According to the memory of Emperor Chongzhen, among the oil fields in Tsarist Russia, the most abundant reserves were the Tyumen Oil Field, located in the basin east of the Ural Mountains.
At this time, there were actually very few people here, and not many Tsarist Russian troops. It can be said that the area east of the Ural Mountains has not been taken seriously by Tsarist Russia. Since their tentacles extending to the Far East were cut off by the Ming army, there have been fewer traces in the east.
From this point of view, it is actually relatively simple for the Ming army to occupy this place.
However, Emperor Chongzhen's plan was not just to occupy the Tyumen Oil Field. Because the terrain of the Ural Mountains is gentle in the west and steep in the east, if this is used as the boundary in the future, it will be more difficult for the Ming army to defend this side.
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen's original order to Hong Chengchou was that the Ming army should explore further, at least to the Volga River Basin. If you can, you can go further west, because there is also an oil and gas field on this plain. But this is not mandatory.
Border disputes, if we cannot deal with our opponents severely, then friction on the border will continue. Therefore, Ming Dynasty and Tsarist Russia must fight a war. As for where to choose to fight, it was up to Hong Chengchou.
Having learned about it many times beforehand, Hong Chengchou had of course already chosen the location according to his will. The place he chose was Samara Fort on the east bank of the Volga River.
The Samara Castle was built by Tsarist Russia at the end of the 16th century to prevent the invasion of nomads. Here, certain defense capabilities are already in place.
Hong Chengchou led the army in a mighty manner, and the cavalry at the outpost advanced rapidly, leaving the Tsarist Russian garrison here with no time to escape, let alone destroy, and they were completely surrounded.
When Hong Chengchou led the army to arrive and the red cannons were lit up in front of the formation, the white flag was raised in Samara Fort. There were only more than a thousand of them in total, so there was no possibility of resistance.
"From now on, this place will be called Mingwei Castle!" After climbing to the highest point of the castle and looking out at the Eastern European plains, Hong Chengchou ordered the name to be changed.
Subsequently, the army and then the civilians began to expand Minwei Fort.
……………………
There was a large tribe in the original Oirat tribe, called the Torgut tribe. Most of the people became nomadic decades ago and eventually arrived in the Volga River Basin. Also coming with them were a small number of Dulbert Tribe, Heshuote Tribe and other tribes belonging to the Oirat Tribe.
However, they did not live a happy life after migrating to the Volga River Basin.
Tsarist Russia in the north often goes south to harass them, buying furs at low prices and dumping goods at high prices. In short, they are trying to squeeze them dry in various ways. In the south, on the east bank of the Volga River Basin, it is often invaded by the Kazakh Khanate; on the west bank of the Volga River Basin, it is often invaded by the Crimean Khanate. All in all, life was still very difficult.
If the original historical development was followed, they would eventually be unable to withstand this kind of invasion. In the 18th century, the tribes on the east coast would return to the Ili area and become vassals of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. There were more than 30,000 households and 170,000 people from these tribes who returned eastward. However, in just a few months, half of them died on the way back under the pursuit of the Tsarist Russian army.
In addition, due to poor communication with the western tribesmen, and most importantly, the Volga River did not freeze that year, the western tribesmen were unable to make the trip and eventually became serfs in Tsarist Russia.
On this day, Punchuk, the great Khan of the Torgut tribe, heard the report from his subordinates and couldn't help but became furious: "They are really bullying people too much!"
It was really hard for him not to be angry. After the tribe moved to the Volga River Basin, in addition to grazing, they also cultivated farmland and diverted water for irrigation to make up for the lack of grazing. But unexpectedly, when the harvest was about to begin, the two southern khanates almost unanimously sent troops to burn, kill and loot.
"Father Khan, why don't you ask the Tsar for help?" Seeing Punchuk Khan so angry, his son Ayuqi, who was fifteen or sixteen years old, immediately suggested.
Nominally, they were allied with Tsarist Russia.
When Punchuk heard this, he glanced at his childish son and couldn't help but get angry and shouted: "What do you think the Tsar is? He is a wolf that is not familiar with food. Do you know that it can swallow up our tribe?"
What made him even more unbearable was that the Tsar stipulated that the words "slaves" and "subjects" must be used in the memorials given to him by Torgut Khan. This is not an ally. They are treated like slaves, even worse than slaves. They are trying every means to squeeze the Torgut tribe.
After Ayuqi was scolded by his father Khan, he bowed his head and remained silent. As a young man, he was always intimidating to the strong. Among the surrounding forces, Tsarist Russia is the strongest, so he has the most favorable impressions.
Punchuk has high hopes for this son. Therefore, I simply stopped pampering him and told my son all the cruel realities, including the oppression of Tsarist Russia, and revealed how naked he was drinking blood behind those transactions.
Ayuqi didn't expect it to be like this. He was so angry that he turned red and said angrily to Pengchuk: "Father, please rebel!"
Upon hearing this, Punchuk did not reply immediately, but looked thoughtful. After a while, he said: "Not only our Torgut tribe suffered greatly from Tsarist Russia, but also the Don Cossacks in the west. If we can unite them, there may be hope."
In the original history, about ten years later, it was the Don Cossacks who could not stand the oppression of Tsarist Russia and rebelled under the leadership of Stepan Razin. The Turgut tribes on both sides of the Volga River responded. It is a famous uprising in history.
However, it failed in the end. According to the experience summarized by later generations: the spontaneity of the peasant uprising, the limitations and decentralization of its actions, the lack of centralized and unified command, the leaders repeatedly made strategic mistakes, and had illusions about the Tsar; Not as good as the Tsarist Russian army, the equipment of the rebel army was much worse than that of the Tsarist Russian army; their military quality was poor and their discipline was not strict.
At this time, after Punchuk finished speaking, he finally sighed, obviously not optimistic. For them, Tsarist Russia is too powerful!
Suddenly, he turned his head to look east, frowning and saying nothing.
Seeing him like this, Ayuqi also turned to look east, but couldn't see anything. Finally, he couldn't help but asked: "Father, what are you looking at?"
"I heard that the east side, our ancestral land, has undergone earth-shaking changes. If we move back, will our life be better than now?" Punchuk has heard about things in the east, but It was too far away and there were all kinds of news, making it a bit difficult for him to distinguish.
Some say that Gushi Khan has led troops to Qinghai-Tibet, and his power has greatly increased; but others say that the Jungar tribe is so ambitious that it has annexed other tribes; there are even rumors that the emperor of the country personally conquered the Junggar tribe and conquered the country. The entire Geer tribe was wiped out...
Haha, how is this possible? Although I have never dealt with the Ming Dynasty, I heard from my parents that the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were only the most powerful in the two generations of emperors who founded the country. By the time the third or fourth generation of emperors were established, they were overthrown by the Mongol ancestors. The entire army was annihilated, and even the emperor himself was captured. From then on, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty never came out of his palace. How could he be so powerful in his own conquest?
Thinking of this, Pengchuk's inner plan was to go to Gushi Khan. After all, Gushi Khan was a famous khan and was once the common khan of all their tribes.
However, it is not easy to move a whole family! Who would want to leave their homeland if possible?
While he was thinking, suddenly, he heard Ayuqi shout: "Father, someone is coming!"
Upon hearing this, Punchuk raised his head and looked where his son was pointing, and saw a group of cavalry galloping over the grassland in the distance.
This is the core of the Torgut tribe. It is impossible for the cavalry of other forces to come here like this. They can only come under the leadership of his men.
Looking at the red color of the cavalry, Punchuk couldn't help but frown, thinking in his mind: Coming from the north, judging by the clothes, he was not from the Tsarist Russian army or his own tribe, so where could he be a "guest"?
At this time, he really had to question his guests. Including Tsarist Russia, they are not guests, but villains!
Perhaps when they were approaching the king's tent, a horse broke away from the team and galloped towards them.
Punchuk's guards were naturally on alert, and the cavalry on the periphery let them go as soon as they made contact with the cavalry.
As he got closer, Punchuk naturally recognized that the man speeding towards him was one of his close men. As if there was something very happy about him, his face almost burst into laughter. Unable to bear it, he hummed: "Why are you so happy?"
In just a moment, the man was already galloping close. He reined in his horse and stopped suddenly. Before the front hooves of the war horse could fall, he jumped off the horse impatiently. He took a few steps and reported to Pengchuk: "Great Khan, the distinguished guest is here. Great Khan, here comes the distinguished guest..."
As he spoke, he pointed at the cavalry behind him that had slowed down and approached.
"What kind of distinguished guest?" Seeing him like this, Punchuk became even more depressed and shouted coldly.
Considering the current situation of the Torgut tribe, where did the distinguished guests come from?
Ayuqi on the side was also very curious and couldn't help but interjected: "Where did this distinguished guest come from?"
"The Ming Army, the Ming Dynasty's cavalry!" The man quickly replied, "They have occupied Samara Fort."
"..." Upon hearing this, both Ayuqi and Pengchuk were shocked, and then froze.
The legendary Ming army actually came here and captured Samara Fort. Are they really that powerful?
Punchuk came to his senses quickly, but he was not very happy. The Ming army was coming, so what? Even if they beat away the wolf, who knows if a tiger will come?
While he was thinking about it, his subordinate quickly reported another piece of good news: "Great Khan, that Ming army general is from our Torgut tribe!"
