The resistance of the Kazakh Khanate was much weaker than many generals on the front lines of the Chu Empire had expected.
In other words, it is different from what they initially expected!
No matter what thoughts these frontline generals have, many of them basically have one ambition, that is, they want to use this war to achieve military success and go further.
Therefore, many of them want to resist the Kazakhs on the opposite side... Well, of course, they cannot resist too fiercely.
It's best to resist from the opposite side, but if you don't have much resistance, just do it for yourself.
However, this is only the thought of some specific generals on the front line. In fact, in the eyes of the senior officials of the First Army, the senior officials of the imperial military, and even the ministers of staff of the Great Chu Empire, the current scene is expected.
Why did the Chu Empire choose to launch an offensive against the Kazakhs now?
On the one hand, the Indian strategy has been initially completed. The Chu Empire does not need to carry out large-scale military operations overseas, and there is no large-scale expenditure. At the same time, it also comprehensively suppresses Russia in the direction of Siberia and firmly controls the Ob River Basin.
In other words, twenty-eight years after the Great Chu Empire entered Chengshun, there were no large-scale wars... and it had enough manpower and material resources to open up new fronts.
On the other hand, it is also because the Kazakh Khanate has fallen into chaos and division. Since the death of their previous generation of khans, they have directly fallen into civil strife in order to compete for the throne. After several years of civil strife, the Kazakh Khanate has actually been divided into more than ten large and small groups. There are many tribes, and the leaders of these tribes all call themselves khan, and no one obeys anyone.
Of course, this was also instigated by the Chu Empire. The first tribe to rebel was using weapons exported by the Chu Empire.
Without the instigation of the Da Chu Empire, there would have been no way that they would have been in chaos so quickly.
When the Kazakh Khanate fell into chaos, it also gave the Chu Empire a better opportunity.
Going to Central Asia to defeat a unified nomadic people with a population of more than one million is not that easy even for the current Chu Empire.
After all, the nomadic peoples all pursue the strategy of using all the people as soldiers. Every young man can ride a horse and go to the battlefield with a bow, arrow and scimitar.
If it is a farming nation, with a population of just over one million, it will be able to arm a standing army of more than 10,000 people. If it is mobilized for war, it can mobilize at most 30,000 to 50,000 troops.
However, as for the nomadic people, the Kazakh Khanate with a population of more than one million has a standing army of 80,000 to 90,000. If mobilized for war, it can definitely pull out an army of 150,000 to 200,000.
When the quantity reaches a certain level, it will cause qualitative changes.
The main force deployed by the Chu army on the front line of the Western Regions and in the Shaanxi-Gansu region behind is the First Group Army. Although the First Group Army has a large number of troops, it is limited by Turpan's local food supply capacity and long supply lines. In Turpan Province, The long-term garrison strength is less than 100,000, and a considerable part of them are stationed in many places inside Turpan, such as Turpan City, Hami, Guazhou, Shazhou, Kashgar and other places.
While these garrison forces are suppressing the interior, some of the troops in southern Xinjiang are also responsible for guarding the indigenous people in the south. In addition, they are also conducting military reclamation.
In fact, it is difficult to mobilize these internally stationed troops on a large scale for operations in Central Asia. If the First Army wanted to attack Central Asia, it would only be able to mobilize 60,000 to 70,000 people at full cost.
Considering the terrain of Central Asia and many problems such as logistical supplies, there are actually only two cavalry corps that can be used for combat, namely the Second Cavalry Army and the Fourth Cavalry Army. As for the infantry and artillery units, they seem useful, but In fact, they are used to clean battlefields and garrison important places.
After all, the Kazakhs on the opposite side are all nomadic people, and their forces are mainly cavalry... If they fight, they will not play urban offensive and defensive battles with the Chu army, but will play mainly cavalry on the vast grasslands and Gobi Desert. Field battle.
Relying on only 40,000 cavalry, it would be difficult to deal with more than 100,000 or 200,000 Kazakh cavalry. Even if the Chu army's cavalry troops were well equipped and had strong combat effectiveness, it would be difficult.
Therefore, in the past many years, the Dachu Empire carried out large-scale infiltration and even instigated rebellion against Kazakhstan, which finally caused internal turmoil in Kazakhstan.
After the Kazakh Khanate became turbulent, it would be easy to fight.
This is also the main reason why after the Chu army entered the territory of the Kazakh Khanate, the local indigenous resistance was so weak, because they were scattered... and could not unite to fight against the Chu army.
And those individual tribes with thousands or at most tens of thousands of people are no match for the Chu army.
Not to mention that many tribes surrendered at the beginning of the war due to internal hatred and gaps, and also for self-protection, and then sided with the Chu army, and directly turned around and attacked other Kazakh tribes.
The overall scene is very similar to when the Chu Empire conquered Monan Mongolia.
This has resulted in the current situation. After the two cavalry corps of the First Army of the Da Chu Empire entered the Kazakh grassland, they did not encounter much resistance along the way. Many Kazakh tribes even took the initiative to join the Da Chu Empire. , became the new thug of the Chu army.
In May of the 28th year of Chengshun, more than 20,000 cavalry troops from the Chu Army's Second Cavalry Corps and more than 10,000 cavalry troops sent by several Kazakh tribes who had defected along the way approached the city of Turkestan.
The Kazakhs in the city were in great panic!
On May 13th, the Chu army launched an attack on the city. However, this time the Second Cavalry Army occupied the periphery and provided artillery support. The main force of the attack was the Kazakhs who had defected.
This was not because the Chu army was lazy and deliberately sent its vassal troops to their deaths, but that the main force used by the Chu army to attack the city, that is, the second infantry division and an independent artillery regiment, were still on the way.
The generals of the Second Cavalry Corps of the Chu Army never thought of forcibly attacking the city with the few 65mm field guns and 90mm field guns they carried with the army.
That's not necessary!
It is not too late to wait ten days and a half for the infantry and artillery troops to arrive before attacking the city. As for the current attack, it is just a tentative attack. Before the infantry and artillery arrive, first find out the situation in the city, and then wait for the infantry and artillery. Once you arrive, fight for it.
But what the Chu army generals did not know was that the fighting power of the Kazakhs who had defected was too fierce, or the fighting power of the defenders in the city was too poor.
This siege actually took down the city of Turkestan.
To be honest, this made the generals of the Chu army very uncomfortable... because in their view, siege of a city must be very serious. At least one side would have to pull up hundreds of artillery pieces, including at least ten. Dozens and dozens of large-caliber artillery pieces.
In this way, when attacking the city, there will be sufficient fire support, and the fight will be more realistic!
However, these Kazakhs actually captured the city with only the fire support of more than 20 cavalry cannons from their own side!
And the tactics looked very old... The attacking Kazakhs actually used armored infantrymen carrying long ladders to charge, and there were a group of people in the rear to provide support with bows and arrows, and finally relied on hand-to-hand combat to fight to the top of the city. , and only after a bloody battle did they occupy the city head.
To be honest, the Chu army has not practiced this kind of siege method with heavy armored infantry as the core for close combat at the top of the city for at least 20 years, let alone what age, there are still people doing this. Attacking the city, so many generals of the Chu army were stunned when watching the battle...
Unexpectedly, more than 10,000 Kazakhs who surrendered neatly captured the city of Turkestan... After the commander of the 2nd Infantry Division, Major General He Jingshan, who was leading the 2nd Infantry Division in the wind and sand, heard the news, He was so angry that he yelled and cursed, saying that the Second Cavalry Corps in front had no martial ethics and dared to take credit from him!
It was obviously agreed upon before the war... Well, all the benefits and military exploits were allocated. The two cavalry corps were responsible for the field battle, and the 2nd Infantry Division was responsible for the siege.
As a result, the Second Cavalry Army ignored military ethics and directly attacked the city to grab the credit. He Jingshan was naturally very unhappy.
He Jingshan, furious, wrote a written complaint directly to the Army Headquarters, saying that the Second Army had violated the battle plan and disobeyed orders.
Lieutenant General Du Mao, the commander of the Second Cavalry Corps, also felt that he was wronged... How could I attack the city... I just sent people to test it out lightly, in order to conduct fire reconnaissance for your Second Infantry Division.
I did not even allow the cavalry of the Second Cavalry Army to dismount and attack the city on foot. I only provided a mere twenty cavalry cannons. The foot combat to test the attack was fought by more than 10,000 Kazakhs who had surrendered.
But the devil didn't know that the opponent was so careless, just a wave of probing attacks, and the opponent knelt down directly.
Can you blame me?
Because of this incident, there was a big dispute between the cavalry and the infantry and even the artillery. The war of words went all the way to the group army headquarters, and even caused the infantry generals and artillery generals in Jinling City to join forces to attack the cavalry generals.
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The generals of the three major branches of the army often quarreled over this matter.
However, these subsequent internal quarrels within the army did not affect the progress of the war in Kazakhstan.
After capturing the city of Turkestan, the main force of the Chu army continued to advance westward along the Syr Darya River, and at the same time divided some troops to go south to Tashkent.
This time, the Second Infantry Division refused to let the cavalry take the lead, and instead went up on its own.
Although there were thousands of Kazakh defenders in Tashkent, they were definitely no match for the Second Infantry Division. So on June 13, the 28th year of Chengshun, the Chu Army's Second Infantry Division captured Tashkent and then quickly took control. the surrounding areas.
On June 27, the Second Cavalry Army marching westward along the Syr Darya River defeated a 40,000-strong cavalry coalition composed of more than a dozen tribes in western Kazakhstan, annihilating the last large-scale organized resistance force in the Kazakh Khanate. .
This battle could be regarded as completely crushing the resistance of the local indigenous people. Then many local indigenous tribes either fled westward or surrendered on the spot.
In July, the Great Chu Empire officially established the Lianghe Province, with the governor’s residence being Turcheng (Turkestan, Turkestan City); the Ob River Province was also established, with the governor’s residence being Tobo City (later Tyumen Prefecture). ), the original large grassland ruled by the Kazakh Khanate and the southern area, and the Ob River Province was added to the north.
The eastern region of Kazakhstan was added to Turpan Province, and the remaining Mesopotamia and the southern Tashkent region, as well as part of the western region, belonged to the newly established Mesopotamia Province.
As the Kazakh steppe is divided into three, the Kazakh Khanate as a political power and even history will be completely destroyed.
Immediately afterwards, the Chu Empire quickly organized a large number of immigrants from the Guannei area to Central Asia for reclamation, and provided various preferential policies, including granting large tracts of land for free, which attracted many landless and landless people living in poverty in the Shaanxi-Gansu region. .
Although it is a long distance from Shaanxi-Gansu and even the Central Plains to Central Asia, domestic civil affairs are more interested in immigrating than overseas and are more active.
After all, emigrating overseas, even to Southeast Asia, will give people a sense of being very far away, even separating the two places.
When going to Central Asia, even though the land distance is thousands of kilometers, many people still feel that they are still under the same blue sky.
Of course, many people also know that the Northwest Railway is under construction... Now it takes a long time to go to Central Asia from Shaanxi, Gansu and the Central Plains, and the road is not easy to travel, but it will be much more convenient after the railway is opened.
According to the speed of the train, once the Northwest Railway is opened, it will only take about ten days to travel between Turkestan City and Chang'an in Central Asia.
Therefore, rather than immigrating overseas, most people in China prefer to immigrate to Central Asia.
After all, although Central Asia is also the Western Region, it is only far away. The local geographical conditions and climate are not too bad, especially the Mesopotamia in the central and southern regions of Central Asia, which is still very suitable for survival.
While the imperial officials organized immigrants to colonize the area, they also mobilized frontline garrisons for military colonization. At the same time, they began to build various fortress cities along large and small rivers.
From time to time, cavalry troops were dispatched to raid those tribes that refused to surrender and follow the orders of the Chu Empire to carry out herding or even farming.
After a great battle, many local Kazakh indigenous tribes died in the war. In fact, the Chu army did not kill many people during the war. The main reason was that they killed more of their own people, some tribes who surrendered to the Chu army, and those who There is huge hatred between the tribes that have not surrendered, and the fight is very cruel.
When they first attacked the city of Turkestan (Turkistan City), the Kazakhs who invaded the city did not spare any effort. They killed all the remaining defenders, bureaucrats, nobles and even civilians in the city... If the Chu army hadn't stopped them Yes, they are probably going to set the city on fire.
The internal strife between them caused a large reduction in the local population.
Many tribes migrated and fled to the Russian-controlled areas in the west, and some fled to the Khiva Khanate and Bukhara Khanate in the south.
All of these have resulted in the number of indigenous people in Kazakhstan falling rapidly from about 12.3 million to 7.8 million.
Regarding these indigenous populations, the Chu Empire's policy was similar to that of the Mobei tribes and the remaining Jungar tribes.
First, the tribal system was disrupted and systems such as states, counties, towns, and towns were established, and then the tribes were split and integrated.
Then move some of the population to other places... In short, don't let them stay on the original land. Anyway, the Dachu Empire is large enough, and hundreds of thousands of people can easily be relocated.
After this population is moved to other places, it will be instantly submerged in the huge population of the Da Chu Empire, and will eventually be completely integrated.
As for the main population composition of Lianghe Province in the future, it will naturally be composed of new immigrants from Shaanxi, Gansu and even the Central Plains!
Along with cross-resettlement, there are also a large number of integrated education policies such as changing customs and intermarriage.
During this process, not all the indigenous people were willing to obey the empire's arrangements. There were always some who felt that they were powerful enough to fight against the empire, and even did not hesitate to fight with arms, just like the chieftains in the Southwest and Qingkang areas back then...
And now if you look at the southwest and Qingkang areas... there is no trace of toast.
The same is true in today's Lianghe Province and other regions. The Chu Empire has always had a very tough attitude towards this newly controlled territory. If it obeys the arrangements honestly and accepts integration, then it will be its own people in the future.
If you are dishonest or even resist with force, there will be no mercy at all.
With military suppression, cross-immigration, and forced integration, the Chu Empire would be able to completely control this area in just a few years.
In another ten or twenty years, the Kazakh grassland area will be an inseparable part of the Chu Empire since ancient times!
