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

After the Cossack mercenary finished eating the raw meat, he gritted his teeth and pulled the arrow out of his shoulder, his face contorted in pain.

This is a thin arrow with a sharp, thin tip and no barb. It is not easy to kill people and was used by some generals to capture prisoners.

After pulling out the arrow, the man endured the pain and took out a bloodstained map from his chest. There was a hole in the map, which had been shot through despite the presence of fur and the map itself. This showed how powerful Aguda's arrow was.

After opening the map, Aguda didn't recognize anything else, only Hulun Lake at the top. When he saw the largest marker, he was completely stunned.

"Your so-called fortress is almost two thousand miles away from here, it takes more than a month to go back and forth. You actually went that far, what's the point?"

This was what puzzled Aguda. After all, his journey north was through vast, snowy plains, and apart from the occasional tribe he encountered, which were all extremely poor, there was nothing else.

The Cossack mercenary scratched his head upon hearing this, initially embarrassed to speak, but upon seeing Aguda's beast-like gaze, he immediately raised his hands.

"Making money, of course, is for the purpose of making money!"

"The furs here, especially the purple sable fur, are extremely expensive back home. We Cossacks are despised by all countries, so the Tsar recruited us as mercenaries to expand the borders and build fortresses, forcing some unruly people from our homeland to migrate!"

No wonder they were so ruthless, not even sparing women and children. It turns out their intentions were exactly the same as the Han's—to rule this land.

However, Aguda believed that the Han's approach was more popular. Along the way, in addition to marking the tribes along the route, Aguda also conveyed information that the Han would soon build a city there, and that livestock and furs could be used to exchange for grain, iron pots, and other items with the merchants in the city.

Upon hearing this, people were willing to accept the rule.

Can't we take them in and make them our subjects?

Why kill them?

Knowing the Rakshasa's intentions, Aguda was immediately filled with fighting spirit. What's the point of hunting? It's the battle between two armies that's interesting. So he pointed to the waves on the map.

"What is this?"

The Cossack hired a mercenary and looked at it.

"This is Lake Baikal, an extremely large lake, and we haven't even finished exploring it yet!"

Lake Baikal? It's incredibly large!

Isn't this Beihai on the map?

Zhao Lie had told him that this was his destination, and that once he arrived, he should send someone back to report that the Han Dynasty would then send craftsmen and troops to build a city here.

Yes, Liu Mu's strategy was the opposite of that of Tsarist Russia. He wanted to explore several routes and then build cities in the farthest places, Nerchinsk being one of them.

Anyway, let's occupy the territory first.

The relocation of people will be done gradually!

Thinking of this, Aguda stopped chatting and immediately walked out of the yurt, found the little flag that had spoken earlier, and took out the map he had just seen.

"You immediately take your men and return to Ningguta Guard via the same route. Give this map to the Commander and tell him that I, Aguda, have already set off for the North Sea to attack the Rakshasa fortress. You can send out craftsmen and troops ahead of time!"

The young flag bearer now held Aguda in high esteem, knowing that Aguda's earlier advances were to distract the enemy during their raids before charging in, all to protect their lives. After all, they weren't as skilled with firearms as the Rakshasa people.

"I'll go right away!" Xiao Qi said, and then led the other nine people back, each with three horses.

Meanwhile, Aguda immediately summoned his entire army and led a dozen or so women and children from the tribe to Lake Baikal.

In this icy, snowy environment, where wild animals roam freely, these women and children would surely die without the protection of men.

When you encounter the next tribe, just hand her over to them. Women are welcome in any tribe because they can increase their population.

……

Meanwhile, two hundred-man teams heading further east to the Western Sea Jurchens arrived at Twin Cities, which is now Vladivostok.

After sending a sergeant back to Ningguta to report, the centurion continued northward along the sea, which later became the Sea of ​​Japan, to explore several coastal garrisons. His final destination was Kuyi Island, which later became Sakhalin Island!

The other group arrived at Xishenwei, the capital of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission of the Ming Dynasty, which is now Fuyuan City. After sending a small flag officer back, they also chose to continue north.

His destination was Yemuhewei of Nurgan Commandery, which is the Sakhalin Bay of later Russia.

There were also two groups that went north. Since both were located in plains, the two groups had merged and were stationed in Suwenhewei, which is the area of ​​Sunwu County and Xunkezhao in later generations.

They sent a small flag back to Ningguta, while they themselves continued northward. Their destination was Gulihewei, which was the northernmost part of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission. Further north lay the mountains, which later became known as the Outer Khingan Mountains.

……

Zhao Lie had just returned to Ningguta on orders, and on the eighth day of the second month, he received battle reports from five teams.

After learning that none of the five teams had suffered major losses, except for a few unlucky ones who fell into the ice cave, Zhao Lie breathed a sigh of relief.

After reading the five battle reports in his hand, Zhao Lie looked at Wu Zhaoqian, who was drinking beside him, and handed him the reports.

"These five teams have already completed half of the planned route, and the rest should have reached the destination by now. It seems His Majesty's mission is halfway complete!"

"Let's see where we can relocate them first. Over five hundred prisoners have been arriving in batches lately, and their food and drink expenses are quite high. We need to get them to the frontier as soon as possible!"

As Zhao Lie spoke, his heart began to burn with excitement.

If His Majesty were to actually bestow this title upon him, making him a duke with a fiefdom, or even a king, his ancestral graves would not just be emitting auspicious smoke, they would be on fire.

However, the thought that he was just a slave and didn't even know where his hometown was made him unhappy again!

Wu Zhaoqian took the five battle reports, read them carefully, and then pulled out Aguda's battle report.

"As you yourself said, His Majesty is most concerned about Tsarist Russia. Before Aguda set off for the North Sea, he had already encountered Russians. It's clear that Tsarist Russia has already reached Hulun Lake!"

"To ensure His Majesty sees your achievements, it is natural to send men to attack, ideally capturing Russian fortresses!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Lie slapped his thigh.

"Yes, His Majesty will send Oghul Subutai this year to pacify the three Mongol tribes in the northern desert. It's not far from here, so we might be able to get some slaves to build the city!"

"If my battle report and the Marquis of Russia's battle report were both placed before His Majesty's desk, that would be a good thing!"

After Zhao Lie finished speaking, he couldn't wait to walk out of the main hall and ride his warhorse to the barracks outside the city.

The Jurchens went out to investigate, and now that the area is empty, it has become a concentration camp for prisoners from within the Great Han Pass.