The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 635: Bushido White Lotus Sect Steam Engine Battleship

With a creak, three Russian soldiers carefully pushed open the warehouse door, but before they had time to test it, a lead bullet shot from the left at the moment the door was opened.

A stream of blood spurted out from the neck of the Russian soldier who pushed the door. His body suddenly stiffened and immediately became stiff. Then his legs and feet became weak and his body hit the door frame with a clang.

His left hand, stained with blood, grabbed the door frame twice in vain, trying desperately to keep his body from falling, but the rapid loss of blood made him lose consciousness and fall down.

Just as the Russian soldier was hit, his two comrades turned and ran, and at this time a bomb flew out from the damaged warehouse.

There was an explosion, a scream, and a howl.

The violent explosion left behind a bloody calf.

The Russian soldier who had lost his right leg below the knee screamed loudly while holding his broken leg and rolled on the ground in pain.

The one who was even louder than him was the only uninjured Russian soldier. He howled, raised his flintlock rifle, and fired randomly at the warehouse, using his howling and ineffective counterattack to give himself courage.

But he was lucky, as the loud howling and explosions attracted a dozen Russian soldiers.

These people learned their lesson. Instead of going in, they set fire to the entire warehouse.

"Your Majesty, the Great Emperor, get on board!"

Bang!

It worked. More than a minute later, two Matsumae samurai with bayonets rushed out of the burning warehouse. They were carrying fireworks and launched a charge to the death.

Xinwan Town is not big, and the warehouse is even smaller. Once a fire breaks out, it cannot be hidden at all.

There was a loud bang, and before the warriors could get close, they were shot to death by the Russian army.

"Hurry, hurry and put out the fire, all these goods are ours!" After killing two warriors, the Russian second lieutenant shouted anxiously.

What was filled in here was the finest cotton cloth, said to be called Songjiang cloth. One piece of it could buy three horses. It would be such a pity if it was all burned.

The Russian soldiers below naturally knew the value of these cloths, and they hurriedly looked for water everywhere to put out the fire they had set.

The Russian lieutenant looked around and saw a large vat in the smoke-filled warehouse, which seemed to contain water.

There is indeed water. In such warehouses, water tanks are placed specifically for storing water for fire extinguishing.

But just as the lieutenant was about to approach the discount tank with a happy look on his face, the water in the tank suddenly boiled, and then a short figure jumped out of the tank.

The lieutenant was shocked and raised his right hand holding the pistol. A flash of knife light flashed by, and the lieutenant's right hand and the pistol fell to the ground.

The second lieutenant endured the severe pain, raised his right foot and kicked towards the figure, but the short figure was very agile and flashed like a ghost, crashing into the second lieutenant's arms.

At this moment, he changed from holding the knife with both hands to holding it with his right hand, and with his left hand he pulled out a dagger from his waist and struck the lieutenant's chest three times.

The lieutenant spat out a mouthful of blood foam, and the white shirt on his chest was stained blood red. He fell to the ground with a thud, and after a few breaths, he was left twitching slowly on the ground.

After killing the lieutenant, the samurai suddenly used the wakizashi in his hand as a throwing knife and threw it at the only soldier standing guard at the door with a flintlock rifle.

For ordinary people, a long dagger thrown over has only so-so killing power, but in the hands of a master, after thousands of times of training, it can really kill people.

Before Mao Bing could even raise his flintlock rifle, a flying rib pierced his throat. In an instant, his uniform was stained with blood and he lost consciousness.

At the same time as throwing the flying knife, the man took a big step forward, and the samurai sword in his hand stabbed out like a poisonous dragon, directly piercing the chest of the soldier closest to him.

After killing three people in a row, this man disappeared like a ghost into the smoke and fire of the warehouse. For a moment, the remaining seven or eight Mao soldiers had not figured out what had happened before the enemy disappeared.

Even some Mao soldiers didn't know that the enemy was coming.

Pfft!

Another sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh was heard, and the figure emerged from the fireworks again, stabbing the fourth Mao soldier to death with one blow.

Now everyone else could see clearly that a descendant of the Shooting Army picked up a very Ross-style Shooting Army battle axe from the ground and was about to chop it over.

The shadow in the fireworks let out a terrifying roar, as loud as a bell or a tiger's roar!

Mao Bing was so shocked that he couldn't help but tremble, and this one move cost him his life.

Before the Rakshasa soldier could swing his axe, the slender samurai sword chopped his neck, and then used the force to pull it hard.

The huge head flew into the sky, and the headless corpse staggered twice.

"Devil, there is a devil in the smoke!" The other Rakshasa soldiers, who were already very superstitious, were scared out of their wits.

Moreover, they were fighting the fire, and the flintlock rifles were thrown outside the warehouse. The second lieutenant was dead and there was no one to restrain them. In an instant, the seven Rakshasa soldiers did not even resist, and they rushed out one after another.

This expert holding a samurai sword seized the opportunity and stabbed a few more times, killing three people. Then he looked at the backs of the fleeing figures outside and laughed heartily, shouting in a rather ancient style:

"So that you may all know, I am the nephew of the Prince of Ryukyu, the great nation of China, and my surname is Chongshan!"

After saying that, he quickly flew out from the other side of the dilapidated and burning warehouse, looking for the next place to hide.

This distant nephew of the Ryukyu Kingdom, whose surname was Mo Chongshan, was quite famous in the history of Oriental martial arts.

His original surname was Yi. After Ryukyu was ruled by Japan, he was called Sakugawa Hirokazu. He was the founder of karate in history.

His disciple Matsumura Sogun and his great-grandson Funakoshi Gichin are all famous martial arts masters.

In particular, Gichin Funakoshi achieved great success. In the movie New Fist of Fury, Fumio Funakoshi, who duelled with Chen Zhen, played by Jet Li, in front of Huo Yuanjia's tomb, was based on him.

In the original time and space, Sakugawa Hirokazu admired Chinese culture very much. He went to the mainland with the Ryukyu delegation four times in his life to study, visited famous teachers and learned martial arts. Finally, he died of illness in Beijing in 1839. Some of his remains should still be in the suburbs of Beijing, but his grave has long been lost.

During this time and space, he promoted Ryukyu Tang Te in Nanjing and named it after Ryukyu's sacred mountain Yaeyama, calling it Ryukyu Yaeken. He was also one of the boxing coaches of the twelve armies of the Beijing Camp.

The reason why he came to Xinwan Town was to repay the emperor's special favor of allowing him to enjoy the treatment of national surname together with the close relatives of the Ryukyu royal family.

The second reason is to test the boxing skills in a real life-or-death battlefield, to see if it is possible to further improve the martial arts under extreme circumstances.

However, a master like Mo Chongshan could kill several or even dozens of enemies, but he could not change the situation in Xinwan Town.

The Russian army has entered the city. Their navy and army together have 6,000 combat soldiers and more than 1,000 cannon fodder. Many of them have been killed, but there are still 5,000 combat soldiers.

After the walls of Xinwan Town were blasted open by Russian warships, the warriors in the street fighting were still fierce, but two hundred people could not hold out for long in this small city.

To the east of Xinwan Town, a White Lotus Sect temple stands tall. This is the last defensible place in Xinwan Town.

The reason why it is called the White Lotus Sect is that its doctrines, after being reformed by Zheng Xin, are very much to the taste of the Japanese people.

Monks can marry and have children, pass on their property to their descendants, eat three kinds of clean meat, and drink vegetarian wine (low-alcohol wine that is not distilled, such as rice wine, fruit wine, etc.). The precepts they observe only emphasize that they cannot eat meat (onions and garlic) and cannot actively kill.

In the temple, the three statues of the Three Buddhas of the White Lotus Sect are looking down at all living beings majestically.

The Mother of No Birth on the left represents birth and the past.

The Maitreya Buddha on the right represents the destination and the future.

The Vajra King, located in the middle and vaguely like the head of the three Buddhas, represents the present and represents wealth and power in the human world.

Well, as long as you are not stupid, you will know who this Buddha refers to. Even his appearance is sculpted directly based on the emperor's appearance.

"My mother has no life, my hometown is empty.

The King of Light descends to the world, protecting the four directions.
Grant me great power, and justice will prevail!"

Qian Liangzhang took the lead in kneeling three times and kowtowed nine times in front of the Vajra Buddha, then pierced the middle finger of his right hand, letting a drop of blood fall into the bowl of deer blood and cinnabar in front of him, and then used a brush to draw a blood-red line on a plain white headband.

The others followed suit and tied the headbands on their foreheads together with Qian Liangzhang.

"The Buddha of the Incarnation will convey our loyalty to His Majesty the Great Emperor. If reinforcements cannot arrive, this Xinwan Town will be the final battle for us, the samurai of the Matsumae clan!"

Qian Liangzhang shouted loudly, his eyes quite determined.

"Ai!" Dozens of core warriors responded loudly, "It is our honor to die fighting for His Majesty the Great Emperor."

"For His Majesty the Great Emperor, for the Empire!"

Qian Liangzhang nodded in satisfaction, and then said to the family elder beside him, Kakizaki Hironori: "There are still dozens of wounded on the second floor of the temple. Each of them has a can of lamp oil. If we have to return to Zhenkong's hometown, you must urge them to keep up.

The Great Emperor's warriors must not allow any more of us to fall into the hands of the enemy. Even if we must perish in battle, we must do so with honour. Let us die together in the flames, setting an example for all eternity!

My goodness, you are a Buddhist, not only do you kill deer and take their blood in the temple, but you even let the living Buddha, Mingwang, report your loyalty to the emperor. Who is greater and who is smaller here?

And they also killed all the wounded in the temple. How cruel!

Driven by huge benefits and the need to gain a foothold, the Bushido of this time and space is much more fanatical than in history.

After all, the slightly mentally retarded Meiji in history could not give the benefits that Mo Zibu can give now. Mo Zibu was also a true founding monarch, not the more symbolic half-puppet like Meiji.

As they were talking, the main force of the Russian army had already begun to attack the White Lotus Temple, but the White Lotus Temple was quite strong.

Because the White Lotus Sect mainly operates in the northwest, it was once considered the place with the most intense fighting in China, even in Southeast Asia.

Therefore, the layout of the temple is simply like a fortress. It is said that the Cihang Pudu Dazhaojue Temple in Xining by Zheng Xin, the Cihang Pudu Buddha, is simply a bastion.

After tying their headbands, the core samurai of the Matsumae clan, determined to fight to the last moment, relied on the sturdy fortress temple, and used their rifles from a high position to continuously shoot and kill the approaching Russian troops.

A group of Russian soldiers wanted to push a field cannon to bombard the temple gate, but a Matsumae samurai risked his life and lowered himself down the wall a few dozen meters away. From a distance of more than 300 meters, he fired three shots a minute and killed four Russian soldiers in just one and a half minutes.

Major General Ivan Andreevich Ram from Okhotsk saw this and didn't have time to say anything.

Major General Nikolsky, who was jealous of Major General Andreevich and who was not grateful to the navy for coming in time to save the army from its dilemma, instead thought that he had been upstaged by Major General Andreevich, shouted loudly:

"Organize a death squad, and prepare the entire army to charge!"

Well, you're just being indecisive again, aren't you? Major General Andreevich opened his mouth, wanting to stop it, but then he thought that a Ura charge wouldn't be a bad idea either.

On the north bank of the Wu River, Fu Kangan and more than a hundred people were hiding on a hillside. Le Bao looked at him and said:
"It seems the reinforcements from Temple Street are late. As expected, those coal-fired machines are unreliable. Trying to power a ship weighing hundreds of tons just by boiling water is unreliable!"

Le Baolian said two unreliable things, and continued to ask Fu Kangan in a rather irritated manner, "What should we do, sir? Should we launch an attack?"

As soon as Lebao finished speaking, a small Daur leader said with some concern: "We only have 400 people here, and there are 5,000 or 6,000 Rakshasas. Even if we all go out, it will be useless!"

Fu Kangan was silent for a moment, then said firmly: "Since we have decided to surrender, we cannot waver. If the Han people cannot go north, we will definitely die at the hands of the Russians. It is only a matter of time.

Moreover, if we don’t fight now that the war has reached this stage, the Han people will think we are unreliable when they march north.”

After Fukang'an finished explaining the reasons for the fight, he waved his hand to stop his subordinates from further rebuttal and refused to accept any other opinions.

"Lebao, go to the rear army and control the remaining 600 men. If we are gone, we will have to rely on you to protect the women and children and retreat deeper into the mountains until the Han army marches north.

Hu Kejing, you take a hundred people to the mountains, raise more flags, shake branches, and make it look like an army of thousands.

Brother, I will send a few people to take you out to sea via a shortcut. When you reach Temple Street, you must tell the Lord Zhongtang what happened and make our death worthwhile."

At this point, Fu Kang'an looked at his trusted bannermen and laughed bitterly, "I never thought that we would have to shed blood and sacrifice for the Han people today.

Since this is God's will, then it is our destiny. Kill all the Rakshasa demons and restore peace to Lingbei!"

'boom! ’

Suddenly, a small hole opened in the middle of the gate of Bailian Temple, and the muzzle of a four-pound cannon extended from inside. Then, there was a flash of fire, and a large number of grapeshot swept across.

A large number of Russian troops who were launching the Ura charge were instantly defeated, with at least more than 30 people killed or wounded, and the momentum of the charge was greatly reduced.

When more than 200 Russian suicide squads stepped over the bloody bodies of their comrades who were beaten by grapeshot,
Bombs were dropped one after another, and the explosion of each one was just right. There was no blind explosion, but continuous explosions, which prevented the Russian army, who were charging through the dense crowd, from getting close.

After three consecutive attacks, with more than 200 people killed or wounded, Major General Nikolsky began to retreat a little, fearing that if he continued to charge, the casualties would be even greater.

But Major General Andreevich refused to give in. He stared at Major General Nikolsky fiercely and shouted, "If you give up now, all the soldiers who died before will have died in vain.

You, send your guards in immediately and take this temple!"

Major General Nikolsky glared at Major General Andreevich in anger, but still sent out his trusted elite troops.

In the Xianbei wilderness, the strong are respected. If Major General Nikolsky shows weakness at this time, he will not be able to convince the people.

Major General Andreevich was delighted. Major General Nikolsky had always been at odds with him. Now, he was sure that you, a bastard, would inflict heavy casualties on his most capable and trusted guards.

At this moment, a violent roar was heard from the Wudi River. Fukangan brought about fifty people and disguised themselves as Kamchatka Evenks who accompanied Major General Andreevich.

The Russian army guarding the Wude River consisted of only half a company of more than 50 people. They did not expect that someone would attack in disguise, and they were caught off guard and stunned by Fukangan.

After Fukang'an seized a floating bridge on the river, he did not rush into Xinwan Town immediately, but cunningly pretended to repair and reinforce the floating bridge.

With colorful flags fluttering and branches swaying on the mountains on the north bank, it really seemed as if thousands of troops were rushing over, and Fukangan and other pioneers were there to seize the tools for the army to cross the river.

Seeing this, the Russian army did not dare to counterattack immediately, but first called for reinforcements from the city, giving Fukangan the opportunity to clean up the battlefield and quickly release his hundreds of men.

"Impossible, these Tatars from Hebei can't possibly organize so many people, it must be fake!" Major General Andreevich said it was impossible, but he was still a little nervous in his heart.

Because he said this, turned around and went to the Wude River, and left the task of capturing the White Lotus Temple to Major General Nikolsky.

At the estuary, in Wudi Bay, the Russian frigate Vostok Eagle, which had just made a great contribution, was on alert on the sea, but in fact it was enjoying a rare leisure time.

In fact, the Russians have always had strong ambitions for the Xianbei wilderness, especially the areas north and south of the Greater Khingan Range. It is not the case that they look down on such a cold and bitter place.

Therefore, in 1731, when Peter the Great's niece Anna I first ascended the throne, the Russians established the Okhotsk District Fleet in Okhotsk, which consisted of four warships and seven or eight armed merchant ships.

The Oriental Eagle, with a displacement of 440 tons, and another slightly larger Aurora, are the absolute main force of the district fleet.

Both warships were based on the Standart, the first sailing warship built by Russia in 1703. Basically, the Standart was doubled in size, and the six-pound guns were replaced with eight-pound and twelve-pound guns.

Although this type of warship was designed more than 80 years ago and is very backward in Europe, it is still very powerful when facing the Qing Dynasty, which has no Outer Northeast Fleet, north of the Greater Khingan Range.

Even now, the Oriental Eagle's twelve-pound gun poses a great threat to port strongholds like Xinwan Town.

So much so that before this, Major General Andreevich of Okhotsk had suggested a more radical plan, which was to use the Aurora and the Oriental Eagle to launch a surprise attack on Temple Street.

In the end, the plan was abandoned because the Irkutsk Governor, Lieutenant General Ivanovich, was unable to figure out what warships the Chinese fleet in Temple Street had, and was afraid of provoking the Chinese North Sea Fleet.

Hearing the commotion coming from the distant Wude River, Captain Mikhail Arsenyev waved his hand casually.

Because he didn't think that in the Greater Khingan Range, as long as the main force of the Khitan army did not move north, any force could pose much threat to the 6,000 Russian naval and land forces.

"Soldiers, instead of worrying about the battle on the shore, you should think about how to get more money and property from those landlubbers after the battle. Xinwan Town is a prosperous trading post."

The captain's words triggered a heated discussion among the soldiers of the Oriental Eagle. They were the heroes who broke through the city wall this time, and they must get the largest share of the spoils.

"Captain, what is that? Why is there black smoke coming out of the sea?" Amidst the heated discussion, the lookout on the mast suddenly waved the flag in his hand wildly and rang the bell.

After hearing this, a soldier at the bow pointed at the thick black smoke on the sea in the distance and asked Captain Mikhail Arsenyev, who was holding a wine jug in his hand.

Ok?
Captain Arsenyev was also a little puzzled. How could a black smoke appear on the sea for no reason?
"It's a ship, a really big ship!" The lookout on the mast saw clearly that the hull was exposed at the bottom, which could not be covered by the black smoke.

"Prepare for battle, hoist the sails, raise all the sails, notify the Isidore, and have him go forward to check the situation."

Although he encountered something he had never seen before, Captain Arsenyev made a quick decision.

The Isidore is an eighty-ton armed merchant ship with a very high speed, which can quickly approach for reconnaissance.

The sailors who heard the order immediately took action. They were busy measuring the wind direction and speed, because the sails could not be raised all at once and had to be raised slowly according to the situation.

Therefore, even if the sailors acted quickly, by the time they raised the sails and hoped to start maneuvering in the sparse northwest wind, the black smoke was already very close to them, at most four or five nautical miles away.

Captain Arsenyev felt a chill run down his spine. These were indeed warships, and quite a few of them. What was even more bizarre was that they had no sails hoisted, and the masts were just standing there bare, yet the ships were still able to move quickly.

"Oh no! The Khitans have brought the steam engine onto the ship!"

Captain Arsenyev was a connoisseur, for he came from a noble family of St. Petersburg, belonging to the legitimate ruling class of Russia - the double-headed eagle flag of St. Petersburg.

Captain Arsenyev's uncle, Vice Admiral Mikhailovich Arsenyev, was the previous governor of Irkutsk. Even the current governor was trained by his uncle.

"Captain, should we intercept?" The foolish adjutant didn't know what was going on. He had only vaguely heard of a steam engine and had no idea what it was.

Captain Arsenyev broke out in a cold sweat. In an instant, he thought a lot of things, including escaping.

But if he ran away, the army here would be finished. Without these 6,000 people, the Third Rome in the East would also be finished.

"Send the alarm to the city! The Khitan army is approaching. Our ships will advance to engage the enemy and buy them time!"

In the end, Captain Arsenyev made the right decision: if he had to die, he would die like a nobleman.

It’s a pity that this fearless spirit seems so tragic in the face of reality.

Just when Arsenyev decided to intercept, the Chinese fleet had already dispatched three 100-ton frigates to chase the Isidore.

Mo Zibu didn't remember anything else, but as someone who had worked overseas for many years, he was familiar with ship propellers.

Therefore, Dayu's steam power skipped the steam paddle wheel that Mo Zibu only had a vague impression of, and evolved directly into a propeller.

Even though it is primitive, it has no problem defeating the current warships that rely solely on wind power for maneuvering.

Soon, driven by propellers, three 100-ton frigates immediately caught up with the Russian Navy's Isidore which was on its way to conduct reconnaissance.

The three-on-one situation also had the advantage of power. The Isidore was soon hit and the entire ship was smoking. The screams of the officers and soldiers could be heard clearly even by the Oriental Eagle, which was two nautical miles away.

The Oriental Eagle is even more tragic, because the ship used by the Chinese Navy to deal with it was launched in the first half of last year. It was not an old ship with a steam engine installed, but a newly built real steam engine battleship.

Daming-class third-level steam sailing battleship - Sun Chuanting.

Powered by four 1,400-horsepower steam engines, the Sun Chuanting rushed towards the Oriental Eagle at an extremely fast speed.

This feeling of despair drove the soldiers on the Oriental Eagle crazy. They howled and ran back and forth in vain, creating a feeling of being very busy, as if this would make the warship run faster.

Of course, there was no miracle. An hour later, the Oriental Eagle was caught up.

Faced with the Sun Chuanting, which was four times its size and had a displacement of 1,638 tons, the Oriental Eagle did not even have the courage to open fire first.

The Sun Chuanting relied on the Oriental Eagle's 12-pound gun, which could not hit it at all, so it simply moved within 300 meters before opening fire.

The naval sharpshooters on the ship were about to open fire and snipe the Rakshasa sailors on the Oriental Eagle, but the captain, Vice Admiral He Dingjiang, a native of Xiangshan, Guangdong, stopped the soldiers.

"What a good slave rower! Why kill him? Capture him and use him to work, saving your majesty some military expenses.

The food and clothing for our navy are all directly allocated by His Majesty from the inner court; they are genuine imperial rations."

The officers and soldiers on the Sun Chuanting all burst into laughter. The gap was too big, and the other side had no chance of turning the tables.

Amidst laughter, the Sun Chuanting pushed forward directly to 200 meters, and then the five 36-pounder cannons on the lower deck opened fire one after another, one of which directly pierced the Oriental Eagle from the middle.

The huge kinetic energy of the 36-pound shell instantly severely damaged the Oriental Eagle. The hull was almost blown into two pieces, and the broken keel could even be seen directly through the large hole in the deck.

This is just like a person being slashed in the head.

"Raise the white flag, surrender, tell the Khitans we surrender!"

Well, he was just about to die for the dignity of the nobility, but now Captain Arsenyev directly announced his surrender.

This dimensionality-reduction-like gap in strength completely broke his defense and left him without even the slightest desire to resist.

(End of this chapter)