After autumn, Hehuang is getting colder and colder, and Kangning Mansion on the plateau is already freezing.
On the third floor of Zaqu Manor in Nangqian County, Cao Yao sat by the stove in the sunroom with a gloomy face, pressing tobacco into the jade-carved pipe bit by bit. In his hand were two unfolded letters and a letter from Uzbekistan. of persuasion into the table.
Wearing thick Uzbek brocade, Baiyantai Ji sat opposite, with a kind smile on his face. Next to him stood two Mongolian warriors who had taken off their belts and sabers.
Cao Yao raised his hand and pointed at the two Mongolian guards, and waved his hand to the side: "Get out."
The two guards looked at Baiyantaiji in embarrassment. The smile on the latter's face froze and he nodded gently twice.
After the guards went out, Cao Yao handed the pipe to the attendants to light it, and continued to look at Baoyan with a gloomy gaze. Until he stared at Baoyan and panicked, he gritted his teeth and said softly: "The commander-in-chief is supported by all the Mongolian tribes. I let him." You express your gratitude, is this what you three brothers express?"
There were two letters in his hand, one was a notice that Liu Chengzong was supported and proclaimed Khan, and the other was a letter written by Liu Chengzong himself, telling him that he was getting married, and asked him and Yang Dingrui to return to Xining, and asked him by the way. Opinions of the successor to Corning House.
The letter of persuasion to Jin was written to Liu Chengzong by saying that Taiji, Lazun, and Guru Taiji, three brothers from the Huoluochi tribe of Qinghai's Tumote tribe, persuaded the Jin Khan to inherit the throne and ascend the throne as the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty.
What Cao Yao wants to express is to ask the three brothers in Wuszangli to give some blessings, show support, and submit a letter of surrender, and that's it. But the pretentious letter that Taiji brought over to persuade him to enter the table is a complete job in his eyes. The child is fooling around.
Let’s not talk about harmful things like persuading Jin to proclaim himself emperor.
Who wants to inherit that unlucky country title? The real Yuan Dynasty was deposed by the ancestors long ago. The remaining one called Bei Yuan is regarded as a Mongolian support for face. Generally speaking, its serious title should be the remnants of the residual Yuan Dynasty.
To put it bluntly, even if they really want to be proclaimed emperor, they cannot use the name Dayuan. Anyway, if they are proclaimed emperor now, Cao Yao thinks that they will probably not be able to fight back to the mainland, so the country's name will be Daqing.
If he rushes back to the mainland to think about it, Cao Yao thinks that the country name of Duntaurus is very good. Liu Shi will be king later, the country name will be Dazhong, and the reign name will be unified.
The useless country title that Emperor Taizu wanted to use was given to him.
Tai Ji forced a smile and said, "Isn't it a good thing for the commander-in-chief to become emperor?"
"Good thing?"
Cao Yao leaned forward and looked at Baiyan Taiji seriously: "Let me see... are you three brothers so angry that the commander called you sweat?"
When Taiji was told what he meant, he blinked and turned to look aside, then defended himself: "Why are we angry?"
Cao Yao didn't say anything, he just turned his head and exhaled, raised his hand, tore the watch of the third brother Huo Luochi into two halves and threw it into the stove.
Speaking of which, Cao Yao was not surprised at all by the news that Liu Chengzong was supported by the Mongolian nobles as Khan. His reaction was like that of most Han generals in the Marshal's Palace. It was good, but it didn't matter.
Because being called king, emperor, or khan are essentially the same, representing status and distribution of interests.
Kublai Khan relied on the Han army to conquer the world, and there was nothing wrong with ascending the throne and proclaiming himself emperor. Although Cao Yao still did not understand what kind of agreement Liu Chengzong had reached with Oirat, the Marshal's Mansion alone had tens of thousands of Mongolian troops, and 90% of them were The territory is all pastureland, and it is appropriate to call it Khan.
But Liu Chengzong could not proclaim himself emperor because the time had not yet come. Proclaiming himself emperor meant that he would have to settle accounts with his subordinates and that they would be given official positions and titles. They could not afford it based on their current territory.
But having said that, I have also seen the even more outrageous Cao Yao.
For example, the pretentious Taiji in front of him is the current lord of Uzang Snow Territory.
Kangning is not far from Uszang. Although Uszang is boundless, the main population is concentrated in the Lhasa Valley. Moreover, Kangning Prefecture has always had trade relations with the Huoluochi armed group that entered Tibet, so the news lags behind. Sex is basically one to six months.
One month was the time for the three brothers Huo Luochi to take the initiative to inform them, and six months was the time for the rumors to reach Qamdo.
In the past two years, not only Liu Chengzong was busy fighting in the north, but the three brothers Huoluochi of the Tumote tribe were also busy fighting in Uszang. It was not until this year that the three brothers finally captured the Samzhutse Dzong Fort and took control of the Lhasa Valley, becoming a veritable The king of Tibet.
But in fact, in Cao Yao's eyes, the difference between them becoming the master and not... is not that big.
At this time last year, Taiji's envoy came to Nangqian via Qamdo and approached Cao Yao, a person who knew how to make abacus. He said that many nobles in Uzang had joined them, and only the clan occupied by Zangba Khan was left. The hillfort has not yet been captured.
Cao Yao didn't know whether the three brothers had experienced the defeat in Qinghai and learned to unite; or whether they had new enemies in Wuszang, which made them lose interest in fighting in the nest.
All in all, they had a great time in Uzang, and the strategy they used was simple and easy to understand, plundering.
There is no way, compared to the local army of Uzang, the complex terrain and solid mountain fortress can weaken the advantage of the Mongolian cavalry to the greatest extent.
But in the field battle, the Uszang army could not take any advantage.
Therefore, the local nobles refused to engage in a decisive battle with the Huo Luochi brothers, and wanted them to gnaw and knock down one mountain fort after another.
Of course, the three brothers were not that stupid. They extended the span of the war, and teams of Mongolian cavalry roamed the snowy plateau, plundering every territory.
It doesn't matter if the enemy escapes or holds the fort, they will plunder all the people, livestock, money, and food outside the fort, and then they will return to their pastures.
Then the caravan set out for Qamdo and sold all the strong laborers and goods into Qamdo. Anyway, they couldn't make ends meet if they stayed in their hands.
Next year we will send out troops again and ask those enemies if they obey. If they do not obey, we will do it again.
Everyone was so frustrated by their tactics that they had no temper at all, and they all came forward to comply. Lazun became the religious leader of Uzang in Zongshan, Guru Taiji became the political leader, and Yanyan Taiji became the military leader... They became the Lords of the Snowy Land.
Every time the policy changes, 10% of the tiba is levied every year, and the rest is ignored. The local separatism continues to be separatist, and everything remains the same.
Bai Yan Taiji asked Cao Yao to borrow people who knew abacus and calculation, for no other reason than to find some smart people to enter Wushidang and calculate clearly the annual income of those noble fiefdoms so that they could collect Timba.
It's not that the three brothers Huo Luochi didn't understand the structure of Kangning Mansion. It was said that Taiji still remembered the agreement with Liu Chengzong. He wanted Liu Shizi to send him officials to govern the place, but he wanted to cut off the local nobles.
It can't be done.
On the one hand, it was said that Taiji had tried to manage the local area according to the methods of Kangning Prefecture and established county government offices. However, unless another war started and Wuszang was destroyed, the establishment of this thing would be the same as not having been established.
On the other hand, Yang Dingrui refused to send officials to Uzang. Their own officials were not enough.
The seven counties of Kangning Prefecture have produced many literate people in two years, but they are all old aristocrats with a certain level of education in the past, and the children they have high hopes for have not yet grown up.
Moreover, Yang Dingrui and Cao Yao, the two chief military and political officials of Kangning Mansion, had the same view on the Uzang issue. They did not want the Marshal's Mansion to bring Uzang under direct rule.
The occupation of Kangning can also be said to be to build an advance base for the march into Sichuan. What is the purpose of occupying Uzang, to enshrine the Himalayas?
In Cao Yao's view, it is easy for his army to penetrate the Lhasa Valley. He does not need to send any generals. As long as they can safely cross the dangerous route into Tibet and give Li Laojie 3,000 troops, they can push all the way. Flat Lhasa Valley.
It's useless to have more people. In the terrain over there, an army of 30,000 is not as flexible as an army of 3,000.
But occupation is not something that three thousand troops can do.
Now is not the time to do this.
In fact, occupying and ruling Kangning Mansion had already caused great suffering to the two generals, Yang Dingrui and Cao Yao.
Now the troops led by Cao Yao, Li Laojiao, and Luo Rucai have all changed from the medium-armored infantry and cavalry when they entered Kangning to light-armored musketeers.
This is the only way for them to maintain their combat effectiveness under the current conditions.
War horses, donkeys and mules were killed too badly in the battles to suppress rebellion and banditry on the plateau. They lost the tall and strong Hequ horses. They could only replace them with local horses. The local horses were good at traveling on the plateau, but they were not used in large numbers in battles. It's dead, but its load-carrying capacity is a little worse.
The best carrying capacity of a Kangning horse is one hundred kilograms, and it can travel sixty miles a day on the plateau.
In response to local conditions, the entire army's equipment and tactics were changed. They started with one person and two horses, but later found that it was too extravagant, because the seven local counties also needed horses as transportation.
Later, it became a single horse, but the load-carrying capacity of a single horse was insufficient, so the load could only be reduced.
Due to the high degree of mules and horses, the commander-in-chief's army has always carried a heavy load. Suddenly there was no large number of horses, and the mountainous operations in Kangning did not allow a large number of vehicles to accompany them, resulting in a sharp reduction in the combat effectiveness of the army.
Both the bow and arrows and the muskets are not light. The bow with two bows and four arrow kettles weighs twenty kilograms including the bow and quiver. One musket, one hundred bullets, and five sets of match rope weighs thirty kilograms.
Coupled with their cotton-padded clothes, armor, helmets, weapons, and military rations, the normal weight of an armored soldier is basically about 80 kilograms. Now that conditions are not good, they can only go into battle lightly.
First, they didn’t wear armor and carried shields. Then, because there were so many military craftsmen in the Ordnance Bureau of Kangning Mansion, they didn’t even wear shields. They just had a musket and a waist knife. Finally, they stopped wearing waist swords and brought a blunderbuss to kill the bandits. .
If it weren't for the situation, Cao Yao would never be willing to let his soldiers go to the battlefield like this.
Since the change of uniforms in Kangning Mansion, there have been seventeen large-scale bandit suppression battles. Cao Yao saw many times in the battle reports that Li Laochai and Luo Rucai described scenes of soldiers defeating enemy formations with blunderbuss drawn.
But this could not fool Cao Yao. He knew that this imaginary scene did not exist, but he did not care that the general used such rhetoric to inspire the soldiers' courage.
After all, Cao Yao was the first person to play with blunderbuss in the Marshal's Mansion. Long before Liu Chengzong became a soldier, Cao Yao was using blunderbuss in the Beijing Army Firearms Camp.
Soldiers can use this to defeat enemy formations simply because they have so many muskets that the enemy has no way to shoot at them. But if the soldiers equip the blunderbuss, they are not chasing the defeated enemies, but actually using them to crush the enemies... Cao Yao thought he could change to another general.
Take Liu Chengzong, the top horse archer in the Marshal's Mansion, as an example. Whenever Liu Shishi holds anything in his hand, even a two-foot-long blunderbuss, Cao Yao is unwilling to fight with him and has no confidence in winning.
But if Liu Shishi had a blunderbuss equipped with a blunderbuss, let alone give him a spear. Even if he was given a quick spear of about the same length, Cao Yao felt that it was not a big problem and he could shoot.
The blunderbuss knife weighs less than two kilograms, the musket weighs eight kilograms, and the weight of one piece is ten kilograms. And the way it is held is basically a strange weapon.
An eight-foot-long short spear only weighs five pounds. It would be too much of a disadvantage to fight this thing with a blunderbuss and a knife.
But Cao Yao doesn't think this thing is useless. It solves the problem of presence and absence. It will suffer when fighting with cold weapons, but when fighting with musketeers, the blunderbuss will definitely benefit.
He used to think this set of treasures was untimely, but he doesn't think so now.
Because in the past, the Ming army used the most firearms around. The Ming army equipped its own blunderbuss and could not stab others with cold weapons. But now it is still the Ming army that uses firearms and equipment the most. Things are interesting.
So the gun knife is quite necessary.
Cao Yao planned to return to Xining to attend Liu Chengzong's wedding this time, and bring a team of lightly armed musketeers back, so that Liu Shishi could take a look at Kangning Mansion's army, measure their combat effectiveness, and avoid making wrong strategic judgments in the future.
I thought that if there were 3,000 heavy troops entering Sichuan, even if there were 3,000 light musketeers, it would be a joke.
Cao Yao had already seen from the news that Liu Shizi had transferred them to the north that the future strategic focus of the Marshal's Mansion would shift to the east.
The only thing he is worried about now is the Huo Luochi brothers in Wuszang, especially after these three guys came up with a plan to persuade them to join... They want to be sweating.
Baiyantai Ji watched Cao Yao burn his persuasion table. He stared and didn't know what to say, so he heard Cao Yao say: "You write now, forget it, you come back to Xining with me, and meet the Marshal and him by yourself." Tell me."
"Shall I go to Xining?"
Pretending that Taiji didn't want to go to Xining, he remembered how Liu Chengzong treated those nobles in Kangning Mansion. Now their brothers have become the largest nobles in Uzang.
This made him dare not go to see Liu Chengzong, so he could only think about it and said: "How about Marshal Cao go first, and I go back to prepare gifts for him?"
Without thinking, Cao Yao shook his head and said, "Just saying Taiji, why do you think we don't enter Uzang?"
Baiyan didn't know why Cao Yao asked this question, so he thought for a moment and said: "The commander-in-chief is the one who wants to go to the Central Plains to become the great emperor. Wusuzang is in a remote corner, and the commander-in-chief looks down on him."
Cao Yao shook his head again, looking at Weiyan with a smile but not a smile: "Wuzang is mean, but if you want to go, Qamdo is here, is Zongshan that far away? Not necessarily."
"Three years ago we didn't enter Uszang because Uszang was too high. We have been stationed in Qamdo and Nangqian for three years, and Uszang is no longer high."
These words made Taiji's tail vertebrae feel cold.
In fact, the power of the Huo Luochi tribe is many times stronger than before entering Tibet.
But he clearly remembered how Liu Chengzong captured the Qianmo Palace in Nangsuo three years ago. Those fortresses that were difficult to attack and strong were of no use to the firearms troops of the Marshal's Mansion.
But in the past two years, the Marshal's Mansion's power to intimidate him has only increased.
"The reason why we don't enter Uszang now is entirely because the Generalissimo regards you as a friend."
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Good evening!
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