Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 463
The defeat of Wu Ping'an and Jin Kaijun greatly shocked Zhang Jingxuan.He finally realized how ridiculous his previous thoughts were, and he even wanted to wrestle with Zhao Xin.All he can do now is to continue to wait and hold back.

It has been a year since he came to Irkutsk, and the local Beihai Navy, under the leadership of Liu Sheng and Fan Tong, could not penetrate the needle or splash water.He had hinted vaguely to several company commanders before, but compared to what Zhao Xin could offer, the conditions Zhang Jingxuan could offer were simply ridiculous.

He originally thought that he would be a qualified manager, didn't he just manage a group of ancient NPCs.Unexpectedly, it was only two months after I took office that I realized that my advanced vision and a little bit of ability were nothing compared to the businessmen of the five major families, and I was nothing after being fresh.

Whether it is Nerchinsk or Usolye, from the Nercha River to the Angara River, all towns and villages have developed from prisons.And those who dreamed of getting rich or were exiled here became long-term residents of the local area, and even mastered people, through violence.

The development of every silver mine is accompanied by killing and bloodshed. In addition to joining forces to deal with outsiders, internal struggles among the five families also often occur, and the final result is based on strength.

The five merchant families Siberiakov, Milinkov, Basin, Dudorovsky, and Suledovs have almost monopolized all property trade in Eastern Siberia. The family business created by two or three generations of fighting is either you die or I die.

You must know that before the Beihai Navy came, the local laws were useless to the five major families, because these people made the laws of the city council.

For Ivan Jacobi whose hand was cut off by Zhao Xin, what he cared about before was only how much tax East Siberia could bring to the Governor's Mansion.

If it wasn't for Zhao Xin sending telegrams every now and then to inquire about the progress, and even showing up occasionally, Zhang Jingxuan might have been played to death by those people.

Basning, who was very polite to him, was a cunning old fox under his gentle appearance; and the former mayor Sibilyakov, who made his fortune with his fists, when he met Zhang Jingxuan for the first time, he started from the other party's There was a trace of nervousness in his expression; as for Suledovs, he even sent his precious daughter, who made Zhang Jingxuan confused as soon as he came up. The door-to-door son-in-law.

After all, fair-skinned and beautiful blonde girls are hard to come by.

The reason why these people obeyed at the beginning was mainly because they were afraid of Zhao Xin.After all, it was Irkutsk that he led the troops to take down. His disregard for life coupled with the mouth-watering tea, rhubarb and silk, is the so-called carrot in one hand and a big stick in the other.

In Zhao Xin's plan, when the Northern Navy and Tsarist Russia finish another fight, and the two sides can sit down and negotiate, the five families will be useless, and they will go wherever they like.

It was also because of this that Zhao Xin told Zhang Jingxuan before that he must either conquer them with his own abilities, or foster a new batch of them.

The problem is that it’s okay for a modern person to play tricks, and he can say kill this and kill that at will; when it comes to the real face, whether it’s the law-abiding habits developed in the past, or the fear of life and death, it’s hard for people to ignore life .

"PTSD" is terrible, and it often accompanies a person's life, and even completely changes a person's personality.In the past two years, under Wang Zhong's suggestion, Zhao Xin has read a lot of Confucian books for self-adjustment, and his sleep quality has improved a lot.

So when Zhang Jingxuan realized that he was still a baby in front of the five great families, he could only focus on immigration first.The five masters asked Liu Sheng and Zhao Xin to deal with it.

In the year 1789, Eastern Siberia successively received 2 people, a small half of whom were naturalized citizens of the island country.Those who can be relocated here by the civil affairs arrangement are all old residents of Beihai Town.These people are familiar with the management system of Beihai Town, and they will not be so timid when dealing with people, and they can quickly control the management of the village and town in their hands.

Like peppercorns, the new immigrants were settled in several villages and towns along the Nercha River from west to east, from Nerchinsk to Irkutsk.In Beihai Town's plan, at least 1790 immigrants will be sent to the Beihai Special Zone in [-] to form an absolute advantage in terms of population composition.

There were not many local Cossack residents, and the average number of people in each village was 2000.This move by Beihai Town deeply disturbed the old residents who had lived there for decades.

But when they discovered that the new residents had arrived, they were not so arrogant and domineering, but devoted all their passion to the land.Their attitude of wanting to grow food and vegetables on every inch of their arable land and refusing to waste a single bit made the old residents admire them deeply, and those honest Cossack families gradually felt that it was better to have such an extra neighbor. pretty good.

Although the hostility has not been completely eliminated, and although the beliefs are different, because Beihai Town canceled many exorbitant taxes under the tsar's rule, the people's hearts have gradually stabilized.

"Crack!" In a mansion in Irkutsk, Sibilyakov slammed an application document onto the desk.

"The proposal to participate in the construction of a new hospital was once again rejected. Gentlemen, if this continues, we will have less and less right to speak in the city!"

Basin, who was in his fifties, remained calm, took a sip of black tea from his teacup, and then said, "Dear Vasilyevich, it's obvious that the lord just wants us to do business honestly and not interfere Municipal affairs."

"But I'm the mayor! All of you are councilors!"

"Vassilievich, you are just the former mayor. That Malkovich is the dog of the Chinese. It has been more than a year. Why can't you see the situation clearly?" Suredovs always spoke slowly With his grizzled and kind appearance, many people who meet him for the first time will leave a very good first impression of him.

After hearing what Suledovs said, Sibilyakov took off his monocle from his eye socket, rubbed his eye socket and said: "If I go in the past, I have to use my fist to let him know who is the master here. "

Basning took out a flat square box with a silver shell from his jacket pocket, and pressed lightly on a certain position on the edge, and the box popped open, revealing the high-end cigarettes produced in Beihai Town inside; golden cigarette holders, sold in each box Price 5 silver rubles.After he lit the cigarette with a match, he took a puff of smoke leisurely, and then said: "We need to make a decision early, the colonel sent another person yesterday."

He didn't mention his name, but everyone else knew who he was talking about.Mikhail Nikolaevich, Marshal Rumyantsev's right-hand man; this person has already led troops to the "Zaimka Fortress", and is also responsible for spying on the direction of Irkutsk.

Sibilyakov asked disdainfully: "What does he want this time? Money or food? We have already supported enough. If those Chinese find out, it will be a very serious crime. You, I , none of us can escape."

"He wants information on the strength of the Chinese, especially their cannons." Basning said with a heavy tone.

Suledovs said with some dissatisfaction: "What the hell, why do we want to get involved in this kind of thing."

"Why? Our Lady will not allow such a large piece of land to be lost. Last year's proclamation said that one cannot turn a blind eye to the invasion of Russia, the threats to the security of the Empire, its dignity and its sacred rights."

Basning emphasized "divine rights" in his tone, as if this was the essence. After all, those Chinese did not believe in God at all.

"...The wish of the Holy Mother is: to develop the territory of the Far East on a solid foundation, to use all its strength to retake East Siberia at all costs, and to rekindle the flames of war on the Amur River."

"Whimsical! How did the admiral fail? Couldn't the severed arm of the governor make those people in Petersburg sober?"

"Gold," Basin said in a low voice, snuffing out his cigarette, "a high-grade gold deposit has been discovered on the Lena River. This incident greatly stimulated those people in Petersburg, who thought that there might be gold deposits in the upper Amur River." More. Gentlemen, that's what it's for."

He said a concluding remark, showing the air of telling a shocking secret.Several people in the room showed thoughtful expressions after hearing this.Gold, who doesn't love it?

"Let's go to dinner first." Sibilyakov hesitated to speak, he sighed, got up and walked towards the door.

Several people left the study room and walked into a very luxuriously decorated restaurant.Everything in it, from the napkins to the silverware, china and crystal glassware, said that I was rich, super rich at that.

At this time, the female relatives of each family came from the small living room, and what they were talking about was also about the war.

"Don't talk about Constantinople! Maybe I don't understand anything, but compared to the unrealistic Holy Roman Empire, Irkutsk is the most important thing. That fool Jacobi provoked for greed started a war with the Chinese, what is the result?"

"The Holy Mother should send someone to have a good talk with the Qing emperor. God's people paid blood, and we must repay this blood debt. Our queen never seeks the slightest self-interest, and she always wants to benefit the whole world. I Trust only in God, and in the noble destiny of our wise sovereign! . . . "

"I think those Chinese are not bad, well, except that they don't believe in God. The gift sent by the governor the other day is really rare!"

"He's some kind of governor, just a young man with a hairless mouth."

In the middle of the dinner, Sibylyakov's wife Maria Lilovna suddenly said something.

"I heard that the Tatars, oh no, I mean the Chinese, are going to set up a new police department. Poor Anna came to me crying today, and I'm afraid her husband's job will be lost."

Basning said: "It's inevitable. How did the Chinese say that? One emperor and one courtier."

"Hell, let's not speak Chinese at the dinner table, I hate their language and tone of voice."

"Who knows if the new police chief is good-looking?"

On February 1790, 2, two infantry regiments that had just arrived in Kazan camped one kilometer away from the city, preparing to wait for Marshal Rumyantsev to review the troops.In the early morning of the next day, what had been a loose mob the night before turned into a neatly lined army of 10 men.

"The Marshal is here!"

Following the notice of the messenger, the two regiment leaders jumped on their horses, and when they were stable, they drew out their sabers.The general leading the team had a happy and firm expression on his face, and was ready to shout the password. The two phalanxes composed of 4000 people suddenly fell silent, and everyone remained motionless.

"Stand up~~ upright!"

The tall sky-blue Viennese carriage driven by four horses in a row galloped along the snow-covered road, and the springs of the carriage made a slight rumbling sound.The attendants in thick military coats galloped behind the car on light cavalry.

When the carriage stopped in front of the regiment's queue, Rumyantsev was still talking softly with someone in the carriage.When he took heavy steps and stretched his legs off the steps, it seemed that there were not four thousand soldiers in front of him who were watching him and the commander with bated breath.

With the sound of a few passwords, the quiet phalanx began to move, and the soldiers raised their guns in unison, making a clanging sound.In that deathly solemnity, the voice of the old marshal was clearly audible.

The soldiers shouted together at the top of their voices: "My lord! I wish you a long and healthy life!"

After shouting a word, everyone held their breath again.Accompanied by his attendants, Rumyantsev began to review on foot along the queue.The old field marshal sometimes stopped to joke with officers he had known in the Turkish war, and sometimes to say words of encouragement to the soldiers.But for the weapons in the hands of the soldiers, his eyes looked a little melancholy.

After in-depth discussions with Suvorov and the combination of the little information at hand, Rumyantsev already knew that it was difficult to engage in positional warfare against the Northern Navy only with front-loaded smooth-bore rifles and long-barreled guns. Lie Zhan can only die in vain.And these two regiments will march towards the Yenisei River next month, and finally reach the Russian defense line on the Angara River.

With the end of the "Battle of the Ramnik River" that took place in September last year, the Russian-Austrian coalition forces defeated the Ottoman army in Foksani.Because of the absence of Suvorov, Kutuzov, who led the Breg cavalry corps, stood out.More than 1 Turkish troops were hit hard by the deep-deployed Russian raiding forces, and they successively lost the Targukukuli Barracks, Martinesti Fortified Barracks, and Odaya Barracks, and more than [-] people were killed or injured.

The victory of the Western Front allowed the Russian army to free up part of its troops to move to the East.In a letter to Catherine II, Rumyantsev stated that he planned to push the front of both sides to Lake Baikal before the fall of 1790.

The specific tactics are to suppress the opponent with a strong force, and at the same time use the rapid maneuvering of the cavalry to carry out surprise operations.Capture Irkutsk first, forcing the Chinese to retreat to the east bank of Lake Baikal.

"Dear Holy Mother, if we can fully concentrate our forces, the number should not be less than 5. A sudden and rapid attack this summer will surely wipe out most of the enemy in one fell swoop. Because we have recaptured Irkutsk, Then we can continue to control the favorable situation of Lake Baikal; therefore, if the enemy does not take the initiative to attack, we will be able to cut off the enemy's communication line at any time. If the enemy wants to attack with all forces, I will never allow him to realize this attempt. Therefore, we More troops are needed, and they need to get their spirits up and ready for battle this winter, and then we will, together, find an opportunity to make the enemy face the doom he deserves."

(End of this chapter)