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I am not afraid of war or anything. Although this is the border of Russia, Persia has not gone north for decades, and it is impossible for other forces to break through the fortress.

Of the three insurgents, two have left.

The remaining Mongols also had to work. It was impossible for the army to besiege the city all the time. Only more than 2000 horsemen remained on the east bank of the Volga River.

Governor Yakov completely relaxed and resumed his days of debauchery.

Alexei became sad. How much he wished that the fortress would always be surrounded by enemy troops, and he could barely eat enough every day.

Why didn't the enemy continue to besiege the city?

On this day, Alexei was called to work, and the object of his service was an officer of the standing army.These standing armies, like his great-grandfather, were also freemen conscripted by the Tsar, but now they could drive him as a slave.

Racine's cannon smashed a hole in the roof of the officer's house, and the tables, chairs and benches were also smashed.

Several shooting troops were called to repair the house for free and clean up the messy house.Alexei was whipped several times by the officer because he worked slowly, and he didn't even eat a bite from morning to night.

Back home hungry, his wife and children were counting on him.

He originally had four sons and three daughters, but three died of hunger and disease.In the past, they could go to work in the bazaar (big bazaar) on the other side of the fortress, and the salary of the husband and wife was barely enough to support the family.But the bazaar was looted by the rebels, many wealthy merchants were killed, and the people at the bottom rebelled northward with Racine.

In this case, Alexei could not find a job and completely lost his source of income.

A few days later, the whole family was so hungry that even the table was ground into powder, and bread was made with the little flour left.Alexei looked for people to borrow money and food everywhere, but his friends were all shooting soldiers. Who in the bitter family has surplus food?

When he returned home again, his wife was crying, but his youngest son died, whether he died of illness or starvation.

At night, a friend from the shooting army came to visit, and Alexei's family was curled up on the bed to endure hunger.

"Egor, why are you here?" Alexei asked.

Yegor said: "All the more than 200 shooting troops are out of food at home. We have already discussed that tomorrow we will collectively go to the governor to borrow food, otherwise we will all starve to death. The governor does not want to see this happen. are you going?"

Alexei said, "Of course I'm going, I've run out of food at home."

The next day, more than 200 shooting troops surrounded the Governor's Mansion.

Governor Yakov's first reaction was to call in the standing army to suppress it.After learning that the shooting army was only here to borrow food, Yakov laughed again: "Lend them some food, so don't starve the animals to death."

"Master is really kind." The housekeeper praised him sincerely.

Since it is borrowed grain, of course it has to be repaid in the future, and the interest will also be calculated.

Alexei owed the governor a lot of food, and he had long forgotten how much he should pay back with interest.His father also owed money and food to the previous governor. The former governor was very kind and didn't care about it when he left. He just took his sister away to pay the debt.

But this time the governor didn't borrow much, because the fortress wasn't really safe yet, and it might be surrounded again at any time. The governor had to save food for the defense of the city.

Alexei came home happily with a sack of flour to find his wife, weeping, grinding what was left of the table.

His eldest daughter died too!

The couple ignored their backs and speeded up grinding the table into powder, mixing the flour to bake bread.

There is very little flour, so I have to save it, and I don't know how long it will last.

Alexei not only hopes that the enemy will come to besiege the city again, but also hopes that the enemy will leave completely, so that the business brigade can be restored so that they can work and support their families.

After a few days like this, the Mongols finally withdrew.

Governor Yakov drove all the wealthy businessmen and civilians who fled into the castle back to the city on the other side, and ordered them to return to normal as soon as possible.But it can't be normal. This is a commercial city, and Racine is still looting upstream, and the business travel has long been cut off.

Alexey went to the city looking for a job, but no one hired him.Because there are too many people looking for work, if there is a laundry job, the women will fight in the street to fight over it.

People starve to death every day in the urban area, and two shooting troops in the fortress also died one after another.

The shooters went to the governor again to borrow food, but this time they borrowed less food.

Alexei had no choice but to take his 12-year-old second daughter to the city first to beg the rich to take him as a slave.The fast-running rich people are very rich. They have a good relationship with the governor, and they hid in the castle with money and food. Now they return to the city to continue to live a comfortable life.

Alexei's daughter was yellow and emaciated, and no one wanted to give it away, let alone sell her for a sum of money.

He really couldn't think of any other way, and finally knelt in front of the rich man's housekeeper and begged, but he was greeted by a big foot that kicked him to the ground.

Back home, Alexei took out the old matchlock gun, an antique handed down from his great-grandfather.Although it has a history of hundreds of years, it has not been shot a few times, and it is usually well maintained-the most valuable thing in the house, of course, it must be taken care of.

Alexei took out his musket, not intending to kill or rob, but to sell it in the city.

Many shooting troops in Tsarist Russia lost their weapons due to poverty.

Holding a matchlock gun, I wandered around the city several times. I couldn't find any customers who were willing to buy guns, but I ran into several shooting soldiers selling guns.

"Egor, are you also selling guns?" Alexei asked.

Egor said: "If I don't sell guns, my whole family will starve to death. In the past few decades, I have lost two brothers, one sister, and three children, but I have always been reluctant to sell guns. I don't sell them now. No, I can't find a job at all."

Alexei sighed: "Oh, who made us the shooting army?"

Yegor misses it infinitely: "It would be great if Emperor Yin Fan was still alive. I often heard from my grandfather that the shooting army was so beautiful at that time. There was a military salary and rations, and life was like a nobleman. .”

"We didn't catch up with the good times. It is impossible for Russia to have Emperor Yin Fan again," Alexei said. "If Emperor Yin Fan is resurrected, I will definitely give my allegiance to him and give up my life to fight for him."

Suddenly, a voice came from the side: "Without Leidi Yin Fan, we can fight for ourselves and our family!"

Alexei turned around to look, but it was Nikita, the little leader of the Shooting Army.

Yegor asked: "How do we fight? Are we going to fight the Tatars and rob the Tatars of food?"

Nikita said: "I know the Cossack leader Racine. If Racine continues to besiege the city for a few more days, I will definitely join the shooting army as an internal response. Racine is fighting for the poor. He is not a traitor, but our brother. "

"Krasin has left with the Cossacks," Alexei said.

Nikita said: "Rasin lived in the tribe of the Tatars for two years, and he has good relations with the Tatars. We can call ourselves friends of Racine and go to the east to join the Tatars. We have muskets in our hands , can also fight, and the Tatars will definitely be willing to take us in."

Alexei exclaimed: "But the Tatars are heathens!"

Nikita said: "Pagans can give us food, and the governor only borrows a little food each time. He hangs us so that we will not starve to death, and will not let us have enough food, let alone the life and death of our family."

Yegor said: "Can you guarantee that the pagans will really take us in?"

Nikita said: "You can send someone to contact first. I am a low-level officer in the Shooting Army. I can't leave for too long at will. Who of you would like to help me go and contact the Tatars in the east?"

Yegor hesitated.

Alexei gritted his teeth and said, "I'll go, but you have to take care of my family!"

Nikita said: "I still have a little bread at home, your family is my family."

"I'm not going back to the fortress today, but I'll stay in the Grand Bazaar in the city," Alexei said. "When it gets dark, I'll go quietly to the east to find the Tatars."

Chapter 1014 [Close the window]

Alexei has night blindness and cannot see at all at night.

He walked from the Grand Bazaar in the city to the river, swam quietly across the Volga, and walked a long way around the fortress.

You don't need eyes in the dark, just run to the east anyway, where it's all the territory of the Huerghut Ministry.Historically, when the Torghut Department returned to the east, they even occupied the west bank of the Volga River, and the fortresses and cities of Tsarist Russia were surrounded by the Turghut grasslands.

I don't know how long I have walked, Aleksey is exhausted and panting, and his malnourished body can no longer support it.

He couldn't see what was going on around him at all, so he could only shout loudly: "Is there anyone? Is there anyone?"

While shouting and walking, finally a herdsman heard it, rushed out of the tent and grabbed him.

The two sides cannot communicate, and ordinary herders do not speak Russian.

The next morning, Alexei was taken to the chief, and the chief of the tribe took him to the king.

Xie Yuan originally planned to visit the Khiva Khanate by the way, but before he set off, he heard that there were Russians defecting.After a brief understanding of the situation, Xie Yuan asked, "Why do the shooting troops in the castle want to come over?"

Alexey said: "We are starving to death. For more than half a month, I have starved to death a son and a daughter."

Xie Yuan wondered: "Is there a shortage of food in the castle?"

Alexey replied: "The Governor is not short of food, but our shooting army is short of food."

Xie Yuan was even more confused when he heard it: "Aren't you soldiers? The governor doesn't pay rations?"

Alexey said: "We are a shooting army, we are born. My father is, so am I, and my son is still. When there is a war, we take up arms. When there is no war, we find work to support our family, and also Dealing with the gentlemen's errands. The city was looted a while ago, and now we can't find jobs."

Xie Yuan suddenly realized that the person in front of him was a Russian military household.

"How many people are there like you?" Xie Yuan asked.

"There are more than 200," Alexei said.

Xie Yuan asked again, "I usually live in the castle."

Alexey nodded: "They all live in the castle."

Xie Yuan asked again: "Are there any muskets? How much ammunition?"

Alexey said: "Some have no muskets. There is not much ammunition. We usually don't have ammunition. It was issued when we were defending the city some time ago."

"How many other defenders are there?" Xie Yuan continued to ask.

Alexei said: "There are 20 border guards, and there are more than [-] followers of the governor. These soldiers are different from us. They can have enough to eat."

Xie Yuan turned around and said in Mongolian words: "His Royal Highness, you must have a capital to build a country. I think this Astrakhan is suitable as a capital."

Shukuer Daiqing was heartbroken, but hesitantly said, "Could this person be a fraudulent surrender?"

"That depends on whether you dare to gamble." Xie Yuan said.

Ayuqi said, "Grandpa, you can take a gamble."

Astrakhan is not only a fortress, but the city on the other side of the river is also a trading center on the shore of the Caspian Sea.Occupying here, the trade between Tsarist Russia and Persia will have to be cut off, and if you want to do business, you must pay taxes honestly to the country of Turghut.

In such an important city, the Tsarist Russia will not give up, and it is very likely that tens of thousands of troops, or even more than [-] troops, will be mobilized to attack.

Opportunities and dangers coexist, depending on whether the Turghuts can withstand it.

Shukur Daiqing was still hesitating, and he said truthfully: "The Russians we have dealt with can have hundreds of thousands of troops. If they occupy the city, they will face endless attacks. If the tsar sends With an army of 20, how can we hold it?"

Xie Yuan sneered: "You don't eat the meat you have, and you don't dare to occupy the city next to your pasture, so why are you staying here? It's better to lead the troops to the east as soon as possible, otherwise the Russians by the river will come more and more. The more you have, the more you won't be able to keep pastures in a few decades."

These words come to the root. If you don't occupy the castle at this time, you will never think about it in the future.

Just like another time and space, the grasslands of the Turghut Department are all over the lower banks of the Volga River.But the Tsarist castle stands by the river, like a nail in the heart of the Mongols. The Mongols can only submit to the Tsar and face endless military service.

The tsar did not collect taxes from them, but conscripted troops every three or five years.Sometimes one or two thousand, sometimes three or five thousand, the Mongols were pulled to fight, and the casualty rate was generally around 20%.

If you win, you won't gain anything, but if you lose, you will lose a lot, and the population of the Hurghut army will continue to decline.

"I'll give you an idea," Xie Yuan said. "After occupying the castle and the city, you have to try to accept other ethnic groups. Whether it is the Orthodox Church or the Green Church, you allow them to believe freely. No matter how much tax Russia levies, you will A little less. Let everyone know that it is more cost-effective to be your subject than to be the Tsar's subject."

In the urban area on the other side of the fortress, the market is called the Grand Bazaar. You can know what religion you believe in by hearing the name.

The state of Hurghut must practice religious freedom in order to unify the Orthodox, Green and Buddhist populations.Otherwise, without a call from the Tsarist Russia, they themselves will have civil strife.

Shukur Daiqin did not contradict religious freedom, otherwise he would not have gotten involved with the Don Cossacks. He nodded and said, "That's the only way."

Before defeating the Russian expeditionary army, there must be freedom of religion, and all races must be united abroad.

Xie Yuan said: "Your diplomatic form is not bad. The Don Cossacks in the west are allies, the Bashkirs in the north are also friends with you, and Xiaoyuzi in the east is a mess. By the way, Shiva Khan in the southeast Country, how is your relationship with you?"

Shukul Daiqing said, "There's nothing to do with each other, and there's a small jade site across the road."

"I plan to go to the Khiva Khanate to help you build alliances." Xie Yuan said.

……

Alexey's belly was round, and he also hid some food in his arms, intending to take it home for his wife and children to enjoy.

He waited until night to sneak back to the river, then hid near the fort, only to emerge in the next half-morning.After returning home, he was not in a hurry to convey the news, but brought out food to his wife and children.

Looking at the gobbling family, Alexey comforted and said, "I won't go hungry in the future. I've already thought of a good way."

When his wife asked him where the food came from, Aleksey said nothing, only that he would not be hungry in the future.

In the afternoon, Alexey found Nikita: "The Tatars in the east have been enshrined as kings by the Khitan emperor and have won the support of the Khitan emperor. They plan to occupy the castle and establish the capital here. If the shooting army can open the city gate , can get a piece of land outside the city. Those who are willing to stay and serve as soldiers will also be taken in by the Tatar khans, and they can receive military pay.”

"Will the Khan convert us to Buddhism?" Nikita asked.

Alexey said: "No, we can continue to be Orthodox, and the Turks in the city can continue to believe in the Green Church. The Khan also said that the Slavs are allowed to raise their own funds and continue to build the Holy Trinity Cathedral. "

Holy Trinity Cathedral, which has been under construction for decades.

Due to lack of funds and craftsmen, even the main frame has not yet been completed.

Nikita frowned and thought. He planned to take the shooting army to Mongolia, but he never thought about helping the Mongolians occupy the castle.Once the castle is captured, it is tantamount to poking a hornet's nest, and the tsar will take it back at all costs.

Alexey continued: "The khan also said that the state of Turghut he established was a state for the poor. He would reduce taxes for the poor, and everyone was better off than before."

"Done!" Nikita slapped his thigh hard.

The two sides made an appointment to act at dawn.