The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

This 5,000-strong ragtag army was not only composed of diverse soldiers, but also armed with a variety of weapons, including axes for felling trees, bows and arrows for hunting, and spears for throwing.

At the very front of this army of eight thousand was an elderly man, nearly sixty years old, dressed in a bright red robe.

Subutai's side consisted of 10,000 elite Han cavalry and over 5,000 Blue Banner soldiers.

Subutai arrived in Yili in February and divided the remaining 200,000 people into 200 thousand-household units, according to the pattern of the southern and northern deserts, and scattered them in the pastures of Yili and the foothills of the Altai Mountains.

Following Liu Mu's instructions, they then swept across southern Siberia and the northern steppes of Kazakhstan, encompassing the Three Hordes (Great, Medium, and Small Hordes).

Unexpectedly, just two months after sweeping across the western Altai Mountains, Tsarist Russia sent an army of more than 8,000 men.

Subutai only allowed his servants to charge once, and then dared not charge again, because the enemy was armed with firearms, while he only had cold weapons. Even if he managed to break through the enemy lines with his bravery, the losses would be too great for Subutai to bear.

However, Subutai was no pushover. He dispatched 20,000 elite Han cavalry to continue sweeping through Russian pastures and strongholds.

He himself led 10,000 elite Han cavalry and his servants to hold back the main force of Tsarist Russia. It has been eight days since then, on March 23.

Every day, they were like wolves, hanging three hundred paces away from the Russian army, neither attacking nor retreating, just watching. They ate barley and frozen meat sent from the rear every day.

Just as Subutai was preparing to continue his advance and send his servants to harass the army, a Russian cavalryman dressed in a red shooting uniform rode up to the front of the army.

"General of the Han Kingdom opposite us, our governor would like to have a talk with you. Both sides are only allowed to bring three personal guards, how does that sound?"

Subutai remained calm upon hearing this. He secretly loaded ammunition into his flintlock pistol and, with three personal guards, rode his horse between the two armies.

The elderly governor of Tsarist Russia, accompanied by three personal cavalry guards, strolled leisurely to the center. Upon seeing Subutai's robust physique and relatively young age, he immediately showed admiration.

"Greetings, I am Tsar Ivan, the governor of this land. I would like to ask the Han general: were His Majesty the Tsar's troops at Lake Baikal annihilated by you? And why did you do this?"

Upon hearing these words, Subutai thought of Zhao Lie and sighed inwardly that the kid had already reached Lake Baikal. He then took out a map from his pocket.

"This is a map from the Ming Dynasty, clearly marking the North Sea and the garrison. Our Great Han Dynasty recognizes the legitimacy of the Ming Dynasty, so your Tsarist Russia is invading our inherent territory. What's wrong with killing a few of your people?"

The map in Subutai's hand was actually a map of the area surrounding Kazakhstan. It wasn't very detailed and was a product of the Ming Dynasty's tributary system. It was just something he used to deceive people.

To be honest, it wasn't exactly a lie. Lake Baikal was a region under the actual control of the Tang Dynasty, and it was also under the control of the Yuan Dynasty.

The history of the East is too long, and more importantly, most of it is documented in writing, making it far more complete than theirs. After a moment of silence, Ivan could only try a different approach.

"General of Han, you surely know that continuing this will yield no results. How about we each take a step back and withdraw our troops?"

Governor Ivan's words sounded like a call to cease hostilities and make peace, but to Subutai, it meant that the Russian army was already short of food and might even be starving.

After all, the Siberian plains do not produce grain. His more than 30,000 soldiers were fed by horses, and the Dzungar Khanate behind them was almost unable to keep up, not to mention the 8,000-strong Russian army.

During this period, the scouts sent out by the surrounding Subutai did not see any supply convoys.

His Majesty has repeatedly instructed that Tsarist Russia is a group that will not act without self-interest, and any unusual behavior indicates a problem.

Thinking of this, Subutai immediately revealed a playful expression, took out a piece of cooked beef from his pocket, which was still slightly steaming, and threw it directly to Governor Ivan.

"Governor Ivan, would you like some beef?"

"Or, to put it another way, does your army eat beef?"

"If you are willing to surrender with your troops, this general can provide you with an unlimited supply of beef!"

Subutai's words seemed nonsensical, but in Governor Ivan's ears, they meant that they were short of food, and that the Han general had already noticed it.

However, Ivan caught the beef with one hand, pretended to smell it, and then tossed it back to Subutai.

"Our Tsarist Russia lacks everything, but it doesn't lack food!"

"In that case, see you on the battlefield!"

After Ivan finished speaking, he left with his personal guards, seemingly unconcerned about Subutai's words, but only he knew the trembling in his sleeves.

Subutai was also skeptical, so he gave the order.

"Nurhaci, take a commander of a thousand and launch an attack. Ideally, capture someone, cut open their stomach, and see how much food is inside!"

"Your subordinate obeys!"

A man who was 1.8 meters tall, strong and dressed in a yellow-bordered armor knelt on one knee to pay his respects, and then rode his horse to the rear camp to mobilize troops.

This Nurhaci was not the Nurhaci of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but rather a Jurchen who was promoted from a servant in the Blue Banner to a member of the Han cavalry by Subutai, the queen of Wanyan Wudang.

He had already risen to the rank of centurion. His original name was Wali, which means net. Subutai disliked the name and directly bestowed upon him the name Nurhaci, which means wild boar skin.

Of course, one could also describe them as brave as wild boars.

Nurhaci was an extremely capable commander. He led a thousand cavalrymen, dressed in colorful banners and armor, in an orderly fashion, as they began to maneuver around the temporary Russian camp.

Ivan, who had just returned to the camp, received the news that Subutai had come to arrest people to verify whether they were short of food, so he immediately gave the order.

"Quickly, send the Cossack cavalry to drive them away!"

Soon, the two thousand Cossack cavalrymen who received the order set out of the camp and charged toward Nurhaci.

Nurhaci joined the army from the Blue Banner and fought his way up through military merit, so he knew what his men were thinking. His first instinct was not to retreat, but to confront them head-on.

As long as you can kill the enemy, you can escape being cannon fodder.

It's better to die sooner and be reborn sooner.

When the two collided, blood and flesh flew everywhere.

Of course, most of them were Cossack cavalry.

At this time, the Kazakh cavalry was not yet the elite Russian force that would be equipped with flintlock muskets more than a decade later.

At this time, their equipment was too poor, and their chainmail was crudely made. How could it compare to the cloth-covered iron armor that the Manchus carefully made for the Eight Banners after they entered the pass?

The two sides were merely experiencing a single impact.

The Cossack cavalry had already lost more than 300 riders, while the Blue Banner soldiers had only lost more than 80 riders.

Nurhaci was very satisfied with the 4-to-1 victory. When he was about to order another charge, the Cossack cavalrymen retreated directly back to their camp.

Left with no other choice, Nurhaci personally performed the dissection on the spot. For these servants and soldiers, this level of bloodshed was no problem at all.