On January 31, 1683, Gao Wengang arrived at the port of Kajibey in the snow and lived in a local business station run by Gena* Asians.

"The Venetian business station opened next to the Gena* Asians, haha. This old enemy who has fought for countless years, fought from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, but I didn't expect that it would become a neighbor. It's also interesting." Wearing a thick mink coat, Takawan stood on the vast snowfield outside the business station. Takawan said with a smile.

Not far ahead is the once rippling Black Sea, but it is already covered by a thick layer of ice and snow. There is no trace of people on the ice, and occasionally a sled is passing by, and in a blink of an eye, it is silent again, quiet and quiet, making people forget that hundreds of thousands of soldiers from all over the world are fighting for death hundreds of kilometers away.

Of course, this is already within the territory of the Crimean Khanate. Although it is a border, it is located in a good geographical location, with more than 3,000 infantry and cavalry stationed in guarding against the so-called "bandits" who have come from neighboring countries - don't doubt this. Although the Crimean Khan and the Duke of Moldavia are both vassals of Sultan Muhammad IV, this does not mean that they are in harmony and there are no major conflicts, but small actions are continuous - so the environment is quite comfortable, which is very different from the Duchy of Moldavia, which is required to send troops, food and money because of the Battle of Vienna.

The manager of Genoa*Asia Trading Station is a member of the Doria family. Victor, the nephew of Paul Doria, has served here for several years, which is a kind of experience and gilding. As a young man close to the core circle of the family, Victor has mastered too many transactions about the Doria family and even the Republic and the East Coast people, so he is still relatively polite to Gao Wengang. He spares no effort to entertain and will not hide anything.

"Mr. Special Envoy, of course we can sit comfortably in the house, roasting fire, drinking coffee, and watching the beautiful snow scenes in the wild. But at this time, the Ottoman army far away in Vienna may hate this ice and snowy climate? I don't know whether the materials on the front line are sufficient or not, I feel it is difficult. After a snow, nothing will be gone. This is the power of the 'Winter General'. The Ottomans are too confident." Victor also stood behind him, looking at the strange snow scene in the distance, and said to Gao Wengang: "The new Grand Vizi lacks prestige, and the Sultan also wants to establish authority. A hastily promoted battle to scourge the country, a complete tragedy. What else can we say?"

"The failure of the Ottoman Empire is not good for your country, right? You know, the Russians are still eyeing you. You have invested so much on the north coast of the Black Sea. To some extent, it can be called your country's two major food supply bases together with Sicily. Are you not worried about this important position? Not to mention that you have also set up commercial stations in Kajibey, Kafa, Azov and other places, and have certain commercial interests. Are you really not worried at all?" Gao Wengang turned around, looked at Victor, and asked with a smile.

"It must be fake if you don't worry at all." Victor replied honestly: "But to be honest, what's the use of worrying? We are different from the Venetians. There is no territorial dispute with the Ottoman Empire. Our interests here are only investment and business. Even because the relationship between the two countries is still acceptable, our investment in the Black Sea far exceeds that of the Venetians. We can only wait, wait for new news to come, and wait for the situation to become clear. Before that, we are mentally prepared to accept all possible consequences."

"This is a positive attitude." Gao Wengang praised. He had already learned a preliminary understanding when he first arrived here. He learned that the Grey Khan of the Crimean Khanate rejected the call of Sultan Muhammad IV and did not send troops to Hungary and Austria to fight, but chose to protect the country and the people. Don't doubt that the Crimean Khan of this era had the capital to do this. They were very independent. Before the Battle of Vienna in history, the cavalry they sent did not obey the orders of the Great Vizi and the Sultan, did not participate in the battle, and returned directly to the country. This attitude itself showed a kind of concern, a kind of concern for the strong enemy, the Russian Empire, from the northern border.

For this reason, the Grey Khan of Crimea also sent people to Western Ukraine to negotiate with the current power leader of Gaitman (formerly the Grand Duke of Western Ukraine Khmelinitsky Xiao was ordered to be executed by Sultan Muhammad IV because he could not control the situation). They were ordered by the Ottoman Empire Sultan to monitor the Cossacks of Western Ukraine, so they were not polite at all. They came to the door with a arrogant warning, asking the Western Ukraine side to prepare for war, prepare for war, and prevent Samoylovich's East Ukrainian troops from coming.

As for the people from Russia, Grey Khan no longer expects Western Ukraine to help. In fact, if the Russian troops stationed in Eastern Ukraine advance west or go south, these Western Ukrainian Cossacks, who have long been terrified, will not be of great use. Rather than relying on them, it is better to say that the tens of thousands of cavalry of the Crimean Khanate and the more than 10,000 Ottoman garrisons on the northern coast of the Black Sea are more reliable, they are the backbone of the Russian invasion.

Some people may say that the Russians had signed a 20-year peace agreement with the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate before, why did they still start a war? Haha, your question can only mean that you underestimate the barbaric and shamelessness of the Russians! Unlike later generations, the truce agreement in this era is still effective, and many countries still abide by it. For example, after the Fourth Austria-Turkey War, Austria and Turkey signed a 20-year truce agreement, and Ottoman Turkey

This time, the Empire waited until the agreement expired in 1683 before sending the declaration of war to Vienna - this proved that they did not shamelessly declare war - but countries like Russia may not necessarily abide by this thing (in history, they blatantly tore up the armistice agreement and launched the Russian-Turkish war in the middle). Moreover, the old Tsar had just died of illness and the new Tsar succeeded to the throne. They had sufficient motivation to do so, and this has always been one of Russia's basic national policies and would not be subject to much resistance at home.

"Okay, as you said, we can't play any role now, so let's wait quietly to see what will happen next." Gao Wengang walked into the house and said helplessly. Now he can only wait. Of course, this does not mean that he has to wait here. In fact, he will only rest here for one or two days, and then continue to set off by land to the Crimean Khanate, stay here to wait, and the people who collect information were his followers.

On March 5, 1683, after more than a month of difficult journey, Gao Wengang and his party finally arrived in the territory of the Crimean Khanate. Here, it seemed that good luck suddenly came, and they soon learned about the news of Grey Khan. It turned out that the Khan was taking people to patrol the northern coast of the Black Sea at this time - called hunting, which was actually to reorganize the military and strengthen the vigilance.

After learning about the whereabouts of Gao Wengang, the envoy of the East Coast plenipotentiary, the Khan also received the first meeting. At Grey Khan, the envoy of Gao was grandly received, which was very different from the neglect he had suffered in various places before, and this also made him realize that the reason why the Ottomans were so slow to react and not very enthusiastic about the suggestions of the East Coast people was probably related to that they had not felt the pain yet? After all, they had been strong for so long and looked down on Europe for so long - regardless of whether they had this qualification or not - it was very likely that their thoughts would not change for a while. Only when they experienced relatively heavy failures and faced a severe strategic environment surrounded by enemies would they be moved?

Gao Wengang even speculated that after experiencing the unsatisfactory or even failure of the siege of Vienna, the Ottomans would probably have a clear understanding of their own strength? At that time, the East Coast people would come to talk about things again, and the difficulty would be much lower. But I don’t know how much land there would be left in the Balkans, the most elite Balkans under the Ottoman Empire. You should know that land that is new for a short time like Hungary, Transylvania, Moldavia, etc., has unstable people’s hearts and weak foundations, and they will be taken away by others if they are not guaranteed. In that case, if Christian settlements such as Serbia that have ruled for many years are occupied by others, if they want to get them back, they will probably have to waste a lot of effort.

At this point, the strength of the Ottoman Empire would be greatly reduced and its value would be greatly reduced. This is undoubtedly not in line with the interests of the East Coast Republic of China. Therefore, this is why Gao Wengang advanced to meet with Alberto Morosini on Zakynthos Island, asking the Republic of Venetian to "take some time" and not take the opportunity to fight the Ottoman Empire to death. After all, they have naval advantages and the Ottoman Empire is difficult to deal with. In order to awaken the Venetians, Gao Wengang even pointed out that once the Austrian Kingdom becomes stronger, it will also pose a great threat to the Republic of Venetians. I hope this will touch the Venetians, so that they will not make the Ottoman Empire too miserable and lose too much strength.

Well, let's focus on the Crimean Khanate. Here, Gao Wengang finally got the news that he had not received on the road, which was the final result of the Battle of Vienna. Grey Khan, who had already collected information through reconnaissance cavalry, told Gao Wengang that the 150,000 army led by Mustafa Davizi had finally failed! He had to divide his troops to block the reinforcements of the German princes, and to separate troops to guard against the Ottoman army of tens of thousands of Austrian troops led by Charles V. There were very few troops to be used to siege the city. In addition, the weather was severe in winter, the people were severely frostbite, and there was a shortage of military rations, supplies, and artillery. More than 100,000 troops who could not be captured for a long time were forced to retreat. At this time, they had already lost more than 20,000 elite soldiers in the siege battle, and there were no less than 10,000 people killed or injured by the "General Winter". The soldiers complained and almost mutinized, so they could only announce their retreat.

Retreatment before the enemy has never been a simple task. On the contrary, it is a very test of the overall quality of the troops and the level of commanders. In this regard, the Ottomans were undoubtedly extremely lacking. Their retreat, with complex components, low morale and lack of supplies, was a disaster from the beginning. When the Polish king Jan Sobeski led the famous Polish wing cavalry to attack him, the already chaotic order of retreat immediately declared collapse. The general and the lord began to fight on their own. The army commander Mustafada Vizi didn't even know where his subordinates were and what they were doing. The good retreat turned into an amazingly large retreat.

In this great retreat, the Christian World coalition forces, who were waiting for their labor and sufficient supplies, did not waste the great opportunity given to them by God, began an easy pursuit, striving to expand the results. In this unprecedented pursuit battle, the Polish cavalry once again played a final role. They defeated all the resistances of the Ottoman infantry group with fierce charges many times, leaving them in chaos all the time. Then they were divided, surrounded and annihilated by the German coalition forces (led by Charles V, Duke of Lorraine and Prince Eugen) who were chasing from behind, surrounded and annihilated. The whole scene was extremely tragic.

After learning this expected news, Gao Wengang had nothing to say for a moment, thinking about how many people and supplies the Ottomans lost this time, how much land they lost, what step the Austrians would chase them before stopping, and whether the Venetian fleet had been dispatched! These things made him feel a little painful, but he had no idea, so he could only take one step and take one step.

After that, Gao Wengang was even more determined to contact Russia. On the one hand, he tested their words - he did not believe that the Tsar did not receive similar messages - on the other hand, he advised Russia to be cautious and not to brazenly tear the armistice agreement just signed, and trigger a war with the Turks. Unfortunately, the envoys he sent to Eastern Ukraine and the Don River Basin returned in vain. Perhaps because the situation in Moscow is a bit chaotic now (the old Tsar just passed away less than a year, and the year

The young Tsar Peter was not stable, and the powerful ministers in the palace were in power), and local Russian officials only agreed to return the letter to Moscow. As for any response, they could not guarantee it. However, when Gao Wen saw that they were not very enthusiastic, he guessed that there was most of the result. On whether to go to war with Ottoman Turkey, the influence of the East Coast people on the issue of whether to go to war with Ottoman Turkey, the priority level must not be very high, and it is even less powerful than that of some of its domestic veteran ministers.
Chapter completed!