Chapter 1192 All Under Heaven Belongs to the King (Second Update, Please Subscribe)
After the attack was thwarted, the Russians resorted to the same old trick again - artillery coverage!
Li Jie and the soldiers could only crawl back to the trenches and bunkers to hide. When the artillery fire was fierce, the ground beneath them kept shaking in the fierce bombardment. The soldiers in the artillery fire were dizzy and dazed by the shock wave of the explosion. They could not hear anything in the position. The gravel and dust splashed by the shells flew up and fell, hitting the soldiers heavily, but soon they did not feel the pain. Their bodies and the trenches were almost covered by the broken soil.
"Machine gun, machine gun..."
Liang Laoliu still remembered the machine gun in his heart. If there was no machine gun, their defense line would have been breached long ago. And the machine gun position happened to be hit by an enemy shell.
"machine gun……"
Although Liang Laoliu was shaken and fell forward, and the rifle in his hand was even knocked to the ground, he still crouched and ran towards the machine gun bunker regardless of everything.
In the half-collapsed bunker, the wounded were groaning.
After this round of shelling ended, when the comrades helped each other to crawl out of the damaged bunkers, everyone looked gray and many soldiers even had blood at the corners of their mouths.
"Machine gun, check the machine gun quickly..."
At Liang Laoliu's call, the machine gunner quickly looked for his machine gun, pulled it out from the broken soil, and saw that one side of the machine gun's tripod was broken.
"It's okay. We can still use it if we tie a piece of wood to it."
"The gauge is fine..."
While they were checking their weapons, suddenly, a few drops of water fell from the sky.
“It’s raining!”
Suddenly, rain fell without warning. The bean-sized raindrops instantly covered the entire battlefield. The unpredictable spring weather was revealed at this time. The soil was shattered by the artillery shells and instantly turned into a muddy land by the rain.
In the mud, the Russian army launched another attack.
…
February 14, Daming, Zhongdu, Imperial Palace.
"Since the war has already begun, the military advisory group and intelligence network should stay there to assist the Shi army in the battle. This is my idea. What do you think?"
Emperor Zhu, who just turned 48, looks like he is almost 50, but his body is still extremely strong. This is reflected in many aspects. For example, he can still easily run ten kilometers every day and fight against goblins, and a group of them at that.
Of course, for Emperor Zhu, fighting against the little goblins was just an occasional thing. As the emperor of the empire, he had never slacked off in the past twenty-four years.
Just like now, after learning about the changes in Central Asia, he summoned all his ministers at the first opportunity, and his eyes looked at his ministers majestically.
Prime Minister Qian Degong spoke first respectfully:
"Your Majesty is right. The Shi army is not without a chance of victory. Russia is also going through a long expedition. As long as the Shi family can maximize the strength of the invaders, I think we can force the Russians to make concessions through diplomatic negotiations."
"But no matter what, we should increase our assistance to them. Only through large-scale assistance can the Russians understand our attitude. If necessary, I think we can recruit the African Army to go in as volunteers. In a word, if the Empire does not want the Russians to get involved in the Western Regions, we must decisively cut off their ambitions the moment they reach out their hands."
Minister of the Army Zhao Shiji suggested.
"What the Zhao family said makes sense. Let's do this. The African Army is the empire's samurai sword. It's time to let the Russians have a taste of this samurai sword!"
Emperor Zhu obviously no longer intended to ask for other people's opinions.
Although he handed over a lot of power to the cabinet in the past decade or so, this did not affect the authority of his will. On the contrary, after so many years of ups and downs, the imperial civil service group's dependence on and loyalty to the imperial power was unprecedented in all dynasties.
The core of the empire was completely different from previous dynasties. It was neither tamed as a slave of imperial power like the Qing Dynasty, nor dominated by one party like the Ming Dynasty. It fully borrowed and absorbed the systems of the East and the West, integrating the two to form the core of the empire.
"How is the situation in Afghanistan? Do the British agree to let us transport supplies through there?" Emperor Zhu raised a new question.
Zhuge Jun, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, quickly responded:
"Your Majesty, the British side has always been very happy to see us clash with Russia over Ningyuan, and naturally they don't mind us assisting Ningyuan via Afghanistan. However, because of the elimination policy adopted by Ningyuan when suppressing Yakub Beg and Kokand, the Afghan side is quite wary of it for religious reasons.
But this is not a problem. After all, Britain is in charge of Afghanistan's diplomacy. Since the British and Indian authorities have agreed, the weapons we provide can certainly be transported to Ningyuan through Afghanistan. The biggest problem is that the local transportation conditions are extremely primitive, especially whether the mountain tribes will obey Kabul's orders. After all, the local mountain tribes have maintained a semi-independent state for hundreds of years, and most of them make a living by robbery. If they attack our transport team, it will not only cause casualties, but the most important thing is that the weapons cannot be delivered. Will it affect the war on the front line, or even cause the Russians to misjudge..."
Um……
Zhao Shiji's reminder made Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang fall into deep thought. The tribes in Afghanistan... This is an old problem. Not to mention now, even more than a hundred years later, the mountain tribes in Afghanistan are still a source of worry for them. Those places are generally feudal and backward, and their identification with religion and tribe is far greater than that with the country. Many people do not identify with the so-called country at all.
In the eyes of those tribes who disobey Kabul's orders, what is a transport team transporting weapons? It is simply a piece of fat meat. How can they not grab it?
Being robbed of supplies is the second most important thing. What will happen next?
The empire will certainly not suffer in silence and will certainly send troops to escort and retaliate against the tribes that attacked the transport team, which will further worsen the local situation. Then what?
The Russians would certainly make a misjudgment - thinking that the empire was unable to assist Ningyuan, which would only fuel their ambitions.
Even now, the Russians' military adventures are based on a misjudgment that the Empire will not conflict with Russia over Ningyuan.
The Russians always do things like this, working with a reckless and wishful thinking. This polar bear will never give up until it is given a beating.
The so-called interests of allies...In the eyes of the Russians, there are only interests, not allies!
With a cold smile, Emperor Zhu said.
"If Afghanistan doesn't work, then let's do it from the air! Air transport! What are our airships for? The Russians think that it's deep inland and we can't reach it. So, we will use airships to tell them that times have changed! The determination and will of the empire will never be affected by distance! Let them know that the whole world belongs to the king!"
The reason why the response was so strong was that Emperor Zhu knew very well that if the Russians' claws were not cut off, their greedy eyes would shift to the East.
Kokand, however, is just the beginning. When they have completed the annexation of these three countries, their sights may not necessarily be on Persia, but most likely on the Western Regions.
By that time, the Ming Dynasty and them would really be at war to the death.
So whether for the sake of friendship between allies or to tie the Russians to the chariot of the empire, they must be stopped!
(End of this chapter)
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