A few years ago, when we arrived at Lake Baikal and established the Fengjing Prefecture, there were only 400,000 men, women, and children in the Qing Dynasty.
After the annexation of the Buryat Mongolian tribes and several years of peace, the total population has exceeded 600,000.
Fengjing Prefecture has three counties under its jurisdiction, located in the east, south and west of Lake Baikal. It governs a large number of Mongolian tribes and also accepts tribute from the people in the forest.
As a result, over the past few years, a stable life has allowed the Manchu Eight Banners, who suffered heavy losses, to recover their strength to 50,000, the Han Eight Banners 10,000, the Mongolian Eight Banners 30,000, plus more than 10,000 coated slave soldiers, and the total number of troops is close to that again
One hundred thousand.
Although the Eight Banners of Mongolia greatly increased their troops and horses, under the suppression of the combined Eight Banners of Manchu and Han Dynasties, the rule was extremely stable.
Of course, although the military strength has been restored, the gunpowder, armor, weapons and other equipment are not as good as 30% of what they were in Liaodong, and the strength has dropped extremely obviously.
And what about the three Khalkha Mongols?
After several years of investigation, it has been found that the total population of the three tribes is only four to five million, and they are divided into three tribes, each of which is scattered. They are no match for the Qing Dynasty.
Jilharang raised his head and said: "The closest to us is the Chechen Khan tribe. It is said that its tribe only has more than 30,000 people. It is not our opponent at all."
As he spoke, he actually raised his palm and raised five fingers: "With only 50,000 troops, we can take it and expand the territory thousands of miles."
These words were so passionate that people couldn't help but nod in agreement.
Indeed, there is a huge disparity in strength between the two, making it easy for them to do so.
Although the Hulunbuir grassland is vast, there are many tribes, and there is no absolute advantage. If the tribe is scattered, it will never be their opponent.
However, Hong Chengchou raised his head and raised objections: "Your Majesty, the three tribes of Khalkha and Mongolia are one. They are originally from one of the 60,000 households of Dayan Khan at that time, and they are deeply connected with each other."
"Once the imperial court sends troops, I'm afraid it will affect the whole body and cause the three Khalkha and Mongolian tribes to move together."
As he spoke, he handed over to Shunzhi again and said with sincerity: "Now that the Ming Dynasty has just consecrated various nobles in Chahar, and the imperial court suddenly mobilizes troops, I am afraid that it will greatly lose the hearts of the Mongols..."
"The people of Ming Dynasty will definitely not let us send troops. They will definitely help other ministries. Instead, we will only make wedding clothes for others——"
These words are so reasonable that people can't help but think deeply.
If they knew history, they would know that the Junggar tribe's eastward invasion prompted the Qing Dynasty to integrate Mobei Mongolia and establish General Wusulitai. Later, the Junggar tribe destroyed the Khoshote Khanate and allowed the Manchu Qing Dynasty to intervene in the Qinghai-Tibet region.
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It can be said that when you have a powerful neighbor around you, don't start a war lightly.
Hearing this, everyone looked into it carefully, and even more people sighed:
Once too many troops and horses are used, it will attract the attention of Ming Dynasty, and the newly stabilized Fengjing Mansion will immediately fall into the flames of war.
The reason why the Manchus and Qing Dynasties fled to Lake Baikal was because they were separated by the Mongolian tribes in Mobei, thus blocking the Ming Dynasty's northward advance.
As for the deployment of troops from Jilin and Liaodong, it is a long way away. Even if we can figure out the direction for now, we will be held back by logistics.
This gave them a stable life in the past few years.
A few civil servants and some city officials, but a few Eight Banners nobles couldn't help but change their expressions:
It's totally not worth provoking Ming people for a few tribes.
Shunzhi couldn't help but sigh: "This is really true."
But he clapped his hands again, with helplessness written on his face: "It's just that the Northland is now full of frozen soil, and the only safe place is around Lake Baikal. The imperial court must have a place to go."
The Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty integrated military and political affairs. Niu Lu'erzhen not only managed the army but also managed the people. It can be said that military success was what they relied on to pursue.
And once it stagnates, the Eight Banners will naturally be abolished.
Therefore, after a few years of peace, Shunzhi couldn't wait to train troops for the Eight Banners, and the spoils he harvested would be the best gift.
"Hong Qing's family, now that the Eight Banners have recovered their strength, they are ready to use their troops. I don't know where is the right place?"
Hong Chengchou sighed, looked around, saw the disappointed and timid expressions of everyone, looked up at the emperor's expectant eyes, and had to say:
"Your Majesty, the imperial court can only use troops toward the east and west."
"To the east is the Hulunbuir grassland. It is composed of Ewenki, Daur, and Oroqen people. The scale is only tens of thousands, but the land is fertile and the grassland is lush, which is suitable for the imperial court to use troops-"
"And to the west is where the Rakshasa people are."
Speaking of this, Hong Chengchou did not hesitate: "I heard that they built castles one after another along roads and rivers, and this is how we use our troops..."
Hearing the word Rakshasa, Luck Dehun on the side couldn't help but said: "If we deal with them, we are afraid that we will cut off the source of gunpowder?"
Shunzhi also agreed with his face.
After deploying troops to Lake Baikal, the Manchu Qing Dynasty almost destroyed the efforts of the Russians for more than ten years.
But in the world, interests rule.
When a steady stream of minks and furs were traded with the Russians, they ignored those barren lands and the huge profits blocked their eyes.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was said that the Russians were greedy and constantly expanded their land. In fact, Russia was in financial difficulty during this period.
The biggest financial source at this time was furs from the East, especially mink hats, which were Russia's largest export commodities.
In order to obtain more mink skins, they had to head east and south.
"Yes!" Oboi on the side rarely spoke: "It is best to capture the Hulunbuir Grassland. Although those Sauron people are difficult to fight, they are the best slave soldiers."
Fan Wencheng rarely agreed: "The land in Hulunbuir is fertile, and I heard it is all black soil. Although the harvest is only once a year, it must be better than Lake Baikal, and the harvest can be larger."
Seeing that most people agreed, Hong Chengchou looked at Ning Wanwo who was standing aside.
The thin and gentle Ning Wanwo immediately appeared in front of everyone.
He smiled bitterly in his heart and could only say: "Your Majesty, according to my interactions with the Rakshasa people, we know that more than a thousand miles west of their castle is where Mongolia is located in the desert."
"That's what the Western Region used to be."
"This place has a vast territory, four distinct seasons, pastures, and farmland everywhere. More importantly, the former Mongol Khanate has fallen apart. This is a good opportunity for us to develop our ambitions..."
"When the time comes, not to mention gunpowder, even salt, iron, tea, everything will be available——"
Upon hearing these words, everyone's eyes lit up.
Lake Baikal is a waterless lake, which means it cannot produce salt.
As a result, salt became the biggest problem that troubled the Manchus. In addition, the nomads also needed tea to clear their greasy stomachs, and iron tools as weapons of war.
And all of these were controlled by Tsarist Russia.
Therefore, although the Lake Baikal region is fertile land, anyone with a long-term perspective will see that it is a difficult place.
When Fan Wencheng heard this, his mind moved, but in the end he shook his head and said: "No."
"The army traveled thousands of miles alone, not to mention the lack of food and grass along the way. Just words, even if they captured the Rakshasa castle but cut off all contact, what would the court do in the future?"
"You should never do anything that is desperate."
To put it bluntly, this is the mentality of a gambler, and Fan Wencheng will never allow it.
Hong Chengchou sighed: "We can discuss with the Rakshasa people about borrowing the road."
"When the time comes, we will capture the Moxi tribes, and then turn around and capture the Mobei Mongolia. We have the two Mongols in hand and 300,000 cavalry, enough to go south and restore the prestige of the Qing Dynasty."
"This will be another majestic Mongol Empire."
This blueprint is extremely attractive and very feasible.
No one will deny the power of the Mongol Empire, and this is also the biggest attempt of latecomers.
When the Manchu Qing Dynasty became the second Mongol Empire, could it still be far behind to strive for world hegemony?
Several people in the queue were breathing heavily, and light seemed to appear in front of their eyes.
"I thought this matter was extremely difficult."
Fan Wencheng shook his head directly: "It's a thousand miles away, and the obstacles on the road are immeasurable. Once tens of thousands of elite soldiers are lost, the foundation of the imperial court will be shaken."
After saying that, he asked directly: "Who among you can issue a military order and definitely take down all the tribes in Moxi?"
"Your Majesty, although the Chechen Khan tribe has been quite submissive in recent years, the Mongols have always been ambitious and are watching us like evil wolves. Please be careful——"
These words immediately woke everyone up.
"Although beautiful dreams are good, they are still dreams after all and cannot be taken seriously." Shunzhi concluded, with a wry smile on his increasingly mature face.
At this time, Hong Chengchou's face was calm.
He had already made mental plans for the rejection of his suggestion. Besides, this was Ning Wan's suggestion. What did it have to do with him?
"What Fan Shoufu said is true."
Hong Chengchou suddenly showed a smile: "The Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty once said that no one should be allowed to sleep soundly beside the couch."
"Now that the imperial court is in the north, the Chechen Khan's ambitions must be eliminated. Otherwise, no matter where the imperial court deploys troops, it will always be controlled by him."
Shunzhi squinted his eyes and said nothing, while Obai on the side asked: "Aren't you afraid of the triad? When the time comes, the Chechen Khan tribe will be offended, and the other two tribes will come -"
"But what if it takes the initiative to send troops?"
Hong Chengchou held up his hands and showed a proud smile.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Sun Shuolei, the 19th generation of Genghis Khan, established himself as a khan in the Kherulun River area, and was called the "Chechen Khan". His jurisdiction extended to the Argun River in the east, Chahar Khan in the south, and Tushetu Khan in the west.
The northern border is Buryatia.
Before the Manchus arrived at Lake Baikal, the Chechen Khan tribe had always had close contacts and trade with the Russians.
The royal tent is located on the banks of the Kru River, with lush water and grass, which is an extremely rare place in the Mobei region.
Therefore, only the Chechen Khan himself is nomadic here, and the rest of the tribe can only envy him.
At this time, the Chechen Khan had passed into the hands of the second generation Babu Khan, who was the second son of Shuolei.
A few years after he took the throne, in the royal tent, he learned that he had been awarded the title of Chechen Khan, King of Kru County, and he immediately beamed with joy.
Prestige does not appear to him, what he hopes most is to be recognized and consolidate his strength.
Just as he was having a grand banquet, he suddenly received news:
The Manchu Qing Dynasty decided to send 100,000 troops to conquer the Sauron people in the Hulunbuir area.
This moment made him extremely angry. The leg of lamb in his hand no longer smelled good, and the woman in his arms even lost its flavor.
"Damn it, the remnants of the Manchu Qing Dynasty are so ambitious. They just captured the Buryat people and they actually want to move eastward——"
Anger burned in his eyes, and the jealousy and anger in his chest could not be stopped.
In fact, when he first succeeded to the throne, the Manchu Qing Dynasty had just established its foothold in Lake Baikal.
He didn't care at first. After all, it was the Rakshasa people who suppressed and ruled the Buryat people. The Chechen Khan tribe often traded with them, so they naturally knew that they were difficult to fight.
Therefore, although the Manqing was strong, he and his father Shuolei Khan were not optimistic about the Manqing.
They even have the idea of reaping the benefits.
Unexpectedly, the Rakshasa people were vulnerable to a single blow and were directly defeated. The Manchus occupied the lush Lake Baikal and also ruled the Buryat Mongolian tribes.
At this time, he was unwilling to put away his thoughts and could only hold his nose and admit it, but he would not pay tribute to the Manchus.
"Great Khan, although Hulunbuir is far away, many tribes have surrendered to us. Once we sit back and do nothing, many small tribes will probably switch to other tribes——"
At this time, the eldest son Norbu couldn't help but said: "What will other nobles think of you then?"
"Okay -" Chechen Khan couldn't stop his anger. He looked at his son: "What do you think we should do?"
"Great Khan, let's take advantage of its eastward advance to attack the so-called Fengjing Mansion."
Norbu said excitedly: "I heard that the Qing Dynasty has hundreds of thousands of tribesmen, several times our number. As long as we capture these old and weak women and children, even the soldiers who returned from the Eastern Expedition will be helpless against us."
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As he spoke, he even began to look forward to it: "After annexing these remnants, the Chechen Khan tribe will become the number one in Mobei. When the time comes, we will capture the Tushetu Khan tribe and the Zhasak Khan tribe, and Mobei will be unified."
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"At that time, the Ming Dynasty will only be able to be on an equal footing with us -"
This call immediately aroused the Chechen Khan's ambitions.
Who doesn’t want to unify Mobei and restore the glory of the Mongol Empire?
"Okay, you go and find out more about this -"
A few days later, the Chechen Khan learned that the large-scale Qing army had left Fengjing Mansion and had arrived in Hulunbuir, where they were killing people.
However, the number of Manchu troops stationed in Fengjing was less than 30,000.
Although this is also a huge force, it is much smaller than before.
The Chechen Khan was overjoyed and couldn't wait to summon his headquarters and nobles from each department. After dividing the profits, he gathered an army of 60,000 and marched noisily towards Lake Baikal in the north.
As for notifying the other two ministries, it is simply impossible.
He couldn't bear to part with such a piece of fat meat.
At this time, a few days after the Chechen Khan tribe left Kruh, a huge force of troops arrived at the eastern section of the Kruh River.
This is the 50,000-eight-banner elite led by Jierhalang.
"Two hundred miles further west along this river is where the Khan's tent is. Tribes other than the Khan's tent must not be nomadic in the vicinity..." the guide said tremblingly.
"Hu-" Jierhalang looked at the nearby grassland and couldn't help but admired: "It is indeed a good piece of land."
In fact, the army did set off eastward, leading an army of 100,000 people. This is true at all, otherwise it would never be hidden from the Chechen Khan.
It's just that half of the 100,000 troops are slave soldiers, responsible for waving the flag and building momentum.
After leaving the slave soldiers behind in Hulunbuir, Jilharang immediately took one man and three horses and quickly moved into the Kru River area to look for the Chechen Khan tent.
"Hahaha, Chechen Khan, this is the price of greed -" Jilharang was overjoyed, with a sinister smile on his face.