While Raphael and a group of young people were eagerly learning the idea of loyalty and patriotism, the city lord's mansion issued a series of instructions one after another.

The first was to determine the date and content of the imperial examination in the Kangju area, and secondly, to recruit 1,000 local intellectuals and let them learn the Ming script and language with pay as reserve officials in the future. Finally, it is necessary to continue to intensify the military occupation of the Kangju area.

Samarkand is more than just a capital, it spreads a vast area, with dozens of cities of all sizes and countless villages and estates beneath it.

In addition to leaving enough troops to defend the city, Lan Yu's other soldiers scattered out to occupy various strategic strongholds, and completely built the Kangju area into a monolith, hoping to build the forward position of attacking the west as soon as possible as envisioned by Zhu Yunxi.

The reason why Zhu Yunxi spent so much financial and material resources to build the Kangju area was to have a stable rear when attacking the West.

After all, Daming is too far away, and it is too difficult to transfer materials.

Moreover, the population of the Ming Dynasty is too small, and the soldiers cannot afford to lose, so they can only use as many locals as the vanguard as much as possible to create blood debts for him.

When the time comes, with the Ming navy, all the Western dynasties can be packed up and thrown to Borneo.

While the Kangju area was enjoying the all-round transformation of the Ming Dynasty, the Golden Horde finally reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Timur.

However, after the alliance, Tokhtamysh had a very serious problem in front of him, and that was that he had to send troops together with Timur.

If you want to send troops, you have to have money, but his biggest problem now is that he doesn't have money!

Tokhtamysh had no choice but to gather all the noble leaders of the Golden Horde.

Like the Mongol and Yuan Empire, the Golden Horde was a tribal alliance from the beginning, and even for conquered areas such as Kiev and Rus', it adopted a crude management model of regional autonomy and regular door-to-door tax collection.

Therefore, the finances of the Golden Horde have always been very chaotic, and when there is money, it eats hayser and has no money...... If you don't have money, you carry knives around and grab money......

But the current Golden Horde has long since lost its former majesty, and they have been challenged by the vassal states below one after another, and they have been beaten by Timur several times in a row, and they no longer have much strength to suppress the former vassal states.

After Tokhtamysh expressed his desire to ask for money, the people in the big tent became unusually silent, and even the people who had supported him closed their mouths in amusement.

This made Tokhtamysh very dissatisfied, and he kept clutching the scepter to the ground.

"Are you all dumb?"

"Didn't we discuss it very happily before, and I didn't talk when I asked you to raise money?"

When everyone saw Tokhtamysh getting angry, they couldn't help but look at the forehead in unison.

"Great Khan, the land should be allowed to be Wen Yunwu, this negotiation with the Timurid Empire is even more powerful to suppress Timur and give us back a large amount of territory, why don't you ask his opinion?"

Tokhtamysh knew that this was a counterattack by the group of surrenderers under his command, but at this time he had no other way but to ask for his opinion.

Edicai heard the Great Khan call his name, so he could only get up.

"Great Khan!"

"We haven't been to Moscow for a few years to collect taxes, and it is said that it is now rich there, so why don't we send someone there to collect taxes to supplement the lack of military spending?"

Tokhtamysh's eyes lit up when he heard Edrich's words.

Yes!

He still has a lot of vassal states that are not taxed, so he took this opportunity to loot them all.

"And Lithuania, the country is also rich ......"

As soon as Tokhtamysh said this, not to mention the various noble leaders in the big tent, even Erdi's eyes widened in surprise.

If he remembered correctly, Lithuania had sent troops to help him during the time of the Great Khan of Tokhtamysh's succession.

In the face of such a country that is kind to him, the khan actually wants to rob people?

"Great Khan, this is inappropriate, isn't it?"

Tokhtar's confused rhetorical question.

"What's wrong?"

"Lithuania has attacked our vassal state several times, and Kyiv, which once surrendered to us, has been robbed by him, so let's not rob him too much, right?"

Hearing this, he could only nod his head again and again.

"Not too much!"

"The Great Khan is wise!"

Seeing this, the others also shouted in unison for the wisdom of the Great Khan, which made Tokhtamysh even more lost.

"Now that the plan to raise military funds for the attack on Lithuania and Muscovy has been finalized, who will lead the troops?"

When everyone heard this, they all looked at the forehead again, and the scalp of the forehead was numb for a while.

"Great Khan!"

"Not really!"

"Wechen hasn't led a soldier!"

Tokhtamysh withdrew his gaze and glanced back at the tent, eventually falling on one man, his brother Timur Khuglut.

This was a man whom he was extremely jealous of, and in principle Hughroot was also qualified to inherit the throne of Khan.

Therefore, after he became the khan, he deliberately suppressed Khugroot, unwilling to let him get involved in military power.

But now that no one is available, he can only use Huglut and let him conquer Lithuania and Muscovy on his behalf.

"Hughroot, you are the best warrior of our Golden Horde, it is better for you to lead the troops to the Muscovy to collect taxes."

A trace of surprise flashed on Hugroot's face when he heard this, he never thought that such a good thing would fall on his head.

However, just as he was about to accept his fate, Tokhtamysh spoke again.

"It's time for Edi to go through the experience, so I'll follow you and be a deputy general for you!"

When Hu Groot heard this, he finally understood, and it turned out that Tokhtamysh was still not at ease with himself, so he deliberately put a prison army next to him!

But he's not angry, all he needs is a chance!

"Yes!"

"Wechen is willing to die for the Great Khan!"

"Good!"

"Worthy of being the fierce general of my golden family!"

As soon as Tokhtamysh opened his mouth, he gave Hugroot a fierce position, telling him to give up his unrealistic fantasies.

After arranging the candidates for the expedition, Tokhtamysh equipped Kugroot with 100,000 cavalry, and sent golden arrow messengers to various places along the way, ordering the local tribal leaders to prepare grain and grass in advance for Hugroot to supply along the way.

Although Tokhtamysh 10,000 did not look down on Hughroot, he not only did not hinder the conquest of Muscovy and Lithuania, but even fully cooperated.

This not only surprised the nobles of the Manchu Dynasty, but even Hughroot had a higher evaluation of Tokhtamysh.

Could it be that Tokhtamysh is not as unbearable as he thinks?

Tokhtamysh is indeed not a hero, but he has always been quite proud of the glory of his ancestors, and he dreams of restoring the glory of his ancestors and bringing back all the vassal states that have been separated from the Golden Horde all these years!

Based on this idea, he fought the air in the sky, fighting Lithuania in the west, Timur in the south, and cleaning up Moscow in the north from time to time.

Although he returned from several expeditions to Lithuania, it still did not affect his self-confidence both internally and externally.

He believes that as long as he persists in his efforts, he will eventually let the entire West prostrate under his feet!

Hughroot was full of ambition and confidently prepared to set out. But when he came to inspect the assembled Khanate army outside the tent with the help of his wife, he was directly shocked by the shabby appearance of the army.

Although the standard of one man and two horses can still be maintained, both the armor and the saddle are too old, and many people do not even have armor, wrapped in cowhide, and rush over with a saber with teeth and teeth.

This made him doubt himself for a while, should he take such a group of Hanako to fight?

Just when Hugroot doubted his life, his lieutenant should have come dressed in shining armor and rode a fast horse.

Although Edi should shoulder the heavy responsibility of monitoring Kugroot, he still has great respect for his comrades who are about to go to the battlefield with him.

When he was still a certain distance from Hugroot, he took the initiative to dismount and come on foot to meet him.

"I deserve to meet the Lord!"

Hugroot responded enthusiastically and took the initiative to help him up.

"You and I are both working for the Great Khan, why be so polite!"

The word of righteousness and righteousness should be heard.

"The rules can't be abolished!"

"The Lord will rest assured that he will fully cooperate in the matter of war, and will never interfere with any of your orders!"

When Hugroot heard this, he immediately understood what he was thinking, and gave him a promise.

"Eh, if you have merit this time, this king will definitely let you take the lead!"

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the two men then took their soldiers to the Khan's court to bid farewell to the Great Khan, and then set out on the long journey to conquer Muscovy.

On the way, Groot asked curiously.

"Edi, how did our Khan's army fall into this?"

"The tribal army is just that, the tribal leaders are not willing to lend the elite to the Khan's court, how can the cowardly Xue army directly under the Khan's court be so poor, the weapons and armor equipped are so simple, and many people don't even have all the arrows......"

Hearing this, Edicai shook his head bitterly.

"The general doesn't know that the Great Khan has been fighting for many years, but he has been defeated repeatedly, and he has long emptied the family of our khanate."

It was also on this basis that he did not agree to an alliance with Timur. Once we form an alliance with Timur, we will inevitably be drawn into the war. ”

"But with the current strength of our khanate, it's too late to suppress the disobedient vassal states, how can we have the energy to take care of the bad things between the Ming and Timur?"

"This ......"

Suddenly Groot realized that he seemed to be wrong, and until then he had thought that he should be a diehard loyalist of Tokhtamysh, a traitor of the Golden Horde.

"Your Excellency, what do you think are our chances of winning this expedition against Muscovy?"

Hearing this, he first stretched out five fingers, then thought about it and pulled back two more.

"Thirty percent, no more......"

"Only 30%?"

Huge immediately cried out in surprise.

"Your Excellency, you can't be mistaken, there are 100,000 people. There is a high probability that 100,000 people will lose when they fight Lithuania, but there is absolutely no reason to fail when they fight Muscovy, right? ”

Hearing this, he shook his head.

"It's hard to say!"

"Although he didn't know how to fight, he had been helping the Great Khan manage the imperial finances over the years, and he had come into contact with many merchants who came and went from the north to the south, and he learned from them that the Muscovy had developed well in recent years, and it was quite prosperous and wealthy."

"And the Grand Duke of Moscow, Vasily Dmitrievich, is a very cunning man, who vigorously scorns us and fights with Lithuania at the same time......"

"If we go on this expedition, if we just want to pay taxes, as long as it is not too much, Dmitrievich will most likely give it, but once we ask for too much and make him unbearable, then he will most likely resist."

"Once we fight Moscow, it's hard to say whether we will win or lose."

"After all, Lithuania is still watching, if they send troops, we can only be defeated by the enemy!"

"This ......"

When Hu Groot heard this, he shouted loudly in his heart, why is this called not knowing soldiers?

This old boy can really pretend, the entire Golden Horde has been deceived by him!

"Eh, my lord!"

After more than ten days, Hughroot and his party finally arrived in Moscow, and before they could send someone in to deliver the message, Vasily Dmitrievich, the Grand Duke of Moscow, took the initiative to run out and came to greet him with a group of guards.

Although Dmiritjevic gave Hugroot enough face, Hugroot was still not satisfied.

Because a few decades ago, the envoys of their Golden Horde came to Moscow, Kiev and other vassal states, and the grand dukes of each vassal state wanted to leave the city as soon as possible, and respectfully kneel in front of their horses and make stones!

It's just that as the Golden Horde declined day by day, and the various vassal states became independent or annexed by others, the etiquette was simplified a lot, and it was no longer as humble as it used to be.

Dmiritjevich, while giving enough face to the envoys of the Golden Horde, also maintained his dignity as a grand duke, and only slightly bent down to show his submission.

"Honorable envoy, our kingdom has already prepared the tribute for the Great Khan, please check it out!"

Hearing this, Khuglut smiled playfully, and as expected, this Dmiritjevich was really a wonderful person.

"Oh!"

"Give me a list first!"

"Yes!"

Dmiritjevich immediately took a list from the hand of the attendant behind him and respectfully handed it over.

Ugroot looked at it, and his face suddenly became extremely ugly.

"That's all?"

"My lord, it's not that I don't want to pay more filial piety to the Great Khan, it's really that Moscow is barren and has few people, and Lithuania has bullied us for many years, so we really don't have time to farm and raise sheep......"

"Please also ask the envoy to make decisions for us and others, crusade against Lithuania, so that we can farm and raise sheep for the Great Khan with peace of mind and concentrate on serving the Great Khan!"

"This ......"

Ugroot looked at Edgia for help, and for a moment he didn't know how to reply to Dmiritjevich.

After all, from a practical point of view, their Golden Horde received tribute from the Grand Duke of Moscow, so it was supposed to defend them against invasion and ensure their safety.

Seeing that Khuglut was looking at him, he immediately stepped forward with a slap in his horse's belly and sneered at Dmiritjevic.

"Dmiritjevich, don't cry poor in front of me, since you annexed the Grand Duchy of Nisgorod, your territory has almost doubled, but your taxes are still the same, do you think this is in the past?"

"You'll have to pay the taxes of Nisgorod, right?"

(End of chapter)