On March 30, 1685, after a long journey of nearly three months (the Black Sea was frozen and ships could not be sailed), Gao Wengang, the plenipotentiary envoy of the Republic of China on the east coast of China to Europe, finally arrived in Bekchisaray, the capital of the Crimean Khanate.

Seriously, he doesn't remember how many times he's been to this country. But in any case, the Crimean Khanate is now the fulcrum of the people on the eastern coast to pry the situation in the Black Sea, and it must not be ignored, so it is worth it and necessary to come as many times as possible.

Hajigla Khan had not been in good health recently (which is why he had not led his army to Podolia) and was ill, but he still received Gao Wengang and his party in a luxurious palace designed by the people of the East Bank.

The Great Khan of Grei was born immediately, and he has fought an unknown number of battles in his life, coupled with the institutional characteristics of the Crimean country, so he is very concerned about the construction of the army, and he is also very attentive, and has always done his best to provide for it: the Crimean Khanate has been formed, dismantled, re-formed, and dismantled many times, and has basically stabilized at the scale of a standing army of 30,000 in the past ten years.

There is no doubt that for a small backward country with a population of only more than 1 million, the scale of the standing army of 30,000 people is already very huge, not to mention that this country is still a semi-feudal and semi-nomadic system, and the level of productivity is naturally not very high, so the total standing army of 30,000 people can be maintained, which is already quite awesome, and can even be called "reckless military force" in a certain sense.

Of the 30,000 men, 20,000 were cavalrymen, the Crimean Tatar cavalry in the traditional sense, fierce, light, and cunning, mostly composed of poor farmers and herdsmen or slaves pardoned by the Great Khan, and the state provided salaries, provisions, and training equipment, and military advisers on the east coast participated in and helped form their logistics, training, intelligence, and command systems. Although it is impossible to teach them everything, in fact, the people of the East Coast are only leading in technology and system in military affairs, and many other aspects are just the same, and there are still places to learn from each other with their counterparts in the Old World, but it has doubled the combat power of this army.

It is worth mentioning that originally the Crimean Khanate did not have any standing army except for the subordinates of the Great Khan or the nobles. They still followed the old steppe system, that is, in the event of an incident, the tribal leaders who submitted to the Great Khan led troops to serve the king or go on an expedition. The soldiers they brought with them were actually tribesmen, just tribesmen with a few slaves and some property at home, and their lives were quite passable. When they set out on an expedition, the tribesmen were required to bring their own horses, dry rations, weapons, and other military supplies, and assemble at the designated place at the appointed time, and then the tribal elders or chiefs would lead them to the place where the Great Khan's Golden Horde was located.

It can be seen that even though the Buraku people of the Crimean Khanate were more affluent, they were freed from the heavy work of life and had more time to stay up and hone their combat skills, but after all, they were not professional soldiers, and it was impossible to conduct military training around the clock and to a high standard. Even if some people are more self-disciplined and insist on training, it is only a small area, and large-scale coordinated operations are still lacking, and this is often a common problem of grassland nomads, with a low degree of organization! It is a congenital disease, and it is more difficult to make up for it, unless a male master teaches them this with iron-blooded discipline, but there are often very few male masters.

And this is actually an important reason why the steppe nomads began to decline after passing the heyday, and the untimely ancient military system dragged its feet! Think about it, when the countries of Europe became more prosperous in industry and commerce, and the level of social productivity gradually increased, they began to be able to afford to support a standing army of increasing size. These armies are large in number, well-equipped, and frequently trained, and their combat effectiveness is naturally much stronger than that of non-professional soldiers who run for life every day.

It can be said that if the Turks had not quickly changed their system and transitioned from a nomadic country to a feudal state, they would have been like the "Yellow Peril" in European history, and they would eventually be annihilated in the long river of history. The Turks were more sober and carried out painful reforms in time, combining with the local feudal lords and eventually establishing the Ottoman Turkish Empire. In stark contrast to them, the Golden Horde and the Timurid Khanate, which were once at their peak, fell apart, and the backward relations of production could not control the advanced productive forces.

Now the standing army established by the people of the East Coast with the help of the Great Khan can be said to be the first step in the reform of the Khan system, which is very important. With this step, the Crimean Khanate will also have a "rapid response force" that maintains a certain combat effectiveness all year round, and it will also be more calm in dealing with the surrounding situation.

Moreover, in terms of military command system, this army of 30,000 people is only responsible to the family of the Great Khan, which is equivalent to a sharp weapon in the hands of the Great Khan, and at the same time a stabilizer for the entire country. In the future, if the Great Khan himself wants to do any reforms, then relying on the backing of this standing army and the help of the righteous name, there will basically be much less resistance. If you really want to talk about it, this standing army is a bit like the Ottoman Sultan's own direct command of the Ganishari Army, serving the will of the Sultan himself, deterring all kinds of disobedient princes, and at the same time retired soldiers can enter the political arena to further consolidate the power of the Sultan himself.

In addition, this army actually gave the lower people, the Great Khan, often finding reasons to pardon some slaves, and giving them the treatment of freemen of the khanate, a very good way to rise, so it was welcomed by the vast majority of people in the khanate. This kind of expansion of the ruling base and the spread of prestige is something that any ruler is vying to do!

The mystery of this period, Great Khan of Gray is not a fool, of course he also knows, so the standing army was built step by step under the strong impetus of himself. As an important participant, the easterners naturally received great goodwill from the Great Khan himself, so the relationship between the two countries seemed to be getting closer and closer, and even the Italian capital brought by the easterners was valued by the Khan and his son, because they could provide vital tax revenues for raising the army. After all, the maintenance cost of 30,000 new troops, even at the low level of the Crimean Khanate, will still cost the equivalent of 2.5 million silver dollars on the east coast in a year. Even if the Crimean Tatars are good at robbery, and the recent economic exchanges have greatly enriched the treasury, coupled with the wealth produced by the people of more than one million people, they can only barely supply, and from time to time they need the Ottoman Empire to help them (of course, it is broken now), so the country is now paying more and more attention to the investment of foreign capital, and it is also very polite to the gods of wealth, especially these gods of wealth themselves have no conflict with them, On the contrary, when they buy large quantities of their livestock and agricultural products (the annual trade volume has stabilized at more than three million yuan, and there is room for further growth).

"The Russians have recently been taxing aggressively in eastern Ukraine, so quite a few Cossacks fled to our side, bringing a lot of information. I can't say what the purpose of the Russians is to collect taxes, but there is no doubt that there is a possibility that they will make some military action, either here or there. Anyway, they probably think the opportunity has come. The Khan's face was a little sallow, probably because of his poor health, but he was in good spirits, and he did not hesitate to denounce the Russians, but he said: "But if they dare to come, our brave cavalry will cut off their heads and hang them on the flagpole, and we will do it." The Russians are cowards, and when Moscow was surrounded by us, they trembled with fear. ”

"Once the Russians send a large army into Western Ukraine, be sure to be careful, their land forces have grown rapidly over the years, and there is a price to pay for despising the opponent, Your Majesty." Gao Wengang took a cup of milk tea handed by the waiter, held it in his palm to keep warm, and admonished: "Fighting the Russians is a long-term job. The first thing we need to do before starting a full-scale war with them is undoubtedly to do a good job of our own internal production, so that we can hold out for a longer time in a war that may be protracted. Great Khan, this is very important, your country is lacking in staying power, so be aware of it. ”

"I've already treated all the craftsmen in the population of the people I've ever received well. My capable son, Sadat, has set up a large number of workshops outside the city of Beckchisare, specializing in the manufacture of armor, sabers, spears, bows and arrows, and muskets, the only thing lacking is that the cannon-casting ability is still very poor, and I am afraid that you will need your help. In addition, there are also some problems in the mining and smelting of Kafa iron ore, which are urgently needed to be solved by knowledgeable people, and I have already communicated this point with the supreme commander of the local Ottoman garrison......" As soon as Grei Khan heard Gao Wengang say this, he immediately mentioned the family wealth that he had "saved" over the years.

"Great Khan, please let my retinue discuss these technical details with your courtiers." Gao Wengang unceremoniously interrupted Hajiglay's words, and then said in a solemn tone: "Your Majesty, how did you think about the matter of dividing districts and establishing counties and establishing settled villages and towns in the entire territory of your country last time? You must know that in order to help your country carry out this kind of political reform, I have specially written a report to the local application, and reserved a place for your country to study abroad for 100 political officials. It's not a small thing, it's an opportunity that I've spent a lot of resources trying to get. Your Majesty, for the sake of the future of your country, I ask you to consider it carefully and reply as soon as possible. ”

In fact, in order to strengthen the Crimean Khanate, the fulcrum of Black Sea trade, the people on the eastern coast have been trying to carry out all-round reforms for the country for many years. Fortunately, the recent Great Khans have been relatively powerful and open-minded, and have carried out many fruitful reforms with the people on the east coast, such as the reform of the military system (the establishment of a standing army), the reform of the economic system (the introduction of foreign capital to develop the economy), the reform of the social system (the division of counties throughout the country, the establishment of settled towns), and the reform of the political system (strengthening the centralization of power, replacing the role of nobles and chieftains with the political officials responsible to the Great Khan), etc., and so on, gradually advancing the country into a modern civilized country.

Of course, nothing can happen overnight. The Crimean Khanate reformed for decades, and while it achieved good results, the obstacles were still so great that even the Great Khan himself was suspicious. Therefore, the people on the East coast must communicate with them from time to time and urge them so that the country's reforms do not come to a standstill or even go backwards.

The people of the East Coast believed that when the Crimean Khanate slowly degenerated into a normal state, there would be a concentrated release of their productive forces, which would undoubtedly greatly increase their national power. And only by allowing the Crimean Khanate to grow in demographic, economic and military strength will it be able to maintain a certain resistance in the face of an increasingly powerful Russia. Otherwise, I am afraid that it will not be bulldozed overnight by those greedy Russians.

Great Khan listened to Gao Wengang's urging to send officials to study abroad, and after thinking about it for a while, he finally sighed and said: "Don't worry, the matter of sending people to study abroad is not a big problem. I'm not dead yet, and some of the voices of opposition are just that, and I'll take care of these things. ”

As soon as Gawain heard the words of Great Khan of Gree, he was sure that the last link of infiltrating and influencing this country had also been completed. As long as these officials who have completed their studies return to Crimea and take up posts in various districts, counties, and towns, and the people on the eastern coast are politically influential, have many military acquaintances, and occupy a dominant position in the economic field, then the Crimean Khanate will probably have to dance unconsciously under the baton of the people on the eastern coast from now on. And this is undoubtedly what they have been pursuing for many years, in fact, their greater ambition is to concoct the Ottoman Empire like this, but this difficulty can be imagined, and now the influence of the East Coast on this old empire is not enough to implement such a difficult operation, so it is better to practice the Crimean Khanate in advance, at least with more experience.

After the talks with the Great Khan, Gao Wengang was invited to visit the exercises of the standing army stationed in the suburbs of the capital. In this large-scale exercise with a scale of more than 5,000 people, the new infantry that had just experienced the baptism of war from the battlefield of Podolia performed eye-catchingly, which impressed Gao Wengang.

He learned that the infantry would be stationed in the Tatar trenches in the north the next month, ready to help everywhere. And this Tatar trench, in fact, was originally a group of fortifications designed by the people on the east coast, and later repeatedly provided technology to help them expand and reinforce, and has now formed an epic defense line between the peninsula and the mainland, which no one can easily attack without paying a lot of casualties, and is the last safety rope of the peninsula.

"Hopefully, with the protection of these armies and strong defensive lines, the country will be able to carry out reforms more undisturbed. In today's world of great controversy, if backward countries do not reform and innovate, then it will be a dead end, and they will eventually be eliminated by history. This is actually no different from the West or the East. Gao Wengang finally thought.