Chapter 389 Five Five Lines

In the spring of the thirteenth year of Shenwu, after the Chinese Imperial Government issued an order for all state capitals in the country to carry out the construction of a war-ready road network, the state capitals immediately began to take action and organized exploration teams to measure and calculate the construction of the road network in their own provinces.

Due to the sparse population of the three provinces and two states in the extreme north of the empire, except for Liaoning Province (formerly the three northeastern provinces), the population was relatively large, reaching three million. Others, such as Jilin Province (formerly Amur and Primorsky Oblasts of Russia, east of the Trans-Khing'an Mountains) and Heilongjiang Province (formerly Khabarovsk Krai of Russia, including the area north of the Trans-Khing'an Mountains), have a combined population of less than 100,000. The combined population of Beihai Prefecture (formerly Magadan Oblast, Russia, including the area east of the Verkhnyyansk Mountains) and Arctic Continent (formerly Kamchatka Oblast, Russia, including the east of the Cherki Mountains to the Bering Strait) is less than 2,000 people, with an average area of 2,000 square kilometers per person, and half of them are Beishan Jurchens.

Due to the small population of Heilongjiang Province, Beihai Prefecture and Arctic Continent and the vast territory, considering the economic benefits, the construction of the Imperial Highway only reached the Nuergan area of Jilin Province, and was no longer built to the north.

Most of the inhabitants of the three capitals of Heilongjiang, Beihai and Arctic are expeditions, most of them arrive by boat, and the settlements are concentrated near the coastline, so they don't care whether to build roads or not.

However, an unexpected event made the Imperial Government nervous.

On 7 March, an expedition of about 30 people from Heilongjiang Province, led by captain Pan Dong, crossed the Wai Xing'an Mountains and entered the area west of the Wai Xing'an Mountains.

In addition to hunting rare animals, this expedition also came to a legendary story of the Jurchen tribe in Beishan.

According to legend, before the Beishan Jurchens succumbed to Nurhachi, their leader hid all the treasures that the tribe had accumulated. It is said to be buried under a mountain next to a river that flows to the North Pole.

The expedition team unexpectedly obtained a piece of information, that is, after crossing the Outer Khing'an Mountains, there is a river to the North Pole, and there is a mountain next to the river, called Aldan Mountain, which is the name of the first patriarch of the Jurchens in Beishan.

As a result, the expedition team thought that the treasure must be hidden somewhere between the Aldan Mountains and the Aldan River. Later, when they were hunting in the Outer Khing'an Mountains, they accidentally found a map with a river flowing northward, and a castle-like sign next to the river. Pan Dong thought that it was a treasure map, and the special text on it should be the ancient script of the Beishan Jurchen Division.

Sure enough, the Pandong expedition found a large river flowing north. Pan Dong thought that this was the Aldan River, so he led his team to search for treasure all the way according to the map markings.

However, what he never expected was that his treasure map was actually left behind by a Russian scout after being attacked by a wild beast. The Russian on it was regarded by him as Jurchen script, and he ended up traveling all the way north to Yakutsk, a secret Russian castle in the Far East.

Yakutsk is one of the easternmost strongholds of the Russian Empire's eastward expansion, very close to the Arctic Ocean, built in the second year of Shenwu (1632), the distance from Moscow to Yakutsk Citadel is 8468 kilometers. The Yakutsk Citadel has a population of more than 1,500 people, and most of the inhabitants are Yakuts.

The city of Yakutsk was completed in the 12th year of Shenwu, with a height of 43 meters and a circumference of 4,000 meters, with 500 Russian soldiers stationed and 12 artillery pieces of the Kamensky fortress. With an average temperature of minus 50 degrees in January and 12 degrees in July, the city of Yakutsk is called "Ice City" within the Russian military because it was built on permafrost.

When the city of Yakutsk began, the Chinese Empire had just concluded an alliance treaty with the Russian Empire. After the two sides signed the treaty, they announced the cessation of military friction, and the two sides sent ambassadors to each other's capitals as liaison and coordination officers.

However, the Tsarist military was not willing to give up the exploration of the Far East's access to the sea. Although it was blocked by the Outer Khingan Mountains to the east, the Chinese Empire claimed that all the eastern outlets to the sea were theirs, but the Tsarist Russian army did not give up, but quietly completed the city of Yakutsk, used the city as a base, and continued to explore the North Pole, hoping to bypass the eyes of the Chinese Empire, find the outlet to the sea in the east, and secretly build an outlet fortress, creating a fait accompli.

In fact, the border guards of the Chinese Empire had already discovered that the Russian army had built the city of Yakutsk, but they were forced by the international situation at that time and chose not to move.

The Imperial Government believed that there was no need to influence Sino-Russian relations for the sake of a barren castle, and above all to facilitate a long war between the Tsarist Empire and the Ottoman Turkish Empire, which was in the interests of the Imperial Government.

In fact, the Chinese Imperial Government was right to remain silent, and the outcome of the Russo-Turkish War was exactly what the Chinese Empire had hoped for, and the pace of Tsarist Russia's eastward expansion was also declared a failure because the defenders of Yakutsk failed to find an outlet to the sea in the Arctic.

This was an issue that both governments avoided talking about, but the sudden Pandong expedition unexpectedly upset this balance.

On March 10, the Pandong expedition traveled north along the Aldan River and unexpectedly discovered the city of Yakutsk.

From a distance, the entire Yakutsk Castle is crystal white, located under the snow-capped mountains, like a sleeping Snow White, spectacular and beautiful.

Pan Dong and his entourage corrected the map and thought that this was the legendary holy place of the Beishan Jurchen, and that the treasure must be hidden there.

The group then quickened to approach the city of Yakutsk.

However, when Pan Dong and his party arrived a few miles outside the city, Pan Dong suddenly realized that something was wrong, because he saw a large number of black Russian troops suddenly appear in the white castle.

"Hurry up, it's the Russian devils"

Pan Dong was well-informed, recognized the danger at a glance, and hurriedly led his subordinates to turn around and leave.

However, inside the city of Yakutsk, the Russian clerical officer Vasily Boyarkov believed that they had been exposed to the people of the Chinese Empire and demanded that troops be sent immediately to eliminate the Chinese expedition and prevent the Chinese government from knowing the secrets of the city of Yakutsk.

His superiors were the Yakutsk military and political governor Golovin, who was well aware of the situation in the city of Yakutsk, which was located in a narrow strip of land wedged into the northern part of the Chinese Empire. The Chinese Empire claimed sovereignty over the entire region of Eastern Siberia, including the region, and the castle was flanked by the Empire to the east, south, and west, and to the north by the glacier-covered Arctic Circle. Therefore, once the target is exposed, I am afraid that the Tsarist government will take the initiative to abandon this place.

The city of Yakutsk was not willing to give up after more than ten years of hard work, so he ordered Varisi to lead an armed force of 132 people from Yakutsk to hunt down the Pandong expedition and destroy them before they could get the word out.

Although Pan Dong's expedition was prepared, it was still too far behind in the face of the pursuing army of Tsarist Russia.

Soon, the expedition was overtaken by the army led by Warisi.

Pan Dong knew that the Russian devils would definitely kill people, so he ordered thirty-three of his subordinates to fight back immediately.

The expedition was armed with muskets, steel knives and crossbows, which were naturally inferior to the armies of the Chinese Empire, but they also reached the level of equipment of the local police forces of the Chinese Empire, and they were not much worse than the Russian army.

The two sides fought fiercely in the primeval forest, although the expedition members were proficient in hunting, and their heads-up ability was not weak, but the other side was the regular army of Tsarist Russia, and after half an hour of fierce fighting, the expedition team was suddenly beaten and scattered in all directions.

Annoyed by the fact that several of Varisi's men had been killed or wounded, he pursued the expedition with all his might.

In this way, the expedition members fled aimlessly in the forest, and the Russian army pursued them desperately, and a cat-and-mouse hunt began. It's the same hunting, but the protagonist has changed, and the expedition members at this time are being hunted.

Gradually, the expedition members were constantly hunted by the Russian army, some were hunted by fierce beasts, some fell off the cliff and died, and the team of 33 people died 22 people in less than a day.

The next three days were the last chance for the Russian army to hunt, and the remaining eleven people had to survive in three days, otherwise they could only wait for death.

In the next three days, seven members of the expedition team were hunted and killed, and Pan Dong and the remaining three narrowly escaped by hiding in the bear hole. Of course, the premise is that the bear in the cave is dead, and the Russian soldiers outside don't want to alarm the bear to leave.

After another week, Pan Dong and the others stayed in the bear cave and did not dare to go out. It wasn't until half a month later, when the bear was eaten, that they left carefully.

On the way home, Pan Dong and the others met the Imperial patrol, and with the help of the patrol, they returned safely to the place of departure.

The expedition suffered such a catastrophe, Pan Dong was very unwilling, several of the team members were the children of the official eunuchs in the capital, Pan Dong originally took them to have fun, but now he has lost people, he can't explain to their parents, so he decided to do the above.

On 7 April, Pan Dong arrived in Beijing and went to the Shuntianfu District Court in Beijing to file a complaint against the atrocities committed by the Tsarist Russian troops.

After hearing this, the Suncheon Court did not dare to deal with it privately and transferred Pan Dong's case to the Supreme Court of the Empire.

At the same time, Pan Dong's case was known to the major newspapers in Beijing, and in order to hype up the headline effect, the major newspapers sent elites to track and report on the case of Pan Dong's expedition, and the case suddenly caused a sensation in Beijing, and the imperial government attached great importance to the case.

On the 9th, Emperor Shenwu ordered the Imperial Court to send a note to the Russian ambassador to China, asking in person about the killing of members of the Pandong expedition and mentioning the problems related to the secret construction of the Yakutsk fortress by Tsarist Russia in the territory of the Chinese Empire.

Russian Consul General to China and Ambassador to China Domov was stunned at that time, and diplomatically, he could not admit that Russia had secretly built the city of Yakutsk, so he denied it to his face, expressed condolences over the misfortune of the Pandong expedition, and said that he would immediately contact the headquarters of the Tsarist Omsk Garrison Army to inquire about the matter.

In the imperial study, Deng Haonan had already learned about the situation from the Ministry of Defense and the Military Intelligence Bureau. It is true that the members of the Pandong expedition were attacked by the defenders of the city of Yakutsk, Tsarist Russia.

Originally, Deng Haonan could still turn a blind eye, but now that the situation is getting bigger, as the emperor of the empire, he can no longer choose to ignore it at this time.

"Emperor" Qian Qianyi said: "The murder of the Pan Dong expedition is now known to everyone in the empire, and the imperial government must respond strongly to quell the anger of the people."

Deng Haonan nodded, smiling bitterly and happily in his heart. I am glad that the people of the empire now have a deep sense of majesty and honor in the imperial government, and regard the face of the empire as their personal face, which is a kind of expression of national cohesion and national cohesion, and they are very gratified. However, what made him smile bitterly was that once such a thing happened, if the imperial government did not handle it well, it would be a double-edged sword, and the people would be dissatisfied with the government's ability to do things.

Thinking of this, Deng Haonan smiled and said: "This matter will be handled by Qian Aiqing with full authority Qian Qianyi froze, and immediately smiled bitterly, the secret emperor is too cunning. threw the hot potato to him, and if this matter was done, the emperor was wise and martial, and if he couldn't do it, he, the first and auxiliary minister of the cabinet, would be the scapegoat.

The emperor has matured a lot

Qian Qianyi was more happy in his heart, maybe he was too grateful to the emperor, or maybe it was out of the responsibility that a courtier should bear, in short, he should bear it together.

"The old minister obeys the order"

Deng Haonan said again: "That's good, the three divisions of the Criminal Department, Dali Temple, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate will be tried, and Qian Aiqing is only responsible for the negotiation of Tsarist Russia, and everything is subject to the highest interests of the empire."

Qian Qianyi smiled bitterly in his heart, he knew that the emperor seemed to let the three divisions try the case on the surface and relieve him of pressure. In fact, the most important thing is in the last sentence of 'the highest interests of the empire'.

At this time, the Reich Government was in an ally relationship with the Russian Empire, and the Reich Government was still counting on the continuation of the Russo-Turkish war and the consumption of their national strength. Therefore, under the highest interests of the empire, it is necessary to save face without destroying the alliance between the two countries.

"The old minister obeys the order"

Qian Qianyi was very happy, for him, the more pressure the emperor put on him, the more the emperor valued him.

After Qian Qianyi retreated, Deng Haonan announced Lin Feng to enter the palace.

"Since Tsarist Russia has not recognized the existence of the Yakutsk fortress, then we will let them be dumb and eat Coptis chinensis, and you will immediately deploy, seize the Yakutsk fortress, and give an explanation to the people of the empire."

"Wechen obeys the order"

Lin Feng replied: "Your Majesty, the Yakutsk Fortress has been under the supervision of the imperial ** team, but it has not taken action. Now that the Russians are the first to provoke, the military department must give them a look."

Deng Haonan nodded and said: "The pace of the Russian Empire's eastward expansion has been blocked, and I am worried that in the far north, where it is vast but uninhabited, I am afraid that there are still Tsarist Russians infiltrating there." It is precisely to take advantage of this opportunity to order the border guards of the major military regions in the north to investigate in depth in the extreme north, and it is best to set up some military monitoring posts to prevent similar things from happening again."

Lin Feng took the order, and he knew that the emperor was troubled by this public opinion incident.

"Your Majesty, it is better for the government to control these newspapers and other media outlets to prevent them from inciting trouble everywhere."

Deng Haonan waved his hand and said: "It is more important to prevent the people than to prevent Sichuan, since I promise freedom of speech to the people, I hope to create a social form like the Spring and Autumn Period, where a hundred schools of thought contended and a hundred flowers bloomed." Only by relying on the people to supervise the government can the government continue to improve and improve, and the country can become strong. ”

The emperor's will could not be changed, and Lin Feng did not say anything more, and went to prepare after retreating.

On 9 April, the General Police Headquarters of the Imperial Criminal Department, the Supreme Court of Dali Temple, and the Imperial Prosecutor's Court accepted the case of the murder of the Pan Dong expedition.

Due to the widespread public interest in the case, the Imperial Government took a tough stance when it came to trial. Therefore, the Russian embassy in China became the defendant, which made Domov very faceless.

Domov knew that he had not been wronged, and soon received information from the headquarters of the Russian Omsk garrison army, confirming the authenticity of the Pandong expedition.

Of course, Domov did not dare to admit that he was killed. He said that the person who murdered the members of Pan Dong's expedition was not caused by the Russian imperial **, but by the private armed forces of the Russian separatists Yakuts, and said that the Russian imperial ** side had sent people to intervene in the investigation of the case, and that Pan Dong and others, as well as the Chinese empire, should be given an explanation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Imperial Chinese Empire and the Russian Embassy in China are constantly in the Taiji, and both sides know what is going on, but they just can't admit it.

The Russian Imperial Government was very nervous, for fear that it would offend the Chinese Empire, not only would it lose the aid and loans of its allies, but it would also be more likely to cause tension and friction.

Therefore, the Russian military urgently summoned the defenders of the Yakutsk fortress to retreat and burned the city of Yakutsk.

However, the Chinese Emperor is much faster than them.

The military headquarters mobilized the Thunderbolt Commando of the Imperial Royal Army, and the 14th Infantry Division of the Royal Army rushed to the Yakutsk fortress.

After receiving the order from the military headquarters, Golovin hurriedly dismantled the fortress artillery, transferred materials and personnel, and busily caused the defense to loosen, creating an excellent opportunity for the Thunderbolt assault team to successfully raid the Yakutsk fortress.

As the strategic strike force of the empire, the thunderbolt commando has been trained over the years to make this commando team powerful, and it is an exaggeration to say that one enemy is a hundred, but dozens of them are still a piece of cake.

The Russian army was busy retreating, but it was successfully attacked by the Thunderbolt commandos, and the army of 500 people was killed alive by 48 special combat soldiers, which became a secret shame in the history of Tsarist Russia.

Most of the more than 1,000 Yakuts in the city were killed by the special operators in the city, and a small number were killed outside the city by the officers and soldiers of the 14th Division who surrounded them, and the entire Yakutsk fortress changed hands within four hours.

The Chinese Empire ostensibly told the people that it was the Russian separatists who had done it, the Yakuts, and eliminated all the enemies of the city of Yakutsk, calming the anger of the people of the Empire.

Secretly, the representatives of the Chinese Empire headed by Qian Qianyi directly submitted a solemn protest to the Russian Imperial Government, demanding an explanation from the Russian Empire.

The Russian emperor was at a loss, but the tsar tried his best to maintain relations with the Chinese Empire, and demanded a good talk with the Chinese Empire, and if necessary, he could give up some interests. And Qian Qianyi was appointed by the emperor to not only save face, but also not to destroy the current good strategic pattern, so he agreed to talk.

In this way, after more than a month of spitting and grinding, China and Russia have determined the demarcation of the border.

The Russian Empire made a concession and recognized Moscow as the base point, and the 55th parallel of Tokyo in the north to the Arctic Ocean as the dividing line, and the two countries used this as the national border, with the area to the east being the sacred territory of the Chinese Empire and the territory of the Russian Empire to the west.

As a result, the Russian Empire had to spit out nearly 300,000 square kilometers of the actual zone of control to the Chinese Empire, and at the same time, Moscow was also divided into two and became a demilitarized zone.

On 30 May, the Treaty of Tomoscov between the Chinese Empire and the Russian Empire came into force, and the border issue was settled between the two countries, and tense relations were immediately restored.

As compensation, the European Bank of the Chinese Empire loaned 30 million silver dollars to the Russian Empire at low interest rates to help the Russian Empire purchase weapons, ammunition, food and medicines from the Chinese Empire.

When the news reached home, the sense of national pride and pride of the people of the empire was once again raised to a higher level. Since then, the activities of the imperial citizens overseas have been strongly guaranteed by the imperial government, causing governments around the world to worry about the casualties of Chinese in their own countries, for fear of provoking various retaliatory measures of the Chinese empire, so the governments of various countries have attached great importance to the security of the Chinese in their own countries, which has greatly improved the security factor of Chinese overseas activities.

However, most of the Chinese operating overseas were colonialists, some were expeditions, some were merchants and students, and some were spies for the Chinese Empire.

Fortunately, governments only need to treat the Chinese as if they were their own citizens. But in the face of the spies of the Chinese Empire, governments around the world had a lot of headaches.

These spies of the Chinese Empire entered their countries in various capacities to engage in intelligence-gathering activities, and the spy organs of various countries did their duty to catch them, and it was a dereliction of duty not to arrest them. However, after being arrested, it always caused diplomatic disputes, and the spies of the Chinese Empire were very hard-boned, and they did not admit to being killed, causing the governments of various countries to be extremely passive in diplomacy, and they had to release people in the end and send apologies.

Most of the spies of the Chinese Empire were engaged in intelligence gathering and rarely engaged in sabotage. Therefore, in most cases, even if the spy organizations of various countries confirmed that they were spies of the Chinese Empire, in the end they rarely took arrest actions, and only politely "persuaded them to leave the country".

Of course, this is the majority of cases. There were also times when spies of the Chinese Empire were caught red-handed, and at this time, the Chinese Empire was somewhat passive diplomatically. If it is a small country and a weak country, the Chinese Empire will take a tough posture to demand it, resulting in the formation of "consular jurisdiction" against the small and weak countries, and trampling on the sovereignty of their country. If it is a big and powerful country, the Chinese Empire does not recognize it on the surface, but in private it has to exchange them back by means of spy exchange or interest exchange.

In short, the pace of foreign expansion of the Chinese Empire as a whole was accelerating, and the Chinese began to spread all over the world, showing off and displaying the 'muscle blocks' of the Chinese Empire everywhere, creating a posture of Chinese racial supremacy. X