If we simply look at the population of the Tatars themselves, even if all the people are soldiers, there will not be many people. In their subsequent expansion, they annexed some other tribes in Mongolia, bringing the total population of the entire Tatars to one hundred.
Around 10,000.
But even so, they actually can't mobilize too many troops. Even if all the young and strong men join the army, they can only arm a hundred thousand troops at most.
However, the Tatars started fighting on almost all fronts at the same time, and the total number of troops actually mobilized exceeded 300,000. So where did these troops come from?
In fact, more than half of them are cannon fodder troops composed of young men from conquered areas!
In this way, they were able to maintain 100,000 troops on the eastern front to resist the Tang Army, and at the same time maintain tens of thousands of troops on the southern and southwest fronts to fight against the Mughal Empire, the Safavid Dynasty and the Ottoman Empire, and then mobilized 100,000 troops
The army was used in the Western Expedition.
Can the Europeans stop the Western Expedition launched by this 100,000-strong army?
Of course it’s hard to say now, because the fight hasn’t even started yet.
The Tatars marched all the way west from the Volga River, and then divided their forces to go north. Their Northern Route Army went all the way to Moscow, and the rest of the main force continued to move west to prepare to enter the Ukrainian plains, aiming at Kiev.
Faced with this situation, both Russia and Poland and Lithuania were terrified.
In order to cope with the crisis, they directly gave up their early grievances and directly united to try to resist the Tatars together.
However, this alliance is still only verbal at present, because the Tatars themselves directly divided their forces, heading all the way to Moscow and all the way to Kiev.
The Russians will not abandon Moscow and then run to the Ukrainian plains to help the Polish-Lithuanian Federation defend Kiev, and the Polish-Lithuanian Federation obviously will not abandon the Ukrainian plains and run to Moscow to help the Russians resist the Tatars.
Therefore, from the beginning, the war between the two sides was separated, rather than a joint battle, because the Tatars did not give them a chance to unite, but fought them separately from the beginning.
When the Tatars arrived in Moscow, the news spread quickly throughout Europe, although there is no news yet that the Tatars have captured Moscow.
But not many people remain optimistic. People generally pessimistically believe that Moscow may be able to hold on for a while, but it will definitely be captured in the end.
Similarly, it is estimated that the fate of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth will not be much better.
However, by that time, after losing these two barriers, Central Europe will directly face the Tatar front.
When Central Europe is finished, I'm afraid it will be Western Europe.
Europe fell into an atmosphere of panic for a while, and many kingdoms had begun to make intensive contacts, trying to form a coalition to go to Eastern Europe to resist the Tatars.
The Tatars invaded Eastern Europe, and this news quickly reached the ears of the Tang Dynasty!
The first one to get the news was not the army troops stationed in the northwest, because the distance was too far, and there were Tatars in the middle. The Tatars would not take the initiative to report the news to the Tang Dynasty.
The first people to get the news were the Tang people stationed in West Asia, or to be more precise, the Tang colonial officials and troops stationed in Muscat in the western part of the Persian Gulf. They learned about this from the people of the Ottoman Empire.
News.
After receiving the news, the local colonial officials also realized the importance of the matter and wanted to spread the news back to the country as soon as possible.
However, this place is extremely far away from the mainland of the empire. It may take several months for it to be transmitted back to the mainland of the empire for a while.
Therefore, even though the Tatars had begun a large-scale westward expedition and invaded Eastern Europe, the Tang Empire basically had no response.
There is no way, the distance is too far and the communication is lagging behind.
The empire itself doesn’t even know about this yet, so how can it react?
But even if they knew about it, the empire's senior officials probably wouldn't make much changes. The empire's policy towards the Tatars has always been established.
That is to temporarily maintain the balance of power in the Western Region and occasionally go out to train troops. However, large-scale offensives need to be planned after the Northwest Railway is completed.
The Northwest Railway has not yet been completed and opened to traffic. Optimistic estimates suggest that it will take a year to reach Jiayuguan.
In other words, within this year, even if the Tatars caused trouble in the west, Datang would not take any action.
The life and death of Europeans has nothing to do with the Tang Dynasty. Even if the Northwest Railway is completed and opened to traffic, the Western Expedition of the Tang Dynasty is not to save Europe, but to occupy the Western Regions and then enter Central Asia. As for fighting in Europe to rescue Europeans
, that will have to be many, many years later.
Maybe by that time, all the Europeans will have disappeared and only the Tatars will be left!
Therefore, although the Tatars invaded Eastern Europe in the autumn of the 26th year of Xuanping, causing panic in Europe, the Tang Empire remained calm and focused on its own affairs.
What's up?
There's nothing going on for the moment, just some bits and pieces. The only thing that can be said to be a major event is the preparations for the holy tour!
Holy Emperor Li Xuan has already decided during the Mid-Autumn Festival that he will go on inspection tours to many places in the empire after next spring!
Speaking of which, this was Li Xuan's first trip to a distant place for inspection after unifying China. Although he had often visited Dangtu for inspections in the past, and even went to Zhenjiang, he had never been to that far away.
More than ten years have passed, and he has never even been to Shanghai!
In the past, he didn't go out because of inconvenient transportation, and Li Xuan was also afraid of death. He would rather stay in Jinling City and control the situation remotely than run around and cause any trouble.
In the past, transportation was inconvenient, and it would take several months just to go out. Not only was it a waste of people and money, but most importantly, after the emperor left Beijing, it was easy to cause political instability. Who knows if there are careerists who want to take advantage of him?
Something happened when I left Beijing.
Therefore, he has stayed in Jinling City honestly for more than ten years.
But with the opening of the railway, Li Xuan also started to go out. He went to Zhenjiang a few years ago, and now, he is planning to go to Shanghai and Hangzhou.
Not only going to Jiangnan, he will also go to Nanchang and Wuchang, and then turn north to Kaifeng and then to Tianjin.
Basically, he planned to go around the Jiangnan Railway and the Northern Railway.
Nowadays, with the railway, transportation is convenient, and it does not take too long to go around in this way. If there are any changes, the army can quickly maneuver along the railway line to suppress any unrest.
However, even with the railway, it was still extremely troublesome for the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty to go out on patrol, because Li Xuan could not go out alone. He would definitely bring a large group of people with him when he went out for inspection.
The first is the courtiers. There will be at least more than a thousand courtiers traveling with him, because when Li Xuan goes out for inspection, he still needs to continue to handle government affairs. Each department will send officials to accompany him to maintain the normal operation of the ruling body.
Then he will bring hundreds of personal security personnel and guards from the Attendant Section!
The Guards always followed Li Xuan wherever he went.
Although it is impossible for Li Xuan to take away all three divisions of the Guards and a cavalry regiment stationed in Gyeonggi, it is certain to bring one division with him. It is also necessary to arrange for another division to go to important transportation and strategic locations in advance to deploy defenses.
.
Then there will definitely be troops of the Tang Army stationed on the periphery!
All in all, it was a very complicated matter, so Li Xuan announced it in advance so that the cabinet and the military could prepare in advance.
For example, in order to prevent an accident when he leaves Jinling City, Li Xuan must make adjustments to the defense of Jinling City and even the entire Zhili Four Roads and One Prefecture to eliminate all potential unstable factors.
Especially in Han Tong's investigation report, some generals whose words and deeds were suspicious will definitely be transferred to other places. As for those who have evidence and are not just suspicious, they have been arrested by Han Tong a long time ago and cannot be retained until now.
In order to ensure that no turmoil would occur, Li Xuan did not intend to leave any meritorious generals behind. If he went on a patrol, he would take away almost all the meritorious generals.
Especially those army generals with great reputation, Li Xuan will not leave any of them in Jinling City, but will take them all away.
Li Xuan wouldn't worry if he didn't keep them under his nose!
The Holy Emperor Li Xuan is about to go on tour, which also makes the entire Tang Empire lively!
For many officials, especially local officials, this visit by the Holy Emperor is of great political significance to them.
Because the Holy Emperor will see with his own eyes the area under their rule. If it is managed well and makes the Holy Emperor happy, it will naturally lead to promotion and wealth.
But if the Holy Emperor sees something he shouldn't see, then unfortunately, his official career will basically come to an end, and even worse, his life may be in danger.
Therefore, as soon as the news was announced, local officials in some rivers, coastal areas, canals, railways and other places were as if they were in danger, and they all started preliminary work.
Cleaning up public security and rectifying the appearance of the city are the most basic, and then various other means will be deployed to show the best side of the Holy Emperor.
However, the news announced now is that the Holy Emperor will go out on inspection.
But the specific time, route, and place to stay temporarily are all top secrets. Except for a few senior officials and generals, ordinary people have no idea at all.
Not to mention ordinary people, even those middle-level officials don't know.
This is naturally to ensure safety. If the route and time are announced in advance, doesn’t it mean that it will directly facilitate the preparation of those who are trying to cause chaos?
And even if the time and route were announced, it was actually just a smoke bomb. In December of the 26th year of Xuanping, the Tang Dynasty newspaper announced the time and route of the holy tour. It was originally scheduled to be on the 27th of Xuanping after the examination.
On April 16, 2018, I will leave Beijing for a northern tour. I will then go to Kaifeng along the Beijing-Kaifeng Railway and then to Tianjin.
But obviously, this is false news. Even if it was published by the Tang Dynasty Newspaper, it is still false news!
In the first month of the twenty-seventh year of Xuanping, just when everyone thought that the Holy Patrol would not start so quickly and would start in April, in fact, Jinling City had already begun an intensive blockade.
On the twenty-sixth day of the first lunar month, the Holy Emperor Li Xuan ordered the prince to stay in Beijing to supervise the country. He himself directly brought nearly 2,000 civil and military officials, nearly 1,000 attendant guards, and more than 20,000 people, fully armed and carrying enough
The First Division of the Guards, which was engaged in ammunition supply for several high-intensity battles, got on the train and headed straight to Shanghai!