The Russians did not anticipate the movements of the Chu army.

Zuo Zongtang's title as a master of strategy is well deserved.

When Mikhail Dmitrievich's 20,000 elite Cossacks made a detour to the former Kokand Khanate to aid Ingishar and other places, Zuo Zongtang attacked the north and south, cutting off the passage to the east of the Ili River Valley.

Although the Russians had established a strong European fortress here, they did not build a road in time.

The Forward Corridor is the path that raises the level of the besiegers.

Simply put, it's a long ramp to force the besiegers to climb. (pictured)

This will allow the defenders to shoot at an angle that is always parallel to the direction of the siegers.

In the eyes of the besiegers, the enemy was almost stationary, always a live target for himself.

At the same time, due to the advent of the gunpowder age, the city walls became thicker and lower in order to cope with the increasingly powerful cannons.

Although difficult to collapse with artillery, these walls are easy to climb.

The forward corridor is just right to match the moat, increasing the height of the city wall in disguise.

But the Russian army, which was strategically deceived, did not complete the last step of the defense of this fortress.

The Ming airship troops bombed the Russians in the valley, so that the Russians could never get out of the fortress and build a road.

In this way, the gas canister mortars of the Chu army, which were not far away, could be advanced to the city at a relatively small cost.

Eventually, after a mortar-fired gas canister blew down part of the city wall, the Chu army sang Qin songs and climbed the castle with their flesh and blood to engage the Russians in hand-to-hand combat.

To be honest, in the face of the Russians, the battle losses of the Chu army cannot be said to be good, but Zuo Zongtang sent a telegram to His Majesty the Emperor with a smile.

"Hunan not only has Zeng Guofan, who is afraid of foreign devils, but also our group of Chu troops who can defeat foreign devils in Hunan!"

The smugness in Zuo Zongtang's words is overflowing.

Zhu Fugui replied: "They are all national soldiers, green mountains and loyal bones, and they are worshiped in temples, and they will be remembered through the ages!" ”

·

With the Ili Valley in your hands, the door to Central Asia has been opened to China again.

If only Ingishar is taken, then the power of the Ming Dynasty wants to go to Central Asia, cross the lofty mountains and walk on the Pamir Plateau.

From the Ili Valley, you can follow Lake Balkhash all the way to the west, whether it is Almaty or Tashkent, the largest city in Central Asia, all within easy reach.

And behind Tashkent is the Turan Lowland, the tenth largest plain in the world.

Further on, there is the homeland of Persia.

It is currently the territory of the British, propping up a puppet government. (See the easter egg page at the end of this chapter for the territory map of the Ming Dynasty and Britain and France, if not, it is still under review)

By contrast, it would not be wise to cross the Pamirs from Ingishar and through the Wakhan Corridor to gnaw on the oily bones of Kabul and Kandahar.

There are only wrong names in the world, and there are no wrong nicknames.

Afghanistan, known as the graveyard of empires, has buried three generations of superpowers of Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States, and has its own uniqueness.

That's the terrible terrain of the ape difficulty, the ghost is worried.

There is no oil, no arable land, only stones, wind and sand, and endless mountains, and the shepherds in the valley who have different sounds, but can read Anla.

According to the World Island Theory, this place is linked to the Middle East, East Asia, and South Asia, and geopolitics is very important, but Zhu Fugui still decided to stay away.

Zhu Fugui is not the third brother, and his mind is full of ideas that the United States and the Soviet Union can't do it, but I can.

But it's good not to touch Afghanistan, at least for a short time the British and Indian authorities can sleep peacefully.

Just as the news that the Chu army had given up going south and turned north to beat the Russians reached Delhi, the British government sent another telegram to the apartment in the city of Five Kingdoms to Eugenie's sister-in-law.

The telegram said that the previous accusation that the Ming Dynasty had violated the Geneva Conventions during the Western Expedition appeared to be a false rumor.

The British government supports the Ming Dynasty in playing a more constructive role in Central Asia, especially in Central Asia north of the Wakhan Corridor, and making due contributions to regional peace and stability.

In this regard, Zhu Fugui also said that Daming's previous accusation that a British gentleman harassed a goat was also biased.

According to the investigation of the Brocade Guards, both parties were consensual, there was no violation, and the English gentleman and the Waggil goat were true love and should be blessed by the people.

After that, the British did not reply.

It is said that Victoria's sister-in-law smashed several pieces of fine Chinese porcelain that night, all of which were stolen goods removed from Beijing, which was a great sin.

Eugenie's sister-in-law is already a full-fledged milkman and has made friends with cows.

Zhu Fugui plans that in the future, if he is fortunate enough to invite Victoria's sister-in-law to Daming as a guest, he will let her take care of the Waggil goat.

Let her go and milk the male goat, and she will not be allowed to come home from work without milking a bucket.

·

With the fall of the fortresses of the Ili River Valley, the Russian power in Central Asia had been reduced to the territory of the former Kokand Khanate.

And Aguba's father and son are at the end of their rope.

The two overwhelming offensives of the Chu army, Bai Zhixin and Liu Songshan, made the thieves who were cowering in Yarkand, Yingjishar, Khotan, and Karyagar extremely frightened.

The Khotanese rebels asked the Great Tomorrow soldiers to surrender and took the initiative to lead their troops to besiege Yarkand.

Aguba's eldest son, Berke Huli, led an army from Kashgar to reinforce Yarkand and defeated him.

He Buyun, the former Kashgar garrison, took the opportunity to lead hundreds of Manchu and Han soldiers to occupy Kashgar Hancheng.

Burke Huli hurried back to rescue Kashgar.

He Buyun sent envoys to fight out of the encirclement to beg for help from Liu Songshan and Bai Zhixin, and the two discussed it for a while, and immediately made a decision, deciding not to wait for Zuo Shuai's main force to return to help, so they went to the aid in the starry night.

On May 27, Zuo Zongtang's pro-army Qu Yu Huen, Huang Wanpeng and others, led a team of 4,000 horses to Kashgar, and the army recovered the city in one fell swoop that night.

Aguba's eldest son, Burke Huri, rode a fast horse to flee to Russia, but was made into char siu by Sergeant Sasuke of the Ming airship unit, ending his life of sin.

The white phosphorus ghost fire burns the bones and burns the marrow, and little by little makes people into char siu, I don't know if it is a blessing or a curse compared to Ling Chi.

As soon as the most courageous Burke Huri died, the Agubo army no longer had the fighting spirit, and Aguba and the remnants of Bai Yanhu abandoned Yarkand and Yingishar, fled into Tsarist Russia in a hurry, and regarded themselves as Dungans.

Historically, they will be a bandit that harasses our borders for many years.

But this time, things have changed.

Just two weeks later, Aguba and more than 3,000 of his henchmen were bundled into rice dumplings by Russian soldiers and sent back to Ili.

Tsarist Russia sued for peace with the Ming Dynasty for the second time.

Indeed, it is time to negotiate.

At present, Tsarist Russia still has 130,000 troops in Central Asia.

But that's not the most critical thing.

The most critical thing is that when we reach the Ili River Valley, the long supply line starting from Shiyan is no longer able to supply.

Although Ming Liangzong does not care about loss, there is a limit to transporting food with manpower and animal power.

Beyond a certain distance, then the food that can be transported by manpower and animal power is not enough for the consumption of people and animals on the road.

And Ili is exactly this limit.