In the winter of 1641, the temperature in the northern part of the Far Eastern Company, which was under the control of the Far Eastern Company, had plummeted, although it was only early winter. At the end of November, several sudden blizzards turned all parts of Mobei and Moxi into snowfields.

The wind was howling, the snow was flying, and everywhere was a white expanse.

In the grasslands of the affected areas, the horizontal visibility is less than 10 km, and in some areas less than 1 km. It has been almost determined that this is an extremely serious white disaster on the grassland during the early winter when it encounters such a heavy snowfall. The units of the Westward Advance Corps and the Northward Corps, as well as the various nomadic detachments affected by the disaster in the grasslands, were all facing severe tests.

The area affected by this "white disaster" is very large, and the most severely affected areas include the northwest of the Mobei grassland and the northern part of the Moxi grassland

region, the situation is very critical. The snow cover has generally reached more than 200 millimeters, and the snow in some areas has reached 500 millimeters, accompanied by bursts of whistling "white-haired winds".

The nomadic detachments, cattle, sheep and horses in the most severely affected areas also suffered varying degrees of losses. Many of the livestock sheds were torn apart by strong winds, crushed by thick snow, and the extremely cold weather caused a large number of cattle and sheep to freeze to death.

The garrison units in the various affected areas were also affected by the White Plague, and they sent telegrams to the Corps Headquarters for help. The headquarters of the Northwest Field Army received telegrams from all over the country, but it was also at a loss.

The blizzard has been raining for two days and two nights, and it shows no signs of stopping until now. In the face of such bad weather conditions, the garrisons everywhere were powerless.

In such weather, if you want to brave the raging snowstorm to provide disaster relief in the disaster area, it is a game of death. The snow is deep in the vast grasslands, traffic is severely blocked, and visibility is very low. It's very easy to get lost, and if you don't get it right, you'll get trapped in a blizzard and cause new losses. In such weather conditions, the airship could not take off, so it could only wait for the snowstorm to stop, and was trying to find a way to send troops deep into the disaster area to provide relief.

Song Tao was wearing an overcoat. Standing on the playground of the headquarters of the Northwest Field Army, he looked anxiously at the snowflakes in the sky. He had only been standing outside for a while, and he was already looking like a snowman.

The guard next to him urged several times before pulling him in from the outside. Chief of Staff Shang Ming walked up and helped him sweep away the snow on his body, and then said with a smile: "Commander, it's useless for you to be in a hurry now, this snow doesn't stop, and we can't do anything at all." I can only pray for God's blessing. Stop the snow. ”

Song Tao handed the coat to the guard behind him, sat next to the fire, stretched out his frozen hands and roasted them with the fire.

"Paralyzed, this snow is really not small. It's not even December, and the temperature has dropped so fast, and the cold winter wax moon is still so bad that people can't live. ”

Shang Ming took a cup of hot water for Song Tao, and then said with a smile: "Actually, although there is snowfall in other areas, it is within the controllable range. Only the vast area around Lake Balkhash and the large steppes in the northeastern part of the Altai Mountains in Mobei. The worst hit were the worst. Judging by the telegrams of the local garrisons, the situation of the individual garrison units was also not very good. ”

Song Tao stood up. Came to a huge sand table, stared at the two most severely affected areas, shook his head, and said: "I remember that the area around Lake Balkhash is the forefront of the Western Corps, and there are quite a few garrison troops and nomadic detachments in Nali. If this snow falls for a few more days, not to mention the cattle and sheep of the nomadic detachment, even the herdsmen and the local garrison will be in danger. ”

Lake Balkhash is located in central Asia. It is an inland glacial dammed lake and is the fourth longest lake in the world. It is about 605 kilometers long from east to west, 8 to 70 kilometers wide from north to south, and 74 kilometers wide from west, with an area of 18,300 square kilometers. Lake Balkhash is one of the very few lakes in the world with half brackish water. Because the east and west parts of the lake are connected by a lake and a waterway, it is by definition a lake.

In the middle of the 19th century, through the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing and the Sino-Russian Treaty on the Survey and Demarcation of the Northwest Boundary, Tsarist Russia appropriated the territory of more than 440,000 square kilometers in the western part of China, including Lake Balkhash, Zaisampo and Issyk-Kul Lake, together with the surrounding vast areas.

In this campaign, the forward troops of the Westward Advance Corps of the Northwest Field Army advanced all the way west to Lake Balkhash and controlled the area around Lake Balkhash before stopping.

Therefore, a large number of troops of the Western Corps of the Far Eastern Army chose to spend the winter in the area along the shores of Lake Balkhash. Lake Balkhash is also surrounded by various wintering nomadic detachments, preparing to continue westward to the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea next spring.

This serious "white plague" also wiped out almost all the nearby garrison troops and nomadic detachments, and nearly 30 percent of the troops of the Western Corps were trapped in the disaster area.

In addition, there are several large winter training camps built along the shores of Lake Balkhash, and tens of thousands of prisoners from the western Mongolian tribes have already received winter training in these camps for more than two months.

Na Ritu was a tribal herdsman from the Dzungar tribe, which was actually a broken settlement in a small tribe, and the inspiration had long since died. Every time I go out to fight with the tribe Nayan, I rely on my strong body and dare to work hard, but I can also live a hard life with a full meal.

Ever since he was captured by the Far East, he has been living in fear. But within a few days of entering the prisoner camp, he was able to eat two meals every day, although each meal could only be divided into hard coarse bread, but the day of the hard torture had not yet been eaten twice a day when he was so old.

Sometimes I went out to do some heavy work, and I could get a big bowl of mutton soup, a few pickles, and enough cakes to eat. If he knew he would come here to live such a day, then he would still be a fart.

To the surprise of Na Ritu, the strength of this Far Eastern tribe was too strong. The warriors of the tribe actually held the firearms of the Han people in their hands, and the things they wore were very noble, and they ate meat almost every day.

Even if he was caught here, he was given a new set of coarse cloth clothes, as well as a hat, shoes, a satchel and a wooden water bottle. For a hard-pressed herdsman like him, he had never even seen such things.

Especially when he saw the huge Shenzhou in the sky, he was stunned. He and a group of poor herdsmen on the grassland all knelt down at the huge Shenzhou and continued to worship.

In their eyes, this tribe in the Far East was a messenger sent by the great Immortal Heaven to save the oppressive herdsmen like them, so that they could eat two meals of bread a day and give them new clothes to wear. (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you for the monthly pass support that doesn't work with headaches and the world.