open sea

Chapter 1455 Saiqi
"No problem!"

On the march, Grand Duke Belsky, who accepted the fate of being deposed, still maintained the majesty and optimism of the Minister Gu Ming.

He said to the young nobles who followed him on the road: "Don't be afraid of timidity, be brave, the Don River robbers can easily attack their capital, there is no reason why six thousand real good soldiers can't."

"Although Yermak failed, what Cortez and Pizarro did for Spain in the New World will be done by us for the Tsar in the East!"

Grand Duke Belsky was originally a Lithuanian. Although his family did not have a long history in Tsarist Russia, in fact the history of Tsarist Russia as a whole is not long. Tsarist Russia only appeared in this world 37 years ago.

In this short history, the Beliski family shed enough blood for the tsar. When the Crimean Khan attacked Moscow 13 years ago, most of the family members died in the war.

Even now, as the least influential family leader of the five ministers' families, Grand Duke Belsky still maintains a loyalty that is not valued by others.

Loyalty to the dead Ivan IV.

He believed that when he returned to Moscow with the glory of conquering the East, the successor appointed by Ivan IV, Feordang, had already ascended the throne of the Tsar, and the endless Siberia would be the greatest honor he dedicated to the Tsar .

At this moment, Grand Duke Belsky still doesn't know that in another history, Tsarist Russia will soon experience a 30-year tsarist interregnum, with people fighting for power and fighting each other.

Three of the five ministers' families will become tsars. Internal strife will cause the tsar to lose authority. Peasants will face alien rule. Sweden, Lithuania, Germany, and Poland will all support their own tsars to rule the most extensive land in Europe.

Now, with the hope of victory at his fingertips, Grand Duke Belsky led his troops singing folk songs on both sides of the Don River, and happily marched towards the land of the Strokhanov family.

Reassured by the warlord, the aristocratic youths who aspired to establish their careers were not afraid anymore. They proudly believed that if the bandits on the Don River could also defeat the Siberian Khanate, then they would be able to do the same and do better.

After all, they have many advantages over those Cossack robbers.

They carried muskets made in England, and even a batch of arquebus guns with the Chinese logo of Toyo made in them, cannons forged by German craftsmen, gunpowder from Bohemia, and high-quality imitation Toledo Spanish-style steel from the Netherlands. Sword, armed to the teeth.

The Tsarist Russians didn't know that those well-made matchlock guns were made by Ming Dynasty. They only knew that they were the most high-end matchlock guns from England, bearing the Tudor royal family's logo.

English muskets will always be their best companions during the purchase of military equipment for noble youths in the outskirts of Moscow before going to the front line.

The price of a bullpup was twelve whole wooly rabbit skins; the price of a bullpup was two horses;

The best one is the musket with the mark of the Tudor royal family. Its lethality is not as great as the previous large-caliber musket, but it is well-made. Except that the firing rod will fall off, there is almost no need to worry about other muskets firing three times. Faults that need to be repaired.

This kind of musket has the most beautiful shape, the most exquisite workmanship, and the price is naturally the most expensive, requiring three mink furs.

In fact, until their death, these aristocratic youths who joined the army probably didn’t know the four English muskets in their minds, and none of them were made in England.

The low-quality muskets without bullpups were made in Poland, the muskets with bullpups worth two horses were made in Portugal, the large-caliber muskets were Dutch imitations of Spanish heavy muskets, and the ones with the seal of the Tudor royal family were made by the Ming Dynasty.

The Moscow Company in England purchased these things from various merchants through various channels, including German Shinra guns, Bohemian gunpowder, Dutch imitation steel swords, and French plate armor, all of which were imported from England. In the name of selling into Tsarist Russia.

In exchange for valuable furs, they were processed and sold back to merchants all over Europe.

For Tsarist Russia, the 12th year of Wanli was the first year in which England's maritime merchants could not see all kinds of exotic goods.

Everyone misses those profiteers a little bit, and guess what good things they will bring next time they come.

When Belsky led an army of more than [-] people, as well as more servants, servants, and merchants than the army, after a long journey, they entered the land of the largest landowner in the entire Tsarist Russia, the Strokhanov family of eastern salt merchants. Theirs was a young man named Kaye.

A trusted collateral relative of Grigory Stroganov, who was also the steward of the Stroganov family's upper Kama estate.

"The warlord came at a really bad time. The Tatar tribes in the east attacked our territory. There are deserters and wounded everywhere in the west of the Ural Mountains. It's my luck that they didn't interfere with your march."

Under the guidance of Kaye, they came to the upper reaches of the Kama River, which is the land granted to the Stroganov family by Tsar Ivan IV 28 years ago, allowing them to recruit militia here to protect the occupied land and serve as The starting point for the eastward invasion of the Siberian Khanate.

It is called Solikam, and it was originally a trading post, and the name is also related to the saltworks of the Stroganov family on the White Sea, and later became the family's stronghold in the western Ural Mountains.

The defense has also been further strengthened, and it has become a town with wooden walls in the style of Tsarist Russia.

Kaye took the warlord and several generals to the most spacious wooden house. The servants brought mead, and the cook outside the house was roasting the newly hunted wild boar. Most of the nobles took their attendants into Soli Kam for a short rest.

"Since last year, the hired militiamen have been losing battles in the East, and this year's furs have not been harvested enough. I don't know why the Tatars are crazy. Since four months ago, the militia battalions everywhere have been talking about the Tatars. Heading west."

When Kaye mentioned the Tatars, his expression always showed strong disdain.

Warlord Beliski knew what the role of the Stroganov family was. They were not nobles, but had the right to enjoy land and recruit soldiers to protect the land. Their soldiers were not noble conscripts and were not like standing troops. Tsar's purse.

Kaye's term for those family forces was very accurate, militia.

Their lands were not taxed, and it took a lot of trouble to recruit helpers. Polish horsemen looking for work, Germanic swordsmen, and Cossacks on the Ukrainian steppes could all seek refuge here to protect the land from the threat of the Tartars.

The warlord was not at all interested in the loss of the Stroganov family, he just asked: "How many Tatars are there, I heard they have 30."

"I've also heard such rumors, but now no one knows how many of them there are. After the defeat of Yermak, we lost contact with the east, and we can only rely on the attacked villages to guess the enemy's movements."

"I'm here to protect your territory, so you have to send troops too." The warlord's words were unquestionable: "How many people does Stroganov have?"

Kaye raised his head and thought for a while, then readily agreed, and said, "If I fight in the eastern part of the Ural Mountains, I can send four hundred soldiers...if it's in the western part."

He paused, and said, "We have at least [-] Saiqi, providing support for the army in various places."

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)