In the Sayan Ridge Pass, fierce fighting has just ended.

Dense forests, swamps, grasses and rivers and streams were littered with blood-stained corpses, both Russian and Chinese infantry.

Song Qing walked silently with a grim face, but he didn't expect that the Russians, who had been defeated, would be able to organize a fierce resistance and cause a lot of trouble to the emperor's team.

On the side of the dense forest, several soldiers hurried over with a corpse, and at the forefront was a regimental commander.

Seeing Song Qing, they hurriedly stood up and saluted, and the regiment leader said, "Report to the military gate!" Killed a Russian general. ”

Song Qing glanced at the bloodied corpse, reached out and took out a piece of paper similar to an identity tag from his pocket under the epaulettes, and the translator on his side hurriedly took it.

The three major theaters are equipped with a varying number of Russian interpreters, and the lowest level can be assigned to the battalion level as appropriate, and simple words such as "disarm and surrender and not kill" in Russian are also being popularized throughout the army.

"Is it the commander of the 17th Russian Division, Mikhail? Dmitrievich? Skobelev. ”

Song Qing didn't hear the series of strange pronunciations behind him clearly, just waved his hand and continued to walk forward.

…… At the same time in Yanjing City, Ye Zhaozheng and Mikhail? Aleksandrovich? Bakunin meeting.

Mikhail? Aleksandrovich? Bakunin, a Russian, one of the most influential figures of the First International, a well-known apolitical axeist.

He participated in demonstrations in many countries, violent overthrow of political axes and other revolutionary activities, and was also imprisoned in many countries, and was extradited back to Russia more than ten years ago and exiled to Siberia, but because Ye Zhao's old opponent Muravyov, the governor of Siberia, was his uncle, after being exiled for several years, ten years ago, he secretly got a pass, fled to Shanghai, and returned to Europe from Shanghai.

His ideas had a large number of followers in Europe, and he was inextricably linked to Russian populist groups such as Narodnaya Narodnaya Volta, the Freedom and Land Movement, and so on.

Of course, he was extremely disdainful of party organizations, and there was a great disagreement with the ideas of most Russian secret societies, because he advocated the immediate destruction and destruction of all states, and only the abolition of the state could lead to the abolition of capital, exploitation, and servitude. He argues that in order to destroy the state, there must be constant insurrection, and that all parties have value only when the state is violently destroyed.

Ye Zhao was to meet Bakunin after having lunch with the Sava family, and now the Sava family, including his grandfather, have moved to live in the Tianjin Concession, and some time ago he came to Yanjing, and Ye Zhao has frequent meetings with Sava's grandfather and father.

Ye Zhao met Bakunin at the Equality Life Building.

The Equal Life Building, the tallest building in the world today, is an eight-storey, 45-meter-tall building with a new steel frame structure, which is slightly taller than the housing insurance building under construction in New York City, USA at the same time.

This is a high-rise building with a strong Chinese style, in fact, it is not waiting for Ye Zhao's orders, today's architects, not only the building with the least materials, the least cost, the most stable mode to erect the building is completed, beauty, feng shui and other aspects must be perfect.

In Ye Zhao's view, the appearance of this eight-story pavilion is somewhat similar to the Yellow Crane Tower rebuilt in later generations, but the corners of the eaves are slightly simplified, and the corners of the upper and lower sixteen cornices are not as high as the Yellow Crane Tower, but the style of the top of the mountain is slightly lowered, less hideous, and the Chinese style of leisure life is more intense.

The whole building is magnificent, which can be called a model of the combination of Chinese style and high-rise buildings.

Because the empire strictly limited the height of buildings in the old city of Jingshi, this building is located in the satellite city that has sprung up in the east and west of Tongzhou.

Needless to say, the owner of the building is Ye Zhao, but a trading house under the Taihe Group operates it on his behalf.

The Equality Life Building, in Ye Zhao's opinion, has a strange name, but nowadays, it is quite a new ideological feature, and it is also sought after by white-collar workers in Beijing, as a living building, more than two-thirds of the units have been leased out.

The satellite town has a direct tram connection to the old town, and there is no traffic jam today, so there are many middle-class residents in the new town and the old town.

For Ye Zhao, naturally he didn't think about making money through this building, the meager rent is insignificant compared to the high cost, and after removing the maintenance costs, he doesn't know which year the capital will be recovered. If you want to make money, you should build a hotel, but Huang Wenxiu, who is responsible for the overall supervision of the design and construction, naturally does not think that the emperor still needs to remind himself, let alone think that the emperor still treats silver as silver.

Bakuning, whom Ye Zhao met in room 801 on the top floor, did not rent out the entire eighth floor.

Although Bakunin regretted that he could not enter the mysterious Chinese Imperial Palace, this towering oriental building still opened his eyes, the elevator cage, the electric light and telephone, this edifice, is almost the epitome of this steaming empire.

Receiving himself in a civilian building, he couldn't help but feel refreshed to the Chinese emperor in the hazy mystery.

When Ye Zhao sat on the sofa with him and drank coffee, enjoying the beautiful scenery of the sky through the floor-to-ceiling glass window, Bakunin was not too surprised.

The translator of the Great Emperor, the Russian girl wearing white clothes and white pants, with an indescribable surname, turned out to be the concubine of the Great Emperor, which made Bakunin feel a little incredible.

Sitting by the window and looking at the bustling neighborhood, you can't help but feel the pride that the world is under your feet.

Shawa's face is still so immature and beautiful, with an angel face and a devilish figure, but she doesn't look like a young woman who has been married for more than ten years, and every time she is in front of Ye Zhao, she is still easy to get confused, but translating her native language is naturally easy.

Ye Zhao sipped his tea and said with a smile: "Mr. Bakunin, I agree with many of your views, for example, you think that if you are not careful, the dictatorship of the proletariat will evolve into a more powerful and harmful class rule system for the nascent proletarians, and I very much agree with this. ”

After listening to the interpretation of Sava, Bakunin looked up in amazement, although in just a few minutes of conversation, he had been greatly surprised by the profound knowledge of the Chinese Emperor, and what was even more surprising was that the Great Emperor of China was extremely familiar with all the currents of thought in the world today, especially the various theories in the struggle for the line of the First International.

Although Bakunin is Russian, for theoreticians who consider themselves to have a noble mission to explore the world architecture of fairness and justice, there is no nationality for people all over the world, only the difference between oppressed and oppressed.

Ye Zhao knew them to some extent, like some revolutionaries who shed their blood for the establishment of New China, these people had firm beliefs, lofty ideals, and really felt that their actions were for the liberation of the toiling masses all over the world, but judging from the values of moral decline in later generations, the thoughts of many martyrs became naïve.

As for Mr. Bakunin, one of the originators of the apolitical axeists, many theories are utopian, but their understanding of social problems is often to the point.

In this era of ideological contention and the emergence of various trends of thought, it seems that everyone can be baptized in this splendid era.

Sitting with Mr. Bakunin, the originator of the apolitical axe, drinking coffee and chatting, Ye Zhao felt even more strange, after all, this old gentleman was fighting with Mr. Marx for the leadership of the First International.

Tasting tea, Ye Zhao smiled and asked, "Mr. Bakunin, do you think my country has a lot of problems?" ”

Bakunin was even more amazed that all the ruling classes in Europe regarded him as a plague, and that the ruler of the most powerful country in the East would ask such a question, and if the Chinese emperor had not been well aware of his theories and those of the First International, he could have thought that the Chinese emperor had mistaken him for a scholar, but the problem was not at all.

Although the Great Emperor was very friendly to him, Bakunin spoke politely, saying: "Man's natural surname is freedom, and the existence of all forms of state is opposed to individual freedom, so it is an organization that violates the human surname, and the state should be abolished, and a federation of free communes from below should be established, and all individuals and groups in the federation are absolutely free and not subject to any power, which is the perfect social form." ”

Ye Zhao smiled, he would not argue with him that absolute freedom is not free or anything like that, although Bakunin's thought has not formed a real system, its theoretical foundation is still very strict, and the meaning of absolute freedom is not the same as the meaning of the so-called "absolute freedom" when later generations criticized him.

"Maybe, maybe in the future, the social form will really be as Mr. said." Ye Zhao stood up, came to the window, and looked at the ground under his feet with his arms crossed, with a calm face.

Bakunin never expected that the Chinese emperor would reply to him like this, and under the surprise again and again, a good feeling gradually rose in his heart, this mysterious emperor of the East was completely different from any ruler he had seen before.

It's as if he can see all the miles at a glance, without any narrow subjective consciousness.

Bakunin also stood silently beside Ye Zhao, and suddenly, a thought arose and said: "Your Majesty, you are the most magnanimous emperor I have ever met, if you want your people to be truly equal and free, then can you help me to carry out experiments in reforming the social structure, and lend me a small piece of land with your supreme power, and a small town can satisfy my small ambitions." ”

Ye Zhao was stunned, and then laughed, this old gentleman, he actually wants to go to China to engage in the experimental field of apolitical axeism, and the clan elders in our village are enough for you to drink a pot.

Bakunin was invited to connect with secret societies such as the Narodnaya Narodnaya Narodnaya Narodnaya (Narodnaya Volya) in Russia. But now, Ye Zhao looked at Bakunin, and a touch of deep thought gradually flashed in his eyes.

…… The annihilation of the elite 17th Division of the Russian army was in the form of a flash news and appeared on the front pages of the major newspapers of the empire together with the "Kizil Great Victory".

This was followed by a report on the defeat of several Russian fortresses by Han Jinchun's army in the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River.

In just a few days after the war, the Emperor's [***] regiment once again won the glory of invincibility for the empire, paying tribute to the compatriots who had been killed by the Russians with the blood of hundreds of thousands of northern bears.

The excitement of the people of the empire can be imagined, and all major cities have launched demonstrations and petitions, and millions of people have taken to the streets, chanting "Long live the emperor!" "Long live the Empire!" There were even populists of new ideas who shouted "Hit to Moscow!" Hang the despicable criminal Alexander! slogan.

The world was also boiling, and the sudden outbreak of the Sino-Russian war, even the military analysts and politicians who were most optimistic about China did not expect that the Chinese would achieve such a brilliant victory in lightning, annihilating more than 100,000 Russian troops at a very small cost, including the 17th Division, one of the ace divisions of the Russians.

The Times, Europe's largest newspaper, published an exaggerated title titled "The Invincible Chinese Giant! The reporter of the Chinese communications station in Shanghai even requested the Imperial Ministry to accompany the army as a war reporter.

The whole of Europe was in an uproar, from the aristocracy to the townspeople and peasants, all talking about this war, which was tens of thousands of miles away.

Even the little match girl on the streets of Paris knows about China, a mysterious and powerful eastern power.

The unexpected effect is that London, Paris and other places brought back by European businessmen such as Chinese-made cameras, bicycles and other goods got rid of the situation that no one cared about, China set up an optical laboratory supported by national strength more than ten years ago, naturally fruitful, European countries, now science and technology are laissez-faire, private optical laboratories also have a few, but the efficiency is good, the scientific research soil is good, compared with the special research of the Imperial Royal Academy of Sciences optical laboratory is naturally a world of difference.

It is clear that the quality of Chinese cameras has surpassed that of London's most reputable products, and the soft, windable "film" of nitrocellulose substrates has opened the eyes of Europeans.

When the chemist Ye Zhao and the imperial German optician Ah Gu invented the barium crown optical glass a few years ago, the imperial camera technology developed rapidly, and with it, there were also movable movie cameras and so on.

Of course, the original intention of the Imperial Optical Laboratory was not to develop and improve the technology of cameras, films, etc., these are just derivative products.

Nowadays, however, in the East and the West, due to the limitations of transportation, unless the quality of industrial products is significantly higher and there is a vast market, the benefits of transportation and sales outweigh the losses, and the profits generated are not as high as the high freight costs.

The small amount of industrial goods carried by European merchants was only incidental to the transportation of tea.

When the major newspapers of the empire reported the "great victory of Kizil," a mighty Russian fleet appeared more than 100 nautical miles north of the Great Aceh Sea on the island of Sumatra.

The Russian fleet, which was resting and replenishing at the seaport of Blair on the island of South Andaman in India, swept across the sea in black pressure.

This fleet gathered the ironclad ships of the Russian Baltic and other fleets, and in addition to the necessary defensive forces, it can be said that they poured out to fight a decisive battle with the Chinese.

Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Fleet Grigory? Ivanovic? Butakov, admiral, was also the founder of the tactics of the Russian steamship armored fleet.

Nine years ago, he published the book "Excerpts from the Tactics of the Steam Fleet", and seven years ago, he published "A New Edition of the Tactics of the Steam Fleet", which established the position of the Russian Navy as a pioneer in the tactics of armored ships in one fell swoop.

The flagship of Admiral Butakov, Peter the Great, has a displacement of more than 7,000 tons and barely passes through the Suez Canal.

Two 305mm twin forward-loading turrets are mounted on the table-shaped central ship's front and rear centerlines. The iron hull waterline armor belt is made of 559mm thick wood, inlaid with 178mm thick forged armor plates on both sides, powered by a coal-fired boiler of a locomotive, with a steam engine power of 5250 horsepower, two-shaft propulsion, and a speed of 13 knots.

Although I heard that the Chinese's 10,000-ton battleship has been launched, it should be one to two years before it is actually completed.

Butakov firmly believes that if the Chinese Navy does not take advantage of the fatal blow now, then in the foreseeable future, the Russian Navy will no longer have the strength to threaten the Chinese in the China Sea.

The "Peter the Great" was supposed to be designed as a 10,000-ton battleship, but because of the current threat from the Chinese, the Russian Admiralty had to speed up the production of ironclad ships, and the 10,000-ton plan was temporarily stranded, and the Peter the Great was hurriedly lined up for production as a capital ship of more than 6,000 tons.

Defeating the Chinese Navy, sinking the hull of the 10,000-ton battleship that had just been launched in Guangzhou, and destroying the Chinese shipyard were the strategic objectives that Butakov and his fleet would carry out.

The fleet that came to the China Sea, in addition to the flagship Peter the Great, the capital ship still had the 4,000-ton sail steam ship "Netron? The "Maier" and "Klemle", both completed two years ago, have a strong French style, with long angles of attack and strong inward camber.

In addition, there are three Antelope-class battleships with a displacement of 3,000 tons, two of which were purchased from France, one built by itself, and early ironclad ships such as the "Pervits" built by the British Thames Iron Works, as well as armed merchant ships and supply ships.

Not counting the supply ships, the entire fleet has more than 20 warships.

The Russian Admiralty has been assessing the strength of the Chinese Navy, and basically believes that it is a technologically advanced force capable of rivaling any British regional squadron, and that the gap with the British Navy is gradually narrowing.

The weakness of the Chinese is also obvious, that is, there is not much experience in naval warfare, then again, in the era of ironclad ships, the navies of various countries have hardly experienced real naval wars, but the Chinese Navy has repeatedly provoked incidents, in addition to the Austrian and Italian navies have clashed.

Butakov thought about it, and couldn't help but sigh softly, the competition with the Chinese was only afraid that it would be more difficult than he imagined.

"The Tanina reports that it is a hundred nautical miles from the Chinese port of Greater Aceh!"

In the command room, there was a sudden tension.

Greater Aceh is the most marginal colonial port of the Chinese sphere of influence, and entering the waters of Greater Aceh also represents the tentacles of the evil dragon that has begun to touch the tentacles of this evil dragon entrenched in the China Sea and the South Sea.

Butakov calmed his breath deeply and suddenly gave the order: "Turn left!" Sail to the Straits of Malacca! ”

The fleet is coming to the east with great fanfare, the Chinese must have been prepared for a long time, and the fleet is anchored in various ports, and even the newspapers may report it, estimating the time, the Chinese can almost know the approximate time when their fleet will enter the Indian Ocean, Greater Aceh, maybe there is already a Chinese fleet assembled waiting for themselves, and the threat of the Chinese fleet with shore artillery support to their own side will be greatly increased.

Butakov suddenly abandoned his plan to attack Greater Aceh and prepared to leave the Chinese behind, rush into the Strait of Malacca, and then attack Guangzhou directly, knocking out the giant ships being built by the Chinese and destroying its shipyard by surprise. As for the Chinese merchant ships encountered along the way, they could only consider themselves unlucky.

It is a pity that the British, despite their convenience at every turn, refused to share information with them, and they knew nothing about the whereabouts of the Chinese fleet.

The Strait of Malacca, which is about 600 kilometers long, is only two kilometers wide at its narrowest point near Xinjiapo.

And what Butakov did not expect was that in the waters of Xinjiapo, under the noses of the British, at the throat of Malacca, his fleet was intercepted by the Chinese fleet.

Compared with the audacity of the Chinese, it was not so surprising to Butakov how they could get the news in advance and even know clearly the every move of their fleet, and clearly know which day their fleet would leave Blair Harbor.

As soon as the lightly armed merchant ships at the forefront reported the discovery of the Chinese fleet, the Russian fleet immediately became busy, forming formations, waiting for the Chinese to enter their range.

At this time, in Xinjiapo, a huge sail battleship flying the British flag was quietly moored in the harbor.

"Achilles", a 10,000-ton battleship with a displacement of 9,820 tons, is equipped with 4 8-inch front-loading rifled guns and 22 7-inch front-loading rifled guns, and the armor belt runs through the entire length of the hull.

The 10,000-ton heavy ships of the British were originally only in service in the Channel Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet, the two core areas of the British Empire, but in recent years, with the rise of China, the "Achilles" has been incorporated into the Indian fleet.

The chief of staff hurriedly entered the lounge and found the captain who was also the commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet, James? Sir Hub.

James? Nicknamed "Aggressive Jimmy", he had a close encounter with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and he had a quirk that even when he entered the harbor, he preferred to stay on his ship rather than go ashore to party.

The chief of staff angrily recounted the provocation of the Chinese and said loudly: "Your Excellency, the Chinese are openly contemptuous of the interests of the British Empire, just a dozen nautical miles away, and without warning us in advance, they have begun to attack the Russian fleet!" ”

"Aggressive Jimmy" was extremely calm, slowly put down his glass, and said, "Summons!" Sailors urgently assemble to board the ship. ”

The staff officer turned around and rushed away, looking at his back, He Bo couldn't help but shake his head, he was old, and the world in front of him was completely different from the world seen by these young officers.

The Chinese, unconsciously, already have the ability to challenge the interests of the empire in the Indian Ocean, but these young officers are unwilling to admit it.

And what about 10,000-ton heavy ships? Less than a decade after its completion, the Warrior was already extremely outdated in the face of the rapid development of naval technology, and had been reduced to the point of being relegated to the reserves, and was probably even removed from the Navy in a few years.

The 9,100-ton Warrior-class battleship Black Prince was about to face the same fate as the Warrior.

Chinese According to the information, Chinese has built a hydrodynamic ship model test pool, and the surname of its laboratory can be roughly analyzed from the meaning of the word, but as a secret military test site of the Chinese Empire, no foreigner has ever witnessed what this pool looks like.

But looking at the 10,000-ton battleships that the Chinese are ambitiously building, and looking at the various types of ironclad ships that he has crackled and launched in recent years, it is not difficult to imagine that the Chinese's industrial construction capabilities and military technology have developed to a fairly mature stage.

The more it is suppressed, the stronger the backlash, the Strait of Malacca can be allowed to pass through Chinese ships, and the more dependent it is on the Strait of Malacca, in fact, for the British Empire, it is equivalent to choking its throat, but it is easier to control this rising power, if you blindly want to confine it in a specific area, it will only trigger a fierce confrontation.

However, it is better to pray that the Russians will teach the Chinese a bloody lesson!

He raised his glass and drank it down.

…… In the waters off the left side of the Linga Islands, the Nanyang Fleet of the Royal Chinese Navy and some ships of the Chinese Sea Fleet swarmed to the area and engaged in a fierce artillery battle with the Russian fleet.

Over the years, the Chinese Navy has been organized into two fleets, the China Sea Fleet and the Nanyang Fleet, and over the years, the number of ironclad ships owned by the two fleets has exceeded 30, except for a few ironclad ships that have been designated as reserve or training ships.

Except for the Chinese Naval Detachment, which went north to cooperate with the Eastern Theater to eliminate the remnants of the Russian Far East naval forces, the rest of the ships participating in the naval battle of the Linjia Islands can be said to have been dispatched in a nest.

Vice Admiral Li Chengmou, Admiral of the Nanyang Fleet, Captain of the Regent, was the commander of the campaign.

Standing in the command room of the bridge, Li Chengmou gave orders one after another, facing the Russians, he always remembered the soldiers who died because of his own negligence, every time he remembered the picture of them singing military songs and slowly sinking in the sea, Li Chengmou's heart tingled, this thorn, he knew, will not be erased for a lifetime.

The Chinese navy ships that participated in the naval battle of the Linga Islands consisted of 21 ironclad ships, including the "Regent," the Regent-class "Venus," the Penglai, the Dihua, the Liuzhou, the Fengtian, and the Ji'an, and formed two formations to flank the Russian fleet that had just passed through the Strait of Malacca.

When Admiral Butakov saw the flexible and rapid formation of the Chinese fleet, his heart sank, this is an extremely well-trained naval force, completely different from his own imagination.

In the sound of the earth-shattering cannon, the sound of the waves became inaudible, and the Venus passed through the splashing water column, and the muzzles of large and small calibers were like arms and fingers, and they all turned together to fire at Peter the Great.

Although the 305mm guns on the Peter the Great were extremely slow, often taking a few minutes to fire a shell, if you were unlucky enough to be picked up, it would be a good idea.

The rapid-fire guns and heavy guns on the Venus rained down on the Peter the Great, but the Russian sailors on the Peter the Great obviously had an extraordinary quality, and did not respond to the Venus's shots, but maintained the formation formation and slowly approached the Regent laterally according to the original tactics, the muzzle of the gun, raised the maximum elevation angle, and began to test fire.

The majestic bodies of more than a dozen black crushing giant ships are like legendary prehistoric monsters, gradually closing the distance, heavy and slow, as irresistible as the footsteps of fate.

(To be continued)