Dominate the Country

A heavy snowstorm hit St. Petersburg. The whole city turned into a white world in a blink of an eye.

This snowstorm brought a bit of tranquility to St. Petersburg that it had not had in the past, but at the same time, the palace of Catherine II was not calm at all.

Along with this heavy snowstorm, a series of war reports came to St. Petersburg. The Russian ministers and her close ministers in front of Catherine II were in a noisy, panic and low atmosphere. Those politicians and officers who were still in high spirits because of the "bad luck" of the Swedish army a few days ago now all had a stern face or were arguing around the map with red faces.

The Russo-Swedish War initiated by Gustav III can be said to be the seventh Russo-Swedish War. Since the Livonian War from 1561 to 1583, when Sweden stood on the anti-Russian side, until now, until 1788 in the Western calendar, six major wars have broken out between Russia and Sweden in more than 200 years. Now it is the seventh Russo-Swedish War!

Although the final outcome is still unknown, the initial confrontation between Russia and Sweden has won victory on both land and sea.

This war was launched by Gustav III, who took advantage of the Sixth Russo-Turkish War to attack Russian Finland. More than 40 years ago, in the Sixth Russo-Swedish War, Sweden, with the support of France, provoked a war with Russia to regain lost territory. However, it suffered several major defeats on the battlefield, and finally the two sides signed the Treaty of Ob, and Sweden further lost its territory in Finland.

Now Gustav III is preparing to attack Russia again and regain the lost territory in Finland. As a result, Sweden was defeated in the early stages of the war. The army was blocked from advancing to the Svartepol Fortress, and the navy was frustrated in the Battle of Gogland. Later, the Russian navy severely damaged the Swedish fleet in the First Battle of Svensksund.

When the news reached St. Petersburg, the whole of Russia was in celebration.

After hearing the bad news from the East for a long time, and the war with the Ottoman Empire was not going smoothly, Russia's victory over Sweden at this time made the whole St. Petersburg feel relieved, and the whole government and the public were greatly encouraged.

But the good times did not last long. Just when St. Petersburg was still happy, bad news came from the East again.

Barnaul and Pavlodar fell one after another. Of the three cities that blocked the Chinese, only Omsk was left.

The map in the palace was a detailed map of Siberia. All the cities built by Russia in Siberia in the past two hundred years were marked on it, as well as water and land routes and hubs. This map alone could be sold for 100,000 yuan in China.

As for the situation in East and West Siberia, the people in the palace no longer cared about it. Although Repnin was a very capable general, the cards in his hand were too stinky.

What really surprised the people in St. Petersburg was Marshal Rumyantsev of Western Siberia. This veteran general in the Russian army, with 60,000 troops under his command and the cooperation of the Torghut tribe, had high hopes for Rumyantsev before the war.

It was possible that this old general could reproduce the miracle and beat the Chinese.

However, the sudden rebellion of the Torghut tribe made the situation in Western Siberia a mess and it became out of control.

When St. Petersburg learned of the rebellion of the Torghut tribe, the whole city was silent. No one believed that the loyal warrior of the empress, Ubashi, would suddenly betray. But the facts cannot be changed. The Torghut tribe not only betrayed itself, but also deceived 20,000 main Russian troops. In addition to the 10,000 Siberian troops that Rumyantsev threw out as bait at the beginning, the main Russian army in Rumyantsev's hands was finished.

Catherine II was so angry that she crushed all the gifts that Ubashi had given in the palace over the years. But this could not reverse the defeat in Western Siberia. Because of the Ottomans, St. Petersburg could not even withdraw Cossack cavalry from the Caucasus battlefield.

In front of us is a schematic diagram of the war in Western Siberia. On the map, a huge red arrow symbolizing the Chinese National Defense Army has penetrated the thin defense line of the Russian army on the Ob River.

Marshal Rumyantsev led the remaining troops to retreat across the board, along the Ob River, by boat, raft, and raft, all the way west. At the same time, he ordered the Russian army and government in Tobolsk, Yekaterinaburg, Chelyabinsk and other places to gather male citizens of appropriate age and organize militias. He planned to use the urban agglomeration on the west bank of the Ob River as a new starting point and reorganize a "flexible" defense line.

And what is a "flexible" defense line?

That is to always maintain close contact with the Chinese, but not to fight a decisive battle. To put it more bluntly, it is to retreat and fight, and that space is exchanged for time.

The news reached St. Petersburg in the early morning when the heavy snow came. Thanks to the Chinese for inventing carrier pigeons, the Russians, who have a vast territory, also learned this trick, although the number of carrier pigeons controlled by their government is far less than that of China. And the proportion of missing carrier pigeons is much higher than that of China, but some emergency intelligence can always be guaranteed. The speed is quite fast. The entire Russian court wailed.

Everyone knows what this means!

If Russia loses the Ob River Basin, it will be difficult to keep the vast West Siberian Plain. And if West Siberia is lost, can the steel industry foundation laid by Peter the Great be maintained?

Those smelting plants that have been in operation for half a century, although the technology used is old, are still one of the most important cornerstones of the Russian Empire.

If Russia loses this place, their loss will be so huge that it will be unimaginable.

Catherine II does not want to be a sinner in Russian history, and bear the crime of losing Russia's century-long development achievements. Just thinking about this crime makes her sensitive and irritable.

Therefore, this war with the Chinese must continue.

Russia cannot admit defeat now. The Chinese and the Ottomans are close allies. If Russia chooses to admit defeat at this time, it will not only fail in the Second Sino-Russian War, but also the Sixth Russo-Turkish War, and even Sweden can take the opportunity to cut a piece of Russian meat.

However, the Russian army in Western Siberia has been completely defeated so far in the war. The consequences of such a big defeat are catastrophic. What St. Petersburg needs to consider is how to raise enough troops on the Eastern Front in the next period of time - that is, in the cold winter with heavy snow, so that Rumyantsev can reorganize the defense line.

Although Catherine II wanted to remove Rumyantsev from his position as commander as soon as she received the Eastern Front report, her mind was not completely confused. If Rumyantsev was removed, who could make up for him?

No matter what opinions and views Catherine II had on Rumyantsev, she could not deny that the veteran Rumyantsev was one of the best fighters in Russia, and could even be said to be the best fighter.

If he was removed, the person who replaced him would only make the war worse.

So in the past few days, the generals in the Russian court were all silent in front of Catherine II. Only when Catherine II was not around would they talk loudly.

Rumyantsev's position was not at all enviable. It was a crater that was erupting. If you were not careful, the hot riverside could burn you to ashes.

Even a great god like Rumyantsev was on the verge of death, and an iron man like Kamensky was melted into molten iron. They dared not seek death.

Then, they needed to satisfy Rumyantsev's request.

In the following cold winter, they had to transport troops, materials, and everything Rumyantsev needed to Western Siberia. But the trouble was here.

Russia's main battlefield was the war between the Caucasus and the Ottoman Empire. The battle there was now in a stalemate. The two sides were bombarding each other with rockets and artillery groups, and the daily expenditure was an astronomical figure.

If possible, St. Petersburg was willing to use all the materials in the Caucasus battlefield, not anywhere else.

The Russian Empire made a big mistake in estimating the cost of the war. They prepared 30,000 to 40,000 rockets in East and West Siberia, and as many as 100,000 rockets in Western Siberia.

The number of rockets prepared in the Caucasus was incredible, reaching 200,000.

In the eyes of many Russian military and political officials, this is a number that may not be used up until the end of the war. After all, they can continue to produce rockets during the war.

What is the concept of hundreds of thousands of rockets? Even if a rocket can only kill one person, it is a price that no country in the world is willing to pay.

Including China, which has a large population.

But what the St. Petersburg monarchs and ministers did not expect was that the consumption rate of rockets was much faster than they expected.

Not to mention the Eastern battlefield, the exchange of information was not very convenient. But the battle between them and Sweden, the battle of Svartepol Fortress stunned all the followers. And if this battle may be a special case, then the Battle of Kimboon and the subsequent Battle of Ochakov fully proved that the battle of Svartepol Fortress was not a special case, but a "normal" war phenomenon.

In order to ensure sufficient military supplies on the Caucasus battlefield, the current St. Petersburg monarchs and ministers really don't want to send one more rocket to the East.

But now they have to do it.

Rumyantsev proposed his own conditions to St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg had to send him at least 100,000 rockets and 30,000 regular troops. In addition, Rumyantsev also needed to obtain sufficient military strength. He had to recruit at least 50,000 young and strong men to form militia in Western Siberia and the Volga River Basin. Otherwise, he really could not guarantee that he could stop the Chinese in the Ural River Basin.

You know, the original nomadic area of ​​the Torghut tribe, which betrayed the Russian Empire, was in the lower reaches of the Volga River and the shores of the Caspian Sea. At that time, they were oppressed by the Junggar Mongols, left their homeland in Xinjiang Tarbagatai, crossed the Kazakh steppe, crossed the Ural River, and came to the lower reaches of the Volga River and the shores of the Caspian Sea, which had not yet been occupied by Tsarist Russia.

In recent years, with the easing of relations between St. Petersburg and the Torghut tribe, some Torghut herders have driven their cattle and sheep to the Ural River Basin.

When the news of Wubashi's "betrayal" reached the Torghut tribe, the latter quickly gathered a cavalry of 10,000 people and began to harass and attack Orenburg and other areas where the troops were empty, burning and destroying a large number of Cossack villages and Russian farms, and looting a large amount of property. At the same time, a large number of Torghut women and children also drove their sheep and horses to the Ural River Basin. The Chinese cavalry also entered the Ural River Basin, and now the two sides have connected.

Although it is located in the Ural River Basin, Orenburg in the center and Guryev Fortress in the Ural River Delta are still under the control of the Russian army. The main force of the Chinese is still far away from the Ural River Basin. But the prospects for Russian troops there are really not good.

Perhaps after the Ural River freezes, a large number of Turghuts will cross the Ural River and enter the Kazakh grasslands east of the Caspian Sea. By next spring's blooming season, they will be completely safe.

One winter, while the large-scale war was hindered, some small details could be adjusted appropriately.

And even the Turghuts can "return eastward" in winter, and the Russians can naturally "move eastward" in winter.

Catherine II was naturally unwilling to throw away the achievements of Russia's two hundred years of eastward expansion.

Before the war started in China, she had also considered the extremely tragic evolution of the war situation, so how to make a comeback?

The only option is to delay on the eastern front. Then get rid of the Ottoman Empire and Sweden as soon as possible, and then mobilize the army to the east...

Therefore, Catherine II could only meet Rumyantsev's conditions. In addition, she still needs to recruit some Cossacks from the main battlefield in the Caucasus, and the Ural Cossacks will be the main force, so that they can fight back to their hometown and teach the shameful Turgut people a lesson.

Because of Turgut, the Eastern Front set up by Catherine II was in a mess. If possible, she really wanted to kill all the men of the Torgut tribe and give all their women to humble serfs as wives. She was not willing to let this shameful tribe continue to grow on the earth. Exist for one day.

It's a pity that all she can do now is to mobilize a limited number of Cossacks to drive away rather than eliminate the Torgut tribe.

There were many cavalry duels on the battlefields of the Caucasus.

Because of the changes in the war mode between the two sides, cutting off each other's logistics routes has become a very urgent need for both sides in the war. Of course, battles at sea can only be resolved by battleships, but tasks on land, in this era, can only fall on the cavalry. Russia's powerful regular cavalry is not as suitable as the Cossacks in such a battle.

As for the Ottoman Empire, their cavalry units did become somewhat European-style due to China's intervention.

The Ottoman cavalry, which had strong individual combat effectiveness, also began to perform wall charges.

But this is only part of it. The Ottoman Empire still maintained a quite powerful traditional cavalry. Although the combat effectiveness of the latter is much lower than that of the Ottoman cavalry at its peak, it still caused a lot of trouble for Russia. And this is one of Chen Han's requirements for them.

Chen Ming had considered the safety of the Torgut tribe before the war.

The fragrant breeze blows, refreshing the mind. Before Chen Ming opened his eyes, the soft and warm touch between his arms told him how he felt so refreshed this morning.

Last night was a very memorable night. For the first time, he admitted women of Kazakh descent into the harem, and there were three of them at once. Each of the three Kazakhs contributed one to Chen Ming.

This is the only three women that Chen Ming has brought into the harem in recent years. How long has it been? The court and even the entire country thought that Chen Ming no longer had concubines. Now Chen Ming had to personally break this 'rumor' in order to increase the Kazakhs' centripetal force towards Nanjing.

And whether this move also means that the Chen Han Dynasty will slow down its high pressure on the Tianfang Sect in the territory, it is also news that many people in the northwest are eagerly anticipating.

Chen Mingchen got up very early. The sky outside was still gray. It was his habit to exercise in the morning. It doesn't matter whether it's Lake Balkhash or Nanjing.

There were candles in the room, and Chen Ming could clearly see the beauty sleeping in the tent. As soon as this person gets older, his mentality really seems to change. Young men are generally interested in mature women. At least as a time traveler, Chen Ming also had such a turbulent period, but older men began to be interested in little girls.

He originally had no lustful intentions, so accepting these three people was more of a statement of his attitude. Unexpectedly, after he got into bed, the young and energetic body of the woman really aroused his interest.

He wanted to take his arm out and looked down at the woman beside him. He looked at the beauty under the lamp and saw that she was superior. She was really a stunning beauty.

But Chen Ming still controlled himself to get up on time.

…

Half an hour later, the sun had risen. Chen Ming ran for four or five miles in the morning light, feeling slightly tired.

At this time, he received two urgent military reports. One was that the Mongolian cavalry chasing Rumyantsev was ambushed by the Russian army in Tobolsk and suffered a small loss; the other was that Xiaoyuzi's men and horses on the west bank of the Ural River were fighting The Torgut cavalry took over. As soon as the Ural River froze, they could escort the women, children, old and weak, cattle, sheep and horses of the Torgut tribe to the Kazakh prairie.