Tumeng: I am a national advisor in the Golden Family

Chapter 573 Fanaticism, North Ross Rebellion
Under the shocked gaze of a group of Russian grand dukes and many Russian troops, four huge hot air balloons began to move in four directions that morning.

There were four soldiers on the hot air balloon, and it was carrying fireworks that could create a loud noise in the sky, but had little killing power. It was specifically used to deliver messages.

Each type of firework, with different colors, represents a different signal. This is the way the hot air balloon army and the main force communicate with each other.

After the hot air balloon army takes off into the sky, they will conduct reconnaissance for a full day and will not return until dusk that day.

"The eldest son of the great King John, and the children of King John! This thing that can make people fly to the sky, is it given to you by God? It must be that an angel came to the world and gave King John such a magical weapon." A priest accompanying the Ross army drew a cross on his chest and then asked.

He had experienced the Western Expedition 10 years ago, when the great King John led his army to their land and defeated countless countries.

He even personally summoned the arrival of an angel, a giant white creature, in the sky above the royal city of Hungary.

At that time, all the people in the city witnessed this miracle, and today, King John’s sons have performed an unparalleled miracle. This great miracle should be seen by all the people, so that they can admire the glory of God.

Hearing this, Zhang Dingguan and Zhang Yong's other sons all had a drop of cold sweat on their foreheads.

Why do these people's religious beliefs have to do with God in everything?

But you can't say this matter doesn't exist. After all, Zhang Yong does have these identities in name, and his father, Emperor Zhang Yong, also said that this was learned from the books of alien gods.

"Everyone, these things were taught by gods from outer space. As for whether they are angels, I have never seen them and I don't know." Zhang Dingguan said after thinking for a moment.

Before the Western Expedition, my father had specifically instructed us that after arriving in the West, we should speak human words to human beings and speak devil words to devils!
Anyway, you can't tell the truth. Sometimes you have to use some religious means to make local people work for you.

Compared to other things, rewarding them with wine, meat, women, and spoils is only secondary. This kind of spiritual encouragement is the most important.

"So God must have taught King John how to make this artifact, and then King John made it, right?" The priest who came with the army said excitedly.

These military chaplains were bishop-level chaplains with very high status, and they were all sent by the Eastern Roman Empire.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dingguan could only nod his head. After getting the answer he wanted, except for the priest who accompanied the army, the other grand dukes of Russia and the Russian army all burst into unimaginable cheers.

It was as if they had already won the war.

"Warriors, you see, God is on our side. God has said that we must win this war, and we will win," a Ross general said publicly.

"Children of God! We will carry out God's will here and we will destroy those pagans."

"Destroy the infidels! Destroy the infidels! Destroy the infidels!"

"This killing is allowed by God! You are all forgiven and will go to heaven after death!" The priests began to make a big fuss.

Just showing off a wave of hot air balloons caused the local Ross army to do unimaginable things. So sometimes, some weird things can boost morale!

What my father said is so right.

"Brother! Look at these guys. Father is right. In a country, no one religion can be allowed to dominate, otherwise it will be disastrous." In the East, whether it is Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, or Islam, they are all equal folk belief organizations and are not allowed to raise their own armies.

For example, there are Taoist soldiers and monk soldiers. (This did happen in history. Buddhism raised a large number of monk soldiers, so there was a large-scale anti-Buddhist movement.)
“These sectarian organizations are indeed a problem, but we still need to use this identity now, so please don’t say the wrong thing.

We must make these Russians think that they are fighting for God, so that they can maintain their current fanatical state." Zhang Dingchuan said.

"Let our troops stay away from them and not accept their crazy ideas, especially the Mongolian army." Zhang Dingguan said.

The Mongols were very easily influenced by these sects. For example, his wife's mother believed in Nestorianism.

"Brother is right. Let our troops not get too close to them." Zhang Dingshu said.

Zhang Dingguan made a very wise choice to separate these people from the Mongolian army and let the Han army soldiers stay here to prevent some ordinary Mongolian soldiers from being affected.

After the hot air balloon took off, less than an hour later, it had flown very far away and was only seen as a small dot in the sky.

Zhang Dingguan immediately dispatched a cavalry unit under his command to follow the hot air balloon army on the ground. They had to at least see a small black dot, otherwise they would not be able to see the fireworks signals released by the hot air balloons.

Over the next few days, the Ross army would hold fanatical prayer ceremonies every day, then witness hot air balloons flying into the sky and begin to survey the surrounding terrain.

In just a few days, the Western Expedition Army searched a large amount of land and was gradually narrowing the search range.

Batu's army had at least hundreds of thousands of people, plus some herdsmen who followed the army, a total of several hundred thousand people.

It is easy to hide on the grassland, but if they are in the sky, they will still be a big target and can be found from a long distance as long as you find the right direction.

At this time, on a grassland, a large number of herdsmen and troops of the Golden Horde were gathered here. This time, the Golden Horde mobilized a total of 160,000 troops.

With 80,000 Kipchaks, 30,000 Turks, and 50,000 Mongolian troops, the Golden Horde possessed considerable strength, but the number of Mongolian troops within it was still very small. In fact, if it were not for the opening of trade routes, which attracted many Mongolian herdsmen to settle down, the number would have been reduced.

During the Western Expedition, a large number of Mongolian soldiers returned to the East and did not stay in the West to settle down.

To be honest, Batu did not expect Kublai to be defeated so quickly. Even before his envoys left the border of the Golden Horde, they heard the news that Kublai was defeated and captured.

After learning the news, Kublai Khan's envoy committed suicide in grief, and Batu immediately began preparing for war.

About a month ago, it was confirmed that the Western Expedition Army had reached its border and had joined forces with the Southern Russian army that had come to support it.

Batu's original plan was to transfer the army from Northern Russia and then work together with him to attack and defeat the Western Expedition Army.

But the problem was that Northern Russia was unwilling to send out troops and even directly disobeyed his orders.

The person who took the lead in disobeying his orders was actually his adopted son, Alexander Nevsky, the son of the Grand Duke of Novgorod.

He had followed me in the Second Western Expedition and performed excellently in the war. He was a very brave general.

After the war, in order to win over the young general, Batu made him his adopted son and asked his eldest son Sarida to become his sworn brother.

He was also given a higher title, making him the Grand Duke of Vladimir, the most powerful principality in the northern Rus region.

Over the years, Alexander Nevsky has been very obedient to his orders. Whenever a rebellion broke out in Northern Russia, the young grand duke would immediately lead his troops to suppress it.

Because if the local army went to suppress it, there would not be much bloodshed, but if the Mongolian army went to suppress it, the massacre would be much more serious.

In the past few years, the two sides got along well, especially because the opening of the East-West trade route also brought some dividends to the Northern Russia region. Merchants from the East and the West would also live in the territory of Northern Russia and sell some products from the Northern Russia region. However, the good times did not last long. A few years ago, after Batu and Zhang Yong officially fell out, the East-West trade route was directly cut off.

Batu's younger brother Berke advised Batu that all the lands ruled by the Golden Horde should believe in Allah.

Because the ordinary people within the Golden Horde, the Cumans, and the Turks, basically all believed in the religion of Allah.

This also led to the fact that after the establishment of the Golden Horde, the Mongols in its territory quickly integrated into this sect and were assimilated by the local people.

Batu knew that an unimaginable war would break out between him and Zhang Yong in the future, so he must have the support of the grassland army, and thus promoted the sect throughout the country.

In this situation, the Northern Russia region was naturally not spared, but the Russians in the Northern Russia region believed in the Orthodox Church, which was resented by a large number of civilians in the Northern Russia region. In the end, Alexander Nevsky stepped in.

He changed Batu's forced change of faith into a voluntary change of faith, thus easing the conflict between the two sides. At that time, Zhang Yong's westward expedition was imminent, so Batu did not go to extremes.

He agreed with the actions of his adopted son, Alexander Nevsky. (In real history, Alexander Nevsky was Batu's adopted son.)
He did not expect that this time when he summoned the troops from Northern Russia for support, Alexander Nevsky, his father and several other grand dukes from Northern Russia openly disobeyed his orders and did not send reinforcements to help.

This made Batu a little angry, but as Zhang Yong's army was heading west, he could only force himself to calm down.

Once again, he sent an envoy to order the people in the Northern Russia region not to participate in the expedition.

Attack the territory of Southern Russia. Since the army of Southern Russia participated in Zhang Yong's Western Expedition, the defense must be very weak.

"Batu Khan! Your adopted son Alexander Nevsky, he, he said." The envoy sent by Batu knelt on the ground, stammering and not daring to speak.

"Just tell me what he said. I won't blame you because you are just a messenger." Batu said calmly.

He had carefully examined the messengers he had sent out when they came back. They all had bruises to varying degrees, and some were even hit by stones. So he judged that the initial response this time might not be very friendly.

"Batu Khan, Alexander Nevsky wants to sever ties with you, saying that you two believe in different religions.

If you are willing to convert to Orthodoxy, then he is still your adopted son, bearing witness in the name of God, but he is not a child of God.

He will not obey your orders and cannot accept your orders.

The principality in the Northern Russia region will officially break away from your rule and will no longer pay taxes or tribute to you. "The envoy knelt on the ground and sighed, saying with a little helplessness.

No one expected that things would turn out like this. The Northern Russian region, which had been respectful and even obedient to the Golden Horde, would choose to rebel at this time.

"These damned guys are really rebelling against them! This Alexander Nevsky, Brother Batu was so kind to him that he personally came forward to adopt him as his adopted son.

It would be fine if he didn't feel grateful, but he actually dared to lead the rebellion! "The prince of Jinzhang Khanate, Berke, stood up, slammed the table and shouted.

"What a bunch of bastards! It must be because we failed in our previous attack on the Hungarian region, so they thought we were no longer strong enough, so they launched a rebellion." Another general of the Golden Horde stood up and said.

The failure of the last war against Hungary dealt a heavy blow to the Golden Horde from top to bottom, and its powerful strength was also questioned. But the most important thing was that the coalition forces in the Southern Rus region joined forces with Zhang Yong's Western Expedition Army.

This gave the people of Northern Russia courage. They felt that even if they could win, they would suffer heavy losses and be seriously injured. By then, they, Northern Russia, would be able to completely break away from the control of the Golden Horde.

This is also the main reason why the Northern Ross region dared to openly rebel.

"Hahaha! This is ridiculous. I adopted him as my son! How dare he lead a rebellion against me?" Batu was also very angry.

"Khan! Calm down. After we defeat Zhang Yong's army on the westward expedition, we will go back to deal with this shameful traitor. By then, we will massacre all the cities in the northern Rus region and then plunder them." A general of the Golden Horde shouted.

Such a shameful act of betrayal must not be let off easily, and the people of Northern Russia must be made to know our strength.

"Alright! We will deal with this matter after we defeat the Western Expedition Army. Now we have to hide well.

We will slowly consume the enemy's food and energy, and when they are tired of wandering around the grassland, we will suddenly appear and give them a fatal blow. "Batu said.

Ever since the Western Expedition Army arrived on the grassland, Batu discussed a countermeasure with all his brothers.

All the princes and generals of the Golden Horde agreed that they must not confront the Western Expedition Army head-on, because they were far inferior to the enemy in terms of equipment and personnel combat capabilities. In this case, if they fought head-on, it would be a dead end.

So Batu and his brothers developed a strategy to take the main force of the Golden Horde and circle around the grassland.

Don't be discovered by the Western Expedition Army. Let them run around and consume their food and grass. When their food and grass are exhausted, launch a surprise attack.

During the last Western Expedition, Zhang Yong did carry a kind of food called compressed biscuit powder, which solved part of the army's food problem, but the cattle and sheep raised on the Kipchak steppe.

These were the main rations for the army on the Western Expedition. At least on our side, after eating compressed biscuit powder for a few years, we ate beef and mutton on the Western Expedition.

Batu judged that the food carried by the Western Expedition Army would only last for a year at most, and by then they would have to raise livestock on the grasslands.

Their chance will come then. If they raise livestock, the army will definitely not be able to follow them, and they are familiar with this grassland.

The army can then rob the cattle and sheep from the herdsmen under their command to supplement their own food.

Weaken the enemy's food supply and even attack scattered troops to seize their weapons and equipment.

The longer this war drags on, the more beneficial it will be for their Golden Horde.

Batu's army would send out a large number of scouts every day, and then learn the tactics that Zhang Yong taught him, letting these foodies hide in the grass or behind rocks to camouflage, and then conduct reconnaissance.

The advantage of being familiar with this grassland is that their scouts can hide and easily find the enemy, but the enemy will not get any trace of them.

As it turned out, Batu's strategy was correct. Zhang Yong's army that led the Western Expedition wandered on the grassland for more than half a month with the Southern Russian army that came to join them, but they could not find any trace of them.

Even the food that the Southern Russian army brought with them was eaten up, and now they began to consume the food and fodder of the Western Expedition Army. Batu knew very well how these Russians fought. These guys would not carry too much food and fodder.

"Oh no, oh no, Khan, we, we found a monster outside, there is a monster." A servant ran back in a panic, his face was pale, his forehead was covered with cold sweat, and even his legs were shaking.

"What kind of monster is it? Someone, give him a sip of kumis to calm him down. Then sit down and tell me what's going on." Batu said.

After Mengmeng took a few sips of mare's milk, the extremely panicked scout calmed down, but his face was still extremely pale, and even his eyes were filled with fear and disbelief.

"Batu Khan! We saw monsters, giant human heads with strange shapes flying in the sky, bigger than any eagle, and all our scouts were terrified."

(End of this chapter)