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Among the 600,000 expeditionary forces sent by Russia to the Far East this time, there were four cavalry corps, that is, 100,000 Cossack cavalry. When the Governor of the Far East, Muravyov, invaded China, he led an army of 250,000 people, including 100,000 Cossack cavalry. It's just that the 100,000 Cossack cavalry have all been killed, which is undoubtedly a heavy blow to Russia. Even if the Russian army has the largest standing strength in the world, the loss of so many troops at one time is enough to make Russia break its bones. What's more, the loss of so many Cossack cavalry is still the most elite unit of Russia. Even in the Russian Army, the total strength of the Cossack cavalry was only 300,000.

This time, 100,000 Cossack cavalry were again sent to join the expeditionary force, leaving the remaining Cossack cavalry of Russia on other fronts to only 100,000. For this reason, Tsar Nicholas I had to once again conscript those Cossacks into the Russian cavalry. The scale of the conscription reached 200,000 people, accounting for one-fifth of the new recruits of the Russian army.

"Well, to Ivan. Marshal Paskovich gave an order for him to send two corps of Cossack cavalry to Eastern Siberia to stabilize the situation there! However, it was necessary to avoid a major battle with the Chinese Empire before the arrival of the main forces. Tsar Nicholas I said that previous battles had proved that although the Russian Cossack cavalry was strong, it was no match for the Imperial Chinese Army in terms of combat power. Especially when attacking the defense line of the Imperial Chinese Army, it was even more impossible to win. For this. Tsar Nicholas I didn't want that to happen again.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Duke Gorchakov, nodded.

The Cossack cavalry, which threatened Europe, made a fierce attack in the Far East. This is a heavy blow to Russia. The prestige of the Cossack cavalry was ruined this time. However, the Russians did not believe that this was the reason for the inadequacy of the Cossack cavalry, and they attributed the defeat of the Cossack cavalry to the weather, as well as the cunning and shamelessness of the Imperial Chinese Army. The main advantage of cavalry was mobility and impact, and cavalry was used to attack heavily defended walls. That's looking for death. In addition, the sudden drop in weather was also the main reason for the heavy losses of the Cossack cavalry. Napoleon the Great led an army of 600,000 to attack Russia. Didn't it also suffer a fiasco because of the cold winter? Therefore, the whole of Russia believed that after learning the lessons of the last time, the Cossack cavalry would not fail again.

After the order of Tsar Nicholas I. Ivan on the march. Marshal Paskovich ordered the 10th and 12th armies of the Russian Cossack cavalry to speed up and rush to the Eastern Siberian region. Prepare to integrate the mobilized armies of Eastern Siberia to defend against the offensive of the Chinese Empire. Although those hastily armed armies will not have much combat effectiveness, if they are used to defend the city, they should be able to contain the land forces of the Chinese Empire and delay the arrival of the main forces in the future. The Russian Cossack cavalry, on the other hand, could take the opportunity to attack the weak points of the Imperial Chinese Army. However, Ivan. What Marshal Paskovich did not expect was that the Chinese Empire had also built a powerful cavalry force this time. Of the 6 cavalry corps, except for two, were used in the Northwest Battlefield. The other four will be thrown into the Eastern Siberian battlefield. A total of 140,000 cavalry, no less than the Cossack cavalry of the Russian expeditionary force. On the contrary, there is nearly half more. In terms of armament, the Imperial cavalry also had a complete advantage. In this way, the Russian Cossack cavalry no longer had any advantage.

The remaining personnel of the Far Eastern Governor's Palace, located in Irkutsk, Eastern Siberia, immediately began to mobilize adult men into the army in Eastern Siberia, having received an order from Tsar Nicholas I. They told the Russians that if they did not join the army, they would all be killed by the cruel Chinese soldiers when the Imperial Chinese Army conquered Eastern Siberia, and their wives and daughters would be humiliated and sold as prostitutes. Their property will also be plundered. Under the propaganda of the Russian Far Eastern government, countless Russians joined the army. From 60-year-old men to teenagers, all of them ask to be able to join the army and defend their families and the country.

Russians are worthy of being a fighting race, and it is as if it were in their nature to fight. However, these Russians were unenthusiastic, and although almost 200,000 men had been conscripted to the time of the day, they did not have enough weapons to arm them. These 200,000 recruits were reorganized into the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th armies of the Far Eastern Army. However, only the 1st Army was equipped with advanced breech-loading rifles, and the 2nd Army was only equipped with the old breech-loading rifles that had been re-equipped by the Russian* army. The other two armies were only equipped with rudimentary cold weapons, and some even fought with farm tools, and it was even more difficult to use such an army to resist the advance of the imperial army.

On March 27, the imperial army began to set out from the north, preparing to cross the desert to the Mobei grasslands. This time, the departure army includes the 1st and 2nd armies of the imperial cavalry, and the 5th and 6th armies of the cavalry will be formed in the Mobei grassland, and the soldiers will be composed of soldiers who have already been prepared by the empire in the various parts of the Mobei Mongols. In terms of infantry, there were the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 14th, 17th, 19th, 20th, 26th, and 27th armies of the Imperial Army. In addition, the Imperial General Staff was to station units of four armies in the northern part of the Reich to serve as reserves for the Eastern Siberian Theater, including the 6th, 9th, 21st and 22nd armies of the Imperial Army. It is not that the empire does not want to send more troops to Eastern Siberia to ensure the outbreak of war, but it is actually because of the constraints of logistics factors, to ensure the logistical supply of these hundreds of thousands of troops in the Eastern Siberian battlefield, the logistics department is already busy. If more than 100,000 more troops are dispatched, the logistical supply line is very likely to collapse.

Hundreds of thousands of troops attacked north, and in order to carry out unified scheduling, Lieutenant General Sun Hao, the chief of operations, personally rushed to the northern front line, preparing to sit in Kulun to command the battle, as well as dispatch logistics materials. The logistics of the northern army would first be transported to Tianjin by boat, and then to the Mongolian steppe by mule and horse in Tianjin, a distance of thousands of kilometers, so that the empire had to prepare a convoy of millions of people in order to support the operation of the troops in Eastern Siberia. Otherwise, there is a risk that the logistical supply lines will break.

When the imperial army went north, it was welcomed by the Mongolian tribes along the way, and many Mongolian tribes took the initiative to organize people to lead the way for the imperial army, or help transport war materials, and so on. Some tribes have also organized special convoys to protect the convoys passing through the grasslands from being attacked by wild animals or enemies on the grasslands. The Mongolian steppe is vast, and if the imperial cavalry enters the steppe, it will undoubtedly constitute a fatal blow to the convoy running on the transportation line.

The 1st and 2nd Armies of the Imperial Cavalry, as the vanguard of the Great Army, were the first to set off. The speed of the cavalry troops was very fast, and it took only half a month for them to reach Kulen. The four major tribes of the Mobei grassland, when the imperial cavalry arrived, also openly admitted that the Mongol tribes in Mobei had submitted to the Chinese Empire, and recruited a large number of young and strong family imperial cavalry from the four major tribes. The 5th and 6th armies of the Imperial Cavalry were quickly formed. These Mongols were born cavalrymen, and as long as they were taught how to use rifles and other weapons, they would be able to become qualified imperial cavalrymen. The whole time, it will not take more than a month.

On April 15, 1847, the commander of the Imperial Cavalry, Major General Seng Lingqin, and the deputy commander, Major General Qiao Moyan, led two cavalry to the border trading city between the Empire and Russia. What was once a bustling bazaar is now deserted. Last year, when the Russian Far East Governor Muravyov led an army to invade the empire, the army looted the trading city, almost all the Chinese here were killed, and no one dared to do business here anymore.

The city is not only well-known to the Qing and Russian people, but also famous all over the world, and is known as the "Venice of the Desert" by the West. The city played an important role in enlivening the economic life of Qing and Russia. In 1727 (the fifth year of Yongzheng), Qing Russia signed the Treaty of Brensky (also known as the Treaty of Kyakhta), and the Qing and Russia traded. According to the provisions of the treaty, the two countries were bounded by the Kyakhta River, and Kyakhta, Hebei, was assigned to Russia. The Qing Dynasty built a new town in Henan Province as a trading place between Qing and Russia, and the Han people of the Great Qing Dynasty called this newly built town "Buying and Selling City".

The buying and selling city is a rectangular city, 640 meters long, 366 meters wide, built with wood, surrounded by four gates, the north gate is opposite to the south gate of Kyakhta, the distance is only 130 meters. Towers were built above the gates, guarded by soldiers. The trading city has a pure Qing Dynasty style, there are two main streets in the city, the cross runs through it, the street extends in a straight line, and there are courtyards on both sides. By the end of the sixties of the eighteenth century, more than 200 houses had been built here, and there were two temples.

In 1800, the trade volume reached 8.4 million rubles, and by the middle of the 19th century, the trade volume here reached 16 million rubles, or about 8 million taels of silver.

To the north of the city is Kyakhta, which belongs to Russia.

"Order the 1st Cavalry Brigade to cross the Kyakhta River, and within half an hour, be sure to capture there!" Major General Monk Greenqin gave the order for battle.

More than 6,000 cavalrymen of the 1st Imperial Cavalry Brigade began to ride across the border between China and Russia and launched an attack on Kyakhta. (To be continued......)