Northern Liaoning.
Xingkai Lake.
There are now only a little more than 2,000 Cossacks left among the four thousand Cossacks led by Mikhail, the governor of Eastern Siberia in Tsarist Russia.
There were almost thousands of Cossacks killed by the Ming army alone.
In the process of escaping, hundreds more people got lost.
So now there are only more than 2,000 defeated troops on the bank of Xingkai Lake who have abandoned their helmets and armor.
Such a major failure is quite rare in Russia's continuous expansion to the east.
When Kangxi personally conquered Nerchinsk, Tsarist Russia did not lose so many people.
This is actually normal, because the indigenous tribes in West Liya are too backward, the place is too bitter and cold, and the population it can originally support is not large.
Moreover, Tsarist Russia's expansion from Eastern Europe to Western Asia also benefited from several large rivers, which can be used to allocate and transport materials during the summer unblocking period.
From a geographical point of view, although China's core area is closer to Siberia.
But in fact, if the Chinese regime wants to become interested in Siberia, logistics and transportation can only rely on land.
No river can cross the southern and northern deserts to reach the hinterland of Siberia.
In terms of power projection, it is not as convenient as Tsarist Russia.
And this is a temptation for the army to move south.
The results have also been determined.
The Cossacks were no match for the Ming army.
The opponent only dispatched 2,000 men and suffered almost no casualties. They used rifled guns with a longer range and mortars with lighter firepower to drive 4,000 Cossacks away in confusion.
If the other party hadn't been cautious enough and not risked going north to pursue him.
It is not certain whether a thousand of these four thousand Cossacks will escape in the end.
The Ming Dynasty occupied Liaodong and Vladivostok, but had not yet had time to completely occupy the original Manchuria area.
The Eight Banners outside the Qing Dynasty were basically defeated by the Ming army. Many people of the Eight Banners fled into the mountains and forests. Many people froze to death and starved to death during this winter.
Therefore, the Heilongjiang River Basin formed a vacuum zone, which gave Tsarist Russia's Eastern Siberia Governor-General an opportunity.
He ran away non-stop for two days.
After confirming that the Ming Empire's army would not come up in pursuit.
Mikhail breathed a sigh of relief.
He leaned against a big tree with several people in his arms and took a breather to rest. The logistics soldiers had already boiled the ice cubes. After taking a few mouthfuls of hot water, Mikhail felt that the heat in his body had returned. Only then did he have time to think about the gains and losses of this battle.
"The Ming Empire was not the Ottomans after all, and the Chinese were not the Turks after all."
Mikhail said with a sigh.
"Their commander is actually too cautious. If not, maybe all of our group would have to stay in Vladivostok."
Radishchev heard this and said: "Your Excellency General, I really don't understand what the Queen in the Kremlin is thinking? Does she really want to go to war with such a super empire? This is not a good thing for the Slavic nation. It is tantamount to self-destruction!”
Mikhail frowned slightly: "Although I don't agree with the Queen's actions against the Ming Empire, but when it comes to self-destruction, isn't it a bit too exaggerated?"
"Is it an exaggeration?" Radishchev shook his head and said, "Has the General forgotten the history of the Golden Horde?"
"Mongols? The Mongols can't protect themselves now," Mikhail said.
"No, they are Chinese!" Radishchev said, "I have studied the history of China. If the concept of Chinese is taken in a broad sense, it can actually cover the farming and nomadic areas of East Asia. Didn't you find out? Whether they are Mongols or Manchus, will they call themselves orthodox and Chinese after entering China's farming areas?"
"The concept of China is sometimes not a national concept in the East. You must not apply the European national system to Chinese civilization."
Radishchev's research during his time in the East obviously became more in-depth.
"What do you mean?" Mikhail frowned.
"In fact, Mongolians can be Chinese, Manchus can also be Chinese. But they will not become Russians." Radishchev spread his hands and said, "Although I don't know what the Chinese emperor thinks, but .If he chooses to arm the Mongols and launch an attack on Eastern Europe through nomadic methods, can Russia withstand it?"
When Mikhail heard this, the scene of a large number of Mongolians riding horses, driving cattle and sheep, equipped with rifles and mortars swarming into Moscow suddenly appeared in his mind, and his scalp suddenly became numb.
"Yes. It is obviously unwise to provoke China." Mikhail murmured.
Tsarist Russia was powerful, but their neighbors to the southeast were even more powerful.
Mikhail had exchanges in Beijing with Vasily Lavrov, the Russian ambassador to the Qing Empire.
The Ming Empire was an emerging industrial empire with booming industry. Their technology was quite advanced, especially in machinery and medical care, which led the world!
Moreover, the output of industrial products in the Ming Empire was extremely huge. There were a large number of factories powered by steam engines in the Pearl River Estuary and the Yangtze River Estuary.
Although they also have a large number of tenant farmers, their tenant farmers are free people. The enlightened Chinese emperor liberated all slaves (cancelled the status of untouchables) and encouraged farmers to make a living from rural areas to cities. At the same time, he also encouraged newcomers to move to the city. Migrate to areas with more abundant land resources.
This is a thriving super empire.
Look at Russia.
In industry, there are only some small-scale handicraft industries, and advanced machinery such as steam engines cannot produce.
It is essentially an agricultural country, even a serfdom country!
Such a country would go into full-scale war with the Ming Empire.
Maybe win a battle or two.
But can Russia win a long war with the Chinese?
Seeing Mikhail league dignified.
Radishchev said: "It is already a miracle that Russia can expand to the edge of the Pacific. Its expansion in the East should stop here and seek peaceful coexistence with the Chinese. The Chinese will not like Siberia, they prefer The places are Southeast Asia, Australia, and North America.”
"The Ming Empire has risen. Russia's goal in Eurasia should not be to seek war with the Ming Empire, but to seek a balance between East and West as much as possible. We cannot overly stimulate or provoke the Chinese. Because this may It will bring us an unbearable disaster!"
Mikhail nodded slightly.
He also knows this truth.
but
Do the Russian nobles in Moscow and the queen know this truth?
In their minds, maybe China is a closed empire that has lagged behind the times, right?
and
The position of the empress was obtained through a coup, and there was considerable opposition to her within Russia.
However, the Slavic nation advocates war and strong men, so the queen must constantly provoke wars and expand to consolidate her position.
Maybe a war with the Chinese is what she is pursuing.
The Slavs were not afraid of war, and Empress Catherine also needed war.
This small-scale conflict in Vladivostok made the Emperor Zhu Daohua rethink his strategy against Manchuria and Mongolia to a certain extent.
“The Russians actually put very little effort into their expansion.”
Zhu Daohua was riding on his horse and talking to Tao Biquan beside him.
After capturing Qianlong and capturing tens of thousands of Eight Banners, including Fukang'an, Eldenbao, Mingliang and other Manchu generals of the Qing Dynasty, they were captured.
Including Hejian Prefecture, Tianjin Prefecture, Yizhou, Xuanhua and other state capitals that were still under the rule of Qing officials, there was almost no possibility of resistance.
When Zhu Daohua was heading northeast.
Tianjin Prefecture has been launched.
Before that, Zhu Daohua had already issued an order to the Zhongdu Cabinet, the Generalissimo's Mansion and other central officials to take a boat north to Tianjin Mansion to meet with Emperor Zhu.
With the Battle of the North a decisive victory was achieved.
It was only a matter of time before the Ming Dynasty took over the entire Han Dynasty.
However, there are many remaining problems.
The first of course is to drive away the remaining forces of the Qing court and try not to cause too much damage to the local area.
The second is the issue of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
We must urge Qi Lin, King of Pingxi, to march westward as soon as possible.
Only by winning Guanzhong, Shanxi and other places could the Ming Dynasty be reluctantly unified.
The other thing is how to deal with the problem of Manchuria and Mongolia.
What to do with the Eight Banners of Manchuria who captured so many people, and what to do with Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty.
There is also the problem of the two Qing emperors in the capital.
In addition, we need to sort out the local area, resume production, provide relief to the victims, etc.
These problems are not something that Emperor Zhu can make decisions on his own and solve quickly.
Emperor Zhu was not a god, he still had to discuss and discuss with his cabinet officials, ministerial officials, and local representatives.
"The Russians actually used the Cossacks to complete their eastward expansion. They actually did not send too large an army." Zhu Daohua continued, "So I am not worried that Tsarist Russia will seek any large-scale war. The concern is endless border conflicts."
Tao Biquan also frowned when he heard this.
It would be really annoying if the Cossacks of Tsarist Russia harassed the border every day.
"Your Majesty, the core of Tsarist Russia is thousands of miles away from me, and its country is so huge. What benefits can they gain by provoking the Ming Dynasty?"
Zhu Daohua shook his head, with a trace of ridicule on his lips: "This is the case for this nation. They advocate power and force, and take pleasure in war. It is really annoying to be neighbors with such a country. The key is their core area. It's so far away from us, it would be troublesome to fight."
Tao Biquan thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, Tsarist Russia relies on Cossacks for expansion. China may not be able to use Cossacks."
"Oh? Who will be the Chinese Cossack?"
"How about Man Meng?"
Zhu Daohua looked at Tao Biquan, thoughtfully.
Use Manchu and Mongolian people to fight the Russians?
"Can you control it?"
"Aren't there two emperors in the Qing Dynasty now?" Tao Biquan said with a smile, "If your Majesty is willing to give the Manchus a way to survive, the Manchus and Mongolians can still be used."
He looked at the north and said, "After all, there are one or two million Mongolians in Monan and Mobei."
Zhu Daohua was noncommittal.
He has not yet made up his mind on how to deal with the Eight Banners. He knew that many scholar-bureaucrats in the Ming Dynasty were opposed to the genocide of the entire Eight Banners.
But whether it will be slaughtered in the end depends on whether the Manchus can use it.
If it is useful, Emperor Zhu will certainly not be motivated by something that happened one or two hundred years ago.
Is it really possible to just use Manchu and Mongolia as Cossacks?
"How is Qianlong?"
"Still silent. It seems that this old man wants to go on a hunger strike and die." Tao Biquan said.
"Hmph, we can't let him die so easily. He must at least go through a public trial and get the right punishment."
Zhu Daohua said.
But I sighed slightly in my heart.
really.
There are really not many emperors in this world who are willing to call the door.
(End of chapter)
