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

A group of Russian soldiers who only know how to ride horses but not how to fight, even if they are temporarily inspired by the nobles, how can they be a match for the servants who have been selected through life and death?

However, he killed more than half of them in just one round.

The remaining less than 800 Russian soldiers collapsed, dismounted, and knelt to surrender. They were just ordinary peasants, and the Russian government and nobility did not treat them well.

Using firearms to bully the natives who lacked cold weapons was fine, but fighting a hard battle would be beneath them. The fact that they could hold out for so long was all thanks to Ivan's effective persuasion.

Seeing this scene, Ivan could even imagine the scene after the Han army crossed the Ural Mountains, where the farmers and herdsmen did not resist, and the Han army eventually marched straight towards Moscow!

This is because it is currently Russia's weakness. The common people live worse than dogs, and the nobles control 90% of the wealth and resources. If there are any problems with the military, it will be a disaster.

As these Russian soldiers surrendered, the Cossacks and the locals who were eating bread in the distance watched and ate with even greater relish.

Just then, Subutai rode up to Ivan and gestured for him to sit down.

"Ivan, you are a qualified governor. What can you do for His Majesty the Emperor of our Great Han? He loves talented people the most. If you are willing to surrender, I can recommend you!"

"If you don't want to, then you can use this knife to cut your own throat right now and go see your God!"

Liu Mu's task for Subutai was to open up the southern and northern desert regions, the western regions, and ultimately the Kazakh plains, thus completing the Silk Road plan.

In Subutai's eyes, Ivan was a qualified politician. After all, he could eat people and make the natives fight desperately. If he could handle government affairs for the Han Dynasty, Subutai would be spared a lot of trouble.

"Your military capabilities are quite good, but the Gagarin family are the Tsar's most loyal subjects and the most devout Christians. They will not surrender to you infidels!"

Hearing that Subutai had not forced him to surrender or insulted him, Ivan's expression softened. He picked up the knife from the ground and, after speaking, slit his own throat.

This slash was made without the slightest hesitation, which impressed Subutai greatly. He could slit his own throat, but he couldn't do it so decisively.

To show his respect for the warrior, Subutai, accompanied by his personal guards, personally dug a pit and erected a monument for Governor Ivan.

The inscription reads: "On the 23rd day of the third month of the Great Han Dynasty, General Subutai, the Grand General Who Conquers the West, annihilated 8,000 Russian troops. The Governor-General of Russia was defeated and committed suicide. He was buried here!"

Just then, Nurhaci strode over.

"General, we have four thousand surrendered native soldiers, eighteen thousand Cossack cavalry, eight hundred and fifty Russian soldiers who know how to use firearms, two thousand three hundred captured firearms, and twenty small-caliber cannons. What should we do with these?"

Upon hearing this, Subutai patted the dust off his clothes.

"Select three thousand from among them who are skilled in horsemanship and arquebuses/cannons, and reduce all the others to slavery, sending them to various thousand-household units!"

Food was scarce on the grasslands, and it was already quite difficult to feed 30,000 regular soldiers who had taken time off work and 8,000 servants who had joined the army.

Moreover, it's useless to mass-produce troops on the grasslands. Even if you have a million soldiers, it's difficult to survive on the vast grasslands, and you'll eventually starve to death.

After receiving the order, Nurhaci began to select servants to join the army. After going through the seven or eight thousand men, he found that the Cossacks and Russian soldiers had the advantage in both physical strength and shooting ability, so he could only choose them.

Next, instead of heading to the Ural Mountains as Ivan had planned, Subutai directly deployed his army, dividing them into groups of a thousand men, and began sweeping across the Kazakh steppe and the Siberian plains.

This time, they didn't use the name of the Han Dynasty, but rather the Dzungar Khanate. They would run away when they encountered large-scale enemy forces, and devour small tribes when they encountered them. They captured all the cattle and sheep and relocated them all to the vicinity of Ili and the Altai Mountains.

The purpose of doing this is mainly because the Kazakhs currently do not have a Great Khan, but only three Juz, who lead hundreds of small tribes of varying sizes.

The Great Horde was located south of Lake Balkhash, while the Lesser Horde was close to the eastern steppes of Tsarist Russia. These two forces were not strong and would surrender if a large army were to invade their territory.

Subutai's biggest target was the Great Horde, a tribe that not only occupied central Kazakhstan but also controlled half of the Siberian Plain, with a total population of at least 500,000 to 600,000.

With such a large population and such a vast territory, they will not submit unless we fight them fair and square.

In fact, Subutai's approach was correct. Historically, the Dzungars also plundered people and livestock along the way, forcing the Great Horde to concentrate their tribal cavalry for a decisive battle, thus recovering the Kazakhstan in one fell swoop and beginning a long-term confrontation with Tsarist Russia in Central Asia.

……

While Subutai was leading his troops to deal with the Kazakhs, Liu Mu had already arrived at the military factory in Datong.

Prior to this, Cao Lie, the prefect of Datong, had already organized 30,000 laborers to welcome them along the way. Although these Eight Banner soldiers did not have armor or weapons, they still needed able-bodied men to escort them to the mines.

The people of Datong were very enthusiastic about this, because they knew that these people were there to mine coal for them.

Dangerous tasks are often handled by people like this, while they only need to do the safe tasks.

When Liu Mu stood on the hillside, there were already more than 30 factories in the canyon, four times the number two years ago.

Wei Cheng, who has now been promoted to the head of the Datong Military Factory, has seen his gray hair thin out. He pointed to a machine that was slowly advancing in the middle of the canyon and said...

"Your Majesty, this is the railcar built according to your requirements, primarily using a water-fire rotating mechanism. However, it can only move on its own for now and cannot pull heavy loads as Your Majesty requested!"

"The problem is still air leakage. Whether it's a mixture of grease and hemp rope or a mixture of beeswax, it can't stop the leakage, causing too much energy to be released."

Liu Mu wasn't too surprised to hear this. Early steam engines didn't have much kinetic energy and were mainly used for pumping water and textiles, so he used his limited knowledge to enlighten him.

"The leak is mainly due to the components not fitting together perfectly. Making the components exactly the same size and then sealing them with grease might help!"

Just then, Emperor Kangxi, leaning on his cane, limped over and looked at the factory buildings in the mountains and the chimneys that were constantly emitting smoke.

At first, there was a hint of doubt, followed by shock. After all, Kangxi had a wide range of knowledge and quickly guessed that these things were for iron smelting.

"Is this where firearms are manufactured?"

"It's so big!"

Throughout the journey, Liu Mu did not imprison Kangxi, but only allowed his personal guards to accompany him, since a cripple like him had no way to escape.

After Nanjing is captured, it can be cast in molten copper. So when he heard Kangxi's doubts, Liu Mu didn't bother to explain and instead looked at Wei Cheng.

"How was the mud mask you made?"