The day after the Kulun Incident, Wu Haoxuan left with the guards. With the arrest of the Russian consul in Kulen Liu Ba by the Northern Army, and the forced entry into the Russian Consulate in Kulen and the arrest of those Mongol separatists, this means that the countdown to the war between the two countries has begun.

Perhaps, in a week at most, war will break out. At this time, Wu Haoxuan had to sit in the base camp of Shengjing City. With the sharp increase in the strength of the Northern Army, when it was about to break through to one million people, there was no need for Wu Haoxuan to come to the front line to command it in person. After the war with the Japanese, the generals of the Northern Army at all levels were also nurtured by the war. Although there may be some gaps from the world's first-class generals, there should be no problem in dealing with the Russians.

The Russian Army's formidable strength is almost always based on its terrifying strength. Apart from this, the Russian Army is nothing at all. Poorly equipped, rigidly commanded, and usually beaten all over the ground in the middle of the war.

By the time Wu Haoxuan had returned from Kulen, Yang Du, secretary general of the Political Affairs Committee of the Northern Government, had summoned the Russian consul in Shengjing, Luo Baifu, and sent him the most serious protest.

"Your Excellency, your country actually poisoned the living Buddha Jebtsundamba VIII, the beloved religious leader of the world, in Kulen, this is a provocation to the northern government and even the whole of China! The Russian government must explain this and apologize and compensate us. Otherwise, the government of the north will not rest on its laurels. Although Yang Du already knew that all this was planned by Wu Haoxuan. However, for the sake of the country, he can only put everything on Lao Maozi's head.

However, in the face of Yang Du's accusations, Luo Baifu, the Russian consul in Shengjing, was not timid at all. He also had an angry look on his face. When the Northern Army arrested the Russian consul in Kulen, Liu Ba, and sent troops to attack the consulate, the consulate staff had already used wireless telegraph to contact the legation in Yanjing. The Russian Minister to China, Lang Sovici, was furious and demanded that the consul in Shengjing, Luo Baifu, negotiate with the Northern Army, and demand that the Northern Army release the arrested Consul Liu Ba and other staff, and apologize to Russia. Make reparations and so on.

"Your Excellency, I have received information that the Northern Army has flagrantly arrested Consul Liu Ba and sent troops to attack the Cullen Consulate. Don't you know that arresting a country's diplomats and attacking its consulate is an act of war? The northern government must apologize to Russia for this and release Consul Lauba and other staff. At the same time, make compensation. Otherwise, Russia will see it as a provocation by the Northern Army against Russia, to which we will respond strongly! Guoluo Baifu's face was angry.

"Your Excellency Consul, don't forget, Liu Ba instructed the Russian spy Karina to poison the Eighth Living Buddha of Jebtsundamba!" Yang Du did not back down at all. He didn't expect that when the evidence was conclusive, these old hairy people would still be so arrogant. Maybe. These old hairy people have never looked down on the Chinese, and they have never thought of bowing to the Chinese, right? They're used to it. The strong force of the Chinese to bow to them.

"Slander, this is absolutely slander! His Excellency Liu Ba is an upright person, and he would never do such a thing. Jebtsundamba VIII Living Buddha is our friend of Russia, how could we poison him? On the contrary, the relationship between the Living Buddha and the government in the north is very tense, and we have reason to believe it. This is what you did, and then you want to blame the great Russian Empire. Guoluo Baifu immediately retorted.

"Humph! We have Karina's testimony in our hands and can even confront her. Karina, on the other hand, is a spy you sent to the Living Buddha. Yang Du snorted coldly. If these Russians want to deny it, it is impossible. Now it can be said that the human and material evidence is conclusive. Merely. He still underestimated the meanness and shamelessness of these Russians.

"Although Karina is Russian, she has nothing to do with the Russian government, and she is not our spy. Guoluo Baifu said directly.

Yang Du and Guoluo Baifu's meeting did not make any progress, and the two sides just said a lot of nonsense.

The Russian envoy to China in Yanjing City, Lang Sovici, even protested to the Beiyang government, demanding that the Beiyang government give Russia an explanation on this matter. The Beiyang government also wanted to cry without tears, and they could be said to have been shot while lying down.

In addition, at a meeting of the legations, Ronsovic asked the countries to put pressure on the northern government over the flagrant arrest of Russian diplomats by the Northern Army and the attack on the Russian consulate. However, due to the strong opposition of Germany and the United States, it was not possible to reach an agreement.

However, the Kulen incident sharply intensified the contradictions between the northern government and Russia. If not, a war is about to break out. As a result, peace in the Far East seems to be about to disappear. However, many countries think that the northern government is too arrogant, although they defeated the Japanese the year before last, but now they are provoking the Russians, what is the difference between this and looking for death?

If the government of the North is nothing more than a toddler, then Russia is a giant. Even though in the Russo-Japanese War a few years ago, this giant planted a heel and broke his head. However, giants are still giants, and can easily crush a baby to death. Although Russia was the weakest of the great powers except Japan, it was definitely not something that the northern government could afford to provoke.

It can be said that in the Russo-Japanese War a few years ago, the Japanese were able to win solely because of the support of Britain and the United States. Not to mention anything else, Russia's steel production is dozens of times that of Japan. Without the support of Britain and the United States, Japan would not have been able to fight at all.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Russia spent two billion rubles on its military. And Russia's fiscal revenue in that year was two billion rubles. Japan spent 1.8 billion yen on military spending, and Japan's fiscal revenue that year was only 500 million yen. If it weren't for the $410 million loan from Britain and the United States, the Japanese would not have survived.

The gap between Russia and the northern government is even greater. Last year, Russia's fiscal revenue was as high as 2.34 billion rubles, equivalent to more than 200 million pounds and more than 2 billion oceans. And the northern government, because of the expenditure on industry, transportation and military spending, is still heavily indebted, and if it were not for the loans provided by the United States and Germany, and Wu Haoxuan paid out of his own pocket to make up for it, I am afraid that it would have gone bankrupt long ago.

In terms of steel production, Russia's pig iron production reached 2.82 million tons last year, and steel production reached 2.67 million tons. Compared to the northern government, before several heavy industrial bases were built, steel production was only a few tens of thousands of tons. In this regard, the gap between the two sides is almost a hundred times.

In terms of population, Russia has a population of 140 million. And the population of the northern government is now only 30 million, which is only one-fifth of the Russians.

In terms of the number of armies, Russia has a standing army of 1.4 million, and if mobilized, it can provide the number of troops to millions. Even after the Northern Army completed the expansion of the new 15 infantry divisions, it would only have more than 900,000 men. Even further mobilization could be expanded to a maximum of two million people. Compared with the Russian Army, the disadvantage is still very large.

And in terms of the navy, the navy of the Northern Army is almost equal to a blank one. After the end of the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Navy began to gradually recover. It's just that there is still no strength to carry out an expedition. This aspect is negligible.

But even so, in any respect, the gap between the government of the North and Russia is very large. If the northern government goes to war with Russia, it is more like hitting a stone with an egg.

Of course, this is only on the surface. Russia, although it is a giant, is actually a giant with feet of clay. In the Russo-Japanese War, Russia not only spent as much as 2 billion yuan on military spending, but also suffered casualties and captured soldiers, totaling 270,000 people. Even after a few years, these armies have not yet been replenished.

In addition, because the Trans-Siberian Railway has not been opened for a long time, the troops transported from Europe can only be transported to Irkutsk at most. Coupled with the limited capacity of the Trans-Siberian Railway, Russia was unable to send large numbers of troops to the Far East and Siberia to fight. And these are the advantages of the Northern Army.

Although Russia's financial revenue is large, it almost all comes from Russian merchants and civilians. In order to make up for the fiscal deficit, the Russian government has repeatedly raised tax rates, making the common people miserable. In addition, during the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese spy genius Genjiro Akashi funded and instigated the opposition of the tsarist government to launch a revolution in Russia, turning the Russian hinterland upside down. This led to the outbreak of the Revolution of 1905, which left Russia exhausted.

During the 1905 Revolution, Russia suffered a heavy blow, and the number of casualties in the repression alone is probably in the number of 100,000. In addition, it also detonated ethnic conflicts in Russia, and the revolution of the Poles hit Russia hard. In addition, a large number of important military and political officials in Russia were assassinated during the revolution, which made Russia's situation even worse.

Although, after a huge cost, Russia finally suppressed the revolution last year. But this also made Russia very demoralized because of this. Under such circumstances, if a war breaks out between the Northern Army and Russia in the Far East and Eastern Siberia, the Northern Army will have a great chance of victory. Although the gap in strength between the two sides is huge, after combining various factors, these gaps have been gradually filled. Even, the Northern Army still has some advantages faintly. (To be continued......)

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