Tumeng: I am a national advisor in the Golden Family

Chapter 572: The Grand Duke of Russia's flattery, Batu avoiding war

The two troops quickly sent out envoys and then visited each other to see if the other party was the person they were waiting for.

After the identities of both parties were confirmed, the two armies quickly joined forces, and several Russian grand dukes were quickly invited to Zhang Dingguan's tent.

"Hahaha! Everyone, please come in! Please come in! My father told me about you all in the past. You are all his capable subordinates." Zhang Dingguan, together with the Mongolian generals and a group of Han army generals, warmly greeted these grand dukes from the Southern Russia region.

Although he was a duke in name only, the Grand Duke of the Rus region was only in charge of his own major cities, some small villages and farmlands, and could be said to be extremely poor.

It certainly cannot be compared with the rich East, but it is also considered a powerful country in this European land.

Several Russian grand dukes who came here also saluted Zhang Dingguan and many generals.

Karoslav, Kanislakyi, Silamidov, Prosno, and Krislav were the five people who were conferred the title of Grand Duke of Russia after Zhang Yong left ten years ago.

They are newly promoted nobles, and the Grand Dukes of Russia in the Northern Russia region have never recognized their identities, believing that their bloodline is illegal.

The Grand Duke of Kievan Rus, who unified the Russian region, divided his territory equally among his sons after his death, creating the supreme position of Grand Duke in the Russian region.

But now, or to say, ten years ago, this tradition was broken. Zhang Yong appointed seven generals to become the new grand dukes of the Ross region and took control of the entire Southern Ross.

They are the Grand Duke of Galivonia, Karoslav.

Grand Duke of Minsk, Kanislaky

Grand Duke Silamidov of Smolensk Principality.

Grand Duke Prosno of Chernigov
The Grand Duke of Pereroslavl, Krislav, in addition to the Grand Duke of Ryazan, and the Grand Duke of Kievan Rus.

A total of seven grand dukes from the Principality of Southern Ross came to Zhang Dingguan's tent.

“Son of the great King John, when we heard the news of your coming.

We couldn't sleep all night, we were so excited because we knew that King John's descendants were coming and he was going to fight those shameful pagans again. "The Grand Duke of Minsk said excitedly. (Here we can just use their country name, or just a male Grand Duke of Russia to describe it! Typing the name is too fucking troublesome.)
"Yes! Over the years we have been resisting those pagans, resisting their ideological invasion, upholding the Lord's faith, and safeguarding God's rights." Liang Zan said publicly.

Since Zhang Yong left for the Western Expedition, the grand dukes in the Southern Rus region have been sticking together to fight against the Golden Horde and stabilize the western trade routes.

Ever since the Jingzang Khanate and Zhang Yong's Daqian Empire fell out a few years ago, they were also attacked by Batu.

Among them, the area most threatened was the area ruled by the Principality of Ryazan, which was equivalent to the edge of the Russian region and bordered Batu's Golden Horde.

Fortunately, Zhang Yong had left behind some things and defensive measures that allowed them to resist the Golden Horde.

The current Golden Horde is no longer the former Mongolian army. It has powerful firearms and catapults. The walls of the Principality of Ryazan have also been replaced from wood to solid, raising its defense to a higher level.

When Batu's Golden Horde attacked, several other grand dukes in the Russian region would also send troops to support.

"This time, we have brought all the men from the entire Rus region. We want to join your great holy war and eliminate those pagans for the orthodoxy of Rus and for the Orthodoxy." The Grand Duke of Kievan Rus came to Zhang Dingguan, nodded and spoke.

"Hahaha! Thank you all the honorable grand dukes for coming to support me. In this war, we will definitely destroy the Golden Horde. At that time, I promise you that both Southern and Northern Russia will be able to restore the Orthodox faith, and you will no longer be forced to believe in other sects." Zhang Dingguan said.

Just as my father said, these Western people's beliefs in sects and their bloodline are natural, and they even think that the nobility is justified.

They had absolutely no such Eastern idea that there was no race between kings, princes, generals and ministers. After destroying the Golden Horde, the people of the Khanate of Ogedei wanted to rule here.

There were a large number of Nestorian Christians in the Khanate of Ögedei. This was because Guyuk had listened to Zhang Yong's advice and suppressed the YSL sect to some extent.

Although there is freedom of religion, if you believe in this sect, you cannot hold a high position. You can only be the poorest civilian, and even your son cannot join the army. Under such circumstances, many Mongolians changed their beliefs.

Before the Western Expedition, Zhang Yong specifically told his son that after arriving in this land, he must not allow one religious sect to dominate. The Orthodox sect cannot dominate, and the same applies to the YSL sect.

Therefore, after ruling this place, these two sects must coexist, and even the Eternal Heaven sect and the Nestorian sect must coexist. Zhang Dingguan will tell this to the future ruler of the Ogedei family, Guyuk's son.

The child is thirteen years old now. After the Golden Horde is destroyed, he will be an adult and will be able to control the army of the Ogedei family. As for whether he can sit firmly in this position, it depends on his luck.

"Did you hear that? King John's son, he promised us, he promised us, we can believe in the Orthodox faith again!"

"Hahaha! We must liberate the Northern Rus region and destroy those cowards of Novgorod. They surrendered to the pagans. Now it's time to take everything back." A Rus general raised his weapon and spoke excitedly.

Zhang Dingguan's promise made these Russian people very happy, because Zhang Yong had made the same promise back then. This also allowed them to preserve the most traditional Russian culture and religious heritage in the southern Russian region.

"The great eldest son of King John, we actually have a potential ally in this war. If you are willing, the Byzantine Empire can also come to support you." A Russian minister said.

Since we have to deal with these pagans, the Eastern Roman Empire, which also believes in Eastern Orthodoxy, should also join this war.

"Hahaha! You're right. We should win over all the allies we can and form an army of God."

Zhang Dingguan felt a little embarrassed when he heard this. These Russian people are really fanatical!

This kind of religious brainwashing can indeed boost their morale to an unspeakable level.

However, this method is not what I want.

"Although this war is against the Golden Horde, it is also a battle within the Golden Family, a battle between the two grandsons of Genghis Khan. We don't need outsiders to intervene." A general of the Ogedei family said with a cold snort.

They had already stopped it once before, but they didn't expect that this group of Russians would try to stop it again after they came.

"Everyone, I know that you want to deal with the Golden Horde very much, but if we ask for help from the Eastern Roman Empire, that is, Byzantium, then we will still need to pay them for food and fodder, and also pay their military salaries.

It takes time for them to come from afar, after all, they have to borrow the territory of other countries. They are not as close as you, so don't let them participate in this battle.

With our current strength, it is easy to destroy the Golden Horde. How many troops did you bring?" Zhang Dingguan said.

In this situation, let's change the topic! Zhang Dingguan could see that these people from the Ogedei family looked down on the fighting power of the Western forces.

Especially these Russians, in their eyes, are uncivilized barbarians, even more barbaric than the Mongols. Not only are the men covered with hair, but the women are also covered with hair.

"Great eldest son of King John, we obey your orders. Since you feel there is no need to request troops from the Eastern Roman Empire, then we will defeat Batu of the Golden Horde on our own." A Russian Grand Duke snorted coldly.

These stupid and barbaric Mongols, do you think we are loyal to you? We are loyal to King John. They also know the news from the East. King John has become the ruler of the East and is like a god in the East.

"The great eldest son of King John, we have brought a total of more than 57,000 people this time. Among them, the Principality of Kievan Rus sent 10,000 troops, and the remaining six principalities sent more than 47,000 troops." The King of Kievan Rus said publicly.

"I have brought a total of 160,000 troops this time. Together with your people, we have a total of more than 200,000 troops. We have an absolute crushing advantage in terms of numbers." Zhang Dingguan nodded and said.

These Russian grand dukes were quite powerful, and basically brought all their troops with them. It seemed that Batu had put a lot of pressure on them over the years, and they all wanted to destroy Batu. After returning from the second Western Expedition, my father once told them that the Russians were actually very good warriors. They were tall, strong, and very powerful, especially when fighting alone, one could defeat two.

Their only shortcoming is that they are not very good at tactical combat, and their large-scale legion command is extremely poor. The soldiers only know their own archduke and superiors, and cannot command anyone else at all.

Therefore, in order to command them to fight, we have to arrange a special tactic for them and plan their strategic actions in advance, otherwise, these Russians will cause trouble.

Back then, his father had arranged a round shield and small axe tactic for them.

Each Russian soldier carried three small axes and held a round shield, forming a battle formation similar to the ancient Roman tortoise shell formation when charging towards the enemy.

He threw his small axe with all his might, causing terrible damage.

This formation was also retained by the Ross army because it had a certain degree of impact resistance when dealing with cavalry.

"Great eldest son of King John, how do you plan to conduct this war?" a Ross minister spoke up.

"My army will be responsible for fighting the Golden Horde head-on, while your Russian army will be responsible for launching raids from the flanks, forming infantry phalanxes and following behind my army," said Zhang Dingguan.

"Great eldest son of King John! The soldiers we brought are all good fighters, and we are eager to kill the enemy head-on."

"Let us kill the enemy head-on! We need to teach Batu a lesson."

"We also have cavalry units. All of our cavalry units combined this time number about 7,000 to 8,000 people."

A large group of Russian Grand Dukes began to talk at once.

"Since you have chosen to join my army, you must obey my command. I will lead you to victory and inflict minimal casualties on you, allowing you to obtain spoils. All you have to do is trust me." Zhang Dingguan said.

Just as my father said, these guys are indeed good fighters, but they have basically no tactical acumen. No wonder they were bullied so badly by Batu.

"Then we will obey your orders. Please defeat Batu for us! Great eldest son of King John!"

After the two armies joined forces, they entered the territory of the Golden Horde together and began to raid Batu's camp.

"Your Highness, we sent out a scout team, but we found no trace of the main force of the Golden Horde." A scout ran back and said.

The Kipchak steppe is really too huge, even larger than the Mongolian steppe. It would be very difficult for the enemy to find one's army and herdsmen if one hides them on such a huge grassland.

They had already penetrated deep into the Golden Horde for more than half a month, but had not found Batu's main army. It seemed that Batu did not want to engage in a head-on battle with them.

Zhang Dingguan also saw through Batu's intention. The Kipchak steppe was their best natural battlefield. Here, they could control their own movements, but they could not control the movements of the other side.

"We have sent coalition forces to encircle and suppress these damned Kipchaks before, but they were hiding in the grasslands.

Our troops wandered around the prairie for several months, and when the food ran out, they had no choice but to withdraw. They didn't dare to come out and fight head-on." A Ross general said.

"These cowards don't dare to come out and fight us head-on. If they dare to come out, Ross's warriors will teach them a lesson." Another Ross general said publicly.

Hearing this, several Mongolian cavalrymen nearby came down and frowned.

Even Zhang Dingguan himself and several other sons of Zhang Yong rolled their eyes.

After I praised you a few times, you actually started to breathe heavily. Do you think that the reason why Badu didn't dare to come over to fight head-on is because of you Russians? It's because of us.

If you had come to this grassland alone, Batu would have brought his army here and beaten you like dogs.

Although the Mongolian army had lost the advanced Eastern armor and firearms, it still had catapults, sabers, and bows and arrows.

It is not a big problem to bully a bunch of ragtag soldiers like you. The reason why Batu chose to avoid fighting was because he was afraid of the nearly 100,000 Mongolian cavalry.

This time, the Han army had only tens of thousands of troops, while the Mongolian army outnumbered the Mongolian army by more than 100,000. If this Mongolian army fought head-on, it would have completely defeated the Golden Horde.

In terms of weapons, it is overwhelming the current Western Expedition Army. The cavalry units are all equipped with armor, and their bows and arrows are also specially made strong bows. The sabers are made of high-quality steel, even better than Damascus steel.

The weapons and equipment can be said to be completely overwhelming. Batu knew this, so he did not dare to come for a head-on battle.

They are not afraid of any so-called Ross Warriors.

"Brother, it's no use keeping searching like this. Why don't we let the hot air balloon army take off?" Zhang Dingchuan came up to his brother and said.

They have been searching for half a month and have sent out countless scouts, but they have not found the main force of the Golden Horde army. If they continue to search like this, there is no telling when it will end.

It would be much more convenient if we released hot air balloons and the army could look down from the sky.

During the past half month, they have not been idle. The people in the hot air balloon unit have been measuring wind speed and drawing maps of the surrounding terrain. After all, it is very easy to get lost if you take off rashly in a completely unfamiliar land and fly far away.

So the balloon army needs nearly half a month to draw the surrounding terrain map and observe the sub-items. Choose a suitable day to take off.

It had been cloudy and rainy in the past few days, and the weather on the grassland had always been unpredictable. It was only in these two days that the weather started to clear up.

However, even so, it is still dangerous to launch a hot air balloon because the weather changes on the grassland are really weird.

The sky may be clear in the morning, but it may start to turn cloudy at noon and in the afternoon, with even strong winds and thunder.

"Send out four hot air balloons to start searching in four directions. Tell the pilots to be careful and not make any mistakes. Once Batu's army is discovered, use fireworks to notify the army immediately." Zhang Dingguan nodded and said.

Batu! Don't think that the huge grassland is your hiding place. The hot air balloon invented by my father is specifically designed to target your tactics.

Soon the army began to set up camp, and then the hot air balloon army began to assemble the hot air balloons, inflate them, and then take off.

The other Mongolian and Han troops did not mind this scene, but the Russian army following Zhang Dingguan were shocked by it.

Four huge hot air balloons took off, causing great psychological shock to the Ross soldiers.

"This is something that can fly. It can carry people and take them to the sky. Is this God's weapon?"

"This must be a gift from God. Only God could invent this thing." A Grand Duke of Russia said with emotion.

"Hahaha! This thing is called a hot air balloon. It was invented by my father. Just watch it carefully! As long as this thing takes off, it will definitely be able to find Batu's army." Zhang Dingshu said.

You bunch of country bumpkins, take a good look at the weapons my father invented and take a good look at the combat power of our air force!

(End of this chapter)