Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2226 North Caucasus New Face ([-])

On October 1693, 10, it snowed heavily.

There are many ice blocks floating on the river in Bayingoleng Port. In this cold season, shipping has almost come to a standstill.Today's Turghut Khan has basically lost most of the foreign aid, and can only live on the materials saved before.Fortunately, the harvest last year was not bad. They looted several fortresses that the Russians had just built on the other side of the river, and got some food, livestock and ammunition. A strategic retreat, but launched an unexpected counterattack before the retreat, looting a lot of supplies and cattle and sheep, which means they can have a fat year this winter.

Ayuchi Khan was under great pressure to make the decision to retreat from the Volga River Basin.The first was pressure from old-school elders in the tribe, including even his mother.These conservatives are actually not too repulsive about relocation. After all, they are nomads. They were able to run from Central Asia to the Volga River Basin, and now it seems that it is not difficult to run from the Volga River to the North Caucasus.But the problem was that after they left, that land would surely be taken by someone else, either by other nearby nomads or, more likely, by the Russians.After they occupied the Volga River Basin, it became much more difficult for the Mongols of the Torghut and Durbert tribes to go to the spiritual holy land of Tibet. It is certain that they will be made things difficult by others, and they may even never go there again. Not there, which is their biggest objection.

To tell the truth, Ayuqi Khan is also a devout Tibetan Buddhist believer, but he still has reason.In the decades since he became the Great Khan, the living space of the Mongols in the Volga River Basin has been shrinking day by day, and they are facing an extremely severe external security situation, the most important being the threat from Russia.

Russia has been on a steady upward trend for a century, with a steady increase in national power.Even though it was bullied by the Poles back then, its population, economy, and armaments continued to improve, and it was finally able to achieve anti-killing during the time of Tsar Alexei, forcing him to cede some provinces on the border (of course, there are also a large number of Russians living here ), expanding Russia's territory westward a lot.

The rapid growth of Russia's national power is of course not the credit of Tsar Peter.In fact, before Peter, many tsars took it as their mission to enrich the country and strengthen the army. In the case of financial difficulties, they tried their best to introduce Western technology and talents, and even granted them titles and lands to strengthen Russia's national strength.So the situation that Peter faced when he came to power was a bit similar to the "survivor of Fen VI" of Qin Shihuang in ancient China. He actually stood on the shoulders of giants and inherited a huge country with a decent foundation.Of course, we have to consider the process of history, but we also need to consider personal efforts. Czar Peter is undoubtedly a wise man, and the various policies he implemented during his reign further optimized the policies formulated by his ancestors.He also dared to attack vested interest groups, and even turned against his own son. This kind of persistent reform spirit is rare in the tsars of all dynasties. Therefore, he greatly accelerated the process of modernization of Russia and made the national strength of this huge country leap. On a new level.

Peter has not been on the throne for a long time now, but he has also started to reform the military field. The new army he created in the suburbs of Moscow has a very good combat effectiveness. He has repeatedly defeated the old army, giving people a new look.In addition, Peter also set up a fleet command in the upper reaches of the Don River, intending to establish the navy of the Russian Empire. Ersk and St. Nicholas, let's not mention it.

Peter's various military ambitions made the surrounding forces feel uneasy.Although the Oirat Mongols were slow, they also learned about all this from the actions of the Russian army on the front line and other people's reports, so they also fell into anxiety.Ayuqi Khan is very clear that the Russian Empire probably cannot eat them all at once—it’s not impossible, but the stalls are too large to concentrate its forces—but if it takes a long time, with their population of 40 to [-], they will surely It is unbearable.Therefore, it is better to jump out of the dead zone that may be surrounded on all sides as soon as possible while still having some strength, and try your luck in the North Caucasus region.At least, here you can get assistance from other countries, which can greatly enhance their strength.

Ayuqi Khan reluctantly persuaded the elders in the tribe with such reasons.He pointed out that it is no longer the age of Mongolian iron cavalry. With the continuous advancement of musket and cannon technology, well-trained infantry can completely defeat a cavalry. During the Khmelnytsky uprising, the Cossacks, who were mostly infantry, used muskets The cannon's defeat of the invincible Polish cavalry has profoundly proved this point.He even cited some examples in Central Asia. The local nomads and even the Turghuts are extremely troublesome and feel very difficult to deal with, but they can be said to be at a loss under the attack of the hard-working Russian infantry. , failed again and again.

It is also these irrefutable facts that enabled Ayuqi Khan to finally overcome all opinions and move the main force of the tribe to the North Caucasus region.The Mongols who migrated naturally deployed their main force on the side facing Russia in the north, and at the same time sent some troops to sweep the aborigines in the Caucasus Mountains and establish their own defense depth.

It should be said that Ayuki Khan's decisive decision-making seized the precious time window, allowing them to jump out of that dead end before the old Russian empire adjusted its policy. The frontier hidden dangers in mountainous areas are generally relatively successful.

And now that they have come to the North Caucasus Mountains, the Oirat Mongols naturally know how to choose diplomatically.They almost completely accepted the opinions of the people on the east coast, and accepted the Ottoman Empire as their nominal suzerain to improve the surrounding strategic situation-of course, the Ottomans also got benefits, not only in name, but also guaranteed them The security of the narrow coastal corridor leading to the fortress of Azov - but rejected the Ottomans' request for the sect of green religion, insisting on traditional Tibetan Buddhism.This made the Ottomans a little unhappy, but with the mediation of people from the east coast, it was not a big problem.

If the Ottoman Empire is the nominal suzerain of the Turghuts, then the East Coast Republic of China is almost their de facto suzerain.Their market is fully open to the east coast - although they don't have much purchasing power yet - the economy is dominated by east coast investors, and even the currency is processed for them by the mint in Haji County.

Political and military reforms are also deeply imprinted on the East Coast.First of all, they received a large number of matchlock guns, flintlock guns and bronze artillery. Although they were all backward equipment captured from the Russians handed over by the people on the east coast, they were also rare and exquisite products for the Turghuts.When they were nomadic in the Volga River Basin, they had no such luck to receive tens of thousands of guns and dozens of cannons at once.Occasionally, there are some hot weapons that leak from the fingers of the Russians, and they also need to send troops to help the Russians fight, and exchange their lives for it. It is very hard.When Lieutenant Colonel Mao Jun led thousands of people deep into the Don River Basin to return to the army, he half sold these weapons and gave them to the Oirat Mongols. For them, it was really a windfall.At least, when they went south to conquer those Caucasian natives, the difficulty was much lower.

Compared with the reforms in the military field, the political reforms of the Oirat Mongols were somewhat difficult.As far as Ayuqi Khan himself is concerned, he is actually very eager to achieve centralization with the help of the people on the east coast, but this matter is also very sensitive, and if he is not careful, it will lead to civil strife.In fact, refer to the Great Khan of the Crimean Khanate next door. After so many years of tossing, they only strengthened the authority of the central government, but the power of local lords and tribal chiefs has not been completely abolished. Still holding a large number of people and wealth, this has caused the country's low mobilization ability, because the supreme ruler cannot directly use the power of the whole country to deal with the enemy.

The system of the Oirat Mongols is worse than that of the Crimean Tatars after decades of long reforms.They are basically the primitive grassland tribal democracy system. Perhaps Ayuqi Khan's status is very strong and his prestige is high, but he cannot cover the sky with one hand, and everything must be approved by the majority of people before it can be implemented.The people on the east coast were well aware of this, but they also advised Ayuqi Khan to stay calm in the face of the great enemy. The people on the east bank would guarantee that he and his descendants would always be the Great Khan of the Oirat Mongols.And as long as this is guaranteed and there is righteousness, there will naturally be time to slowly clean up those tribal chiefs who are not very obedient, and finally gather power in one person to complete the reform of the national system.

Ayuqi Khan takes this very seriously. Although he is very interested in mastering supreme power, he is also very worried about the future of their ethnic group.In order to enlighten the conservative elm heads in the ethnic group, he has already planned to lease a port along the coast to the people on the east coast, let the people on the east coast come here for construction, and make it a model city, so that those ignorant people of his Open your eyes and understand how the outside world is changing with each passing day.

Of course, the East Coast people were overjoyed.Although it is not necessary to obtain leased land in the North Caucasus region, after all, they already have a very well-built lease in Haji County, but since Ayuqi Khan made this request, there is no reason to refuse it for so long.The only obstacle is probably that most of the coastal areas of the Caucasus belong to the Ottoman Empire—at least in name—if people from the east coast want to settle here, they probably need their consent.But considering the current internal and external troubles of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the ambiguity of the sovereignty of these coastal areas (local tribes are indeed loyal to Ottoman, but their autonomy is actually great), the problem should not be too big.

(End of this chapter)