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

Chapter 265 I, Li Zicheng, am back (please subscribe for monthly tickets)

The previous Battle of Bukhara left a deep impression on Nur Ali Khan. Even if you lend him some courage, the Kazakh cavalry would not dare to charge against the Chinese army again.

Faced with a massive invasion by the Chinese army, the Kazakhs had no choice but to retreat to their capital, Turkestan.

Although the Chinese 12-pound field artillery caused a lot of casualties to the defenders on the city, it was unable to destroy the city wall in a short time.

Wu Sangui had no choice but to besiege the city while waiting for the arrival of the heavy 24-pound cannon.

On another battlefield, 50,000 Kazakh cavalry were confronting 80,000 Khalkha Mongolian cavalry.

Tushetu Khan's youngest daughter Wulanzhu is now the concubine of the Chinese crown prince. With this special status, Tushetu Khan has the highest status in the three Khalkha tribes.

He himself was also regarded as the leader of the three Khalkha tribes by Chechen Khan and Zasaktu Khan.

Although Tuxie Tuhan is a relative of the Chinese royal family, the other two do not have this level of marriage relationship.

After all, Khalkha is just here to fight for China's territory. They will indeed contribute, but it is a bit difficult to bring out the main force to fight the Kazakhs.

After all, the Kazakhs did not have a military advantage, and they did not dare to take the initiative to attack the Mongols.

For a time, the entire Kazakh battlefield was in a stalemate.

However, the war in Kazakhstan still attracted the attention of many people.

In addition to the Chinese, Kazakh and Tsarist Russian forces, the Junggar tribe, which was previously forced by Li Xianzhong to move westward, is also waiting for the opportunity.

Originally, Li Xianzhong forced the Junggar Mongols to move westward in order to let them station in the Volga River Basin to contain the military strength of Tsarist Russia.

But after fighting with the Cossacks, Junggar felt that Tsarist Russia was not easy to mess with.

So they did not enter the Volga River Basin, but moved to the territory of the former Siberian Khanate where conditions were relatively harsh.

Although they were also harassed by Cossack cavalry there, after all, it was only the fringe area controlled by Tsarist Russia, and the pressure would be much less.

At this moment, fierce fighting is going on on the Kazakh grasslands, and the Junggar people have finally waited for this golden opportunity.

They took advantage of the time when the Mongols captured Dayuzi and the Chinese besieged Zhongyuzi, and sent troops to sneak attack on Yuzi controlled by the Kazakh Khanate.

They took the opportunity to occupy a large area of ​​grassland between the Ural River and the Caspian Sea.

The key is that Wu Sangui is not easy to get into trouble with Junggar's chicken-stealing behavior.

Because Li Xianzhong asked them to move westward to the Kipchak grassland in the Volga River Basin, including Xiaoyuzi.

Nowadays, the Junggar people are only executing the orders of the Chinese emperor.

After all, Li Xianzhong did not expect that China's power would expand so quickly.

However, the appearance of the Junggar people is still beneficial to the war situation.

Wu Sangui immediately sent people to ask the Junggar tribe to send troops to attack the Kazakh cavalry who were confronting the Khalkha Mongols.

The Dzungars have taken a big advantage, so naturally they can't refuse China's dispatch.

Soon 30,000 Dzungar cavalry appeared behind the Kazakhs.

The Kazakhs, who did not have the advantage in terms of military strength, panicked instantly.

Tushetukhan and others are also "veterans" who have been on the battlefield for a long time. At this time, they will certainly not let go of this good opportunity to defeat the Kazakhs with one sentence.

The 8 cavalry of the Khalkha Mongols plus the 3 cavalry of the Junggars totaled 5 cavalry. It was easy to attack the Kazakh cavalry from the front and rear.

Sure enough, not long after the war began, the Kazakhs became timid, and it soon turned into a huge rout.

The Mongolian light cavalry are best at this kind of pursuit combat. They use the speed advantage of their light cavalry and their precise archery to continuously cover up the retreating Kazakh cavalry along the way.

Most of the 5 Kazakhs were annihilated, and the rest did not dare to go south to face the Chinese rifles, so they had to flee.

At this time, Wu Sangui finally waited for the 24-pound cannon he had been waiting for.

However, just when he was preparing for a big battle to conquer the city of Turkestan, Li Shizu's order came, telling him not to attack.

Previously, China annihilated more than 6,000 Cossack cavalry, which was regarded as a complete enmity with Tsarist Russia.

According to reliable intelligence, Li Zicheng has gone to Astrakhan to ask for help.

If China had conquered Turkestan and eliminated the Kazakh Khanate at this time, the Cossacks would probably choose not to send troops.

If it can be lured from the Astarahan region to the Kazakh grasslands for encirclement and annihilation, it will obviously be easier to achieve.

So instead of attacking the city, Wu Sangui relaxed the siege of Turkestan, giving Nur Ali Khan's messenger a chance to run out and ask for help from the Cossacks!
After Li Zicheng left Turkestan with Niu Jinxing, he took a mission of 500 people and escorted a large number of cattle and sheep to Astrakhan.

Asthan is located in the Volga Delta region and is spread over 11 islands connected by canals and streams.

It is adjacent to the Caspian Sea and is also an important port.

In 1558, Ivan IV's army captured Astrakhan without any blood and incorporated it into the territory of Muscovy.

This became the bridgehead for Tsarist Russia to cross the Ural River from Europe into Asia.

The Russians built the first white-stone Kremlin in the lower Volga region here.

In ancient Rus, high-walled fortresses with guard posts were called Kremlins.

The Kremlin has seven towers, three of which have entrance gates.

The Red Gate is located in the northwest of the Kremlin and leads to the Volga River.

Li Zicheng and his party entered Astrakhan through the red gate.

Potemkin, the governor of Astrakhan in Tsarist Russia, met with Li Zicheng and others.

After all, Li Zicheng and the others did not come empty-handed, they also brought 3 cattle and sheep.

Who would refuse someone who offers a gift?

Barabash had previously sent 2 taels of gold to Potemkin and borrowed Cossack cavalry from him.

So he had heard about Li Zicheng.

I originally thought that Li Zicheng would definitely bring a large amount of gold and jewelry, but it turned out that he only had cattle and sheep. Potemkin inevitably showed a disappointed expression on his face.

He said calmly: "Do you, the Kazakh Khanate, want to exchange tens of thousands of cattle and sheep for us to send troops to rescue you?"

"The Chinese people are very powerful in combat. This little thing is not enough. At most, it can make up for the huge losses caused to the Cossack cavalry by concealing the situation last time."

Li Zicheng and Niu Jinxing looked at each other.

He thought to himself: Good guy, Niu Jinxing really made me guess. These Cossacks are really evil and ruthless.

Potemkin obviously said that if I accept the cattle and sheep, don't even think about sending troops.

However, Niu Jinxing had already thought of this result.

Li Zicheng said: "Dear Governor Potemkin, you are right. These cattle and sheep are just to make up for the losses caused by your last troop dispatch." "Actually, I didn't come here this time to ask you to save the Kazakh Khan. country, but to dedicate the Kazakh Khanate to the great Tsarist Russia!”

Now it was Potemkin's turn to be surprised.

Since Ivan IV led the Grand Duchy of Moscow to get rid of the Golden Horde, they have been desperately expanding to the surrounding areas. Expanding eastward is naturally the established policy of Tsarist Russia.

After all, Tsarist Russia had the Grand Duchy of Poland and Lithuania to the west, and powerful Sweden to the north.

Although the Crimean Khanate in the south does not seem to be strong, behind it is the Ottoman Empire.

It can be said that the expansion of Tsarist Russia in the north, south, west and north at this time was not going smoothly, and each neighbor was more difficult to deal with.

At this time, the East became their target.

After all, these nomadic khanates in the East are much easier to fight than their opponents in Europe.

That's why a large number of Cossack cavalry crossed the Ural River and came to Central Asia. In fact, they were preparing to annex this place to Tsarist Russia.

But after all, the Kazakh Khanate is also a big country with a population of millions and can pull out 200,000 cavalry, so their eastward expansion has been blocked.

Now that Li Zicheng proposed to sacrifice the Kazakh Khanate, he was naturally tempted.

So he said, "I don't know how to offer Dharma?"

Seeing that the other party took the bait, Li Zicheng continued: "We in the East have an allusion called 'false way to destroy Guo', which is to take advantage of the way to destroy other countries as an excuse to invade and occupy the country using the way."

"The Governor-General can take the opportunity to capture Nur Ali Khan and control the Kazakh Khanate in the name of supporting the Kazakh Khanate. When the time comes, I will take care of everything for the Governor-General as an internal agent."

Seeing that Potemkin was still hesitating, Li Zicheng added: "Even if the Governor does not send troops, China will be bordering Tsarist Russia after occupying the Kazakh Khanate. The Chinese have destroyed countless countries, and it is absolutely impossible for them to make peace with Tsarist Russia. Get along.”

"Even if we do not occupy the entire territory of the Kazakh Khanate, it is very advantageous to be able to control the Xiaoyuzi area around the Caspian Sea."

"Now that the main force of the Kazakh Khanate is fighting a decisive battle with the Chinese, the border areas must be empty."

Russian Tsar Mikhail I is vigorously pursuing an expansion plan. Now that he can successfully capture the Kazakh Khanate, he will definitely be reused by the Tsar.

In the end, Potemkin failed to withstand Li Zicheng's deception and decided to send troops to Kazakhstan.

But he really couldn't trust this yellow-skinned pagan.

This person can betray the Kazakh Khanate, and he can also betray Tsarist Russia.

Niu Jinxing had already thought of this, and Li Zicheng took the initiative to propose that he and his subordinates would change their beliefs and embrace Orthodox Christianity.

Li Zicheng converted to Islam in order to win the trust of the Mughal dynasty, and now he naturally has no burden if he converts to Orthodox Christianity.

However, this move still won Potemkin's approval.

He even told Li Zicheng that he was willing to recommend him to the tsar as the general manager of the Kazakh Khanate.

However, the Chinese army was not easy to deal with. Potemkin knew that relying solely on the troops around Astrakhan would definitely not be enough.

So he united with the Don Cossacks to form a Cossack cavalry of 25000 people.

In addition, he informed Tsar Mikhail I of his plan to conquer Kazakhstan and asked Moscow to send follow-up troops as his reinforcements.

So they crossed the Ural River in a mighty manner and headed towards the territory of the Kazakh Khanate.

However, it was the Dzungarian Mongols who occupied Xiaoyuzi in the border area of ​​the Kazakh Khanate at this time.

Faced with the massive invasion of the Cossacks, they naturally resisted vigorously.

However, the Junggars had just fought a war with the Kazakh Khanate before, and their strength had not yet recovered.

The Cossack cavalry relied on their changeable tactics to continuously tear apart the Dzungars' defense line during the confrontation. In the end, the Dzungars were defeated and returned.

They had no choice but to retreat to the territory of the former Siberian Khanate in despair.

After the victory in the first battle, the morale of the Cossacks increased greatly.

Li Zicheng said: "It has been more than a month since the Chinese army besieged Turkestan, the capital of Kazakhstan. It can be said that they are exhausted and it is a good time for us to defeat them with one sentence."

"We drove away the Chinese people and brought Nur Ali Khan under control. By then, the whole of Kazakhstan will be the territory of Tsarist Russia."

Originally, Potemkin wanted to wait until the follow-up troops sent by Moscow arrived before heading south to Turkestan together.

However, after all, Turkestan has been besieged by the Chinese for more than a month. If they lose Turkestan because they are waiting for reinforcements, the situation will be very unfavorable to them.

So Potemkin decided to send 1 people to launch a tentative attack on Turkestan.

Li Zicheng, who was familiar with the situation in Kazakhstan, was naturally incorporated into this advance force.

In order to please Potemkin, Li Zicheng also threw hundreds of his troops into the battle together with the Kazakhs.

In order to lure the Cossacks further into the hinterland of Kazakhstan.

Wu Sangui sent a small group of Mongolian cavalry to lure the enemy.

Facing light cavalry like Cossacks, only the Mongols, who were also good at ranger tactics, could contend with them.

Li Zicheng had many small-scale conflicts with the Mongols along the way.

When facing the Central Plains dynasty, the Mongols' cavalry tactics that came and went like the wind made the Central Plains cavalry often helpless because they simply could not catch up with the Mongols.

However, when facing the Cossack cavalry, the Mongolian tactics obviously did not work.

The maneuverability of the Cossack light cavalry is no worse than theirs, and the Cossack dragoons' muskets have a much longer range than the Mongolian bows and arrows.

The Mongols were often hit by Cossack musketry during their escape.

After several battles, the Mongols were clearly at a disadvantage, losing more than 3,000 people.

The Cossacks fought consecutively from the Caspian Sea to near the Aral Sea.

Originally, Li Zicheng was relatively cautious, feeling that the Mongols might have an agenda by entangling him so much.

But after receiving a distress letter from Noor Ali Khan, he accelerated his pace.

The letter said that the Chinese army's heavy artillery bombarded the city day and night and was about to break through the outer city.

It was obvious that the Mongols were spreading suspicion and were delaying their advance in order to buy time for the Chinese to break the city.

So the Cossacks changed their tactics and began to pursue the Mongols. Finally, they captured a large amount of supplies in the Mongolian camp.

At this time, the follow-up troops led by Potemkin also caught up, and they were less than half a day's journey from Li Zicheng's advance army.

After several days of rapid march, the Cossacks finally arrived outside the city of Turkestan.

At this time they could already see the spiers of the mosque in the city!
Li Zicheng was also extremely excited. At this moment, he really wanted to shout to the Chinese army outside the city: "You didn't expect it, I, Li Zicheng, am back again!"

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(End of this chapter)