Chapter 827 Declaration of War (First update, please subscribe)
"1876 was a watershed year. The world changed at an unprecedented speed in that year. From Europe to South America, from North America to Asia, the whole world changed in a radical way in that year. Whenever we look back at history, we will know that this year actually affected the next 100 years."
The Rise of the Ming Empire - Gu Cheng
Russian Empire, St. Petersburg, Ming Embassy.
The warm wind blowing from the Baltic Sea takes away the cold current from the north. April in St. Petersburg is the best time of the year. This is a good time for people to go outings and picnics in the wild.
Even the officials in the embassy were busy preparing for the weekend outing. Military attachés Liang Tian, Song Chenghao, and Li Bin gathered around a low table in the embassy yard. On the table were pots of marinated mutton and beef. They were chatting about the opera they watched yesterday while skewering the meat.
Today is the weekend, and they invited several Russian girls to go on an outing together. The Ming Dynasty has never rejected foreign marriages, and many young officials stationed abroad have fallen in love and married local girls, including women of aristocratic origin from various countries.
"If all goes well, I should propose to Natasha in the next few days."
Li Bin said with a smile.
"Congratulations!"
Colleagues expressed their congratulations.
"It hasn't worked yet. It's still unclear whether she will agree."
"Oh, she's just a count's daughter, she won't refuse. You're a captain in the Imperial Army, there will definitely be no problem."
Suddenly, someone came running over in a hurry.
"Something happened!"
Everyone's eyes instantly focused on the past.
"Russia has declared war on Türkiye! Just now!"
Intelligence officer Zhang Guodao said word by word in a calm tone:
"The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs just announced this news to ambassadors of various countries. On April 24, in order to "save Christians under the oppression of the Ottoman Empire" and "protect Slavic brothers", Russia declared war on Turkey. Now, their army has launched an attack on Türkiye."
Faced with the sudden news, the officers who were skewering meat were stunned for a moment. After a moment, Major Liang Tian spoke.
"Okay, let's cancel today's trip. The war has started, and it came quite suddenly..."
Deputy head Song Chenghao slowly put down the skewers in his hand:
"It's not that sudden. After all, the Russians have been preparing for this war since last year. Since France entered Libya, it was only a matter of time before the Russians took action. They have been preparing for almost a year. If they don't attack now, it would be unlikely."
Was it sudden? Not sudden, because everyone knew that Russia was preparing for war. Was it not sudden? It must have been very sudden, because there was no news before. There was not even the usual ultimatum, but a direct declaration of war, which made mediation impossible.
Li Bin on the side also said slowly:
"It's meaningless to analyze these now. Since the war has already broken out, we, as military attachés, should go deep into the front lines, directly observe the Russian army, and understand their combat effectiveness. After all, they are our allies!"
Liang Tian nodded and said:
"Rui Shi is right. We originally thought that they would negotiate diplomatically first and then take action, but we never thought that they would take action right away. Speed is of the essence in war. The troops they transferred to the south for exercises last year have not been transferred back. It should be for this day... Well, in this battle, the Russians took the lead at the beginning."
"Although we took the initiative and seized the opportunity, the situation in Russia was not much better. Their railway transportation was backward, and the Danube River was flooded in spring. The former would delay their assembly speed, and the latter would delay the time to cross the river."
After listening to the team leader's analysis, everyone nodded in agreement, and Li Bin asked the team leader about their next plans.
"What to do next? You ask me, and I will ask the country as well. However, things have come to this point. Our mission is to go to the front line and observe the battle as a military attaché delegation. No matter how the Russians perform at that time, the most important thing for us is to do the job at hand. Now... the tree wants to be still, but the wind does not stop!"
…
April 23, Yingtian, southwest suburbs, royal manor.
"The war has finally begun!"
Emperor Zhu, who was fishing, did not even look up when he received the report from the Left Prime Minister. He just stared at the float quietly. Then what?
"How are the Russians preparing for war? Can their military production support their war with Turkey?"
As an ally of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Zhu did not want Russia to collapse as it did in history due to lack of weapons and ammunition.
"Your Majesty, you only need to ask the relevant departments to get the answer. Their arsenal was designed by us, and their equipment was also provided by us. We must have the relevant information."
Zuo Zongtang asked Emperor Zhu to nod and then said.
"Well, we have control over it. Inform the company to adjust a batch of weapons in stock and negotiate with Russia to sell them. Russia is taking action there, and we need them to break through Turkey's defenses. Helping them now is the same as helping ourselves. When the world's attention is attracted to Turkey, we can take action against Brazil. This is my idea. What do you think, Left Prime Minister?"
"Your Majesty is wise."
Zuo Zongtang complimented.
"Now that Russia has declared war on Turkey, the two sides will soon fight in places like the Danube and the Caucasus. When Turkey's forces are fully invested in resisting Russia, France will definitely take the opportunity to enter Jerusalem, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire will also take the opportunity to move south. In this way, the global trend that Your Majesty has pushed forward will also be pushed forward! The time of God's blessing for our Ming Dynasty will also come."
"What is God's blessing!"
Wang Youling retorted with a smile.
"This is clearly the world trend planned by your Majesty. The so-called blessing from heaven is entirely due to your Majesty's amazing wisdom. If your Majesty had not instigated the "Quadruple Alliance" in France to formulate this strategy, how could there be the blessing of heaven today?"
Is this flattery?
Yes! And no.
This is the truth!
Three years ago, when attending the funeral of Napoleon III in France, Emperor Zhu stood on the shoulders of the giants of history and tied the French Empire, the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the war chariot of the Ming Dynasty.
In just three years, the world situation developed according to the will of Emperor Zhu, just as he had originally expected - as long as the interests are great enough, those seemingly conflicting countries can also join forces.
After all, the world has suffered from Britain for a long time!
Now, Russia is on board!
The French are on the ship, and the only thing missing is the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Once the Austro-Hungarian Empire is on board and Turkey is swallowed up by the great powers, the Ming Dynasty's road to dominance will be unstoppable!
Emperor Zhu, who was fishing, seemed calm, but his breathing and fingers were trembling subconsciously, and his seemingly calm eyes were filled with fanaticism and excitement. In his excitement, he said.
"Mobilize the fleets. Unify the two ocean fleets into the Zhenyang Fleet!"
This is support for Russia!
What is the significance of the "Quad Alliance"? It is to let everyone see that they are united through this kind of support. Whether they are united or not is not important. The most important thing is to show it through some actions.
Only in this way can we make others be cautious. What is an alliance?
Even though everyone knows that alliances mean betraying each other, at least before they do so, they must let everyone know that, at least for now, they will not betray each other!
(End of this chapter)
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