, and the Russian horses were overturned by the lead bullets, and seven or eight riders fell into the icy water. Before the Cossacks could react, the second row of cavalry had finished reloading and fired another round of volleys, hitting another dozen unlucky guys, who fell off their horses and didn't know whether they were dead or alive. The Russian front was in chaos, and the remaining riders immediately turned their horses around and fled back to the fortress.

"Chase!" Erdemutu kicked his horse's belly, and the guards followed closely behind. The naturalized cavalry flooded the Tom River like a black tide. The front row of cavalry fired continuously during the charge, and the gunpowder smoke from the barrel condensed into fog on the river surface. Suddenly, a strong wind quickly brushed past Erdemutu's ears. He turned his head and saw a Russian musketeer on the fortress's arrow tower reloading.

"Amida, lead a hundred cavalrymen to go around!" Erdemutu shouted and rode his horse to the left. Amida understood and led a hundred cavalrymen to the east side of the fortress. Erdemutu put an arrow on the bowstring and aimed at the arrow tower. The arrow flew out of the air and hit the musketeer in the throat. The Russian soldier who almost made a great contribution just now fell straight from the arrow tower and fell into the deep snow. Even his body could not be seen.

In the chaos, the arrow tower of the Russian fortress suddenly caught fire. It turned out that the Tatar herdsmen who had fled earlier took advantage of the chaos to set fire to the haystack, which in turn ignited the logs piled nearby for building the city. Erdemutu took the opportunity to lead his troops into the fortress and chopped down two Russian soldiers with his saber. His horse suddenly stood up and kicked a Cossack's sternum with its front hoof.

"Surrender, Russians!" Erdemutu shouted in Mongolian, not caring whether the other party could understand him or not, and put the blade against the throat of a Russian officer. The officer trembled and dropped his weapon, his eyes full of fear.

On that day, the first of the three Russian fortresses in Tomsk changed hands. The Russians saw the opportunity quickly. When they found that the Ming army was much stronger than them and had taken advantage of the chaos to break into the fortress, they decisively abandoned the defense and fled west to another fortress. Erdemutu had important matters to attend to and it was getting late, so he had to order not to pursue them for the time being and to focus on consolidating the fortress first.

Erdemutu felt that this place was too cold. Even if the division commander had prepared enough warm clothes for his troops before the battle, sleeping in the wild would not be a life for human beings. So he decided to divide into two shifts tonight to take turns to guard outside the fortress and sleep inside the fortress.

Just as Erdemutu's cavalry entered the first fortress of Tomsk, the messenger of Boshoktu, the general of the Seven Rivers, was also galloping north on horseback. The bronze bells on the stirrups were wrapped in thick felt, dragging winding tracks on the snow.

"Jinong received a military order from the imperial court, saying that Grand Tutor Gao has ordered the young prince to march west again, and he is now rushing to the newly built Tomsk city of the Russians. My Qihe tribe has been ordered to assist, so Jinong urgently ordered Yile Duqi Taiji to lead his tribe immediately and rush to help overnight!"

The messenger threw the tiger seal and the command arrow to the commander of the Erdemutu army who was in charge of guarding the south gate of Tomsk. The tiger seal was a token of the court, and the command arrow was a token of Jinong. The latter looked at the snow outside the tent and frowned, saying, "The snow is nearly three feet deep. Our troops have just arrived after setting out in advance, but how is Yilduzhe Taiji marching?"

"General, please look!" The messenger pointed to the south, and a few fires appeared in the sky. More than 10,000 cavalrymen of Yilduzhai were wrapped in white felt robes, driving more than a thousand reindeer, with specially made birch sleds on their backs. The bottom of the sled was covered with a special steel blade made by Jinghua, which glowed with a cold blue light under the moonlight.

"This is the sled that Grand Master Gao improved," the messenger took off the cowhide water bag from his waist, "Each sled can carry a thousand pounds and is pulled by ten reindeer." He grinned, "This thing is also equipped with bearings. It is quite exquisite. The ball bearings are filled with whale oil. It is said that it can still rotate even in extremely cold places."

At this time, Yile Duqi had also arrived. He reined in his reindeer and took off his fox fur hat to wipe the icicles from his beard. His mount was a six-foot-tall Siberian reindeer with red silk wrapped around its antlers - this was a trophy given to him by Erdemutu when he defeated the Kazakhs last year.

"The young prince's previous messenger said that the Russians in Tomsk only have 300 musketeers. Is this news true?" he asked Erdemutu's deputy commander Amida.

"That's right, Taiji." The deputy commander nodded, but then explained, "But their fortress is built at the bend of the Tom River, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Moreover, there are only a few musketeers, but there are still many infantrymen who can shoot arrows, and there are also an unknown number of Cossacks."

"I know. Where is the young prince?" Yileduqi asked.

"Inside the fort, I am waiting for you, Taiji... I thought I would have to wait a few more days, but I didn't expect Taiji to arrive today."

Yile Duqi waved his hand to stop Amidah's flattery, and walked away, "Let's stop talking nonsense. I'm going to discuss tomorrow's battle with the young prince."

That night, Erdemutu and Ildukzi had agreed that they would each capture the remaining two Russian fortresses the next day, but unexpectedly, before they were about to mobilize their troops for battle the next day, scouts suddenly came to report that the Russians had escaped.

It is not surprising that the Russian army fled. Erdemutu and Ilduqi each led more than 10,000 cavalrymen, and their total strength was at least five times that of the Russian army. How could they fight?

You know, this Russian army had fought with them last year, and of course they knew that this group of Mongols was not easy to deal with - last year they had no muskets, only a very small number of artillery (a small number of Ming army artillery battalions approved by Gao Youshi), and the Russian army barely repelled them by surprise. In today's fight, tens of thousands of Mongolian cavalry were equipped with muskets. Obviously, there was no fight, so they had to retreat first. "You want to run away? I haven't accomplished anything, I can't let the Russians run away!" Ile Duqi was so angry that he drew out his scimitar and chopped off an icicle. The blade drew a silver arc in the moonlight: "Send a message to all units, the sled team goes first, and the cavalry follows closely." He pointed in the direction casually, "Take a detour from the tributaries of the Ob River to avoid the Russian scouts."

Ileduqi hurriedly chased after them, and Erdemutu did not dare to stay long. He left 1,500 men to guard three fortresses, and hurried out with the main force... However, he and Ileduqi thought of the same thing. It would be better to chase them separately. After all, their own forces were much superior, and they were not afraid of any ambush.

The team marched until midnight, and the snowstorm suddenly intensified. Yile Duqi's felt robe was covered with ice. He took out the frozen mare's milk from his leather bag, knocked off a piece with the back of his knife and stuffed it into his mouth. "When the eldest son went on the Western Expedition, I thought it would be just like this, right?" He smiled to his deputy.

Suddenly, dogs barked in the front. More than 20 Siberian sled dogs pulled the supply cart out from behind the snow hill. The driver was a Tatar with a full beard. "General, there are cracks in the ice ahead!" The driver shouted in Mongolian.

The name "Tatar" was originally a general term used by the Mongols to refer to the Turkic-speaking nomads in Siberia and Central Asia. Later, the Russians and even Westerners accepted this name and included the Mongols themselves in it... I don't know what to say.

Yile Duqi rode forward and saw a crack about ten feet wide on the ice of the Ob River tributary. "Build a pontoon bridge!" he ordered. The soldiers quickly unloaded the folding pontoon bridge components from the sled and nailed the special ice anchors into the cracks on both sides. A quarter of an hour later, the pontoon bridge was built and the team continued to move forward. It must be said that Gao Fusi prepared good equipment for them and was quite foresighted.

While Yileduqi was grateful in his heart, he certainly could not have imagined Gao Youshi's true intention - as long as the Mongols relied on the Ming army's firearms and advanced logistical equipment, it would be like someone who is used to walking on the main road, it would be difficult for him to go back to the small road.

This means that the Mongols' dependence on the Ming Dynasty will only grow heavier, and in the future they can only honestly integrate with the Ming Dynasty, become a breeding ground for the Ming Dynasty's cavalry, and continuously provide high-quality cavalry.

Of course, being one with the Ming Dynasty is good for both sides, as they can learn from each other's strengths and make up for their weaknesses. It is not like the Ming Dynasty is exploiting them. This Little Ice Age is no joke. If you don't get along with the Ming Dynasty, you will go hungry for nine meals in three days. If you get along with the Ming Dynasty, you will be provided with nine meals in three days. Even a fool knows which choice to make.

At dawn, the smoke ahead was clearly visible. Ilduzzi stood on a snowy hill, observing the enemy with a telescope. "Erdemutu, this kid, must want to take all the credit for himself." He snorted coldly, secretly envious of Erdemutu's good luck, who actually found the Russian army first, so he had to give an order, "Send a message to all the troops, the sled team disperses, and the cavalry prepares to charge!"

More than 10,000 cavalrymen deployed on the snowy plain, their white felt robes blending into the snow. Yile Duqi drew out the Wanli II flintlock musket - yes, the Qihe tribe was not treated as well as the Shunyi Wang tribe, they used the old model eliminated by the Ming army - the inscription "Jinghua made" on the butt of the musket flickered in the morning light.

"For the sake of the... imperial court!" He shouted loudly and rode his horse down the snow hill first.

More than 50 miles west of Tomsk is a fortress built by the Russian army when it advanced eastward. It was used as a forward base at the time, but now it has become a necessary place for retreat. Inside the fortress, Gavrila Ivanovich, who had been appointed as the military and political chief of the Russian army in Tomsk, hid behind the arrow tower and trembled as he lit the matchlock.

The smell of sulfur mixed with snow particles penetrated his nose. There were only two hundred Cossack guards left, and the dense gunfire of the Ming army was still roaring outside the wall. Suddenly, a lead bullet penetrated the wooden board of the arrow tower, brushed past his ear, and left a charred bullet hole on the birch bark map behind him.

"General, the Ming army's muskets can be fired in the wind and snow!" A Cossack lieutenant rolled to his side, with thin ice in the musket's powder pool. Gavrila looked at the cavalrymen rushing in from the other side, with bronze animal heads flashing on their musket stocks - the unique mark of the Beijing flintlock musket.

"Load!" Gavrila roared, prying open the frozen gunpowder can with a dagger. His matchlock gun was a "Zygmunt" type imported from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the barrel was engraved with an Orthodox cross after post-processing (because Poland believes in Catholicism). But at this moment, the ignition powder in the powder tank was granulated at low temperature, and the matchlock became difficult to ignite due to moisture.

Outside the wall, the Ming army shouted in Mongolian: "Put down your weapons, and you will not die!" Gavrila could understand some simple Mongolian, so his face was naturally not good. He looked through the arrow slits and saw that Erdemutu's personal guards had rushed to the moat. The cavalry finished reloading during the charge, and the fire from the three rows of volleys reflected the river red.

"How did they do it?" the Cossack lieutenant asked in surprise. Gavrila's face was as gloomy as water. He had heard that the French had invented a flintlock musket, but because the firing rate was very problematic, the regular army did not have a large number of them.

However, the Ming army's flintlock rifles had undergone some sort of improvement, and were not affected by the wind and snow. On the other hand, although their own matchlock rifles were considered advanced in Eastern Europe, they still required a continuously burning matchlock, and were almost unusable in the extremely cold environment of Siberia.

"Break out!" Gavrila grabbed his sword and rushed down the arrow tower. Just as he was about to shout, a bayonet suddenly appeared from the side and pressed against his throat. He realized at this moment that the naturalized cavalry had already dismounted and climbed up the wooden wall and entered the fortress. They controlled the situation with their numerical advantage, and the bayonets of countless flintlock rifles were pressed against the chests of almost every Russian soldier.

"Put down your weapon and I'll spare your life." Amidah shouted, and the bronze wolf on the butt of the gun reflected Gavrila's distorted face. "Do you understand?"

"I am an officer of His Majesty the Tsar..." Before Gavrila finished speaking in a strange Mongolian voice, the butt of Amidah's gun had already hit him on the head. Blood flowed down his forehead, mixed with ice and snow and condensed into red ice crystals.

"Take him away!" Amida handed the prisoner to his subordinates and turned to look towards the city.
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