North of the East Tianshan Mountains, the former home of Beiting.
Liu Chengzu led the horse, bent down, took out a handful of soil, and crushed it in his palm.
The Tianshan Army set out from Hami at the end of March and went to Verumu, also known as Urumqi, via Barkol. It was already May when they arrived.
Batur Hutaiji had his own things to be busy with, and Liu Chengzu also had his own mission to do. The first thing was to build a post station.
From Hami to Urumqi, along the valley north of the East Tianshan Mountains, it is a full 1,500 miles to the west. This road will be the Oiratkin Road and the lifeline of the Tianshan Army.
Therefore, Liu Chengzu planned to build fifteen post stations and four cities on this road, namely Beiting, Mulei, Barkol, and Yizhou City.
But that's just a long-term plan. At the moment, Liu Chengzu's energy is focused on how to let the soldiers survive the winter safely.
This place has been cultivated and farmed since the Han Dynasty. Nowadays, the territory has changed and it is a foreign land where no Han people have settled for hundreds of years. The ancient city walls have long since collapsed, and only fragments of broken walls are left in Tingzhou before Liu Chengzu's eyes.
Fortunately, everything is difficult at the beginning. Liu Chengzong led his army to move to Qinghai and laid the foundation for the Marshal's Mansion. This time they made more preparations. They built brick kilns and underground nests at the Beiting City site. Handy.
The construction site was in full swing on Sunday.
From Qinghai to Beiting, this traditional civil servant suffered a lot from fatigue. At first, he ate fried noodles every day, and later changed to tsampa. After entering Barkol, he ate neither tsampa nor fried noodles, but Mongolian noodles. Fried rice.
Along the way, I ate Sunday out of fear, and now I’m retching when I see these special staple foods of the Marshal’s Mansion.
Liu Chengzu was not surprised by this. In the final analysis, humans are animals that value talent. Talented people may memorize words for a while, but as long as they live, even in the turbulent era of earth-shaking, they will ultimately live better than most.
Zhou Zhouqiang is a person who has never lived a hard life. Even if he went from knowing Ningzhou to Liu Chengzong's Qinghai Xuanwei envoy Tongzhi, he lived a poor life, but it can't be said to have endured hardship.
In ordinary soldiers, Sunday Qiang's symptoms of retching against food would not appear at all... Of course, this does not mean that Liu Chengzong would have no problem preparing such meals for soldiers.
In fact, as far as Liu Chengzu knew, before Liu Chengzong, no one regarded these things as staple food. They were snacks for people when traveling far away, and they were also emergency rations for the army.
Only in the hands of Liu Chengzong, their army is always in emergency, and people must get used to living on this kind of military rations.
Liu Chengzu, who led the army, was always a very busy man. The Tianshan Army and the officers he led had all been studied and trained by Xincheng Academy. They were martial arts students and the requirements were very strict.
They marched faster than normal, and the extra time was spent on surveying the terrain and drawing plans. The entire army had long been prepared to endure hardships and hardships. After all, there were 7,200 people in the army, and everyone had Liu Chengzong's skills. Promise.
Guarding the border can be as short as three years or as long as five years. As long as they return alive, the soldiers will be promoted to a hundred generals; the officers will be promoted to three levels and awarded a casual rank from the third to the fifth rank.
For anyone, the promise of being able to go to level three without fighting for five years is enough to make people go all out for it.
In fact, for them, the biggest risk was not that they would die in a foreign land in Tianshan, but that they were worried that during the past few years of guarding the border, Liu Chengzong would be killed by the court... Then no one would fulfill their promise to them.
Zhou Qiang was different. Liu Chengzong didn't make any promises to him. In fact, he didn't need any promises from Liu Chengzong to tempt him. He filled himself up with chicken blood himself.
Since regaining Hami, Zhou Zhouqiang has used spiritual motivation to overcome his physical discomfort. He was full of energy along the way. Although he said nothing on the way, Liu Chengzu knew that this Confucian scholar of his uncle's generation was full of pioneering ideas. excited.
Before he even arrived in Tingzhou, he had drawn up a series of plans to build the city from scratch, starting with burning bricks, digging wells, planning roads, building underground shelters, and ending with building waterwheels, irrigating fields, and reclaiming wasteland. The charter of the stronghold.
Zhou Zhouqiang even came up with a Mongolian version of centralized power for Oirat after talking with Batur Hutaiji for several days and nights. He even found the locations of the opponents and sent them all to him without going anywhere. Open canals and build city walls.
Batur Hutaiji respected Zhou Zhouqiang very much and followed his good deeds. At this time, he was summoning the Oirat nobles to announce his new policy.
Soon, Liu Chengzu's underground nest in Beiting had just been repaired, and Dai Daozi, who had followed Batur Hutaiji to the Junggar tribe, came back.
It's not that cold in Beiting at the moment. Although people have built their huts, the Tianshan Army still lives in the military camp outside. Dai Daozi found Liu Chengzu's general's felt tent all the way and asked people to carry documents inside without saying a word.
Several boxes of paperwork.
Faced with Liu Chengzu's confusion, Dai Daozi was not surprised at all, and explained: "The commander-in-chief asked us to come here, isn't it just to win over Oirat and detect the intelligence of the northwest? These are documents that Oirat has fought with its neighbors from east to west, north and south over the years. "
After saying that, Dai Daozi shook his head in distress and said: "I thought it would be enough to copy it once. Who knew that their documents are in various languages? Many battle reports require asking old people who have witnessed the war. I can't understand what the old people in the ministry say. It's troublesome. died."
Liu Chengzu nodded seriously. He attached great importance to these battle reports. He quickly ordered his trusted guards to sort out several boxes of documents, and asked someone to get milk tea for Dai Daozi. Then he said: "Everything is difficult at the beginning. General Dai is in Junggar, and he has a heavier responsibility than us. It will be much bigger. In the future, Oira will set up special counties and install teachings in each county, and the situation will gradually improve."
Dai Daozi nodded casually. In fact, both of them knew this very well. The important task of spreading language and writing will not be achieved in three to five years. I am afraid that none of them will still be in Tianshan after three to five years. Stay.
But what can he say? Even if it is comfort, the placement of teachings in various counties is already their only comfort.
To put it bluntly, two Oirat people with a generation gap stood together and had to talk and gesture to communicate, let alone a Han Chinese like him who only knew the Monan dialect.
However, seeing that Liu Chengzu attached great importance to these documents, Dai Daozi still reminded: "But General, these documents should only be used as a way to understand, and you must not listen to them."
Liu Chengzu expressed his understanding of this and nodded: "It's good enough to have hearsay information. For more accurate information, we still have to see it ourselves in the future."
Comparatively speaking, Liu Chengzu cared more about Dai Daozi who had second-hand information than he paid attention to these documents. He asked: "You just said that they are fighting with their neighbors in the southeast, northwest, and northwest. Who are they?"
Just as the soldiers brought milk tea, Dai Daozi took a sip, found the map from the document box, unfolded it, sat opposite Liu Chengzu, and introduced: "Oirat is a place of four battles, and the Kazakh Khanate to the west has been fighting for it. The Seven River Basin; in the north is the lower reaches of the Irtysh River, and is integrated with Chahan Khan, which is the Rakshasa in the commander's mouth; in the east is the powerful Mobei Khalkha, and in the south is the desert oasis Yarkand."
"Now that they have surrendered to the commander-in-chief, Dzunga'e has negotiated peace with Khalkha in the east, but we have just captured Yarkand's Hami. There is no room for sound sleep on this side of the bed. Sooner or later, the two sides will start a war."
Speaking of this, Dai Daozi's hand moved northwest along the Irtysh River on the map, and finally settled at the intersection of the three forces of Kazakh, Oirat, and Rakshasa, and said: "And now, Oirat has joined forces with Kazakh and Rakshasa. There’s a war.”
Liu Chengzu was surprised: "Batur has only been back for a month, and the war has already begun?"
"It's not that he wants to fight with others, but that others have already beaten him and he wants to take revenge."
Dai Daozi pointed to the intersection area and said: "This place is called Yamesh. It is located in the middle reaches of the Irtysh River. There is a salt lake there. It was originally the pastureland of the Dulbert tribe. The initial conflict between Oirat and Rakshasa originated from this. Rising from the lake.”
"Since the 44th year of Wanli, the Junggar tribe and the Duerbot tribe have agreed to assist in the defense of the Salt Lake and began to fight against the Rakshasa. The war lasted for seven years. Since the two sides negotiated a peace eleven years ago, the border has always been between you and me. You are among them...just like Tumut and Ming Dynasty after I reached Tonggong."
Tumut and Ming Dynasty after I reached Tonggong?
Liu Chengzu was a little hard to understand this explanation: "Who is Ada and who is Ming?"
"The Rakshasa is the Ada, and the Oirat is the Ming Dynasty."
Dai Daozi actually feels that his metaphor is very appropriate.
In this relationship, the Oirat have the dominant position. They occupy all the salt ponds, pastures, animal husbandry, agriculture, and handicraft industries along the upper reaches of the Irtysh River. Although the Oirat are not good at finishing, they can provide everything that everyone needs. Requires the most basic supplies.
It's like a backward version of Ming Dynasty.
The strongholds established by the Rakshasa people in the lower reaches have no production capacity except for producing a small amount of food. However, in the city of Tyumen in the northwest, they can resell some firearms and precious handicraft products from Europe to Oirat.
Just like Mongolia can sell horses in the mutual market.
Before the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia maintained mutual trade, they experienced a long war. Until both sides were unwilling to continue the war, the mutual trade became the product of compromise. The same was true for Oirat and Russia. Almost all of Batur Hutaiji's prestige in Oirat was lost. It was obtained by attacking and plundering Russian strongholds.
Dai Daozi said: "At the end of the war, the two sides made an agreement. Oirat allowed the Rakshasa people to establish strongholds on the Yenisei River and the upper reaches of the Ob River, and Tsarist Russia also allowed Oirat subjects to graze around the strongholds."
"In addition, the Rakshasa people opened the city of Tyumen as a place for mutual trade. Oirat provided furs and food, and Tsarist Russia gave back handicrafts and firearms."
Liu Chengzu nodded slightly as he listened to Dai Daozi's explanation. It sounded like this agreement wouldn't do much harm to Oirat... Of course he didn't think it would do any harm, because to a certain extent, this was almost the agreement between his brother and Junggar. Reprint.
He asked: "If that's all, they should be in peace with each other. Why are they starting a war again now?"
Dai Daozi spread his hands and said: "Because Oirat is not big enough, the Kazakh Khanate is also fighting for this salt lake, and the Rakshasa people have not been idle these years. Didn't the commander-in-chief say that the Rakshasa people are expanding eastward? Check it out below He obtained some documents from the Junggar tribe, and also used the words of Rakshasa slaves in the tribe... It is indeed true."
"They couldn't defeat Junggar to the south, and they have continued to expand after the peace agreement. To the east, they have established a stronghold further north in Mobei, and have established contact with the Khalkha people; to the west, they have established contact with the Kazakh Khanate, and the three parties They are all enemies of Junggar."
"In recent years, Oirat's power has been getting smaller. First, seven years ago, the Durbot tribe united with Junggar and drove away the Turgut tribe. Last year, they suffered an unprecedented defeat in Qinghai."
Dai Daozi shook his head with a sigh on his face: "If the commander-in-chief had not been kind-hearted, only 3,000 of the 40,000-strong army would have returned from the expedition, and Oirat might have been gone in two years."
"That's not true, is it?"
Liu Chengzu frowned and said: "I think they have a large population and losing tens of thousands of troops in a big defeat should not damage their vitality."
"The vitality is seriously injured." Dai Daozi said these four words very seriously, and said: "I have read their battle reports over the years, and the number of troops dispatched is around 30,000, including many battles at home. The battle in Qinghai almost destroyed their The veterans are gone."
"As a result, when the news of the defeat on the front line came back, the Kazakhs and Rakshasa people were ready to take action. Last year, the Kazakh Khan led his troops to retake Qihe. To this day, the Kazakhs are still stationed in the western section of the Ili River."
"The Rakshasa people were weak. They first sent envoys to Oirat to inquire about information. They did not see any nobles who could talk to them. After returning, they attacked the Oirat subjects who were stationed as herders near the Salt Lake, and closed the city of Tyumen against Dzunggar. , currently trading with the Kazakhs."
Following Dai Daozi's introduction, Liu Chengzu had a general understanding of the situation currently facing the Junggar tribe. He asked: "Batur intends to take revenge. Does he want you to come back because he wants the Tianshan Army to help him take revenge?"
Dai Daozi shook his head and said: "The general underestimates Batur. I feel in my heart that his view of us is similar to that of the Rakshasa people. He is wary of us."
"Now that the strength of the Oirat tribes has been greatly reduced, the Junggar family, which has returned with 3,000 veterans, is the dominant one. He wants to inherit the Khan's court, the ally of the National Preceptor Khan. At present, the nomadic tribes west of the Altai Mountains are in chaos and have no strength to launch a war. Any enemy expedition.”
Dai Daozi got up and searched among the documents, found a letter written by himself, handed it to Liu Chengzu and said, "This is not his plan."
Unfolding the letter, the content of the letter was about the restructuring and centralization of Oirat. The first step was to establish four Ten Thousand Household Departments. Each Ten Thousand Household Department was under the jurisdiction of five Thousand Household Departments. Liu Chengzu wondered if these were just four guard posts, with the leaders of the four departments serving as Wanhu Departments. household.
Looking further down, the situation is different. A thousand households have a thousand standing armies and are in charge of 50,000 people.
The Qianhu Department is still filled by nobles from various ministries and owns the wealth of the territory, but the military and civil affairs of the Qianhu Department are handled by Zaisang, who is directly dispatched by the Khan Court, the leader of the alliance. In addition to being rich men, the nobles are only responsible for leading troops on expeditions and paying taxes.
In addition, the Khan Court, the leader of the alliance, has a guard army of 3,000 people, which is the 3,000 people who came back from the Junggar tribe.
In name, this is the Khan Court Guard, but in fact it is Batur Hutaiji's private army. On this basis, the Junggar tribe will have overwhelming power over the other three Wanhu tribes.
"The first batch of confiscated furs and livestock is already on the way. After being counted by the Khan Court, it can be shipped to Jiayuguan. As for revenge..."
Dai Daozi smiled and said: "Batur Hutaiji is not in a hurry for revenge. He wants to wait for the commander's equipment to arrive before giving them a big gift."
"Who is he going to hit first?"
Liu Chengzu estimated Oirat's strength after reintegration and asked: "Kazakh or Rakshasa?"
"Huntaiji plans to completely break through Tyumen City this time and cut off the supplies and supplies of the Rakshasa strongholds in the north and east. We will deal with the troublemakers first, and then we will discuss it with Kazak in detail."
Listening to this plan, Liu Chengzu nodded slowly. This position is equivalent to seven inches of Rakshasa. It is foreseeable that he will be subject to a fierce counterattack by the enemy in the next two years, and then the Tianshan Army will be used.
Good evening!
(End of chapter)
