Orenburg.

The fourth governor of Turkestan, the general of the Russian cavalry, the honorary head of the military police regiment Mikhail Murphy. Tarylovich. Loris. Melikov, facing a young lieutenant general who was no more than forty years old, said solemnly: "Skobelev, His Majesty the Tsar has officially made the decision to expand the war. It's just as you want it to be. So, bring the warriors of Russia and make your wish come true.

Remember. I just want to win.

His Majesty the Tsar of St. Petersburg also only needed victory! ”

Mikhail. Tarylovich. Loris. Melikov is fifty-six years old and a graduate of the Lazarev Academy and the Cavalry Non-commissioned Officer School. During the Crimean War of 1853-1856, he fought against Turkey in the Caucasus theater of operations. In 1875 he was promoted to cavalry general. In 1877, during the Russo-Turkish War, he served as a military commander. Commanded the Russian army to defeat 30,000 Turkish troops in the Battle of Avlyar-Araja.

Mikhail. Dmitrievich. Skobelev, who was only thirty-eight years old, was a well-known servant to Alexander II in his early years, and was recognized as a famous general who rose rapidly in Central Asia after the end of the First Sino-Russian War. The harder they are hit, the longer they will be at peace. ”

"Your Excellency, Honorable Governor, await the good news of victory." Skobelev's face exuded confidence, intense self-confidence. After the 1873 expedition to the Khiva Khanate, Skobelev was appointed by the second governor in 1875-1876. Fedorovich was sent to suppress the great national uprising in Kokand, and there was a shortage of personnel. In the case of poor logistical supply, it took only four months to wash the entire Ferghana basin in blood. In Andijan. Skobelev commanded the Russian army to bombard the entire city of Andijan with heavy artillery, and the entire city of Andijan was basically flattened. More than 20,000 insurgents were buried under the rubble. Dressed himself with the general's gold star with the blood of Central Asians! He was only thirty-two years old.

On February 7, 1876, Skobelev commanded the Russian army to occupy the city of Kokand, and on March 2, Tsarist Russia officially announced the annexation of the Kokand Khanate, which was changed to Fergana Province with Skobelev as the governor, and the last Nasrdin Khan of Kokand was sent to Vladimirsk Province of Russia under house arrest, and he received a pension of 5,000 rubles per year from the Russian government, thus completing the conquest of the three major khanates of Central Asia by Tsarist Russia. The two khanates, Bukhara and Khiva, were nominally retained, but in fact they were completely slaves at the mercy of Tsarist Russia. In the same year, Liu Xian rebelled against the Qing Dynasty, and Skobelev organized the Alai Expeditionary Army. Crossing the Alai Ridge and occupying the Alai Valley, the territory of the Kyrgyz (Kirgiz) Edkna, opened the way for further encroachment on the Chinese territory of the Pamirs.

"I can only regret that I was not born ten years earlier, and I was not able to catch up with the 'Battle of Toulon' that rose to the rise of the great majesty of the East." Europeans refer to Liu Xian's battle in Xinjiang as the www.biquge.info of Liu Xian's rise to the Biquge, just as the Battle of Toulon was to Napoleon. The first battle against France in Vietnam is called the first battle in which Liu Siam laid the foundation, like Napoleon's 'Italian Campaign'.

Skobelev was very unconvinced. In the battle for Xinjiang, the Russian army's appearance was too embarrassing.

If it weren't for the subsequent outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War, after Liu Xian raised his army, Skobelev would have written to Alexander II long ago. It is required to march troops into Xinjiang.

You know, after Skobelev returned from the Russian-Turkish war with the rank of lieutenant general, he personally inspected Lake Kara and the Uzberi Pass in the northern part of the Pamirs. Don't ask for self-knowledge.

This is an ambitious military man, a warlike military man. One of his eyes always looked to the east, but he didn't know whether the reason for this was that he was not convinced by Liu Xian. Or for the sake of Russia's interests.

Skobelev was polite to the Russians, but vicious to the natives of Central Asia. His tenure in Central Asia was short-lived. But the name has spread to Xinjiang. Skobelev relied on military means to maintain colonial rule. As soon as the indigenous population expresses the slightest dissatisfaction, it will immediately be subjected to bloody repression. Suppose the body of a killed Russian is found somewhere. Nearby villages will be burned to the ground.

Such a person is very deterrent. Skobelev can be ruthless in his treatment of the natives of Central Asia, and if he enters Xinjiang, he will definitely treat the natives of Xinjiang in the same way. Now that he is empowered, he dreams that the opportunity for war with China is in the hands of Skobelev.

The Russian army began to move rapidly.

Skobelev, which was already on the land of the former Kokand Khanate, was very prone to starting a war right away. At the same time Russian troops

……

At the same time, Xinjiang, Yili.

In the headquarters of the border defense forces, Wang Guosheng, commander of the Xinjiang Military Region, buried himself in writing books and books, and deliberated his own layout over and over again.

When there is a war in the northeast, the pressure is tilted to the northwest.

He and Deputy Commander Dong Fuxiang were stationed in southern Xinjiang and northern Xinjiang respectively, one in Yili and the other in Kashgar, and they were all extremely vigilant against the movements of the Russian army on the opposite side.

Almaty, the city inserted into the Ili Valley, is like a sharp dagger, ready to deal a fatal blow to the Ili garrison.

Since the end of the First Sino-Chinese War, when Kaufman committed suicide by drinking bullets, the Russians transferred the political center of the Turkestan Governorate to Orenburg. Almaty, as a military stronghold, has existed for twelve years.

The Russian army has been stationed here for a long time, and even when the Russian-Turkish war was at its most intense, the defenders here were not less than 3,000 people. This also put a lot of pressure on the original Manchu Dynasty and the current Great Qin.

Whether it is Jin Shun of the former Qing Dynasty or the current victory of the kingdom, they are all arranging heavy troops in Yili. In addition, on the first line of Tusi Pond and the Balkhon Ridge in Suyuk, Uzbeli Pass, pillboxes, positions, communication lines, permanent concrete fortifications, etc. were built.

Now that the Sino-Russian war has begun, the Russians will certainly not be the opponent of the Qin army in the northeast. But in the northwest, the comprehensive strength of the Qin army is far inferior to that of the Russian army. After all, the latter has been operating in Central Asia for hundreds of years, and in Orenburg, Omsk and other places, there are all kinds of arms and munitions factories. The shipping pressure is much less than that of China and Xinjiang.

Liu Xian didn't expect the Xinjiang troops to eat the invading Russian troops cleanly. But Liu Xian asked Wang Guosheng to hold on to the country as much as possible.

……

Uzberi Pass.

A fortress-like defense project is nearing completion.

After more than a year of construction, this fortress was not qualified in Europe at all. But this is already the best effort of the Qin army in Xinjiang.

The Uzberi Pass is an important mountain pass on the Sarekole Mountains between China and Central Asia. The original name of the stele Bouzberi, the meaning of "saddle" in the Kirghiz language, was named because the mountain pass resembled a saddle. The pass is located on the ridgeline of the Saarekole Ridge, with a path leading to Guò and a seasonal river in the valley. The altitude is generally above 4,500 meters.

The climate is cold and oxygen-deficient, and the mountains are covered by heavy snow in winter, and only 6~10 months of the year are suitable for human and animal traffic. To the east of the pass is our territory, and to the west is the territory controlled by the Russian army. It is one of the important passages from the hinterland of the Pamir Plateau into Kashgar in China.

Also because of the harsh natural conditions and the high altitude. The size of this small fortress and the time it took to build it would be so disproportionate.

On weekdays, a brigade is stationed. In mid-September, most of the defenders and all the laborers were to be withdrawn, leaving only a reinforced squadron to guard the pass.

It's mid-August, and the day of withdrawal is less than a month away. The number of defenders of the mountain pass fortress did not decrease, but increased. At the moment two field brigades have been reached, an engineer squadron, an artillery squadron.

Fifteen hundred laborers were also hurrying to perfect the last bit of the fort. Many of them worked from start to finish in the pass. It's hard, it's hard. But it's also a good deal.

Ascending the mountain in June and descending in September, a hundred days is counted as two years of 'service time'. When the fortress was fully completed, their five-year 'labor reform' was completed. After that, you can live a life of 'commoners'.

As a result, there were almost no escapes of laborers, and everyone worked very hard.

Xu Xuegong was not in the fortress at this time, and he led the scouts into the Russian-controlled territory west of the mountain pass for the fifth time.

I'm so nervous. The news from Kashgar made him sweat all over.

Fights began. China and Russia are fighting again. Skobelev appeared in Almaty, and the Russian army was massing. Well, what about the Russian army across the Uzberi pass? Will they also move?

Xu Xuegong's department is one of the three garrison regiments under the Xinjiang Military Region.

The Xinjiang Military Region, with a total strength of only 30,000 infantry cavalry, has only one real main force, the Sixth Cavalry Division, which was established on the basis of the cavalry brigade of the Qin Army. The rest are either mixed brigades, garrison regiments, independent battalions.

There is no need to mention the first-level military regions in the country, and among the second-level military regions, although the Xinjiang Military Region has a large number of troops, the only second-level military region that can be compared with it is the Mongolian Military Region, but its combat effectiveness is absolutely not among the top five.

Those mixed brigades, garrison regiments, and independent battalions were all reorganized from the old army in Xinjiang.

The ratio of all types of artillery is the lowest among the first- and second-class military regions in the country. The number of heavy machine guns can be ranked in the middle, but the proportion of repeating guns is also the lowest in the country. The arsenals set up by the Qin army in Urumqi and Kashgar produced no more than three million rounds of ammunition per month. Forty percent of them are machine-gun shells!

Moreover, inside Xinjiang, although the armies in the hands of the Mongolian princes and bannermen and the indigenous nobles of Xinjiang have been disintegrated, their appeal is still there. None of these people will 'love' Daqin, and now that the war between China and Russia has broken out, who dares to guarantee that those potentially unstable factors will not wait for the opportunity to break out?

Liu Xian had already sent an order to the governor Li Ying of Gan Shaanxi, asking him to always pay attention and do a good job in the transfer of materials, transportation and coordination with the march of the army. In case the situation changes, no matter how big the price is, Liu Xian will not hesitate to choose to send troops to Xinjiang.

The General Staff Headquarters and the General Logistics Department, which have just been promoted, are intensively formulating plans. (To be continued......)