Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1597 The New Atmosphere of the Amur River ([-])

Stepanov took a sip of the spicy, low-quality liquor, and let out a long breath of foul air.In this warm and cold season, things like spirits are really lovely things. No wonder it will become a hard currency in the Amur River Basin. It is really difficult to live without it!

Moreover, he was able to drink precious spirits in such a remote place as Albazin Castle, thanks to Seytkul Ablin, a Bukhara native who is now sitting facing him. Service of His Majesty the Tsar.Abelin has just returned from the place of Bogd Khan in the Qing Dynasty, because the people on the east bank have invaded a large area of ​​land in the lower reaches of the Amur River east of the Albazin Castle, so the Abelin mission entered Beijing through the Mongolian area. City—specifically, Abelin received an order from the military and political officer Vasily Shirkov in Topolsk, and set off with a mission of more than ten people and a letter written by the tsar, along the Erba The Qisi River arrived at Tara City, then passed through the territory of the Kalmyks, reached the Beshka River, and finally entered the grassland of the Mongols, arriving at Kukuhetun (that is, Hohhot).

In Kukuhetun, after identifying the tsar’s special envoy, Abelin and his party were warmly received by the Mongols under Bogd Khan’s rule, and then came to the outskirts of Beijing via the gateway city of Kapka (that is, Zhangjiakou).Here, the envoys of Bogd Khan warmly welcomed the mission from Russia, and the two sides exchanged gifts (Abelin brought a gift worth [-] rubles), and then lived in the Mongolian Yamen (Lifanyuan) next door. In an apartment, waiting for the summoning of Bogd Khan.

According to Abelin, the meeting with Bogd Khan and his courtiers was generally more pleasant. They no longer regarded His Majesty the Tsar as the monarch of a small vassal state, but the emperor of a big country treated equally, and then gave Many gifts including 25 pieces of silk, three pieces of beaver skin, three pieces of snow leopard skin, three pieces of velvet, three pieces of seal skin and ten poods of tea were given to the Tsar.As for what benefits Abelin himself got from it, it is not very clear. Stepanov vaguely heard that he personally received a gift "worth two hundred rubles", which made him a little jealous.Of course, if he knew that the cost price of the gift given to Abelin by the reception staff of the Qing Dynasty was two hundred rubles in China (which means that it would probably sell for thousands of rubles in Moscow), he would probably be even angrier.

"Mr. Envoy, you said that when you passed through the territory of the Kalmyks, you were questioned by their leader Ghazan (that is, Galdan). This is very interesting. Is there a conflict among the Kalmyks? This may be our chance. Prince Shirkov must be very pleased to hear the news , because the pressure on Topolsk may be greatly reduced." Stepanov said casually while drinking and listening to Abelin tell what he had seen and heard on the road.

"Not necessarily, the population of Ulus in Araptar is not large, and he may not have the power to oppose Gazan." Abelin also took a sip of wine, and then said: "Gazan's trouble is Shirko Duke Fu, for you in the Yakutsk Warlord District, I am afraid that the threat from the people on the east bank is more realistic. This time I was in Beijing, and I had a long conversation with Bogd Khan’s emissary, and they invited us to join us Attack the people on the east bank of the lower reaches of the Amur River. I can see that they are serious this time, and they are well prepared. Bogd Khan’s most trusted envoy, Soetu, told me that they have already prepared a round in Manchuria. Ten thousand Tungus and Kalmyk soldiers, as long as our people follow the Amur River to the east to attack the territory of the East Bank people, then they will support our offensive in the south. Moreover, Duke Soetu promised that once the East Bank is defeated People, Bogd Khan will allow us to occupy all the territory on the left bank of the Amur River, and this river will be the border between the two countries, and they will never invade each other."

"The delusional Tatar ruler..." Stepanov smacked his lips and said disdainfully, but then he shook his head slightly and said with a smile: "But he caught up with a good time, the great tsar His Majesty was dissatisfied with the people on the east bank, and wanted to teach them a little lesson, so he asked us to trouble them along the Amur River, haha. At first we didn't expect the Tatars to help, but since they offered and said Sponsor 20 rubles and silver for the military, so why not? This amount of money is enough for us to recruit a large number of experienced soldiers from Siberia, Astrakhan, Kazan, etc., which will greatly strengthen our strength."

It is said that since the National Intelligence Agency on the East Bank "randomly intervened" in the Racine uprising in Russia and was caught - since the first group of envoys disappeared on the way, the second group sent by the East Coast people was also caught in the middle. The attack of the local tribes loyal to the tsar, except for a few leading figures who fled back to the Crimean-controlled area, the rest were either killed or captured. This also let the Russian tsar know the plan of the people on the east coast. Therefore, he was very angry——Tsar Alexei was determined to find his way back. He not only sent people to seal up the commercial stations set up by the people on the east coast in Arkhangelsk and Moscow, and put the personnel of the commercial stations in prison. The region strengthened its ties with Bogd Khan of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, and together they fought against the East Coast people militarily.

In fact, due to the dominance of the people on the east bank in the Amur River area, it was the general trend for the Russians in the Far East to merge with the Manchus. The intelligence officials on the east bank intervened in the Racine uprising, but it was just a booster for the Russians to finally make up their minds.Even if there were no such incidents, the Russians would sooner or later join hands with the Manchus along the Amur River to keep warm, and jointly fight against the forces on the east bank that continued to erode the land of both sides.Otherwise, why do you think the tsar sent envoys to Beijing repeatedly these years?Not yet for diplomatic preparations.Moreover, I heard that Bogd Khan, who has always been stubborn and arrogant, is planning to send a mission to Moscow by land under the pressure of reality. One is to get in touch with Tsar Alexei directly, and the other is to see the Russians What is the strength of the country, and whether it is qualified to sit on an equal footing with "My Great Qing" and form a military ally.

"20 rubles is a lot of money." Abelin said with some envy. When he received instructions from his superiors in Topolsk, Prince Shirkov only allocated him 20 rubles for the journey. and asked him to sell the goods he carried with him to Kalmyks or Chinese to raise the necessary funds if it was not enough. It can be seen that [-] rubles is a sum of money in the entire Siberia and Yakutsk Warlord District. Such a huge amount of money, perhaps only the heroic emperor of China can spend this money without blinking an eye.

"Overseer Baykov has officially ordered to increase the garrison of Albazin Castle. These people will be replenished from Moscow. The number is 500. They have been away for a long time and will probably arrive next year. The recruitment of these personnel and The maintenance costs will come from the 20 rubles." As the supreme commander of the Albazin Fortress, Stepanov had already received this news from Duke Baikov of Yakutsk.Your Excellency the Overseer instructed Albazin's Stepanov and Father Constantine to step up their efforts to win over the natives and make all preparations for a military conflict with the people on the east coast.

At present, Stepanov has received a 300-man Cossack cavalry team transferred from Yenisesk, and has received sufficient material support from the Yakutsk treasury.In addition, Father Constantine was not idle either. This magical guy had recently developed many Tungus chiefs as followers of the Orthodox Church, and he accepted their power as a matter of course.

Speaking of Father Constantine's ability to naturalize the Tungus people, we have to mention the famous chief of Gentemur.This guy was originally a courtier of Bogd Khan in the Manchu Qing Dynasty. He was once awarded the Zhenghongqi special editorial leader Dutong, a fourth-rank official position (a salary of 1200 taels of silver and three boxes of gold per year).Unexpectedly, after the bandits in yellow rose strongly in the lower reaches of the Amur River and defeated Bogd Khan many times, he decided to take action. Therefore, his whole family left Nerchinsk, where they were originally stationed, and came to Nerchinsk on horseback, cattle and sheep. Fort Huma of the people on the east coast, please take effect.

Liao Xiaoyao, who was the captain of the Blackwater Pioneering Team at the time, was naturally very happy about this, so he ordered him to be resettled in Huma Fort, and gave him the rank of Lieutenant of the Army Reserve on the East Bank as a reward (of course the bigger The reason is to value the many soldiers and horses under his hands).This incident was originally a typical example of naturalized natives. However, the so-called impermanence of the world, the chief of Gentemur did not know which muscle was wrong, but he was bewitched by the Russian "foreign monk" and believed in Nao Shizi. He was later baptized by Father Constantine of the Albazin Fortress himself and given the Christian name of Peter. Katan, the bravest of his thirteen sons, was given the Christian name of Pavel.

Not to mention, the chief of Gentemur entered the Orthodox Church and was rewarded by the tsar-the czar canonized the chief of Gentemur as a duke, asking his family to guard the border for generations and rule the Tungus people there; Canonized as a Moscow nobleman, he has arrived there and accepted the reception of the tsar, which can be described as extremely glorious—afterwards, he quietly moved his tribe back to the vicinity of the Albazin Fortress, which naturally greatly hit the people on the east bank Liao Xiaoyao, especially Liao Xiaoyao, who once issued an order to commend him, has been demanding the extradition of the Gentemur chief from the Russian side in the past few years, but he has never heard back from the Russians.

The reason for this is that the chief of Gentemur has a high status and a good reputation in the middle reaches of the Amur River. His back and forth is related to the choice of many Tungusians, that is, whether to take refuge in the Russian side, the Manchu Bogd Khan side, or the east bank People, so it is understandable that the Russian side is determined not to let people go.

This time Prince Baykov, the warlord of Yakutsk, asked to prepare for a military war against the people of the east coast, and the chief of Gentemur—well, maybe we should call him the prince—as a representative between Russia and the east coast. The core figure of the party is naturally going to lead the army to help in the battle.Moreover, this fellow now understands his situation very well, so he works very hard to win over various tribes in the outer northeast for the Russians. It is conservatively estimated that he can mobilize 2000 troops, which is indeed a big force. If he roars away, it is enough to break the east bank People's slightly weak defensive circle.

"Where did Bogd Khan's men attack from? Naowen City (that is, Qiqihar)? It doesn't seem like a place where [-] soldiers can be stationed." Seitkur Ablin asked with some doubts: " Could it be from the south that I have not been to? It is relatively warm and rich in products, and may be able to supply all the supplies needed for a [-]-strong army for a long time."

"Of course it's the warm south, there's no doubt about it." Stepanov replied without hesitation: "However, Naowen City will not be completely silent. General Dutong Bahai appointed by Bogd Khan once They sent people to Albazin and discussed with me the plan of joint operations. They were extremely afraid of the model fort and Harbin fort established by the people on the east bank in the depths of the south bank of the Amur River, and for this reason they once gave up the Ningguta area. This time they plan to take advantage of the momentum of the joint march of the two parties to gather troops to attack Harbin Fort and Model Fort—if possible, they may also attack such a nail as Huma Fort—recover the infiltrated by the East Coast, The land on the south bank of the Amur River has been affected for many years. But to be honest, I very much doubt that the Tatars in Naowen City can do this, because the people on the east bank are not easy to deal with barbarians. In fact, they are very powerful. They used to be in Huma Fort It has ruined two hundred of our soldiers. I don’t believe that the generals under Bogd Khan’s command can defeat such a powerful force with only a little force, it’s impossible!”

In fact, the Russians didn’t know that the biggest threat to the Qing court was the right bank of the Yalu River in Liaodong. After all, it was close to the Qing Dynasty’s Longxing land, and the threat was great. It was far from the sparsely populated and barren north Compared with the incomparable Ningguta, Heilongjiang, Jilin and other places, not to mention the land on the north bank of the Amur River that was lost by them long ago.Therefore, the main offensive of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was destined to stay only in the Liaodong area. ) and their servants are doomed to disappointment.

As for Naowen City in the north, Dutong Bahai will launch an offensive against the people on the east coast in the future, it cannot be said that there is no such thing, but this scale is nothing compared to the Liaodong area in the south.After all, with those people under his command (many troops have even been transferred south to garrison near Shenyang), it is really hard to say what gains can be made in the face of the solid fortifications built by the people on the east coast.Maybe in the end, the two or three thousand cavalry under his command (maybe there will be more after temporarily recruiting some Mongolian cavalry), can only stroll around the line from Model Fort to Harbin Fort, and show off their power. Raise a little power and influence, and then you can only return without success.

"No matter what Bogd Khan's people do, we must be prepared to launch a disciplinary war against the people on the east coast." Father Constantine said with a serious face: "Maybe the war will start next year, Onufri, We need to pay more attention.”

(End of this chapter)