Chapter 886 The traditional concepts of the Cumans!

Ever since he decided to let the Eighth Division launch a tentative attack on the Pingyang area, Yuan Song was worried that Xun Ke would not be able to accept it and would come to make trouble with him······························

However, Xun Ke did not make any extreme moves and accepted Yuan Song's orders very calmly, which made Yuan Song feel relieved.

He had always been worried that Xun Ke's mentality would become unbalanced due to the defeat in Pingyang, and he would lose his mind when facing the imperial guards led by Yang Chongqing.

But judging from Xun Ke's current situation, although Xun Ke still has emotions when facing the imperial guards, he is basically not swayed by emotions, which in turn affects his judgment ability on the battlefield. This also makes Yuan Song very pleased.

Although on the surface it seems that nearly 150,000 troops from six divisions, namely the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th, 9th and 10th Divisions, are concentrated on the Yunbing battlefield.

Among them, two of the three ace main divisions of the Fengwu Army were included, and the total strength of the troops almost reached half of the regular army of the Fengwu Army. It can be said that the soldiers are strong and the generals are brave.

However, as the commander-in-chief of Yunbing appointed by Ye Mingsheng, Yuan Song was well aware of the current actual situation of the Fengwu Army. At present, the four divisions under the Second and Third Armies were the ones that could undertake the main combat tasks on the Yunbing battlefield.

The 9th Division was added later. The 10th Division was a newly formed unit with most of its members being new recruits. Although they had received military training for a period of time, they had not experienced any decent battles. Objectively speaking, there was a gap in combat effectiveness between them and the 2nd and 3rd Armies...
When we attacked Hebei, Henan, Qi and Lu, or fought against Yun and Bing in the past, because the troops of these local vassal states were also of varying quality and the intensity of the fighting between the two sides was not particularly high, there was no problem for the 9th and 10th Divisions to come to the battlefield and start fighting, and these new recruits could also be tempered in actual combat.

However, given the intensity of the current war between the Fengwu Army and the Imperial Army on the Yunbing battlefield, Yuan Song believed that if they rashly threw these two divisions into the battle, their casualties would be very heavy and they might even be at risk of being defeated.

Therefore, Yuan Song also used these two divisions as reserve forces. He replaced the Fourth Division originally stationed in Jinzhong with the Tenth Division, moved the Fourth Division to the front line, and left the Ninth Division in Jinyang, on the one hand to guard against possible invasion from the north.

On the other hand, it is also necessary to protect the logistics supply line that the Fengwu Army relies on most, and ensure that food, ammunition, and medical supplies from the rear can be continuously supplied to the front line.

Therefore, under such circumstances, Yuan Song also relied heavily on the combat effectiveness of the Third Army. The Third Army had the Third and Fourth Divisions. Although the infantry of the Third Division was completely wiped out by Yang Chongqing's troops in the previous Pingyang Campaign.

However, the casualties of the Third Division as a cavalry unit are not very serious. Currently, it still has a strength of 7,000 to 8,000 people. Its combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated.································

The 4th Division had been stationed in Jinzhong before and was the strategic reserve force retained by Yuan Song. Although some soldiers were killed or wounded during the attack on Jinyang, the number of casualties was not large, and it still maintained a very complete combat effectiveness.

Therefore, in this attack on Pingyang, Yuan Song will have to rely particularly on the combat power of the Third Army. Xun Ke is the commander of the Third Army. As the commander-in-chief of Yunbing appointed by Ye Mingsheng, Yuan Song has the power to directly command the Third Army without going through Xun Ke. However, this will cause problems in command and may even lead to consequences that Yuan Song does not want to see.

Therefore, if he wanted to rely on the Third Army, he had to first deal with Xun Ke, which was why Yuan Song was so worried that Xun Ke would be upset with him.

But now it seems that Xun Ke is still very mature, and the situation that Yuan Song was worried about did not occur.

After eliminating his worries, Yuan Song no longer had any reservations about reusing Xun Ke and the Third Army.

At present, due to the pressure from within the Luoan court, Yang Chongqing has to defend Pingyang to the death, which means that he has much less room for maneuver.

However, Yuan Song was still a little worried that Yang Chongqing would play some tricks again, so he also deliberately let the cavalry of Xun Ke's Third Army rush to the city of Pingyang and make a feint to see how Yang Chongqing and the imperial guards would react.
Xun Ke was also very excited about Yuan Song's instructions. Although he accepted Yuan Song's orders on the surface, he was still very eager to take revenge on Yang Chongqing in his heart.

Although Yuan Song's order was just a feint and a test, and not a real confrontation with Yang Chongqing, Xun Ke was very satisfied. It was better than staying in the camp doing nothing, so he immediately bowed and accepted the order:
“Please rest assured, Lord Yuan. I promise to complete the mission and will not underestimate the enemy or advance rashly…”

Listening to Xun Ke's answer, Yuan Song nodded with satisfaction and said:
"Commander Xun, I believe in you! I'm waiting for the good news that you'll return victorious!"

...
...
Golden Horde, capital city of Lesa

In a magnificent palace, Asdogan, who had just succeeded the Khan, was enjoying the beauty of life in the garden with his children.

Unlike the general Cumans who gave people the impression of being strong and brutal, Asdogan gave people the impression of being slightly weak. In addition, Asdogan had been committed to promoting the book culture and power system of the Great Zhou Dynasty within the Cuman Khanate. Therefore, many conservative Cuman nobles regarded this as another strong proof that Asdogan had the bloodline of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Asdogan's father, Khodu, the first Khan of the Golden Horde, always denied his origin and killed many Golden Horde nobles who slandered his origin. However, there was a rumor circulating secretly in the Golden Horde that Khodu was the product of a Golden Horde noble raping a female crossbowman from the Great Zhou who was captured from the south.

This rumor also led to many conservative Kipchak nobles not approving of Khodu's rule, believing that the Khan of the Kipchaks should be a pure Kipchak, not a mixed-blooded bastard. At first, there were still many Kipchak nobles who held this idea, but under Khodu's cold butcher knife, the Kipchak nobles finally lowered their noble heads, prostrated themselves in front of Khodu, and humbly kissed the boots of this tough guy.

Although these Cuman nobles chose to surrender in the face of Huodu’s power and killing, they only hid their truest thoughts in their hearts·······························
Therefore, after Khotan's death, his youngest son Asdogan succeeded to the throne. The argument that the Great Khan of the Golden Horde must be the purest Golden Horde member was once again revived.

However, as the saying goes, "like father, like son." Although Asdog was not as cruel and bloodthirsty as Khodu, he led the Golden Horde to seize the Western Elunchin Steppe, established his own prestige in the Golden Horde, and suppressed those conservative Golden Horde nobles.

Handing a musket to his beloved son Bach, and pointing to a large tree about eighty steps away, Estolian said expectantly:
"Bach, my good son, let me see how strong you are!"

Facing the musket handed over by his father, the thirteen-year-old Bach frowned slightly, and instead of taking it, he leaned forward and stroked his chest, saying:
"Please give me a bow and arrow, father, and I will show you my prowess as a steppe warrior!"

Listening to Bach's words and looking at his proud and stubborn expression, Estjan's eyes were full of disappointment.

As a traditional nomadic people, the Kipchaks grew up on horseback. Riding, archery and wrestling seemed to be innate in their mother’s womb. Their excellent riding and archery skills also made them very proud. They believed that their riding and archery skills could fight against all powerful enemies and allow them to stand on top of the world forever...
Excessive pride turned into arrogance, which made them disdain firearms, thinking that they were just toys for cowards and could not withstand a single blow in the face of the Kipchak's archery skills.

Although they have always lived in the Golden Horde, perhaps it is because there is some Great Zhou blood in their bodies that the father and son, Huodu and Eshidoan, are not like traditional Golden Horde nobles who are overly obsessed with and admire their riding and archery skills.

In several bloody battles with the Great Zhou, Huodu and Asdogan, father and son, witnessed the power of the Great Zhou's firearms, which gave them the idea of ​​learning the Great Zhou's firearms. However, this idea encountered great resistance within the Golden Horde!
Because the traditional concept of the Cumans despised firearms, and firearms were not fully developed at that time and did have many drawbacks, this also led to great resistance to the promotion of firearms in the Cuman Khanate. There were even some extreme views that those who used firearms were cowards like the Zhou people.

The Golden Horde was a country that highly respected the use of force, and its people always prided themselves on their bravery and had very hot tempers. They could not accept being considered cowards by others, so many people refused to use firearms.

Under such traditional concepts, although the father and son, Hodu and Asdogan, tried their best to promote firearms in Cumans, firearms were still not welcomed in Cumans and were not widely used.
This situation has only changed to a certain extent in recent years, because the Fengwu Army achieved very good results in the use of firearms during the civil war in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

In addition, the Golden Horde obtained some advanced firearms technology from the west, which greatly improved the weaknesses of firearms and enhanced their power.

Therefore, some knowledgeable people within the Golden Horde also realized the power of firearms and began to gradually accept new things.

Asdogan was also very happy about this. He always claimed to be a reformer of the Golden Horde. When his father Huodu was alive, he wanted to try to learn the advanced thoughts and culture of the Great Zhou, and even imitate the political system of the Great Zhou to reform the Golden Horde.

However, Khodu was in his old age at that time and relatively speaking, he no longer had the courage and pioneering spirit of his youth. Therefore, after realizing that the reform might lead to the division of the Golden Horde, he did not approve of Asdogan's reform plan.

After Huodu's death, the ambitious Asdogan wanted to start his drastic reform plan immediately...

However, faced with the powerful conservative forces within the Golden Horde, Asdogan soon understood why his father, Khodu, had not approved his reform plan. After some deep thought, for the sake of the unity of the Golden Horde, Asdogan had to temporarily stop his drastic reform plan.

Although the reform was stopped, it did not mean that Asdogan had completely given up on his reform plan. Faced with the harsh reality, he decided to change his methods and approaches, from the initial drastic measures to a gradual approach, and firearms were the breakthrough point he chose!

Asdogan hopes to make the Golden Horde realize the power of firearms, thereby changing conservative traditional concepts and actively embracing new things!
For this purpose, Asdogan specially asked his favorite son Bach to learn how to use firearms, trying to use his own and his family's actions to guide the change of traditional concepts of the Golden Horde!

However, the reality gave him a loud slap in the face. Even his son was unwilling to obey his will. This undoubtedly made Estdoan feel angry and frustrated. Without thinking too much, he slapped Bach hard, making Bach's face swollen and even a trace of blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth...

Although he was only thirteen years old, Bach inherited the stubbornness and courage of the Cumans. Facing his father's slap, he did not say a word, but faced his father's gaze to silently express his protest!
Estdoan became even more angry at this and kicked Bach to the ground again. However, just when he was about to whip out the horsewhip to give Bach a severe lesson, a slightly weak figure stood in front of Bach.

This person was Bach's biological mother, Saya, the queen of the Golden Horde. While stopping Eskoy's beating, Saya gave her son Bach a look. Seeing this, Bach hesitated for a moment but immediately got up from the ground and ran away.

Looking at Bach's fleeing back, Esidogan snorted coldly. Seeing that Esidogan was still very angry, Saya comforted Esidogan and said that being angry was bad for the body and she would persuade Bach to be obedient and learn how to use the musket well.

With his wife's comfort, Asdoan gradually calmed down. Seeing this, Saya wanted to change the subject and asked casually;
“Great Khan, did the Zhou man Ye Mingsheng agree to your request?”

(I’ll repeat myself, if you have any opinions or ideas, please feel free to share them. I’ll be all ears!)
(End of this chapter)