I Want to Be the Emperor Chapter 684: The Northern Strategy is Complete

There are also a lot of copper, silver and other metal resources near Hetongcheng. In the past, the Zhungeer people themselves mined these precious metals in small quantities in this area, but it was not on a large scale, just very sporadic small workshops.

After the Chu army arrived here, they took a preliminary look around and found that there were still some precious metal resources, but the Chu army did not value these precious metal resources.

What the Chu army values ​​most is coal and iron ore!

Because these two minerals are the foundation of industry!

With the availability of coal and iron ore, the Chu Empire was able to build steel plants to make steel.

After the steel plant was established, even if the scale was small, the Industrial Department of the Da Chu Empire dared to directly build a small frontline arsenal that was small and fully equipped.

Just like the previous Kuol City Arsenal and Yin Ning Arsenal.

The Chu Empire is currently conducting a simple survey in the upper reaches of the Irtysh River and the surrounding areas, trying to find coal and iron mines. As long as they can be found, the Chu Empire will build a small-scale arsenal in Hetong City in minutes!<

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After all, Hetong is located along the Irtysh River, with such a big river as the Irtysh River, and this river will flow into the main stream of the Ob River after going all the way north.

The navigation conditions are very good, and it can be used as an important channel for mobilizing troops and transporting logistics supplies. If an arsenal is built here, a large number of weapons and ammunition can flow smoothly down the river, and finally enter the main stream of the Ob River, and finally even go all the way to the Arctic Ocean.<

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This is also the reason why the Great Chu Empire built a city and stationed troops in Hetong, because it took a fancy to the convenient transportation that the Irtysh River's navigability brought to the military.

In order to better utilize the river transportation capacity of the Irtysh River, the military has purchased a batch of important parts and components of steamships and then transported them all the way to Hetongcheng.

Just thinking about transporting parts, then building a hull on the spot, building a steamship, and building a steamship on the northwest front is not only for the convenience of combat, but in fact it is more for the convenience of transporting logistics supplies.

After all, the huge role of steamships in inland water transportation is obvious to all. Private shipping companies may also consider costs and other economic conditions, but the military does not care about so much!

The mere cost of a steamship is nothing compared to the cost of transporting supplies over long distances.

The military not only plans to build steamships locally in Hetongcheng, but also plans to build a simple high-pressure steam engine production line in Kurcheng and the northern city of Yakutsk to produce small steamships locally for the military and civilians.

Use.

If there is no requirement to limit costs, nor is there a requirement to have excellent performance, and we simply develop a high-pressure steam engine, in fact many arsenals can directly develop high-pressure steam engines...

After all, the main technical difficulty of the steam engine is the processing of the cylinder, and the processing of the cylinder is actually very similar to the processing of the gun barrel. An arsenal that can process wrought iron gun barrels will have no problem processing the cylinder of a high-pressure steam engine.

Of course, the premise is that performance and patentability are not considered!

Most of the patents for high-pressure steam engines are in the hands of Guangzhou Machinery Company. Even if you are an arsenal, you cannot use other people's patents randomly!

In order to solve the patent issue, before the Ministry of Industry took action, the military directly approached the Guangzhou Machinery Company and asked them to conduct research and development on the Kuolcheng Arsenal, Yinning Arsenal, Zhenbei Arsenal, and other products that have not yet appeared, but will definitely appear in the future.

When Tong Arsenal licenses the patent for high-pressure steam engines, you don’t need a permanent license or anything like that. You can just grant a limited-time patent license.

You can talk about money as much as you want. Our military spends tens of millions a year on military expenditures, so I’m not afraid of you being a lion.

Through limited time and limited authorization, these arsenals can obtain patent authorization for high-pressure steam engines and then manufacture high-pressure steam engines on their own.

The patent licensing fee provided by the military is very generous. As a government-run enterprise, Guangzhou Machinery Company feels a little embarrassed...

After the patent issue is solved, the next step will be easy. It is impossible to make a good high-pressure steam engine relying on the capabilities of these arsenals, but it is not a big problem to make a usable one. As for the high cost, it is not a problem.

The military doesn't care about the cost... As long as it's not an exaggerated increase of dozens of times, it's just trivial to increase it by a few times.

What the military values ​​​​most now is solving problems. What they value most is the powerful inland river transportation capabilities brought by steamships. This has very important strategic significance for the military's subsequent activities in Siberia and even the vast Central Asia.
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The water network in Siberia is very developed... Why the Russians were able to reach the Pacific coast of the Far East in just a few decades was because of the rich Siberian water network... They didn't go all the way.

You can ride a horse and walk there, but take a boat all the way there.

Similarly, the Chu Empire's current series of military operations and even immigration in Siberia also rely on the developed Siberian water network. This is why the three major strategic goals in the Northern Strategy are all centered around the great river basin.

Because taking over the Lena River, the Yenisey River, and the Ob River, the three major rivers in Siberia, and their tributaries, is basically equivalent to taking over Siberia.

This was true in the age of sailing ships, and after the age of steamships, the role of these Siberian water networks will be even greater.

This is why the military is in a hurry to deploy steamships in Siberia!

However, it does not mean that the front line will not be fought until the steamer is in place. After the destruction of Jungar in the south, the Chu army began to launch an offensive in the Ob River Basin.

In the east, more than 10,000 Chu troops were directed towards the upper reaches of the Ob River. The core goal was to capture Tomsk and control the mouth of the Tomu River, a tributary of the upper reaches of the Ob River.

Tomsk is about fifty kilometers away from the mouth of the Ob River.

This place is very important!

Because with the support of Tomsk City, you can reach the vicinity of the left bank of the Yenisey River along the Keti River, which flows on the right bank of the Ob River, all the way east. Although you have to go through a land route in the middle, it is still very convenient.

Fast track.

When the Chu army marched westward in the middle reaches of the Yenisey River, that is, when Yeniseysk was the advance base, they followed the Keti River channel that the Russians had taken before.

In addition to the army of more than 10,000 people heading straight for the city of Tomsk, in the upper reaches of the Ob River, another force of more than 5,000 troops sent by the Second Army of the Chu Army also headed north along the upper reaches of the Ob River.

March.

Their strategic target is 'Kuznetsk' along the upper reaches of the Tom River, a tributary on the right bank of the Ob River.

Speaking of which, the two important early strategic goals of the Chu Army's Second Group Army are actually related to the Tuomu River.

Tomsk is on the lower reaches of the Tom River, and Kuznetsk is on the upper reaches of the Tom River. Although these two cities are not directly built on the banks of the Ob River, they are still the largest Russian cities in the middle and upper reaches of the Ob River.

An important strategic support base.

For example, Kuznetsk is a very typical military fortress. The Russians built the city here purely to resist the local indigenous invasion of Tomsk, and used it as a stronghold to continuously invade southward.
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This fortress penetrated the hinterland of the local indigenous people like a sharp knife. It not only protected the northern territories such as Tomsk, but also continuously weakened the local indigenous people, eventually forcing the local indigenous people to flee continuously, and finally allowed the Russians to complete their control of this area.

Actual control of the area.

So it is very interesting that the strategic goal of the Chu army is to control the Ob River, but the first stage of the combat target is not on the main stream of the Ob River, but on its tributary Tuomu River.

After all, it was this river that supported the Russians' control in the upper and middle reaches of the Ob River, and relied on it to fight against the local indigenous people.

It is precisely because of the importance of these two fortress cities and the Tuomu River that the Russian defense forces here have always been very strong.

Two Chu armies, one from the south and one from the north, headed towards the two cities along the Tuomu River at the same time.

Naturally, there were fights with some small and medium-sized Russian colonial strongholds along the way. For example, in the city of Makovsk, a transportation hub linking the Ob River and the Yenisei River, the Chu army encountered strong resistance from Russia.

However, this kind of resistance was in vain. There were only a few hundred Russian troops stationed there, but tens of thousands of Chu troops came to kill them.

There is no need to beat them, they will be frightened to death.

After several small-scale obstructions by the Russian army along the way, they also conquered a series of Russian forts and colonial strongholds along the way. The Chu army officially reached the Ob River and soon reached the outside of Tomsk.
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In August, the Russians in Tomsk were dumbfounded when they saw the Chu army outside the city...

Damn it, the Chu army is expanding westward faster than they expanded eastward.

It took the Russians decades to fight their way from Europe to the Pacific coast, and they were already super fast.

But as for these Chu people, it's only been two years since they launched a large-scale offensive to advance westward.

But in the past two years, the Chu people have traveled thousands of miles and directly reached the gates of Tomsk.

In the first year, the Chu army captured the Lena River and the middle and upper reaches of the Yenisei River, controlling the strategic location of Yeniseisk.

In the second year, this year, we completely controlled the Yenisey River Basin and continued to advance westward to the city of Tomsk.

Damn, this is faster than the expansion speed of the Russians, and much faster.

Naturally, the Russians don't know that the seemingly rapid progress of the Chu Army in the past two years is actually based on the continuous management of the northern region in the past ten years.

During the period when the Northern Strategy was officially launched, the Great Chu Empire invested heavily in the Little Beihaifu area in the north. It built an arsenal in the city of Khur, far away from the hinterland of the Central Plains, and improved the large grassland supply line.

Before that, there is actually a longer and more complicated early development period.

The most important of them is the establishment of the city of Chur.

At that time, in order to build the city of Khur, and the logistics support was not smooth, it was actually not easy for the Chu army to fight. They could only rely on hundreds of thousands of troops to fight for seven or eight years before they conquered this place.

The occupying lord finally built a city in the city of Kur, carried out cultivation, and established an arsenal.

With the city of Kuhl, there is actually a series of northern strategies.

Without the support of the city of Khur, the Chu army would not have been able to maintain so many troops in Siberia, let alone easily gather thousands of troops or even 10,000 or 20,000 troops to fight Russia.

Every grain of grain and every round of ammunition used here was transported from Kuhl City.

With the city of Khur, the Chu army was able to gather enough troops and artillery in the northern region, and then use its best tactics to defeat the enemy: using more troops and more artillery to push all the way.

Past!

There is no such thing as running attacks, surprise attacks, ambushes and other messy things. The battle that the Chu army is best at fighting is just to push through without any surprises.

Relying on the country's strong national power and large population, the Chu Empire's mediocre tactics have not failed so far!

The same is true in the northern region. The Chu army used to attack Tomsk with more than 10,000 troops and more than 70 large and small artillery pieces. The Russians in Tomsk were dumbfounded.

Damn, how do you fight this?
To be continued...