Starting in Saarhu, it is a bit difficult to make a comeback.

Chapter 263 Encountering the Cossacks (please subscribe for monthly tickets)
The Chinese Empire's attack on the Bukhara Khanate made its northern neighbor the Kazakh Khanate also feel deep fear!

Today's Chinese Empire is already a giant in Central Asia, and the various khanates are afraid of being annexed by the Chinese Empire.

After all, even powerful empires like the Mughal Empire and the Persian Empire became part of China.

Although they knew that China was powerful, these khanates were unable to accept being annexed by the Chinese Empire.

Especially Li Zicheng, who defected to the Kazakh Khanate.

Now Emperor Dashun is left with only a few dozen soldiers and the dog-headed strategist Niu Jinxing.

Previously, Nur Ali Khan of the Kazakh Khanate had an alliance with Li Zicheng.

Although Li Zicheng is now a lost dog, after all, he has fought against the Chinese Empire for many years and understands the situation in China very well.

Therefore, Nur Ali Khan still gave Li Zicheng a certain courtesy and regarded him as his staff.

Although Li Zicheng hated the Persians who stabbed him in the back, he was surprised that the powerful Safavid dynasty was dismembered by the Chinese and Ottomans so quickly.

Niu Jinxing said worriedly: "Once the Chinese conquer the Bukhara Khanate, they will definitely take action against the Kazakh Khanate. By then we will definitely lose the protection of the Kazakh Khanate. Your Majesty, please make plans in advance!"

Li Zicheng didn't know what Niu Jinxing was talking about, but now that the power of the Chinese Empire is at its peak, which empire can compete with China?
At least I can still receive courtesy in Kazakhstan. If I go to other countries, no one will care about me at all with the few people on hand.

Maybe these people will give their heads as gifts to Li Xianzhong to please China!

To be honest, Li Zicheng was a little tired of this wandering life.

But he would never be able to stand it if he crawled at Li Xianzhong's feet and begged for mercy, begging Li Xianzhong to give him a way to survive, and then be ridiculed by Zhong Guangdao, Song Xiance, Li Yan and others who had betrayed him.

Especially the Gao Jie who had cheated on him now also received a title in China and became Gui Yibo.

He, Li Zicheng, would never give in to these people.

So he said: "The Kazakh Khanate is our last place to live. If this place is also occupied by China, where can we go?"

"Master Niu, is there any way to repel the Chinese army?"

Niu Jinxing framed Li Yan in the first place, and the two of them could be said to have formed a personal feud. If not for this, I am afraid that he would not have followed Li Zicheng.

Now that Li Yan is prospering in China and leading the battle alone, if the Chinese army reaches the Kazakh grassland, they will definitely not get any good results of their own.

Niu Jinxing thought for a long time and whispered a few words to Li Zicheng, and then Li Zicheng happily ran to the Kazakh Khan's court to meet Nur Ali Khan.

At this time, the Imam of Bukhara Khan personally came to Kazakhstan to ask for help from Nur Ali Khan.

Nur Ali Khan also had a headache, and he naturally knew the truth about dying lips and cold teeth.

But now that the Kazakh Khanate is being harassed by Cossack cavalry, how can it divide its forces to fight against China?
At this time Li Zicheng said: "There are many Cossack cavalry in the Khanate. We may be able to use them to deal with the Chinese."

Li Zicheng's words made Nur Ali Khan's eyes light up.

These Cossack cavalry came from Tsarist Russia on the other side of the Ural Mountains.

The Cossacks originally served the Grand Duchy of Poland and Lithuania. During the battle between Tsarist Russia and the Crimean Khanate, the Cossacks began to switch to Tsarist Russia.

Although today's Tsarist Russia is not yet the giant that it will be in later generations, it has also annexed most of the land left by the Golden Horde.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the Golden Horde, one of the four great khanates of Mongolia, began to fall apart under the attack from the east and west by the Timur Khanate and the Grand Duchy of Poland and Lithuania.

The Kazan Khanate, Astrakhan Khanate, Siberian Khanate and Crimean Khanate broke away from the Golden Horde and became independent.

Under the leadership of Ivan IV, the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which was originally a subordinate of the Golden Horde, began to rise.

It annexed the Kazan Khanate in 1552 and eliminated the Astrakhan Khanate in 1556.

Later, the Grand Duchy of Moscow was renamed Tsarist Russia, and the Siberian Khanate was eliminated in 1598.

This also allowed the power of Tsarist Russia to cross the Ural Mountains and expand from Europe to Asia.

However, the Crimean Khanate on the shores of the Black Sea has now become a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire. With the help of the Ottomans, the Crimean Khanate successfully prevented the invasion of Tsarist Russia.

Today's Tsarist Russia is mainly focused on competing with the Ottomans for the Crimean Khanate.

Only some Cossack cavalry were sent to infiltrate the Kazakh Khanate in Asia.

Beginning in the 13th century, some Slavs fled to the southern regions of Russia, including the Don River Basin, the lower Dnieper River and the Volga River Basin, in order to escape the rule of the Golden Horde.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, some Russian and Ukrainian peasants who did not want to become serfs migrated to the southern region of Russia after the Golden Horde was overthrown.

These people were called "Cossacks", which means "free people" in their native Turkic language.

Cossacks established some local governments in southern Russia. Eastern Europe has more plains than mountains, so most Cossack groups are named after rivers, such as "Don Cossacks."

Tsarist Russia bribed high-ranking Cossacks to make these Cossack cavalry serve Tsarist Russia.

Unlike European cavalry who prefer heavy armor, these Cossacks mainly rely on light cavalry.

These Eastern European knights who grew up on horses have become the most terrifying light cavalry in the world with their flexible and fast fighting methods.

Although with the development of firearms, some dragoons equipped with muskets also appeared among the Cossacks.

But they still prefer sabers and spears.

They are also nomadic people, and the Kazakh cavalry is no match for the Cossack cavalry.

But the Cossack cavalry's current relationship with Tsarist Russia is more like a mercenary army.

When the Cossacks invaded the Kazakh Khanate, they mainly looted and did not occupy land.

Nur Ali Khan knew very well that as long as he paid enough compensation, these Cossack cavalry could come out to attack China.

The Imam said that the money could be provided by the Bukhara Khanate.

So Li Zicheng volunteered as an envoy to negotiate with the Cossacks.

The reason why he was willing to take this risk was also selfish.

In case the Kazakh Khanate is conquered by China, taking the Cossack line will give me one more way out in the future.

Of course, in the end, the task of deceiving the Cossacks fell on Niu Jinxing.

Barabash was the leader of the Cossack cavalry that invaded the Kazakh Khanate.

This invasion was relatively easy. Although the Kazakh cavalry was large in number, they were no match for them.

The Cossacks robbed a large number of herdsmen, cattle and sheep, and were waiting for Nur Ali Khan to send people to pay the ransom.

At present, Tsarist Russia's main opponent is still the Crimean Khanate supported by Ottoman, and it has no plans to invade the east on a large scale. The three thousand Cossacks led by Barabash only came to investigate the situation and prepare for the future eastward expansion of Tsarist Russia. They also looted and gained benefits for themselves.

Originally he thought Niu Jinxing was here to pay the ransom, but seeing the carts of gold and silver shocked him.

The ransom they demanded from the Kazakhs was 5 taels of gold, but the gold and silver Niu Jinxing brought this time was worth no less than 5 taels of gold.

To be honest, Barabash had never seen so much money in his life. This gold was enough to buy their lives.

Niu Jinxing is also an old man, and Barabash's thousands of men will definitely not be able to handle the Chinese.

So he went straight to the point and said: "This time we are asking the Cossack cavalry to help us fight against the ancient Chinese. These 5 taels of gold are just a deposit. As long as you can help the Bukhara Khanate drive away the invading Chinese, there are still Two pieces of gold as a gift."

Although they have never fought against each other, Barabash has also heard of the Chinese Empire. This opponent is indeed difficult to deal with.

However, "people die for wealth and birds die for food", so he took the job.

Barabash said: "With us Cossacks coming forward, it will not be a problem to drive away the Chinese."

Seeing that things were going so smoothly, Niu Jinxing also seemed very excited. He asked: "I wonder how many people you have?"

Barabash said: "China has a lot of troops. The three thousand people here alone may not be able to deal with them. I will join the Cossack cavalry around Astrakhan and go south together. There should be seven or eight thousand cavalry."

When he heard this number, Niu Jinxing's heart froze.

The Chinese army that attacked Bukhara was no less than 8 people. Wouldn't it be a fantasy for such a small number of people to defeat China?

Of course, at this time, he did not dare to tell Barabash the true strength of China's troops, lest he scare away the Cossacks.

Then he said: "There are tens of thousands of Chinese people attacking, and their combat power is not bad. Are these people too thin?"

This bounty is so generous. Calling more people means more people will share the gold.

In Barabash's view, dispatching so many Cossack cavalry has given the Chinese people a lot of face.

His idea is also very simple. Since the Kazakhs have been a matchmaker for the Bukhara Khanate, they naturally cannot stand idly by.

Eight thousand Cossack cavalry, plus tens of thousands of Kazakh and Bukhara cavalry, this lineup is enough to drive away the Chinese.

He said: "Isn't there the cooperation of the Bukhara cavalry and the Kazakh cavalry?"

"You won't ask us Cossacks to fight alone, will you?"

His question actually made Niu Jinxing look quite embarrassed. He could only apologize and said, "That's natural. We will fully cooperate with the Cossack cavalry."

It would be best to have more Cossacks attack China, but what he has to do now is to drag the Cossacks into the water.

As long as the Cossacks die in the hands of the Chinese, there is no fear that the main force of the Cossacks will not take action.

He had no choice but to bring the news that the Cossacks were willing to send troops back to the Khan Court.

In order to express his sincerity in cooperation, Barabash also generously released the Kazakh herdsmen he captured.

When the Bull Venus brought the Kazakh herdsmen back.

Nur Ali Khan and Li Zicheng knew that the matter was done.

Naturally, Niu Jinxing did not dare to tell the truth. The fifty thousand taels of gold were only exchanged for seven or eight thousand Cossack cavalry to attack, and Nur Ali Khan even skinned himself alive.

When they learned that the first batch of tens of thousands of Cossack cavalry was about to rush to the Bukhara Khanate, and more people would follow, they still recognized the result.

Reinforcement of troops is like putting out fire. Currently, the Chinese have surrounded Bukhara, the capital of the Bukhara Khanate.

The Imam of Bukhara Khan naturally hoped that the Cossacks could go south as soon as possible.

Ten days later, the Cossack cavalry located around Astrakhan arrived in the Kazakh steppe.

The Chinese were now their common enemy, so Nur Alihan also dispatched 3 Kazakh cavalry south to assist in the battle.

After joining more than 5 Bukhara cavalry near the border, this army of cavalry rushed to the city of Bukhara in a mighty manner.

At this time, the Chinese Army was also divided into two major clusters. The 3 Persian Army led by Li Yan was stationed around Tashkent, while the 5 Western Region Army led by Xiong Tingbi was responsible for the vicinity of Samarkand and Bukhara.

To be precise, the 30,000-strong Western Region Army Corps commanded by Wu Sangui was responsible for the siege of Bukhara.

Wu Sangui had been subordinate to Zu Dashou for a long time. The troops he commanded were based on serious Liaodong cavalry. Later, he recruited many elites from the Nine Sides of the Ming Dynasty.

Whether it is equipment, morale or combat experience, this unit is among the best among all Chinese ministries today.

In addition, Wu Sangui was a young Chinese general that Li Xianzhong was optimistic about, and he was sent to Liaodong Military Academy to study early.

Despite the fierce attack on the enemy, Wu Sangui did not panic.

With the popularity of "Qianxi 1635", the situation of infantry against cavalry has also undergone earth-shaking changes.

In China's internal military exercises, cavalry no longer has any advantage when facing well-trained infantry equipped with artillery in the wild.

Even China's most elite heavy cavalry, the "Liaodong Iron Cavalry", faced the Chinese infantry equipped with rifles and field artillery, and its final outcome was to be completely annihilated.

Originally, the cavalry would not lose its ability to charge until 1860, during the "Civil War" in the United States.

However, the introduction of new breech-loading rifles and Wang Hui bullets has greatly advanced this phenomenon.

However, China has not encountered a large number of cavalry on the battlefield so far, so this battle is destined to be recorded in the history of war.

The scale of fifty thousand cavalry can be described as overwhelming.

The whereabouts of the Cossack coalition had long been discovered by Chinese sentries.

Sentinels who have been equipped with telescopes can clearly spot enemies further away, which also greatly increases their safety distance.

After receiving the news, Wu Sangui decided to take the initiative to attack the enemy.

Soon the two sides met on the grasslands north of Bukhara.

When he saw 2 Chinese infantry directly arrayed to attack him, Barabash showed an expression of contempt.

These Chinese people are really looking for death. They actually use infantry to line up against the cavalry on the grassland?
Although tens of thousands of cavalry were deployed on both sides of the Chinese infantry, it was obvious that the Chinese wanted to use infantry formations to meet the impact of the cavalry.

Not only Barabash, but the Kazakhs also found this scene funny. Are the Chinese preparing to "give away their heads"?

Soon Barabash raised his saber high and led the Cossack cavalry to charge towards the Chinese infantry position!

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(End of this chapter)