Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

After capturing Nerchinsk, Bao Yin, without taking a break, continued his relentless pursuit of the remaining Russian forces in the region, successively capturing Irgensk Fortress west of Nerchinsk and Terembinsk Fortress on the shores of Lake Teremba. The continuous battles resulted in the loss of 2,500 men, and he severed 1,500 to garrison the three cities of Nerchinsk, Irgensk, and Terembinsk, leaving him with only slightly over 10,000 troops available for the northern expedition.

Nevertheless, this ambitious prince remained determined to fulfill his father's mission: to capture Yakutsk and control the Lena River basin. Full of confidence, he stationed his troops at Irgensk, preparing to attack Barguzin, a key Russian military stronghold. Barguzin Fortress was a crucial Russian stronghold on the eastern shore of Lake Baikal; capturing it would allow him to confidently advance north and directly attack Yakutsk. At this moment, his only concern was the Russian forces in Udibashin and Chukubashin, southwest of Nerchinsk.

Good news kept coming in. On November 1st, all the guards were mobilized simultaneously in accordance with the holy decree of the Great Khan of Lotus.

In the Kazakh direction, the commander Teguschoktu led 10,000 guards from Aktobe to attack Orenburg, supporting the guards of the Agunkhba myriarchy; Tumentu Hurchoktu led 10,000 guards from Omsk northward along the Irtysh River to capture Tobolsk, and engaged in fierce fighting with the Russian army at Ishmael.

In the northern desert region, the commander Saihan led 15,000 troops to besiege Kyakhta Fortress, south of Chukubakhin. This fortress, located southwest of Nerchinsk, was an important commercial center and transportation hub; capturing it would allow a direct assault on Chukubakhin.

In the Nurgan direction, Orros, the governor of Nuningji, Jambi, the commander of Ningguta, and Mengkutmur, the commander of Nurgan, led 15,000 troops to capture Tugurburg, forcing the Russian governor Peter Aksentyev to flee to Yakutsk with only thirty Cossacks. Then, Orros, in his prime, led his army up the Okhotsk coast and besieged Okhotsk; simultaneously, he dispatched 3,000 cavalry to Mengkutmur to harass the Russian forces around Yakutsk, effectively supporting the garrison operations in the Nerchinsk region.

Because of the long distance, no military reports had arrived from the direction of Agunkhaba. However, a while ago, the seventh brother, Han Wang Luobuzang, and Shuoqi led 5,000 cavalry to the Agunkhaba myriarchy, where they successfully joined forces with Governor Ejil Narisong, Agunkhaba Tumenpengchuk, the myriarch Yildeng Nuoyan, and the governor Tuyebai. Combined with the news that the Kazakh myriarch Tegusochoktu was leading an army to attack Orenburg, Baoyin astutely judged that the seventh brother was currently attacking Astrakhan, coordinating with Tegusochoktu. If they could capture this fortress in the northern Caspian Sea, the Agunkhaba myriarchy could be connected to the Kazakh myriarchy, instead of relying solely on Caspian Sea shipping for communication as it was now.

The Khan had already made arrangements for the all-out war on November 1st, and the various guards were separated by considerable distances and unable to immediately establish contact with each other, so this good news did not bring His Highness the Prince of Chu any real joy. What truly delighted him was the uprising launched by the Khori Buryat people (the main body of the Buryat tribe) in Chukubekh (Selengessk, Ulan-Ude), led by a chief named Galajud Dulabalden. The uprising was large-scale, quickly spreading from Chukubekh to Udinsk (Udinsk Fortress), Irkutsk, and other places. This meant that the Russian army in these areas would no longer have the resources to harass his rear, and he could confidently launch an attack on Barguzin Fortress.

"Truly worthy descendants of the Swan Fairy! The Buryat people are excellent, they truly bring honor to us Mongols!" Baoyin laughed heartily, patting the shoulder of the third-rank Buryat Betemur and saying, "This is all thanks to you! You immediately take five hundred men to Chuku Baixing, escorting enough weapons to arm three thousand warriors, along with the official title and edict bestowed upon me by my father, Khan. Appoint Dulabalden as a chiliarch, arm the Haoli Buryat people, and continuously harass the cities of Ude Baixing and Chuku Baixing to prevent the garrison from reinforcing Barguzin. I will lead a large army to Barguzin, and we will surely capture this fortress within ten days."

The Mongolian people have a long history, and almost every tribe has an ancient legend about its origins. In the legends of the Buryat Mongols, they are descendants of the eleven sons of Khorita Morgen and the Swan Fairy, known as the Eleven Khori clans: Galajud, Huasai, Hugdud, Khordai, Shalaide, Harigana, Guqid, Botungud, Chachengude, Halibin, and Batnai (the Buryat and Bargut tribes have similar legends).

These eleven clans constituted the core of the Buryat tribe, who took pride in their noble lineage. However, since the arrival of the Russians in the region, their lives of murder, arson, and extortion were utterly destroyed. Unwilling to be enslaved, they fought back fiercely, launching a series of uprisings. Especially a decade or so ago, when Tsarist Russia's aggression in the Amur River basin was thwarted, the Russian outposts in Transbaikal, centered on Nerchinsk, fell into financial crisis due to the loss of sustenance from the Amur River's grain-producing regions. The Tsarist government could not pay salaries or provide food, leading to widespread mutiny and even mass exodus of Cossacks. At its worst, only 114 Cossacks remained in the three cities of Nerchinsk, Irgensk Fortress, and Terembinsk. The Buryat seized this opportunity, uniting with other indigenous tribes to rise up, attacking Russian fortresses and seizing their grazing horses.

Left with no other option, the Tsar ordered the transfer of food, weapons, and manpower from Tobolsk and other governorates to Nerchinsk, and increased the salaries of the Cossacks stationed in the three Transbaikal cities. It took a long time to suppress the uprising. In another timeline, under the strong suppression of Tsarist Russia, the Buryat people's anti-aggression struggle, isolated and without support, had already reached a low ebb. However, in this timeline, with the rise of the Davidian state, a considerable number of Buryat people migrated to the Mongolian steppe, and with the support of the Davidian court, they sneaked back into the Buryat region to fight against the Russian army. This meant that Tsarist Russia was never able to completely extinguish the flames of Buryat resistance.

After the Wei army captured Yaksa, Timur volunteered to Baoyin to contact the Buryat people in the Russian-occupied territory to join the uprising. Baoyin agreed, just to give it a try, without placing too much hope on it. Unexpectedly, his plan backfired spectacularly!

"Chief, the Buryatbe has sent a messenger!" When his men brought Timur's envoy to Dulabaladen's tent, the clan chief of the Galajud clan was stunned. "The Buryatbe? Which Buryatbe?"

“It is the chieftain Zibzinot Timur who originally lived in Barguzin,” the subordinate carefully explained.

“It’s him! Long time no see. I never imagined he’d been made a count by the Kingdom of David,” Dula Baladen sighed upon hearing this. Timur wasn’t from a prominent Buryat clan, and his status in the tribe was originally lower than his own. It was only because the Russians invaded that Timur led his people to migrate into the territory controlled by the Kingdom of David, while he himself couldn’t bear to leave his ancestral lands, which led to the current vast difference in their situations. After composing himself, he said, “Let the envoy enter the tent.”

"Speak, what message did Timur send you to deliver?" Dula Baladen asked, staring at the messenger.

After bowing, the messenger said, “Bryatber asked me to convey a message to you: ‘The time has come to reclaim our ancestral lands. Please do not fail the noble Galajud family.’”

"Heh," Dula Baladen grinned, drawing his scimitar. "Go back and tell Timur that when he left, we were the ones guarding the ancestral lands, and this sword has been drinking the blood of the Rakshasa ever since. He's been gone too long; I'm waiting for him to come home!" (End of Chapter)