Of course, although Tsarist Russia had just marched westward, it was considered a serious warning to Poland. But if Tsarist Russia transfers all its troops to the east and leaves Moscow's troops empty, Poland may not mind taking advantage of it. Their famous winged cavalry will definitely take advantage of the situation and gallop across the land of Tsarist Russia.
Therefore, Alexei still left some troops in Moscow to prevent unexpected situations in the west. Of course, from this perspective, the upcoming war in the east also puts forward relatively high requirements, that is, a quick victory. If the army remains in a stalemate on the Samara Fort side for a long time, sooner or later the news will be known to Poland and even Sweden, and then Moscow will be very dangerous.
Based on the seriousness of the current situation, Alexey ordered Khmelnytsky to go back immediately to summon all the Cossats, including those from other places, such as those in the Don River Basin, to participate in the war. Anyone who dares to refuse this call-up will surely suffer the iron-blooded revenge of the Russian army.
Alexey is not only conscripting such a clan, as long as they are under the control of Tsarist Russia, they are all included in the conscription. He wanted to gather as many troops as possible, so that he could be more confident that he could defeat the Ming army at once, or destroy it, or drive it back to the east.
His mobilization order can be said to be unprecedented, and it is related to almost every Tsarist Russian.
In every household, men were required to go out with the army, and the food at home was forcibly confiscated. It's autumn now, and if we don't find enough food, this winter will be difficult.
These things will damage the national strength of Tsarist Russia. Alexey knows this well, but there is no way. The big country in the east is attacking. He can only go all out to help Tsarist Russia survive this crisis.
The mighty army was heading east. Alexei was riding on his horse, looking at the endless queue of the army. He thought to himself that he heard that the Ming army only had about 30,000 troops. If there were no reinforcements in the future, he would fight with all his strength. One blow should be effective! After all, with such a large-scale force and such a thorough mobilization of the entire country, it has never happened before, even against a powerful Swedish enemy!
However, sometimes, it often backfires.
While the Tsar was still leading his army to march eastward, a scout horse came galloping to report that the Turgut tribe in the Volga River Basin had rebelled and had defected to the Ming army.
This news made Alexei feel extremely heavy.
In normal times, he would have looked down upon the Torgut tribe, which was the kind of tribe he exploited. However, the battlefield for the decisive battle with the Ming army is in the Volga River Basin, next to the territory of the Torgut tribe.
No matter what, the population of the Torgut tribe is about one hundred thousand, and the number of capable warriors is more than ten thousand. If it is more relaxed, more than twenty thousand troops can be obtained.
Such a force, one that is familiar with the local situation, will definitely have a very important impact on the upcoming decisive battle.
Originally, Alexey had already thought about leading the troops over this time, and he wanted to comfort him with good words. At least he had to change his previous strategy before deciding the outcome with the Ming army.
However, I didn't expect that the army here was still far away, and the Turgut tribe had already surrendered to the Ming army. In this way, not only the strength of the Ming army was greatly supplemented, but even the supplies of the Ming army were bound to be greatly supplemented.
Because of the Torgut tribe, the battle between Tsarist Russia and the Ming army became much more difficult. Especially the request from the Tsarist Russian army still needs to be resolved quickly.
It would be strange for Alexei to be happy under such circumstances.
Fortunately, he was also a capable monarch in the history of Tsarist Russia. He quickly adjusted his mentality and thought of other things. He immediately sent a messenger to find Khmelnytsky as quickly as possible. If the Don Cossacks near the Volga River Basin did not defect to the Ming army, they must be comforted by words to prevent the Don Cossacks from also defecting to the Ming army.
Although compared to the Torgut tribe, Alexei felt that the Don Cossacks were unlikely to defect to the Ming army. However, because he had also adopted a policy of squeezing the Don River Cossacks in the past, he was always a little worried. What if, when Khmelnytsky goes to recruit, he continues his previous strategy against the Don Cossacks and forces them to rebel?
In the end, fortunately, after more than ten days, the horse reported back that the Don Cossacks had not defected to the Ming army, but had responded to Khmelnytsky's call and were preparing for war. This made Alexei He breathed a sigh of relief.
But at the same time, it is difficult to obtain more of the food and supplies needed by the army from the Don Cossacks, and the Turgut tribe has rebelled, so they can only increase the intensity of plundering from others to make up for it. Not enough.
As a result, other people in Tsarist Russia will be even more miserable.
From Moscow to Samara Fort, it was more than two thousand miles away. Alexey led the army eastward, and it was not until almost October that he arrived at Samara Fort.
The climate in Samara is about -7℃~1℃ in spring, 13℃~24℃ in summer, 8℃~17℃ in autumn, and -11℃~-5℃ in winter. It can be said that the temperature in Samara is not as abnormal as in Moscow. When it is hot, it will be too hot to death, and when it is cold, it can freeze the army to death.
At this time, the weather in Samara was about ten degrees, which did not affect the march and fighting much.
However, Alexey was still shocked when he saw Samara Fort. He couldn't help but ask the generals around him: "Is this Samara Fort?"
In his impression, Samara Castle on the east bank of the Volga River could only garrison more than a thousand troops. It was just a small military castle.
However, looking from a distance now, I can see that the castle opposite has been expanded at least twice, completely blocking the shoal area along the Volga River. If you want to attack Samara Fort, you must take a long detour and attack from upstream. In other words, wait until winter arrives and the Volga River freezes before crossing over.
However, the Volga does not always freeze. For example, in the year when the Torgut tribe returned eastward in later generations, there was no ice, so the tribes on the west bank of the Volga River were not able to return eastward together.
At this moment, Alexey ignored the number of Ming troops on the opposite side, but was having a headache about how to cross the river.
For him, the current choice is actually no choice. He could not wait for winter to see whether the Volga would freeze or not. If this really happens, there will definitely be danger in Moscow. His only way out is to fight quickly.
As a result, Alexei could only divide his troops into two groups, go all the way upstream, look for a place to cross the river, and launch an attack on the Ming army on the east bank. The other way is to station here to prevent the Ming army from crossing the river from this shoal and taking the army's retreat.
We mobilized the entire country's troops and assembled about 150,000 troops. Just because of the Volga River, we had to divide our troops into two groups, which meant that our troops were suddenly reduced by about half.
Really, Alexei had a bad feeling at this time, because this was such a bad start!
Having made a decision in his mind, Alexei finally focused his attention on the Ming army on the other side.
Although Samara Fort has been expanded, there are still many Ming troops camped outside the fort, stretching for a long distance. If we only estimate from the scene in front of us, there are at least 100,000 Ming troops.
But Alexei also knew that just visual inspection like this was not accurate. The Ming army may have used bluffing, and this is very possible. You must know that the mainland of the Ming Kingdom is so far away, and it is absolutely impossible for the Ming army to reach Samara Fort.
However, analysis is one thing, and actual results are another. At least the size of the Ming army seen so far has already had an impact.
Looking around and seeing the solemn looks on his soldiers' faces, Alexei knew that the morale of his army had been affected.
And he also knew that the longer this battle dragged on, the greater the impact on his side's morale would be.
Therefore, Alexey did not dare to hesitate any longer, and immediately issued an order to let Khmelnytsky lead the Cossack cavalry and other groups of troops, including the Don Cossacks, a total of 20,000 cavalry and 30,000 The infantry detoured upstream to the east bank of the Volga River, either to contain or attack the Ming army, and to use the Cossacks' unique characteristics of rapid conversion of offense and defense and flexible tactics to deal with the Ming army.
As for himself, he led his troops to station on the west bank of Samara Fort. On one hand, he was to prevent the Ming army from crossing the river and taking the retreat of the army, and on the other hand, he was to see if there was a chance to cross the river and fight.
The decree was issued. In order to win the war, Alexei even sent Khmelnitsky to him personally and said to him very sincerely: "This battle must be decided quickly, so that we can mobilize our troops to deal with Poland. I promised If you will make the decision for you, then you will definitely do it. I hope you can live up to my high expectations and fight this battle well."
Khmelnytsky was beaten by Poland until he was cornered, and only then did he think of embracing Tsarist Russia. It was he who took the initiative. Therefore, he was grateful to the Tsar for allowing him to hold his thigh. When he heard Alexei speaking like this, he immediately dismounted and knelt down to express his determination: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, we will do our best in this battle to defeat the invading Ming army!"
Alexei felt his sincerity and was happy in his heart, so he immediately went to help Khmelnytsky and told him to be careful about himself and nothing would happen to him. Let outsiders see that the monarch and his ministers are harmonious.
But if the original historical development were to follow, the Cossacks were eventually enslaved by Tsarist Russia and lost their basic rights, and could only become a lackey for the Tsar to expand territory.
On the top of the Mingwei Fort, watching the division of the Russian army, Pengchuk couldn't help but said to Hong Chengchou with great admiration: "The governor is really powerful. He actually predicted that the Russian army would divide its troops. In this way, our army's chances of winning are greatly increased."
