Moscow responded vigorously to Tver's decline.
During the "Civil War", the Principality of Tver took the lead. As a result, Moscow directly reported the news and time of their preparations for the uprising to the Khanate garrison. He also told them that the Tver people were afraid that they would not be able to eat it with their own strength, so they brought in reinforcements. An army from Suzdal has already set off and happened to pass through Moscow in the past two days. In addition, the Poles may have joined in the conspiracy.
At that time, the new army of Bei Zhang was still scattered in various places, and the one who commanded the three battalions in the Tver area was the famous general Totuo Mametinikus who later became the Grand Master. The internal records of this battle in the Purple Chamber are very detailed, and it remains a classic case until now.
Tuotuo believed that time was already very tight and it might be too late to recall the entire army, and it would definitely alarm the other party and lead to a melee.
However, the Russian military system was not perfect, and they were slow to assemble soldiers. Although they acted earlier, they probably weren't completely ready yet, so they set the action date for two days later.
Moreover, this was all done secretly. The nobles in charge of command also feared the Khan's court. In order to prevent being discovered in advance and being blamed by the main force of the Khan, they did not dare to summon soldiers. Instead, they showed up frequently to try to avoid being suspected by the garrison.
Now the people of Russia don't know that the new army has got the news, so they should seize the time to capture the thief and the king and launch a surprise attack on the noble people of Russia.
Tuotuo planned to select fifty elites from nearby soldiers for beheading operations. An accountant named Chen Feng also insisted on joining, saying that he had been a ranger in Dadu and had experience. He also said that fifty people carried out the attack, which was too many people, and more than ten would be enough. But fifty people were too few to carry out the entire operation, and everyone in the camp needed to be organized to support them.
Everyone saw that he was confident and planned to listen to him.
Chen Feng volunteered to go to the city to investigate and came back at night. Everyone was very anxious and asked if they wanted a night raid.
Chen Feng said that when he entered the city, he found that when the nobles saw him, they all evaded and were very alert, and some of them were never seen. Although there were not many soldiers, they were all guarding key positions. On the watchtower of the wooden city wall, several Ross officers visited the west from time to time, and also sent people out of the city to inspect and inspect, which showed that reinforcements were still on the way. This is not a good time to act.
At his insistence, everyone waited until the next day.
Early in the morning, Chen Feng set out to wander around the city again. By the afternoon, everyone was so anxious that they all wanted to set off on their own. Tuotuo forced everyone to stay. At this time, Chen Feng came back with a can of wine.
He told everyone that there were many carriages parked in front of the Grand Duke's residence, which meant that the nobles had gone to a meeting. One of the cars had a significantly different degree of mud, and it was a messenger coming from afar. At the intersection, he met a noble. His eyes were arrogant, and he did not hide his disgust and disdain. This showed that they felt that they were ready and no longer bothered to hide it.
To the west of the city, cooking smoke can be seen in the distance. This is the arrival of reinforcements from Suzdal. In the woods to the east of the city, birds and beasts ran out in panic. This was because the local army had also gathered. The Russian army is very "traditional" and needs to be organized and led by small nobles. This means that a large number of middle- and lower-level officers whose loyalty and combat effectiveness are trustworthy are actually not in the city, but outside to greet the recruited soldiers.
The guards standing guard in the city were relaxed, and there were far fewer people. There were only a few well-dressed attendants going back and forth between the west gate and the official residence, carrying the slaughtered meat. When he went to buy wine, no one came to care.
This is because the Ross army is loosely organized and the action plan is informed to the soldiers in advance, which will inevitably be leaked. Therefore, ordinary soldiers do not actually know what is going on. Even lower-level officers may only know that something is going on and do not know the detailed plan. Reinforcements and envoys have arrived, but the Beiya Army outside the city still hasn't responded. The trusted officers who knew about it breathed a sigh of relief, and became more relaxed than before.
Chen Feng said that now that the outside of the city is tight and the inside is loose, and the nobles are all staying together, it is an opportunity to take action. If you wait until night, these nobles will return to their respective headquarters after gathering and feasting, so night is not a conducive time for an attack. Action should be taken now.
He asked fifty people to find several large carts from the military camp, filled them with wine, and pushed them to the busy Ximen Gate. He said that the city master wanted to have a banquet for guests and borrowed the wine from the military camp. As expected, the soldiers at the door knew nothing and were ready to let them in, but the guard officer suddenly came out with two guards and ordered them not to enter.
Chen Feng and others started making noises, saying that this was causing trouble for them and preventing them from doing business. However, everyone knows what this means, and it’s just easy to talk about the benefits. So, Chen Feng opened a barrel of wine and said he would give some to everyone, so that everyone could give each other some face.
The Ross soldiers smelled the aroma of wine and came over to ask for it. The officer didn't allow them to get it, so everyone just regarded him as a master and nosy. Those who were close muttered and avoided him, and didn't want to pay attention to him. If you are far away, just sneak up and ask for a drink.
The officer was furious and scolded the soldiers, telling them to expel the people and close the city gates. However, at the end of the team, a strong man, using the cover of his companions, suddenly pulled out his bow from under the wine barrel and shot three arrows in a row. The officer and a soldier fell down in response. The other man's mail got stuck on the arrow. He staggered and turned around to run away. Chen Feng, who was still carrying the wine barrel, threw the barrel out and knocked him to the ground.
Everyone drew their weapons from the car one after another. The surrounding Russian soldiers were frightened and fled in all directions. Chen Feng lit the hay on the car as a signal, and then everyone rushed into the city gate, cutting down everyone they saw along the way, and went straight to the official residence.
Along the way, they encountered almost no obstruction, but there were many guards near the official residence and they could not enter for a while. Chen Feng then ordered to set fire to it.
Almost all Russian cities are made of wood, and the area around the official residence is no exception. The nobles in the house had heard the noise and saw the flames rising, and they all hurried out, trying to figure out what was going on. The originally orderly guards immediately fell into chaos, and everyone followed their masters around.
At this time, after receiving the signal, Tuotuo abandoned the camp and rushed in from the west gate on horseback with more than a hundred people who could fight. He asked the soldiers in the team who knew Slavic dialect to shout "The Suzdal people have rebelled! They killed The Duke!"
The guards around the mansion saw horse teams clashing back and forth amidst the fireworks, and wanted to protect the nobles from breaking out to the deserted east to join the army outside the city on the east. The soldiers in the east of the city have not been attacked yet. They only heard that Suzdal's reinforcements turned against the enemy and came in from the west gate. The small bosses drove the soldiers westward, hoping to drive away the invaders and rescue the nobles.
However, seeing that the guards were withdrawing to the east and hearing that someone said that the Grand Duke was dead, the soldiers abandoned their officers and turned around and ran away.
A large number of people crowded at the southeast gate, unable to get out. They trampled on each other and the dead were everywhere. The Grand Duke of Tver and several important ministers were killed in the rebellion, and the Polish envoys escaped over the wall.
The army outside the city didn't know what happened. The city suddenly burst into flames, and a group of broken soldiers escaped. After waiting for a long time, they didn't get any orders except the rumors they brought out. The Boye gentlemen who came from the countryside realized that the situation was not good, so they dispersed and went home. The army that had just been assembled also dispersed.
The next morning, Suzdal reinforcements arrived near the city and prepared to cooperate with the operation, but found that the Tver people were already finished. The commander did not dare to take risks and hurriedly withdrew his troops. The Beiya Army got several days of rest and was able to recall the troops sent to various places. In the following months, they suppressed the rebellion and suppressed various local rebels.
This was the first battle that made Totto and Maimetinikus famous, and it also made Chen Feng famous. At that time, he was Pasai Khan, and Basil III Yerige, the "Butcher of Mazar", specially transferred him back to Dadu and asked him to train scouts and diplomats. Chen Feng's youngest son, Chen Xiao, is now in the Guo family's army. Guo Kang has chatted with him several times, so he is very familiar with this period of history.
For the Russian countries, this battle was equally impressive.
The Polish envoy, who narrowly escaped death, scolded the Russians, accusing them of being stupid and cowardly, and not likely to succeed at all. Later, due to their deep involvement in the "Civil War" but not much benefit in the end, the Polish upper class put all the blame on this bad start and believed that the defeat was all the fault of the Russians. As a result, the Poles despised the Russian states even more, believing that forming an alliance with them was completely a side effect, and did not even bother to contact them to attack the Khanate.
The Principality of Tver lost a large number of nobles and its power was greatly reduced, and it has never recovered from the fall. Because the battle was so outrageous, after the incident, the surviving nobles made many inquiries and found out that something was wrong - the reason why it was so sudden was because the Muscovites were causing trouble inside.
Tver and his allies hated Moscow because of this, believing that it was this group of informers that caused them misery. After that, Moscow wanted to take the opportunity to annex Tver, but was met with desperate resistance by the locals. Other principalities also took the opportunity to complain to the Khan, saying that Moscow was not a good thing, so the annexation plan ultimately failed.
However, Muscovites don’t care, after all, this business is so profitable.
