"I just want foreigners to not have the confidence to challenge our Hongjun for a hundred years!"

This sentence alone is enough, the Hongjun cadres have no doubts about the idea, 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 already begun the battle with a cheerful and dignified color.

……

Major Raymond felt that the past 24 hours had been the most difficult for him, and he had never been so difficult in his life.

He admired his opponent more and more, and even compared him with His Majesty the Emperor in private, and finally he came to a result that might have made his subordinates sigh: "This Prince on the other side, although he is still inadequate compared to His Majesty the Emperor, for example, I do not think that he can carry out such a difficult retreat from the desert land of Russia, but he is definitely an admirable opponent, an opponent that can only be conquered by a true imperial marshal......"

In Raymond's eyes, the attacks of the rainbow army are becoming more and more disciplined and invulnerable, whether they are attacking or retreating, or defending, they can be described as perfect, and now the situation of the besieged French army is getting worse and worse.

The tricolor and double-headed eagle flag still fly high in Fengjing Town, but the priests have become the busiest people in the whole town, even if they do not pray for the soldiers who died in battle, they have to bless the wounded soldiers, whose crosses and Bibles are already covered with blood.

The French missionaries, who had once been passionate about missionary work in China, could not stand such a terrible situation. In the past twenty-four hours, a missionary had already collapsed at the sound of gunfire, and now both French and Russian have become God's people.

Fighting side by side allowed the soldiers on both sides to forget about their religious differences for a while, and they could receive the blessings of either Catholicism or Orthodoxy, as long as they held the same Bible. In the past, this was unimaginable.

But what made the missionaries despair the most was the burning of corpses on the battlefield, which had become the best vector of infectious diseases. Therefore, Major Raymond had to instruct the officers and missionaries to cremate the bodies of the soldiers killed in battle, and every cremation under the rain of bullets was for the hearts of all people. It's a huge deterrent.

Soon, though. They got used to it, because the casualties among the officers and soldiers were getting bigger and bigger, not only Chinese, but also Asian mercenaries, and many Europeans, and even big men like lieutenants, and Raymond had to say in private: "If reinforcements do not arrive within seventy-two hours, then we will not be able to pass through the Arc de Triomphe alive......"

He hoped the news wouldn't make Mentoban furious.

……

But it wasn't Mentoban who thundered. Rather, the honorable Governor of Eastern Siberia, His Excellency Muravyov.

He took this telegram from St. Petersburg and had the feeling of five thunderstorms: "What does St. Petersburg mean? Do they think we have too many troops in Siberia? Two thousand, two thousand! ”

This tsar's intention told Muravyov the almost desperate news that in view of the request of the commander of Montoban and the commitment of the tsarist government to the French emperor, the tsarist government had decided to continue sending 2,000 soldiers to Shanghai, China, but that the governor of Muravyov had to supervise the French ceding Chinese territory north of the Yellow River to Russia.

Of course, as compensation for the development of Siberia, the tsarist government would send 6,000 Russian men to Siberia to support Muravyov, but Muravyov already knew what kind of people it was.

Among those people were Crimean deserters, serfs, bankrupt merchants, hooligans, scoundrels, but none of them were qualified soldiers. Although the tsarist government had sent 3,000 men to Siberia, Muravyov felt that they were inferior to the 2,000 well-trained soldiers it had sent. …,

However, St. Petersburg was not satisfied with the fait accompli of the transfer of 2,000 troops, and demanded that Siberia continue to transfer Russian troops to distant Shanghai, which Muravyov could not tolerate: "If I don't transfer these 2,000 soldiers, I can conquer the entire Heilongjiang region today......

In fact, Muravyov wanted more than just a Heilongjiang region, he already had a grand blueprint, his eyes sharpened, and he glued to the map.

It is north of the Great Wall of the whole of China, and the Chinese call him "Guanwai!" ”

That's right, outside the Guan, these areas are the preserve of the Manchus and Mongols, and there are very few Han Chinese in these places, and even if they do, they are illegal immigrants, and 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 the firmest belief of Muravyov since taking office, and with the rebellion within China, Muravyov felt that he had found the best opportunity.

It only took 10,000 soldiers for him, the governor of Siberia, to become a prince of China, but now St. Petersburg was obsessed with a military alliance with the French.

Have they forgotten the endless blood and tears shed in Crimea? That's a tragedy condensed by the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of Russians!

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

That's right, a corps, and he thought that St. Petersburg could not have agreed to such an excessive demand.

This is Siberia, even if a division is transferred to Siberia, it is impossible, and it takes almost a whole year to reach the Far East from St. Petersburg, let alone an army.

Therefore, he quickly wrote a telegram: "I refuse to send 2,000 reinforcements to Shanghai unless St. Petersburg is willing to send an army to the Far East......"

He was convinced that neither St. Petersburg nor the Tsar could agree to such conditions.

……

Huzhou.

"We need more steam paddle ships......"

Zhu Jiumei shouted at Duncan: "It's war time now, and these few steam warships can't meet our needs!" ”

Duncan was glad to hear this, but he replied, "We can't buy steam engines and other supplies directly from Shanghai now, so we can at best complete our original plan......"

Since the launch of the first steam warship produced in Huzhou, the Hongjun has controlled the entire surface of Taihu Lake, in fact, as soon as this strange ship whistling and spitting black smoke appeared on the water, the Qing army's sailors could only fight guerrilla warfare.

However, the implementation of the Huzhou Coal and Iron Conference Battle also seized a lot of resources from the naval division, and so far, Zhu Jiumei has only built the third steam battleship, and this battleship has just been launched, and it will take at least half a month to officially put into battle.

However, the enemy of the Hong Army has changed, from the Qing Army's sailors in the past, to the French steam ships equipped with a large number of new artillery, although they were also transformed from merchant ships, but the news that Zhu Jiumei inquired from Shanghai was not optimistic.

It would take at least two steam ships to take on one French steamship, and now only one of the three steam ships can be dispatched most of the time.

You must know that there are three steam warships, which are generally equipped with one on standby, one for patrols, and one under repair: "I know your difficulties, but this is the time of war!" ”

Duncan, a foreigner, is no longer as popular as he was at the beginning, after all, it is the same all over the world, eating technical rice is eating youth rice, and now there are more and more foreigners who come to join the Hongjun, Zhu Jiumei suspects that if these foreigners are organized together, they can be organized into an infantry battalion. …,

Some people are not as strong as Duncan's technology, but the price is low, and some are far better than Duncan in terms of technology, and now Duncan has become a cost-effective choice, fortunately he is a real old man in the rainbow army, so he has not been able to squeeze out of this circle.

Therefore, Duncan did not forget to show off: "I will do my best, but I hope you will also understand my suffering, I will organize the launch of the fourth battleship as soon as possible, and then let them participate in the operation in the Suzhou area as soon as possible......"

Taihu Lake is close to Suzhou, and Suzhou's water network is crisscrossed, and if four steam warships can participate in the operation in the Suzhou area, it will play a role no less than four infantry battalions, and may even be greater.

But Duncan also can't explain his suffering: "Now, we have to order steam engines and other equipment from Ningbo, and then transfer them to Huzhou, which is relatively inefficient, so I have a suggestion......

He lowered his voice, and Zhu Jiumei waited for his suggestion with anticipation: "What kind of suggestion?" If it's a good suggestion, I will definitely fight for it in front of His Royal Highness King Yan. ”

"It's better to buy than to build, it's better to rent ...... than to buy" Duncan had already said his suggestion: "I have a group of friends in Shanghai, they happen to have a boat in their hands, and they also have a group of mercenaries, and the ships have been equipped with artillery for self-defense, which is better than every one of our ships......"

"It's better to buy than to build, it's better to rent than to buy", Duncan's statement made Zhu Jiumei's brows lock, and she continued to ask: "What kind of ship?" Better than every one of our boats? What kind of price? ”

Duncan hesitated for a moment: "They offered a price of 30,000 silver yuan per month, of course, we can cut it at this price, at least a third, the key is that their ship is better than the three ships we built." ”

Zhu Jiumei was frightened by this 30,000 silver yuan a month, which is 360,000 silver yuan a year, but she quickly thought of a wonderful solution: "Mr. Duncan, I have a wonderful suggestion ......" (to be continued) RQ