"Long sigh to hide the tears, mourn the hardships of the people's livelihood!"

On September 26, the Daqin delegation returning east arrived in Novgorod, preparing to stop for two days in this ancient city with a history of more than 900 years, rest for a while, and wait for the Russian merchant group accompanying their delegation to Daqin.

As the Swedish kingdom continued to attack, the Russian Empire began to make a general mobilization within its borders, and troops and newly recruited soldiers, led by commanders appointed by the Tsar, gathered in the direction of St. Petersburg and Riga in the direction of St. Petersburg and Riga to prevent the enemy from further incursions into the Russian hinterland.

Yes, in addition to concentrating the main force of more than 40,000 soldiers to launch a continuous assault on St. Petersburg, the Kingdom of Sweden also dispatched a partial division of more than 8,000 people, under the cover of the navy, to suddenly attack Riga, the largest commercial port in the Baltic Sea. With the help of the local Livonians, the Swedish army succeeded in capturing Riga after two days of fierce fighting. Subsequently, the Swedish army swept through the Russian troops stationed nearby, annihilating thousands of enemies, and the front began to turn to the northeast, intending to threaten St. Petersburg from the flank and rear.

The whole territory of the Russian Empire was shaken, and the Field Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army Menshikov, after receiving the authorization of Tsar Catherine I, issued a national emergency mobilization order, forcing all men who met the conditions for military service to assemble at designated places and gather to the west of the empire under the leadership of local military service managers and garrison commanders.

Thanks to the reform of the conscription system carried out by Tsar Peter I in 1705, the mobilization capacity of Russia was greatly improved.

Peter I also changed the scope of military service from the traditional aristocratic group and the model of supplemental chadin to a regular and universal compulsory conscription, that is, the Russian military service obligation was extended from the aristocratic group and urban and rural taxpayers to those who never fulfilled any obligations, so that the service personnel included not only peasants (serfs), petty burghers (small craftsmen and traders) and merchants, but also domestic slaves and even clergy, thus extending the Russian military service system to all the lower classes of Russian society.

According to the new rank scale, civilians who enlisted in the military for military service would be promoted to the rank of minor nobleman if they achieved military exploits. This is not a small attraction for the vast number of poor and lower-class people. Peter I even gave serfs the freedom to enlist in the army without the consent of the landlord. These reform measures strengthened the enthusiasm of the lower classes of the Russian people to join the army, and provided Peter I, who was eager to make meritorious contributions at that time, with a more adequate supply of troops, thus laying a solid foundation for winning the Great Northern War and defeating Sweden.

However, Russia's conscription system is also very flawed, that is, there are no orderly plans and regulations, let alone sufficient military reserves and supplies. For example, between 1699 and 1725, the Russian government conducted a total of 53 conscriptions, of which 21 were mainly among the national taxpayers, and the other 32 were supplementary conscriptions. The heavy and frequent burden of military service on the peasants and the inhabitants of industry and commerce was unbearable, which, combined with the outrageous treatment of soldiers, led to frequent mass desertions of soldiers.

In order to prevent the flight of its soldiers, the Russian government directly adopted the most brutal and cruel methods, in addition to punishments such as exile, hard labor, and the death penalty, but also adopted environmentally friendly methods. In addition to the guarantor, the soldier's relatives and neighbors are also responsible for the soldier's flight. At recruit recruitment points, recruited recruits are also shackled or have crosses tattooed on their hands to prevent escape.

Due to the extremely poor treatment and logistical supply of the Russian army, and the lack of ordnance and provisions, the number of deaths of many soldiers due to hunger and cold far exceeded the number of deaths on the battlefield. Not only were recruits shackled, but they were even held for long periods of time in overcrowded, filthy cells, waiting to be assigned to the various regiments that needed to be replenished.

When the Great Qin Mission marched from St. Petersburg to Novgorod, it saw countless ragged soldiers, like prisoners, shackled and hobbled along the road under the escort of military service administrators and officers. Their faces were miserable, their expressions were depressed, their hair and beards were disheveled, their bodies were extremely weak, and their eyes were full of despair, and they marched numbly by the casual shouts and whips of the officers who accompanied them.

Even the mission personnel who did not have a trace of military experience could see that these soldiers had not received any military training at all, and the state of the whole person was very bad, and they were not as good as the army miscellaneous servants and civilian men recruited by my Great Qin, if they were sent to the battlefield like this, it would be tantamount to sending them to death.

"In the eyes of the tsar and the generals, all soldiers were expendables." An interpreter who is well versed in Russia whispered: "These soldiers are not even worth as much as a musket." Of course, with the poor military supply system of the Rakshasas, many soldiers will not be able to get a musket on the battlefield. They will be used as cannon fodder, draining the enemy's firepower and paving the way for the elite regular legions and guards to act as human vanguards. ”

"Grandma, just don't treat soldiers as human beings like this, then you don't get a defection on the battlefield, turn the gun, and fuck your own commander!" The corners of Bai Chengbin's mouth twitched, and he scolded in a low voice: "That's how the Rakshasa people fight? Relying on piling up people on the battlefield and fighting for the enemy's life? What the hell is this! ”

"Yongdinghou, if you understand the combat methods of the Rakshasas, you are afraid that your jaw will drop even more." An officer of the mission said with a smile: "In my Great Qin Army, the most important military element is line shooting, followed by white-knuckle assault. The main reason why generals at all levels of the army avoided white-knuckle assaults was that in such a situation, the soldiers might run away and the defenders would dominate. However, the generals of the Rakshasa people did not think that line tactics were an effective means of attack, but instead believed that fire shooting was to ensure the smooth progress of the white-knuckle assault and to cover the battlefield. They often can't fire a few shots on the battlefield, so they will launch a white-knuckle assault, using the tactics of a surging sea of people to break through the enemy's defenses. ”

"Isn't that pure death?" Bai Chengbin pursed his lips and looked at the queue of Russian recruits who were gradually disappearing in the distance, as if he was looking at a group of dead people, "As long as the opponent's line formation is not broken through, your white-edged assault is simply a send-off." Hey, did the Rakshasas fight like this when they lost to the Qi people in the Caucasus? With the firepower of the Qi people, it won't hit the iron plate headlong! ”

Although Bai Chengbin has never been to Qi State, nor has he seen the battle mode of Qi State, many officers in the army who have returned from studying in Qi State say that the Qi army fights with extremely fierce firepower, and there are several artillery pieces attached to the squad battle mode of hundreds of people. If the legion of thousands of men is fighting, the shells are even more as if they don't need money, and the flowering shells, grenades, rockets, solid shells, and dense and terrifying melee shotguns will cover the enemy array. When the line infantry charged, the tall and strong grenadiers, under the cover of the hunters, bravely rushed to the front of the enemy and threw the bomblets in their hands. After this saturation attack, the enemy army will generally break up in formation, lose morale, and finally be broken by the Qi army, allowing it to chase north and slaughter wantonly.

"I don't care much about whether the Rakshasa people also rely on this battle mode to fight with the Qi people. But it would be a great pleasure if they had to fight like this against the Dzungar Mongol cavalry. The mission officer said with some malice.

"Probably not." The interpreter of the mission shook his head and said: "Those Rakshasas stationed on the border of Siberia and Dzungaria are not recruits without any combat experience, they are all soldiers and soldiers who have fought old battles, and they are still very good at dealing with the Mongols and local natives. ”

"Then why are they all about to be pushed all the way to the Yenisei River valley by the Bohai Kingdom? It is estimated that in a few years, this Rakshasa people may not be bordering our Great Qin, but the Bohai Kingdom will be next to our northern border! ”

"Compared with my Great Qin, the Bohai Kingdom is definitely sparsely populated and weak. But it is also a powerful regional power compared to the size of the Rakshasa population, which is much more detrimental to the North Sea (Lake Baikal) and Siberia. The interpreter said: "Moreover, after hundreds of years of conquest and killing, the Rakshasas have formed a life-and-death enmity with the local natives, and they are unable to use the local human resources at all. On the other hand, in addition to the Manchurian Tatars and Han Chinese in their core ruling class, there are also countless local Buryats, Daurs, Oroqen, Evenki, and Hezhe people in the Bohai State, who are all included as people under their rule because of their similar language and customs and not much difference in appearance. This makes the Bohai Kingdom have a relatively advantageous population size in the face of the Rakshasas, and naturally crush the scattered colony strongholds of the Rakshasas in terms of military strength. In addition, the continuous support and support of Qi and Beiming made their weapons and equipment superior, so they could keep pressing the Rakshasa people and constantly advancing westward. ”

"The ambition of the wolf son of the Bohai Kingdom, in addition to constantly expanding westward, will definitely covet Mobei and Heilongjiang regions in the future. The people of Qi are also ill-intentioned, and they spare no effort to support them, most of them want to hold our Great Qin hostage and threaten from the north. Bai Chengbin said in a deep voice: "Look, once my Great Qin fights with the Qi State in the future, this Bohai State will inevitably attack my Great Qin from the north like a hungry wolf." ”

When everyone heard this, they were silent, and then they shook their heads and sighed.

Qi and Qin are of the same origin, both are Chinese civilizations, and most of their citizens are also immigrants from Qin, or descendants of Qin immigrants. The two countries have been in friendly exchanges for decades, and the exchanges between the people and the people are becoming more and more frequent, like a brotherly country, friendly neighbors, and the royal families of the two countries are married to each other, very close.

It's all so beautiful to look at.

However, after decades of development and evolution, the love of incense and brotherhood between the two countries has become more and more indifferent, and there is even a trace of estrangement.

Especially since the twenty-second year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (1704) - well, this year is also called the year of national disaster by the people of Qi, Taizu and Taizong of Qi died one after another, and the relationship between Qin and Qi is no longer as close as before, but irrepressibly rifts and even conflicts in many affairs.

The Qin government was strongly resentful and dissatisfied with Qi's indulgence of the Northern Ming Dynasty's continuous encroachment on Qin's territory and interests in Korea and Liaodong.

Qi's commercial power controlled most of Qin's foreign trade channels, and constantly suppressed the prices of Qin's traditional commodities such as tea, porcelain, silk, and tung oil, dumping and smuggling large quantities of cheap manufactured goods into Qin's market, impacting Qin's fragile primary industry.

In addition, from time to time, the Qi state proposed that the Qin state open more trade ports, and even remove all restrictions on Qi commerce, so that their capital and goods could enter the Qin market more freely.

The ships of the Qi Navy roamed freely in the waters around Daqin, spying on the coastal defense of the Qin State, exposing the prosperous land south of the Yangtze River to the military threat of the Qi State.

From Yunzhou (now Hokkaido), Korea, Ryukyu, Luzon, to Annam, the Malay Peninsula, and Borneo, there was a military presence of Qi everywhere, plus the Northern Ming, Dongdan and Bohai Sea, almost forming a semi-arc encirclement of Qin, which made Qin think deeply and was all shocked and inexplicable.

What makes Qin even more jealous is that there is still a huge gap between Qi and Qin, it can be said that in addition to the population of our Great Qin being several times that of Qi and foreign countries, in all the data comparisons that can show the strength of the country, they are far behind Qi State.

Moreover, in the past ten years, the hawks and some "people of insight" in the military of Qi did not dare to directly criticize and deny Emperor Taizu's unsparing support for Qin, but they clamored to change their ways, change their attitude towards Qin, and implement an all-round containment strategy against Qin, so as to prevent a challenge to Qiguo in the future.

However, after all, the relationship between the two countries has a strong civil foundation and close commercial ties, coupled with the necessary restraint between the top leaders of the two sides—in fact, the northwestern border trouble has not been completely lifted, and its own naval strength is simply not enough to challenge the powerful Qi navy, so that Qin has made more corresponding concessions, which has maintained a delicate relationship between the two countries that has both disputes and differences, as well as mutual needs (exploits).

However, some broad-minded Qin officials and scholars knew very well in their hearts that Qin and Qi would inevitably break out into a fierce conflict or even a huge war due to geopolitical disputes or commercial interests at some point in the future.

On 2 October, the scheduled departure of the Daqin mission was postponed by three days, as too many Russian aristocrats were arguing over the quota of a business delegation and the amount of goods to carry. Had it not been for the forcible intervention of Tsarine Catherine I and the powerful minister Menshikov, these nobles vying for trade opportunities in the East would have engaged in many duels.

In the end, the delegation was staggeringly large, including the Privy Council Ministers in charge of foreign affairs, the Vice-President of the Army Council, former diplomatic ministers, as well as specialists in geography, botany, languages, mathematics, doctors, clergy, officers, etc., as well as a large number of miscellaneous servants and servants, a total of 325 men, and 650 soldiers in escort.

The caravan carried a large amount of goods, more than 1.3 million furs alone, in addition, a small amount of leather, woollen wool, mirrors, etc.

Looking at this posture, they are ready to make a big deal in the territory of the Qin State to supplement their empty domestic finances.

(End of chapter)