Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2435 Record of the Western Expedition (II) Russian traitor?

Built in 1156, it was originally the estate of Grand Duke Yuri Dolgoruky of Suzdal. It was renovated and expanded by generations of princes and it was not until the reign of Ivan III that it began to take shape into its later scale. Inside the Kremlin, the Polish advisers of False Dmitry I were having a fierce quarrel.

"The Ming army has only 30,000 cavalry, while Kazan alone has 20,000 defenders!" Jan Zamoyski, the commander of the Polish musketeers, pounded on the oak table, and the red-bottomed white eagle emblem on his armor made a harsh sound. "Since their artillery carts are huge, they must be very dependent on road transportation, which must be difficult to move in the Volga River wetlands at this time!"

"The defenders of Tyumen thought the same thing at the time." The Stroganov family's secret envoy quietly handed over a roll of sheepskin with cinnabar markings of the Ming army's firearms deployment. "Their flintlock rifles are not afraid of moisture. Even in the rain, the firing rate is still 70%. What's more terrifying is that each No. 3 gun is equipped with 200 rounds of fixed ammunition, which is transported by spring carriages and can fully support large-scale operations. As for transportation capacity... Your Excellency, the Mongols have never lacked horses or other types of animal power."

False Dmitry I stared at the gradually shrinking blue area on the map, digging his fingernails deep into his palms. He knew that the Polish army around him was the foundation of his rule and could not be sent out casually, let alone to a place as far away as Kazan.

As for whether it is possible to request Poland to send additional reinforcements... Even if Poland is willing, these reinforcements are thousands of miles away. With the Polish army's mobilization system, it may not be able to complete the assembly within two months, and it is impossible to send troops within three months. It cannot be relied on at all.

[Note: The nobles of the Boli Federation are powerful. If the king wants to gather an army, he must first convene the Sejm to obtain consent, and then the nobles must return to their fiefdoms to recruit soldiers, which is very time-consuming.]
As for Jan Zamoysky's statement that Kazan had "20,000 defenders", this is both true and false - there were indeed 20,000 defenders in the city, but more than half of them were newly recruited serfs. Not to mention muskets, it was considered well-equipped if each of them had a pitchfork.

The remaining troops, less than 10,000 in number, actually came from at least 20 nobles and powerful families, large and small. They were temporarily organized, and it was doubtful whether they could be commanded in wartime.

In addition, these troops came from two major groups: Russians and Tatars.

Although the gray animals that Russian nobles or wealthy families brought from their fiefdoms and estates were not valuable, most of them had matchlocks in their hands. However, they were by no means advanced, and many were old goods seized in the Livonian War more than 20 years ago.

The Tatar nobles had some cavalry units, but their weapons were almost all cold weapons, their scale was not large (restricted by the Tsar), and their training level was impossible to verify.

What was even more fatal was that the Stroganov family's messenger had told him that in order to avoid unnecessary losses, the family caravan had stopped transporting food into the city, and it was said that the bread ration had been reduced to two per day.

"Comparing the strength of both sides, Kazan can't hold out." False Dmitri I finally had some brains and shook his head, "Now we can only send envoys to negotiate peace with the Ming army - even if it's just a pretense, we have to buy time first, and wait until the domestic situation stabilizes before discussing the recovery of the eastern territories."

Although Jan Zamoyski had no respect for the fake tsar, considering that he was the nominal tsar of the Russian Empire, the Polish general could only snort and acquiesce. Perhaps for him, Russia's loss of new territory east of the Ural Mountains was insignificant. He was a Pole, not a Russian - what was the point? Just two thousand furs a year?

Time flies, and the Ming army only has three days left to defeat Kazan. On the morning of this day, the Ming army's main camp fired a series of cannons, indicating that something was about to happen.

Erdemutu's deputy, Ileduqi, held a gilded iron certificate and rushed to the city under the escort of a hundred cavalrymen with muskets: "My general has an order - Russia must cede all the land east of the Ural Mountains and erect a monument as a boundary. If you don't give me a reply in three days, I will use the stones of your church to lay the foundation for my Ming Dynasty monument!"

The words on the iron certificate gleamed in the sun, and there was another copy engraved in Mongolian next to it, with all the terms clearly written. Ilduzzi pointed his saber at the top of the city wall and shouted, "If you dare to delay, after Kazan, it will be Moscow."

The Archbishop of Kazan on the top of the city trembled and made the sign of the cross. He saw several huge machines pushed out from the Ming army - four-wheeled artillery carriages loaded with No. 2 heavy artillery, pulled by six horses, and the gun barrels shone coldly in the sun. The Archbishop heard the survivors of Tyumen describe that this kind of artillery could fire solid bullets three miles away, and the city walls were shattered like shortbread under its bombardment.

Ilduzzi didn't care about the reaction of the people in the city. After showing off his power for a while, he retreated to the camp, just thinking that he had just taken a walk after dinner. Governor Alexei Stroganov had a gloomy face and seemed to be worried about the defense of Kazan. But if someone carefully observed his eyes, they would find that his eyes were rolling around, as if he was still silently memorizing the layout of the Ming army camp in his mind.

At dusk, the Stroganov family's secret envoy disguised himself as a merchant - well, actually, there was no need for makeup, as this person was originally a merchant of the family - and sneaked into the Ming army camp. After explaining his purpose and being carefully searched, he was escorted to Erdemutu and Yilduzzi.

"I am here on the orders of His Excellency Governor-General Alexei Stroganov to meet with the two generals to discuss some confidential matters. Since the matter is of great importance, I wonder if the two generals can dismiss the outsiders..."

Ildukqi was about to refuse, but Erdemutu waved his hand and said, "Everyone else, leave." Seeing that it was too late to persuade him, Ildukqi deliberately took off the short knife he used to cut mutton from his waist and rubbed it in his hand.

This was naturally a warning to the visitor not to have any evil intentions, but the secret envoy did not care - not to mention that he came to discuss serious matters. Even if he really wanted to assassinate, he did not have the confidence to defeat the two burly Mongolian generals.

"General, do you know that the fake Tsar's Polish bride is preparing to sell the crown jewels?" The emissary smiled and said in Mongolian. It seems that although Russia has been freed from the "Tatar yoke" for more than a hundred years, it is still not uncommon for people to still speak Mongolian.

Erdemutu didn't pay attention to the language problem. He was just slightly startled and frowned, saying, "What do you mean by saying this?"

"What I mean is that Russia is a remote and poor place with not much money. The ancestors of the two generals once ruled here, but they were not willing to live here permanently. They just ordered the Russians to pay tribute. Now that the two of you have returned to your hometown, I guess you don't really have any expectations for Kazan or even Moscow..."

"What do you want to say?" Erdemutu interrupted directly, "I don't like nonsense. Just say what you want to say. Don't delay Yileduqi and I from drinking."

"The Khan is so straightforward!" The emissary inadvertently replaced "general" with "Khan" and immediately continued without giving anyone time to object, "The pseudo-Tsar is in a state of panic right now and would never dare to go against the Mongolian soldiers, but he may want to delay for a while... Of course, this is not important. As long as the Khan insists, he will definitely compromise and cede all of Siberia."

"Very good," Erdemutu nodded, looking directly into the other's pale blue eyes, "But why did you tell me this in advance? What good will this do for you - or the people behind you?"

Erdemutu's cleverness made the secret envoy feel relieved. He was afraid that he would not be able to make the "Khan" understand his meaning after talking for a long time. So he respectfully presented a sheepskin map and said: "The iron ore veins east of the Ural are more valuable than all the treasures in Moscow. As long as the Khan is willing to support our Stroganov family to gain power in Russia, we are willing to provide you with the location of the iron ore area east of the Ural.

Or...if you have no intention of mining the iron ore yourself, you can grant our family the exclusive mining rights. We are willing to pay 3,000 carts of refined iron as tribute every year, and we will never break our promise."

Erdemutu and Ildukzi looked at each other in surprise, and no one knew what they were talking about. Anyway, Erdemutu pondered for a moment, and suddenly asked: "You asked me to help your family take power in Russia. Do you want to be the Tsar?"

"Oh, no, no, no, although our family is rich and powerful, we obviously do not have the noble bloodline required to become the Tsar." The emissary was surprised and waved his hands quickly. "The head of the family means that he hopes the Khan can support him to become the deputy head of the Boyar Duma and the commander of the special army."

Erdemutu was not clear about the power system of the Tsarist Russia at that time - of course, the system of the Tsarist Russia at that time was still unstable. He just asked calmly: "Deputy Boyar Duma X? Why is he not a regular one?"

The emissary smiled awkwardly: "That is a position held by His Majesty the Tsar himself."

"I see." Erdemutu nodded and asked, "Then what is the Special Administrative Force?"

The emissary hesitated for a moment, but decided to speak frankly, "It is equivalent to the Khan's Qiexue Army."

Erdemutu laughed loudly, and then said to Yilduqi: "The Prime Minister is only the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, and Alexei actually wants to be both the Prime Minister and the Commander of the Imperial Guard...Hahahaha!"

Ilduzzi also laughed and pointed at the secret envoy and said, "Hey! Your master has a big appetite. He has given him these two positions. I think the life and death of the Tsar depends on his decision, right?"

The envoy looked very calm, and just said, "No matter who is the Tsar, the Stroganov family will always be loyal to His Majesty the Tsar, but... we will be more loyal to the Khan, or His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty."

Good, good, what a Russian traitor family. Erdemutu had nothing to say about the envoy's attitude of being disloyal, filial, honest and shameless, and could only say: "Your family wants to make such a huge profit just by relying on an iron mine. It's too unrealistic."

"Of course there is more than one iron mine." The emissary was surprised. "The Ural Iron Mine is just a gift from Stroganov to the Khan. If the Khan helps my family succeed in the future, won't Russia's interests also belong to the Khan's interests?"

"It is in the interests of the Ming Dynasty," Erdemutu corrected him, "Remember this."

"Yes, once Ming helps my family succeed, Russia's interests will be Ming's interests." The secret envoy immediately corrected himself.

Of course, Erdemutu would not believe this. If Russia’s interests became the interests of the Ming Dynasty, then why would the Stroganov family go to all this trouble?
Erdemutu's finger ran over the mark on the map. That place was close to the Ural Mountains, so it was not surprising that there were iron mines there. Moreover, this place was not far from the upper reaches of the Ural River, which meant that it was more valuable for mining. After all, if it was located in a remote area, it would take a lot of effort to transport the minerals out after mining, which would probably not be cost-effective.

"Does this place have a name?" Erdemutu asked.

"The family has only completed preliminary exploration and is certain that there are huge amounts of iron ore! However, due to limited time, they have not yet had time to mobilize human, material and financial resources for development. Therefore, although there are small-scale settlements in the area, they have no names." The secret envoy replied.

"In that case," Erdemutu said casually, "then let's call it Tieshanbao first. I will send someone to contact the people from Jinghua Mining to confirm. If there is a large mine, you will also have done a great deed."

Erdemutu didn't know that he changed the name of an important city in Russian history with a casual remark - this place is actually Yekaterinburg. Before Gao Guoshi traveled through time, this place was the third largest city in the Russian Federation. What's more interesting is that in the original history, Yekaterinburg was built very late, not until 1723... So in the past hundred years, the Stroganov family only operated it as an iron ore area?
Erdemutu naturally didn't know this at the time. He just suddenly pulled out the Wanli Type 3 carbine from his waist and pointed the muzzle to the west: "Tell your master that the iron ore is just a bonus - what the Ming Dynasty wants is the whole Siberia. If he wants to get the support of the Ming Dynasty, he should first get this thing done."

The emissary bowed gracefully and said, "As you wish, Khan, the master has formulated a perfect plan to cooperate with your army to quickly capture Kazan. Then, our army will 'retreat' to Moscow in an orderly manner. Please do not delay in Kazan and follow us as soon as possible..."

Three days later, the time agreed by the Ming army had arrived, but it was said that the Tsar's envoy was besieged for several days because he encountered rebels on the way. Although he was later rescued by the surrounding nobles, time had been lost and he has not yet arrived in Kazan.

When the first meteor streaked across the night sky, screams suddenly came from the reed marshes north of Kazan. The defenders lit torches and saw more than a hundred Cossack bodies floating on the river, most of which had holes in their leather armor - those must have been penetrating wounds caused by gunshots.

The Tatar defenders in the city began to whisper. Their ancestors had survived the butcher knife of Ivan IV. Now, looking at the Ming army's big banner and nine white banners outside the city, their eyes glowed with strangeness. The merchants of the Stroganov family took the opportunity to spread the news: "I heard that the Ming army promised that as long as the city was opened and surrendered, each person could get ten acres of tax-free land and free iron plows for use. Every five households would have one iron plow."

Rumors spread in Kazan, and cannons roared outside the city. The Ming army's artillery finally showed its ferocious face, and the thunderous attack came as expected. Especially the several No. 2 cannons that arrived in recent days, which easily knocked the city walls to the ground as soon as they were fired. Landslides occurred in several places, and the defenders were so anxious that they concentrated their firepower to suppress the possible breakthrough of the Ming army outside the city, and at the same time sent people to quickly clean up the scattered bricks and stones in order to quickly repair them.

Erdemutu counted the gaps that were almost destroyed by the bombardment and ordered: "Each of you should send a group of light cavalry to patrol outside these broken walls, pretending to be ready to break through the city walls at any time. At the same time, order the Western Guards to assemble immediately and prepare to enter the city from the front gate..."
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