"Vielen is good!" Mo Ke, deputy chief of the General Staff and chief of the Operations Division, nodded and spoke in a slightly Xiangxiang dialect accent in Prussian, which was not very fluent. He spent the longest time with Zuo Zongtang, and slowly learned Chinese with a Xiangxiang accent, but because of his age, a few Prussian words occasionally popped up.

This is exactly what Tsarist Russia has always done. They are a very aggressive and belligerent people. Moreover, it has the most savage and heroic Cossack soldiers, and because it is a serf state, it has the most extensive soldiers, even if more than 500,000 people were killed and wounded in the recently concluded Crimean War, it can quickly assemble hundreds of thousands of troops with a single call. It's a crazy country. Moltke seemed to have studied Tsarist Russia very well, and he continued to introduce the situation of Tsarist Russia to the emperor and his colleagues: "Your Majesty, Tsarist Russia not only built fortresses along the Ili River in the west, colluded with Kokand to send troops to attack Kashgar, but also met with the Manchu lords in Yaksa in the north, and must be preparing to expand its power to the east on a large scale." ”

"Oh, Mao Aiqing, you have stayed in Finland and Prussia, and you happen to be a neighbor of Tsarist Russia, and you know about it, but you will give me an analysis and analysis, why did they want to invade the east on a large scale?" Feng Yunshan saw that what Mao Qi said was reasonable, so he encouraged.

"Your Majesty, Russia is a barbarian nation and has always had a tradition of aggression and expansion. Especially after the defeat of the Crimean War, the population of Tsarist Russia fell second, the huge burden of war put its country on the verge of collapse, and the international status of Tsarist Russia plummeted, losing the hegemony of the European continent, in order to collect taxes to fill the gap of the war, domestic contradictions and social crises increased sharply, since the outbreak of the Crimean War, serf uprisings in Russia have continued. In order to alleviate the contradictions of serfdom in his country and divert the contradictions and economic and financial pressures in his country, the new tsar will inevitably choose another path, that is, expansion. Moltke spoke eloquently, although he was well versed in military strategy, and military was complementary to politics and economics, and therefore understood the situation in the whole world, and he went on to analyze: "I have learned that the new Tsar is as ambitious as his father, but he appears to be more moderate, but in fact it is only a disguise for his greater appetite, which is so great that he can swallow the whole continent." Russia has the most famous and savage Cossack soldiers, they are some professional bandits who have been passed down from generation to generation, do not pay the army, and all their property and even women rely on looting, so they fight extremely bravely, regardless of their lives. Therefore, Your Majesty must not underestimate the enemy. I suggested that Kokand and the Kazakhs could be contacted to resist the Russians. ”

The righteous king Shi Dakai interjected: "Isn't the country of Kokand an enemy?" Didn't their Burke, named Aguba, have already instigated the lord of Kokand to send troops to attack my Kashgar, why are they still trying to win him over? ”

Moltke said: "There must be something strange in this." According to the information sent by Director Fan, when the Manchus were still very strong, the Kazakh Khanate of the Three Accounts and the Kokand Khanate both requested the Manchus to annex themselves in order to avoid being annexed by the expanding power of Russia and seek self-protection, but the Manchus refused at that time. From this point, at least it shows that the Kokand Khanate was more inclined to the East. Either the Kokand Khanate did not understand the Chinese Empire and thought that the fall of the Manchus caused chaos, and they wanted to take the opportunity to expand their territory and occupy the Kashgar area, or Tsarist Russia made a promise to blind the Kokand Khanate and make them fall to Tsarist Russia, otherwise they would not have made such an irrational move. ”

Feng Yunshan nodded, and secretly said that this Mao Qi is really a talent, not only understands specific military affairs, but is also good at strategic analysis, and integrates multi-faceted intelligence to conduct national-level games, and is not an outstanding figure in history. He immediately said: "What Mao Aiqing said is reasonable! On the one hand, in response to the Kokand soldiers instigated by Naguba to send troops to attack our Kashgar, we must strike hard and kill them in pain and fear; On the other hand, the Secret Service Department sent people to find out what means Tsarist Russia used to make Kokand cooperate with them so much. In addition, these in the Western Regions are still too little information to probe and not enough intelligence, so if the order continues, the Special Service Department will increase its efforts to collect intelligence in this area, and it will not hesitate to buy and develop the locals. Now the three Kazakh Han states of the Big Tent, the Middle Tent, and the Small Tent have basically been occupied by Tsarist Russia, but the uprising of the Kazakh people against Tsarist Russia has not stopped. We can support the insurgents and nurture them to fight the Russians. I remember that last year there was news from the Secret Service Department that a man named Janhoga in the Syr Darya River Valley led a large number of Cossacks to revolt, and I could contact them and transport some grain from Ili and the eliminated shotguns and arquebuses, all of which were half-sold and half-sent to them. As for the current situation, I am most worried about the lack of troops. Those Kokand soldiers and Russian soldiers were all extremely vicious people who were not afraid of death, and the Fifth Infantry Division and the Fourth Infantry Division were stationed in two places, thousands of miles apart, making it difficult to support each other. Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think should be? ”

Faced with the specific problem of how to fight, Feng Yunshan has self-knowledge, he can at most start from the overall situation and the vision of future generations, and it is better to hand over specific military affairs to his subordinates, and each of them is better than himself.

Shi Dakai frowned and thought about it. It has been more than four years since the founding of the Chinese Empire, and he has been abandoned for nearly five years, and he has not led troops to fight. Originally, in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, although he was excluded, he was still able to bring a small number of soldiers, but now although he is in the high position of King Yi and Minister of Defense, he cannot directly lead troops to the battlefield because of his high status, which is undoubtedly a torment for Shi Dakai. Of course, he naturally knew that it was not the emperor who was guarding him, but that his status was too high, and the emperor might be worried that he would make a mistake when he went to the battlefield, and it was very likely that his life and death would affect the outcome of the entire battle. And he really wasn't very used to this kind of foreign guns and cannon-style warfare at the beginning, so he hibernated for several years. But now, as he gets older, coupled with the accumulation of learning in the past few years, he is already familiar with commanding foreign guns and artillery, and he also has experience in the corresponding tactics. Therefore, when he heard that there was a situation in the Western Regions, his heart moved.

Vice Foreign Minister Wu Ruxiao said here: "Your Majesty, it is better to let Weichen negotiate on behalf of the empire to see if it can be resolved by diplomatic means." ”

"Wu Aiqing has a heart, but this is not something that diplomacy can solve. What's more, I am not afraid of them, and my Chinese Empire is even more afraid of them. What I want you to think about is how to fight. Feng Yunshan waved his hand directly and rejected Wu Ruxiao's statement.

"Your Majesty, since you are going to fight, you must immediately transfer troops and reinforce them! And Weichen thought that the most urgent thing was Kashgar, which was held by the Fifth Infantry Division, and the Fourth Infantry Division on the Ili side was much better, and Weichen guessed that the Russian army would not attack the city directly for the time being, but seize territory and build fortresses. But now the closest to Kashgar in Xinjiang is only the Fourth Infantry Division of Ili. If the 4th Division is transferred, the entire Ili region will be in danger. Moreover, in the past two years, in response to His Majesty's edict to develop Huijiang, nearly 400,000 people have been emigrated to Huijiang, and there are 200,000 people in the Ili area, so the Fourth Infantry Division must not be transferred. Zuo Zongtang spoke directly, he also had a headache, originally in such a remote place, 20,000 soldiers of the captured army went to the past to fight, in fact, it was also the case, but I didn't expect that after defeating the rotten Qing soldiers, there would be an invasion of foreign enemies, and it was also those murderous enemies who did not want to die, even if they transferred troops from the mainland, it would be too late.

"But if the Fourth Infantry Division is not transferred to reinforce in the past, according to the information given from there, although it is not clear how many Kokand soldiers there are, but judging from the character of Luo Qiongshu, who has always been brave, even he said that people are in the city and swear to defend Kashgar City, which means that the situation is very serious, and the Kokand soldiers must greatly exceed the Fifth Division, but I am afraid that the Fifth Division will suffer heavy losses." Feng Yunshan was worried, what he was most worried about was the 10,000 soldiers of the Fifth Division, these were all veterans who had fought all the way from Hunan and Guangxi, and they were the elite of the captive army, spanning tens of thousands of miles, and finally came to the westernmost frontier, he didn't want these soldiers to be lost there because of his wrong judgment.

"Your Majesty, it is most appropriate not to give an order to the Fifth Infantry Division to abandon the city of Kashgar and retreat to Ili, and the two divisions should be combined. At the same time, reinforcements were sent from the interior to reinforce Ili, and the closest to returning to Xinjiang was a new army of captives stationed in Ganzhou and Suzhou, the 46th Infantry Division, a newly formed division that followed the 4th and 5th Infantry Divisions to recover Gansu, and is now also well-trained and well-armed and ready for a battle. In addition, there is the 11th Infantry Division stationed in the vicinity of Lanzhou Prefecture, and the 49th Infantry Division of a recruit division stationed in Ningxia Prefecture. Zuo Zongtang suggested.

"Kashgar City should also have newly relocated Han people, right? How many? Feng Yunshan asked.

Zuo Zongtang was silent, and Zeng Guanlan next to him replied: "Back to Your Majesty, Division Commander Luo originally led the Fifth Infantry Division to escort the people in the Anxi Prefecture area to move into Kashgar and Yarkand, because winter is coming, so he is stationed in Kashgar, and he was originally going to wait for the warm weather in the spring of next year, and then return to Gansu to escort a group of immigrants. There are about 30,000 people who moved in from Kashgar and Yarkand. ”

As soon as Zeng Guanlan said this, Zuo Zongtang's face changed, and he hurriedly pleaded guilty: "Your Majesty, Weichen doesn't know that so many people have moved in to Kashgar, and Weichen neglected to oversee and almost mistakenly killed His Majesty's holy virtue!" In this case, unless all 30,000 people can be taken away, Kashgar cannot be evacuated. But if you want to hold on, Your Majesty, Weichen is worried that the Kokand soldiers are prepared, and with the Tsarist Russia behind the scenes, even if they can't capture Kashgar City, they will definitely not give up easily, and after a long time, the Fifth Division trapped in the city will inevitably fall into a desperate situation due to lack of ammunition, food and grass. Especially the consumption of ammunition, there is no supply, I am afraid, I am afraid that I may not be able to hold out until the reinforcements arrive. ”

Feng Yunshan was even more anxious. Nearly twenty days have passed since the message was transmitted, and who knows what the situation is like over there. According to his estimates, even if the ammunition carried by the infantry division is sufficient, it will not last long, and if it is used sparingly, it is not bad to be able to hold out for four months, but if the enemy uses human lives to attack the city, he is afraid that he will run out of ammunition and food after only two months. And now, even if the 46th Infantry Division of Ganzhou and Suzhou, which is closest to Huijiang, is urgently dispatched, and the message is transmitted from Shengjing to Ganzhou and Suzhou, and then people are sent along the line to prepare grain and grass and set off with the whole army, it will take nearly a month, and these 10,000 soldiers will rush from Suzhou to Ili to replace the Fourth Infantry Division that left Ili to reinforce Kashgar, it will take two or three months in an ordinary month, but now that Shengjing has begun to enter spring, Huijiang in the north is still icy and snowy, and it is difficult to march, so it will definitely be impossible to spend four months.

Could it be that Kashgar is destined to be captured by the damned Kokand soldiers, 30,000 people who moved there in response to his orders will be burned by them, and the elite of the 10,000 captives who have followed him for many years will also be buried in the western frontier?