Boyakov was a notorious explorer, killing no fewer than a thousand tribesmen at his hands, and slaughtering them every time he attacked the next tribe's village.

These ruthless Cossacks would often kill all the men, rape the women, and then set fire to the entire village. It was with these criminals and villains that Tsarist Russia expanded its territory to the whole of Siberia.

Twenty construction workers arrived at the door of the house, nervously holding the firearms assigned to them by the local garrison, and they did not dare to breathe.

The billowing smoke in the chimney had betrayed them, and even in the snow and ice, Boyakov easily determined their location.

Boyakov sneered, and his face, hidden under his beard, was filled with a cruel smile. The subordinate smiled knowingly, and quietly followed him to touch it, and the ice and snow outside a small wooden door was less than elsewhere, and it was obviously swept away.

The kick on the newly installed wooden door was like a kick on the tip of the hearts of twenty construction workers, and everyone trembled with fright.

Fortunately, this door was newly installed, and it was specially reinforced to keep out the cold, and the tall and strong Rakshasa didn't kick it open.

The surrounding Rakshasas let out a burst of laughter, and Kuzuonev, who had kicked the door, turned red, obviously annoyed, and slammed into the wooden door like a black bear with a strange scream. The burly body slammed into the door as if a broken drum had been beaten, and the sound was low and faint with the sound of bones banging on the door.

After seven or eight loud bangs, the battered wooden door was finally smashed, and Foreman Wang closed his eyes and shouted, "Shoot, shoot, shoot them." ”

Kuzuonev couldn't have imagined that the Han people in this wooden house would have a firecrackle in their hands... In a panic, the workers didn't bother to take turns shooting, and they all shot him into a sieve, and the rest of the Rakshasas hurriedly dodged.

With a wave of his hand, Boyakov lit a bottle and threw it into it. After a while, the wooden house was ignited, and there was a lot of wood in the house, and the fire slowly exploded.

After all, the construction workers were ordinary people, and no one dared to rush out to fight hard when they were about to be burned, and finally the fire was getting bigger and bigger, and the smoke choked people out of breath. As soon as the Rakshasas outside saw that they didn't dare to come out, they knew that there were not many people inside, and they all laughed with their muskets. The laughter was arrogant and cruel, like a bunch of evil spirits in hell.

Finally, a miserable howl sounded, there was no way to avoid the house, there was a small worker's leg was broken by a falling beam, Foreman Wang threw down his weapon, carried him and led the workers out of the house.

At this time, surrender was their only choice, and they came from thousands of miles to work here, and they only asked for a small fortune, not to fight.

Boyakov looked at the group of Han Chinese, whose faces were blackened by thick smoke, and each of them had horror on their faces, like a group of frightened monkeys. Boyakov held his gun and said with a smile: "My dear Kuzuonev died at the hands of this group of monkeys, it is really sad. ”

The Rakshasas around him laughed along with him, not seeing the slightest sadness caused by the death of his companion, but looking happy.

These explorers were hired by the Tsarist government, and one less companion in the distribution of commissions meant that they received more money, and it was absolutely impossible to expect this group of people to grieve for their companions.

Foreman Wang trembled with fright, and the little worker on his back was too seriously injured to keep wailing.

The howl provoked a Rakshasa man who was not happy, and walked over and patted Foreman Wang's shoulder, and Foreman Wang looked up blankly to see that a knife had been cut on his back. The wailing stopped abruptly, and hot blood flowed down the back of Foreman Wang, a fellow worker who had been killed by the Manchurians in every town, and the two of them were left to escape. For so long, Foreman Wang raised him as a son.

The upper and lower rows of teeth pressed together, clenched their fists, and in the midst of the demon-like Rakshasas, Foreman Wang shouted violently, and the Rakshasas in front of him fell to the ground in response.

A sharp arrow passed through his throat, this is the new type of short crossbow in the Northern Expeditionary Army, and sometimes the musket fails in the ice and snow, and Yan Yingyuan in the rear specially configured it for them.

Jiang Bin led the crowd to come, just in time to see the Rakshasa people slashing their compatriots again, Jiang Bin, who was going to quietly come up to ambush, immediately made a decision, and shot a crossbow through the throat of the Rakshasa people.

The sound of gunfire accompanied by the sound of firecrackers rang out in the snow, and shouts of killing came and went.

Boyakov cursed, led the men to the side of the house, and began to shoot back. Twenty workers caught in the middle were dead and wounded.

Foreman Wang hugged the dead little worker and lay on the ground, not moving.

Jiang Bin, a hundred households in the army, watched coldly, let the soldiers behind him step forward, and asked, "At this distance, can you shoot artillery?" ”

"My lord, if you shoot a cannon, you are afraid of hurting our workers."

Jiang Bin thumped his hands, sighed, and had no choice but to continue to direct his subordinates to shoot. The workers saw that they would not survive, but they could not fire their own guns before they died, until in the open space opposite, a roar shouted: "Fire the cannons, blow them up." ”

As soon as the words fell, the artilleryman behind him looked at Jiang Bin, who nodded solemnly.

With a bang, arsonite shells and artillery fired in unison, staining the area around the wooden house a fiery red.

The Rakshasas suffered heavy casualties, and Boyakov saw that the enemy's firepower was much stronger than his own, so he left a word of hell and withdrew with his men. Their horses were behind the wall next to them, so it was easy to get on them and escape.

Jiang Bin led people in pursuit, shot dozens of Rakshasa people, and the rest rode on horses and fled.

In this battle, the Ming army only had more than 100 people, and at the cost of killing and wounding 20 workers and 13 soldiers, killed 98 Rakshasa explorers, and after the battle report was transmitted, Yan Yingyuan's face was full of heaviness.

In the big tent of Guangning Mansion, Yan Yingyuan wrote a letter by candlelight, and sent someone to transfer it to Jinling overnight. Three days later, the messenger arrived at Jinling by sea, which was the end of the year and Chinese New Year's Eve.

Jinling City is lit up, the flower market is lit up like day, and all countries come to congratulate to make the streets more lively. Crowds of people fill the streets, and the crowds celebrate this long-lost Chinese New Year.

The people of Jinling, who were in the midst of prosperity and peace, would not have thought of this vicious battle on the shore of the Mobei Xiaohai (Lake Baikal), the scale of which was small in the entire Northern Expedition, but it caused a series of chain reactions.

In the Forbidden City, Hou Xuanyan held Yan Yingyuan's recital, and summoned two scholars and ten important ministers of the court and China overnight.

Yan Yingyuan said very clearly in the recital that when he fought with the Rakshasa people from Mobei, he couldn't move his muscles and bones. The vast expanse of snow and cold winds were their best barriers, and they could slaughter the local natives at will, as long as they sent an expedition of less than a thousand people. And the imperial court, although it ruled over large swaths of territory, was unable to protect its own people in the same way as anywhere else. In this regard, Yan Yingyuan suggested that the army of Zhengliao be transferred to Mobei, leaving a small number of people to garrison Manchuria.

And the army, together with Xia Wanchun's Jingbei army, launched a war against Dzungaria!

Only through Dzungaria can we crusade against the Rakshasa Kingdom, completely eradicate this scourge, avenge the people who died for no reason, and purify the northern frontier of the Sui Empire.

Dzungaria is not a soft persimmon, Yan Yingyuan's letter is different from any previous chapter, this letter is directly named, in order to have a way to crusade against the Rakshasa, it is necessary to take the Dzungar Khanate without suspicion.

As a general, Yan Yingyuan directly did not consider any idea of forming an alliance or taking advantage of the road, two great powers were at war, and putting the supply lines in the hands of other countries was irresponsible for the lives of the expeditionary soldiers.

As long as the Dzungars cut off the supply lines of the Jingbei Army on both sides and cut off the supply lines of the Rakshasa on both sides, the hundreds of thousands of people who crusaded against the Rakshasa would become a lone army hanging overseas, and the situation was very unfavorable. Therefore, Yan Yingyuan played directly and suggested conquering Dzungaria.

This letter is very temperamental to Hou Xuanyan, but the ministers of the court do not agree very much, first of all, it is a cliché problem: the teacher is unknown.

Although Dzungaria has always been an imaginary enemy of Jingbei Province, after all, they still have not torn their faces with each other, and it is unreasonable to rashly crusade against each other. Secondly, Dzungaria was a khanate with a huge territory, and there were no less than 500,000 soldiers under the control of the whole people, and it was also a fierce rival of the Manchu Qing in later history. In addition, as soon as Manchuria was pacified, the withdrawal of the army would be risky.

Everyone had different opinions, and Hou Xuanyan did not dare to make a rash decision, if it was okay to conquer Dzungaria and fall into the quagmire of war, he was afraid that Tsarist Russia would take the opportunity to enter.

Now the relationship between Dzungaria and Tsarist Russia is very delicate, they can't beat Tsarist Russia, and Tsarist Russia won't be able to eat this piece of fat for a while, but the appearance of Jingbei Province has made the pair of old enemies hook up for a while and have a common enemy.

Just when everyone was arguing, Jiang Jianxun, the secretary of the military department, stood up, and everyone's eyes, including Hou Xuanyan, were focused on him.

"Aiqing, what do you have to say?"

Jiang Jianxun paused, hugged his fists and said, "The minister just wants to ask Your Majesty, is it possible to reconcile with the Rakshasas?" ”

Hou Xuanyan pondered for a moment, opened his mouth and said: "One mountain does not tolerate two tigers, the appetite of the Rakshasa people is too great, and I am not a person without desires, to say that reconciliation can only be made at the post-war negotiation table, and only when one party is beaten cannot turn over, it is possible to conclude a contract." And this contract is destined to be unfair. ”

Jiang Jianxun's sword eyebrows were horizontal, flying obliquely like sideburns, and he said in a condensed voice: "Then Your Majesty should not hesitate, when you continue to suffer from it, General Yan's words are reasonable, and they are really good words." ”

Hou Xuanyan slapped the table and said, "Okay! When the judgment continues to suffer from its chaos, Dzungaria is not wrong, the fault is that it was born in the wrong place, and the edict will be sent to inform Xia Wanchun that there will be a war in March next year. ”

Chen Mingyu saw it and knew that this matter was already a certainty, so he got up and said, "Your Majesty, how to write the Dzungar script?" ”

"Let's just say that they colluded with the Rakshasas, were accomplices of the enemy chieftains, and sheltered the remnants of the khanate who were enemies of us."

If it is said that the last few foreign wars are not as good as this one, the expedition to Moxi Dzungar is a very gambling step, no one knows their combat strength, but it is definitely not bad.

Hou Xuanyan was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night, although there were still three months left in the war, but after the decision was made, he had to start preparations.

His army of nearly one million on the border can finally show his strength, and if he opens up Dzungaria, he can go directly north into the land of Europe. From here, Genghis Khan invaded Hungary and swept across the continent.

The next day, Hou Xuanyan, who stared at a panda-eyed man, summoned the envoys of all nations and held a banquet in the palace to entertain the kings and princes of these vassal states.

The royal families of these small countries, who have not been to the Ming Dynasty for several generations, have been shocked by the atmosphere of this big country, and secretly decided in their hearts that they must be more tame, so as not to suffer the same disaster as Siam Burma.

In the past, although the Central Plains Dynasty was also a hegemon, the existence of the Heavenly Empire. But at that time, it was relatively mild, and it would not destroy the country at every turn, but now it is different. With a wave of his hand, Hou Xuanyan has destroyed dozens of large and small countries one after another, including the Khanate in Mobei and the Sultanate on Manraka Island.

The music sounded, and a guard of honor was ushered in on the square, and Hou Xuanyan took the emperor Luan Yu to the high platform in the center, next to Huang Ying'er and Gu Ling'er, who were dressed in formal clothes with phoenix crowns.

Everyone stood up from their seats, stood solemnly under the stage with their hands down, and after the singing and dancing was suspended in the middle, after Hou Xuanyan sat down, a group of vassal royal families below bowed and saluted.

Hou Xuanyan smiled and raised his voice: "You have come from afar, you don't have to be formal, you all sit, sit..."

Only then did everyone return to their seats, and Hou Xuanyan continued: "Since the Jiashen national disaster, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has been a disaster for four years, and we have cut off contact with each other during this period. Now that the times are peaceful and prosperous, the Tartars have been extinguished, and I and you can gather from time to time to talk about friendship. ”

Everyone said yes, although everyone knows that there is no friendship with each other, if there is a country like Japan and North Korea, after receiving Hou Xuanyan's great kindness, there may still be a little friendship. Like the Khanate of Mobei and the small countries of Nanyang, almost all of them are a group of puppets, and they don't know when they will be completely annexed by Jingbei.

In particular, the Japanese lord Tokugawa Iemitsu and the prospective prince of North Korea, Li Zhuolin, looked at the stage in their eyes, which were no longer like people's eyes. It was a reverence for the gods, and Hou Xuanyan was the target they wanted to emulate, whether it was Tokugawa Iemitsu or Li Zhuolin, both of whom were miraculous in the revival and development of this neighboring empire, and were determined to learn from it. Hou Xuan acted as the creator of this miracle, and let them see the current military power of the Ming Dynasty.

After some polite greetings, the song and dance performance continued, and the program prepared by the Ministry of Rites was very compelling. Gu Yanwu invited his friend Wang Fuzhi to drum up this quite imposing and charming performance, even Hou Xuanyan watched it with relish, and turned around and whispered to the waiter.

If you have pointed ears, you will definitely be able to listen to Hou Xuan's speech: "The leader of the dance is good, is it from the Teaching Workshop Division?" ”

Xiao Lizi smiled knowingly, showed a mouthful of small white teeth, and nodded: "The slave understands, the slave understands." ”