The ambitions of the senior officials of the Dachu Empire towards the Kazakh Khanate have always been transparent within the senior officials, especially the army, which has been clamoring from time to time to continue to advance westward, cross the Yibo Sea (Balkhash Lake), and kill the Kazakhs. The nomadic regime of the Khanate seized large and fertile Kazakh grasslands.
They even said that if they don’t attack the Kazakh Khanate now, then in time, the Kazakh Khanate will become the next Jungar and become a threat to the western border of the Great Chu Empire.
After all, the Kazakh Khanate is a standard nomadic regime. In essence, it is no different from the Jungar regime. They are both typical grassland nomadic regimes. Even the Kazakh Khanate regime itself was part of the former Mongol Empire.
The current Kazakh Khanate is still in power, and its leaders are still descendants of the Mongolian Golden Family, and their ancestors are the sons of the last khan of the White Horde Khanate.
The White Horde Khanate, also known as the Kipchak Khanate, was one of the four major khanates of the Mongol Empire.
Therefore, the rulers of the Kazakh Khanate are serious Mongolian nobles, descendants of the Golden Family, and their living habits are also those of standard grassland nomads.
Based on the thousands of years of historical conflict between the Central Plains and the nomads, many people and even some senior officials in the Great Chu Empire have no good impressions of these pure nomads, and even think that they will be a threat sooner or later.
[The problem of slow update of new chapters can be solved by
Bu was controlled by foreigners, posing a threat to the central dynasty again and invading the Central Plains, and even taking control of the Central Plains. For example, the Five Husties rebelled against China, the Mongols invaded the Central Plains and established Yuchao, and the Eastern Captives invaded the Central Plains, etc.
Then they waited until a new Central Plains dynasty emerged, expelled the foreigners and regained the lost territory, and also killed another wave of foreigners.
For thousands of years, there have been countless battles between the Central Plains peoples and the nomadic, fishing and hunting peoples.
Now that we have arrived at the Great Chu Empire, many people with lofty ideals generally believe that taking advantage of the founding and prosperity of the country, we must first eliminate all threats or potential threats in the surrounding areas...to solve the threats to the north and the western regions once and for all, and end this continuation. conditions for thousands of years.
As for whether these problems can really be solved once and for all, this involves many means such as the subsequent governance model... Again, it has nothing to do with the army.
What the Army has to do is to take down these threats militarily.
Therefore, the army has always wanted to continue marching westward to kill the Kazakh Khanate, even if the current Kazakh Khanate does not pose any threat to the empire...
But in order to nip them in the bud, we have to kill them first and completely conquer and rule the Kazakh grasslands.
Faced with these suggestions put forward by the army, many people in the empire's senior management, including civilian officials, were actually a little moved.
Although the army is willing to say anything for merit, the civilian officials are also very interested in opening up territories and expanding their territory...
Especially the counselors, who don't want to expand the empire's territory during their term of office and leave a name in history.
Besides, the resources on the Kazakh grassland are also quite rich. In addition to the inherent livestock resources on the grassland, which can obtain wool, leather, meat and various livestock through large-scale grazing, the Dachu Empire has invested heavily in the Kazakh grassland area in recent years. Penetration investigation.
I found that there are quite a lot of mineral resources in this place.
In particular, the caravan of the Western Region Arms Trading Company of the Great Chu Empire discovered iron ore in the Kazakh Khanate, and it was also a rich ore containing iron ore, which attracted the attention of many domestic mining companies.
You must know that although there are many iron ores in the Dachu Empire and the total reserves are large, the quality of the iron ores is basically not good, and the iron content is relatively low.
Therefore, there is also great interest in the rich iron ore from the outside world.
In addition to iron ore, the Western Region Arms Trading Company also discovered high-quality coal deposits in the Kazakh Khanate.
In fact, the Great Chu Empire's arsenal in the Yinning area had long begun to import iron ore and coal from the Kazakh Khanate. It was because of previous imports that they sent people to survey in the name of trade, and then Only then did we discover that there was a large amount of iron ore and coal in the area.
Once these two mineral resources are utilized, what will be produced?
Steel!
It is also the most important basic industrial product in the Da Chu Empire at present, because the industrial system of the Da Chu Empire is all made of steel, whether it is various mechanical equipment, trains, ships, or even ordinary farm tools and cooking utensils among the people. Daily tools and hardware, and even the steel bridges and cement-reinforced buildings that have emerged in recent years, are ultimately indispensable for steel!
Steel is the basic industrial product that the Chu Empire values most, while iron ore and coal are also the two basic mineral resources that the Chu Empire values most.
Its emphasis is even far greater than that of gold and silver.
The Kazakh Khanate has abundant coal and iron ore resources, and the iron ore resources are still rich, which naturally attracted the attention of many people.
Officials from the Ministry of Industry also attach great importance to it. They believe that the arsenal in Yin Ning Mansion is now an important arsenal that supports the empire's strategy on the western front. At the same time, the Yin Ning area has become the empire's most important industrial base on the western front.
However, this industrial area has always lacked a large amount of stable high-quality coal and iron ore resources.
If the Kazakh Khanate can be captured and the local iron ore and coal resources are mined, Yin Ning's industrial development will reach a new level and can effectively support the construction of the local defense industry.
Many reasons led to the empire's senior officials being more interested in taking over the Kazakh Khanate, even if
The same is true for Luo Zhixue.
Luo Zhixue had no other ideas. He simply felt that the empire would eventually move westward, and even eventually reach the Ukrainian plains.
In the process of advancing westward, the advancement in the direction of Siberia in the north is one aspect, but the advancement in the direction of Central Asia is also indispensable, or even more important.
After all, Siberia has a relatively high latitude, a bad climate, and frozen soil everywhere. It is difficult to build railways, and subsequent development is not easy.
But it's different if it's the Kazakh Khanate. The climate there is good and the terrain is flat. It's easier to build railways and it's easier to develop later.
In the future, the Northwest Railway can be extended all the way to the Black Sea, allowing the Chu Empire to control the entire Central Asia region.
Then we can rely on Central Asia and continue to build railways to the eastern plains of Ukraine... As long as we build railways, we won't be afraid of losing control of these places.
But the problem is that if we launch an attack on the Kazakh Khanate now, because the Northwest Railway has not yet been built, there will not be too many troops available.
For the supply of grain and grass, they can only rely on the grain produced in many oasis areas in Turpan Province and the settlements in the Yinning Valley area.
The supply of ammunition can only rely on the Yin Ning Arsenal in the Yin Ning Valley.
Therefore, the number of troops that can be dispatched is limited. Basically, 30,000 to 50,000 is the limit. If there are more, grain, grass and ammunition may have to be transported from the rear.
However, it is too difficult and costly to transport grain, grass and ammunition from the rear. The road from Guanzhong to Yining is two to three thousand kilometers, which is not easy to walk.
After comprehensive consideration, Luo Zhixue approved the Central Asia strategic plan proposed by the Army, but also put forward requirements that the Army must control the scale of the war and limit the number of troops dispatched to less than 50,000.
To put it simply, the army should not expect to receive reinforcements from the rear, especially reinforcements of grain, grass and ammunition.
All logistical supplies can only rely on local supply from Turpan Province on the front line.
Regardless of whether the Army has any objections to this, they can only accept it, but the problem is not big... After all, the strength of the Kazakh Khanate opposite is not very good, and even if the Army dispatches 50,000 troops, it will be enough.
The total population of the Kazakh Khanate is only over one million. Even if more troops can be mobilized from the nomads, the standing troops are only around 100,000 at most.
Moreover, the Kazakh Khanate itself was in turmoil. Several forces were self-proclaimed and fighting for power and profit. There was no way to gather all the 100,000 troops together.
The combat effectiveness of the Kazakh army is not very good. It was beaten to death by the Zhungeer people before, and the Zhungeer side was beaten to death by the Chu army and was eventually wiped out. Such a simple comparison shows that the combat effectiveness of the Kazakh army is: It is far inferior to the Chu army.
The only trouble is how to attract the main force of Kazakhstan to assemble, and then kill the opponent in a decisive battle... Otherwise, the war will be protracted and fragmented, and the Chu army is not willing to play with these nomads on the vast Kazakh grassland. Hide and seek.
If that takes too long, military expenditures will double and triple.
Moreover, the protracted and fragmented war model will cause the Chu army to lose its absolute firepower advantage.
After all, the scattered troops of the Chu army cannot drag a large number of artillery pieces across the grassland. If there is no set combat target, it will be more difficult to fight.
In order to defeat the enemy's main force as soon as possible and then control the Kazakh grassland, the army decided to use the southern line as the main attack point, that is, starting from the south of Yibohai (Balkhash Lake), marching westward along the northern plains of the Tianshan Mountains, crossing the Chu River and then heading straight The city of Turkestan (today's Turkestan City) on the banks of the Syr Darya River.
In one go, the enemy's administrative center can be directly taken away. At the same time, it can also force the enemy to concentrate its forces in this direction as much as possible, and finally gather them and annihilate them.
Even if they fail to achieve the goal of gathering and annihilating them, they can still greatly destroy the enemy's military morale, and even maintain the unity of the people, and then divide them and attack them, and finally conquer the nomadic peoples on the entire Central Asian grasslands.
According to this strategic plan, the First Army of the Army will mobilize 40,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry artillery as auxiliary forces.
And marched in two directions. The main force advanced along the northern plain of the Tianshan Mountains and headed straight for the city of Turkestan. This route was actually a route of the ancient Silk Road, passing through Bishkek, Taraz, etc. along the way. Several towns, eventually reaching the city of Turkestan on the banks of the Syr Darya River.
After capturing the city of Turkestan, they took advantage of the situation to control the entire Syr Darya River Basin and even Tashkent in the Chirchik Valley, its tributary.
The partial division marched westward along the Chu River, captured several small towns along the Chu River, and recovered the Hakes tribe in this area.
To put it simply, the march route of the First Army was based on the ancient Silk Road, with the focus on capturing the Chu River Basin and the Syr Darya River Basin.
Why focus on these two rivers... On the one hand, the existence of the rivers makes it easier for the Chu army to mobilize troops and logistics materials. More importantly, only water can be used for reclamation!
Although nomadic countries like the Kazakh Khanate were nomadic, the Great Chu Empire was not. The Great Chu Empire would not be nomadic when it entered Central Asia, but would build cities for colonization.
Therefore, the areas that can be cultivated have become the key areas for the Chu army to enter and control in this Central Asia strategy.
The Chu River and Syr Darya river basins have become the top priority.
Only by controlling these two rivers and the surrounding areas that can be developed and cultivated, the Chu Empire can immigrate to these places and implement civilized policies for the remaining local indigenous people, turning them from herders into farmers, and then carry out large-scale They settled and built cities, and later even built railways and so on.
Only with water and land can there be food, and with food can everything follow.
If the local area cannot produce a large amount of food to supply the garrison and immigrants, there will be no long-term actual control over the local area.
In addition to the First Army being responsible for the main attack, the Second Army in the upper reaches of the Ob River will also mobilize about 10,000 troops to launch an attack from north to south.
It is planned to conquer some tribes in northern Kazakhstan and eventually select several places to build city fortresses in this area. However, these city fortresses are also planned to be built near rivers, especially the left bank tributary of the Irtysh River.
Now the Irtysh River is controlled by the Chu army. One of the three arsenals of the Chu army in Siberia, Hetong Arsenal, is in the upper reaches of the Irtysh River.
Therefore, it is a simple and trouble-free strategy to march along the tributaries of the Irtysh River to the hinterland of the Kazakh steppe and ultimately control these places by building castles.
Rivers are the most important condition for the Chu army to launch military operations and even subsequent settlement and city building. Therefore, it can be seen that the Chu army's expansion operations in Siberia and Central Asia are basically launched along rivers.
This situation is also very common in overseas colonization. When the Chu Empire was colonizing and building cities in overseas areas, its favorite was to build cities at the mouths of rivers.
As long as this estuary is controlled, we can continue to expand along the river to the inland areas, which is very simple and trouble-free.
In the Nanyang Peninsula, in India, and even in the Americas, the Chu Empire basically played this way.
After the strategic plan is finalized by the superiors, the details will be handed over to the First Army and the Second Army on the front line for implementation.
The task of the Second Group Army is very simple. After all, it is just cooperation, and the difficulty is not high. It is to send troops along several tributaries on the left bank of the Irtysh River, clean up the Kazakh tribal forces that can be encountered along the way, and then select some suitable places. Settlement and build cities.
The main battle was still concentrated on the First Army.
The relevant order documents were passed all the way to Baoji by train, and then passed westward through the traditional inn mode, finally arriving at Yin Ning City.
It was already late January of the 28th year of Chengshun.
The First Army Headquarters in Yinning City began to mobilize logistics materials such as food and ammunition according to the order, and began to mobilize the main combat forces.
Among the many troops participating in the battle, there are naturally two important cavalry forces on the Western Front of the Army, namely the Second Cavalry Corps and the Fourth Cavalry Corps.
These two cavalry armies were not only the core force of the Chu Empire in ensuring the security of the Western Regions, but also an important force in the campaign in Central Asia.
In late February of the 28th year of Chengshun, the Second Cavalry Corps of the Dachu Empire Army was ordered to capture and stationed in Sanshu County (Almaty).
Sanshu County, this city was originally called "Gurban Alimatu" by local nomads, which means "the place of three fruit trees". There was no city in the past. At most, it was a small inn for business travelers to rest.
After the Great Chu Empire defeated Zhungeer, it occupied a large area from the Yibo Sea to the Tianshan Mountains, and actually controlled the southeastern area of the Yibo Sea. Naturally, it also controlled this small area and built a walled city for the garrison of border troops. At the same time, inspections of business travel will be carried out.
And the meaning of the original messy name was changed to Three Tree City.
Later, new immigrants gradually came to the city. At the same time, as the existence of Yin Ning City was recognized, business travel gradually increased, and the population and city size gradually increased.
Up to now, Sanshu City has developed into a small frontier town with a permanent population of more than 2,000 people.
However, this population is nothing compared to the massive influx of troops.
The first batch of the Second Cavalry Corps alone had more than 20,000 troops!
Later, there will be part of the Fourth Cavalry Corps and the Second Infantry Division.
A total of about 50,000 troops will directly overcrowd this small frontier town!
