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From the south, good news came that Aobai had swept across the entire Caucasus. Li Ding was now even less anxious and stayed in Ryazan, south of Moscow, which was the only intact city south of Moscow.
Although Li Ding only had 20,000 troops left in Ryazan City, the Poles did not dare to seize the territory, because the Qin army not only destroyed Tsarist Russia, but also swept across the entire Caucasus region at the same time, defeating the Ottomans. The strength of the army was breathtaking.
At the same time, from the Mediterranean, news came that Qin Navy Admiral Huananying, as commander-in-chief, led a joint fleet of more than a dozen European countries to defeat the Ottoman Navy in the Aegean Sea and marched straight to the Ottoman capital Istanbul.
The Qin Empire was so powerful that it made people weak at the thought of it. For Poland, marrying into such a powerful empire would be a great deal, not to mention that Poland could get a large piece of land as a betrothal gift.
After the news reached Warsaw, the whole country of Poland rejoiced and quickly agreed to send the beautiful Princess Isabelna to marry in Daqin.
Not only did the two countries divide the border according to the line drawn by Wu Ying, but they also signed a series of political and trade agreements, exempting each other from tariffs on all goods, which is known in history as the Treaty of Ryazan.
In fact, the border line drawn by Li Ding and others has far exceeded the original border drawn by Qin Mu. The entire lower reaches of the Volga River, the coast of the Caspian Sea, the lower reaches of the Don River, the western coast of the Black Sea, and the Caucasus region have been incorporated into the territory of Daqin, and there is an outlet to the Black Sea.
After the agreement was signed, Li Ding withdrew his troops to the Tsaritsyn Fortress, and Poland sent a thousand soldiers to escort Princess Isabelina by land to Nanjing, the capital of the Qin Dynasty, for a marriage alliance.
Li Ding also sent a thousand troops to accompany him, and brought Princess Irina of Tsarist Russia and the Queen back to Nanjing to report the victory.
Li Ding's mission was not yet completed. He still wanted to use military force to force the Ottoman Empire to cede the Suez region.
At this time, the Ottoman Empire was in danger of disintegration due to internal and external troubles, so it had no time to care about the Caucasus.
The governors of Adana, Kosovo, Jerusalem, Benghazi, Mosul and other places wrote letters to the Sultan, requesting him to severely punish the mastermind behind the murder of the Queen Mother, Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha.
The navy was defeated in the Mediterranean, and the combined fleet of more than a dozen countries approached the capital Istanbul. The old enemy in the south, the Safavid Empire, also began to dispatch troops to attack the Baghdad area in an attempt to seize the Mesopotamian region.
In the Arabian Peninsula, the Qin army's ocean-going fleet began to enter the Red Sea, attacking various ports, destroying warships under construction, and approaching the Suez area.
Under such circumstances, Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha could only compromise and nominated Bapres, the Governor of Adana, and Abbas, the Governor of Jerusalem, as Viziers.
The Ottoman Grand Vizier was equivalent to the Prime Minister of the Qin Dynasty, and the Vizier was equivalent to the Cabinet Minister.
Köprülu nominated these two people as viziers, which was equivalent to dividing half of his power, on the condition that these people would put aside their personal grudges and unite to overcome difficulties in times of national crisis.
With Koprulu's compromise and the huge external threat facing the Ottoman Empire, Bapres and others finally put aside their personal grudges and dealt with the foreign enemies first.
The Ottoman state machine began to operate in an orderly manner. After the 20,000 troops of Obahai swept across the Greater Caucasus region, they were blocked by the Ottoman reinforcements to the north of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains in the south.
Aobai quickly occupied all the towns from Tbilisi to Baku. Baku was on the west bank of the Caspian Sea. The east bank of the Caspian Sea should have been occupied by Su Jin, but the vast Caspian Sea blocked the connection between the two sides. Aobai fought several bloody battles but failed to break through the Forwin Pass in the Lesser Caucasus Mountains. The Ottoman reinforcements were increasing. He could only send troops back to ask Li Ding for help.
After Li Ding left some troops to garrison the Tsaritsyn fortress, he led 30,000 cavalry straight to the Caucasus.
As the cavalry passed by, the vast sky and earth looked like the beginning of chaos. The mist still silently overlooked the plateau. In the silence, the wind, rain, rivers, oceans, earth, stars, moon, and sun silently witnessed the grief and suffering of this land.
According to legend, this is the place where Prometheus was tortured.
Every inch of the Caucasus land is soaked in glory and sorrow.
From plains to mountains, from swamps to deserts, through darkness and light, yellow Oxalis flowers are boiling in the wilderness and the air is filled with the fragrance of cassia flowers.
Destiny extends from under your feet, and the 30,000 galloping cavalry rises and falls as they march. The war song of the Qin Dynasty floats in the desert of the Caucasus, like the wind, never stopping.
The dark blue sky quietly watched the rolling smoke and dust. Under this endless sky, the thirty thousand cavalrymen seemed so small.
At this time, Aobai had suffered nearly a thousand casualties at the Flevin Pass in the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, and morale gradually became low. It was not until ten days later that Li Ding led an army of 30,000 to Baku to join the forces, and morale was boosted again.
Li Ding immediately summoned all the generals to the Shirvan Palace to discuss the matter.
Shirvanshah Palace was originally the royal palace of the Khanate of Azerbaijan. Everything in the palace is made of shiny flat stones, and they are so delicately connected that you can't tell the seams anywhere. The entire palace stands high above the harbor, the highest part of the city. Looking from the sea, it looks like a mirage on the sea.
Li Ding had no time to appreciate these. After the generals sat down, he immediately asked, "Tell us the details quickly."
Xie Yun, the staff officer, immediately said, "General, the political situation in the Ottoman Empire seems to have stabilized. More and more reinforcements are being sent to the Caucasus. The Frewen Pass is surrounded by mountains on both sides and is very dangerous. The current garrison has increased to about 8,000 people. We urgently need rockets to assist."
Another military staff officer, Wu Dongshan, said, "General, I think our army must be prepared for a protracted war. The Caucasus region is very mountainous and will be very unfavorable to our army. Once the internal affairs of the Ottoman Empire stabilize, it will be impossible to crush them like we did on the grasslands."
Yu Xingguo, the military deputy commander, sighed, "What's most worrying is that the soldiers are increasingly homesick, especially after the general conquered Moscow. If we don't help them, it will have a huge impact on the next war."
Li Ding grasped the hilt of the imperial sword. Not only an ordinary soldier, but even a general like him, after fulfilling the emperor's original order, would he not miss home
And this kind of mentality may be the most terrifying enemy of the Western Expedition Army.
"Minister Yu, it's up to you to calm the soldiers' emotions."
"This is our job as assistant officials, and we will do our best."
"Generals, see if you can persuade the Georgians and Azerbaijanis to revolt."
Aobai immediately shook his head and said, "I'm afraid this is difficult."
Previously, when his 20,000-strong army swept across the Greater Caucasus and captured the cities of Tbilisi and Baku, the Georgians and Azerbaijanis were terrified and fled south. It would not be so easy for him to incite these two small Ottoman vassal states to rebel now.
Yu Xingguo, the deputy commander of the army, said, "General, why don't we let the soldiers rest for a while? First, to restore morale. Second, the Safavid army is now beginning to attack the Mesopotamian region. The navies of South China Britain and many European countries are also approaching Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire is under attack from both sides and may undergo a major change. If this is the case, we can advance without suffering huge casualties."
After a little consideration, Li Ding said, "Okay, then let the army rest for half a month, and during this time send more spies to find out what's happening in Osman."
No one objected to this point. Tens of thousands of troops had traveled thousands of miles to the west and fought countless battles, big and small. It was time to take a good rest and let the soldiers have some fun.
At this time, the staff officer Wu Dongshan said to Li Ding: "General, there are natural oil springs in Baku, which is extremely rare in our Great Qin. The people here use oil to start fires. As far as I know, the emperor calls oil black gold and has long asked the Internal Supervision Research and Development Department to study the method of oil refining.
Moreover, Baku is the most important port in the Caspian Sea. By the way, when we captured Baku, we also seized a lot of ships in the port."
"vessel?"
Li Dinghui asked, as if thinking about something. There is the Lesser Caucasus Mountains blocking the land, so is it possible to get through the sea
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ps: The temperature where I live has been above 36 degrees these days. There was a power outage today, and the whole room was like a sauna. I sat on the board and wrote with a pen, sweating profusely, and the floor was wet. It was really not easy to write this chapter. I uploaded it as soon as the power came back on. Please give me some monthly votes to comfort me!
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(To be continued…)
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