Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2437: Record of the Western Expedition (IV) Battle against the Oka River
False Dmitry I's Adam's apple rolled and he subconsciously glanced at Alexei, just in time to see Alexei winking at him secretly - he didn't know what this hint meant, but as the Stroganov family was the first family in Russia to express support for him, Alexei's action seemed to be a hint that he could acquiesce.

Although False Dmitry I had never had any great talent or strategy, he was not a fool. He quickly figured out the pros and cons of the matter - although the Poles were his biggest reliance at the moment, the Poles had always regarded him as a puppet of Poland's rule over Russia. If he trusted the Poles one-sidedly, even if he successfully pacified the "rebels" in Russia in the future, he would only be a vase with no real power.

On the contrary, if he could win over a group of supporters in Russia while the Poles were still fully supporting him, and then consume some of the Poles' strength through the war with Ming, he would be able to achieve a certain balance of power in the future and truly gain control of power. When the domestic situation is settled, he can win over more domestic forces as the Tsar, and then he can gradually expel the Polish forces and truly become the Tsar with real power...

The acquiescence of False Dmitry I meant that the Poles had finally taken the bait, and Jan Zamoyski was about to lead the so-called "Polish-Russian coalition" to fight against a Ming army that was said to be invincible. All these made Alexei extremely excited - for him, no matter who won the battle, he or the Stroganov family would be the winner!
If the Ming army wins, he will be the hero who instigated the main Polish force to go out of the city to fight, and he will definitely turn against the Polish side in the battle and make another contribution to the Ming army's complete victory over the Polish-Russian coalition.

If the Polish-Russian coalition wins, he will be regarded as a patriot who advocates going out of the city to defeat the Ming army. False Dmitry I will definitely regard him as a confidant in the future. At the same time, the Polish army will also think that he is a powerful collaborator who can be won over to control the Tsar. In any case, he will become a rising star in Russian politics.

If the Ming army wins, he will become the number one white glove of the Ming army to control Russia, and his status will be comparable to that of the Grand Duke of Moscow in the Golden Horde era (referring to helping the Khan collect taxes from the entire Russian region, in a sense "as if I were here in person").

In Alexei's opinion, since the Golden Horde Khan disliked Russia because it was too cold and was unwilling to rule directly, then the Ming emperor, whose capital was thousands of miles away from Moscow, would certainly not be interested in ruling Russia directly. In this case, wouldn't he, the deputy speaker of the Boyar Duma and the commander of the special army, be the deputy tsar of all Russia?
As for the victory of the Polish army, it would not matter. The Poles and Russia have long been enemies, and the Poles need white gloves to rule Russia. So, what kind of white gloves are good white gloves?

First, a tsar with neither military power nor prestige was needed, so that Poland would not have the luxury of rebelling against Poland; second, a powerful minister with a certain degree of real power was needed, and the family background of this minister could not be too noble. If the minister had too much power and too high a family background, he might have the idea of ​​replacing the tsar, which would cause trouble for Poland.

Therefore, Alexei Stroganov, who was born in a wealthy family but had no aristocratic status, was the best choice - he would become the "vase keeper" left in Russia by the Polish Federation. [Note: Europeans attach great importance to bloodline. Alexei's origin is clear. Even if he overthrows the Tsar, he will only be regarded as a tyrant. In the extremely conservative atmosphere of Russia, it will only cause the whole country to rebel.]
That night, the complacent Alexei met the liaison, or secret envoy, left by the Ming army in his own residence. Under the candlelight, he removed the camouflaged blood scabs, revealing his intact neck.

"Please tell Erdemutu Huang Taiji," he casually threw the "Ming Army Top Secret Intelligence" he had forged and showed to Yan Zamoyski on the table, and then took out a map and handed it to the Ming Army envoy for review, "The Polish-Russian coalition has begun to gather its forces, and will arrive at the border of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir-Suzdal in about five to seven days. I have marked the route of the coalition forces on the map."

The Ming army envoy looked at the map carefully, nodded to Alexei and said, "Your Excellency is thoughtful. I think His Royal Highness will be very happy. By the way, I heard that you don't have a title in Russia yet?"

Alexei's cheeks twitched, and he answered awkwardly: "I come from a business family, and now..."

"No problem," the emissary smiled. "His Royal Highness just remembered this matter. He has promised that when the big thing is settled, the Tsar will confer the title of Grand Duke on you. How about becoming 'His Excellency the Grand Duke of Suzdal'?"

Alexei was overjoyed!

Unlike the Ming Dynasty, Alexei dared to hope to become the deputy speaker of the Boyar Duma and the commander of the special army, but he did not dare to hope to become a grand duke. Although the Boyar Duma itself was a noble parliament, one needed a noble status to enter, but Alexei originally only dared to imagine that he would be awarded a low-level title by the Tsar for his merits, and barely obtain a noble status, so how could he dare to expect to become a grand duke in one step!

Alexei's ecstasy was not surprising. The Stroganov family began to appear in history books in 1515, when they had already opened a salt mine in Solivichegotsk. After Ivan the Terrible conquered Kazan, he allocated a large area of ​​land in the upper reaches of the Kama River and the Chusovaya River to Grigory Stroganov in 1558. His family established new settlements and cities there, developed salt and iron mines, timber and fur trade, and had the right to recruit Cossack "volunteers" to "protect" the occupied land.

In 1574, they occupied the land around the Tobol River, built a fortress, and expanded eastward. In 1579, the Stroganov family recruited a Cossack team led by Yermak Timofeevich Olenin.

In September 1581, Yermak led the team up the Chusovoye River to attack the Siberian Khanate. The following year, they arrived at the Tobol River area and encountered stubborn resistance from the Tatars. In October 9, Yermak entered the center of the Siberian Khanate and defeated Kuchum Khan's troops near Kashlyk. In 1582, Yermak was ambushed by Kuchum Khan (Kuchukhan) in Irtysh and drowned in the Irtysh River during his retreat. In 10, the Russian army finally defeated Kuchum Khan and completed the conquest of the Siberian Khanate.

In the original history, between 1598 and 1613, the Stroganov family speculated in domestic politics, not only supporting False Dmitry I, but also, after his failure, providing funding for Mikhail Fyodorovich Romanov to ascend the throne. In 1688, they even built two warships for Peter the Great.

During the Northern War from 1700 to 1721, the family also provided a lot of financial assistance to the Russian government. In the 18th century, the family established some iron and copper smelting factories in the Urals. However, it was not until 1722 that the family members were awarded the title of baron. In 1798, Paul I Petrovich conferred the family the title of count.

Due to its long-lasting prosperity, many politicians emerged from this family, such as Pavel Stroganov, a close adviser to Alexander I. This family also made important contributions to the development of Russian art. They funded the construction of many churches and established the Stroganov school of icon painting.

In short, in short, it was such a family that had to invest for a long time to obtain the title of baron, and in the end, they only got the title of earl...How generous is the Ming army now? They asked the Tsar to make Alexei a grand duke right away!
All we can say is that Alexei didn't get so excited that he had a cerebral hemorrhage, which was enough to show that he remained calm even when faced with a catastrophe.

Alexei, who had just returned home on the pretext of arranging his private army to prepare for the expedition, soon returned to the Kremlin, only to find that the bargaining in the council hall was still going on. It sounded as if Jan Zamoyski was making an exorbitant demand, demanding that Russia cede several important cities bordering the Polish-Lithuanian Federation, and False Dmitry I was promising Jan Zamoyski in Polish that "now only Smolensk can be ceded as military expenses, and no more, otherwise it will only provoke more resistance in Russia."

Alexei stood indifferently by the side without saying a word. He knew very well that once the Ming army won, these transactions would only become an excuse for the Ming army to advance westward.

When the first ray of sunlight climbed over the spire of the Kremlin, his 3,000 private soldiers had already put on Polish-style cloaks, ready to go to the front as part of the Polish-Russian coalition force.

In July of the second year of Taichang, the Oka River Plain was steaming with suffocating heat waves. The drought-resistant needlegrass curled up into burnt yellow spirals in the wind. In the distance, the spire churches of Vladimir city twisted in the hot air like melted sugar cubes.

The 30,000 cavalrymen of Erdemutu and Ilduqi formed two horizontal rows on the south bank - this formation seemed extremely simple. If you looked down from the sky, it was just the Chinese character "two", but it was Li Chengliang's "famous skill" back then. I just don't know whether Erdemutu really wanted to imitate Li Chengliang's style of fighting.

The black armor with mountain patterns and scarlet capes shone with cold metallic light under the scorching sun. Twelve thousand heavily armed cavalry were in the center. The Taotie patterns on the iron tools of the horses' heads were polished to a shine. In the center of Erdemutu's nine-flag white banner, the word "Ming" embroidered with gold thread was particularly eye-catching. "Sir, the number of Polish winged cavalry that Yuanfu reminded us to be careful of is too small, only 3,000... The Poles hid these treasures in the central army." Yilduzzi's Mongolian boots rolled over the hot gravel and pressed the sheepskin map against the temporary earth wall.

On the map, the Polish-Russian coalition camp was clearly marked with charcoal pencils, making it convenient for Erdemutu to use a telescope to observe the enemy camp: on the left wing, 12,000 Cossack light cavalry were deployed in a skirmish line, with the handles of their sabers wrapped with wolf tails symbolizing the conquerors of the grassland; in the center, 15 shooting army squares were arranged in an orderly manner like a chessboard, each square should have 1,000 people, and their matchlock gun barrels formed a silver line in the sun; on the right wing, 15,000 conscripted peasant soldiers carried a variety of farm tools, and the double-headed eagle emblem was crookedly painted on their shields...

In the deepest baggage camp, thirty temporary grain warehouses were actually tents similar to yurts, with the Stroganov family's caravan emblem on the tents - this was both proof that the family provided a large amount of supplies to the Polish-Russian coalition forces, and also the intelligence secretly transmitted by Alexei Stroganov.

Erdemutu's telescope swept across the other bank, and the silver-winged battle flags of the Polish Winged Hussars were indeed concentrated in the center of the army. The three thousand heavily armed cavalry were like a silver forest, and the wing-shaped light wooden frames decorated with metal ornaments trembled in the wind, and each piece reflected a dazzling light. [Note: The Polish Winged Hussars should be regarded as hussars in Europe, that is, cavalry between heavy and light armor, but in the eyes of the half-armored Ming army, they were basically regarded as heavy cavalry.]
He suddenly turned his head and looked towards the hills on the southeast side - there were 10,000 Kazan Tatar light cavalry scattered in the sparse birch forest, and the blue battle flag of their leader Baturhaji appeared from time to time. These newly surrendered riders were still wearing traditional Turkic costumes, and the curved swords on their waists and the bows and arrows on their backs made them look like the product of two different eras from the two armies they were confronting.

The task they received from Erdemutu was to "make their own decisions based on the battle situation." In fact, Erdemutu intended to place this force of questionable loyalty in a secondary position - if you see that we are about to win, then lend me a helping hand. If our army cannot win, I don't blame you for sitting idly by.

As for whether they would turn against him, Erdemutu was not worried - he had no doubt that he could win.

"Tell Batur," Erdemutu told the messenger, "if you see a fire in the Russian baggage camp, you can go down the mountain to harvest the horses and food carts - but you are not allowed to get close to the main battlefield."

He knew very well that these Tatars, who had been oppressed by Tsarist Russia, were far more interested in plundering than fighting to the death.

In the Ming army, the rainproof felts of the thirty-six No. 3 guns have been removed, and the gun crew soldiers are wiping the rifling with cotton cloth soaked in whale oil. After three months of long-distance transportation, the inscription "Made in Jinghua" on the guns is still as clear as yesterday. The wooden boxes behind the gunners are stacked with special fixed gunpowder and artillery shells. Each package of fixed gunpowder has been weighed twice to ensure that the weight error does not exceed three cents. As for the shells, they are all produced by Jinghua in a molded way, with a smaller error.

Behind them, more than 10,000 Qihe Light Cavalry were feeding water to their war horses. The nostrils of these Mongolian horses twitched, showing a bit of impatience with the slightly saline water of the Oka River - they were more adapted to the clear spring water of the grassland.

Suddenly, a shrill horn sounded from the Russian camp on the other side, and the Polish Winged Hussars began to form up. Jan Zamoyski's feathered hat gleamed in the sun, and he was pointing at the Ming army's formation with his whip, while the Russian nobles surrounding him looked worried.

The private army of the Stroganov family mixed in with the conscripted peasant soldiers, serving as the core of these conscripted peasant soldiers and also taking on some roles as the supervisory team. Some of them also pretended to carry grain and grass, but in fact they had stuffed sulfur and kerosene at the bottom of the grain carts - this was a secret agreement between Alexei and Erdemutu: when the Ming army launched an all-out attack, they would set the grain and grass on fire to create chaos.

"Look at those peasant soldiers," Ilduzzi suddenly sneered, "I suspect their shields are made from church door panels, and even the crosses haven't been shaved clean." He pointed to the conscripts lining up in the distance. Their so-called military uniforms were made of burlap, with patches on top of patches. In addition to a few muskets, the weapons in their hands were mostly spears and pitchforks. Oh, those muskets seemed to be only owned by the Stroganov family's private army.

Erdemutu did not respond to Ilduzzi's sneer, his eyes fell on the bend of the Oka River, where the water was shallow and the riverbed was covered with pebbles, an ideal wading point for cavalry.

He suddenly drew out the saber given to him by his master. The engraving of "Book and Sword" on the scabbard was particularly eye-catching in the sun. "Yilduqi Taiji, send a capable man with 5,700 light cavalry to go back to the upper reaches of the river bend. When the artillery battle begins, cut off the stone bridge that the Polish-Russian coalition forces are using to retreat to Moscow."

At this time, on the hill, Baturha was only giving lectures to his subordinates, but his eyes kept sweeping towards the Ming army formation. He knew that the outcome of this battle would determine the future of the Tatars on this land - whether they would become serfs of Tsarist Russia again, or become free people under the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

He put his hand on his chest, where the iron plow blueprint given by Erdemutu was hidden, which was a promise more real than any oath. At this time, the Tatars already knew that although nomadism was free, it was not as stable as farming. If there was no suitable target for looting, nomadic life would not even be able to support their own tribe most of the time. Unfortunately, the times had changed, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for nomadic cavalry to complete looting under the musket array.

The water of the Oka River evaporated under the high temperature, forming a thin mist, covering the armies on both sides in a hazy curtain. The trumpeter in the Polish-Russian coalition suddenly blew a conch shell, and the long tone swept across the plain, startling a group of sand foxes hiding behind the rocks.

Erdemutu knew that this was a signal that the Stroganov caravan had completely arrived in Vladimir. In other words, the Polish-Russian coalition had already prepared gunpowder and bullets, and with their superiority in manpower, they were about to ignite the fuse of this confrontation.

"Iliduqi Taiji, act according to the plan." Erdemutu put away his relaxed expression and said solemnly.

"Take care, Prince." Yileduqi said goodbye with the Han Chinese fist-clasping salute, jumped on his horse, and led the remaining thousands of light cavalry to leave the central army - he would not go far, but just cruise around the edge of the main battlefield, and flank the enemy and break into their formation at the critical moment.

"Taiji, take care." Erdemutu also mounted his horse and gave the order: "This town will be divided into two. The first and second divisions will dismount and set up a hollow square formation of side carriages to prepare for the enemy. The third and fourth divisions will enter the formation and wait for the opportunity."
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