1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 989

On July 1682, 4, it returned to Suicheng (now Hohhot).

"During this period, the tribes of Mongolia were mainly divided into three parts, the Oirat tribes in the west, the Khalkha tribes in the north of Mobei, and Mongolia in the south of the mongolia." Zhou Zhanfeng, the captain (major) of Xuanjie, the black-clothed guard, glanced at the team Hundreds of Manchu and Mongolian cavalry walking slowly on both sides said quietly: "Jungar has unified the Oirat tribes, and the Qing captives have controlled Monan. Only Khalkhashan is wandering between the two forces, swaying from side to side, looking for opportunities. I want to sell it at a good price. I heard that after Junggar conquered the Yarkand Khanate, they planned to use the Kazakh Khanate to fight for the rich grasslands and pastures around Lake Balkhash. If Junggar consolidated its side and wiped out several Khanates in the west, it would be inevitable They will turn their heads to the east, march into Khalkha, and unify the entire Mongolia. Under such circumstances, the Qing captives can only fight to the death with Junggar."

"Sir, are we going to support the Qing captives to a certain extent? Then, let them fight with the Junggar Khanate so that Qin can reap the benefits of the fisherman?" Black-clothed Wei Renyong Colonel (Lieutenant) ) He Yingliang asked in a low voice.

"Whether to support or not, let's decide after this investigation." Zhou Zhanfeng smiled and said softly: "As for Qin, it is not so easy to reap the benefits of the fisherman if it wants to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight? If so, Junggar At the end of the fight with the Qing, one side won the battle and annexed all the forces of the other side. Is it impossible to guarantee that it will not expand rapidly and become a huge grassland empire, and then repeat the Jinmeng incident on Qin? "

"The officer thinks, Junggar or Qinglu, who has a better chance of winning?"

"On the Junggar side, none of us went to check the details on the spot, and we don't know their specific strength. But it is said that after they occupied the Western Regions, they not only expanded the ruling area of ​​the Khanate, increased tax sources, and The source of soldiers has been expanded. With the help of abundant financial resources, Junggar was able to produce sophisticated chain mail. At the same time, Junggar used many artisans on the Tianshan South Road and Central Asia to manufacture a large number of firearms, train and equip soldiers. The firearms and equipment of the Junggar army The rate should not be low, and the strength should not be underestimated."

"As for the Qing captives, they have maintained an armed confrontation with Qin for so many years, and they have been subjected to a strict border trade blockade. Materials, ordnance, and population cannot be effectively replenished. It can be said that it is due to long-term blood loss." Zhou Zhanfeng shook his head. Said: "Look at the Mongolian cavalry who escorted us. Their armor is old and damaged, and the weapons they hold are mostly spears and swords. It is estimated that the large number of firearms they carried when they escaped from the Central Plains are already unusable. So, I think that when the Qings collide with Junggar from the west, they may encounter a lot of trouble."

"However, in the past few years, while maintaining an armed confrontation with Qin, the Qing captives have devoted a lot of energy to running Khalkha. It seems that the results are not bad. Among the tribes of Khalkha, Tushetu Khan and Chechen Khan The two ministries maintained a very close relationship with the Qing captives. Although they were not as integrated as Manchu and Mongolian like Monan, they relied heavily on the Qing captives politically and militarily. The long-term confrontation, the two sides continued to have small-scale conflicts, and with the support of the Qing Dynasty, they had the upper hand. If the Qing Dynasty took advantage of Junggar's lack of time to look east, and first unified the entire Khalkha Mongolian tribes, it might not have been a battle with Junggar Strength."

"But the question is, how can the Qing be able to integrate the Khalkha Mongolian tribes under the military coercion of the Qin State from Liaodong, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu and other border guards thousands of miles away?" Zhou Zhanfeng said: "A few years ago, Kangxi, the puppet emperor of the Qing Dynasty, led troops to attack Khalkha. Li Dingguo found an opportunity to seize a loophole and gathered a large army to attack Monan. It dealt a heavy blow to the Qing captives, and lost countless people, supplies, and livestock, making them unable to recover for several years. So far, when the Qing captives use their troops, they have always been cautious, and they dare not go out with all their strength, so as not to be attacked by Qin again. The army took advantage of it."

"Two noble envoys from the Qi State, three miles away, I will be in Guisui City temporarily during the Qing Dynasty. Lord Dutong has ordered that the whole army stop here for a while, pack up, clean clothes and face, and prepare to enter the city." At this time, a The famous Manchurian Eight Banners Xiao Riding School rode up to the two envoys of the Qi State's black guards and said loudly.

The resting place is on the edge of a lake, where thousands of shepherds gathered nearby, and herds of cattle, sheep and horses leisurely enjoyed the feast of spring on the newly exposed green grass.The shepherds on horseback gathered around the team from a distance, looking curiously at two soldiers in black uniforms and big caps, and guessing their origins.

"They are...the army in black from Qi!" Some older bannermen suddenly remembered something and shouted involuntarily: "...they are from Qi!"

Decades ago, in Denglai, Shandong, in Nanjing, in Yongping Prefecture, Hebei, in Liaodong, and in North Korea, it was these black-clothed troops of Qi who wore black military uniforms that beat us to the ground. Abandoned armor, lost troops and lost generals. Hundreds of princes Baylor, governor generals, and generals such as participating leaders and assistant leaders were planted in their hands. The Eight Banners lost tens of thousands of soldiers. Nemesis, the biggest sufferer.

How could the black-clothed army of the Qi Kingdom suddenly appear in the Monan area this day?
Some old people from the Eight Banners who had lingering fears could not help stepping on the stirrups subconsciously, raising their eyes to look around, lest a black-clothed army from the Qi Kingdom would suddenly kill them from a certain direction.

"Master Dutong, those two envoys from the Qi State are writing and drawing with pen and paper. Do you want to stop them?" A parade leader walked up to Daichun, the deputy commander of the Eight Banners of Manchuria and the Blue Banner, and reported in a low voice. .

"Let's leave it to them." Dai Chun turned his head and glanced at the two envoys of Qi's black-clothed guards who were sitting by Haizi, and said coldly: "When we arrive in Guisui City, we will see the emperor before making a decision. At this time, for the time being Don’t offend them. We don’t believe it. They can still describe the topography and geography they observed along the road and bring them out of the grassland? Hmph, when you take them away, you should search them carefully to avoid revealing them. It has revealed the truth and falsehood of my Great Qing!"

Daichun was about thirty, and he was born as a first-class bodyguard before the imperial court. In his early years, he followed my Qing court to the capital, and when he fled to Monan, he was only in his early twenties. Naturally, he had never personally experienced the "black-clothed bandit army" of Qi State. The guns and cannons are sharp, and they have not faced the front of the soldiers directly, so there is no fear or fear in their hearts.

A few days ago, he led more than [-] Mongolian cavalry to the north side of the Great Wall of Datong, and received Erdai and other people who had returned from the inland. Among them were the two black-clothed guards of Qi State.If it weren't for Erdai's familiarity with the first-class viscount bestowed by the emperor and the title of Yunqi Lieutenant, and the post of the commander of the Mongolian Eight Banners with red flags, he would almost have thought that Erdai had two black-clothed guards officers with him. They have already voted for Qin State, and even hooked up with Qi State.

It is known that they visited several provinces in the Central Plains and traveled thousands of miles. In addition to investigating a large amount of intelligence information on Qin's internal affairs, economy, and military affairs, they also contacted members of the Qi royal family stationed in Dengzhou through the Luo family's children, and conducted a dialogue with them. He made some contacts in order to obtain a certain amount of ordnance and material support from Qi State.The two black-clothed guard officers from the Qi State who accompanied them came to Guisui under the order of their superiors to inspect the situation and strength of our Qing Dynasty to determine whether to support and assist them.

In other words, in the past few years, I have been trapped in Monan in the Qing Dynasty, and my life has become more and more difficult, especially seven years ago, when several imperial merchants of the Qing Dynasty were taken over by the Qin military, the entire grassland was cut off from supplies. Thousands of Chinese craftsmen looted, beating and beating, struggling to support.

Although the Qing Dynasty sent elite officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners to invade the Han land from time to time, trying to plunder some supplies and people to replenish the lost strength, but under the strict defense of the Qin State, they actually got very little each time, and sometimes they were even attacked. The strong counterattack of the border town of Qin State lost many bannermen.Compared with Qin, which has endless manpower, even if my Qing Dynasty suffered minor losses in small-scale conflicts, it would not be worth the loss, which is unacceptable.

You must know that the climate and environment on the grassland are harsh, the supplies are poor, and the mortality rate of infants and young children is very high.A qualified soldier of the Eight Banners, who worked hard for more than ten years to cultivate, was easily killed in the wild by the soldiers of the Qin State with firearms. Just thinking about it makes people shudder.

Therefore, within the territory of Han, whenever we encounter fortresses and villages with a little force, as long as they can cause casualties, our officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty are generally unwilling to attack with all their strength. Ten pots, one hundred and eighty iron basins, but there are casualties of officers and soldiers, it seems extremely uneconomical.

Of course, this does not mean that I, the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty, cherished my life very much, feared the battle, and did not dare to face Qin.Three years ago, after the Qin State "accidentally" acquired large territories such as Qinghai, Gansu, and Uzang, it suddenly became arrogant.They sent more than [-] troops from Zhangjiakou and Datong, intending to pull out Suiyuan City (now Ulanqab City), and embedded an important wedge here, and then threatened to return to Sui.

For this reason, my Qing Dynasty assembled more than ten thousand elite Manchurian Eight Banners cavalry, continuously attacked the Qin army's marching queue and rear supplies, and finally forced the Qin army to retreat, smashing this massive attack, beheading more than 1000 people, which greatly It deterred the Qin army so that it did not dare to organize such a large-scale military attack again.And my officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners also paid more than [-] and [-] losses in this battle.

In the small and medium-scale battles and tug-of-war with the Qin army, the officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners felt more and more difficult.Because the opponent's firearms and equipment are increasing, and there are also small horse-drawn cannons accompanying them.If the enemy is facing the enemy head-on, although our Eight Banners officers and soldiers can defeat more than twice as many enemies face-to-face by virtue of their proficiency in bows and horses and the powerful impact of cavalry.But the casualties paid were extremely heavy, and the exchange ratio often reached 1:2, and sometimes even as high as 1:1.

Thinking of the huge population size of the Han people and the continuous replenishment of the army, how can my brave officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners compete with the Qin army to consume them like this!
Therefore, in these years of fighting, my officers and soldiers of the Qing Dynasty rarely fought head-on with the Qin army when they were not fully sure and could not avoid greater casualties. Instead, they fully learned from the fighting methods of the Mongols in the past , that is, high-speed mobility, long-distance detours, long-distance running raids, avoiding the real and attacking the false, splitting into joint attacks and outflanking cavalry tactics.

However, what worries all the officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners in the Qing Dynasty most is that as the Qin Army took control of the northwest regions such as Ganning and Qinghai a few years ago, it obtained sufficient horse resources, making the number of cavalry of the Qin Army increasing by three to five every year. Qianqi's speed increased.In time, when the Qin army has tens of thousands of cavalry, the high-speed mobility that the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty possesses will be greatly reduced, and the advantage will no longer be there. I am afraid that we will face an overwhelming attack from the opponent.

At that time, where will my Qing Dynasty go? ——
"Suo'etu, what do the Raksha people say?" Emperor Kangxi sat cross-legged on the rug, put the tea in his hand on the low table, and asked expectantly.

"Your Majesty, the Raksha people are too busy to take care of themselves now, and they don't care about our requirements at all." Hesheli Suo'etu, the first-class prince of the Qing Dynasty, the prince and Taifu, and the minister of state affairs, kowtowed and said with a mournful face: "The Raksha people's Uginsk Castle (now Ulan-Ude, Russia) on the east side of the North Sea (now Lake Baikal) has been captured by Nabohai State, and Irkutsk, where the regional governor's office is located, is also in jeopardy and is preparing for war intensely. But the situation may not be optimistic. And the Raksha Kingdom was also defeated by a country called Ottoman in the southwest of their land, losing tens of thousands of officers and soldiers. In this way, where can they take a shot and join us to attack Junggar Khan country!"

"Hiss..." Emperor Kangxi couldn't help taking a deep breath, "Then the rebellion of the Bohai Kingdom can be so powerful that it can defeat the Raksha people in a row?"

"Return to the emperor." Suo'etu raised his head, the corners of his mouth were full of bitterness, "The slaves spent more than half a year walking through several towns under the jurisdiction of the Raksha Kingdom, and found that the population under their rule was extremely withered and the scale was slightly larger. The population of cities is no more than a few thousand, and the population of small fortified towns is only a few hundred. And those rebellious Bohai countries have continuously plundered people from Liaodong and North Korea for decades, and assimilated and absorbed countless local indigenous people. With a population of more than [-], in the vast and sparsely populated Lingbei area, it is a well-populated country. They have the firearms that Qi and Beiming continue to provide, and in terms of force, they are no less than the Raksha people."

"That is to say, in response to the threat of Junggar, the Raksha people can't count on it?" Kangxi looked stern, staring at Suo'etu who was kneeling on the ground, and asked word by word.

"Your Majesty, at least in the short term, the Raksha people may not be expected."

"Master Taifu, why don't you take a trip to the Bohai Kingdom?" Nalan Mingzhu, the prince Taishi and Minister of the Interior, suddenly interjected and asked.

"The Bohai Kingdom was rebelled by the Qing Dynasty. How can we communicate with it?" Suo'etu said disdainfully: "20 years ago, when the first emperor was in power, he once recruited Sharhuda and his like, but the rebels He categorically refused. Now, his son Bahai is in charge of the government, and he is rebellious and aggressive. He is aggressively attacking the land north of Lingbei, and if he goes there rashly, he will be humiliating himself?"

"This time is over, and that time is over." Mingzhu said softly.

"Huh?..." Suo'etu stared at Mingzhu, "After more than twenty years, how can it be different?"

"Suo'etu, Mingzhu is right. We should get in touch with the Bohai State again." Kangxi's heart moved, and he said meaningfully: "If Junggar enters Khalkha, it will not be far from the North Sea. This is very important for the Bohai State. As far as people are concerned, they may not be willing to see a unified and powerful Mongol Empire around them.”

(End of this chapter)