The Central Plains is already quite hot in May, but in May on Lake Baikal, you have to cover yourself with a thin quilt at night. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

For the Turghut tribes living in the lower reaches of the Volga River, such temperatures are not the slightest discomfort for them, and the heat is the object of their annoyance. But no matter how comfortable the climate is, it can't hide the huge casualties of the Turks.

The Turks, with a total strength of only 3,000 men, have been lost for various reasons, and 400 have fallen with dead and wounded.

"The horses are already covered with bones, and if we obey the orders of the Irkutsk overseer [Alex Igna], by the time we reach Irkutsk, all the Turks will be reduced to two-legged infantry." Aslen angrily slapped the pine table, and the green tendons on his forehead were like the roots of an old tree.

He was the second-in-command of this Turgots army, and now the location of the Turks is at the northern end of Lake Baikal, and they are also on the shores of Lake Baikal, but from the northern end of Lake Baikal to Irkutsk in the southwest of the lake, there is still more than a thousand miles to walk, and this is the vast Baikal. Otherwise, how could Baikal have been called the North Sea in the past?

In front of Aslen was the supreme commander of the Turghut cavalry, Tseberk Dorji. Tsebok Dorzi's face was also gloomy and could drip water, they made a little contact with the Fu Han army on the east side of Lake Baikal in the summer and autumn of last year, and there was no real war, and the Chinese withdrew from the war zone. But then they were transferred to the Outer Northeast, where, at the mouth of the new river, they did not suffer great losses on the battlefield.

It was mainly the Qing army and the Russian army that engaged in the battle with the Han people, and after several contacts, they suffered losses, so they chose to retreat, especially the Russian army. Because the Mongol army was about to attack Lake Baikal again, not only the Russians on the Amur River chose to retreat, but Western Siberian reinforcements were also marching towards Irkutsk. And their Turks withdrew from the Outer Khingan Mountains when the snow had not yet melted, and at that time the excuse of Zebok Dorji was that the horsepower was exhausted, and the soldiers were no longer able to fight. Only a small fraction of the 400 people who have fallen in the Turks are killed or wounded in the fighting and on the battlefield, and more are the fatigue and difficult conditions that have taken their health and even their lives.

A large number of Turkuts, armed with dried meat, dried powdered milk, cheese and bread, which were supplied by the Russians, retreated all the way to the northern tip of Lake Baikal, where they settled in a land of abundant water and grass. But a short period of time can't make the war horses under their crotches grow fat again and replenish their vitality. Alex Igna has now issued another strong order to the Turks to reach Irkutsk by June.

"If Alex Igna were right in front of me, I'd want to strangle him. But our food, weapons, all are supplied by the Russians, and if Alex Igna were to cut off our supplies...... "there is only one death waiting for this Turk army."

Here, not even a single Buryats. The tribe of the Tatars is not even seen for hundreds of miles!

The Russians were able to conquer all of Siberia in a hundred years, and their own bravery and enterprise were put aside for the time being, and the sparse population of the indigenous people of Siberia was also a great factor.

Three thousand cavalry, if it weren't for the Russians who were responsible for supplying them, the Turks would not have been able to get here at all. Neither the local Tatar tribes, nor a single Russian stronghold, could feed or clothe such a large army.

No matter how ugly Tsebok Dorzi's face is, and how strong Aslen's anger is, as long as the Turks don't want to die, they can only obey the orders of the Russians.

"We will not all arrive in Irkutsk before June, unless you can bring your God of faith to the manifestation and restore all our horses to their strongest." Tseborkdorzi could not fail to obey the orders of the Russians, but how to do so was another routine. "I will lead a thousand men, each with three horses, to Irkutsk as fast as possible. I think that the respected Igna Overseers let us go there to fight for the defense of Irkutsk, and not for us to become a burden to Irkutsk and add more burdens to Irkutsk. "In this land of Siberia, food has never been plentiful." The rest of the Turks will be led by my deputy, Aslen. They can only slowly rush to Irkutsk, otherwise they will become inferior to women. "Without the horses, the Turks have lost their greatest fighting power.

The envoy of Irkutsk could only give in to the tough and polite Zeberk Dorzi, "I will convey your words to the Overseer Alex Igna. As for the reaction of the Irkutsk overseers, the envoy said that he did not want to know, it was a matter between the big guys. All he could do now was to determine the thousand cavalry of the Turks. "I hope you can quickly lead your deployment to Irkutsk."

"You don't have to worry about that. The Turghut has always been a loyal dog of Her Majesty. "In the recently concluded Russo-Turkish War, the Turks suffered heavy losses for the victory of Tsarist Russia, which can be said to be another confirmation of their loyalty to Tsarist Russia.

The Irkutsk emissary immediately bowed down to show respect for the sacrifice made by the Turks, "Of course, the brave and wise Vorbasi Khan is one of the most revered heroes of the Russians. ”

In order to cope with the upcoming war, the Russians have chosen to gather all their strength. The eastern, the western, the Turks......

At this time, the main force of the 1st Cavalry Brigade of Kyakhta had also embarked on the journey of attacking Irkutsk. Before the main force of 3,000 troops was dispatched, the officers and men of the 1st Cavalry Brigade of 2,000 men and men of Outer Mongolia + Buryats, who were about the same number, had already swept the entire southern part of Lake Baikal.

Once again, the Russians chose to retreat, and the reinforcements they received from Western Siberia also entered Lake Baikal and retreated into Irkutsk.

The only thing they could rely on was Irkutsk's city defenses, and a hundred years later, the war brought Irkutsk back to the definition of a 'fortress'.

The Russians, men, women, and children mobilized to build a series of breastwork walls around Irkutsk, as well as wide trenches that could not be crossed by horses. In the steppe, where heavy weapons were lacking, the Cossacks relied on defense and muskets in their hands to make the Mongols far outnumbered them, and all their attacks were frustrated.

More than 100 years ago, the war between the Buryats and the Russians revolved around wooden castles. Don't say a three-five-fold superiority in troops, but a tenfold or twenty-fold superiority in troops, the Buryats also had it. But with only rudimentary bows and arrows and scimitars in their hands, they could only give away their lives in vain in the face of the Cossacks of the castle + muskets.

Now the Russians can still rely on this set, but Irkutsk's defense is much greater than a hundred years ago.

The Russians no longer had arquebuses in their hands, but more advanced flintlock pistols, and they also had a bronze cannon by their side.

It's just that the asymmetry of bilateral information doomed the Russians to tragedy this time. Although the current Irkutsk overseer Alex Igna is still confident, because the combined forces of the Chinese and Mongols, who have an absolute advantage in strength, can no longer get close to Irkutsk, and even if they firmly encircle the city of Irkutsk, they cannot threaten the security of Irkutsk at all.

As long as the reinforcements from outside arrive, let the Turks first consume these hateful barbarians, and then the Russians who have turned back from the outer northeast will merge with the second batch of reinforcements transferred from Western Siberia, and these barbaric and backward eastern barbarians will know what modern civilization and war are.

In the previous battle between the army of Irkutsk Province and the Chinese army in Kyakhta, although the latter was well-equipped, there were so many cuirassiers, and all of them were armed with muskets, but there were not many cannons with them. Alex Igna also thought that the Chinese cavalry would not have much artillery fire, because the distance from China to Lake Baikal was too far and too far.

It would be too much of a burden to ensure the supply of an army of 5,000 men with formed thermal weapons.

Now the performance of the Chinese also confirmed that Alex Igna's previous conjecture was not wrong, and their friends in Outer Mongolia reported that this Chinese army was originally equipped with strong artillery fire, as many as 30 cavalry guns, but only 12 arrived at Kulen, and there were only a few mortars.

Compared to the Russian power on Lake Baikal, the long and distant supply lines were the army's worst enemy and the Russians' best friend. Alex Igna was confident that he could defend Irkutsk, but he had twenty guns and a relatively large supply of gunpowder and shells. Although many of these guns were older than Alex Igna's grandfather, who was about to die, this did not affect the power of these guns. This is the artillery power that the Russians have accumulated little by little over a hundred years, because of the absolute importance of Irkutsk for Russia.

The whirring wind blew Chen Kaishan's face, just like the Spring and Autumn time of the Central Plains. Behind him was a long line slowly advancing northwest, and he didn't know how many days it would take him to reach Irkutsk, but he had to win the battle.

Half a month ago, he had already sent a report to Nanjing, and if he couldn't win Irkutsk in this battle, he didn't need Chen Ming to speak, and he didn't have a word to stay in his current position. Although Chen Kaishan is leading the first cavalry brigade, he is the former military governor of the Fu Han Army!

After Chen Ming became emperor, the Dadu Governor's Mansion also ushered in a restructuring. In addition to the middle and the emperor's concurrent governor, there are also four military governors. This is not a copy of Zhu Yuanzhang's Five Army Governor's Mansion, because the first and fourth deputy five governors of the Fu Han Army are completely different from Zhu Ming's five military governors.

Chen Han's Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, the Metropolitan Governor commanded all military powers, and the Governor of the Left Army was the first deputy and commanded the national army; The governor of the right army is the second deputy, and he is in charge of the whole army's logistics, munitions, military academies, new barracks, etc.; The former military governor was the third deputy and oversaw the cavalry affairs of the whole country; The Governor of the Later Army was the fourth deputy and was in charge of the affairs of the national sailors.

Because the governors of the four armies have the right to vote, when it comes to the interests of each other's services, it is very difficult to compromise with each other calmly, and in the end, it will be handed over to Chen Ming, who will not relax a little bit of military power.

Now the Fu Han army is not only at war with the remnants of the Qing Dynasty, but after Potemkin led the cavalry to intervene in the war, China and Russia have also entered a state of war. And there is too long a bilateral border between China and Russia. Not only Mongolia, but also the Northeast and Northwest.

The Russians do not have any advantage in the Outer Northeast, but they have a great advantage in the Northwest.

Although the Russians have not yet conquered Kazakhstan, in the spring of the first year of Yongzheng (1732), when the Kazakh steppe was plagued by heavy snowfall, the Junggar army suddenly attacked the Kazakh steppe. The little Yuz of the Three Tents of Kazakhstan fled to the Ural and Volga rivers to nomadic herding, and the territory was about to border the Turkut tribe, and a part of the Middle Yuz tribe hooked up with the Russians. In the fifth year of Qianlong (1740), the Dzungar expedition to Zhongyuz, the Mongol army directly advanced to the Ural River region, Zhongyuz suffered a heavy blow, some tribes have belonged to the Dzungar department, and some tribes officially submitted to Russia with Xiaoyuz.

From the twentieth to the twenty-second year of Qianlong, the Qing army destroyed the Dzungar Mongols, which can be said to have lifted the threat of the Kazakhs from the Dzungar tribe, and also made Russia have ambitions for the Kazakhs.

To be honest, although the Dzungar Mongolia has been at war with the Manchu Qing in the past hundred years, it is also the backbone of containing Russia's southward expansion into Central Asia, and the Dzungar Mongolia in its heyday is a behemoth that the Russians are unwilling to provoke, with an army of 200,000 or 300,000. The demise of this powerful force not only destroyed the supremacy of Buddhist Tantra in Xinjiang, but also removed the biggest stumbling block for the Russians to move south.

For the Manchus, of course, this was only the elimination of their own worst enemy. After the war, the three Kazakh Yuzi successively expressed their submission to the Qing Dynasty, especially the Middle Yuz and the Great Yuz had a closer relationship with the Qing. However, in this era, the king of Yuz Khan, Abu Lai, also swore allegiance to the Russian Empire in Orenburg early and received a certificate.

Now that the Manchus were destroyed by Chen Han, the Russians and the Manchus were on the same side, and both forces had great influence in Central Asia. Chen Ming didn't dare to guarantee that Abu Lai would know the story of the False Dao Extermination!

If the Kazakhs had opened up the passage to the Russian army in Orenburg, perhaps only the easternmost of the three Kazakhs, Dayuz, would have become closer to China due to its proximity to Lake Balkhash, but the final consequence would still be a great problem for the Fu Han army to control the whole of Xinjiang.

"Your Majesty is not ready for a full-scale war with Russia at this time, and the imperial court's forces in the north and northwest are still too weak and the foundation is too shallow. That's why His Majesty let the 1st Cavalry Brigade attack Baikal. ”

Just as Chen Kaishan was approaching Irkutsk step by step with his army, Zhang Jia III was also meeting with the Chechen sweat car Budenzab, who had come to Chengde one step earlier.

Obviously, Outer Mongolia maintained a certain degree of wariness against the powerful armed army of the 1st Cavalry Brigade. Compared with the rudimentary nomadic cavalry of Outer Mongolia, the 1st Cavalry Brigade was completely armed to the teeth in the eyes of the Khalkha Mongols.

They all had muskets, and many of them had more than one, and many of them had short guns, and they had so many cannons. Crush ten streets of Khalkha Mongolia on firepower. However, the most alarming thing for the Khalkha was that all of them were equipped with cuirasels. Although many of them had a kind of cuirass that covered the front, the shining cuirasses and the arrays that advanced like walls every time that army lined up made all the Khalkha Mongol princes shudder.

"You should know the importance of Lake Baikal for Russians. It is Russia's transit point in the tundra of northern Mongolia, communicating between the East and the West, as long as His Majesty can grasp here, then it will grasp the lifeblood of the Russians, unless the Russians are willing to give up all the land east of Lake Baikal, otherwise they must sit down and negotiate. ”

His Majesty the Emperor of Nanking wants to hold Lake Baikal and then get the Russians out of this war, so he wants to see that powerful force withdraw from the territory of Outer Mongolia, at least until the Russians give in.

Otherwise, it is not on the road in Outer Mongolia.

"You should contact Tushetu, Zasaktu, and Noyan as soon as possible, and let them [King Khan] come to Chengde as soon as possible. His Majesty the Emperor has agreed to Jebtsundamba IV's status as a reincarnated spirit child. The Central Plains has no ambitions, at least for the current Khalkha. Let them rush to Chengde as soon as possible. Again, do your best to contact the Turks......" (To be continued.) )