Chapter 431: The old man has signed a contract for thousands of miles)
("Brother Zhuge Liang" has been signed, and this book has been completed at an accelerated pace. The third update today has a word count of 13,000)
After the Ming Dynasty suffered from continuous natural disasters for sixteen years, it devoted its energy to recuperating and recuperating, restoring people's livelihood, rectifying transportation infrastructure, developing science, technology, culture and education, and other "hard-working internal skills" matters.
This gesture gave Galdan the illusion that the warning given to him by the Ming Dynasty five years ago seemed to be just a talkative man who was strong on the outside but strong on the inside, harsh on the inside. In fact, the Ming Dynasty was completely overwhelmed with self-care and did not dare to take any serious action against the Gal tribe.
Therefore, from the 16th year of a moderately prosperous life to the 20th year of a moderately prosperous life, the Junggar tribe will not be idle. Of course, a hero like Galdan made full use of the window period given to him by the Ming Dynasty, expanded rapidly, became extremely domineering, and even
Expanding even more rapidly than the same period in history——
This is actually not surprising, because in history Galdan faced Kangxi. Although Kangxi was not strong, he had a characteristic that he was not as concerned about the life and death of the people as the Ming Emperor in this time and space. At the same time, Kangxi was more stubborn, even if he didn't
You can't defeat the opponent substantively, but you will also make a few symbolic counterattacks at any cost.
Therefore, in the past five years in history, Galdan wanted to completely conquer Qinghai-Tibet, but he was actually restrained by the Qing army. Although the Qing army failed to achieve any substantial results and consumed a lot of itself, it was not a victory at all.
, but in any case, it held back the enemy.
An additional important reason why the Qing army fought so hard in history is that the Qinghai-Tibet region had additional special significance for the rule of the Qing Dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, the Mongols were encouraged to believe in the Yellow Sect of Tibet.
If the Junggar people, who are also a branch of Mongolia, control Qinghai and Tibet and control the voice of their faith, the Manchu emperor will be worried that the Mongolian tribe will be attracted by the Junggar people and their hearts will be unstable, so he will have to fight immediately.
In contrast, the Ming Dynasty had no religious considerations in its control of Qinghai-Tibet. After all, it was a barbarian land called "Uzang" since the Yuan Dynasty. Several of the younger brothers who had professed control over Qinghai-Tibet were temporarily beaten.
The priority for Ming Dynasty is not that high.
As a result, in the past five years, in the first year, Galdan took advantage of the Ming Dynasty to kill Ertu Khan and swallowed up half of the land in Qinghai.
In the next two years, by 1680, he had wiped out the remaining corners of Qinghai and the main forces in Tibet, and even occupied Lhasa for a time.
Beginning in 1681, the southern forces were completely eliminated. After being blocked by the Himalayas, Galdan sent his troops back north and launched a new western expedition. Within two years, he captured Samarkand, Tashkent, and Bukhara.
Wakhan…
It conquered the entire territory of later Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, plus the eastern half of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, plus the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan.
Among the five stans of the five Central Asian countries in later generations, only the westernmost Turkmenistan was not occupied by Galdan, the other two were fully occupied, and the other two were half occupied. Galdan's power also reached its historical peak.
(Note: These achievements were all achieved by Galdan in the official history, and he was not cheated. However, historically, he was restrained by the Qing army's garrison in Qinghai, so he did not achieve it so quickly)
After achieving all this, Galdan already had more than six million Tatars and Mongolian tribesmen. They were not old and weak, only adult men and women. In addition, he conquered the Central Asian countries and
The total population of Qinghai-Tibet region is close to 20 million.
Therefore, do not underestimate Galdan. He was definitely one of the most powerful powers in Asia at that time. If the Ming Dynasty had not attacked Fusang, then in East Asia today, apart from the Ming Dynasty, only the country of Fusang would have a larger population than Galdan. .
(Note: Historically, Fusang had more than 25 million people at this period, but now that the Ming Dynasty defeated them and ceded Kyushu, the number is less than 20 million, so it is lower than Galdan and ranks third in East Asia)
Historically, Kangxi's so-called "Three Conquests" by Galdan actually did not completely defeat the opponent. The two sides fought for twenty years. In the end, Galdan was assassinated and died of poisoning (it is also said that he died of wind immediately after overindulging in lust). His nephew gave his body to Kangxi, and he nominally surrendered. Kangxi, who was afraid of being beaten, hurriedly recognized the other party as the successor to the Khan of Junggar, thus regaining his face.
But in fact, the Junggar tribe was at war with the Qing Dynasty for a total of eighty years. It was not until the 24th year of Qianlong that the Junggar tribe was pacified and the Xiaohezhuo rebellion was quelled. The threat of the Junggar Khanate was finally resolved and the territory was occupied. land.
Can a person who can fight with the Qing Dynasty for eighty years, from the 20th year of Kangxi to the 24th year of Qianlong, be like Yi?
Galdan, who is currently in his heyday, is even slightly stronger than his heyday in the same period of history, because he was not restrained and consumed by the Ming Dynasty in the process of unifying the Central Asian countries and Qinghai-Tibet, and was almost pushed down on an equal footing.
His more than 6 million Mongolian and Tatar tribesmen can select more than 300,000 elite Mongolian cavalry.
Among them are 50,000 of the latest Rakshasa musketeers, as well as camel artillery, and a camel firearm array carrying crate armor.
If the other tens of millions of non-Mongolian servants who were conquered by him were included, then he could recruit even more troops - but Galdan never thought of using these foreign tribes to fight.
He also knew very well that these foreign races were conquered by him with bloody force for only seven or eight years at most, and just one or two years at the shortest. They must be fearful of power but not moral. How many people are eager for his downfall.
With a population of 11 to 2 million, if the Mongolian army's recruitment ratio is followed, it is absolutely no problem to recruit 700,000 troops. But if 700,000 people are sent to the battlefield, it is estimated that the slaves will defect in the Battle of Makino. .
Therefore, strictly speaking, Galdan can be called "a crowd of millions", and then actually brought out more than 300,000 Mongolian cavalry and 50,000 musket cavalry.
Such an expansion of force finally made him lose his fear of the Ming Dynasty, which was also said to be very powerful.
It was under this circumstance that the fuse of the Ming-Mongolian War was lit.
…
The trigger of the war finally occurred in the autumn of 1683, the 21st year of Xiaokang's reign.
The reason was that after Galdan had completely conquered both directions in the southwest, because the north was his ally of the Rakshasa Kingdom and could not expand, he finally set his sights on the east.
They focused on the central area of Monan Mongolia north of Hetao, which was later known as Baotou and Hohhot.
There lived the Khalkha Mongols who, by blood, were the same Oirat Tatars as Galdan.
However, as we all know, as early as nearly thirty years ago, a few years after the fall of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Khalkha Mongolia, along with the Kachahar Mongolia and Horqin Mongolia, submitted to the Ming Dynasty and became its vassals.
Therefore, if Galdan dared to set his sights on annexing the Khalkha Mongols, then he would have taken the initiative to go to war with the Ming Dynasty.
However, in Galdan's heart, as a hero who has dominated the world for more than ten years, he really can't stand that the Khalkha people, who are also part of the Oirat Tatars, actually choose to be dogs for the Ming Dynasty!
Don’t these people have the dignity of being part of the Golden Family, the descendants of Genghis Khan? We are all Oirat Tatars, and they obviously share the same culture and race as Galdan, but they went to seek refuge with the Ming Dynasty, which has a different culture and race. This behavior is not “treason.”
What is it again?
Therefore, in the autumn of this year, when the autumn grass was abundant and the horses were fat, Galdan had not thought about whether he should completely fall out with Ming Dynasty or not.
But he just decided to take a large number of Tatar cavalry and wander around the grasslands around Baotou and Hohhot, showing off their power and grazing animals, looking for opportunities.
As a result, this "armed patrol" went off the rails.
On September 24th of this year, Galdan personally led more than 100,000 Tatar cavalry troops to appear on the grasslands more than a hundred miles northwest of Guihua City (Hohhot), showing off their power and grazing animals in awe.
As a result, the Khalkha Mongols are certainly not monolithic. Over the years, the senior leaders of the Khalkha Mongols have known how powerful the Ming Dynasty is and have completely surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. However, there are always small tribal chiefs who are not living a good life and want to
Turn the tables and do something.
So early that morning, two small tribal chiefs who were at odds with the Khalkha Mongol leader suddenly broke camp and surrendered to the enemy, and took the initiative to defect to Galdan.
From Galdan's point of view, he felt that he was now the most orthodox successor of Genghis Khan, unifying all the great heroes of the Mongolian tribes except for the Mongolia in the east.
Now the tribal chiefs of the Khalkha Mongolia have finally recognized Zhengshuo and abandoned the Ming Dynasty and turned to the Mongols. This should definitely be encouraged and set up as a benchmark.
But from the standpoint of the Ming Dynasty, this act of directly accepting the tribes of the Ming Dynasty and annexing the people, livestock, pastures and grasslands they brought with them is of course an invasion of the Ming Dynasty!
The grasslands of these tribes who surrendered to Junggar are of course considered part of the Ming Dynasty! If this is not called invasion, what is aggression?
Therefore, the border generals of the Ming Dynasty and relevant vassal officials responded immediately, warning Galdan within a few days and then within half a month that they were not allowed to accommodate the traitors of the Ming Dynasty, and that all traitors must be returned and the grassland territory they dedicated must be vomited!
To be honest, Galdan didn't care much about the population and pasture at first. However, he regarded himself as the unifier and savior of all Mongolia, and his dignity and status did not allow him to make such a "commitment"
The tribesmen were handed back to the Ming Dynasty."
What's more, the two chiefs who came to seek refuge with him spoke very nicely, saying, "Because Galdan conquered Qinghai and Tibet, and we Mongolians have always believed in Tibetan traditions, we believe that the world has changed."
.You have occupied Tibet, and you are the Zhengshuo of the Mongols in the world."
This guy is saying that he is the Zhengshuo of the Mongols in the world. Can he let go of Zhengshuo's halo of right and wrong?
At this point, there is no solution at all and we can only fight to the end.
Galdan said very forcefully:
He is the common leader of the Mongols in the world. He hopes that the Ming Emperor will understand the situation and the reality and not do anything that overestimates his capabilities.
Otherwise, he doesn't mind another Tumu Fort Incident. When the time comes, he will go to Beijing or even Nanjing to get what he wants!
…
Having given up such harsh words, what else is there to say? Of course Ming Dynasty will directly declare war.
So, after three or four months of several rounds of back and forth, from October 21, Xiaokang's 21st year, to February of the following year, the two sides officially met.
The Ming Dynasty officially declared war on Junggar, and three months before the war began, it predicted that the situation would be difficult to improve, so at that time, it notified the nine sides in advance to mobilize troops and gather forces to deal with it.
Therefore, the Ming Dynasty's frontier troops actually received orders after the Lantern Festival in the 22nd year of Xiaokang at the latest, and all units mobilized their troops to restart the war machine.
Naturally, Galdan was not to be outdone. At the beginning, he only brought 100,000 cavalry to patrol in a show of force. After knowing that he had to fight, he just temporarily retreated for the winter. In fact, he mobilized more main forces from the rear and used all 300,000 cavalry.
Pulled over.
In the spring of March 1684, 300,000 Mongolian cavalry and a large number of Ming army elites from all nine sides entered the vast battlefields around Baotou and Guihua City, and the war was about to break out.
This area is the traditional pastoral area of the Khalkha Mongols. It is supposed to be very dangerous for the Chinese army to fight here because it is already outside the Great Wall.
However, the cause and point of contention for this war is "should the Khalkha Mongols be the vassals of the Ming Dynasty, or should they be the vassals of the other Oirat Mongols who have the same culture and race as him?" Therefore, the Ming Dynasty cannot give in and must
Fight for this piece of Khalkha Mongolian grassland.
Before the war officially broke out, some ministers in the Ming Dynasty who did not know how to fight were still quite panicked. They even felt that they could leave some grasslands to avoid the war. There was no need to fight to the death with a powerful enemy for the grassland territory with low economic value.
Such cowardly remarks were of course criticized by Cabinet Minister Zhu Shuren and Emperor Zhu Ciyu, and those who deserved to be demoted were demoted.
Some people did not say that we should not fight. But they felt that the Ming Dynasty had been at peace for a long time, and the old generals of the past had withered away. The troops on the nine sides of the north had not fought for at least 25 years.
The soldiers have completely changed. Today's soldiers have not participated in the war to destroy the Qing Dynasty more than thirty years ago. How can they have combat experience and mental toughness?
These people have no bad intentions, they are just "defeatist counselors." Some people came to Zhang Huangyan and others for advice:
"Cao Bianjiao, Li Fuming has been dead for more than 20 years, Huang Degong, Liu Guoneng, and Zhu Wenzhen have also been dead for more than ten years. The generals promoted by the DPRK in recent years are generally talents who fought in the south, or naval generals, and few are good at prairie cavalry.
Fighting in large groups.
In this autumn of national calamity, hundreds of thousands of Mongolian cavalry are suddenly required to be used. Who should be in command? Should I let you, Mr. Zhangge, personally supervise the division? You are already sixty-three years old, can you still withstand the desert wind and sand? Or should I let you?
Old Superintendent Zheng Ge? He is also fifty-nine years old."
Faced with the difficulty of talent shortage, Zhang Huangyan had no better choice, so he and Zhu Shuren finally decided to dispatch Li Dingguo from the south to lead the troops north in advance, while Zheng Chenggong only stayed in the Great Wall Pass as the associate minister of the cabinet and in charge of the Ministry of War.
Supervisor.
Li Dingguo was already sixty-three years old at this time. Thanks to the Ming Dynasty's excellent medical treatment of tropical diseases, he was seriously ill and was reduced in number during these years when Southeast Asia was reforming and returning to local rule.
However, he was originally from Shaanxi, and had been accustomed to the north since childhood. He had participated in many decisive land battles and cavalry battles during the Northern Expedition to destroy the Qing Dynasty, so it was no problem to drag his aging body to take command.
Mainly because of other younger generals who have grown up, many of them have no prestige. The Ming Dynasty has not fought a war in the northern land in the past thirty years, so they can only live in peace.
Fifty-nine-year-old Zheng Chenggong took 63-year-old Li Dingguo on their journey north.