On March 16, 1731, spring has come, the temperature has not risen, in the warm spring season, feel the rain in the rain season, give all things the recovery of the rain, the breath of life sprouts in the cold of spring.

Although the temperature is as cold as winter, the recovery of all things has begun, desperately growing upward, quietly sprouting, breaking out of the shell, rushing out of the soil, revealing the color of life, the power of the sun is immeasurable, slowly growing up.

The weeping willows that grew along the Ezil River (now the Volga River) have been extraordinarily green, and the new buds that have been revealed have bloomed under the moisture of the spring rains, and they are long by section, like a string of jade necklaces, which are particularly dazzling.

In this early spring, everything seems to be infused with life, showing the splendid beginning of a new Mongol khanate.

However, in the city of Astrakhan, billowing smoke rose into the sky, adding a bit of disharmony to all this.

Liu Yanqi, the head of the Astrakhan sub-station of the Qi State Black-clothed Guard and the captain (major) of Xuanjie, rode a horse and stopped on the side of the street corner, coldly watching the relatively majestic and magnificent Holy Trinity Cathedral fall into a raging fire, and countless Turgots around cheered and jumped excitedly, as if this fire would destroy the humiliation experience of the Russians who had suffered for a hundred years in one fell swoop.

Although the cathedral looks much more modest compared to the royal palace across the street, it is still a large complex from the point of view of craftsmanship.

Under such oppression, the strength of the Turghut tribe has been exhausted to the extreme, and if they continue like this, they are likely to face the fate of the dead clan.

In order to reorganize and train the armed forces of the Turghut Special Division, the Qi State also sent more than a dozen professional officers and non-commissioned officers to guide and train the newly formed Kingdom Standing Army.

Times have changed, and so should the organizational model of the armed forces. You can't fight against a group of herdsmen who have no combat experience and a modern army that is armed to the teeth, it is not a war, it is purely a death.

Later, the lords and tribal leaders in the city did not stop them, but connived and encouraged them in words and deeds. Immediately, the residents became emboldened, and eventually they threw garbage and urine at the church, beat the clergy who had left alone, and shouted for them to get out of Astrakhan.

The Turks wanted to stay out of the way, hang high, and continue their wall-riding attitude, but the Qi and Persians, who had won an unprecedented victory in the Caucasus, did not want to see a single wall-top grass swaying in the wind in the Caspian region.

However, the trees want to be quiet and the wind does not stop.

It was not important to establish a Mongol Khanate or anything, but to be able to bring the power of the tribal tribes into the "center" and become a centralized modern state was what the Great Khan of Chelingduan Dobu longed for.

Well, in the eyes of the Turks, there is no clear concept of whether to build a state or not, it is nothing more than a change from the previous dependence on the Russians to the current dependence on the Qi and Persians.

If, with the support of Qi and Persia, the Turks established an independent state, would they be able to use their power to continue to expand eastward, and then penetrate Kazakhstan, and finally connect to their hometown of Oirat, which is haunted by their dreams?

In order to obtain external support, the Turks also strengthened close ties with the Dzungar Khanate, and Ayuqi Khan married his daughter to Kaldan's nephew Tseir Arabutan, and actively supported the other party to gain the rule of the Dzungar Khanate as a way to counter the Russian coercion.

Therefore, after a little hesitation, the Turkut tribe, who wanted to establish a state, immediately agreed to the proposal of an alliance with the two countries, stopped paying tribute to Russia, and began to prepare for the establishment of the state.

After more than a year of brutal fighting, more than 4,000 brave Turks almost all fell under the guns of the Qibo coalition army or the scimitars of the Persian cavalry, and only more than 700 Turks returned to their homeland safely after the two sides signed a truce and signed a peace treaty, which was the heaviest loss in the tribe's war for Russia over the years.

By the thirties of the 18th century, the population of the Turghut tribe had dropped sharply from more than 70,000 and 400,000 at its peak more than 50 years ago to more than 50,000 and 300,000.

Now that they have thrown themselves into Qi and Persia, it is natural that the Turks should know how to choose and make decisions in foreign and domestic affairs.

That's right, since the founding of the country, it can no longer rely on the previous nomadic tribe period, when war comes, they will engage in the mode of all the people are soldiers, recruit a large number of herdsmen, wield knives, ride horses, and pounce on them.

The Ju tribe migrated to the Ezil River valley, and after decades or hundreds of years of multiplication, the Turghut tribe was repeatedly conscripted by the Russians to fight for its expansion, and lost a lot of people.

Five years ago, at the strong demands of the Russians, the Turks had to send 4,000 soldiers to join the Russian army in the battle sequence, and went to the nearby Caucasus region to wage war against the Persians.

However, with the rapid expansion of Tsarist Russia, the Turks gradually began to be treated as vassals and subjects of Tsarist Russia. The Cossack cavalry of Tsarist Russia constantly harassed, usurped and reduced their lands, extorted money, forced tribute, and even religiously forced the Turks to convert to Orthodox Christianity, which was difficult for the Buddhists to accept.

The cathedral, which symbolizes the colonization and enslavement of the Turks by the Russians, naturally became an object of venting.

The elders of the Zargu Council, the local lords, and the tribal chiefs all had a large amount of people and wealth in their hands, and if they were to be easily regained, it would certainly cause civil strife in the Turghut tribe, and the nascent kingdom of Astrakhan would fall apart.

For more than 100 years, they could not be equipped with a large number of advanced firearms, and could only occasionally pick up some hot weapons from the Russians' fingers, and even provided tribal warriors to help the Russians fight, exchanging their lives for firearms, and they had always had a miserable life.

Although the Turkuts were backward in civilization and slow to respond, they also felt a strong threat from the increasingly aggressive attitude of Russia.

Four years ago (1727), the Dzungar Khanate, which had been relied on by the Turghut to be reinforced, was destroyed by the Qin State in the east, not only losing tens of thousands of elite Khanate soldiers, but also losing the foundation of the land - Ili, and fled to the Issyk-Kul steppe (now Almaty) in embarrassment, and the situation was once precarious.

Hearing this promise, Che Ling Duan Duobu Khan suddenly felt moved.

If the Russians have the upper hand in the war, they will send two or three thousand tribal warriors at the right time to continue the "alliance (dependency)" relationship between the two sides.

After signing a series of cooperation agreements, Qi donated a large number of Russian weapons captured on the battlefield in the Caucasus to the Turks free of charge.

Liu Yanqi, as the person in charge of the Black-Clothed Guard's sub-station in Astrakhan, was ordered by Shangfeng to help the Turks form an internal guard police force in the name of a military adviser and implement settlement model management for Astrakhan City.

At that time, Galdan unified the Oirat Department, established a centralized Dzungar Khanate, and in the following period of crusade in the east and west, almost restored the supreme glory of the former Mongols.

To this day, these audacious Turks have begun to set fire to the church, trying their best to vent their resentment against the Russians.

But the reality doesn't allow it!

He also never seriously implemented the unequal treaties that the Russians forced Ayuqi Khan to sign, but prevaricated, perfunctory, and extremely tactful, so that the tsarist government was helpless.

Russia's rapid growth in national power and increasingly aggressive ambitions for military expansion have put a heavy strain on the surrounding powers and brought them more fear.

Now, the proud and unrestrained Turks have taken advantage of Russia's internal and external difficulties, with the support of the Qi and Persians, to get rid of the humiliation and oppression of the Russians for a hundred years, and officially declared their independence and statehood.

Of course, more confidence was undoubtedly provided when they conquered other nomadic tribes to the east, as well as the Kazakhs.

However, in the battle of the Kura River, more than 40,000 Russian troops, including the Turghut troops, were defeated by the Qibo coalition forces and suffered heavy losses. In the ensuing series of battles, in order to get rid of the pursuit of the coalition forces, the Russian army constantly assigned the soldiers of the Turkut Department to block the attack and cover the escape of the Russian army.

On August 11, 1730, two months after the Swedish battle of Riga, a delegation from Persia arrived in the city of Astrakhan, the seat of the Turghut royal court.

Abandoning their Dzungar homeland, they marched in the direction of sunset, conquering Tatar tribes along the way, and finally reached their destination, the Ezil River valley, in 1630.

Although they have the support of the two countries, they cannot entrust their own safety to others, and they must strengthen their armament.

More than 100 years ago (1625), the head of the Turghut tribe and Orlek did not want to get involved in the internal disputes and turmoil of the Oirat Mongols, and at the same time, in order to avoid being annexed by the powerful leader of the Dzungar tribe and the de facto ally of the Oirat Mongols, Batur Huntaiji, they took their six sons and more than 50,000 herdsmen from the three tribes of Turgot, Heshute and Dulbert to embark on a long journey to the west.

You don't see, whether in the old East or in the vast steppes of South Russia, how vulnerable the once fierce nomadic cavalry was to the new army equipped with artillery and muskets.

Deep down, Che Ling Duan Dobu Khan was actually very much in favor of the state centralism proposed by the Qi people, which brought all the power of local lords and tribal chieftains to the "center", so as to strengthen his own authority and become a real monarch of the kingdom.

In a panic, the Great Khan of Cheling Duandob, who had just inherited the throne of Khan, recruited a large number of tribal warriors to respond to the invasion of the coalition army and protect the safety of the tribe, and at the same time sent an envoy to visit the commander of the coalition army, claiming that he had no intention of confronting Qi and Persia, and that he was forced to send tribal soldiers to participate in the battle only because of the coercion of the Russians.

In the months that followed, Qi provided a 20,000 yuan of free aid and a low-interest loan of 50,000 yuan to the Turks for the reform of the internal affairs and the repair of the royal city.

Soon, the Qi people, who apparently dominated the entire mission, said that if the Turkuts were willing to sever their "alliance" with the Russians and form an alliance with the two countries, they would give their full support to the Turks in establishing a centralized Mongol khanate.

Great Khan Chelingduan Dobu had a heated argument with a number of princes and nobles at the Zargu Conference (similar to the Manchu Council of Ministers), and finally came to an agreement to ignore the Russian conscription for the time being and to take a wait-and-see attitude towards the ongoing Russo-Swedish war.

But at present, in the entire Caspian region, with the strength of 50,000 accounts, the Turkut Department is also a very powerful separatist force, even if it cannot be compared with the Persian Safavid Empire, and does not dare to compete with the Russians, but it can more or less break hands with the divided Kazakh Khanate.

The Turks knew very well that the Russian Empire would probably not be able to eat them in one bite - of course, if they made up their minds and paid some price, they would not swallow them. But if it takes a long time, with their population of three or four hundred thousand, as the Russians slowly encroach and continue to weaken, they will definitely not be able to hold it in the end.

The most excessive thing is that Tsarist Russia wantonly requisitioned Turkut young men to participate in Tsarist Russia's foreign expansion war. They put the Turghut warriors at the forefront and served as cannon fodder for them. A large number of Turkut warriors paid innocent lives in wars that had nothing to do with the tribe, and the population of the Turkut began to decline.

This mission, composed of Persians and Qi people, came for the very clear purpose of immediately making the Turks take a stand.

Do you continue to follow the Russians and serve as cannon fodder for their war, or do you sever all ties with the Russians and become allies of Qi and Persia?

You are a nomadic tribe with a population of no more than 300,000, and under the care of the powerful Qi State, a little bit of your fingers can make earth-shaking changes in the lives of you bitter Mongols.

And now, taking advantage of the internal and external troubles of the Russians, and with the strong support of Qi and Persia, it is better to hug your thighs and find a backer.

And the Qi people sold tens of thousands of firearms and gave them to the Turks, which was really a windfall for them. At least, in the future, in the face of the threat of force from the Russians, you can straighten your back a little.

Although a series of proposals put forward by the Qi people for internal reform and the establishment of a modern national government were highly valued by the Great Khan of Chelingduandobu, they were temporarily shelved at the first time due to the existing primitive steppe tribal democracy system of the Turghut tribe.

At that time, the Ezil River was not yet under the control of Russia, and the Russian nation, which had not yet risen, was at first in equal contact with the Turks who had just moved here, and the Turks herded and lived on the banks of the Ezil River.

If the former is chosen, the tens of thousands of Qibo troops stationed in Sylvan will not mind crossing the Caucasus Mountains, attacking the Turghut tribe, and exterminating or expelling your people from the Ezil River valley, which has inhabited and multiplied for more than a hundred years.

If the latter is chosen, then the Turks will become a close ally of Qi and Persia, not only with the protection of the armed forces of the two countries, but also with a steady stream of economic support from both countries.

Although at this point, the Persians felt a little embarrassed and embarrassed, but the Qi people, who were easier to speak, supported their choice.

What made the Turkuts even more frightened was that after the Qibo coalition army broke through the Russian army, one of them entered the Makhachkala region, the traditional grazing land of the Turkuts, and seemed to be plundering the northern shore of the Caspian Sea and invading the Turkuts.

If the Russians were beaten by the Swedes and could not take care of themselves, and their strength was greatly damaged, then naturally there would be no need to deal with them anymore, and we Turks would tighten the fence and live our own small life.

They accepted the advice of the Qi people and made the Safavid Empire of Persia their nominal suzerainty, but still adopted traditional Tibetan Buddhism as the only religion in the country.

After several months of dealing with the Qi and the Persians, the Turks gradually figured out the taste, don't look at the Persians trying their best to show a high-minded posture of a great power, but in many major matters, they are dominated by the decisions of the Qi people, and it seems that all arrangements are based on the Qi country.

Co-author, Persia is such a big empire, and it is also a small follower of the Qi country!

In this case, there is only a slow picture.

Although the large number of arquebuses, flintlock pistols and bronze artillery they received were basically backward equipment captured from the Russians handed over by the Qi people, they were definitely rare "sophisticated weapons" for the Turks.

It is not known whether the coalition forces believed the words of the envoy of the Turk tribe, or because of the lack of troops, the coalition forces plundered the northwestern part of the Caspian Sea for several days, then turned their forces and killed the middle reaches of the Manech River, preparing to flank and sweep away the remnants of the Russian army against the Crimean Khanate fighting in the Don River valley.

Russia, the Turkist's close neighbor, has been steadily rising in power for more than a century. Even though it was bullied by the Poles and beaten by the Swedes, its population, economy, and armaments continued to improve, and it was finally able to achieve a strong rise during the reign of Peter I, dominating the Baltic Sea, and expanding its territory to the west.

A few months ago, bold residents threw stones, vegetable leaves, and even verbally insulted the priests in the church.

During the reign of Ayuchi Khan, the leader of the Turks, he used all kinds of means to oppress and enslave the Russians, and never recognized the suzerainty over Russia, but repeatedly stated that the Turkuts were only "allies" of the Russians and resolutely maintained their independence.

However, at a time when the Turks were developing and struggling to survive, they had encountered a huge external crisis in recent years.

At that time, in order to change the religious beliefs of the Turks, the Russians did not hesitate to spend huge sums of money to "help" the construction of this sacred church, hoping to naturalize these ignorant and barbaric peoples into "civilized people".

Just as the Turks had loosened their nerves and secretly rejoiced over the end of the war, the greedy and brutal Russians sent messengers asking them to send another 3,000 tribal warriors to Moscow to defend against the invading Swedes.

In agrarian civilizations, wealth means how much land you own, but in nomadic civilizations, population is the symbol of strength. And because of the Tsar's "unsympathy for the people" - of course, the intention of Tsarist Russia to deplete the population in order to strengthen its control over the Turks by this move was not ruled out.

If you want to strengthen the centralization of power, you must first strive to build the capital of the kingdom, and slowly move the main population and resources of this nomadic kingdom to the city. The best thing is to change to a half-pastoral and half-farming mode of life and production, and gradually fade away from the ignorance and ignorance of the nomads.

As time goes by, the kingdom's settled population will also increase, and its wealth and resources will gradually increase, and when the power of the royal court is strong enough, then with the support of Qi and Persia, it is presumable that the kingdom of Astrakhan will eventually form a strong central government, and then transform into a modern and civilized state.

Qi will also use this to extend its influence to the northern shore of the Caspian Sea, thereby consolidating and strengthening Qi's influence in the Caucasus.

——

(End of chapter)