550. Chapter 550: It's Just Border Friction
It's about what these guys think in their hearts. Whether the www.biquge.info pen is full acceptance or scolding his mother or something, William is not interested at all. The only thing he was interested in was the results of these guys. William believed that through constant brainwashing, whipping and candy-style rewards and punishments, these fellows would eventually turn into a very loyal army of minions. It's like those Cossacks from the time of Tsarist Russia.
But here, of course, there is a misconception about the Cossacks. Many people always like to praise the fighting power of the Big Saxaks. They are even considered to be the best and most powerful cavalry units in the world - unfortunately, they are not.
At the age of cavalry, the most powerful and excellent cavalry in the world, the light cavalry was the hussars of Eastern Europe - Hungary, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Prussia and Austria had a large number of elite cavalry units, with the cunning of nomadic cavalry, and the elite cavalry of European cavalry order. The best hoplites were the hussars of the Polish-Lithuanian United Kingdom.
These hussars distinguished themselves in several battles to suppress Cossack riots. Frightened by the pathetic fierce Cossacks, rode Hussar (robbers). You know, the Cossacks were actually bandits. And to make a group of robbers call themselves robbers in horror, you can see how strong the Polish hussars really are.
In reality, the Cossacks themselves were not as glamorous as they seemed. At the end of Tsarist Russia, the tens of millions of Cossack cavalry that were raised did not actually play a role in the First World War.
In the face of trenches, large-caliber artillery, new explosives and heavy machine guns, cavalry has lost its importance even in the modern era of queue shooting. Completely reduced to an insignificant auxiliary unit.
And in this process, Tsarist Russia, as the most backward of imperialism and known as the weak link of imperialism, has naturally become very weak -- if you are willing to raise so many cavalry, he has to raise so many cavalry for several reasons. One of them is that Tsarist Russia has a very low rate of land development. The traffic is very inconvenient, and the territory is huge.
In order to ensure the security of the territory, so it was necessary to raise so many cavalry.
Another reason was the technological backwardness of Tsarist Russia - in the First World War, the Tsarist army could not even get a rifle. If you want to turn a million Cossack troops from cavalry into infantry, then these guys need at least a million rifles. This will kill Tsarist Russia.
And then there's the reason why these cavalry actually had a bit of a role to play -- of course, not in the fight against the continental powers -- especially in modern times, when Tsarist Russia was involved in the last major war, the Napoleonic Wars, so many Cossack cavalry didn't show much of it. By the time of the First World War, tens of thousands of Cossack cavalry charged at once, facing a defensive network composed of barbed wire, trenches, heavy machine guns, heavy artillery, and rapid-fire rifles.
Tsarist Russia was sick before using Cossack cavalry when facing the West.
In fact, since modern times, the place where the Cossack cavalry was active was in the East. That is, those places that are more barbaric, more inhospitable. From the ice and snow of Siberia to the yellow sand desert of Central Asia, these guys are the world, the world and the space. In battles with the khans of Central Asia, with the Mongols on the Mongolian plateau, with the barbarians of Eastern Siberia, Tunguska. And, of course, the fight against the Manchus. In the battle against the backward armies of these backward countries, the Cossacks, who barely had a certain advantage in combat effectiveness, weaponry, and tactics, were able to win one "brilliant" victory after another.
It was these barbaric and relatively good combat fellows who laid down a large territory belonging to Tsarist Russia. Even in its heyday, the Cossacks included a large number of Persians and even Mongols. It can be seen that the Cossacks had a positive significance for the expansion of the empire.
Of course, there is another reason for this, which has been mentioned once before, and that is the problem of logistics and supply.
The transportation is inconvenient, the railway lines are inconvenient, and in such a situation, it is impossible to maintain a comprehensive army carrying artillery, a large number of baggage, with infantry as the main force, to fight thousands of kilometers, or even tens of thousands of kilometers. This was the biggest problem William faced after he took control of the Cuman-Kipchak steppe and coveted the wealth and commercial interests of the East.
Problems with roads, problems with traffic, problems with logistical supplies. It was destined that William would never have been able to send a heavy army to expand and fight in the East until he had completed the railway network, at least the railway line that ran through the entire Cuman-Kipchak railway.
In this case, the use of cavalry, especially the Cossack cavalry with their own dry rations, was the most excellent, the most outstanding and the most correct choice.
That's exactly what it is. In the history of Tsarist Russia, the Cossacks were always at the vanguard of the expansion to the East. In addition to their relatively excellent combat effectiveness compared to the backward countries in the East, what is more important is that their logistics supply is simpler.
The Cossacks, who still had a somewhat nomadic feel, were full of skill points for plundering, looting, and steppe marching. At the same time, their combat effectiveness was somewhat better than that of the traditional cavalry in the East. The combination of the two makes these guys the most suitable vanguard to expand their territory to the east.
In the history of Tsarist Russia, it was the Cossacks who rode fast horses to advance constantly.
If it is nothing that they brought the ice and snow of Siberia into the control of the empire, because there are really not many people and there are really not many interests in that region, then the inclusion of Central Asia, Kazakhstan and other countries is a complete great victory. These vast lands, which are rich in resources and are the birthplace of almost all the nomadic peoples of the world, are by no means subservient to the whole of Siberia.
And now, the Hereford family, Wilhelm von Hereford, is manipulating a new, freshly baked Cossacks ready to drive them to conquer the Uzbek Khanate, essentially the same as the previous adventures.
It is worth mentioning that because of the distance, the inconvenience of transportation, communication, and the semi-autonomous situation of these Cossacks, their expansion and offensive had a great deal of arbitrariness. It's even a bit like the Japanese Army during World War II. Get on the bus first and pay later. If you fail, then I'm sorry, but the Empire won't admit that your actions have anything to do with the Empire. But if you can succeed, then you are a hero of the empire.
It's kind of ironic when you think about it.
Of course, then again, this was actually the case with the vast majority of colonial adventurers during the colonial era. They made their own decisions, but after they made their own decisions, they were recognized by the state, and even rewarded for it, and even became nobles and officials, colonial governors, and so on.
Perhaps Japan back then had seen too many successful stories of these colonial adventurers - such as the conquest of the Aztecs, the conquest of the Incas, the conquest of here and there, and so on. I felt like I could do it too.
It's just a pity that they chose the wrong opponent. They are not dealing with a deplorable civilization that is still in the Stone Age, without horses, without state organization, and with a social structure still in the system of city-states. Rather, it is a modern nation-state that has awakened to national consciousness.
"So, at least for now, I can expand quickly in the face of those nomads. This must be the last carnival of colonialism, right?" thought to William's heart, and at the same time felt a little happy in his heart.
Although this is a good idea, a huge Arctic Circle empire, the Russian-Gothic Empire, that is, the "New Empire", seems to be barely able to explain the past, worthy of his crossing into this world.
Although, when I think about it, I still feel a little regretful.
Basically, William calculated the international situation and how much capital he had in his hands. Then I started thinking about how this war should be fought. After that, two brigades of newly formed Cossack cavalry advanced to the depths of the Cuman-Kipchak steppe, where they advanced to the border with the Uzbeks.
Their mission goals are reconnaissance, sabotage, and temptation. William expects to be able to get first-hand information. He wanted to know how strong these Uzbeks really were, and how determined they were to resist the invasion. In addition, William also had to plan how loyal the nomadic tribes of the steppe were to the Uzbek Khanate. If he could, he hoped for a group of Uzbek leaders in his army.
That's basically it, two brigades in total, six thousand people. Equipped with carbines, sabers, a full set of farrier harnesses. It has 12,000 war horses, and an equal number of pack horses. William even gave them ten six-pounder cavalry guns and five hundred sets of cuirasses. All this made these people who had just come out of the Cuman-Kipchak steppe grateful. At the same time, eager to try.
These guys, who are used to being poor, have already begun to look forward to it. The killing and destructive genes inherent in their veins are ready to move. And their master, the greatest master of Moscow, the great Khan of the Russian-Gothic Empire, the holy and eternally glorious Khan Wilhelm von Hereford, also found a good target for them.
Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Turkmens...... All in all, those guys with strange eyes and strong body odor peculiar to Central Asians are the targets they want to slash and kill.
This was the first task given to them by their great master. Whoever it is, doesn't want to mess it up.