The city of Chernihiv, which was once used by the Russian Expeditionary Force as a base camp for the assault on Kyiv, was handed over to the Ukrainian Cossack rebels a week ago, and all Russian soldiers were withdrawn.

This was undoubtedly a symbol of 'friendship' with the Russian Empire for the locals and the Ukrainian Cossack rebels, and the inhabitants of the city of Chernihiv, led by the Ukrainian Cossack rebels, held a celebration for three days and three nights, which they considered to be a harbinger of the Ukrainian nation and Cossack warriors establishing their own state!

Ironically, just one day after the celebration meeting, the city of Chernihiv was surrounded by a large number of Taiping troops, and the main force of the Ukrainian Cossack rebels in the city did not even have the courage to go out of the city to fight in the field after detecting the strength of the Taiping army, and all of them cowered in the city of Chernihiv.

At the moment when Hong Tiancheng's banner stood outside the city of Chernihiv, Ivan Hilko, the current leader of the Ukrainian Cossack rebel army, who was blocked in the city of Chernihiv, suddenly had an epiphany.

They were used as cannon fodder by the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force to intercept the main force of the Taiping Army moving south!

The intelligence system is about equal to the Ukrainian Cossack rebels, who have always thought that the main target of the Taiping army in the north to capture the territory of Verkhov is Moscow, the capital of the Russian Empire.

Apparently, the naïve Ukrainian Cossack rebels did not know at all how many Russian regular troops had gathered on the outskirts of Moscow!

If the main force of the Taiping Army really attacked Moscow City, it would first have to wipe out tens of thousands of Russian elites on the periphery of Moscow City, which was obviously not an easy task for the Taiping Army, which had only one division and main force.

On the other hand, although the distance to the south is farther, the fall of the Vilkhov territory has led to the withdrawal of all the Russian garrisons in this area, and there is not even much militia left, and in the face of the main force of the Taiping Army, it is basically in a state of 'air defense' without any resistance.

It will take time for the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force to open up the retreat and destroy the remnants of the Eastern Strong, and the main force of the Taiping Army will obviously not be given this time, so the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force can only throw out its own 'allies'.

General Menderov knew very well in his heart that the Ukrainian National Resistance Army and the Ukrainian Cossack Rebel Army, two allied forces in the honeymoon period with the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force, were only working so hard for the common good in their homeland, and it was impossible for these troops to follow the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force out of the Kiev region.

Rather than having the 'allies' know the intention of the Imperial Expeditionary Force to flee and the honeymoon period between the two sides will end and break down, it is better to strike first in order to support the Ukrainian nation and the big pie of Cossack warrior statehood, and gradually hand over the unwanted areas of control to them.

The city of Chernihiv is the biggest gift!

General Menderov knew very well that even if the Ukrainian Cossack rebels knew about this deception, they would continue to confront the Taiping army for the sake of Chernihiv City, not to mention the feuding relationship between the two sides, just the status of Chernihiv City in the hearts of the Ukrainian Cossack rebels is not an existence that can be surrendered.

The reason why the status of the Ukrainian Cossack rebels is generally higher than that of the Ukrainian national resistance army is because of their original roots, the Ukrainian Cossack rebels had their own basic territory before they defected to the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force, and the Ukrainian national resistance army was completely a local peasant armed force supported by the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force later.

The Ukrainian Cossack rebels have their own sources of soldiers and even weapon-making workshops, they only participate in the war as allies of the Russian Empire, unlike the Ukrainian National Rebellion, which is completely the nature of the servant army of the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force, and if it were not for the support of the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force, the Ukrainian National Resistance Army would have been annexed by the Ukrainian Cossack Rebels long ago.

In fact, at this time, there were a number of high-ranking members of the Ukrainian National Resistance, who were originally subordinate to the Ukrainian Cossack Rebels, and the representative figure was the original Cossack Getman (Hetman is the name for the leader among the Cossacks) - Ivan Vygovsky, who became the leader of the Cossack officers in the Ukrainian National Resistance Army who did not want to be controlled by the Russian Empire because of his political inclination towards the Polish government.

Ironically, the local Ukrainian Cossack forces and the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force secretly competed for power, and when the main force of the Taiping Army came, it became meaningless, because the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force took the initiative to withdraw from the leadership of the servant army they supported, and generously gave away the Ukrainian towns they originally occupied one by one, and even left a lot of useless weapons and equipment for the Ukrainian natives.

Of course, this is also one of the reasons why the Ukrainian Cossack rebels had the courage to confront the main forces of the Taiping Army, which had a brilliant record.

"The shameless thief who betrayed the leader of Bogdan Khmelnitsky is just outside Chernihiv, brothers and sisters, let us take up arms together, defend our homeland and kill the lackeys of the treacherous!

For the sake of the hometown! For revenge! The fight doesn't stop !! ”

After the final mobilization in Chernihiv, groups of young men of the Ukrainian ethnic group in the city, together with Cossack warriors and rebel soldiers, took all the utensils that could be used as 'weapons' to the top of the city, at least, there was no problem with the strength of the defenders in Chernihiv......

In the previous celebrations, most of the people in Chernihiv were benefited by the Ukrainian Cossack rebels, and with the infiltration of the Ukrainian Cossack rebels in the city for more than a year, the popularity was still very high, and it was easy to form a citizen army of thousands of people.

Coupled with the main force of the Ukrainian Cossack rebels who originally shrunk in, the number of people with weapons in the city of Chernihiv has exceeded 20,000!

Of course, the concept of weapons of the Ukrainian Cossack rebels is completely different from that of the Taiping army, even the pitchfork and the logging axe have become the 'standard' weapons of the defenders in the city......

As for real muskets, only Cossack warriors and veterans of the Ukrainian Cossack rebels had them, and there were not many other cold weapons that did not even have serious swords, let alone expensive armor......

Hong Tiancheng looked at the heads of people with rudimentary weapons gathered at the head of Chernihiv City, and gave an order lightly: "Open the cannon." ”

Light artillery pieces dragged by the Lithuanian natives, as well as field guns captured from the Russian army, were put together in different calibers, and a total of more than 50 original artillery pieces bombarded the Chernihiv city walls.

The Taiping army didn't even take the steps to persuade them to surrender, so they launched an attack directly!