"Go around? How to go around?" Hu Guozhu asked, "Go around from the Persian Plateau at the southern end of the Caspian Sea? This is too far. It will take thousands of miles to go around, and it will take several months at least."
Zhu Cijiong said: "We definitely can't go around the Persian Plateau."
Xia Wanchun said: "If we don't go around the Persian Plateau, how about we go around the Ural Mountains?"
"I'm afraid this won't work." Li Yan frowned and said, "It's the first month now, and the snow in the Ural Mountains is up to waist level, making it impossible for people and horses to pass. Moreover, even if the frost thaws in spring, the roads will become muddy and difficult to travel.
"
"That's right, the Ural Mountains are impassable." Zhu Cijiong nodded, "This is a dead end."
Li Mou said: "King Ding, then I don't understand. We can't go around from the Persian Plateau at the southern end of the Caspian Sea, nor from the Ural Mountains in the north. Where else can we go around?"
The eyes of Li Yan and others were all focused on Zhu Cijiong.
Zhu Cijiong smiled slightly and said: "I remember when I was with my father in the past, my father always taught us brothers how to avoid fixed thinking when considering problems. Now you are trapped in the fixed thinking."
"Thinking set?" Li Yan and others looked at each other. This word sounded familiar, as if they had heard it mentioned by the Holy Master.
Zhu Cijiong stretched out his hand and patted the map, and said in a deep voice: "We are not going through the Ural Mountains or the Persian Plateau. We will detour from this place."
"Astrakhan grassland?" Li Yan said in astonishment.
Hu Guozhu, Xia Wanchun and other senior generals also looked at each other. How to get around from here?
"Do you think that the European coalition forces have built thousands of bastions on the Astrakhan grassland, and they are still increasing at a rate of more than a dozen every day, so there is no way to pass through them?" Zhu Cijiong said with a smile.
"Isn't that true?" Li Nian frowned, "If we can get there, why wait until now?"
"Of course not." Zhu Cijiong chuckled and added, "Of course we can get through, but the logistical baggage, especially the cattle and sheep from the Junggar, Turghut and other tribes, will not make it through."
"That's it." Li Yan said, "The tribe of servants can't get through, the cattle and sheep can't get through, and the army can't get through. It's useless, we can't drink from the northwest wind, right?"
"That's why I say that you have fallen into a fixed mindset." Zhu Cijiong smiled slightly and added, "Even if the logistics and the cattle and sheep of the servant tribe can't get through, we can still obtain material supplies by fighting for war. As for ammunition supplies, every day
If a person carries more than three war horses, he can carry at least ten bases of ammunition, which is enough for three months of combat and enough to support us in a large battle, isn't it?"
"Fighting to feed war? Three horses per person?"
Li Yan, Xia Wanchun and others suddenly reacted.
If you do this, you can really bypass the frontal defense line of the European coalition forces.
Zhu Cijiong added: "If it had been before, it would have been useless even if we went around, because the European coalition forces on the Astrakhan defense line would not care about our detour, because no matter how far we detour, we would not be able to detour back to three thousand miles away.
Even five thousand miles away to the hinterland of Europe, because throughout the ages, no army has been able to detour such a long distance without logistical support, and the Mongolian cavalry did not have the courage."
Li Yan, Xia Wanchun and others nodded in unison.
Zhu Cijiong added: "But it's different now."
"Now my father has taken Rome with his navy."
"What is even more advantageous is that the main forces of the European coalition have gathered in Astrakhan."
"So now, from Astrakhan to Rome, it's seven or eight thousand miles, and it's almost undefended."
"As long as we bypass Astrakhan, we can march straight in, burning, killing, looting and beating all the way to the gates of Rome, which would be a disaster for the whole of Europe."
"No European country dares to take this risk."
"I dare to assert that as soon as the news of our appearance on the Eastern European steppes reaches Europe, the monarchs of various European countries will immediately send couriers to recall their troops."
"Compared to the Eastern Expedition, the security of our country is obviously more important, isn't it?"
Speaking of this, a sly smile appeared on Zhu Cijiong's lips, because this is the weakness of human nature.
The weakness of human nature is selfishness, which has always been the case from primitive society to today.
The eyes of Li Yan, Xia Wanchun and other senior generals suddenly lit up. They seemed to have seen the European coalition troops stationed on the Astrakhan grassland rushing to retreat, and then they were ambushed by the Ming cavalry halfway. They were defeated like a mountain.
fell, and then the Ming cavalry chased the European coalition forces all over the mountains and plains of Eastern Europe.
Such a picture is really beautiful, and it makes people very angry just thinking about it.
Zhu Cijiong could give orders directly, but he still sought opinions from everyone.
"How about it? Let's talk about it. Should we abandon the cattle, sheep and livestock and go around?"
"I agree." Li Yan was the first to express his stance. "This will definitely break the current deadlock."
"I also agree that if we go around directly from the front, there will be no need for logistics support and cattle and sheep."
"We also agree, and this should be done sooner rather than later. We should go around it as soon as possible while the snow has not melted yet and the road is easy to walk. Otherwise, it will become muddy and difficult to walk when the weather warms up."
Xia Wanchun, Hu Guozhu and other senior generals also expressed their support.
"Okay, then give the order and set off early tomorrow morning."
The order was quickly conveyed, and the cavalry regiment immediately began to take action.
However, Zhu Cijiong did not bring all six cavalry divisions with him.
Zhu Cijiong still left a cavalry division in the Kyrgyz steppe.
Although the chance of the European Allied Forces taking advantage of the opportunity to enter the Kyrgyz Steppe is very small, they are not afraid of 10,000, just in case. If the European Allied Forces break the boat and rush into the Kyrgyz Steppe at all costs, then the remaining cavalry division can play an important role.
The huge hysteresis effect can at least drag the European coalition forces into the vast Central Asia and ensure the security of the Ming Dynasty.
…
What Zhu Cijiong and the others didn't know was that the senior generals of the European coalition forces were actually in a quarrel.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! As the delay in Astrakhan gets longer and longer, the supply of the European coalition forces becomes more and more difficult, especially Czarist Russia, the Kingdom of Poland and Sweden
The kingdom is already overwhelmed.
Because most of the baggage of the coalition forces was provided by these three countries.
Although the Holy See provided some funding, it was only a drop in the bucket.
In fact, it was impossible for the Holy See to allocate such a huge amount of funds to support such a large-scale Eastern Expedition, so the trick it adopted was nothing more than to write a blank check and promise Tsar Russia, the Kingdom of Sweden and the Kingdom of Poland to wait for the victory of the Eastern Expedition and occupy the
After occupying the vast land in Central Asia and the Far East and grabbing a large amount of property, they were distributed to three countries first.
However, the cruel reality is that the European coalition forces only advanced to the north shore of the Caspian Sea when they were strongly blocked by the Ming army. They were unable to advance even half a step forward. Even with the addition of 500,000 troops in the middle, they still could not reverse the situation.
Therefore, as time went by, Tsarist Russia, which was the closest and had the heaviest burden, was the first to be unable to hold on.
"Retreat, we must retreat!" Morozov said angrily, "Our Tsarist Russia is going bankrupt."
"Agree." King Jan II of Poland agreed, "The situation is already obvious. The coalition forces cannot defeat the Ming army in a field battle at all. They don't even have the courage to walk out of the fortress and fight the Ming army in the field. They can only fight with the Ming army here.
The endless confrontation between armies, this is not the war we want, this is not the great Crusade!"
After a pause, he added: "So, instead of wasting time here, it is better to retreat as soon as possible and everyone goes back to their homes. Otherwise, not only Tsarist Russia will not be able to handle it, but we, Poland, will soon be unable to handle it."
Prince Carl X of Sweden did not say a word, he was still a little unwilling.
Of course, the most unwilling person was the young French Emperor Louis XIV.
For this Eastern Expedition, France invested a lot of manpower and material resources.
Louis XIV himself also devoted unprecedented enthusiasm to this expedition.
So Louis XIV would never be willing to give up at this point.
"No, you can't retreat!" Louis XIV said angrily, "If you want to retreat, just retreat, but our French army will never retreat. We will persist until the Ming army on the opposite side is defeated!"
"Hold on until the Ming army is defeated?" Morozov said suddenly, "Do you think it's possible?"
"Why is it impossible?" French Prince Condé retorted, "It is difficult for our coalition forces, but is it easy for the Ming army? The logistics supply line of the Ming army is longer and more difficult than that of our European coalition forces, so those who cannot hold on must be the first.
It’s the Ming Army, so as long as we persist, the winner will definitely be the coalition forces!”
While a group of kings, princes or dukes were arguing endlessly, Dureny of the French army suddenly came in and reported: "Your Majesty and Your Excellency the Duke, the Ming army has made a move."
"Huh?" The king, prince and duke present suddenly looked serious.
Louis XIV asked: "What are the actions of the Ming army? Are they planning to attack by force?"
"No." Duleni shook his head and said, "It seems to be going around."
"Detour?" Louis XIV said in astonishment, "What do you mean? How to detour?"
"Your Majesty, that's what it means literally." Durenni said with a bitter smile, "It means passing through the gap between the bastions of the coalition's defense line, and they are currently passing through."
Louis XIV, the king, the prince and the duke quickly got up.
The group of people came to the bastion wall and could see with the naked eye the Ming cavalry passing quickly from the outside of the bastion in small groups without even using binoculars.
The distance between the coalition bastions and the bastions is about 500 meters.
At this distance, the matchlock poses no threat at all.
However, the artillery equipped by the coalition forces can easily cover it.
However, the Ming army used small teams as units and passed through them quickly, which made the coalition artillery useless, because the coalition artillery used shotguns to have a short range, and if solid bullets were used, the sparse formation of the small cavalry shooting team would cause more damage.
The efficiency will be horribly low, and there won't be that many solid bullets to waste.
As a result, the coalition forces could only watch as the Ming troops penetrated.
