Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2442: Records of the Western Expedition (IX) Bonding of Interests (Part )
The morning mist in Moscow had not yet dissipated, and Erdemutu's banner had already been raised in front of the Kremlin. Wearing a bright red cape, he watched as the envoy of Tsar Dmitry I walked out of the palace gate holding the golden book - that was the Tsar's official edict to confer the title of Prince of Kazan, and the recipient of the title was his adopted son Suhe, whom he had just adopted a few days ago.

"It's all thanks to the mediation of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Grand Duke Stroganov," said Baturha, whose white beard hung down to his waist. The Kazan Tatar religious leader who refused the prince's position spoke in a low voice, "I am over 70 years old and only wish to recite the Quran in the Qingz Temple. I have neither the heart nor the ability to take on more governance responsibilities. Fortunately, my nephew Suhe is young, promising, loyal and capable, and will definitely protect the covenant between Kazan and the Ming Dynasty."

This Tatar religious leader, who was the first to surrender to the Ming Dynasty after the Ming army's westward expedition, was second only to the Stroganov family. Naturally, he received generous rewards from the Ming Dynasty. Erdemutu originally planned to ask the Tsar to confer him the title of Prince of Kazan, but the old man was too old and a staunch believer, without even any children. Therefore, he politely declined the kindness of the Prince of Shunyi and asked him to choose another suitable candidate.

Erdemutu asked him "Are there any young men in the clan?" The old man said that he had three nephews and grandsons, so Erdemutu asked him to find them. After a brief communication, he chose the oldest boy as his adopted son, and then gave him his surname according to Han customs, and even changed his name - Erdemutu was naturally a "golden family", and the boy became Borjigin Suhe from then on.

In Mongolian, Suhe has two meanings, one is strong, solid, and firm, and the other is clear, refreshing, and bright. The old man knew very well that His Royal Highness was hinting at the young man to stand firmly on the side of the Ming Dynasty, because this was the wisest thing to do.

The old man looked at the Ming army who were training in formation in the camp. The soldiers were carrying Wanli three-style guns pointing to the sky, and the cold and shining bayonets were trembling in the wind. This made him a little dazed. The Mongols were famous for their cavalry, but the cavalry of the second regiment of the first naturalized cavalry army in front of him could have such quality after dismounting, and they were still elite infantry. How did they do it?
Obviously, the old man didn't know that even in the Second Regiment of the First Cavalry Army, there were no more than half of the elite soldiers who were good at riding and dismounting. These people were carefully selected by Hanaji from his own elite Western Scouts and specially assigned to his eldest son so that he could make a name for himself in the Western Expedition and inherit the throne of King Shunyi in the future.

Erdemutu stroked Suhe's shoulder. The young man was wearing a Ming-style armor under his Mongolian robe. This was not strange, but the strange thing was that there was a miniature "book and sword" emblem embroidered on the chest of this armor. I don't know if it was a common "trademark" of Jinghua, or if it had some other meaning.

"Since Suhe is my adopted son, he has the status of a member of the Golden Family. It is only right that the Tsar personally conferred the title of Prince of Kazan." He turned to the imperial envoy sent by the Tsar to announce the decree - who happened to be Count Kuznetsk, Alexei's political ally - and said with a smile, "In the future, routine military exercises will start in Kazan in the first year - the Tsar's special forces should also learn coordinated tactics with our Ming soldiers. Otherwise, if they only know how to charge and attack without any rules, like in the battle on the Oka River, how can we resist the invasion of the Poles?"

The old count dared not say much and could only smile and nod. When Erdemutu seemed to have no other instructions, he dared to remind Prince Kazan to come to the palace in the afternoon, as there was a conferment ceremony presided over by the Tsar himself waiting for him.

Erdemutu smiled and said to Suhe, "My son, did you hear that? You will be conferred the title in the palace this afternoon. I am an outsider after all, so I will not join in the fun."

The newly promoted Prince of Kazan, who was only about fifteen or sixteen years old, bowed and said, "I will obey my father's orders."

The reason why Erdemutu did not attend the ceremony was, firstly, as he himself said, as a foreign official he should try to avoid appearing on such occasions so as not to arouse the dissatisfaction of the Russians - this would look too much like the Ming Dynasty using force to force the Tsar to confer the title; secondly, Erdemutu did have important matters to deal with.

What was the important matter? Of course, it was to build the Ural Iron Wall according to the divisional prime minister's pre-war instructions. Let's not talk about the Iron Wall for now, as that was not something that could be completed in a year or two. The important thing at this stage was to find the place that the divisional prime minister personally pointed out and build a military fortress.

Where? Orenburg in later times Russia. This place is located at the junction of the Ural Mountains and the Ural River. It is located at the intersection of two tributaries. With the Ural River formed after the intersection, it is surrounded by water on three sides. As a military fortress, the geographical advantage is very obvious.

There is no city built in this place now (historically, Russia only built a city here in 1743, and it was originally built as a military fortress). Erdemutu appointed a caravan leader from Beijing to lead two surveyors to search there under the protection of the surrendered Tatar cavalry. Today, news came back that they had found it.

Now that the place has been found, Erdemutu will naturally start building a city—er, building a fort. The surveyors in Jinghua have experienced many similar things over the years, and are definitely at the top level of this era. When they reported the news, they also submitted the local mountains, rivers and geomancy maps for reference.

Not only that, the businessman who led the team also very carefully inquired about various mineral information from local herdsmen and farmers - this is Jinghua's consistent style, asking for information from the people first can often make the prospecting action more efficient - as a result, along with the reporting of the feng shui map, two nearby places where minerals are very likely to be found were also reported at the same time.

Both places are not far from the planned "Jingxi Fort" and are east of the Ural Mountains. One is called "Iletsk" by the locals, and it is likely that there are rock salt mines that can produce salt; the other is called "Gay" by the locals, and it is likely that there are copper mines.

These news made Erdemutu very happy. He had worked as a military secretary for Gao Youshi for many years. Although he was in charge of Jinghua's army "business" at the time, he had heard countless stories about Jinghua's colonization in southern Xinjiang and Southeast Asia, and was very familiar with the relevant procedures.

Simply put, if you want to build a military stronghold and then develop it into a new city, in addition to being militarily easy to defend and difficult to attack, you also need some key conditions, such as whether the surrounding area produces grain or at least can be reclaimed for grain, or whether there are mines nearby that are suitable for mining and convenient for transportation.

The current target place "Jingxibao" is located at the intersection of three rivers. The surrounding area can definitely grow grain (the later Orenburg Oblast even has high-quality black calcium soil, and the arable land area of ​​the state ranks third among all Russian states). Now it is very likely to produce rock salt and copper mines. It is simply a place chosen by God. The economy can definitely be self-sufficient. As for transportation... It is already a place where three rivers meet, are you still worried about transportation inconvenience?

In short, for Erdemutu, who always followed the instructions of his master, he had to act quickly after receiving such good news. How could he be interested in participating in the ceremony of his godson's promotion? It was just a formality, so he just let them have fun.

Two flowers bloom, each with its own beauty. Let’s not talk about how Erdemutu discussed the construction of Jingxi Fort with people in Beijing, but let’s talk about the enthronement ceremony in the Kremlin in the afternoon.

Tsar Dmitry I relied on the power of the Ming army to secure his throne. Although his power was severely limited, his position was finally stabilized. His complexion was much better than before. It was really rosy and shiny. Hmm? It seemed a little too rosy. Maybe he drank too much vodka.

At this moment, he was personally placing a golden crown inlaid with an Orthodox cross on Su He's head. Only his close ministers could see the finely outlined Ming-style auspicious cloud patterns on the edge of the crown.

"For your family's contribution in defeating Poland, I appoint you as the Prince of Kazan today, and you will lead 100,000 herdsmen," the Tsar's voice echoed through the dome, "and you will guard the eastern border of the Russian Tsardom together with the Ming garrison."

When Su He knelt to receive the decree, the Ming-style jade ring on his finger flashed a faint light - it was a New Year's gift that Gao Youshi had given to Erdemutu one year in the past, and now it was given by Erdemutu to Su He, his adopted son, as a "coming-of-age gift".

After the ceremony, Duke Shuisky stopped Alexei and clenched the hilt of his sword with his mink gloves: "Grand Duke, you have been very proud recently, but I still want to remind you that the Poles will not give up after suffering such a big loss. They will definitely gather their followers to invade the east again... Grand Duke, I wonder if we can defeat them successfully by relying on the Ming army and the special forces?" Alexei stopped and looked at Duke Shuisky seriously, and suddenly smiled: "What does your Excellency the Duke mean?"

"It has always been the custom in our Russia that if the Tsar has a war, we boyars must go to the battlefield," Duke Shuisky sighed, "but now, many of our boyars' private armies are still using wooden spears. How can they serve the Tsar well? I heard that the Ming army's muskets are not only advanced, but also quite abundant. I wonder if Your Excellency the Grand Duke can..."

"To be honest with you, Your Excellency, I have already made preparations for this matter," Alexei said as if by magic, pulling out a list with a special military seal. "Longqing Type II firearms are faster than Polish matchlocks, and the Ming Dynasty has sufficient stocks. They are already being shipped to Russia, a total of 50,000."

At this point, he lowered his voice and said, "But it must be kept secret. His Highness Erdemutu said that only smart people are worthy of these muskets. In addition, although these muskets are old models that were eliminated by the Ming Dynasty and are not as good as the Wanli Type 2 and Type 3, they are enough to fight the Poles."

Shuisky's eyes lit up. He had seen the real Longqing II a few days ago and knew that the Longqing II was still quite advanced in Europe. "How much is it?"

"Gold, silver, or supplies can all be traded," Alexei pointed outside the Kremlin. "For example, a cart of coal can be exchanged for three guns, which is half the price of buying them from the vampires of the Hanseatic League."

He suddenly chuckled, "And the people of Jinghua will teach you how to maintain it, but the premise is..." He looked at a Jinghua manager who was talking to Su He not far away, "Your private army must obey the orders of the special army during war."

Shuisky narrowed his eyes slightly and asked thoughtfully, "You can obey the orders of His Excellency the Grand Duke, but the commander-in-chief must be appointed by me."

"Of course," Alexei smiled gently, "The boyars' rules cannot be broken. The right to dispatch the special army is only for unified command so that the Poles can be defeated smoothly. It does not mean that the boyars will hand over their private armies. Your Excellency the Duke, I am not that stupid. I will not make things difficult for all the boyars in Russia."

Shuisky breathed a sigh of relief, looked at Alexei, and asked, "I am glad that Your Excellency the Grand Duke has such a correct understanding. As long as Your Excellency the Grand Duke always maintains this attitude, I think the boyars - including myself - will be willing to cooperate with Your Excellency the Grand Duke for a long time."

Alexei smiled and waved to the waiter not far away. The waiter came forward respectfully with a plate of wine. Alexei picked up two blue and white porcelain wine glasses and handed one to Shuisky, "Cheers to your cooperation."

Shuisky glanced at the wine glass handed to him and slowly took it, "Respect the rules."

The two smiled at each other, then drank the whole drink with their own ulterior motives.

That night, Su He knelt in front of Erdemutu, the Ming-style patch on his Mongolian robe glowing red in the charcoal fire: "Father, although Russians have been coming to Kazan over the years, we still have more people than them. Now that Mongolia... the Ming Dynasty is powerful, why don't you just let me lead Kazan to rebuild the Khanate and then merge it into the Celestial Empire?"

"If Kazan is incorporated into the Ming Dynasty, you can only be a commander at best," Erdemutu wiped the saber given by the master, "Look at Alexei's special army, which has only 30,000 soldiers, but it can fly the Tsar's flag and actually control this vast country."

"What do you mean?" asked the young Prince of Kazan, half puzzled.

"You can stay under the Tsar's command so that you can help your father keep watch nearby." Erdemutu smiled slightly. "If the Tsar only has Alexei, wouldn't the Ming Dynasty be afraid to act rashly and be blackmailed by him?"

Su He suddenly realized, "Father, that's a good idea. I understand."

At this time, the sound of a carrier pigeon flapping its wings was heard outside the tent, and a gray pigeon with "Kazan-17" engraved on its leg landed on the windowsill. The messenger in charge of delivering letters by carrier pigeons went to collect the letter and fed the carrier pigeon.

Another confidant took the pigeon letter and delivered it to him. Erdemutu unfolded the secret letter and Gao Youshi's comments were clear in the moonlight: "There is a large inventory of Longqing II. If there is any surplus, you can use it to win over or alienate the major families. You don't have to report every detail."

Erdemutu felt the trust between the lines of the teacher's words, and his heart warmed up for a moment. He looked at the top of Moscow City, where the flags of the Ming Army and the Special Command Army were flying side by side, and the double-headed eagle and the Taotie pattern of the First Cavalry Army were entangled in the wind and snow.

The next day, when the first military bugle sounded, Su He led the newly appointed "Kazan Army" guards to begin practicing the Ming Army's "Goose Feather Formation". The collision of spears and musket bayonets was miraculously in sync with the Orthodox morning prayer bells.

Erdemutu had a clear picture in his mind: the garrison was the obvious chain, the arms trade was the economic noose, and the pigeon stations and trading companies were the needles of intelligence. When Duke Shuisky's private army replaced the Longqing II fire guns, and when Suhe's personal guards learned the tactics of the Ming army, these seemingly autonomous Russian forces had already consciously or unconsciously become chess pieces on the Ming chessboard.

In the darkest moment before dawn, Erdemutu walked out of the tent and looked at the gradually brightening sky in the east. There, the outline of the Ural Mountains seemed to be looming. He knew that on the other side of the mountain, the Ming Dynasty had already begun to build military farms and perhaps was moving the first batch of prisoners here.

The secret letter in his hand was about to be delivered to the capital by carrier pigeon through various stations. It read: "The situation has been determined, and we are just waiting for Poland to invade the east again. In my humble opinion, as long as we win this battle again, the western border of the Celestial Empire will be secure."
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