Master Yuan, start!

"Your Excellency, Lieutenant General, the Chinese are coming from the west!"

"Your Excellency, Lieutenant General, we don't have enough supplies, and our ammunition is almost gone!"

Inside the Russian command room, Baranov watched the situation deteriorate. Finally, he helplessly put down his baton and said dejectedly:

"Let the gunboats sail eastward along the Songhua River, carrying as much gold, silver, and treasure as they can.

As for us, let's break out from the Lesser Khingan Mountains in the north.

"Yes!"

After receiving the news, the deputy immediately passed the order down, and tens of thousands of Russian troops who had lost their fighting spirit hurried north.

1896 8 Month 28 Day.

Just after the Russian army crossed the Lesser Khingan Mountains and arrived at the banks of the Heilongjiang River, they did not expect to be greeted by four gunboats flying the yellow sun and twelve-star flag.

It turned out that after the Beiyang Fleet bombarded Vladivostok, it captured a number of coastal gunboats, and then took the gunboats all the way north to Miaojie, where the Heilongjiang River flows into the sea.

After the Hailong, Haiji and Haifeng destroyed the Miaojie Fort, the four gunboats drove straight in and, under the influence of the August flood season, reached Aihui City on the banks of the Heilongjiang River.

They first sank the Qing army gunboat captured by the Russian army.

Now, the Russian army is blocked on the south bank of the Heilongjiang River.

The pursuing National Revolutionary Army also crossed the Lesser Khingan Mountains.

The Russians were surrounded.

And the Chinese army once again drank from the Heilongjiang River!

Chapter 341: Russia's Crisis

It’s still the familiar Winter Palace and the familiar golden hall.

However, this time the person sitting in the main seat was no longer Crown Prince Nicholas, but Tsar Alexander III who had returned from "fishing".

On the walls of the hall, there are still some remaining celebratory ribbons and decorations hanging.

That was used for celebration a few days ago.

In order to announce that the Greeks had landed on Crete with the help of Russian warships, Crown Prince Nicholas convened a court meeting.

On that day, the residents of St. Petersburg sang and danced outside the Winter Palace Square, and the dignitaries toasted each other in the Golden Palace.

Before this, when the news of the Russian Far East Navy's defeat spread, Tsarevich Nicholas was unable to suppress the surging domestic desire to "teach the Chinese a lesson".

Unable to tolerate failure, the Russian youths could no longer suppress their anger and began to take to the streets to vent their anger.

On the streets of St. Petersburg, young people were everywhere shouting slogans.

They shouted

"Win, not lose!"

"Punish the Khitans!"

"Preserve the glory of Russia!"

slogans, and several rallies and marches are held every day.

At the rally, those Russians who were unwilling to taste the consequences of war failure demanded an explanation from the government and asked the crown prince to win a victory!

They had only one request, which was for the government to send troops to the Far East to severely punish the Chinese.

The Russians at the end of the 19th century could admit defeat, but only to the European powers.

Faced with the Chinese, even the weakest Russians were unwilling to swallow the bitter fruit of defeat.

However, Prime Minister Sergei Witte's advice to Tsarevich Nicholas was to wait.

Given Russia's current economic situation, it is impossible to send an army of both quality and quantity across Siberia to the Far East.

Therefore, in order to suppress the surging desire for war in the country and to obtain financial support from the French, Crown Prince Nicholas made two decisions.

On the one hand, after receiving the news of the complete destruction of the Vladivostok fleet, Crown Prince Nicholas invited his father, Alexander III, to come out to stabilize the internal and external situation.

On the other hand, he sent troops to approach the Caucasus Mountains, hoping to threaten the Ottoman Empire from land, making it difficult for the Turks to take care of both ends, and thus helping Greece to obtain Crete.

Nicholas wanted to use the victory in the Near East to dilute the failure in the Far East.

It was not that Nicholas wanted to give up the Far East, but in the Franco-Russian secret agreement, the French required that they would only provide a loan to support Russia's Far East military expenses after seeing a real hostility between Britain and Russia in the Mediterranean region.

Therefore, he could only wait until the dispute over Crete was decided before deciding on supporting the Far East.

Whenever Nicholas thought of this, he felt a little resentful towards France, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it.

After all, in the minds of the French, the value of Egypt's Mediterranean region is far greater than that of Russia's Far East.

In fact, Nicholas' most ideal plan was that after signing the Franco-Russian secret treaty, the French would provide a loan so that Russia could continue to send troops to the Far East and win the war against China.

In the Mediterranean region, facing Greece, which is backed by Russia and France, the Ottoman Turks might decisively admit defeat and hand over Crete.

In this way, Russia attacked on both fronts in the Near East and the Far East, achieving the best of both worlds.

Fortunately, the good news from the Middle East battlefield did not delay too long, just after French Foreign Minister Delcassé's ship returned to the port of Marseille.

The Greek king, who had received the double guarantee from Russia and France, immediately addressed the nation and announced the launch of the "Crete Recapture Campaign".

As soon as the speech ended, a troop transport ship carrying 2 Greek soldiers, escorted by two Japanese compensation warships, successfully landed on Crete and eliminated the defensive strongholds set up by the Ottomans in the western part of the island.

Just when Crown Prince Nicholas thought that things would develop smoothly as he had planned, a piece of bad news gave him a heavy blow.

Nicholas never imagined that the British would stand against the Greek royal family he once supported and choose to help the Ottomans.

You know, without the British insistence, Greece might still be within the territory of the Ottoman Empire, and even its independence would be difficult.

...

After receiving the news, Nicholas hurriedly summoned a group of senior generals in the country to seek solutions from them without even having time to remove the rally decorations.

As soon as they received the order, a marshal and five or six generals who stayed in St. Petersburg rushed to the winter transit point and gathered in the Golden Hall of the Old Four Departments and Three Palaces.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness, and Your Excellency the Prime Minister!"

Colonel Tatoev of the St. Petersburg Garrison held the latest battle report and reported to everyone in the hall:

"The Don Army, the Caucasus Army, and the Cossack Cavalry Regiment have assembled and are ready to enter the Ottoman border at any time!"

Hearing about these combat troops numbering more than 100,000, solemn expressions appeared on the faces of all the Russian military leaders in the golden hall.

Do you really want to go south again?

The Crown Prince made it very clear at the beginning that the purpose of this trip was simply to help the Greeks obtain Crete, not to provoke the Russo-Turkish War again.

If we fall into the quagmire of the 11th Russo-Turkish War, the situation in the Far East will further deteriorate!

At that time, if Russia fails to gain benefits from the war against Turkey and suffers a disastrous defeat in the Far East, who will bear the political consequences?

The atmosphere in the golden hall was oppressive. Everyone held their breath, trying not to imagine the worst possible outcome.

"This group of heretics who believe in money and are treacherous!" Chairman of the State Council, Field Marshal, Grand Duke Nikolayevich cursed viciously:

"The British did this 40 years ago, but I didn't expect that 40 years later, they would still be helping infidels!"

Grand Duke Nikolayevich was a member of the royal family. The year he was born, Russia was in the ninth Russo-Turkish War, also known as the Crimean War.

At that time, Russia alone faced the joint attack of many countries including Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia.

The Russian army was surrounded by four countries, but still fought tenaciously, severely damaging the Turkish army at one point and achieving a brief victory.

However, after the defeat in the Russo-Turkish naval battle, Russia lost its control of the Black Sea, and the British began to take the opportunity to send troops and supplies to continuously support the Ottoman Empire.

In the end, after losing more than 50 people on the front line, Tsar Nicholas I, unable to bear the consequences of defeat, committed suicide by taking poison, ending the Russo-Turkish War with his own life.

No Russian who had lived through that era wanted to start another Russo-Turkish war involving the British.

After all, the price paid 40 years ago is still fresh in our memory.

Looking at the generals in the hall who were silent, Crown Prince Nicholas couldn't help but question himself in his heart.

Why is this happening?

It was clear that with the help of the Black Sea Fleet, the Greeks had landed on Crete and annihilated the Ottoman troops stationed on the island.

But once the British intervene, Russia will face the risk of the war escalating.

No one wanted to go to war with the British, least of all the Russians, especially in the Mediterranean region which was very close to Britain.

God knows if this will become a financial bottomless pit again after the war breaks out.

"Blame these straits, blame these mountains!"

Thinking of this, Crown Prince Nicholas was furious.

The Russian Empire was obviously full of power, but it was always blocked by the damn straits and land.

We have 10% strength, but can only use 7% to the outside world.

In the Near East, the navy was forced to swim in the Black Sea due to restrictions imposed by the Turkish Straits;

In the Far East, due to geographical barriers, they had to watch the Khitans show off their power.

Nicholas took a deep breath, looked at the Foreign Minister and said, "British, are you sure you want to fight the Russian Empire to the end?"

"Your Highness, the British have assisted the Ottoman Army in landing in the eastern part of Crete. They have even dispatched the Mediterranean Fleet!" The Russian Foreign Minister was also shocked that Britain acted so quickly.

Without any hesitation, they decided to go down and help the Ottomans.

Is this still the London government that is always cautious and recalcitrant in its work?

"Have you contacted Germany?" Nicholas looked at his father, who was breathing weakly and pretending to sleep with his eyes closed, and then lowered his head and asked:

"What does that cousin of mine mean?"

"Your Highness, I'm afraid the Germans will not choose to offend Britain." The Russian Foreign Minister said helplessly:

As soon as the Greeks landed on Crete, the British Foreign Secretary rushed to Berlin to meet with William II.

Although it is not known what they discussed, after the meeting, the Germans immediately sent troops close to the Franco-German border and said they would hold a Rhine River exercise.

It is clear that Germany's focus is still on the French and it is unwilling to get involved in the Middle East dispute."

After hearing that William II chose to stand idly by during this Anglo-Russian conflict, Crown Prince Nicholas could not help but snort.

"Stupid, his brain is just like that paralyzed limb, it's not functioning!"

Crown Prince Nicholas openly insulted German Emperor Wilhelm II in front of senior domestic generals.