Countless bells passed far away, and Ying Bai practiced to Anxi. Under Yan Mingtai's arrangement, Strogonov was attacked by nomadic cavalry one after another after sailing out of Hami, lost all his wealth, suffered heavy casualties among men and horses, and when he entered the Turpan Basin, there were less than 100 people left around him. At this time, the thousand-strong Ming army responsible for escorting them had already broken into pieces and entered the territory of Yarkand and Dzungar, and Stroganov had no choice but to ask the local Eastern Chakhatai Khanate (also known as the Turpan Khanate) to send troops to protect their safety, and returned to Moscow in embarrassment, presenting the Ming Dynasty's credentials to Tsar Mikhail I.

Of course, more than 10,000 musketeers were killed and wounded in the first battle of Wonder Mountain, and Strogonov did not dare to tell the truth anyway, so he lied that he was assisting the Ming Dynasty to quell the civil strife, and afterwards the Emperor of the Apocalypse not only rewarded a large number of gold, silver and jewelry, but also decided to conclude an alliance with the military force of Tsarist Russia, agreeing to trade between the two countries along the Western Regions. However, on the way to victory, they were ambushed by the Dzungar Khanate and attacked by a dozen nomadic cavalry, and then returned to Moscow empty-handed.

Mikhail heard the fat in his mouth and let Rose take it away, and he vomited a few mouthfuls of old blood and fainted. Filaret took the opportunity to lead Strogonov to the side hall and patiently asked:

"Duke Ben has long heard that there is a powerful Ming Empire in the far east, are they really paving the ground with gold as Marco Polo wrote?"

Seeing the greedy glint in his eyes, and fearing that the war between the two countries would affect his interests, Strogonov immediately said alarmistly:

"The Ming Empire is thousands of miles away, my musketeers and thousands of Cossack cavalry suffered because of the long distance, after the battle they invited me to live in the capital for a few months, there is no legendary wealth, the little emperor in order to save money a meal only four dishes and one soup, and even take out his own private property to sell.

In addition, their little emperor was only seventeen years old, and he was very warlike, and it is said that he had led 4,000 warriors to charge against 60,000 enemy troops, and the soldiers were all brave and invincible in the east. Fortunately, the performance of our army was not inferior to that of the Ming army, and he took the initiative to ask for an alliance with the great tsar. The minister thought that the Ming Empire could be used to strike at the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate in the south, relieve our worries, and then go all out to war with Poland and Sweden for territory in the west. ”

Since Tsar Mikhail had been frail and sick, the whole Moscow principality was regent behind the scenes by his father, Elder Filaret, much to the displeasure of Crown Prince Alexei, who was extremely disgusted with the tyranny of his grandfather Filaret and the domineering of his grandmother Marfa. In order to consolidate his position, he was forced to abandon his beloved Naryshkina (Peter the Great's biological mother) and married Maria from the famous Miroslavsky family against his will.

In order to get rid of his grandfather's control as soon as possible, Alexei secretly bribed Strogonov's subordinates, learning that they were defeated by the powerful Ming army, but fortunately, the Emperor of the Apocalypse did not want to make enemies with Moscow. This news made Alexei's eyes brighten, he was keenly aware that as long as he formed an alliance with the Ming Empire, he could lead the army to the east, ostensibly to help Tsarist Russia open up new trade routes, but in fact he wanted to use this to seize military power and gain military support for himself to become the Tsar.

Zhu Youxiao was not surprised by Moscow's enthusiasm, promising him that Strogunov would give him the title of Ming Dynasty after the alliance, and that Yakusk would be placed under his management. As the saying goes, there must be brave men under heavy rewards, and Strogonov lobbied among Filaret, Mikhail, and Alexei for several days, and finally prompted Tsarist Russia to send envoys to Beijing, and the two countries formed a military alliance and jointly sent troops to attack the Dzungar Khanate.

In this battle, Zhu Youxiao was planned for a long time, and without waiting for the envoys of Tsarist Russia to return to China to resume his life, he appointed himself as the supreme commander, with Sun Chengzong, Yan Mingtai, and Zhao Shujiao as staff officers, Sun Chuanting, Lu Xiangsheng, Hong Chengchou, Cao Wenzhao, and Huang Degong as marshals of soldiers and horses from all walks of life, Qi Changguo, Li Xingbang, and Yu Dingbian commanded Hu Ben and Yulin to protect the safety of Luanjia, and Zuo Guangdou, Dong Hanru, and Xiong Tingbi were responsible for transporting grain and grass, and a total of 100,000 troops were sent out of Hamiwei, planning to join the Tsarist Russian army in the Aral Sea area and complete the strategic deployment of a two-front attack on the Dzungar Khanate.

In the face of the menacing Ming Dynasty army, Ross was very disappointed. Since inheriting the throne of Khan, he has been tense and nervous, while carefully paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and on the other hand, he has seen the opportunity to expand the strength of the Dzungar Department. Last year, he seized the pastures of the Khalkha tribe during the Khalbara crusade, and then forced the Hoshute and Turpan khanates to recognize themselves as the Great Khans of the Mongols in Oirat. Just as he was thinking about how to subdue the Qinghai Tumut Department, the Ming Dynasty quietly gathered hundreds of thousands of troops, and the sword pointed directly at Oirat. What's even worse is that when he saw his wealth, he looted the mission of the Rakshasa country, and now the Rakshasa prince Alexei has led 50,000 troops to ask for an explanation, and the two-line attack makes him have to think about where to flee for his life.

However, it is not so easy to move, due to the influence of the climate of the Xiaoice River, the life of the entire northern hemisphere is not good, and the grassland is also drought for many years, resulting in pasture failure and a sharp decline in livestock.

In the face of internal and external troubles, the princes of the various ministries who had just gathered were already dissatisfied, and they were thinking about their own way out. As the Ming army approached, he decided to gather all the tribal princes and generals to discuss the strategy.

As soon as everyone took their seats, he said impatiently:

"Ben Khan has led you on a crusade for several years, and the territory of Dzungar has stretched for thousands of miles, with countless people and livestock. Since the little emperor of the Ming Dynasty is anxious to destroy us, then Ben Khan will give them a head-on blow on this grassland, and then lead you east to attack the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, where the wealth and women can be enjoyed by you for several lifetimes. ”

As soon as they heard about wealth and women, these tribal leaders who were used to robbing their homes and houses on weekdays showed greedy smiles, even if it was worth giving up the entire grassland in exchange for the hinterland of the Central Plains. As long as they can bypass the main force of the Ming Dynasty and enter the Yellow River valley from the direction of Qinghai, then the flowery Central Plains will be their prey, and they can unscrupulously plunder slaves, grain, grass, and wealth.

When the spy informed Zhu Youxiao of this plan overnight, he gasped, and he was a little sluggish in horror. Those who use soldiers, they are tough when they attack fortifications, and they are gods when they take advantage of flaws, and they are worthy of being an outstanding Mongolian Khan, and they are also an excellent military strategist. Although this trick is a bit risky, it can ensure that the tribe has a chance to survive, and there is also a chance to amass wealth. In this way, the Ming army was forced to return reinforcements, and he could give full play to the mobility of the nomadic cavalry and launch an attack of any size from any location. Just like the battle of Sanfeng Mountain between Mongolia and Jin, when the Ming army was in turmoil, it became a lamb to be slaughtered after it was dispersed.

Shi Nai'an said well, blessings are incomparable, and disasters are not singular. When the Ming Dynasty was still thinking about how to break the situation, there was also bad news from the side of the Wusi Zangdu Division, and the king of Zanshan in Qinghai colluded with the Gansu Zhuanglang Tusi to rebel. Sun Chengzong, who had been on the battlefield for a long time, keenly found that this was by no means an isolated rebellion, and once they colluded with the Ming army, they would also fall into an unfavorable situation of being caught between the east and the west.

At this time, Zhu Youxiao suddenly realized that he was a military idiot, and it was difficult to even beg for food when he left the dragon chair, let alone lead troops to fight. At Sun Chengzong's suggestion, he decided to temporarily garrison the army in Hami, and then ordered Zhao to lead the sect and Cao Wenzhao to lead a battalion of 10,000 brave guards to attack the old nest of King Zanshan Sizang, and at the same time ordered Lin Dan to lead 6,000 Mongolian cavalry to Guanjue to get in touch with the protector king there.

Zhu Youxiao thought that wars were always full of accidental factors, and since they were unexpected, they should first complete the occupation of Qinghai in advance, and then station troops in southern Tibet to collect the Gurkha and other tribes at the southern foot of the Himalayas, so as to hang a sharp blade over the head of India.

Compared with the unfavorable departure of the Ming army, Alexei appeared to be unusually smooth. Elder Filarette, the grandfather, did not expect that this grandson would take the initiative to ask for help, and the crown prince's participation in the battle made the morale of this expeditionary force even higher. As soon as the army crossed the Volga, Alexei looked back at the walls of Moscow on horseback, dreaming of how to quickly wipe out these backward nomadic tribes, and then directly usurp the throne of his Lao Tzu with the support of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, this is just a dream of his, Zhu Youxiao did not intend to let Tsarist Russia achieve substantial benefits in the Western Regions from the beginning, let alone support Alexei to become the tsar, at least not yet. Historically, Alexei was a successful tsar, and once he tasted the sweetness in the Western Regions, he would breed greed, and maybe one day on a whim would tear up the covenant and occupy the vast East Siberia.

According to the previous agreement between the two countries, the two sides would meet in the Irtysh River valley and then look for the main forces of the Irtysh for a decisive battle. However, the rebellion in Qinghai and Gansu forced Zhu Youxiao to temporarily stop his westward advance, after all, the most taboo thing about the labor expedition was that the rear was cut off, and without a stable supply of grain and grass, the army's morale would inevitably be in chaos.

Alexei expressed serious dissatisfaction with the changes in the Ming Dynasty, which he considered an excuse for the Ming Dynasty to cover up its own cowardice and cowardice. After a shouting and scolding, he personally mounted his horse and led his soldiers to charge the two flanks of the Syros. Due to the disparity in equipment between the two sides, the Dzungar cavalry was quickly dispersed, and the military-savvy Khluros immediately ordered the whole army to fight in a roundabout way, using bows and arrows to shoot the charging Cossack cavalry, and then attacked several of Alexei's camps that night.

In this way, the two sides entered a tug-of-war, with the Russian army taking advantage of their equipment to frantically attack the formation of Dzungar during the day, and the Zoros using the moonlight to launch a counterattack at night. After holding off for several days, he never waited for news from Qinghai, fearing that the Ming army would take the opportunity to cut off his retreat, so he made a strategic transfer from the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains and went straight to the Qilian Mountains.

His prediction was very accurate, at this time, Zhao Shujiao and Cao Wenzhao were in a no-man's land, rampage on the Qinghai Plateau, and soon completed the encirclement of the rebels with Lin Dan and the Protector King. When Lin Dan personally beheaded King Zanshan, the main force of the Ming army also quickly passed through the Junggar Basin and cut off the baggage troops of the Tsunagar Ross. The Dzungar cavalry, which had lost its supplies, was suddenly in turmoil, and the tribal alliance, which was already scattered, began to flee separately. As the saying goes, the defeat is like a mountain, and the soldiers like gods are powerless to reverse the decline of this rout, so they can only gather their descendants to find a new place.

In traditional warfare, due to the heavy use of infantry and chariots in the Central Plains Dynasty, there was no good way to fight against the nomads. When the two armies were facing each other, the cavalry fired arrows indiscriminately, then detoured to the sides, shooting arrows on the way back. After a few times, the Central Plains army was almost exhausted, and then the steppe iron cavalry launched a charge, and the archers continued to shoot from both flanks.

However, after the apocalypse of the Ming Dynasty, the army had already achieved the popularization of firearms and war horses, and the range and accuracy of bullets were enough to offset the bows and arrows of the Mongol cavalry.

When he was glad to get rid of the pursuit of the Ming army, Alexei, who had been holding back his fire, pounced like a hungry wolf. Seeing that the way was cut off, he immediately ordered to play with this group of Rakshasas, as we all know that the advantage of firearms at this time is not obvious, and when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, it is not as lethal as sabers and bows and arrows. Rose led his men to the left and right, and soon split the opponent into several pieces, and the musketeers who had lost their positions could only find cover everywhere to shoot, becoming a moving target.