Since Chengshun completely wiped out the Dongdi in eight years and began to sweep across the entire Northeast region, the Chu Empire began to focus on the western front, especially the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, in terms of external expansion.
The most obvious feature is the establishment of Kangba Province and Kangxi Province, followed by the establishment of Qinghai Province in December of the eighth year of Chengshun.
These three provinces, all established in the plateau area, fully reflect the Chu Empire's ambitions for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau area.
The Great Chu Empire not only wanted this area to surrender superficially as it had for thousands of years, but also wanted to completely incorporate this area into its own rule.
Under this policy of the Great Chu Empire, the Heshuote Department, which had just entered the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, had not had time to establish a foothold, but was pressed by the Great Chu Empire step by step.
Even though the Dachu Empire was limited by the extreme terrain of the area, it was unable to carry out large-scale operations in these places and move numerous artillery pieces to fight. However, even relying on small-scale operations and encroaching step by step, it made great progress. .
In the Kham region, the actual control area of the Chu Empire has advanced from the Dadu River Basin in Sichuan all the way west to the coast of the Jinsha River.
In the Qinghai area, they also occupied large areas through several medium and small-scale battles.
More importantly, the continuous closure of the Chu Empire made the Heshuote tribe, which had just occupied the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, unable to support itself. The huge pressure brought by the Chu Empire was simply not something that a small tribe could bear.
How can I put it, with the national power of the Chu Empire, even if they are dragged down, they can be dragged into bankruptcy.
Under such circumstances, the Heshuo Special Department had to choose to surrender.
Of course, the Dachu Empire did not push them too hard, but allowed them to continue grazing in the Qinghai area, and at the same time promised to hand over the pastures of the Zhungeer tribe to them in the future after they advance westward.
This not only gave them a preliminary stability, but also gave them a hope.
In the end, marriage, canonization and other means were used to finally get the Heshuo Special Department to surrender.
Although a formal agreement has not yet been reached, the matter has basically been finalized. Next are some detailed issues. The two parties will naturally continue to negotiate in the future. At the same time, the Heshu Special Ministry has also begun to send envoys. The group headed to Jinling City.
The leader of his tribe, Gushi Khan, Tulubaihu, personally led a delegation to prepare for the canonization, while his eldest son stayed in Lhasa.
Also in the mission were Gushi Khan's two direct granddaughters. They were chosen by their relatives to marry into the harem of the Chu Empire and become one of Luo Zhixue's concubines.
From the moment Gushi Khan personally left for Jinling City to accept the canonization, it basically meant that the Heshuote tribe had completely surrendered to the Chu Dynasty.
The Heshuote tribe chose to surrender completely, which made many local chieftains and even religious personnel very unhappy... Because after the Heshuote tribe surrendered, the future was promising, but for the local dignitaries in the plateau area, this was not the case. Already...
Because the Da Chu Empire did not have the habit of retaining these local dignitaries, and it did not recognize any serfdom system. When the Da Chu Empire completely settled in, the local dignitaries either fled or gave up their privileges and chose to become the first ordinary officials in the Da Chu Empire. , or fight to the end.
No matter which one, they are not happy!
Unfortunately, the opinions of local dignitaries no longer mattered at this time.
Because they can't resist the pressure of the Chu Empire, let alone the Chu Empire, even the Heshuote Department can't stop them.
Under such circumstances, their future is in doubt.
However, not many people care about their fate anymore.
Under the general trend of history, if they are willing to give up their rights and submit voluntarily, then the Chu Empire will also follow the example of the previous chieftains in treating the local dignitaries with a sincere attitude, giving them official and semi-official positions, and allowing them to retain Some private property.
If you don't want to, either get out or perish, there is no other way to choose.
As for stubborn resistance... Heshuote's troops were able to beat them to death in the first place, not to mention the Chu army.
In addition, the surrender of the Heshuote tribe does not mean that they will move directly to Qinghai. They still need to wait until the Chu army enters Tibet and hand over the local defense to the Chu army smoothly.
To put it bluntly, the Heshuo Special Department actually sold out the local dignitaries... and then exchanged them for a series of preferential treatment conditions from the Dachu Empire.
Under such circumstances, the Heshuo Special Department will continue to suppress the snow area until it is completely handed over to the Chu army. In this process, it will also cooperate with the Chu army in purging operations. The eldest son of Gushi Khan will still stay in Lhasa to control the army. Suppress the local natives.
On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the overall situation has been decided!
Even if Gushi Khan was assassinated on his way to Jinling City, or died of illness, it would not affect the changes in this area.
However, it is estimated that it will take several years to completely bring this area under control. The main reason is that the local transportation is so bad. If the Chu army wants to enter Tibet, it will take a year and a half just to walk.
Then after entering Tibet, troops will be sent to various places to carry out clearing operations, liberate serfs in various places, and establish local administrative rule at all levels. Because the mountain roads are difficult to travel, the problem of long distances is estimated to take several years.
But again, some small problems can no longer affect the overall situation.
For this reason, Luo Zhixue also shifted his attention from the plateau area to the northwest.
The northwest is the real border trouble of the Chu Empire.
The ambitious Jungar tribe has annexed most of the Yarkand Khanate. Even with the material support of the Chu Empire, according to the current situation, if the Chu army does not directly send troops, it will take as short as half a year and as long as The Yarkand Khanate may become history in one year.
Zhungeer's rapid annexation of Yarkand was actually closely related to the strong rise of the Chu Empire and its direct reconquest of Monan.
Zhungeer felt that it was under tremendous pressure from the Great Chu Empire and had to accelerate the pace of external expansion, trying to occupy more places as soon as possible and hoard more power to fight against the Great Chu Empire's future western expedition.
For this reason, Zhungeer also actively cooperated with another branch of the Heshuote tribe, that is, Eqil Tuche, the nephew of Gushi Khan and the eldest son of Bagas who stayed in the inherent pasture of the Heshuote tribe, that is, in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains. Chen Khan's troops entered into a marriage alliance.
Now, the Zhungeer tribe has actually merged with this Heshuo special branch, and the two sides are fighting against the increasingly powerful Chu Empire, which poses a huge threat to them.
Speaking of which, the reason why they were able to unite so quickly was inseparable from the Chu Empire itself.
The appearance of the Da Chu Empire was too ugly... As soon as the front foot killed Dongdu, the back foot started to cause trouble in the west. Forget about making trouble, and what the Da Chu Empire wanted was not just to directly defeat the opponent, or to make the opponent surrender. But to completely occupy and rule, and surrender only accepts complete surrender.
This was unacceptable to Batur Hutaiji from the Jungar side and Ertu Chechen Khan from the Tianshan branch of the Heshuote tribe.
Furthermore, it’s also because of the Tsarist Russians!
During this period, Tsarist Russia had expanded eastward to the Sea of Okhotsk. In the ninth year of Chongzhen, they had already reached the Sea of Okhotsk all the way east, and at the same time established military strongholds in some areas along the way.
Several colonial strongholds were established mainly in the Lena River Basin...
As for the south, it has penetrated into the northern basin of Lake Baiga. The city of Kiliansk in the north of Lake Baiga was built in 1631, which was the fourth year of Chongzhen.
In recent years, the Tsarist Russians have continued to encroach on the territory of the three Mongolian tribes in Mobei in the north, and have continued to expand southward. At the same time, they have continued to strengthen their actual control in the east.
The continuous invasion of the Tsarist Russians was also due to the fact that the three Mongolian tribes in Mobei first defected to the Eastern Capture, and after the Eastern Capture was destroyed, they did not hesitate to submit to the Chu Empire. On the one hand, it was to avoid fighting on two sides, and on the other hand, it was also to gain the Eastern Capture. Or the support of the Chu Empire.
At the same time, after the Great Chu Empire destroyed the Dongdi, their troops quickly moved northward. After crossing the Heilongjiang River, they headed north again, and finally encountered the Tsarist Russians...
The first actual contact between the two sides was in the autumn of the eighth year of Chengshun, in the area east of Lake Baikal. At that time, the Chu army established a small military stronghold here, and then discovered that there were barbarians nearby...
When you meet a barbarian, what else is there to say, so you just go for it...
Well, at that time, the Chu army thought that these barbarians were various local tribes and so on, but they found that the other side also took out a bunch of guns and cannons!
After the two sides had a fight, they realized that they had faced a powerful opponent.
Naturally, the contact this time was not friendly. The small-scale armies of both sides fought in the wilderness... but it did not cause any large-scale war. In this snowy, vast and sparsely populated Far East, Even if the two sides wanted to fight, they couldn't fight... At most, there would be hundreds or thousands of people, and it would be a battle dominated by cavalry.
It was also because after actual contact with Tsarist Russia, the Chu Empire quickly sent troops north to continue to seize areas that the Tsarist Russians did not actually control, and established military strongholds along rivers and other places with relatively convenient transportation to strengthen actual control.
The other side also began to look for allies...this ally was Mobei Mongolia.
As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my people... At that time, Mobei Mongolia had been bullied by the Tsarist Russians for many years, and they were always looking for thighs to protect themselves.
I had looked for the Dongjiu people before, but the Dongjiu people were busy fighting against Dachu and had no time to help them.
Later, they contacted Mongolia in the desert and tried to form a Mongolian alliance to fight against Tsarist Russia. In the end, the alliance was of no use. Zhungeer turned around and went to fight the Kazakh Khanate and gnawed a lot of meat. , and then attacked the Yarkand Khanate, and now they are almost annexing the Yarkand Khanate.
Through marriage, the special Tianshan branch of the Hehe tribe was won. It was said to be an alliance, but in fact it was based on the Zhungeer tribe.
Zhun Geer is using the name of the alliance to pursue his own expansion.
As a result, Mobei Mongolia could not find any external force to resist Tsarist Russia, and ultimately could only turn its attention to the Chu Empire.
In order to fight against Tsarist Russia's eastward invasion, the Dachu Empire did not resent the Mobei Mongols who had defected to the East, but readily accepted them, granted them titles, and more importantly, provided them with practical support, including providing matchlock guns. and light artillery.
Naturally, the Great Chu Empire did not want to be a good person, it was purely to let Mobei Mongolia continue to hold back the power of the Tsarist Russians, so that these Russians would not directly cross Mobei Mongolia and continue to expand eastward to the Heilongjiang River Basin.
At the same time, the Tsarist Russians were not idle either... As soon as they saw the Chu Empire in the east, they turned around and ran to support the Zhungeer Tribe, trying to cause trouble for the Chu Empire by supporting the Zhungeer Tribe.
Under such a general background, it also led to chaos in the northwest region and even the entire Western Region.
Today's situation in the northwest involves all parties. On the surface, it seems that the Yarkand Khanate and Zhungar are involved, but in fact there are various forces involved behind the scenes, and the situation is relatively chaotic.
In this regard, Luo Zhixue looked a little annoyed... What was annoying was not the mess of enemies, but the distance was too far...
If the distance was a little closer, even in the Northeast, Luo Zhixue would be confident enough to line up hundreds of thousands of troops, and then, regardless of whether it was the Jungar tribe or the Tsarist Russians, or other chaotic forces, they would all be defeated. Packed up.
However, the distance is too far!
Looking at the map of the Western Region, Luo Zhixue is even more looking forward to the train!
Looking away from the map, Luo Zhixue murmured: "It's a pity that the steam engine has not been developed yet. If after the steam engine is developed, there will be trains, then the entire Western Region problem will not be a problem."
Luo Zhixue actually started researching steam engines very early, but unfortunately, he still hasn't been able to come up with a steam engine for the time being.
In other words, a practical steam engine has not yet been developed.
As for getting a machine to boil water, it's not that difficult. It's been available for a long time... but it has no practical application value.
Looking at the rubble in the northwest region and thinking about trains, Luo Zhixue felt that the current steam engine research and development progress was too full. It was necessary to take a look, encourage them, and put some pressure on them. If possible, he could also give them on-site support. Some inspiration.
Luo Zhixue didn't know anything about steam engines, but at least he studied physics when he was in school and knew about the Watt steam engine. He couldn't remember the details, but some vague things were enough to inspire those R&D personnel.
Thinking of this, Luo Zhixue immediately called in the royal secretary from the secretariat outside and ordered him to go to the Royal Institute of Technology for an inspection tomorrow, mainly to inspect several key research and development projects. In addition to steam engines, there are also steel projects and machine tool projects.
These three research and development projects are all key projects that the Chu Empire currently invests in research and development, and they are also the most basic industrial projects.
Machine tools are the mother of industry, machines that make machines, and their importance goes without saying.
Steel is the basic raw material that maintains the industrial revolution. Without steel, machines cannot be built, and without machines, production efficiency cannot be improved.
The steam engine provides power for machines and achieves a jump in production efficiency.
Luo Zhixue has high hopes for these projects. Whether the Chu Empire can completely become an industrial country depends on these research and development projects.
