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The population of Mobei Mongolia must be more than 100,000, and there are three types of people who are not included in the statistics.

The first is the tribe of H Buddha, such as Jebtsundamba Hutuktu.

This venerable resident resided in Aurgao, later known as Ulaanbaatar, and thousands of herders were directly under his rule.

No matter which Khan goes to war, he will send hundreds of troops to help, and also help with propaganda and mediation work. He didn't care about the rest. Anyway, any new Khan who came to power would come to visit and respect him.

It was the same this time. Two to three hundred cavalry were thrown out to help Zhuote Babatur fight. When Fei Ruhe arrived, he took thousands of his followers and surrendered without any psychological burden.

The second type is the Gobi herders.

The vast Gobi Desert also has rivers and grasslands. Fei Ruhe left the Yinshan Mountains in the north, and his marching route followed the largest river.

The Gobi herdsmen are very scattered. A tribe often has dozens of people, and the largest ones only have two or three hundred people. They are nominally ruled by the Mongol Khan, but in fact it is difficult to manage them, and they basically do not participate in wars - who the hell goes to the Gobi Desert to recruit troops?

The third type is the herdsmen.

Of course, slaves are not considered human beings, and a very small number of them can join the army and fight, but no matter how many meritorious services they have made, they are still slaves.

For example, Ma Fang, a famous general in the Jiajing Dynasty, was originally the son of a farmer in Xuanhua. He was robbed by Mongolia when he was eight years old and worked as a herdsman for more than ten years. Because he was smart and good at riding and shooting, he became a riding slave for the nobles.

Altan Khan took the Mongolian nobles to hunt, and Ma Fang participated with his master. Suddenly, a colorful tiger pounced, and all the Mongolian tribesmen fled in panic, but Ma Fang remained calm, drew his bow and shot an arrow to kill the tiger. Altan Khan admired him very much and gave him a good bow and horse. From then on, he followed the Great Khan.

Even though he became Altan Khan's valet and made many military exploits, Ma Fang was still a slave.

Finally, taking advantage of the opportunity of accompanying the army to plunder the Ming Dynasty, Ma Fang stole a horse and escaped overnight, defected to the Ming Dynasty frontier army, and found her separated parents. Ma Fang was well aware of the situation in the grasslands. He was promoted to Qianhu for his repeated military exploits and killed Altan Khan's generals.

Altan Khan once reached Huairou, and the situation in Beijing was tense. Tens of thousands of reinforcements were too afraid to move forward. Ma Fang, who served as a general, attacked bravely and led two thousand cavalry in a bloody battle at Baoan (Zhulu, Hebei), killing the Mongolian army and retreating for dozens of miles. The Mongols did not know what was true and what was true, so the entire army withdrew northward.

Ma Fang suffered five stab wounds and his horse was shot dead. Jiajing praised him as "not as brave as Ma Fang", and the Mongols respectfully called him "Master Ma".

When Ma Fang served as deputy commander-in-chief of Jizhen, his reputation had spread to the east. More than 100,000 Mongolian troops invaded Ji Town southward. They learned from the Ming army prisoners that "Master Ma Tai" was in charge here, and they actually frightened the Mongolian troops and fled directly.

Unfortunately, Ma Fang and Yan Song were not on good terms, and their military achievements were falsely claimed in various ways. The civilian governor made a mistake in his command. Even though Ma Fang tried to turn the tide, Ma Fang still took the blame.

Although he took many blames and was falsely accused of numerous military exploits, Ma Fang was promoted to the rank of Zuo Commander-in-Chief!

"How many Mongolian cavalry surrendered?" Fei Ruhe asked.

Cao Bianjiao replied: "More than 21,000 people surrendered, and thousands more escaped."

Of the more than 40,000 Mongolian cavalry, 20,000 surrendered and several thousand escaped, which meant that about 20,000 were killed. Only a little over 10,000 people actually died at the hands of the Datong Army, and the remaining 5,000 to 6,000 people all died from cannibalism.

Fei Ruhe said: "Separately interrogate the Mongolian generals to see who personally led the troops to kill our soldiers and civilians. We must kill a few nobles, how can we get benefits if we surrender? Didn't our soldiers and civilians die in vain!"

This is to establish their prestige. Who told them not to surrender early, but to wait until the winner was decided before switching sides.

Zhang Tieniu arrived with his army. When he heard that the war was over, he was speechless. His generals, such as Li Dingguo, were also silent for a while.

Counting the civilians, the two armies numbered hundreds of thousands, and it seemed that the cannons were used to kill mosquitoes.

But there is no way, Mobei's territory is too big.

If the number of troops sent is too small, the enemy will treat them as fools and walk around. Even the Mongols did not have to withdraw from the grasslands of the upper reaches of Heilongjiang, they could just divide into two groups and wander around the two grasslands at will. Only with enough troops can the troops be divided to track and search, forcing the Mongols to reduce the scope of their activities.

The more soldiers who go on an expedition, the greater the consumption of military rations, and they have to bring hundreds of thousands of civilians, mules and horses with them.

The supply line was really too long, and most of Fei Ruhe's grain and grass were transported from Shaanxi and Shanxi to Mobei. Most of Zhang Tieniu's grain and grass were shipped from Hebei and Liaoning. The grain road of more than two thousand miles has to pass through the Gobi and mountainous areas, and half of it will be consumed along the way!

"Do you want to continue searching for the thousands of Mongolian cavalry who have escaped?" Zhang Tieniu asked.

Fei Ruhe shook his head: "No need, send someone to surrender. It's been too long and we can't afford the food and supplies."

Zhang Tieniu said: "Then I will leave Li Dingguo behind and take all the rest of the troops back."

The imperial court had already planned to attack the Lake Baikal region after taking over Mobei.

The Mobei Protectorate was established in Aolgao (Ulaanbaatar), and Cao Bianjiao led his troops to stay here and served as the Mobei Protectorate. He built a city close to the river and mountains, and renamed Aoergao "Beining City".

The Beihai Protectorate was established on the shores of Lake Baikal, and Li Dingguo led his troops to serve as the Beihai Protectorate. And on the basis of the Cossack Castle, a "state-affiliated city" was built in the name of Suwu.

Fei Ruhe and Zhang Tieniu returned with their army, leaving Cao Bianjiao with 3,000 cavalry, 1,000 infantry, and thousands of civilians, and Li Dingguo with 1,000 cavalry, 3,000 infantry, and thousands of civilians.

It was only the eighth month of the lunar calendar, and the first light snowfall had already fallen in Mobei. Fortunately, it cleared up within a few days.

Le Shi Yanran, sealing the wolf to live in Xu.

Beining City, which is about to be built, is located at the foot of Langjuxu Mountain. To the west is Yanran Mountain, and Fei Ruhe even sent troops to search for it.

With two mountains in front of him, Fei Ruhe felt uninterested.

Mobei Mongolia is really too weak. After decades of internal and external wars, coupled with the hellish weather of the Little Ice Age, the population here has been reduced to the extreme. It will not be possible to recover without hundreds of years. Hundreds of thousands of troops were dispatched, and most of the time they were looking for the enemy. The decisive battle was finally won by Cao Bianjiao and his eight thousand cavalry.

What kind of stone is needed?

What kind of mountain should be sealed?

Such an anticlimactic war made Fei Ruhe's face dull.

However, Cao Bianjiao is very good at life and plans to erect monuments on two mountains while building the city next year. Recording the achievements of His Majesty the Emperor, Fei Ruhe and Zhang Tieniu can also be regarded as helping Fei Ruhe fulfill Shi Yanran's wish.

Li Dingguo brought troops, horses and supplies to the mountainous area southeast of Lake Baikal.

This is not the territory of the Balahu tribe, but belongs to another small Buryat tribe. Tens of thousands of Mobei Mongolian women and children, as well as a large number of herder slaves, livestock and grain, were all hidden in a mountain pasture.

The leader of a small tribe was punished for harboring bandits without permission, but he did not come to report the news.

The leader was killed, and his eldest son was made an official, and he will obey Li Dingguo's orders from now on. Some of the herdsmen, livestock, and grain were left behind for Li Dingguo to establish the Beihai Protectorate, while the rest were sent south to Cao Bianjiao.

Cao Bianjiao controlled the captured population and materials, and all the Mongols who surrendered or recruited had to be obedient.

As the geese plucked their feathers, Cao Bianjiao also deducted some women, children, herd slaves, livestock and grain as capital for his own establishment of the Mobei Protectorate. The rest were scattered and distributed to the Mongolian nobles, and their own pastures were arranged. At the same time, all herdsmen were ordered to be converted into free people.

The Mongolian nobles were not too resistant to the freeing of slaves because their population was too small.

There are even a few Han people among the herdsmen, some of whom have been slaves for two or three generations and can hardly speak Chinese. No matter what, as long as he said that his ancestors were Han, Cao Bianjiao would detain them all. Even if there are imposters who change their Chinese surnames and learn to speak Chinese, they will be Han from now on!

As for the Jebtsundamba Hutuktu H Buddha, his residence was occupied by Cao Bianjiao to build the city. Those thousands of tribesmen were also dispersed, some were intercepted by Cao Bianjiao, and some were rewarded to the Mongolian nobles. There were only 2,000 tribes left in H Buddha's hands, and the pastures were arranged under Cao Bianjiao's nose.

Jebtsundamba Hutuktu himself had to follow Fei Ruhe southward and needed to go to Nanjing to meet the emperor.

This is called true control of Mobei. Not only can we station troops for a long time, but we can also arrange them as we want.

In the past, Mobei also said that it would obey Emperor Zhao, but it did not allow the Datong Army to station, let alone the Nanjing court to arrange officials, and occasionally came to the south to plunder. What kind of surrender is this?

Most of the thousands of fleeing Mongolian cavalry were surrendered, but there were also hundreds of people who crossed the Altai Mountains and braved the wind and snow to seek refuge with the Jungar tribe there.

When the Chechen leader of Jungar heard the news that his brothers were defeated and the Han people occupied Mobei, he was so frightened that he quickly summoned the nobles for discussion. They decided to send envoys to Nanjing after the snow melted next year. As long as the Celestial Empire did not send troops to attack and the Han army did not station, they would agree to any conditions.

This winter, Cao Bianjiao nested in Beining City (Ulaanbaatar), and Li Dingguo nested in the ravine southeast of Lake Baikal.

They have sufficient supplies, and even if they encounter a snowstorm, they can survive the winter safely and wait for spring.

After the snow melted in spring, Cao Bianjiao immediately organized the construction of the city. The building materials came from Langjuxu Mountain.

Yes, my real name has been restored.

From now on it will be called Lang Juxu and no longer called Kent Mountain.

Kent is a transliterated name, also translated as Kuiteng, which means very cold. It is the holy mountain of the Mongols and was called Burhan Mountain in the Yuan Dynasty.

Li Dingguo continued to march north, overpowering various Buryat tribes along the way.

The first Cossack stronghold he encountered was Ulan-Ude, which a few hundred years later would become the third largest city in Eastern Siberia. Now there are only wooden fences, and the main force was taken away to support Nerchinsk. The few Cossacks left behind were attacked by the Buryats, and the stockade had long been burned down.

Li Dingguo settled Mongolian women and children, freed herdsmen, and a large number of livestock and grains here, and then followed the Selenge River straight to Lake Baikal.

There is a bastion on the lakeside called Ust-Borolva.

As troops were sent to support Nerchinsk, there were only 60 Cossacks left in the city, and some were later added from the west. There are now about 80 Cossacks, more than 200 indigenous servants, and hundreds of women and children (the children are all mixed-race descendants of Cossacks).

After several days of siege, the Cossacks abandoned the city and fled by boat to Bargutimuhetun in the north.

There is also a Cossack stronghold in the middle called Ugis Barguzin. The Cossacks there fled together, and about 150 Cossacks gathered in Bargutim and garrisoned the city.

"This is a suitable place to build a national city!"

Li Dingguo fell in love with Ust-Borolva at first sight.

There is a Cossack bastion, which can save a lot of time in building a city.

The surrounding area is fertile alluvial flat land, suitable for Han immigrants to farm.

It faces Lake Baikal to the west, and you can reach the surrounding area by boat.

You can go south along the Selenge River and connect with Mobei. You can go east along the river and go straight to the mountainous area to the west of Chita. After crossing two mountains, you can take a boat to Chita, and the river in Chita is connected to Heilongjiang. Whether it is military transportation or material transfer, it is very convenient.

Of course, the city must be built slowly, and the surrounding Cossacks must first be wiped out.

Li Dingguo asked people to build a boat, intending to take the boat northward and uproot the Bargutimuhetun on the lake.

Li Zheng sent people from the east to contact him. After the two parties communicated, Li Zheng led a small force to the north to uproot the Bawente city there. If the two armies successfully attack the city, they can continue to advance and join forces to attack Verkhno Angarask, the northernmost point of Lake Baikal.

Three months later, Li Dingguo sailed northward, and the Cossacks in Bargutimuhetun continued to flee north.

The Cossacks in Bawent City also ran away, and Li Zheng faced only an empty bastion.

All these Cossacks fled to Upper Angarask, and more than 200 Cossacks and more than 800 servants were gathered in the city.

This is already the entire force that the Cossacks can muster in the area east of Lake Baikal. Of course, the strongholds farther north are not included. They are too far away. Zhang Tingxun is responsible for leading the troops to remove them - they are easy to fight. There are not a single bastion, but only wooden fence strongholds.