Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2428: The Duke is not an assistant, but a regent (XIX) "Mountain and River Defense Line" Plan

Although the Russian command center was destroyed, the fighting outside the city did not actually stop, because Amida led the elite troops directly into the castle. When the rest of the Russian troops discovered this, they did not collapse or surrender collectively. Instead, under the leadership of several officers, they fought their way out from other gates still under their control.

Erdemutu was somewhat surprised by the tenacity of the Russian army - he didn't know that the tenacity of the Russian army came from their fear and hatred of the word "Mongolia".

What Erdemutu didn't know was that in the collective memory of the Russian nation, the word "Mongolia" has always been closely linked to the "Tatar yoke" that lasted for two and a half centuries.

Since Batu Khan established the Golden Horde during his westward expedition in the 13th century, the Russian principalities have been caught in the shadow of Mongol rule. Princes and nobles had to submit to the Khan and pay heavy taxes. Even the dethronement and enthronement of the Grand Duke depended on the will of the Khan of the Golden Horde.

This sense of humiliation of being conquered is deeply engraved in the blood of the Russians. From the time when Ivan IV overthrew the Tatar rule to the turbulent period of this moment - the end of the Rurik dynasty and the establishment of the Romanov dynasty - "Mongolia" is undoubtedly the most vigilant symbol on Russia's road to eastward expansion.

When the Russian army saw the naturalized cavalry in Tomsk wearing animal-head helmets, wielding sabers, and using Ming army flintlock rifles which were more advanced than their Polish matchlock rifles, what came to their eyes was not the most authentic "First Naturalized Cavalry Army" of the Ming Dynasty at that moment, but the Mongolian cavalry that swept across Europe and Asia in their memories.

Just like the Cossack lieutenant who led the defeated army out of the castle, on the scabbard of the saber he held tightly in his hand was engraved the family motto left by his grandfather: "A Tatar's saber will not become dull by prayer" - this is actually a warning that has been circulating among the Russian people for more than 1572 years since Kuchum Khan, a descendant of Genghis Khan, failed in his counterattack on Kazan in .

The fathers of the Russian soldiers who broke out of the castle's side gate may have participated in the campaign to conquer the Siberian Khanate in 1598, and they knew that once the Mongolian cavalry broke through the defense line, they would massacre the villages and towns, just like their ancestors. This fear of "Tatar-style revenge" made them prefer to freeze their toes off in the snow at minus degrees Celsius to escape from the warm castle, or pull the trigger of the matchlock with frozen fingers.

More importantly, the Russian Orthodox Church has long regarded Mongol rule as "God's test for the Russians", and the image of the "Yellow Peril" on church murals has never faded.

When Gavrila's Cossack Guards discovered that the newcomers were "Mongols", religious fanaticism and historical hatred produced a strange chemical reaction - they firmly believed that surrender would only bring an end more cruel than the gallows of Ivan the Terrible.

This collective unconscious fear allowed the remaining Russian troops to spontaneously form teams and flee after losing their command center. Later, when they discovered that they could not escape the pursuit of the Mongolian cavalry, they formed a circle and built a defense line with the wreckage of artillery towed by sled dogs. Some soldiers even drew anti-Mongol Orthodox icons on birch bark with their blood before they died, praying for the protection of "Holy Russia."

For the Russian army, the resistance at this moment has already surpassed military significance. Every fallen Russian soldier and Cossack is repeating the oath of the princes of Kievan Rus three hundred years ago: "I would rather let the ice and snow freeze my heart than let the Tatar whip touch the cross."

This hatred, deeply rooted in the national memory, has stained the remaining snow in Tomsk with an almost paranoid tenacity - even if the command center has been destroyed, the logs and boulders removed from the city walls will still hit the Mongolian cavalry formations as accurately as possible, just like when Alexander Nevsky smashed the shields of the Teutonic Knights on the frozen lake.

However, the "Tatars" they were fighting against this time had already changed into Ming Dynasty armor and carried flintlock rifles that were more terrifying than their ancestors. Perhaps, just as "Tatar sabers will not become dull due to prayer", the Ming Dynasty's flintlock rifles will not show mercy due to God's blessing.

Ilduzzi's reinforcements had arrived from the northeast, with more than 10,000 cavalrymen deployed in a fan-shaped formation on the snowy plain. The Ming army's flintlock rifles and the Cossacks' matchlock rifles fired at each other, the former's fire formed a line, while the latter's were just sporadic flashes.

"Young prince, the Russians' matchlock guns have misfired!" A scout cavalryman came back to report. Erdemutu laughed and patted the Wanli three-style flintlock musket on his waist: "Tell the brothers, free shooting!"

The naturalized cavalry let out a roar like a tsunami. The front-row cavalry followed the instructions of the instructors who were transferred from the Imperial Guards by Gao Youshi to the Naturalized Cavalry First Army. They dismounted from their horses when the battle turned into a positional battle, and knelt on one knee to shoot. The back-row cavalry passed by them, and while encircling them, they also loaded ammunition on the move. Even the Ming army itself could not do this, and only a nation that started learning to ride horses when they could not even walk steadily could do it.

The Ming army's "wheel-shooting tactics" were taught by the instructors of the Imperial Guards. The Second Regiment of the First Army of Naturalized Cavalry used it to unleash terrifying lethality in the wind and snow.

When Gavrila was dragged to the city wall, a Mongolian general of the Ming army handed him a telescope. He subconsciously took it and took a look. He saw the last twenty Cossacks in the distance being surrounded by the Ming cavalry. Their matchlock guns could no longer fire, so they could only fight the Ming army with sabers.

A Cossack lieutenant was hit in the face by Amida's saber, and blood splattered on the latter's Ming-made fine steel armor, dyeing it the symbolic vermilion color of the Ming Dynasty.

"Why?" Gavrila asked weakly, "Our muskets are the best in Poland..."

"Because your God cannot defeat the technology of the Ming Dynasty." Erdemutu wiped the blood off the knife and smiled proudly, "This is what my teacher, the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty, His Excellency Grand Duke Gao Youshi, said." - This was explained to Gavrila by the translator he brought with him, and the original words were certainly not "Prime Minister" or "His Excellency Grand Duke." However, it doesn't matter anymore.

Erdemutu looked towards the east. Smoke was rising from Tomsk's granary, and Tatar herdsmen were driving herds of reindeer into the Ming army's fences.

On the third day of October, Erdemutu stood on the top of the almost abandoned city wall of Tomsk, and heard scouts report that there might still be a small group of remnants of the Russian Cossack cavalry fleeing to the Ural Mountains, but the number did not exceed forty people, which was almost negligible.

The Siberian wind ripped at his wolfskin cloak, and the bronze bells on the hem jingled. Ilduzzi rode over, the copper rings on the stirrups icing: "Your Highness, you are very clever. The Tatars within a radius of 300 miles have surrendered so quickly."

Erdemutu took a sip of mare's milk, which almost turned into ice in his throat. He pointed to the city, where thousands of Tatar herdsmen were driving reindeer into the Ming army's fence. These herdsmen had been bullied by the Kyrgyz for generations, but now they were offering their fattest reindeer to the Ming army.

"Their yurt has an ice map of the Ob River," Erdemutu unfolded a hide map, "and the thickness of the ice on each tributary is clearly marked."

Ilduzzi looked at it for a while, and suddenly pointed his finger at the confluence of the Ob and Tom rivers: "If we build a fort here, we can strangle the throat of Russia's eastward advance, which is better than Tomsk."

The location he pointed to was about ninety miles northwest of Tomsk. Ninety miles was not very close, but for Siberia, which was vast and sparsely populated, it did not seem too far.

But he suddenly frowned again, "But it will be troublesome if we want to station troops here. I estimate that if we station troops here in winter, we may need 50,000 dan of coal... This damn place is covered with ice and snow for almost half of the year, and it is so far away from Ming Dynasty. How can the coal be transported?"

Erdemutu smiled but said nothing. In the distance, he heard the sound of blade wheels rolling over the ice. Twenty giant sleds pulled by thirty reindeer came, and the sleds were piled with honeycomb briquettes specially made by Jinghua.

"Yilduqi, don't stare so wide-eyed. This is pressed with lignite from the Mongolian grasslands," Erdemutu said with a smile. "The coal mine was found by people from Jinghua Mining five years ago. Later, they built a mine and a honeycomb coal field and have been supplying our Tumed tribe. Five pieces of coal can burn for three days, but it needs to be used in a coal furnace produced in Jinghua."

When the coal sled arrived, he lifted the felt cloth on the sled to reveal the coal stove underneath. "This is the first batch of coal stoves sent by the division commander. It can keep a room the size of an ordinary yurt at 5 degrees Celsius in this icy and snowy weather."

"What do you mean by five degrees above zero?" Yileduqi was stunned. "I told you to study more but you refused. Aren't you afraid of losing face for your father?" Erdemutu was younger than Yileduqi in terms of seniority, but he lectured Yileduqi, "Just understand it this way... You can almost wear autumn clothes."

Ile Duqi exclaimed: "Master Gao is truly a god!" Then he suddenly drew out his scimitar, pointing the blade to the north, "By the way, although the Russians have been defeated, they still have a trading post in the upper reaches of the Ob River."

"That's right." Erdemutu rolled up the map into a tube. "We will set off tomorrow to build nine fortresses along the Ob River." He patted the Wanli Type 3 flintlock lance on his waist. "I will personally submit a petition to the Prime Minister and ask him to approve the installation of two Type 3 light cannons in each fortress. Let the Russians know that they are not allowed to exist east of the Ural Mountains!"

That night, the main force of the Ming army had retreated to the outskirts of Tomsk and set up camp. Erdemutu climbed up the arrow tower alone and looked northwest - ninety miles away, where they planned to build a new city or fortress.

Suddenly, an old Tatar climbed up the city wall and presented a Turkish scimitar inlaid with gems: "Respected Khan, this is the Ice Blade left by our ancestors."

Erdemutu was a little surprised, but not too surprised. He reached out to take the scimitar and found that the inscription on the blade was faintly visible in the moonlight.

"Our ancestors were allies of the great Genghis Khan," the old man bowed deeply and continued, "Now we are willing to be the barrier of the Ming Dynasty."

Erdemutu inserted his scimitar into the gap of the arrow tower, until the blade sank three inches into the frozen soil. Then he said to the old man, "Tomorrow, we will build a city at the confluence of the Ob River and the Tom River, and name it 'Zhenbeibao'. Since you have expressed your submission, I am willing to promise that you can live in this solid and warm castle in the future, considering that you once served under the great Genghis Khan... The only prerequisite is that you also have to participate in the construction with our people."

"As you wish, respected Khan." The old man knew that he had no bargaining power, but was glad that this "Khan" was so easy to talk to.

Yes, although he said that his ancestors were "allies of Genghis Khan", that was basically flattering himself. The Mongols had always treated them as slaves and only called them "allies" in name.

At dawn, the Ming army broke camp and headed north, with Erdemutu leading the main force, and Yilduzzi leading the rear, with his reindeer sled team carrying two dismantled No. 3 light cannons.

When the troops were about to cross the Ob River tributary, the vanguard suddenly sent out an alarm: "There are Russians ahead!" Erdemutu rode forward and saw a dozen scattered and reunited Russian soldiers trying to bury explosives to blow up the ice. Their matchlock guns could not fire in the ice and snow, so they could only chop the ice with tomahawks - this was to bury the explosives, otherwise the black powder would not be powerful enough.

"Go to any battalion and kill them!" Erdemutu ordered. A battalion of naturalized cavalry quickly moved forward, still pulling out a diagonal line, and fired three consecutive volleys from the side. Although the naturalized cavalry did not dare to let their horses run fast because of the ice and snow, they were still no match for the two legs of the Russian remnants - after all, people also slip. These scattered Russian soldiers were soon overturned on the ice by lead bullets, and the blood dyed the Ob River red.

In the evening, the Ming army arrived at the destination. Erdemutu looked at the snowy wasteland and glaciers, drew out his scimitar and carved the five characters "Daming Zhenbeibao" on the ice. Yileduqi's reindeer sled team began to unload building materials, and the Tatar herders built yurts nearby.

"My young prince," Amida pointed to the west, "I just heard that from here, heading west, it takes 2,200 miles to reach the largest stronghold, or city, of the Russians east of the Ural Mountains - Qiuming."

"The commander said in his letter that Qiumen was established eleven years ago, and it should be in good shape now." Erdemutu nodded and sneered, "We are not in a hurry. The commander said that Jinghua's artillery factory in Yili will be put into production soon. Although this factory cannot produce No. 2 guns, it has No. 3 and No. 4 guns. He has ordered to transfer thirty No. 3 guns to us. With these guns in hand, how can we not take Qiumen City?"

After a pause, he continued, "And the Master also said that the Russians are now in civil strife. As long as we defeat the Russians east of the Ural Mountains, they will not be able to cross the Ural Mountains again in ten years... or even twenty years. This time is enough for us in the Ming Dynasty to build the Ural Mountains-Ural River "Mountain and River Defense Line."

Erdemutu was not aimless, and Gao Youshi's "news" was of course accurate. The crisis of the Russians was very serious. To put it bluntly, they were even in danger of extinction! One of the main reasons why Russia became Gao Youshi's target in 1604 was that it was caught in the vortex of multiple crises.

After the end of the Rurik dynasty, the legitimacy of Tsar Boris Godunov's rule was always questioned. The division of the aristocratic group was intertwined with the dissatisfaction of the peasant class, and the continuous famine from 1601 to 1603 - you see, the Little Ice Age did not only hit the Ming Dynasty - pushed society to the brink of collapse.

This disaster, known as the "Great Famine", caused the death of about one-third of the population of the Russian Empire. Cannibalism occurred in the streets of Moscow. Peasants fled to survive and joined Cossack or bandit gangs, further weakening the central authority. Godunov tried to alleviate the crisis by distributing relief and food, but poor policy implementation exacerbated the chaos. The people blamed the famine on his "usurpation of the throne" and rumors spread that his rule angered God.

With the support of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, an impostor claiming to be Dmitry, the youngest son of Ivan IV (known in history as False Dmitry I) led his army to invade in the autumn of 1604 - almost at the same time when Gao Youshi ordered Erdemutu to send troops to Tomsk.

This former monk named Grigori Otrepiev was well aware of the political gaps in Russia. He took advantage of Godunov's ruling crisis and the dissatisfaction of the nobles and declared that he would restore the orthodoxy of the Rurik Dynasty. The 4000 mercenaries and Cossack troops provided by Poland became its core force, and the relief provided to famine victims along the way quickly won the support of the people.

If nothing unexpected happened, by January 1605, False Dmitry would defeat Godunov's army in the village of Dobrenich, the main force of the Russian army would turn against the Tsar, and the Tsar himself would suddenly die in April of the same year (possibly poisoned), and his son Feodor II would be overthrown just two months after he succeeded to the throne.

Russia will fall into a power vacuum at this time. With the help of the nobles, False Dmitry will enter Moscow without a fight in June and be crowned as Tsar. But what is outrageous is that the first decree he issued was to cede Smolensk and other territories to Poland, and planned to marry Marina Mnishek, the daughter of a Polish noble, which triggered strong protests from Orthodox clergy and the public.

At the same time, the Polish army's atrocities in Moscow - such as the looting of churches and the forced Catholic ceremonies - would further intensify the conflict. On May 1606, 5, the noble Vasily Shuisky would launch a mutiny, and False Dmitry would be hacked to death, his body burned, and his ashes loaded into artillery and fired towards Poland.

At the same time, Sweden also took advantage of the situation and sent troops to occupy Novgorod and other northern cities in 1604, trying to control the Baltic trade route. The outbreak of the Russo-Swedish War put Russia in the dilemma of fighting on two fronts, and the Crimean Khanate's harassment on the southern border further dispersed the limited military resources.

The complexity of the international situation lies in the fact that the confrontation between Poland and Sweden is not only a territorial dispute, but also involves a game of religion and hegemony. The Polish King Sigismund III attempted to "Polonize" Russia by supporting a puppet regime, while Sweden allied with Russian opposition forces to curb Polish expansion.

If the crisis had not led to major historical changes due to Gao’s intervention, its far-reaching impact would have continued to ferment in the following decade. The death of False Dmitry did not bring stability, because Poland immediately supported a second pretender (False Dmitry II), whose army would march to the gates of Moscow in 1608 and establish the “Tushino Camp” to implement its rule.

In 1609, Russia and Sweden briefly formed an alliance against Poland, but Sweden soon broke the agreement and supported Poland. It was not until 1612 that the volunteer army composed of citizens, peasants and nobles, led by Minin and Pozharsky, was able to repel the Polish army.

On this basis, the General Assembly elected Mikhail Romanov as Tsar in 1613, which finally ended the "Reign of Troubles".

How could Gao Youshi miss such a godsend opportunity? It was precisely because he knew that Russia's civil strife would not end in one or two years that Erdemutu was not in a hurry to pursue, but to build fortresses along the way, and finally establish a "mountain and river defense line" between the Ural Mountains and the Ural River to curb the ambition of Tsarist Russia to expand eastward.

Tsarist Russia, which could not cross the Ural line, naturally could not pose a threat to the core areas of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty only needed to export some military equipment and financial resources to use the Mongols and the "Tatars" in Central Asia and Siberia to stalemate with the Russians on the "mountain and river defense line."

As for the vast resources of Siberia and Central Asia, Gao's pragmatic attitude is to use what can be used first, and leave what cannot be used to future generations...
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