In the sixteenth year of the Heavenly Covenant, in Atyrau, located at the mouth of the Yayk River (Ural River), it rained.

It was here that three years ago, it was here that the Russians and the Cossacks, who had stumbled with the Urals, first met the "devils with braids" - this is the Kazakh name for the Qing army.

Ten years ago, although many Dzungar nobles would go to the Kazakh Khanate to fight the autumn breeze, it was not enough to pose a complete threat to the Kazakh Khanate. The Dzungars were only a plague of the Kazakh Khanate. Despite the constant rise of the Dzungars. And after a long struggle for hegemony with the Bukhara Khanate, the Kazakh Khanate has already shown fatigue. But the Dzungars could not pose a real threat.

It was ten years ago that the seemingly unruly Dzungars subjugated another group of people, the Qing State. It was also from that time that the "Qing people with braids" began to become the devil in the eyes of the Kazakhs. Almost after the Manchu court "moved" the capital to Shengjing at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, the attack on the Kazakh Khanate changed from the initial "fighting the autumn wind" to an invasion.

At this time, Kazakhstan was in chaos, as early as more than ten years before the Manchu invasion of the Western Regions, the footsteps of the Dzungars expanded into the steppes of Central Asia. And under the attack of the Dzungars, the Kazakh Khanate was routed all the way. Finally Sal Hamu? Jangar Khan proposed a duel against the Dzungars, only to be killed by a young Dzungar warrior. Fortunately, for a long time, the Dzungars expanded mainly to the east and south, so they did not cause further damage to the Kazakh Khanate.

At the time of the Qing invasion, the leaders of the Kazakh Khanate were unable to stop the Qing army's attack. Although the Manchus fled to the Western Regions in a hurry like lost dogs, they had an absolute advantage in front of the Kazakhs with a large number of firearms. Just like the Mongols who broke into this place, the Qing army slaughtered and plundered on the grassland.

However, in just a few years, the Sultans who had intrigued for the capture of the Kazakh Khan, except for a few who fled to Russia, disappeared as a country. Even the people who lived here have disappeared.

Atyrau, just across the river from the Russian Empire, was the last stop of the Lesser Yuzkhansk on his way to Russia, and it was here that the Cossacks on the other side of the river saw what real barbarism was - on the banks of the Yaik River, nearly 50,000 Kazakhs were slaughtered, and the Qing army drove them to the river to cut off their heads, young and old. The bodies were thrown directly into the river and floated down the river to the sea.

Even the brutal Cossacks were stunned. And in Salechuk, a hundred miles north of Atyrau, the Kazakh city that had been captured by the Cossacks almost a hundred years ago, the Cossacks clashed with the Qing army outside the city, and the Qing army's guns and artillery inflicted heavy losses on the Cossacks.

In front of the flintlock pistol, the arquebus on which the Russians relied was like a burning stick. Not at all an opponent of the Qing army. After a conflict, let Russia realize the gap between them and the Qing army.

It was also from then that Russia really realized that this new neighbor was very different from the old one. In order not to provoke this neighbor, the tsar began to restrain the Cossacks, ordering them not to infiltrate the Kazakhs again, as in the past.

And the Qing army obviously had no intention of expanding westward, in fact, the real reason was weakness.

Atyrau became the westernmost point of the vast territory of the "Great Qing Kingdom", and in order to prevent the threat from the west, the earthen walls of Attic were built more thickly, and according to the construction method of the Western city, the edges and corners were added.

This is the westernmost point of the Great Qing Kingdom!

It is also the land of fish and rice in the Qing Dynasty, the water of the Yayike River irrigates the land on the east bank of the river, and many of the so-called Qing troops were once just farmers in Beizhili, who were plundered when the Qing army ran the horses, and now they have picked up their old industries here again, clearing the wasteland and farming.

Compared to Beizhili, the land on the banks of the Yayik River is fertile, and the huge waterwheels by the river channel channel water into the irrigation canal irrigated the fields along the canal, but in just three years, it became the largest granary of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and was even called the Western Regions Jiangnan.

Even in the Western Regions, even now, the Manchu court still misses the beauty of the Central Plains and the wealth of the south of the Yangtze River.

Even on the banks of the Yayik River, a place known as the Jiangnan of the Western Regions, in the cold winter, the wind blows like a knife on people's bodies and cuts their faces, reminding them that this is just the Western Regions, and this place is far inferior to Jiangnan.

However, in the summer, when you are on the city wall, you can see that the square garden is green for hundreds of miles, with crops everywhere, and fish and rice everywhere, as if it is really like the south of the Yangtze River. It only makes people's mood much happier.

At least for Wang Mingsong, this may be the Jiangnan in his father's mouth.

Jiangnan, what does it look like? Wang Mingsong didn't know that although he was twelve years old when he left Jingshi, he had already left Jiangnan when he was six years old, and Jiangnan was only a vague memory for him.

Wang Mingsong's ancestral home is from Suzhou, and his father was an errand boy in the household department when he was hunting in Longxi, and he was a worthless minister, but he also followed the imperial court to hunt in the west. From Beijing to Xi'an, from Xi'an to Shengjing. It was also in this process that he changed from a Han Chinese to a banner man.

In fact, everyone knows that this flag man is just a name, the Eight Banners, the Eight Banners of Mongolia, the Han Army Flag, and then the Color Banner, among the flag people, the status of the Han Army's flag is slightly higher than the Color Eye Banner.

And the so-called Semu Banner is those Kazakhs who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, although there are only tens of thousands of people, but it also makes the Han Army Banner a little more relaxed, after all, there are still people whose status is not as good as theirs.

However, for all this, Wang Mingsong doesn't care, he is a leader, the official position is not low or high, even if he is a person in the three banners in the army, he must be polite to him, maybe not to talk about humility, but it is also polite, but this politeness, whether it is because of his official position, or his father's official position, I am afraid only God knows.

As for those people with colored eyes, they had a humble attitude in front of him, and even in order to please Shangguan, many of the banner people of the color banner have converted to Lamaism, in this regard, Wang Mingsong is full of contempt, but thinking about it, he is relieved, in order to please Shangguan, they can even sacrifice their wives and daughters to the official, not to mention just converting to Buddhism?

Thinking of the raised fingers of those people with colored flags, Wang Mingsong only had contempt left in his heart, those people would know nothing but to welcome and pat the horse.

"Lord Sa, Lord Commander, please come over."

Came to the Commander's Mansion, when he entered the mansion, looking at the blanket on the ground, Wang Mingsong's eyebrows raised, maybe the banner people looked down on the color people, but the color style of the blanket did look very luxurious, but as a Han Chinese, he didn't like this style, when he entered the hall and saw the two Russians sitting on the side, a trace of contempt in his heart was just right to cover up and become surprised.

"Bow to the Commander!"

Kneel down with your legs, kowtow, and salute, even if he is the commander, this salute cannot be abolished, not to mention that the commander is still on the three banners.

"Wang Zuo is exempt from courtesy."

Putting down the teacup in his hand, Su Dan didn't look at Wang Mingsong, but ordered directly.

"This is Boris Golitsyn, the envoy of the Emperor of the Rakshasa Kingdom, he carries the letters of the Emperor of the Rakshasa Kingdom, and Wang Zuo leads you to be responsible for sending them to Shengjing."

From Atyrau to Shengjing, thousands of miles all the way, distance is not a problem, the real problem is that in the vast Kazakh steppe, there are still some fish that have slipped through the net, and can ambush the Qing army at any time, although there is a lesson learned from the success of the Han counterattack after entering the customs, in order to be able to eat well and sleep well, so since entering the Western Regions, "cut off all the roots, forever extinct the roots" is the policy of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

In the past three years, the Qing army swept the grassland with the water and grass according to the emperor's order, but it was still inevitable that a small number of fish would slip through the net, and those people would haunt the deep mountains, eat poultry and poultry, eat beasts and beasts, and eat people when they met people, and from time to time intercept and kill Qing soldiers and plunder military funds and livestock.

Along the way, Wang Mingsong seemed cautious, and would always send rangers to reconnoiter from time to time.

Boris Golitsyn, the younger brother of Vasily Golitsyn, the favorite of the regent Sophia, saw Wang Mingsong's cautious appearance and said deliberately.

"Your Excellency General, it seems that there are indeed a lot of robbers here!"

"There is no way, the grassland is fertile for thousands of miles, but it is sparsely populated, and it is inevitable that there will be some roosters and dog thieves."

Wang Mingsong's answer gave Boris Golitsyn a message in his heart - the Qing country was sparsely populated.

In fact, over the past many years, Russia has been learning about the Manchus through various channels, but the information learned is very limited. It was only known that they once lived in the Far East, and later they entered the Central Plains, defeated the Ming State, and then were driven to Central Asia by the Ming people. In addition, the understanding of the Manchu Qing is probably limited to a group of "devils".

And this time, the reason why the mission headed by Boris Golitsyn was sent was to get to know the Manchus in order to fight with them against the Ming state, which Russia had dealt with too much in the Far East for more than a decade. After the Han Chinese replaced the Qing rule in the Far East, they began to emigrate to Tuntian in the Far East, and soon, a steady stream of immigrants began to appear in various parts of the Far East, along with the emergence of large groups of Ming troops.

As early as more than ten years ago, the Ming and Qing armies, which had established themselves in the Heilongjiang Valley, quickly swept away the outlying strongholds of Yaxa. The Russian army in the Jingqili River valley and the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River was destroyed one after another. In the end, there was only one lonely city left in Yaksa, but it was this lonely city that was uprooted by the Ming army thirteen years ago.

However, the march of the Ming army to the west did not stop, they marched westward step by step, just as the Russians entered Siberia back then, and now, they even appear in the Baikal area. The Tatars who had been submissive to Russia quickly submitted to the Ming army, and just this spring, Moscow received news from Siberia that Yakutsk had been conquered by the local Tatars, and those Tatars had submitted to the Ming and accepted the rule of the Ming State.

The aggressive offensive of the Ming State in Siberia made Moscow all worried, and the many battles in Siberia made them realize the strength of the Ming army and the difference in strength between the two countries. In line with the strategy of "the enemy of the enemy is the friend", the current move of Boris Golitsyn to lead the mission to visit was made.

At the same time of the visit, it is also Boris Golitsyn's task to find out as much information as possible about the Qing Kingdom. After all, there is another voice in Moscow - the Ming may have stopped Russia in Siberia, but the Qing may well be another Mongolia.

The killing of the Qing army in Kazakhstan shocked the Russians, and it also awakened their painful memories of how the Mongols killed the Russians. Therefore, for Russia, the Qing army was also a threat to them, which was even the reason why Russia built fortresses in the area bordering the Qing army.

"Your Excellency, what will you do if you catch those robbers?"

"For those robbers, naturally there can be no appeasement, and they must be killed as much as possible. The remaining wives and daughters may be rewarded separately as slaves to officers and soldiers as appropriate ......"

When mentioning the Qing Dynasty's method of dealing with robbers, Wang Mingsong did not feel the slightest discomfort, even himself, and four Kazakh slaves. Together with the Lust Maiden they had previously rewarded, they bore him seven children.

However, now those slaves and maids have a new place to go - women from the Kazakh steppes can be sold to Mongolia, a woman can be sold for a dozen taels of silver, what do those Mongols do after buying slaves and maids? No one cared, in the past few years, this has even become the economic backbone of the Great Qing State, and even the expansion to the south is not so much expansion as it is to plunder women into slavery. The huge profits made the Qing Dynasty, from the emperor to the ordinary bannermen, all involved in this slave trade.

However, all this has nothing to do with Wang Mingsong, because of the station, he has no way to participate in it, which is why he hopes to meet the robbers, hoping not to arrive in Shengjing empty-handed.

"Perhaps, after returning to Shengjing this time, I should find a way to let my father see if he can ask someone to transfer me to the south......"

Thinking of the days when there was no oil and water in Atyrau, Wang Mingsong's heart was even more looking forward to being able to go to the south, and he thought about it, but he didn't expect that Boris Golitsyn, a Rakshasa who didn't seem to be very inconspicuous, was constantly testing him.

"Kill them? So why can't they be appeased? They are also very good warriors, and they can fight for your emperor, huh? ”

"That's why it's a nuisance!"

Wang Mingsong shook his head and said.

"If you want to sleep soundly, you must eliminate hidden dangers, or else ...... There will be no Western Regions to the west! ”