Stepanov took a sip of spicy inferior white wine, and then let out a long sip of turbid air. In this warm and cold season, spirit wine is really the most cute thing. No wonder it becomes a hard currency in the Amur River Basin. It is really hard to live without it!

Moreover, he was able to drink precious spirits in a remote place like Albazin Castle, and he had to thank Sheitkur Abolin, who was sitting at him now, a Bukhara man who now serves His Majesty the Tsar. Abolin had just returned from the place where Bogde Khan of the Qing Dynasty. Because the people of the East Coast occupied a large area of ​​land in the lower reaches of the Amur River east of Albazin Castle, the Abolin delegation entered the city of Beijing through the Mongolian region. Specifically, Abolin received an order from the military and political chief Vasily Shirkov in Topolsk, and took a mission of more than ten people and the Tsar wrote a letter to set out along the Erthis River to Tara City, then walked through the territory of the Kalmyks, arrived at the Beshka River, and finally entered the Mongolian grasslands and arrived at Kukuhetun (i.e., Hohhot).

After revealing his identity as the Tsar's envoy in Kokotan, Abolin and his group were warmly entertained by the Mongolians under Bogde Khan's rule, and then went to the suburbs of Beijing through the gateway city of Kapka (i.e. Zhangjiakou). Here, Bogde Khan's envoy warmly welcomed the mission from Russia. Both sides gave each other gifts (Abolin brought a gift worth 2,000 rubles), and then moved into a residence next to the Mongolian yamen (Lifan Courtyard), waiting for Bogde Khan's summons.

According to Abolin, the meeting with Bogde Khan and his ministers was generally pleasant. They no longer regarded His Majesty as the monarch of a small vassal state, but the emperor of a great country who treated equally. Then they also gave many gifts to the Tsar, including twenty-five silk paintings, three beaver skins, three snow leopard skins, three velvet skins, three seal skins and ten tea leaves. As for what benefits Abolin himself got from it, it was not very clear. Stepanov vaguely heard that he personally received a gift of "worth two hundred rubles", which made him a little jealous. Of course, if he knew that the cost price of the gift given to Abolin by the Qing reception staff in China was 200 rubles (which means that thousands of rubles would likely be sold in Moscow), he would probably be even more angry.

"Sir, you said that when you were passing through the territory of the Kalmyks, you were questioned by their leader Gazan (i.e. Galdan). In addition, Uluth, who was in Alaptar (i.e., Cephon Arabtan), was funded by him? This is very interesting. Did the Kalmyks have a conflict? This may be our opportunity. Duke Shirkov must have heard the news with satisfaction, because the pressure from Topolsk may be greatly reduced." Stepanov said casually while drinking while listening to Abolin's experiences on the road.

"It is not necessarily that Ulus in Alaptar is not very large, and he may not have opposed Gazan's power." Abolin also took a sip of wine and said, "The trouble of Gazan is the trouble of Duke Shirkov. For you in the Yakutsk Governor, it is probably more realistic to threaten the East Coast people. This time I was in Beijing and talked with Bogd Khan's messenger for a long time. They invited us to attack the East Coast people in the lower reaches of the Amur River. I can see that they were serious this time.

, and well prepared. Soetu, the most trusted envoy of Bogd Khan, told me that they had prepared ten thousand Tungus and Kalmyk soldiers in Manchuria, and as long as our men attacked the territory of the East Coast people eastward along the Amur River, they would support our offensive in the south. Moreover, the Duke of Soetu promised that once the East Coast people were defeated, Bogd Khan would allow us to occupy all the territory on the left bank of the Amur River, and that the two countries would never invade each other."

"The delusionary Tatar ruler..." Stepanov smacked his lips and said disdainfully, but then he shook his head gently and smiled: "But he caught a good time. His Majesty the Great Tsar was dissatisfied with the people of the East Coast and wanted to teach them a little bit, and for this reason we asked us to cause trouble for them in the Amur River area, haha. We didn't think the Tatars could help, but since they offered and expressed their support for military expenditure of 200,000 rubles of silver, what's wrong? So much money is enough for us to recruit a large number of experienced soldiers from Siberia, Astrakhan, Kazan and other places, which will greatly strengthen our strength."

It is said that since the General Administration of Intelligence on the East Coast "indiscriminately intervened" in the Russian Racine uprising and was arrested. Since the first batch of envoys disappeared, the second group of troops sent by the East Coast people were also attacked by local tribes loyal to the Tsar halfway. Except for a few leading figures who fled back to the Crimean area, the rest were either killed or captured. This also made the Russian Tsar know the plans of the East Coast people, so he was very angry that Tsar Alexey was determined to find the place. Not only did he send people to seize the merchant stations in Arkhangelsk and Moscow, and put the merchant station personnel in prison, he also ordered to strengthen contact with the Manchu Bogde Khan in the Far East and fight against the East Coast people together.

In fact, due to the strength of the East Coast people in the Amur River, the merger of Russians and Qing dynasties in the Far East was the general trend. The intelligence officials in the East Coast intervened in the Rasin uprising was just a booster for the Russians to make up their minds. Even without this, the Russians would sooner or later join the Qing dynasty in the Amur River to keep warm and fight against the East Coast forces that were constantly eroding the land of both sides. Otherwise, why did you think the Tsar sent envoys to Beijing repeatedly over the years? It was not for diplomatic preparations. Moreover, I heard that Bogde Khan, who had always been stubborn and arrogant, also planned to send envoys to Moscow by land under the pressure of reality, first to contact Tsar Alexey directly, and secondly to see how strong the Russians are, and whether they are qualified to be on par with the "Qing Dynasty" and become military allies.

"Two hundred thousand rubles is a lot of money." Abolin said with some envy. When Topolsk received the order from his superiors, Duke Shirkov only allocated him five hundred rubles as a expense along the way, and told him to sell the goods he carried with him to the Kalmyk or Chinese to raise the necessary funds if it was not enough. This shows how huge the 200 thousand rubles was in the entire Siberia and the Yakutsk Military Adjudicator Region. Perhaps only the heroic Chinese emperor could take out the money without blinking.

"The General of Baykov has officially ordered the increase of the garrison of Albazin Castle. This group of people will be supplemented from Moscow, with a quota of 1,500 people. It has been a long time since we set out and will arrive next year. The recruitment and maintenance costs of these personnel will be released from this 200,000 rubles." As the supreme commander of the Albazin Fortress, Stepanov had already received this news from the Duke of Baykov in Yakutsk. His Excellency of the General instructed Stepanov and Father Konstantin of Albazin to step up their efforts to win over the natives and make all preparations for a military conflict with the East Coast people.

At present, Stepanov has received a team of 300 Cossack cavalry from Yenisesk, and has received sufficient material support from the Yakutsk treasury. In addition, Father Konstantin is not idle either. This magical guy has recently developed many Chief Tungus as an Orthodox believer and naturally accepted their power.

When it comes to Father Constantine's ability to naturalize the Tungus people, we have to mention the famous Chief Gentemur. This guy was originally a minister of Bogd Khan of the Qing Dynasty. He was once awarded the commander-in-chief of the Zhenghong Banner Special Corps and the fourth-rank official position (received 1,200 taels of silver and three boxes of gold a year). Unexpectedly, after the yellow-clad thief rose strongly in the lower reaches of the Amur River and defeated Bogd Khan many times, he became interested in serving. Therefore, his clan left his former resident Nibchu, rode his war horses, and drove cattle and sheep to Huma Fort on the East Coast, asking for submission.

Liao Xiaoyao, who was the captain of the Blackwater Development Team at that time, was naturally very happy about this, so he ordered him to be placed on the spot in Huma Fort and to be given the rank of lieutenant of the East Coast Army Reserve for commendation (of course, the bigger reason is that he valued the many soldiers and horses under his command). This matter was originally a typical example of naturalized natives, but as the saying goes, things in the world are impermanent. This chief Gentemur didn't know which one was wrong, and was bewitched by the Russian "foreign monk" and believed in the Orthodox Church of Narash. Later, Father Constantine of the Albazin Fortress was personally baptized and named him Peter. The bravest of his thirteen sons, Katanna, was named Pavel.

This is not counting. After entering the Orthodox Church and being awarded by the Tsar, the Tsar canonized Chief Gentemur as a duke, and asked his family to guard the border for generations and rule the Tsar. Katannai was canonized as a Moscow nobleman, and has arrived there and received the Tsar's reception. After being extremely glorious, he quietly moved his tribe back to the vicinity of the Albazin Fortress. This move naturally greatly hit the people of the East Coast, especially Liao Xiaoyao, who once commended him, has been toughly demanding that Russia extradite Chief Gentemur in recent years, but has never received any response from the Russians.

The reason for this is that Chief Gentemur has a respectable status and a great reputation in the middle of the Amur River. His favor and back are related to the choices of many Tungusians, namely, to surrender to the Russian side, and to the Bogde Khan side of the Qing Dynasty, the East Coast side, so it is understandable that Russia will resolutely refuse to let go.

This time, the governor of Yakutsk, Duke Baykov, asked to prepare for military war for the East Coast people. Chief Gentemur, OK, maybe we should call him Duke. As the focus between Russia and the East Coast, we naturally have to lead the army to assist in the war. Moreover, this guy now understands his situation very well, so he worked very hard to win over tribes in the northeast for the Russians. Conservatively, he could send two thousand troops, which was indeed a considerable force. If he whistled away, he would be enough to break the slightly weak defensive circle of the East Coast people.

"Where did Bogde Khan's men attack? Is Naowen City (i.e. Qiqihar)? It doesn't look like a place where 10,000 soldiers can be stationed." Sheitkur Abolin asked in confusion: "Is it from the south where I have not been to? It is relatively warm and rich in resources, and may be able to supply all the supplies needed for the 10,000 army to fight for a long time."

"Of course it's the warm south, there is no doubt about this." Stepanov replied without hesitation: "But there will be no action in the city of Naowen. General Bahai, the governor appointed by Bogde Khan, once sent people to Albajin to discuss the plan of joint combat with me. They were extremely afraid of the model fort established by the East Coast in the deep area of ​​the south bank of the Amur River. Harbin Fort was very afraid, and for this reason they once gave up the Ningguta area. This time they planned to take advantage of the momentum of the two sides' joint march to gather troops to capture Harbin Fort.

If possible, Famburg may also attack and pull out Huma Fort, such a nail, to recover the land on the south bank of the Amur River that was infiltrated by the East Coast people and influenced for many years. But to be honest, I very much doubt that the Tatars in Naowen City can do this, because the East Coast people are not barbarians that are easy to deal with. In fact, they are very powerful and have ruined our 200 soldiers in Huma Fort. I don’t believe that such a powerful force, the generals under Bogde Khan can defeat them with just a little insignificant force. This is impossible!”

In fact, the Russians did not know that the biggest threat to the Qing court was the right bank of the Yalu River in Liaodong. After all, it was close to the Longxing land of the Qing Dynasty, which was extremely threatening. It was far from the vast and sparsely populated and extremely deserted Ningguta, Heilongjiang, Jilin and other places in the north, not to mention the land on the north bank of the Amur River that they had lost earlier. Therefore, the main offensive of the Qing Dynasty was destined to only stay in the Liaodong area, "Greater Russia, Little Russia and Belarus, the great monarch Arikhanmiharoweichi" (the title of the Qing court to Tsar Alexey) and his servants were destined to be disappointed.

As for the future attacks that Bahai will launch against the East Coast people in the north, it cannot be said that it will not be possible, but this scale is just a small witch compared to the Liaodong area in the south. After all, just by those under his command (many troops have even been transferred to Shenyang to defend near the south), it is hard to say what kind of victory can be achieved when facing the solid fortifications built by the East Coast people. Maybe in the end, the two or three thousand cavalry under his command (maybe more may be selected after the temporary recruitment of some Mongolian riders) could only go around the line from Model Fort to Harbin Fort, show off their power and increase their power, and then they could only return without success.

"No matter what Bogd Khan's people do, we must be prepared to launch a punishment war against the East Coast people." Father Constantine said with a serious face: "Maybe the war will be launched next year, Onufri, we need to spend more time."
Chapter completed!