The city of Astrakhan is located on the southwest bank of the mouth of the Volga River, at the end of the Volga Delta, and close to the Caspian Sea, so it has become an important seaport in the north of the Caspian Sea.

Because the city of Astrakhan is located in the lower reaches of the Volga River, it is different from the small Yuz of the Kazakh Khanate not far away, it was occupied by the army led by Ivan IV of the Muscovy when it was still part of the territory of the Turgat Khanate three hundred years ago, and it was included in the territory of Tsarist Russia.

Because of this, Astrakhan City was originally stationed with a lot of troops, and later because of the crushing defeat of Tsarist Russia in the Crimean War, it was required to prohibit the establishment of too many garrison troops in the Black Sea area and even the Crimean Peninsula, so Tsarist Russia transferred the troops that were previously there to the Caspian Sea region, that is, the city of Astrakhan, resulting in nearly 30,000 troops stationed in the city, of course, these 30,000 troops are not compared to field legions such as the Caucasus Army and the Yergeny Army, but most of them are mainly local garrisoned defense forces, There was a great difference in combat effectiveness and weapons, among which the more combat-ready was a Cossack unit of 3,000 people, and the rest, no different from the local militia.

These are all information that Shi Dakai and they learned in advance.

Part of the Western Expeditionary Army of the Chinese Empire, which had successfully crossed the Volga River, began to surround the city of Astrakhan under the orders of Shi Dakai.

What makes Shi Dakai strange is that the Russian army's water division on the Volga River did not appear, maybe it was because he knew the strength of the artillery division of the Chinese Empire, and he did not come to harass, Shi Dakai had already arranged it, just waiting for those inland water divisions to attack when crossing the river, and fought to defeat the soldiers of the army as bait, and when the field artillery of the artillery division fired a hundred guns, directly on the river bank to sink the enemy's small gunboats on the Volga River, but unfortunately, maybe that water division knew that their firepower was limited, Perhaps it was very afraid of the artillery of the artillery division, and it never appeared.

However, because of this, the infantry units of the Western Expedition were able to cross the Volga River smoothly through the pontoon bridges temporarily erected by the engineer regiments, while the artillery of the artillery units could not pass through the pontoon bridges, and had to wait for enough boats to cross the river.

"King Yi, something seems to be wrong!" Tao Jintang, who circled around Astrakhan City, took the initiative to find Shi Dakai to report: "Although there are many flags in the castle, and war drums and horns are heard from time to time, there are some monotonous and repetitive appearances, which seem to be deliberately made. There is a bold guess among his subordinates, could it be that the Russian army heard about the bravery of our army, and was already frightened and fled directly to abandon the city? What remained in the city was just a small number of troops deliberately arranged by the other side to pretend that there were heavy troops stationed in the city, and if we immediately sent troops to attack the city, maybe the other side would be exposed at once. ”

Shi Mingkai next to him also nodded and said, "King Yi, it is true that as the chief of staff said, the Russians have signs of escaping. However, this is only speculation, to be safe, it is better to wait for the artillery division to cross, and bombard it with artillery, regardless of whether the enemy really escaped or not. Otherwise, there is no artillery to press the formation at this moment, and the castle is directly attacked with infantry, and if this is a conspiracy of the enemy army and falls into the trap of the other party, the loss will be very large. ”

Tao Jintang said: "King Yi, I think it's enough to send the Bengali army forward to attack!" Those Bengali troops, who were the least active of all the co-subordinate countries, were reluctant to use their lives when they attacked before, but when they searched for the property on the corpses of the Russian troops on the battlefield, they worked the hardest, and they should be taught a lesson. Send them to attack, if the Russian army has a false appearance, the city of Astrakhan has been dismantled, just to capture it, if the Russian army really has a heavy garrison on the city of Astrakhan, but also give these Bengali troops a little color, let them know that it is not easy to fight on the battlefield. ”

Shi Dakai nodded, agreeing with Tao Jintang's suggestion.

Tao Jintang followed and said: "King Yi, I heard that we will capture these places around the Caspian Sea, and give the rest to others except for the area of Baku?" Either it will be handed over to the European foreign country called the Ottoman Empire, or it will be handed over to the Kazakh Khanate, so that the territory that has been worked hard will be given to others. The subordinates are really a little unwilling. ”

Shi Dakai was a little annoyed, he thought that Tao Jintang was persuading him to be self-reliant, he snorted coldly, and just wanted to say something to reprimand, Tao Jintang himself explained: "Don't misunderstand the righteous king, his subordinates have never advised the righteous king to do that unrighteous and unsubordinated act." The subordinates thought that this lower Volga region was a river delta, with fertile land, abundant water and grass, which was very suitable for grazing, and the subordinates heard that two hundred years ago, this lower Volga region had been a Mongolian tribe called Turghut split from the late Ming Dynasty, and later suffered from the oppression of Tsarist Russia, and then returned to the northwest of the Manchu Dynasty and other places. His Royal Highness King Yi, can you suggest to Your Majesty that this area should not be given to the Kazakh Khanate or the Ottoman Empire, but that after our Chinese Empire occupies it, we will directly return it to this part of the Turghut tribes, so that they can continue to live and inhabit here and develop this land, they must be grateful for the kindness of our Chinese Empire, and it is not bad to help us defend against the expansion of Tsarist Russia in the future. ”

When Shi Dakai heard this, he suddenly felt reasonable. He also remembered a major event that had happened in the history of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, that is, the return of the famous Tuerhute Department to the east during the Qianlong period!

Shi Dakai couldn't help asking: "Although this king has heard that when Qianlong Lao'er was in power, there was indeed a Mongolian tribe in the northwest who returned to the east from the distant Rakshasa country, but it was also in the distant northern part of Huijiang and Mongolia and other border areas, and he didn't know the specific situation. Mr. Tao, you are quite reasonable when you say this! I wonder how many people are still in the Turghat tribe in Mongolia and Huijiang today, and how many people are there in the Turghat tribe that remains in the lower Volga River basin now? ”

"King Huiyi, his subordinates have inquired, but the Turhut tribe mainly lives in the north of Huijiang and the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains and the Wusu, Kobdo and other places in Mongolia, the land is thin, the living environment is bad, and there are feuding Kazakhs next to it, the Manchu Dynasty ignored the Turhut tribe after the death of Qianlong, resulting in the survival of the Turghat tribe is not very good, the population is not much more than the 80,000 population when the first return to the east, and it has not increased much, but it is a little less, only 70,000 people.

On the contrary, a small number of Turghut tribes left in the lower Volga plain, now known as Kalmyks, may have grown from 30,000 to 150,000 today because of the fertile water, grass and land in the Volga River basin, because a quarter of them are men who can serve as soldiers, although the population is not large, but as a force there are nearly 40,000 people, which is also a large force. Tao Jintang explained carefully, it seems that he has been prepared for a long time and knows this Turhut tribe very well.

Shi Dakai secretly calculated that it was most beneficial for the empire to adopt Tao Jintang's suggestion, which could not only control this territory through this tribe, but also bury a nail here in this far west, and because this nail was a feud with Kazakhstan and an enemy with Tsarist Russia, it could only take refuge in the Chinese Empire.