After meeting with Matthew Perry from the United States, Lin Hong received news from Central Asia that the long-awaited Crimean War was getting closer and closer under the inertia of history, and it was time to drive Russia back to Europe.

The Crimean War was a war triggered by Russia's expansion into the Black Sea and Balkans. However, with the completion of the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea has become more and more important and has become an important area of world trade, and controlling the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea has become a goal that Russia urgently needs to vent after this arms race, and it is also the unremitting efforts of successive tsars to obtain excellent ports.

Russia had waged eight Russo-Turkish wars before that, and since the 17th century, Russia has successively acquired the Caucasus, Balkans, and Crimea regions from the Ottoman Turkish Empire. And this time, Russia, equipped with new weapons and warships, can be said to be stronger and more confident than in history.

Orthodox and Catholic Christians have long fought over jurisdiction over the Palestinian "holy site," then a province of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, ostensibly over religious issues. Russia made a request to the Ottoman Empire to establish a Russian protectorate in the "Holy Land" to protect the Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire, but this request was rejected by the Sultan of Constantinople. Catholics in France and Protestants in England also opposed Russia's attempts to establish a stronghold in Palestine. Russia, after the refusal of the Sultan, decided to use this as a justification for military action. In fact, the real cause of the war was the gradual internal collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which Russia saw as a good opportunity for its expansion into Europe, especially with a good opportunity to gain access to the Mediterranean Sea and occupy the Balkans. Ottoman rule in the Balkans was clearly teetering at this time, while Russia wanted to fight for control of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. Because of China's strong rise in the past few decades, Russia's development in the Far East has been suppressed by the empire, and Russia's only way out is to turn its attention to the Black Sea and the Balkans, and obtain access to the Black Sea.

In January 1853, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia sent a high-ranking delegation headed by Menshikov to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire of Turkey, demanding that all Orthodox inhabitants of the empire be "protected" by Russia, in an effort to turn Turkey into a Russian protectorate, and then Russia could monopolize the two Black Sea straits of the Bosphorus and open up access to the Mediterranean Sea to realize its expansionist ambitions.

Naturally, this attempt by Russia was intolerable to Britain and France. In fact, Lin Hong was also waiting for this moment to take back North Asia and drive Russia out of Asia. With the support of Britain and France, the Ottoman sultan rejected the Russian ultimatum. Subsequently, Menshikov announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Turkey. On the same day that Menshikov announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Turkey, the ambassadors of Britain, France, and China secretly signed the "Agreement between Britain, France, and China on the War against Russia" in Istanbul. Britain, France, and China will provide the necessary material and weapons assistance after Russia declares war on the Ottomans, and will declare war on Russia if necessary.

In July 1853, Russian troops entered the Danube and occupied the Turkish protectorate of Moldova and Wallachia.

On October 16, 1853, the Ottomans, whose Empire formally declared war on the Russian Empire.

Just like Lin Hong thought, after the outbreak of the war, Britain and France did not move, and let the Ottoman army take the lead as cannon fodder.

In addition to a few important ministers of the cabinet, the court, the procuratorate, and the military also came to attend the imperial meeting today, and Qin Han, who had just been promoted to commander-in-chief of the army, and Zeng Guofan, the minister of foreign affairs, sat on their seats and discussed quietly.

"Brother Qin, the scale of this imperial meeting is large enough, even the * officials of the Supreme Court are here, and the procuratorate is also here."

"Brother Zeng, obvious! His Majesty wants to get a big deal out of the Russian-Turkish war this time. ”

"Vulgar! Don't think of your majesty like a bandit. The prime minister who walked by heard Qin Han say this, and immediately reprimanded softly.

"Yes, yes, what the prime minister said is that the little brother is rude, hehe!" Qin Han smiled awkwardly at Chen Kejie, and then shrugged his shoulders at Zeng Guofan, who also smiled back.

"His Majesty the Emperor of the Chinese Empire has arrived!" The attendant military attache at the door shouted loudly.

As Lin Hong walked into the conference room, everyone in the room stood up and bowed to Lin Hong, and said in unison: "Your Majesty, Holy Ann! ”

"Sit down!" Lin Hong is actually accustomed to such respect, "Today's imperial meeting is to solicit everyone's opinions on declaring war on Russia. ”

"The General Staff and the Military Department have drawn up a perfect plan, and now everyone will take a look at the plan before speaking."

Lin Hong took a sip of the teacup one by one, waiting for the speeches of these ministers

As the Minister of National Defense, who was roughly aware of the plan, Zhao You, first stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the plans of the General Staff and the Military Department are generally correct, and this is a good time for us to retake North Asia. ”

"I'm for it!" Qin Han wasted no time in saying.

"I basically agree with this plan, and now the country is developing rapidly and is fully capable of winning this war financially and economically. After all, expanding such a large territory at once will cause tension in Europe, especially Britain, once we inflict huge losses on Russia, it will not be conducive to China's strategic balance in Europe and Britain's continental balance of power strategy, and we must discuss this with Britain in advance. In addition, we will have to support Russia appropriately after the war, so we will have to make more efforts in diplomacy. Chen Kejie and the ministers of the cabinet stood up and said.

"Well, tomorrow we will bother the Prime Minister to introduce a bill to Parliament and prepare diplomatically."

"Your Majesty, your intentions are our life's pursuit." ――

On November 22, 1853, Chen Kejie, the prime minister of the Chinese Empire, formally presented to the National Assembly a grand plan for the recovery of North Asian territories. Then the Congress passed the bill after two rounds of voting, and those members of the Congress did not understand why they still wanted to lay down that barren land, even though it was a large piece of land, but now the empire is not short of land! In the end, Lin Hong personally went to the parliament to explain the history and value of Siberia to the lawmakers, so that the bill was passed. On the 23rd, with the seal of the emperor, the Chinese Empire officially issued an ultimatum to Russia, demanding that Russia return more than 10 million square kilometers of yellow territory in Siberia, west of the Ural Mountains, which Russia had occupied since the 16th century, and end its military invasion of the Ottoman Empire.

This ultimatum not only frightened Russia but also Britain and France, China is going to swallow the whole of Siberia! What a big appetite, this is the first reaction of Britain and France. But the Ottomans responded positively and strongly supported China's entry into the war. Russia wanted to drag on for a while, and Tsar Anicolas I was now in a state of anxiety with the Ottomans in the Balkans on the one hand, and the situation in which the entire Far East could be thrown on the other, did not know what to do for a while. Although Britain and France had not yet entered the war, it was clear that they would never allow Russia to cross the Black Sea. While Nicholas I was entangled, the three northern military regions of the Chinese Empire had completed their assembly, and now they were waiting for the two countries to declare war