The tsar is very depressed, obviously it is the Anglo-American, Spanish, and Russian four-nation alliance to fight against China, why are the Chinese staring at Russia, so far they have not sent troops to the Americas, they use the existing forces in the Americas to fight against Anglo-American Spain, but use millions of local troops to attack Russia, isn't this the wrong medicine, the first to start a war with China is Britain, the United States and Spain, and the most valuable land to fight for is also the gold mines of the Americas, not the barren Kazakh steppe.

But now that things have developed to this point, Russia has no other way but to fight hard.

Fortunately, the British have always had good credit in forming alliances, and respect for diplomatic treaties is trustworthy, and the treaty between Britain and Russia stipulates that if neither side makes peace with China alone, then Britain will continue to fight. This is a great guarantee for Russia's war in terms of materials.

As for the other reinforcements, there will be no more.

Europe now formed a system of equilibrium, which was formed at the time of the partition of Poland, and by allowing the Russian-Austrian powers to divide Poland, Britain was on the one hand to bring Russia into the war, and on the other hand, to draw Prussia and Austria against France. France's ambitions to restore hegemony in the Mediterranean are clear with the help of China. This was in conflict with Austria, which Spain could no longer prevent France from dominating the Mediterranean, but Austria did not want to see this. Prussia, on the other hand, consistently regarded France as the greatest threat on land.

As a result, Britain succeeded in signing an agreement with Austria that if France entered the war, the two countries would also enter the war. In this way, it is unlikely that France will enter the war, and even if France does, it will have no effect on Russia, because with the Austro-Prussian balance, the French army cannot attack Russia as it did during the Napoleonic Wars. And France did not enter the war, and Prussia and Austria did not dare to enter the war, they had to be on guard against France at all times, and once they entered the war, they would be afraid that France would attack from behind.

Russia also looked to the Manchu Empire, although Russia had already seen the ills of the empire, and with the annexation of rich places such as Persia and the Two Rivers Valley, they began to open up to trade, allowing domestic merchants to do business, and in fact this liberalization greatly weakened the organizational capacity of their state. All kinds of corrupt behaviors began to appear, and the elite began to become wealthy and indulged in pleasure. The British exported large quantities of opium here, which were very popular among the upper classes.

The children of the magnates of the Eight Banners began to monopolize various positions, and some Central Asian nationalities began to occupy middle and low-level positions, and Britain could not see the disadvantages of this situation, because Britain itself was such a country, and the magnates controlled some and corruption was rampant, but Britain had a parliamentary balance, and the Manchus did not have the power to balance the magnates. Russia believes that in places like Central Asia, the beginning of the decline of military power is a sign that a country is beginning to decline.

But the country still has the strongest mobilization capacity in the region, capable of mobilizing millions of soldiers, and their own military-industrial system can't support a military force of this size, but the UK can. But the cunning Tatar king Daoguang, content with the annexation of the Khiva Khanate, was slow to act, refusing to make promises to Britain and Russia to enter the war.

The lobbying mainly relied on Britain, Russia could not give much to the Manchus, last time in order to win over the Manchus to participate in the Crimean War, Russia ceded the land south of the Caucasus to the Manchus, but they could not cede the territory north of the Caucasus to the Manchus, so they could not win over this ally worth wooing.

On the contrary, China may promise to hand over the land north of the Caucasus to the Manchus and win them over to fight against Russia, in which case the problem will be very serious. Russia had to guard against all this, not by stationing troops in the border areas, but by maintaining victory in the war with China, and if the Chinese army began to counterattack and the Manchus felt that Russia could be defeated, these Tatars would certainly not mind taking a bite from the Russian Empire.

The summer of 1838 had finally passed, and after November the Ob River had begun to freeze, and the ice had not yet been solid enough to pass, and the Chinese offensive in Siberia had to be halted, whether willing or unwilling.

This is a favorable opportunity for the Russians, they can draw a part of the Ob Valley garrison to participate in the battle of the Kazakh hills, as long as they break through this low hilly defense line and force the Chinese to retreat to the area east of the Tianshan Mountains, it will be an important victory, enough to dispel the covetousness of some ill-intentioned forces, and at the same time, perhaps the Chinese will accept peace talks.

The tsar has begun to think about it, no longer insisting on getting Kazakhstan, he is willing to return to the previous state with the Chinese, the Chinese army is willing to withdraw from Siberia, Russia is willing to withdraw from Kazakhstan, this battle will be fought in vain, hundreds of thousands of Russians will die in vain.

But the Russians can die in vain, but the Chinese can't die in vain; The tsar did not understand such a truth, the weak can indeed draw the sword willfully, but whether it can be taken back depends on the attitude of the strong. The weak can start a war, but it is always the strong who ends it.

The tsar also did not understand that China is a country that seeks stability, war is never the goal, war is always for peace, war is always passive acceptance, so the attitude of the Chinese towards war has always been to hope to solve the threat once and for all; Europeans, on the other hand, are accustomed to war, and always regard it as a normal tool for resolving diplomatic disputes. Their understanding of war was still in the Warring States period of China, the era of "cutting five cities today and ten cities tomorrow", but China regarded war as the ultimate state of unification or annihilation.

As long as the Chinese regime consciously fights wars, except for the unpredictable southward raids of the grassland peoples, it is often the battle of unification in the founding period and the dying struggle in the period of annihilation.

The two different ideas on war determine the different ways in which the two countries deal with war, with Russia's greatest goal being to cede land, while China's lowest plan is to destroy the country.

Russia thought it was a short-term war, a war that could be ended in a few battles and a general battle; China sees it as an existential race, a life-and-death contest.

So while the tsar was desperately gathering forces in the hope of fighting a decisive battle, the Chinese were just beginning to accept the reality that the war had just begun.

The government told the people that this war was to solve Russia's border troubles once and for all, and the Chinese people understood that this war had just begun, and unlike the previous short-term wars, their mentality began to change. Stop obsessing over the outcome of one or two battles in the border area, and start making long-term preparations. Food prices began to rise as people began to prepare for war and famine, and they instinctively wanted to fill their rice tanks with emergency rice. The price of gold has also begun to rise, and the gold of the prosperous antique troubled times is the best emergency property.

But with the government opening a warehouse to release grain, and the public bank selling a batch of gold reserves, all this also calmed down. Because all this is just an irrational move caused by the government's statement, after the development of the Northeast Great Plain, China has become a country with far more food than demand, not only to the neighboring Korea, Japan in large quantities, but also used to raise a large number of livestock, as the world control gold production country, gold reserves are also very rich. Therefore, there was no shortage of food and gold, and although there was no breakthrough in the war, there was no major defeat, and the mentality of the common people calmed down.

In short, it was this nation that began to accept the reality that this was a long war.

The Russians did not understand this, and they began a large-scale autumn offensive, together with the British forces, to storm the Kazakh hill defenses.

They are bent on taking this place and forcing China to make concessions, but even if they take this place, the Chinese army retreats to the east of the Tianshan Mountains, so what?

There is also the desert Gobi in the northwest behind, even if you capture these, there is also the Hexi Corridor, even if you enter the Hexi Corridor, there is the Yellow River behind!

It has already taken a year for the Russians to attack a Kazakh, and even if they are defeated immediately, how many years will it take for them to conquer the Tianshan Mountains? What about the Great Desert of Ili and the Hexi Corridor? After continuous fighting, even if they are given ten years, they may not be able to enter the customs.

For China, this is just the beginning, will the Russians be able to hold out for ten years?

In fact, they may not be able to hold out for even two years, and the past wars have shown that if the war drags on for a long time, there will inevitably be problems in Russia. Historically, Russia supported 1,200,000 Russian troops and 7,000 Bulgarian volunteers to fight the British, French and Ottoman Crimean War for more than two years, and now they have mobilized 1.5 million troops and may not be able to hold out for long.

On the hundreds of kilometers of Kazakh hilly defense line, the Anglo-Russian coalition forces continued to launch attacks, and the consumption of various materials and troops was huge. The Chinese army has always refused to defend to the death, whether it is to cross the defensive line and engage in local ground battles with the opponent, and the defense is very flexible.

There were also groups of Kazakh light cavalry that constantly harassed the transportation lines of the Anglo-Russian forces, making their material consumption and strength even more stretched.

Reduce the number of troops, I don't know when the Chinese will seize the opportunity to give you a hard blow, so the Anglo-Russian coalition forces are forced to maintain these more than 1.5 million offensive forces outside the defense line, and they cannot be concentrated, because they cannot leave a chance for the Chinese, this is the advantage of taking the initiative to attack, you can contain a large number of enemy forces, if you defend to the death, let the enemy concentrate forces to attack, it will be very dangerous, this is the truth that a long defense will be lost.

Britain and Russia have struggled to maintain 1.5 million troops, but China has successfully deployed 3 million troops in Kazakhstan, 2 million troops into Siberia, and 4 million troops in the rear as reserves, constantly training, ready to replenish the losses on the front line.

Nineteen years later, the situation on the battlefield began to change in China's favor.