"I just want foreigners to be unable to develop the confidence to challenge our Hongjun for a hundred years!"

This sentence alone is enough. The Hongjun cadres have no idea of ​​questioning. In their hearts, this is a very normal thing.

Under Liu Chang's command, no enemy could stop their victory, and the entire army had begun the battle with a cheerful and solemn color.

...

Major Raymond felt that the past twenty-four hours were the most difficult twenty-four hours he had spent. He had never been so difficult in his life.

He admired the opponent more and more, and even compared him with His Majesty the Emperor in private. Finally, he came up with a result that might make his subordinates sigh: "Although the prince on the opposite side is still inadequate compared to His Majesty the Emperor, for example, I don't think he can carry out such a difficult retreat from the desert land of Russia, he is definitely an admirable opponent, an opponent that can only be conquered by a real imperial marshal..."

In Raymond's eyes, the attacks of the Rainbow Army are becoming more and more organized and more impeccable. Whether they are attacking, retreating, or defense, they can be described as perfect, and now the situation of being surrounded by the French army is getting worse and worse.

The tricolor flag and the double-headed eagle flag are still flying high in Fengjing Town, but the priest has become the busiest people in Fengjing Town. Even if they do not pray for the soldiers who died in battle, they will still bless the wounded soldiers. Their crosses and the Bible are covered with blood.

French missionaries who were once passionate about preaching in China could not stand such a bad situation. In the past twenty-four hours, a missionary had already collapsed by gunfire, and now both French and Russians have become God's people.

Fighting side by side has temporarily forgotten the differences in religious beliefs. They can accept the blessings of Catholic or Orthodox Church. As long as they hold the same Bible, there will be no problem. This was unimaginable in the past.

But what made the missionaries most desperate was that one corpse after another was burned on the position, and the corpse had become the best vector for infectious diseases. Therefore, Major Raymond had to instruct officers and missionaries to cremate the bodies of the soldiers who died in battle on the spot. Every cremation under the rain of bullets was a huge shock to everyone's hearts.

But soon, they got used to it, because the casualties between the officers and soldiers were getting bigger and bigger, not only Chinese, Asian mercenaries, but also many Europeans. There were even big figures like the lieutenant. Raymond had to say privately: "If reinforcements cannot arrive within 72 hours, then we cannot pass through the Arc de Triomphe alive..."

He hopes that the news won't make Mentoban furious.

...

But it was not Mentoban who was furious, but the respected Governor of East Siberia, His Excellency Muravijov.

He held the telegram from St. Petersburg and felt like he was thundering: "What does St. Petersburg mean? Do they think we have too many troops in Siberia? Two thousand people. Another two thousand people!"

The Tsar's will told Muravyov a near desperate news. In view of the request of the Commander of the Mentorban and the Tsarist government's commitment to the French emperor, the Tsarist government had decided to continue to send two thousand soldiers to Shanghai, China, but Governor Muravyov had to supervise the French to give the Chinese territory north of the Yellow River to Russia.

Of course, as compensation for Siberia's development, the Tsarist government will send 6,000 Russian men to Siberia to support Muravyov, but Muravyov already knows what kind of people it was.

Among those were Crimean deserters, serfs, bankrupt merchants, hooligans, villains, but no one was qualified soldiers. Although the Tsarist government had sent three thousand people to Siberia before, Muravyov felt that they were not as good as the two thousand well-trained soldiers they sent.

But after St. Petersburg was not satisfied after relocating two thousand people, he also asked Siberia to continue to relocate Russian troops to the distant Shanghai. This is why Muravyov cannot tolerate: "If these two thousand soldiers are not transferred, I can conquer the entire Heilongjiang area today..."

In fact, Muravyov wanted more than just a Heilongjiang area. He had already had a grand blueprint. His eyes became sharper and he stared at the map.

It is north of the Great Wall of China, and the Chinese call him "outside the pass!"

That's right. It's outside the pass. These areas are all private areas of Manchus and Mongols. In these places, few Han people appear. Even if they appear, they are illegal immigrants. For this reason, only a very small number of people live in these areas.

This fertile land should belong to the Russian Empire, which was Muravyov's most firm belief since taking office. With the rebellion within China, Muravyov originally felt that he had found the best opportunity.

It only takes ten thousand soldiers, and he, the Siberian governor, can become a prince of China, but now St. Petersburg is obsessed with military alliances with the French.

Have they forgotten the endless blood and tears of Crimea? It was a tragedy formed by the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of Russians!

"If St. Petersburg asks to transfer troops to Shanghai, I will ask St. Petersburg to send an army to Siberia, otherwise I will not be willing to transfer our Russian people to Shanghai..."

That's right, it's just an army, he thought that St. Petersburg could not agree to such excessive demands.

This is Siberia. Even if a division is transferred to Siberia, it is impossible. It takes almost a whole year to arrive in the Far East from St. Petersburg, let alone an army.

So he quickly wrote the telegram: "Unless St. Petersburg is willing to send an army to the Far East, I will refuse to send these two thousand reinforcements to Shanghai..."

He firmly believed that neither St. Petersburg nor the Tsar could agree to such a condition.

...

Huzhou.

“We need more steam paddle ships…”

Zhu Jiumei shouted to Duncan: "It is a war period, and the only steam warships cannot meet our needs!"

Although Duncan was happy to hear this statement, he replied: "We can no longer buy steam engines and other materials directly from Shanghai, so we can only complete the original plan..."

Since the first steam warship produced in Huzhou was launched for trial voyage, the Hongjun has controlled the entire Taihu Lake surface. In fact, the idea that the Qing army navy could only fight guerrilla warfare as soon as this strange ship whistling and spitting black smoke appeared on the water surface.

However, the implementation of the Huzhou Coal and Iron Battle has also seized a lot of resources from the Navy. So far, Zhu Jiumei has only built the third steam warship, and this warship has just been launched, and it will take at least half a month to officially enter the battle.

However, the enemy of the Hong Army has changed. From the Qing navy's red single ship in the past to the French steamship equipped with a large number of new artillery. Although it was also transformed from a merchant ship, the news that Zhu Jiumei found from Shanghai was not optimistic.

At least two steam warships are required to fight against a French steamship, and most of the time, the three steamships can only be used to dispatch one.

You should know that the three steam warships are generally equipped with one on standby, one for patrol, and one for repair: "I know your difficulties, but now it is during the war!"

Duncan, a foreigner, is no longer as popular as before. After all, it is the same all over the world. Eating skills is just a youthful life. Now more and more foreigners are coming to join the Hongjun. Zhu Jiumei suspects that if these foreigners are put together, they can form an infantry battalion.

Some people are not as good as Duncan, but their success is because of their low price. Some people have high prices and far better skills than Duncan. Now Duncan has become a low-cost-performance option. Fortunately, he is a real old man in Hongjun, so he was unable to exclude him and appear in this circle.

Therefore, Duncan did not forget to show off: "I did my best, but I hope you can understand my hardships. I will organize the fourth warship to launch the water as soon as possible, and then let them participate in the battle in Suzhou area as soon as possible..."

Taihu Lake is close to Suzhou, and Suzhou water network is crisscrossing. If four steam warships can participate in the battle in Suzhou, it will play a role no less than four infantry battalions, and may even be even greater.

But Duncan also has to explain his own suffering: "Now, we must order steam engines and other equipment from Ningbo and then transport them to Huzhou. This efficiency seems relatively low, so I have a suggestion..."

He lowered his voice, and Zhu Jiumei was waiting for his suggestions with expectations: "What kind of suggestions? If it is a good suggestion, I will definitely fight for it in front of the King of Yan Palace."

"It's better to buy than to build, it's better to rent than to buy..." Duncan had already expressed his suggestions: "I have a group of friends in Shanghai. They just happened to have a boat on their hands and a group of mercenaries. The boat has been equipped with self-defense cannons, which are better than every one of our boats..."

"It is better to buy than to build, and it is better to rent than to buy." Duncan's statement made Zhu Jiumei's brow locked. She continued to ask: "What kind of boat is worse than every one of our boats? What kind of price?"

Duncan hesitated for a moment: "They offered to sell the boat and the people, with 30,000 silver dollars a month. Of course, we can cut this price by cutting at least one-third. The key is that their ship is better than the three ships we built."

Zhu Jiumei was frightened by the 30,000 silver dollars a month, which was 360,000 silver dollars a year, but she soon thought of a wonderful solution: "Mr. Duncan, I have a wonderful suggestion..."
Chapter completed!