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Volume One: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 726: Waiting for Reinforcements

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    After listening to Li Kaifang's words, Xiao Yungui's smile became a little stiff. He did not expect that the British and French Allied Forces' second expeditionary force would arrive so quickly. The Taiping Army's deployment on the north and south coasts had not yet fully met the requirements to defeat the British and French Allied Forces

    Xiao Yungui, with a solemn expression, walked quickly to the huge national map in the room, looked at the map and asked: "Where does the General Staff judge that the enemy will launch an attack?"

    Li Kaifang walked to the map and pointed at Guangzhou and said: "The most likely thing is to attack Guangzhou first!" Xiao Yungui immediately asked: "What's the reason?" Li Kaifang said: "Guangzhou is close to Hong Kong. The British and French allied forces attacking here can shorten the supply line. At the same time, Guangzhou  The trade in Guangzhou is no longer as good as that in Shanghai. Even if the attack here is destroyed in the future, it will not hinder the restoration of trade between Britain and France after the war. Moreover, they have occupied Guangzhou twice in the hands of the Qing army and know the local terrain very well. And we cannot afford to lose Guangzhou, because  Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong Province.¡±

    Xiao Yungui hummed slightly, looked at the long coastline and sighed: "The navy is still too weak. Does the General Staff have a battle plan?"

    Li Kaifang said: "Two Hunan armies have been reorganized and can be deployed in Guangdong and Fujian, but they lack necessary weapons, especially artillery. However, with the addition of the Hunan army, the regular army strength in Guangzhou can reach more than 30,000 people  , not counting local troops.¡±

    Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "We can only deploy like this first. Hunan has just been recovered. In addition to retaining a certain amount of local troops to maintain stability, other troops should immediately return to the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas along the Yangtze River for deployment." Zuo Zongtang and Li Kaifang nodded in agreement.  .

    It has been exactly one year since the defeat of the British and French troops last year. It seems that the British and French coalition forces have organized a second expedition. According to the report, the scale of this expedition may be twice that of the previous one, that is,  It is said that the army's strength may reach more than 50,000 people, and the size of the responding navy will also double.  Although the current British Navy is still dominated by wooden warships, the number and tonnage are still quite terrifying. But the good thing is that the British cannot use all the warships in the Far East. The British overseas colonies in other parts of the country still need the British Navy.  To control, as long as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can survive this.  I believe that neither Britain nor France will organize a third expedition.  But what price did the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom have to pay to survive this hurdle?  Xiao Yungui was still very worried.

    At the same time, there was another person in the city of Yakutsk thousands of miles away who had the same thoughts as Xiao Yungui. This person was the Russian Governor of Siberia Muravyov.  The news of Nerchinsk's siege and the news of the destruction of 30,000 Cossack cavalry reached him almost at the same time.  Muravyov rubbed his temples, his gray beard and hair trembling constantly, and murmured curses in his mouth: "Bebutov, you arrogant bastard, I have already asked you to retreat to Chita, why do you want to move forward?"  To rescue? Even to rescue. Why not be more careful?"

    Major General Liukov, the Russian Far East general beside Muravyov, asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty the Governor, have all 30,000 Cossack cavalry been annihilated by the enemy?" Muravyov handed over two battle reports and said with a bitter smile: "  Our elite cavalry was annihilated by the enemy's infantry, and it was a humiliating annihilation. Our disaster has come."

    Major General Liukov said disapprovingly: "Your Excellency Governor, maybe you are too pessimistic. We have a lot of people, so we can ask your Majesty for more reinforcements. During the Crimean War, we mobilized millions of troops."

    Muravyov looked helplessly at this almost idiotic major general. If his father hadn't been a Russian nobleman, he would never have been able to achieve the rank of major general.  But Muravyov still sighed and explained: "The Far East is not Europe, Crimea is not Nerchinsk, and our enemies are not Britain and France in Europe. The Taiping Rebellion is as vast and populous as us, and they are close to the Far East.  It is easier to mobilize troops, whereas we have to cross a great distance to mobilize troops from the west."

    Muravyov paused and then said: "His Majesty is now implementing reforms. Thirty thousand Cossack cavalry is the limit of the troops that His Majesty can mobilize to the Far East. At home, His Majesty needs a huge army to maintain stability. You know that two epidemics broke out across the country last year.  More than a hundred uprisings?¡±

    Liukov nodded and said: "I know. I also participated in the battle to put down the rebellion, and was later promoted to major general before being transferred to the Far East to serve under your command."

    Muravyov secretly thought, at your level you can only lead troops to bully the unarmed serfs in the country.  But he said: "His Majesty just promulgated the land reform decree in February this year, but in just a few months, more than 600 uprisings have broken out in the country!"

    Liukov was a little surprised and asked: "How come there are so many? Didn't the reform decree promulgated by His Majesty agree that those humble farmers can use money to redeem their land? Why do these farmers still launch a rebellion?"

    Muravyov smiled bitterly, thisPeople really don¡¯t know anything. They immediately said: ¡°Most of the farmers in the country are extremely poor. How can these people have the money to redeem their land? In fact, this reform has not fully met the farmers¡¯ requirements.¡±  Liukov murmured in a low voice: "These lowly people really have a lot to ask for." Then he said: "Your Majesty the Governor. Since we can't mobilize troops in the country now, we can go there with the three newly formed Siberian divisions.  Come to the rescue."

    Muravyov stood up and shook his head and said: "These three divisions with more than 40,000 people are our last military force in Siberia. We cannot use them easily, and now that the severe cold has arrived, we can only wait. Don't worry.  Boy, the cold winter will crush our enemies."

    The city of Yakutsk is an important stronghold in the Russian Far East. In 1632, Russia built a castle on the right bank of the Lena River. From 1642 to 1643, it also built an additional castle on the left bank, which later became the new city of Yakutsk.  Since then, Yakutsk has become an important base for Russia's expansion into northeastern Asia, southward, and toward the Pacific coast.  This city is close to the Arctic Ocean and is the coldest city in the world. The whole city is built on rock-hard permafrost. However, the 1.2-meter-thick movable soil layer on the surface freezes in winter and thaws in summer. The wooden piles must be driven deeply into the movable soil layer.  Build your house on piles 1 meter above the ground to prevent the ground from melting and destroying the building.

    Muravyov organized and established more than 40,000 troops in Siberia, all of which were stationed here. He planned to avoid the Taiping Army's front, preserve his strength and wait for the arrival of domestic reinforcements. It might take several years to defend, and  Yakutsk is the best stronghold, where the low temperature of minus 40 degrees in winter will be their greatest protection.

    As for places such as Nerchinsk and Chita, Muravyov could do nothing. His newly formed army of 40,000 people would definitely not be able to defeat the Taiping Army in the field. In the face of the Taiping Army¡¯s continuous offensive in the northeast in recent years, Muravyov could not do anything.  Raviyov never thought about taking the initiative to attack, because his previous attempts ended in failure.  In the past few years in the Northeast, the Russian army has lost a total of more than 50,000 troops. The settlements, posts and strongholds have also been pulled out one by one. The population losses have also been very large. How can they occupy this area without a population?  Therefore, Muravyov has adjusted his strategy since the beginning of this year. He is preparing to scale back the pace of expansion, shrinking the population and military strength into some important strongholds and cities, and waiting for the situation to change.

    The Russian general Sergeyev who was far away in Nerchinsk did not know that his boss, the Siberian Governor Muraviev, had abandoned him and the city of Nerchinsk. He was still encouraging the soldiers at the top of the city of Nerchinsk.  Their morale said, "Brave Russian warriors, the time has come to test you. The severe cold has arrived. The enemy will not be able to take advantage of it. Victory will eventually belong to us and His Majesty the Great Tsar!" Amidst the sound of Ura, the Russian soldiers at the top of the city  They waved their bearskin hats and looked confident.

    Outside Nerchinsk City, inside the Taiping Army camp, Liu Mingchuan looked at Nerchinsk City with a telescope from the command post covered with thick pine branches.  Last night, the Russian army in the city of Nerchinsk launched a night attack. Thousands of Russian troops came out of the city to sneak attack, intending to use bayonets and darkness to offset the Taiping Army's firepower advantage. As a result, the troops commanded by Liu Mingchuan beat back with bayonets.  After a busy night, Liu Mingchuan and several generals were eating breakfast. When he heard cheers coming from Nerchinsk City, he raised his telescope to observe.

    This Liu Mingchuan is the famous first governor of Taiwan in later history. However, in this time and space, he did not join the Huai Army and become its general, but became a member of the Taiping Army early on.  Liu Mingchuan was born in 1836. His father died of illness when he was 11 years old. Later, his eldest brother and his third brother died one after another. The other brothers started their own families and lived alone with their mother Zhou.  Mother and son depend on each other and make a living by selling illicit salt.  Liu Mingchuan has a bold personality and gets along well with local young people.  Later, the Liu family was insulted by the local tyrants because they could not pay the grain rent.  Unwilling to be humiliated, Liu Mingchuan killed the local tycoon, and then invited hundreds of young people from the countryside to build a dike and a stronghold in Daqian Mountain, and began his rebellious career.

    Later, when the Taiping Army and the Northern King's troops captured the Hefei area, Liu Mingchuan became the deployment of the Taiping Army in the North Hall.  After the Tianjing Incident, Liu Mingchuan's troops stayed in Hefei and did not go to Tianjing, so they escaped disaster. However, like most people in the Beidian, they were transferred to the bitterly cold Northeast and served under Tan Shaoguang.

    Liu Mingchuan fought bravely under Tan Shaoguang in the past few years and made many military exploits. Now he is the leading general in the Northeast Army. This time Tan Shaoguang commanded tens of thousands of troops to besiege Nerchinsk, so he handed over the siege task to Liu Mingchuan, and Tan Shaoguang  He led the main force to look for opportunities to annihilate the Russian troops outside the field.

    Seeing the cheering scene of the Russian troops at the top of Nerchinsk City, Liu Mingchuan was furious and shouted loudly to the messenger beside him: "Damn it, let the artillery fire, these Rakshasa ghosts are disturbing my meal!"

    The messenger immediately took the order and left. Soon after, the roar of artillery came from the Taiping Army artillery position, and the city was ablaze. Liu Mingchuan looked at this and was satisfied.He turned around and called several generals to continue eating. While eating, he said: "Last night we defeated the enemy in the way they are best at. Today we let them taste the taste of artillery shells. Remember, although it is a siege,  To keep the enemy's psychology suppressed, don't let their morale rise" (To be continued.)
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