.Volume 4 The Empire Ascension to the East Chapter 100 The Last City

In November of the 26th year of Hongguang, tens of thousands of troops of the Ming army and the Junggar tribe almost wiped out the Russian strongholds in Siberia except Tobolsk Castle. The Russian residents who fled to the castle had exceeded 30,000. In addition to the original people outside the city, more than 50,000 people flocked to the entire Tobolsk Castle.

What gave Godunov a little comfort was that the winter in Siberia had arrived, and large tracts of snowflakes were floating on the earth. At least there was no need to worry that the Ming army would siege the city in winter, and by next spring, reinforcements might have arrived.

Godunov's judgment on the movements of the Ming army was undoubtedly correct. When the snowflakes, the Ming army stopped its military operations. The winter in Siberia was too cold. Even if the Ming army had cotton coats, cotton pants, blankets and other cold objects, it would not be possible to fight in the snow for a long time. Tobolsk City could not escape, so the Ming army naturally did not have to risk the weather to reduce personnel in the winter.

In April of the 27th year of Hongguang, the long winter in Siberia finally passed. Although there were still snow layers on the ground outside Toborsk City, only the snow-cast streams flowed. Under the snow-filled layers, some impatient grass had already spawned tender buds.

However, the reinforcements that Godunov was waiting for were speechless, which made him wonder whether the entire Siberia was abandoned by the great men in Moscow.

In fact, Siberia is almost the same as being abandoned. After a winter of dormancy, Racine's team has grown to tens of thousands, half of which are equipped with the Ming Dynasty's rifles and cannons. This huge team, along the Volga River, has attacked the town of Nizhny Novgod, which is only 400 kilometers away from Moscow.

Nizhny Novgot Town is an important industrial and commercial city in Russia. Once captured by the rebels, Moscow will not only lose a good barrier, but also lose an important financial base. The rebels will grow stronger. The Tsar and Russian nobles are busy dispatching troops to rescue Nizhny Novgot Town, so they can't even care about a distant Siberian city.

Although Siberia is vast, it has only met the ambition of expanding territory by the Tsar and the great nobles for more than a hundred years. Apart from some fur and sand, it has not brought much benefits to Moscow. Moreover, Moscow is now a time of burning fire. Not to mention that Siberia's interests are not big, even if there is a huge benefit, we have to take care of Moscow's security first. Although the Tsar is unwilling to lose Siberia, he really can't help at this time.

In early May, Godunov finally waited for news from Moscow, and the Tsar ordered Godunov to stick to the Tobolsk Castle and wait until the rebels were eliminated in the country before sending reinforcements.

Upon receiving this news, Godunov felt most of the hearts of a cold heart and asked the messenger: "I don't know when the Tsar will destroy the rebels."

"General, the rebels are powerful, with tens of thousands of them, and they are equipped with muskets and cannons. Dukes of Dorgorukov and Duke Baryatinsky both believe that the rebels have received help from the Ming people. It is very difficult to wipe out in a short time. At present, only by mobilizing troops to protect the town of Nizhny Novgod can we fight back against the rebels." The envoy replied.

Hearing the messenger's answer, all the remaining hopes of Godunov finally turned cold.

"It's Ming Jun again." He thought hatefully.

Shortly after the arrival of the Moscow envoy, the Ming army finally arrived. Tens of thousands of troops surrounded the Tobolsk Castle. What panicked the Cossacks in the city was not the number of people siegeing the city, but the rifles and cannons in the hands of the troops outside the city pushed into the open space.

If all young and strong people are recruited in the Tobolsk Castle, at least an army of tens of thousands of people can be formed. However, those armies without firearms can only be massacred when facing the enemy's rifles and cannons outside the city, which is of no help to defend the city.

What made the city even more uneasy was that after a winter of consumption, there was not much food in the city. With the current food in the city, there was no need to attack the enemy outside the city. It only took a few months to surround the city and the people in the city would starve to death.

"Huho Huho" The Mongols waved their sabers and ran around the city walls, making strange screams, intimidating the Rakshasa people in the city, as if they had found the majesty of following Temujin's massacre of the city hundreds of years ago.

The Cossacks in the city disdained this trick. If they rely on the Mongol scimitars and bows, then 100,000 people would have no choice but to take Tobolsk's walls.

The proud Cossacks were not taken seriously by the Mongols. Although Russia had been buried with the Mongols for a hundred years, these Mongols who only knew how to use bows and arrows were already outdated. In China, Cossacks could rob and kill Tatars at will. Even when fighting with the Junggar tribe, Cossacks could often fight ten. The key is that the Ming people. If there were no Ming people mixed in it, even if the Mongols replaced with muskets, Cossacks would dare to go out of the city to fight the Mongols.

Perhaps because he saw the Rakshasa people on the city wall unmoved, the Mongolians' excitement quickly passed. After a while, he stopped showing off and began to set up camp in a regular manner.

On the first day, everyone was in peace. Although Godunov wanted to take advantage of the enemy's foothold and attack, he saw the cannons and all rifles outside the city, Godunov still gave up the idea of ​​leaving the city.

The next day, just as dawn, Cewang Arabutan brought his troops to fight. The Junggar tribe and the Rakshasa people had already formed a mortal enemy. When Sengge was reborn by Khan, the Junggar tribe and the Rakshasa people fought several bloody battles, and the two sides formed a deep hatred. At that time, the Mongols had no firearms and relied on bows and arrows and scimitars to compete with the Rakshasa people. The casualties were often ten times that of the Rakshasa people. It was only in Siberia that the Junggar tribe was a landlord and had a large population, which barely stopped the Rakshasa people from further occupying the Mongolian grasslands. However, many traditional pastures in Siberia were thrown away.

Now that the Ming Dynasty is backing, there is a firearm that is sharper than the Rakshasa people. In the past six months, it swept through almost all the Rakshasa people's strongholds and snatched back one by one that the Mongols had occupied over the past century. The Rakshasa people were only left with a Toborsk castle. Cewang Arabutan of course hopes to make a concerted effort to leave the Rakshasa people in the east of the Ural Mountains and remove the last stronghold.

Although Galdan thought so, he was not as good as Cewang Alabutan and asked Du Xiaoshan for a fight.

"King Pingshun is a little restless. The people of Luosha in this city have been operating for nearly a hundred years. The city is strong and the damage is too great. I will first bombard it with cannons to see if it can be opened. It will not be too late to attack." Du Xiaoshan replied with a smile.

Ce Wang Alabutan thought about it and did not persist. The troops in his hands were all elites selected by the tribe. If they were lost in the siege, he would be reluctant to leave. He asked Du Xiaoshan for a fight, which was more of an attitude.

The Ming army led by Du Xiaoshan was a standard brigade, with a total of 5,200 people, with a total of 96 large and small artillery pieces. In addition, the two armies of Galdan and Cewang Alabandan, a total of 130 artillery pieces. He concentrated all the artillery pieces at one city gate. After a command, more than 100 artillery pieces fired together. The sound of artillery pieces shook the sky, and the shells fell on the top of the city like raindrops. Although the Ross soldiers who were preparing to defend on the city wall were prepared, they did not expect that the Ming army's artillery fire was so dense that there was no safe place on the city. Many Russian soldiers blew up their bodies.

Cossacks of this density have never experienced this kind of artillery. The battles of Cossacks rely more on sabers and muskets to demonstrate their bravery. Such dense artillery attacks cannot be stopped by human forces at all. For a moment, even Cossacks, who were far away from artillery fire, felt frightened.

The Ming army took the lead, and for a moment, the Russians in the city fell into a state of horror.

"General, why don't we fight back?" A Cossack officer with blood on his face came to Godunov and asked loudly.

Godunov was speechless. Toborsk Castle did have more than 30 artillery pieces, but they were distributed in four. Facing the attack of the Ming army, there were only nine artillery pieces. These artillery pieces were not only bulky, but also had a relatively close range. Even if they could be concentrated and attacked the Ming army, they had no chance of winning. They would only be easily destroyed by the Ming army. It would be better to hide them and wait until the Ming army actually dispatched infantry to attack the city.

"Crazy."

A section of the city wall collapsed, revealing a road leading to the city. Tobolsk's wall may be very strong, but it is designed for Siberian clay and the Russians' own artillery. This design seems a little fragile in front of the heavy artillery of the Ming army, and it can no longer support it after several rounds of artillery attacks.

Seeing the city wall collapse, the Mongolian soldiers watching the battle cheered loudly. If the artillery was not still firing, the impatient person would probably have to rush in.

During the allocation of Russian strongholds last year, the soldiers who participated in the war gained a lot of benefits. In addition to sand, fur and other supplies, the soldiers cared more about the young and strong Russian women. The living conditions of the Junggar tribe are much better than before, but the only one is not as good as before, that is, young women. Many young and beautiful women in the tribe were married by Ming merchants or guards who came and went.

After all, when people go to a high place, they cannot compare with wealthy merchants. When it comes to character and eloquence, they are not as good as those guards. Naturally, there are many young women who are unwilling to marry people from their tribes and marry merchants and their guards.

Han women are even more reluctant to marry them, and they cannot go to the Han area to rob them like before. Many young and strong Mongolians can only live a single life. It is also a good choice if they can rob a Rakshasa woman to be their wife. It is said that there are probably tens of thousands of Rakshasa people in the city, and there are probably tens of thousands of young women, which is enough for most of the people who are single to marry their wives.

"boom"

The artillery continued to be bombarded, and Du Xiaoshan was not satisfied with just opening a gap.
Chapter completed!