Section Twenty-One

While the entire northern region was in a tumult over the fiscal reforms of the Great Han court, the diplomatic mission dispatched by Lin Feng to Russia quietly set out. According to the original schedule, they should have hit the road more than a month prior. However, due to the restructuring of the government, various ministries had failed to coordinate smoothly during the initial stages. Furthermore, Li Fu, the Minister of Rites, had aligned himself with Xu Xueqian and Chen Tingjing, repeatedly offering his resignation on a whim, which caused considerable delays in departmental affairs. It was only recently, after Lin Feng adopted Wang Shirong's advice and made substantial concessions during the political reforms, that the situation gradually calmed down and the operation of the Han court returned to its normal track.

Because General Rick held real power and Lin Feng had grandly introduced Western missionaries to establish the "Oriental Theological Seminary," most of the high-ranking officials in the Han court now possessed a rough understanding of the situation in Europe. They no longer dismissed everything outright with the word "barbarians" as they had done previously. Although a considerable degree of contempt still remained, their haughty posture had been lowered quite a bit, and they at least recognized that Russia was a heavyweight major power, refusing to lump it together with insignificant tributaries like Gaochang or Kucha that sought rewards through tribute—a concept that was not too complicated to grasp. The grand councilors of the court did not bother to delve deeply into Russian customs, history, or culture; upon casually asking a missionary, they learned that this country "possessed a million armored soldiers and had repeatedly defeated the Mongols," and was vaguely suspected to be Galdan's backstage master. That alone was enough to explain everything. Like practical politicians in times of war, while they constantly had poetry and books on their lips, deep down they were well aware that all these rituals and moral codes were empty shells, and what truly mattered were iron cavalry and heavy artillery. The primary rule of negotiation was for both sides to first display their military strength. If the other side had more troops than the Han, they had to resort to "pacification" and "conciliation"; if they had fewer troops than the Han, then there was no need for superfluous talk—they would simply march right over to "civilize the barbarians" and show them what it meant to be "under the vast heaven, all lands belong to the king."

To everyone's surprise, when Lin Feng consulted the court and the public for ministers volunteering for the diplomatic mission, civil and military officials fell almost collectively silent. Later on, some minor officials of the fifth and sixth ranks figured out the inner workings and, seizing the opportunity, spoke with high-sounding rhetoric, successively submitting memorials to express their loyalty and patriotism. Yet, the senior officials who met the qualifications remained utterly silent. The only one who showed a certain degree of interest was Old Master Gu Yanwu, the Libationer of the Imperial Academy and the compiler of the *History of the Ming* in the Hanlin Academy. Lin Feng, of course, could not agree to such an absurd request. Although he knew that the old master simply loved to travel around all his life and had toured the magnificent landscapes of the motherland, that did not mean he was fit to go to Siberia. While Lin Feng had not made a detailed study of geography, he at least understood the difference between Siberia and North China.

His mission to Russia this time could be broadly divided into two major parts: the first was to officially establish state-level diplomatic relations with the Russian Empire, and the second was to reach a bilateral consensus on Mongolian affairs. Lin Feng's intention was to demand that Russia abandon its covert support for the Dzungar Khanate and remain neutral in the impending war between the Great Han Empire and Galdan. Secondly, he aimed to forge a close military alliance regarding the Khorchin Khanate to jointly eradicate this newly risen nomadic political regime. In return, the Great Han Empire would maintain a stance of peace and friendship regarding territorial issues in the Western Regions (noting current regions such as Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, as well as Liaodong and Siberia) and conduct consultations with the Russian Empire.

From Lin Feng's perspective, the probability of this diplomatic mission succeeding was very slim. Judging by the current situation, if the Great Han Empire defeated Galdan and Khorchin, the probability of a military conflict breaking out with Russia was one hundred percent. However, this did not diminish the significance of the diplomatic endeavor. One must understand that fighting and talking were both essential, neither of which could be dispensed with.

After sending off the diplomatic delegation, the Mongolian civil war in the north also temporarily came to a stage. When Lin Feng read the military intelligence submitted by the Military Intelligence Directorate, he could not help but be greatly startled. According to the intelligence, although the Khorchin had seized the opportune moment to strike the Dzungar while they were down, making a brilliant choice of timing, either the lords of Eastern Mongolia had collectively suffered from impotence or the warriors of Western Mongolia had suddenly erupted, because the final result was that the Khorchin had actually suffered a minor setback.

In May of this year, Lin Feng personally commanded a force of 300,000, attacking Shanxi from Datong, hunting the Western Dzungar Khanate at the Wei River, heavily defeating the enemy army, decapitating 4,000, and capturing 15,000, thereby almost wiping out half of Western Mongolia's military strength. Galdan was in utter disarray; pursued all the way by Zhao Guangyuan's 1st Cavalry Army with a meager 3,000 remnant soldiers, he nearly lost his head in Shanxi. Buryagma assessed the situation and immediately convened a grand assembly of Eastern Mongolian khans at Naadam. After paying homage to Genghis Khan, he swore an oath to eradicate Galdan, the "evil wolf that disrupted the peace of the grassland." Under the sabers and iron hooves of the Khorchin army, the khans of Eastern Mongolia "gladly consented." Consequently, tribes such as the Khorchin, Jösortu, Xilin Gol, Ulanqab, and Jirim of Eastern Mongolia together severed sheep heads, drank blood-wine, and swore oaths to the heavens. They mobilized 115,000 cavalrymen, jointly pushed Buryagma as the leader of all tribes, and set out to punish the Dzungar for their "crime of unwarranted invasion."

This proposal was exceptionally good and aligned with the interests of both countries. Lin Feng naturally had no reason to champion Galdan. At the same time, although the Han army had triumphed over Galdan, it had also sustained considerable casualties and lacked the spare capacity to seize the opportunity to go to war with Khorchin. Thus, the largest Mongolian civil war of the century erupted just like that.

In early June 1686, the various tribes of Eastern Mongolia held a grand alliance, assembling over 115,000 cavalrymen. Setting out from the Naadam gathering grounds in Hulunbuir, they marched in two columns. One column, commanded by the eldest prince of Khorchin with a force of nearly 30,000, skirted the border of Chahar, headed south along the Yellow River, and suddenly turned when reaching the Sizi River, heading straight for Hohhot. The other column, personally commanded by Buryagma with a force of about 90,000, marched upstream along the Chang River, crossed Yilin, Erenhot, and entered Uliastai, successively capturing settlements such as Tulgulik and Muhurgashun. Advancing fiercely westward, their military momentum was razor-sharp, leaving various tribes along the way utterly terrified—either changing their banners to submit to Khorchin or migrating westward en masse to escape the ravages of war.

After more than a month of probing and contact, the main force of the Eastern Mongolian coalition and the Dzungar army finally clashed head-on in the vicinity of Mount Nomohon. To Buryagma's surprise, although Galdan had suffered a disastrous defeat in Shanxi and his prestige on the grassland had plummeted, the tribes of Western Mongolia still did not experience large-scale defections. After fleeing back to the grassland, Galdan assembled an army of over 70,000 in a very short time to fight a decisive battle against the Eastern Mongolian coalition of Khorchin.

This point was indeed extremely baffling. Reason would dictate that a khan like Galdan, whose position was already precarious and who had suffered a crushing defeat, should find it very difficult to rally the various heroes of the grassland. Yet at this moment, things were slightly different. For one, the Dzungars had not lost all their capital in Shanxi. Although the Mongolian army that had plundered Shanxi numbered 60,000 strong, it was relatively just a detachment. To guard against counterattacks by the Khorchin and Tüsheet Khans and to deter the various grassland tribes, Galdan still stationed a considerable force in areas such as Baotou, Hohhot, Ordos, Torgut, and Khalkha, totaling a solid 60,000 to 70,000 troops. More importantly, Buryagma had handled the annexation of Tüsheet extremely poorly.

The former Tüsheet was immensely powerful, governing a vast territory and standing alongside Dzungar and Khorchin as the "Three Heroes of Mongolia." Present-day Ejin Horoo, Torgut, as well as Sain Noyan and Tsetsen Khan tribes, had all been subordinate to it. Although it had now been defeated by the Dzungar and fled to Eastern Mongolia, a century of prestige could not be erased overnight. The Tüsheet Taiji Tumen Üriyeltu was not of exceptional talent and had achieved little in either military or political spheres, but he was genuinely a good man. His personality was magnanimous, and he treated his subordinate tribes very well. Since taking the throne as khan, he had repeatedly reduced or exempted tributes from subordinate tribes, and even in famine years, he had yielded his own pastures for weaker tribes to graze their livestock. He could well be considered a "good old man." In reality, many tribes currently serving Galdan had betrayed their former master only out of pressure from circumstances, while secretly retaining deep affection for Tüsheet. This time, when Tüsheet was defeated in flight and sought shelter under Khorchin's tent, Buryagma seized the opportunity to annex them. Annexation was one thing, but the problem was that the method of annexation was simply too ugly. Not to mention the cruelty of the methods, letting an heir of Tüsheet escape made people look down on him and chilled the hearts of the khans of these tribes. If Khorchin defeated Galdan, would they use the excuse that these tribes were former subordinates of Tüsheet to launch massive annexations as well?!

This time, Galdan had rallied his forces around a specific slogan. Because of the complex pronunciation of the Mongolian language, the secret agents of the Military Intelligence Directorate did not catch it entirely clearly, but the general meaning was understood: Galdan was calling upon all tribes to avenge the Tüsheet Khan Tumen Üriyeltu, vowing to reclaim the populace swallowed by Buryagma, restore the famous beauty and Princess "Moon of the Grassland" Bodongormeh, and rebuild Tüsheet.

To be honest, having Galdan shout this slogan certainly seemed utterly absurd, but most things in this world required nothing more than an excuse. Thus, Buryagma's western expedition encountered immense resistance.

After five days of fierce combat, over 30,000 Mongolian warriors lay forever beneath Mount Nomohon. Just like countless power struggles on the grassland over the millennia, neither side showed mercy simply because they were fellow tribesmen. On the contrary, the intensity of the battle even surpassed that of foreign wars; no prisoners of war were spared in any engagement. Unlike in the past, however, both sides in this conflict were heavily equipped with artillery and firearms on a massive scale. The Eastern Mongolian coalition was astonished to discover that among the Dzungar Khanate's forces, alongside their native Mongolian cavalry, there were Qinghai mercenaries, Hui troops recruited from Qaidam, and free Cossacks from Western Asia. These troops displayed exceptional resilience and bravery in combat. Especially the white-skinned, big-nosed Cossack cavalry possessed considerable tactical and technical standards, excelled particularly in the use of firearms, and were also outstanding in close-quarters melee combat, frequently playing a decisive role at critical junctures of the battle.

Under Galdan's resolute interception, Buryagma had to acknowledge defeat after paying a heavy price. Leaving behind 20,000 corpses, the Eastern Mongolian coalition retreated southward step by step along the edge of the desert, returning to the vicinity of Tulgulik. Meanwhile, the detachment that headed south in an attempt to capture Hohhot also failed to achieve success. Galdan's garrison forces were equipped with numerous cannons and firearms, mounting a desperate defense utilizing the city walls. Although the Khorchin coalition was the attacking party, their technological equipment was inferior—particularly lacking large-caliber artillery—so they failed to breach the city and take it. After besieging the city for more than a month, they had no choice but to withdraw in gloom.

A mutual two-way defeat naturally delighted Lin Feng greatly. However, such an overly idealized intelligence report inevitably aroused suspicion. To be frank, upon finishing the report, Lin Feng even entertained the thought that "Buryagma was putting up a false array to confuse our army." This worry persisted for about ten days until the subsequent second wave of intelligence personnel brought verified facts back to Beijing, allowing the grand councilors of the Han court to finally set their minds at ease.

The final barrier to the Shandong issue had ceased to exist.