On October 15, 1686, just as the forces on the eastern shore of the Indian Ocean began to unite and bend their muscles against the Dutch East India Company's uninformed fools, on the opposite side of the Suez Canal, several Dutch merchant ships had just set sail for the Black Sea loaded with Egyptian wheat to the Azov fortress of the Crimean Khanate.

And on the shore, a large number of Egyptian Mamluk cavalry were also packing up their equipment. They would advance overland, gathering two forces at Aleppo and Damascus, then heading north through the Anatolian plateau into the Ottoman-controlled Caucasus (where the locals were nominally subject to the Ottoman Sultan), into the steppe of the Crimean Khanate east of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and finally to Azov, an important Ottoman military town near the mouth of the Don River, where they assisted the somewhat thin Turkish soldiers.

It can be seen that the Ottoman Empire is also in a hurry when the war is fought to this extent. I don't know what benefits they promised, so that the Egyptian Lake Horse Muruk, who had always managed himself, also sent more than 3,000 cavalry, and if they gathered thousands of cavalry from Syria, it would definitely greatly strengthen the Ottoman army on the Azov side. If combined with the local grassland herders, it should become a major threat to the enemy's flank.

In the port of Haji, which is nearly 1,000 kilometers away from the Azov fortress, the East Bank ambassador to Istanbul, Marati, has just finished his visit to Beckchisale and is talking with Wu Yifei, commander of the Haji garrison.

"The Great Khan had moved the Golden Horde to the port of Murato, where he gathered his private troops loyal to his lord on both sides of the Dnieper, and of course the Ukrainian Cossacks on the right bank, who were also organized in the form of about twenty thousand men. According to the instructions of the Ottoman Sultan, it is currently under the command of the Crimeans to deal with the threat of Ukrainians and Russians on the left bank as soon as possible. Holding a cup of salted Tatar-style milk tea, Marati was listening carefully to Wu Yifei's introduction in this regard.

"There are not many soldiers and horses brought by the Great Khan, but they are very elite, basically they are all soldiers of the new army, and their combat effectiveness is okay." Wu Yifei continued: "On the northern shore of the Black Sea, from Kajibey (Odessa) to Mulato (Kherson) and then to Azov, many local feudal lords also responded to the edict of the Great Khan, began to recruit troops within their respective territories, and then began to converge at designated places with a minimum of a few hundred men and a maximum of one or two thousand foot cavalry, ready to deal with armed conflicts. The conflict was mainly brought by the Cossacks of left-bank Ukraine, that is, Samoilovich's men and horses, these guys often couldn't bear the loneliness and rushed across the border into the territory of the Crimean Khanate to burn and loot, anyway, there were Russians behind them. ”

"But the Crimean Khanate was good compared to right-bank Ukraine, because most of the Cossacks in eastern Ukraine were still targeting western Ukraine. Under the influence of the Russians, they constantly sent small forces to cross the river to the west, attacking the towns and troops of the Cossacks in Western Ukraine, and capturing the local population and bringing them back to the east bank. Wu Yifei said: "Western Ukraine is now leaderless, and after Khmelnitsky Jr. was executed, no one with prestige came out to preside over the overall situation, so when facing Samoilovich's men, morale is not high, and it is easy to fall into disadvantage." I have met several Western Ukrainian Cossack officers who have come to Hadji to 'travel', and they are all decadent and afraid of Samoilovich, let alone the Russians. Moreover, Western Ukraine is now a bit of a belligerent host, facing the threat of Polish troops in the west and north, and the threat of the Russians and Samoilovich in the east, and their situation is really worrying. Don't look at the Grei Khan of Crimea this time asked the commanders of the Western Ukrainian Cossacks to come over for a meeting, but these people are actually easy to move, and they may also need the Tatars to support some cavalry to help defend in the past, otherwise the Poles are likely to come in, which is what everyone does not want to see. ”

Some of the information introduced by Wu Yifei was found by himself by sending people to find out, some was sent back by businessmen on the east coast, and some was obtained through buying intelligence; after refining and analyzing, the conclusions obtained were basically the same as the facts, which not only shows the fruitful work of the intelligence agency on the east bank of Haji County, but also shows from the side that war between Russia, Croatia, Austria, Poland, and Ukraine is about to break out, and all sides have no intention of covering up much, because it cannot be covered up and is meaningless. The movement of hundreds of thousands of troops is not a trivial matter, and this cannot be hidden from anyone.

Now that the 100,000 Russian troops stationed in eastern Ukraine have begun to move more and more frequently, and all kinds of supplies have been brought in from afar - of course, it is still quite insufficient in terms of numbers, but what does it matter, when the Russians have sufficient logistics to fight the war - the intention to fight is very obvious.

In order to deal with this threat from the Russians, the Great Khan of the Crimean Khanate also left the capital city of Bekchisaray, went north with more than 20,000 elite horsemen, set up the Golden Horde on the northern shore of the Black Sea, and gathered all the men and horses to gather, intending to fight with the Russians. There is no doubt that the victory or defeat of this battle is related to the future of the Crimean Khanate, and if it wins, it can repel the attacks of the Russians, send influence to the depths of the steppe, and control more tribes; If it is defeated, then naturally everything will be stopped, and those grain plantations on the northern shore of the Black Sea will most likely be occupied by the Russians, and the local lords will either flee south into the peninsula or be wiped out, which will be very fatal to the destruction of the economic potential of the khanate, and it can be said that the future of the Crimean Khanate will be ruined.

Therefore, the Great Khan of Glay brought with him the new army, which had been trained at great expense, and eagerly waited for the arrival of the troops of the East Coast (the cost of leasing Haji County), so that he could have a better chance of victory. It's just that according to the voyage of the ship, the Great Khan of Glei will not be able to get this military fund until the beginning of next year at the earliest, and then he will have to distribute it, be familiar with the equipment, and I don't know if he can catch up with the big war with the Russians. You know, in order to pull the Russians into the water, the Poles have basically given up their claims to Kyiv and other elite areas of western Ukraine, and signed a secret agreement with the Russians to cede all these places to Russia in exchange for them sending troops to attack the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate.

Based on this understanding, at this time, not only Gelai Khan was a little anxious, but Wu Yifei was also a little anxious for them. Although everyone felt that even without this batch of military funds, with the 30,000 new army and 40,000 old army led by Great Khan (basically mobilized nationwide), and with the 10,000 or 20,000 Ottoman Turkish soldiers on the northern shore of the Black Sea, they might not have no chance of winning, but they always felt that with this batch of military funds, the chances of victory would be greater.

"Don't expect the Ottomans to come over from the Western Front, where they have just recaptured the important town of Belgrade and executed a large number of local lords who surrendered to the Austrians, and it is precisely when the situation needs to be stabilized that it is impossible to draw too many troops to support the Ukrainian battlefield. Here, it is only up to the Tatars themselves to fight, and if you win, you will be safe, and if you lose, you will be out of control. Marati took a sip of milk tea with a strong steppe style, then raised his head to look at Wu Yifei and said, "But according to the information I have, the Russians may not have much chance of winning." It is said that the signing of an alliance with the Poles was approved by many in the Russian government and the opposition, but the sending of troops to war was opposed by the majority of the people, and the old men of the Duma (i.e., the all-Russian gentry conference) still hoped that the Poles would send troops first, so that Russia would be in the fire, and then they would follow according to the situation, rather than recklessly going on their own head first, as they are now. According to the most widely circulated version, it was Princess Sophia, the regent, who sent troops to conquer Ukraine, who was the most insistent, and he was likely to send his concubine Golitsyn – a famous writer, artist, translator, naturalist, but not a military strategist – to the throne of commander-in-chief, and if that was the case, there might be an opportunity. If the Crimeans are lucky, they might be able to win a victory. At that point, perhaps we will be able to negotiate with Great Khan of Glay about the acquisition of Russian prisoners of war, which we need in our land reclamation and many other occasions. ”

"Ambassador Ma, you are still so optimistic, let's wait and see." Wu Yifei smiled and said, "Just now you mentioned that the Ottoman Empire's Western Front recovered Belgrade, what is the specific situation?" ”

"Well, how can I put it, it's a bad debt." After thinking about it, Marati introduced it in as simple language as possible: "The attack on the Serbian direction was the coalition of German princes, the combat effectiveness was average, and the command was different, so after a long tug-of-war, it was finally killed by the Ottoman army, lost Belgrade, and further retreated to the rear, but the Ottomans were powerless to pursue in this direction." In Hungary, the most critical main battlefield, the Austrian army fought bravely and made considerable progress, and has now captured the twin cities of Buda and Pest on the Danube, and many local Christian lords have surrendered, and the Ottoman rule here has almost collapsed, and it is irretrievable in a short time. The main Ottoman army was now largely drawn to this line, preventing the Austrians from continuing their march and invading neighboring Transylvania with a large number of new Hungarian annexes, threatening the richest and most elite region of the Ottoman Empire, Rumili, which provided the vast majority of the Empire's military rations, equipment, and personnel. ”

"It's hit this one......" Wu Yifei smacked his lips, expressing surprise, and then asked: "Can the Ottoman Empire hold on?" Now I always feel that they are a little weak. ”

"It should be fine. After more than a year of brutal warfare, the troops and horses reorganized by Zaad Fasher Kopluludavić had been somewhat relieved, and the Austrians could no longer defeat them as easily as usual, and had to take some effort. Moreover, the Ottoman Empire was also lucky, no, the French have been very active lately, and attracted the Austrians to draw some troops to the Western Front, which greatly reduced the pressure on the Empire, which is really lucky. Marati said with a smile.