The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 151 Beiting

On January 1727, 1, it was the first day of the Dingwei year. In the small Jinghe Fort (now Jinghe County, Bole City, Xinjiang), hundreds of soldiers and civilians were lively celebrating the arrival of the New Year.

In order to boost morale and liven up the dreary winter atmosphere in the fort, Li Jinyao, the commander of Jinghe Fort, also ordered people to slaughter several sheep and took out several jars of wine to reward all the soldiers and civilians, so as to calm everyone's hearts.

Jinghe Fort is adjacent to Lake Aibi to the north and Sailimu Lake to the west. It controls a plain area at the northern foot of Borokonu Mountain. It is the westernmost military stronghold of the Beiting Governor's Mansion of the Great Qin Dynasty and the forefront of the Junggar Khanate. . There are 240 soldiers stationed in the entire fort, as well as more than 350 military immigrants. The Jinghe River, which originates from the glacier on the northern slope of Borokonu Mountain, meanders through Jinghe Fort, not only providing sufficient supplies for the entire fort. The water source has also become a natural moat, protecting the west side of Jinghe Fort.

Although it is the first day of the lunar month, when the soldiers and civilians of the fort are celebrating, necessary vigilance is still required. In the two turrets on the west side of the city, there are several soldiers on duty on each side, wrapped in thick cotton coats, wearing felt hats, and their faces covered with a thick layer of cotton towels to block the biting cold wind. They are stationed there dutifully. .

A bonfire was burning brightly, and an iron kettle was placed on it, bubbling. A soldier emptied the cold iron hand warmer of water, then poured boiling water in again, tightened the thread, and handed it to the companion next to him who was holding a telescope to observe the situation outside the city.

"With this white-haired wind blowing, I don't think there will be any Mongolian Tatars coming out of the mountains." The soldier glanced in the west direction, then squatted down and continued to warm up by the bonfire, "Maybe. Those bastards are also huddled on the other side of the mountain, holding their animals to keep warm!"

"I think we should suggest Shangguan build a beacon tower by that lake (Sailim Lake). As soon as the Tatars come out of the mountains and light the bonfire immediately, our Jinghe Fort will be fully prepared." Kong Youshun put down the telescope, shrank his neck, put on his gloves and held the hand warmer that had been replaced with hot water, feeling the warmth.

"It's easy to build a beacon tower, but the question is who is willing to go and guard it?" Mao Ergou said, taking off his felt shoes and stretching his stiff feet towards the bonfire, "If the Mongolian Tatars quietly If you sneak out from the mountain, you can immediately touch the vicinity of the beacon tower, and then secretly climb in, wiping everyone's neck. How unfair that is! Our Jinghe Fort is more than 200 miles away from the lake. , even if the Tatars want to make a sneak attack, they have to ride on horseback for two or three hours, and the movement is not small. No matter what, we can get the letter, and there will be a reaction, right?"

"Ergou, your feet are so smelly!" Ge Lishan looked at Mao Ergou, who was roasting his bare feet, taking out the mattress pads from his felt shoes and drying them by the campfire. There was a burst of irritation immediately. The sour smell in my nose made me frown in disgust, "Damn it, if I smell this smell like yours, I'll lose my appetite when I'm on duty later!"

"Heh heh heh..." Mao Ergou didn't show any intention of restraining his movements after hearing this. He licked his face and said with a smile: "Since the upper limit, these two feet have lost feeling. If I don't keep doing it, I might be like Lao Li." His head was like that, his feet were frostbitten, and they had to be chopped off in the end, so he would have to suffer even more!"

"Mom, if the Tatars rush over right now, I see you are barefoot, how can you run away?"

"Hey, I'm talking about the mountains, the Tatars are coming, how can you think about turning around and running away?" Mao Ergou said jokingly: "As a soldier, I have to fight bravely to kill the enemy, and in the end... the horse wrapped the body , Be loyal to our great Qin. When fighting the Tatars, even if the men don't wear shoes, they still poke holes in their bodies with muskets. ...Escape? No matter how fast you run, there is no way you can outrun the Tatar horses! To put it bluntly, we The garrison here is just cannon fodder, providing an early warning for the Yanbo Fort (today's Wusu) three hundred miles away. What I didn't say, the Tatar army is coming, and all of us have to fight to the last person. Well, those migrations and The same goes for immigrants from the mainland who are assigned to work.”

"Although our Jinghe Fort is not a high city or a stronghold, it is still a solid fortress with tight defenses and several artillery. Even if the Tatar army comes, it may not be able to capture it, right?" Kong Youshun patted the wall stacks and took aim again. Glancing at the gun emplacement in the distance, he said with some uncertainty.

"There is no indestructible fortress in this world." Mao Ergou shook his head and said: "As long as the Tatars are willing to pay a huge price and gather tens of thousands of people to besiege you day and night, they can defeat this spirit no matter what. The river fort was breached.”

"Ah!" Kong Youshun twitched the corner of his mouth and couldn't help but look worriedly at the vast wilderness outside, as if there were countless Tatar soldiers hidden at the end of the wind and snow.

"What's all the fuss about?" Ge Lishan looked indifferent, "If the Tatars really gather a large army to attack our Jinghe Fort, the generals in the rear will definitely jump with joy. As long as we work hard here, we can consume countless times the Tatars, even if the Jinghe Fort is destroyed by the Tatars, it doesn’t matter to the superiors at all. You know, every Tatar head is a bargaining chip for the generals to be promoted to nobility! The big deal, in a few days, The general above will ask the court for some money, grain, and cash to build a new one."

"So, we are all cannon fodder!" Kong Youshun murmured: "Then..., then...can I survive the five years of service?"

"Hehe... don't worry, we can all survive. The Tatars are also human beings, and they are also afraid of death. They will not easily attack our strong fortress. Think about it, how many people there are in the Tatars, who are fighting against our Qin Dynasty. Can they fight it?"

"What if the Tatars get carried away and gather a large army to attack?"

"That must be a Tatar whose head was kicked by a donkey." Mao Ergou put the baked insole in front of his nose, smelled it, then his throat moved, and he quickly took the insole away and replaced it with another The noodles continue to bake.

"The Tatars...are coming!" Kong Youshun muttered, "They were really kicked in the head by donkeys!...The Tatars are coming to kill us!"

"Tsk!" Mao Ergou turned his head and looked at Kong Youshun with a sneer, "You are so fucking delusional! How could the Tatars come here to kill us in such weather?"

"Beep beep..."

Kong Youshun did not answer, but stared blankly outside the city. He stood there for a moment, then immediately picked up the horn from the corner, puffed up his cheeks, and blew hard.

"Shunzi, you are seeking death!... If you are invincible and you are warning, you will get a military stick!" Mao Ergou roared angrily.

"Beep...beep..."

"Mom!...The Tatars are really coming!" Mao Ergou scratched the wall with his bare feet and stared blankly at the vast wilderness in front of him. Hundreds of thousands of black spots were moving in the wind and snow. Quickly approach Jinghe Fort.

"boom!"

"Enemy attack!"

Mao Ergou grabbed a musket by the wall, quickly loaded the gunpowder, inserted the pellets from the muzzle, compacted the gunpowder and pellets with a pipe, and fired a shot into the sky.

The sound of warning horns, the sudden sound of muskets, and the shrill roars immediately broke the warm and peaceful New Year atmosphere in Jinghe Fort, and the entire fort fell into restlessness and panic.

The officers who were drinking and having fun in the warm barracks hurried out. Before they were fully dressed, they waved their scabbards and gathered the soldiers who had heard the warning but were still in a state of confusion into a team. They held their muskets and pointed at the soldiers. Run towards the city wall.

The colonial officials and scribes stumbled around the fort, knocking on the doors of the earthen huts, ordering all the colonial immigrants to gather immediately, and then rushed towards the armory in the fort to prepare corresponding combat materials for the upcoming defensive operations. to resist the Tatar invasion.
-

February 2, Luntai (now Urumqi). "On the first day of the first lunar month, the chief general of the Dzunggar Khanate's garrison at Talqidaban Fortress (today's Ili Guozigou) led more than 8 tribesmen to surrender to Jinghe Fort. They were already sheltered outside the city by local officers and soldiers. The commander of the fort, Li Jinyao, then sent an urgent messenger to Yanbo Town to report the changes in the Tartars, and asked for orders to mobilize rear troops for reinforcements to prevent the Tartars from taking advantage of the situation to attack."

"On the sixth day of the first lunar month, General Cheng Daye of Yanbo Town personally led more than 800 of his subordinates and galloped across the Jinghe River in the wind and snow. On the evening of the ninth day of the lunar month, they stationed in the fort and took over all defenses. Fortunately, from the Tartars After the escape incident, the Junggar tribe did not mobilize troops to attack, so they had peace for a while."

"On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, after questioning the surrendered Tartar general Norbu Zangcering, civil strife broke out in the court of the Junggar Khan. The slave chief Cewang Alabutan died violently, and dozens of nobles, chiefs and tribal leaders were killed in the court. , the number of tribes near Ili killing each other increased to more than 3,000. General Cheng Daye sent 100 cavalry generals such as Luo Bu Zang Ce Ling and other surrendered Tartar leaders to be urgently escorted to the rear for the review of the Governor's Office. "

"..."

"When can those people be sent?" Yue Zhongqi, the Great General of Jingxi of the Qin Dynasty and the Governor of Beiting Governor's Office, put down the urgent report from Suilai (now Manas County, Changji Prefecture, Xinjiang), raised his head, and stood aside. the counselor asked.

"Back to the General Administration, there is too much wind and snow on the way. It will probably take another three to five days." Deng Yuren, the counselor of the Dudu Mansion, immediately returned his hand.

"What do you think of Guifu?" Yue Zhongqi asked softly.

"The civil strife of the Tartars is definitely the best opportunity for our great Qin." Deng Yuren said: "However, it is the middle of winter at this time, so the army may not be suitable for departure, and we still have to wait for some time. In addition, Junggar We don't know what the impact of the chaos in the royal court will be. If Galdan Celing, the leader of Nanu, uses the power of thunder to quickly stabilize the Junggar tribes and appease the good people, our army may rush to attack, and the enemy may take advantage of it."

After hearing this, Yue Zhongqi stood up and walked to one side of the wall, folded his arms, stared at the map of the Western Region, and fell into deep thought.

On December 12 last year, Galdan Celing told the bedridden Junggar Khan King Cewang Alabutan that the second prince Norbu Zangshunu intended to take advantage of the Khan's illness to plot to kill him and to raise troops to conspire against him. , deposed the Khan King and succeeded to the throne of Junggar Khan.

Originally, Cewang Alabutan had a prejudice against the second son of Norbu Zangshunu. In addition, some of the Turghut envoys in the royal court had frequent contact with him and had secret meetings with him, which further aggravated his suspicion.

Therefore, Cewang Alabutan ordered the arrest of Norbu Zangshunu, and planned to interrogate him again after he recovered from his illness.

But his queen Seterzabu had many eyes and ears and learned the news in advance. She also learned that Galdan Celing was planning to execute Norbu Zangshunu secretly while he was being captured and imprisoned. She immediately notified her son and asked him to flee west and temporarily avoid the Turgut tribe.

Seeing that his son was framed by others, and that the Khan King Cewang Alabutan also listened to one side of the story and blindly obeyed the mercy of Galdan Celing, Seterzabu was filled with anger and took revenge on him.

The envoys from the Torgut tribe were also jealous of Galdan Celing who forced Norbu Zangshunu away and continued to weaken the influence of their Torgut tribe. They handed a bag of poison to Seterzabu, hoping that she would poison Galdan Celing, thereby creating an opportunity for her son to return to the royal court.

However, Seterzabu couldn't find a chance to poison Galdan Celing, so he decided to poison his confused husband first, and then relied on his own identity to frame Galdan Celing and take the opportunity to get rid of him. Lose.

On January 1, Seterzab took the opportunity to serve Cewan Alabutan with medicine and poured poison into his mouth.

That night, Cewang Alabutan bled from all his orifices and died suddenly in the palace.

Cewang Alabutan, King of the Junggar Khan, was also a powerful figure throughout his life. When he was young, he followed his uncle Galdan in the north and south, and made great contributions to the establishment of the Junggar Khanate. When he grew up, he split with his uncle and formed a line of his own. From then on, he dominated the world. He didn't want to grow old but died at the hands of his own wife.

Galdan Celing had been alert to Seterzabu's conspiracy since he forced Norbu Zangshunu away. When Cewang Alabutan was poisoned to death, under the influence of Dace Lingdundok, a powerful figure in the Khanate army, With the support, he immediately raised his troops to quell the rebellion and captured Seterzab.

For this woman, Galdan Celing showed no mercy and adopted extremely cruel methods.

As for the escaped Norbu Zangshunu, they sent envoys to the Kazakh Khanate and the Turgut Tribe, ordering them to catch him and send him back to Junggar after seeing him in person.

Luobuzangshunu's five-year-old son was hacked to death with a knife, and a group of close followers and tribesmen who had followed him were brutally purged. His wife, the granddaughter of King Yarkand Khan, was included in his account.

The leader of the Heshuote tribe, Norbu Zangdanjin, who had had some connections with Seterzabu, did not escape the fate of being purged. Although he himself was not killed by Galdan Celing, he had more than 10,000 men under his command. Three thousand tents were forcibly taken away from the tribe, and their original nomadic area in the Ili Valley was changed to the more barren Karatar area (today's east bank of Lake Balkhash) as punishment.

After hearing the news, Norbu Zang Celing, who was a member of the original Qinghai Heshuo tribe, did not hesitate to abandon Talqidaban Fortress, set off a fire, burned several forts in the mountains, and took thousands of his own The tribesmen came to surrender to the Qin State to prevent being overthrown by Galdan Celing.

There are many tribes in Luobu Zangdanjin, and he also enjoys high prestige among the Heshuote tribe. Galdan Celing dare not kill him, but to deal with the leader of a small tribe with thousands of tribes like him, what else can he do? Without scruples, he would kill his people if he couldn't, and devour his people to expand his own strength.

Unexpectedly, when our Qin Dynasty celebrated the New Year, a sudden change occurred within the Mongols, allowing Yue Zhongqi, the governor of Beiting, who had always wanted to defeat the Junggar Khanate, to find a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"There is chaos in the royal court of Junggar. If that Norbu Zangshunu escapes to the Kazakh Khanate, it will definitely stir up the local situation and make the Kazakhs want to fight back. Then, at this time, the Junggar Khanate will definitely send troops to the west to relieve its worries. Only then can we stabilize the situation in the entire grassland." Yue Zhongqi turned around, looked at several confidant generals in the room, and smiled solemnly, "The cold winter is indeed not an opportunity to use troops, but if we miss this opportunity, after the Junggar people have calmed down, Then it will cost more in the future.”

"General control means..."

"Hundreds of years ago, Li Su entered Caizhou on a snowy night, so today, our Qin Heavenly Soldiers will climb over the snowy mountains!" Yue Zhongqi said calmly: "Let's go to Wangting Yili City in Junggar!"

(End of this chapter)