Chapter 1432: The Strongest Surrender Advocate in History (Begging for Monthly Tickets, Frantically Begging for Monthly Tickets)

The older the ginger, the spicier it is!

Crown Princess Ding Yuying's scheme had not even been put into action before that old fox Yue Le saw through it!

Now the two protectorates of Heilongjiang and Andong should not even dream of another Sarhu — Dodo had already tried that years ago, and in the end seventy thousand men were routed by a little over ten thousand of the enemy, and his own head was packed into a rather fine-looking box and sent to Yingtian Prefecture.

Yue Le himself had taken part in that battle; if he had not run fast, he would already be a grown man by now after reincarnation. With his military ability, he naturally knew he could not take on Crown Prince Zhu's Ming army head-on. The only feasible option was to hide deep in the mountains and forests and fight a protracted war.

But the problem was that the Heilongjiang and Andong armies had spent the last dozen or so years having far too good a time with their trading — furs, ginseng, eastern pearls, cattle and sheep, mules and horses. The prefects, county magistrates, chiliarchs, and centurions below them were all rich men now! And everyone had bought houses in Liaoyang Prefecture and Tianhe Prefecture, and the promising sons in their families were all studying in Liaoyang and Tianhe. Their spare cash was mostly deposited in the Jiale Market money shop, earning interest. Who among that lot was willing to follow a rebellion? Did they not want their sons, or their savings?

One could say that economically, the Heilongjiang and Andong armies had long since merged with the south into a single whole!

Moreover, Zhu Cilang had successively taken Dong'e and Ajige as consorts, which also served the purpose of drawing over the powerful families of the Heilongjiang and Andong armies. With these two precedents set, the powerful families of the Heilongjiang and Andong armies now had the qualification to send their daughters into the Ming imperial house — the Retired Emperor had more than a hundred sons, and how many upper-tier powerful families did the Heilongjiang and Andong armies even have?

Besides, the Retired Emperor Chongzhen also had more than a hundred daughters.

As an aside, if the Ming dynasty of history could have tossed aside its rule of "no marriage alliances" and learned a thing or two from the "lower-body fortress," then given the population of the Ming imperial house, would not all the great and small tribes and states around the Ming have become relatives of the Ming dynasty?

Of course, this sort of "marriage alliance" was a bit disgraceful. But was it not also a case of putting waste to use, sending off all those descendants the Ming raised like pigs for marriage alliances?

So the "Lucky Crown Prince" and Ding Yuying held far too many trump cards for attacking schemes and alliances. Even without a trump card like the Imperial Guard in hand, they could still make Oboi and Yue Le lose their heads through under-the-table dealings.

Therefore, the "going north to submit to Russia" that Yue Le proposed was the only way out. Of course, "submitting to Russia" was not easy either.

"Will Russia be willing to take us in?" Oboi frowned bitterly. "These past few years, although we have had dealings with them, relations have not been very good. The Yakutsk Governorate of Russia does not appreciate good intentions — it keeps protesting that we fight the Mongols on their behalf!"

Of course Russia had to protest!

Those two scourges Oboi and Yue Le, in order to seize the interests of the Greater Khingan Mountains and the Khorchin grasslands, had on their own authority formed a Russian army numbering as many as five thousand!

This army's weapons, equipment, and dress were all modeled on the genuine Russian army, and they had even hired Spanish military advisors to train them in Western methods, and had even used high salaries to poach genuine Russians from the Yakutsk Governorate of Russia to serve as foreign aid.

Because this "Russian army" was very strong in combat, it often beat the armies of the Chahar Khanate to a pulp! And the Chahar Khanate, having suffered losses, went to the Ming for help. Zhu Cilang did not even investigate the truth, and directly ordered the four garrisons of Anbei, Daning, Shuofang, and Beiping to send out troops, and even dispatched a small number of Imperial Guards to join the fight.

These Ming troops going north sometimes could not find Oboi and Yue Le's "fake Russians," so they went to Nerchinsk to make trouble for the real Russians!

How many real Russians were there in Nerchinsk? How could they possibly defeat the allied forces of the Ming, Chahar, and Tumed? The fortress of Nerchinsk had been broken open several times.

If the Heilongjiang Protectorate had not made every excuse to shirk responsibility, unwilling to take on the defense of Nerchinsk, Russia would long since have lost Nerchinsk.

Because Nerchinsk lay on the banks of the Shilka River, supplies could only be brought in via the Heilongjiang–Shilka water route. If one had to go over the Mongolian Plateau, the logistical cost would be far too high. If one started counting from the Bashang grasslands, the straight-line distance was two thousand li, and the actual route was estimated at over three thousand li.

Moreover, because there were very few places on the Mongolian Plateau suitable for farming, it was very difficult to establish relay supply depots, so an army crossing the grasslands either had to live off the Mongols or carry grain for a thousand li. Either way, it was very hard to sustain.

Of course, the Ming army's firearms and cannon were now formidable, and there were some Mongol tribes attached to them, enough to support short-term punitive expeditions on the grasslands, and they did not fear Chahar or Tumed being disloyal. But it was still very difficult to establish a long-term base in Siberia north of the Mongolian Plateau capable of resisting the Russians — unless a usable water route could be found.

Because the Heilongjiang Protectorate was unwilling to cooperate, the Ming troops who captured Nerchinsk could only burn the city and withdraw. After they withdrew, the Russians from Irkutsk would return to Nerchinsk and build the city again — Irkutsk looked as though it lay deep in the Siberian interior with seemingly very inconvenient transport, but it had water routes connecting the Yenisei River and the Lena River, two great rivers leading to the Arctic Ocean. So the Russians could use these two great rivers and the Arctic Ocean to transport supplies and personnel to Irkutsk, which was also an important reason the Russians could conquer Siberia. And from Lake Baikal near Irkutsk to Nerchinsk, the shortest route was about twelve hundred li. Not very close, but still within the range that logistics could support, so the Russians could always go and come back.

Although they could come back, they also had no ability to maintain a large army at Nerchinsk, so the allied forces of the Ming, Chahar, and Tumed were always coming to wreak havoc, which gave the Yakutsk Governorate a great headache!

Moreover, the Yakutsk Governorate did not want war with the Ming at all. Although Russia was fighting fiercely with the Dzungar Khanate on the Kazakh steppe, here in eastern Siberia they wanted to maintain peace with the Ming, preferably even to open trade, and had absolutely no intention of moving south.

As a result, because the Ming's Heilongjiang frontier garrisons kept impersonating Russian troops to fight the Mongols, the Ming army repeatedly attacked Nerchinsk. What an unjust black mark to bear!

So the Russian governor sent people to Heilongjiang every few days to protest to Oboi.

And Oboi was no good either; he always ignored the Russians' protests, while at the same time demanding that the Yakutsk Russians trade furs for silk, tea, and porcelain, setting himself up as a middleman.

The Russian governor could do nothing about him, because Oboi had strong troops and there was profit in the trade.

But now that Oboi and Yue Le wanted to go over and submit, would the other side even accept them?

Besides, even if Russia were willing to accept them, how many men of the Heilongjiang and Andong armies would be willing to follow?

Why give up being fine hawks and hounds of the Ming to go to Siberia? That was where Russia exiled its convicts — go and be foreign exiles?

Oboi thought it over again and again, then shook his head. "Who would be willing to go with us is also a problem! Although we have a few thousand Russian troops on hand, among them there are not many trusted men truly willing to follow us! And to advance along the Heilongjiang–Shilka water route, we would have to use the naval forces of the Heilongjiang Protectorate. Those naval forces are not very reliable."

"Old Protector," Yue Le said with a smile, "let us not be so honest, telling the men below the truth. We are still protectors now! Let us not say we are going to submit to Russia — let us say that by royal command we are going to attack Russia's city of Nerchinsk! That way we can legitimately mobilize the Heilongjiang naval forces. Once we have brought the Heilongjiang naval forces to the walls of Nerchinsk, we can just set the ships on fire, can we not?"

Oboi thought for a moment and nodded. "It seems that is the only way. If we can bring along the ships of the Heilongjiang naval forces, we can at least carry some grain and cattle and sheep to Nerchinsk, and hold out for a while."

Yue Le laughed. "As long as we can hold out for a while, we will have the capital to bargain with the court. Perhaps we might even get an amnesty and come back to be protectors of Heilongjiang!"

Oboi sighed. "Let us hope so. This old man is getting on in years; I do not want to die of old age on the shores of Lake Baikal."

(End of Chapter)