I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1061: Battle of Zanjan
St. Petersburg.

Hermitage.

Catherine II reclined in an ornately carved armchair, glanced at the British Foreign Secretary, and raised a finger wearily.

Her health condition made it impossible for her to handle government affairs, and only envoys from a major country like Britain could be received by her for a short period of time.

Zubov, who was standing by, immediately helped her "translate": "Mr. Fox, His Majesty believes that one month is enough time for your country to evacuate all its citizens from Tehran."

"No, you know, Persia is full of mountains. The war will also affect the journey." Fox said, "It will take at least three months to get to Ahvaz."

Catherine II waved her hand impatiently.

Zubov followed up, "Let's leave it at that."

Fox frowned and said in a deep voice: "Your invasion of Persia has affected our trade in the Persian Gulf. If more British people die in this war, I cannot guarantee that Parliament will not decide to interfere in the situation in Persia."

A sneer appeared on Catherine II's lips, and she said in a vague voice: "I'm tired."

Today, Russia and France are working closely together, and the trade volume between the two sides is increasing rapidly. The Central Asian battlefield also involves the interests of the French - cotton.

All this made her care far less about the British attitude than before.

"Wait." Seeing that the situation was not good, Fox had to use his trump card, "I heard that your country is planning to expand cotton planting in Central Asia."

Thanks to the large number of Shap signal towers built in Prussia and Austria, he was able to receive intelligence from St. Petersburg while on the road.

And such a major event as expansion in Central Asia was difficult to hide from British spies.

Catherine II signaled the servant to stop and looked at the British with interest.

Fox took a deep breath and said, "If you can give our country enough time to evacuate and ensure that trade in the Persian Gulf is not affected, our country can provide you with advanced textile technology."

The Tsar's eyes suddenly lit up.

Selling cotton is certainly not as profitable as spinning it yourself. As for the promise to sell Central Asian cotton to France? As long as the profit is high enough, such things can be forgotten at any time.

A few hours later, Fox returned to his room and asked the servant to pour him a glass of wine. He smiled smugly and said, "The brains of these Russians are on their muscles. We can fool them with just a few tricks."

Yes, Britain has decided to support Persia, so its relations with Russia will soon deteriorate, and by then it will be impossible to deliver on its promise to provide textile technology.

It’s just that the Russians have never been able to resist the deception from the European powers.

Three months later.

Valerian Zubov frowned as he looked at the two European-style bastions outside the Zanjan Fortress through the telescope.

This kind of thing doesn't seem to be there near a Persian city.

However, he soon smiled nonchalantly and said to the messenger beside him: "Order General Gazmanov to launch an attack."

He had been waiting in Tabriz for three and a half months because of the Tsar's order and could no longer hold back.

He believed that facing this group of inferior Persians, his army could easily defeat them with just a few shots.

Just like Goodwitch had done before.

The staff officer at the side hurriedly said: "Commander, our battle plan does not include those two bastions. If we attack directly, it is very likely..."

Valerian Zubov glanced at him with contempt: "Put away your cowardice. Next month, I will hold a military parade in Tehran, and I don't have time to waste here." This time he left Gudvich in Tabriz to be responsible for the defense, and no one could take away his credit for the capture of Tehran.

Soon, accompanied by the sound of bugles all around, Russian artillery began to bombard the two newly built bastions.

An hour later, a large number of Russian infantrymen emerged from the smoke, surrounded the two bastions, and the death squads launched a violent attack.

Zubov looked at the weak counterattack of the Persian army through the telescope with increasing disdain - the Persians didn't even have many muskets, and most of the arrows fired from the bastions were bows and arrows. The cannons were also extremely crude, with a range only slightly longer than that of the Russian flintlock rifles.

He had already begun to imagine being personally welcomed by the Tsar and then being promoted to marshal.

As Zubov expected, it took only three days for the Russian army to capture the two newly built bastions of the Persians.

Without hesitation, he ordered Gazmanov to take advantage of the victory and capture the city of Zanjan in one fell swoop.

Gazmanov was also extremely excited about the smooth progress of the battle. He personally led tens of thousands of Russian soldiers, closely chasing the defeated Persian army, and rushed towards Zanjan through the narrow area between the two bastions.

However, the panic-stricken Persian soldiers defending the city that he expected did not occur. Instead, he saw the Persian defense line outside the city ready for battle.

The Russian troops in the front had to start slowing down, but the people behind were still rushing forward, and suddenly they were crowded together outside the city of Zanjan.

On the top of the city wall of Zanjan, Abbas Mirza, the commander-in-chief of the Persian army, saw the Russians appear at his preset position, immediately put down the telescope and waved vigorously to the messenger beside him.

"Yes, Your Highness!"

The herald turned and signaled to the flag bearer.

A few minutes later, the roar of artillery was heard from both sides of Gazmanov.

Gazmanov frowned immediately - he could tell that the sound was not from the Persian's homemade artillery, but from a sophisticated cannon.

And there are at least 20 of them!
Before he could think about it, the 24-pound iron ball had already penetrated into the Russian army with a sharp whistle.

The surroundings were instantly drowned out by screams and the sound of human bodies being smashed.

Although the Persian gunners' shooting skills were not very good, they had aimed in advance, so almost every shot hit the target.

A salvo of 24 heavy artillery pieces killed nearly two hundred Russian soldiers.

As the sound of artillery continued to ring out around them, the originally excited Russian siege troops fell into chaos.

And because they had fought so smoothly before, they didn't pay any attention to the queue at all. Now with tens of thousands of people crowded together, it was impossible to retreat in an orderly manner.

Gazmanov personally led the guards to gather four Cossack cavalry squadrons and rushed towards the Persian artillery positions, but immediately thousands of Persian heavy cavalry appeared in front of them.

These Persian cavalrymen seemed very clumsy when fighting against the flintlock muskets, but when they confronted the Cossacks, they became like ferocious tigers.

The Cossack sabers had a hard time cutting into the heavy cavalry's armor, but the enemy was able to swiftly cut the Russian cavalry into pieces in an instant.

Immediately, the Persian infantry began to press forward.

This time, they were no longer holding matchlocks and bows and arrows, but all Brown Bess flintlock rifles.

All of these were shipped to Persia by the British more than two months ago.

(End of this chapter)