The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 144 Russia’s Dilemma

September 1726, 9, St. Petersburg.

In the splendid summer palace hall, including the Empire (in 1721, Russian Tsar Peter I changed the name of the country to the Russian Empire) Tsar Catherine I, the Imperial Special Duke, Chairman of the Army Council Menshikov, and the Chief Minister of the Imperial Privy Council Peter ·Andreevich Tolstoy (the great-grandfather of the great Russian writer Tolstoy) and many other Russian leaders gathered together to conduct heated discussions on the current severe security situation in Russia.

“For this invasion, the Kingdom of Sweden mobilized an army of 1 to 1.0668 men. It came with force. In less than half a month, it invaded more than versts of the empire ( verst is approximately equal to kilometers). Sweeping across more than ten fortresses and fortresses on the border." Menshikov said in a deep voice: "Currently, the Swedish army has reached the line of Lake Ladoga and Revola, less than kilometers away from St. Petersburg. However, in view of the fact that there are more than shots fired from the front The army company suffered a major defeat and nearly half of its weapons and equipment were lost. It is not yet known whether the temporary defense line can withstand the Swedish army. Therefore, we need to be fully prepared and consider temporarily moving the empire's center to the rear."

"Does your Excellency the Duke mean that we must immediately abandon the defense of St. Petersburg and withdraw to the hinterland?" Count Tolstoy said with some dissatisfaction: "Although the Swedish army has a fierce offensive, it has defeated more than 10,000 people on the border in a few days. The defensive forces advanced to less than 30 kilometers away from St. Petersburg. But don’t forget that behind the Swedish army, the resistance at Vyborg Fortress continued. The scattered armies from various places were still launching sporadic attacks on the Swedish army, while in St. Petersburg There are still more than 4,000 well-equipped Guards in the city. If we hold on to the city, the Swedish army may not be able to capture the tightly defended St. Petersburg. In addition, we can also mobilize the citizens and recruit armed volunteers. I believe that with the 60,000 soldiers in the city The remaining residents can surely defend the capital of our empire and repel the invading Swedish army."

"When did I say that I would give up St. Petersburg?" Menshikov's face darkened and he glared at Tolstoy. "I was just worried that the war situation would be unfavorable. His Majesty the Tsar and many ministers gathered in St. Petersburg. What if the Swedes Take advantage, then, the entire Russian Empire will fall into a situation of no return. You must know that in addition to gathering tens of thousands of troops on land to launch a fierce offensive against the Empire, Sweden has also assembled dozens of warships in the Port of Turku and will attack from the sea at any time. Petersburg. At that time, we were surrounded by the Swedish Army in the north and flanked by the Swedish Navy in the west. It was inevitable that we would lose sight of one thing and lose the other, and then the enemy might break through the defense line. My suggestion is that His Majesty the Tsar and the central government agencies should withdraw to Novgorod (today's Veliky Novgorod City), and then return to the capital after repelling the Swedish army."

"Since His Majesty and the central organization have evacuated to Novgorod first, who will hold on to St. Petersburg?" Count Alexey Chekunkov, Minister of the Privy Council, looked at Menshikov and asked softly.

"General Sergei Kravtsov, commander of the Guards, will hold St. Petersburg." Menshikov nodded slightly to Tsarina Catherine I, and then said: "In addition, please issue an emergency mobilization order to request all regions to The Overseer and the state and county governors called for armed volunteers and marched to St. Petersburg. After the army was reunited, they fought to the death with the Swedish army."

"Should we urgently recall the troops sent to the Caucasus to deal with the Swedish invasion?" Tsar Catherine I asked: "In addition, should several Cossack regiments in Ukraine also be recalled? in case for need?"

As a former queen, Catherine I followed Peter I on his expeditions in the north and south for many years. She did not show much panic or panic about the current large-scale attack by the Kingdom of Sweden. She still remembers that during the Battle of the Prut River, she and Peter I were surrounded by tens of thousands of Ottoman and Crimean Khanate troops, with life and death hanging by a thread. Such a dangerous situation never made her timid or flinch, let alone Never sit still and wait for death.

The current situation is nothing more than a sudden attack by the Kingdom of Sweden, which caught Russia off guard. The other party quickly broke through the border defense line and attacked near St. Petersburg. Although this situation looks critical, it is actually not very risky.

You know, this city of St. Petersburg, after Tsar Peter I occupied the territory at the mouth of the Neva River, in order to prevent the Swedish army from coming back, he gradually built the original battlefield fortifications into a strong hexagonal bastion fortress. Later, in order to build the capital of the Russian Empire, it took more than 20 years and hundreds of thousands of manpower to build this magnificent city.

The entire city was later expanded several times, adding countless buildings, such as Petersburg Cathedral, Bell Tower, St. Peter's Gate, Peter the Great's Boathouse, Mint, Arsenal, Kronwerk Gun Tower, etc. There are also several supporting bastions in the outer fortress, equipped with more than 100 cannons in total. If coupled with the defense of thousands of elite Guards, it can be said to be impregnable and will definitely drain all the blood of the attacking Swedish army.

"Your Majesty's suggestion is very good." Menshikov nodded and said: "Compared to the gains and losses in the Caucasus, the importance of Karelia and St. Petersburg is self-evident. Therefore, the troops originally prepared to be sent to the Caucasus need to be sent immediately Recall them to deal with the invasion of the Kingdom of Sweden. As for the several Cossack regiments in Ukraine, they cannot all be mobilized to the north for the time being. At this time, it is the crisp autumn season, and the Crimean Khanate is once again ravaging Southern Russia and Ukraine The Cossack Legion is still needed to protect the area. In addition, the Ottoman Empire's fleet is frequently active in the Black Sea area and intends to raid the Azov Fortress, so we must guard against it."

"Will the Kingdom of Poland-Lithuania raid Courland and Southern Russia when Sweden launches a large-scale attack?" Catherine I asked.

At that time, Peter I launched the Great Northern War against Sweden in order to unite Denmark and Poland. He made many big promises to them. For example, he promised that after defeating Sweden, Poland and Denmark could completely recover the territories once occupied by Sweden. For example, it supports Poland to become a maritime power like Sweden and dominate the situation in the entire Baltic Sea.

But who would have thought that after the war in 1721, Russia left Denmark and Poland aside and directly signed the "Nishtat Treaty" with Sweden alone, acquiring Swedish Estonia, Livonia, and Ingria. , Kekesholm and most of Karelia.

In this war, most of the battlefields were located in Poland. After many years of repeated fighting, the ground was almost completely wiped out. The Poles lost a large number of soldiers and materials. However, in this treaty, there was almost nothing about Poland. favorable terms.

The land originally promised to Poland was taken by Russia, leaving the poor Poles to make wedding dresses for others in vain. This also caused the entire Poland to be indignant about this, have extremely poor sense of Russia, and deeply hate it.

Therefore, Catherine I asked this question, fearing that Poland would take the opportunity to add insult to injury and launch a war against Russia in revenge for her sincere feelings being ruthlessly deceived by the Russians.

"Probably not." Menshikov replied affirmatively: "Last year, King August II of Poland tried to unite the Austrians to attack the Ottomans, but was rejected by the parliament. In anger, he stayed in Drei He built his palace in Ston (the capital of the Electorate of Saxony) and no longer held office, and all the Polish troops were not fully mobilized at all. Furthermore, Poland would not dare to attack the empire with its weak military strength alone."

"What about the Kingdom of Prussia?" asked one of the Privy Councilors.

"Prussia is arguing with the two states of Hanover and Saxony over mutual borders and transit taxes, which is about to trigger a war in the German region. At this time, Prussia should have no time to spare and covet the territory of our Principality of Courland. "

"Has your Excellency the Duke forgotten the Ottoman Empire?" Tolstoy suddenly interjected: "Since the Crimean Khanate will dispatch Tatar cavalry to harass Ukraine and Southern Russia, then they must be under the instructions of the Ottoman Empire. If , we didn’t make any defense preparations in advance, how could we know they wouldn’t take the opportunity to invade the southwestern border of the empire from Moldavia?”

"No!" Menshikov said decisively: "The Ottomans are fighting inextricably with the Austrians in Wallachia, and they should not open a second front to attack the empire. I think the Crimean Khan The country's Tatar cavalry is raging in Ukraine and the southern Russian steppes, also to coordinate the frontal battlefield of the Ottomans to prevent us from taking advantage of the opportunity to invade Moldavia and the Azov region."

"However, according to the news from the Ottomans, the military operation launched by the Crimean Khanate was at the request of the Qi people to cover their offensive in the Caucasus from the flanks and at the same time disperse our military strength." Vice Chairman of the Military Commission An Baron Don Kotyakov expressed his concerns, "Two months ago, the imperial army was defeated by the Qibo coalition in the Azerbaijan region, and almost lost all the territory at the southern foot of the Caucasus Mountains. If we would have supported this area If all the troops are mobilized near St. Petersburg, will the Qi-Persian coalition take advantage of the opportunity to invade the northern foot of the Caucasus and then sweep into the Volga River Basin. You know, the Turghuts there have always been restless and can easily be The enemy is bewitched and instigated. Once we see that the empire is weak, there is no guarantee that we will not follow the Qi-Persian coalition to poison the entire southern region."

As soon as Kotyakov finished speaking, the hall suddenly became quiet, and everyone's faces showed a look of depression and frustration. It was originally thought that taking advantage of the civil strife in Persia, they could seize the southern foot of the Caucasus, thereby gaining a certain strategic advantage along the Caspian Sea and threatening the Ottoman Empire from the flanks. Therefore, in August last year, the empire dispatched more than 30,000 troops, crossed the Caucasus Mountains, and invaded the Azerbaijan region. The troops encountered no resistance until they reached the Aras River and occupied the west bank of the Caspian Sea.

Unexpectedly, the Qi State dispatched more than 15,000 troops to help the Safavid dynasty of Persia quickly defeat the Handaki dynasty established by the Girzai people of Afghanistan, and regain the capital Isfahan. Then they divided their troops into two groups and marched all the way. Following the direction in which the Gilzai people fled, they continued to pursue them until they reached the border areas of eastern Persia and Afghanistan; the other route went directly north, first defeating the Persian puppet regime established by Prince Tahmasp in Tehran and pacifying the region. Rebellion. Immediately, the army coerced more than 10,000 surrendered rebels, fought all the way northwest, and successively recovered Qazvin, Zanjan, and Tabriz, and finally stationed troops in Ardabil, far away from the invading Russian army.

The Persians sent envoys to the Russian military garrison in Shirvan (now Shirvan City, Azerbaijan), demanding that the Russians immediately withdraw from Persian territory to avoid the outbreak of armed conflict between the two countries.

The commander-in-chief of the Russian army, General Valery Falkov, directly rejected the Persians' request, saying that they arrived in Azerbaijan at the invitation of the local prince to protect local Orthodox believers and maintain peace along the Caspian Sea.

Are you kidding? You finally took advantage of the civil strife in Persia to occupy the southern foothills of the Caucasus and fulfilled the long-cherished wish of Peter I that was not realized back then. How can you withdraw so easily?

Don't think that you Persians, with the backing of the Qi people, can point fingers at our Russian Empire. If you have the ability, you can also use force to take back this area!

Besides, the people of Qi stretched their hands too long. In the Far East, Qi State vigorously supported two local indigenous kingdoms and continued to expand in the north and west directions. It almost took the empire a hundred years to occupy Siberia and captured all the areas, such as the Lena River Basin and the Angara River Basin. There is almost no place for the Russians to gain a foothold, and the lucrative fur trade has dropped sharply to less than 20% of its previous level. And looking at this posture, it seems that the barbaric Bohai Kingdom is about to reach the line of the Yenisei River little by little, threatening the Tomsk Military District.

What's the matter, now in the name of the Persians, they want to include the Caucasus-Caspian Sea region into their sphere of influence?

After the Russian army refused to withdraw from the southern foothills of the Caucasus, the Qi-Persian coalition did not launch an attack at the first moment. Instead, they slowly advanced the front to the south bank of the Aras River, forming a military confrontation with the Russian army across the river.

In the following months, the two sides frequently engaged in small-scale battles, and both seemed to be carefully testing each other's strength.

In winter, the Qi-Persian coalition took advantage of the ice on the river to launch a large-scale attack. It is reported that the coalition forces used more than a hundred artillery pieces, and under the cover of overwhelming barrages, successfully crossed the Aras River and defeated the two Russian legions facing them, causing more than 3,000 Russian casualties.

The front-line officers of the Russian army who contacted the enemy reported that the coalition's artillery fire was very fierce, and the fire was fast and accurate. It was even more frightening than the Swedish artillery units encountered in the previous Great Northern War. In the line infantry battle, the coalition forces were also skilled in tactics and cooperated with each other tacitly, making them elite. Even in hand-to-hand combat, the opponent's bayonet attack was extremely fierce and the Russian army was defeated.

After the Allied Forces broke through the Aras River front line, the Russian army retreated more than 40 kilometers all the way to the Kura River before stabilizing the defense line, but discarded most of the ordnance and supplies.

In the spring of this year, after receiving a large amount of logistical supplies, the Qi-Persian coalition forces continued to press forward and once again approached the Russian front.

In order to reverse the war situation in the Caucasus, the Russian army deployed more than 18,000 troops from Moscow, Karelia, Minsk and other regions to reinforce the front line between April and May, bringing the size of the Russian army to more than 45,000. In an attempt to rely on numbers The advantage forced the coalition forces to retreat, thereby consolidating the fruits in their mouths.

Unexpectedly, after repelling several rounds of Russian counterattacks, the coalition forces suddenly launched an attack on July 7. The opponent still covered the Russian position with extremely violent artillery fire. The bombardment lasted for more than thirty minutes, tilting countless artillery shells and destroying all the defense lines built by the Russian army. Immediately, the coalition forces used more than 6 Persian cavalry as an assault force to break through the chaotic Russian front line. The line infantry then formed a dozen neat squares, and defeated the hastily organized blocking force of the Russian army in one fell swoop.

In this battle, the Russian army was completely defeated. Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers were shocked by the ferocious firepower of the coalition forces. They gave up resistance one after another and fled towards the rear with almost no organization. At about 8 o'clock in the night, the coalition forces stopped their pursuit and began to gather their troops and clean the battlefield, allowing the Russian officers and soldiers who narrowly escaped to breathe a sigh of relief.

In this battle, the Russian army lost more than 18,000 troops, all equipment and food, and was unable to fight anymore. Commander General Valery Falkov led the remaining troops directly over the Caucasus Mountains and evacuated to the Mozdok Fortress on the Terek River in the northern foothills of the Caucasus. Only then did they stop the defeat.

In order to stabilize the situation in the Caucasus and prevent the coalition forces from invading southern Russia, Menshikov just ordered the emergency transfer of more than 10,000 troops stationed in St. Petersburg, Karelia and the Volga River Basin half a month ago to the south, hoping to Block the invasion of the coalition forces.

Unexpectedly, the Swedish army, which had been at war with the Kingdom of Denmark for the past year, suddenly turned its guns and launched a rapid attack on Russia, so that the current situation became out of control.

"In order to be able to concentrate on dealing with the Swedish invasion, we need to negotiate peace with the Persians." Menshikov pondered for a long time and said slowly: "To be precise, we need to temporarily show weakness to the Qi people behind Persia and admit that they are in the Caucasus. and the special rights and interests of the Caspian Sea region. Yes, we must immediately send peace envoys to ease the tension in the southern region. We must concentrate all our forces and prioritize defeating the Swedes. Because they are the real and biggest threat to the empire .”

The palace ministers in the palace nodded one after another and said that the Caucasus region was just a plague of scabies and was far away from the hinterland of the empire. Even if it was captured by the coalition forces for a while, it would not matter to the overall situation. However, the Redi people came to kill Russia, so the empire had no choice but to use its full strength. To go.

"By the way, the envoys from the Eastern Qin Kingdom have been stranded in the empire for more than half a year. Do we want to give them a formal reply to their suggestions?"

Just when the palace meeting was coming to an end and the ministers were preparing to bid farewell to His Majesty the Tsar and leave, Vitaly Saveliev, the Privy Councilor in charge of foreign affairs, suddenly asked.
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(End of this chapter)