The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 963 Big Russian Head
On October 18, 1884, before the first snowfall in St. Petersburg, the air inside the Winter Palace was already bitterly cold. Alexander III stood in the center of the command hall, with a map of Europe spread out across the room, densely covered with small flags representing the armies of various countries.

Army Minister Ivanovsky, holding a gilded baton, pointed to the town of Bertheny in northeastern France, where a blue pennant was flying and several black chess pieces representing damaged armored units were scattered around.

"Your Majesty, the German armored column has been stalled at Bertheney for two whole weeks." Ivanovsky's voice carried an undisguised excitement and a hint of schadenfreude. "The railway lines in northeastern France have been cut off by the Lille fortress complex, and now the Germans are relying entirely on mules and trucks for road transport. According to reliable intelligence, the Germans can only deliver less than a third of the required amount of artillery shells to the Bertheney front each day."

The Tsar's lips twitched slightly. Three months earlier, when German armored forces surged across the vast plains of the Franco-Belgian border, the Winter Palace held emergency meetings every night. Staff officers marked possible routes of attack on maps with red pencils, and everyone feared that the Germans would achieve an overwhelming victory within weeks or months, just as they had with France in 1869, and then turn eastward.

But to my surprise, when the fight actually broke out, it was a completely different story!

"So... this is the German war machine that makes all of Europe tremble?" The Tsar suddenly burst into laughter, the sound echoing beneath the gilded ceiling. "Just a tin toy trapped in the mud by a few autumn rains and a bunch of French workers?"

Admiral Shestakov added aptly, “What’s even more ridiculous is the British. Their home fleet has a dozen or so battleships, yet they still dare not enter the Baltic Sea because they are afraid of the three German armored cruisers and a few small torpedo destroyers.”

The Tsar's laughter abruptly stopped. This was not good news!

He turned to Chief Minister Benger: "How is our foreign trade doing?"

Benger immediately opened a thick ledger, which recorded economic data showing that the Russian Empire was always on the verge of collapse: "Due to the blockade by Germany and Turkey, 1.8 million tons of wheat have been stockpiled in the ports of the Black Sea, and Baku's oil production has been forced to be reduced by 60%! The prices of beef, milk and butter in various places are also falling, while imported industrial products, machinery and equipment and spare parts are in very short supply."

The Tsar frowned deeply—the situation seemed rather dire! If Russia could not export its wheat, oil, grain, meat, and dairy products, the Russian economy might collapse.
“The most serious thing is,” Benger paused, then continued, “according to the Quartermaster Department’s report, our saltpeter reserves are only enough to sustain large-scale operations for six months.”

The Tsar's face instantly darkened. He recalled the warnings his father, Alexander II, had repeatedly given him before he was assassinated by the People's Will: "Remember, our industry is like a lame giant—it can throw a heavy punch, but it cannot withstand a protracted war."

"Your Majesty!" Army Minister Ivanovsky suddenly raised his voice, "Now is a golden opportunity! Germany is bogged down in France, and Britain and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are at each other's throats. Russia now has full freedom of action, and I propose an immediate offensive into the Balkans and the Turkish Straits region!"

The Tsar nodded; this was the opportunity he had been waiting for!
He pointed to Constantinople on the map: "Order! The Black Sea Fleet shall immediately enter a state of combat readiness, the Caucasian Legion shall assemble on the Ottoman border, and the Balkan Legion shall begin its entry into the United Principality of Romania."

Army Minister Ivanovsky was taken aback: "Your Majesty, are we going to march on the United Principality of Romania? Although it belongs to the Ottoman Empire, it is the main oil-producing region of the German Empire."

The Tsar sneered: "The German Empire is bogged down in France's quagmire. According to intelligence, they have deployed fewer than 30 divisions across the entire Eastern Front, with not a single tank and very few cavalry. Our Balkan Army, on the other hand, has 60 divisions, 15 of which are Cossack cavalry divisions! The advantage is on our side!"

While the Tsar in St. Petersburg was issuing the mobilization order for war, thousands of miles away in the Fergana Valley of Central Asia, it was late autumn. Sandstorms, carrying withered grass, lashed against the weathered walls of the newly built Chang'an. This city, established by Li Hongzhang and the remnants of his Xiang-Huai army, exuded an eerie sense of incongruity—gas lamps hung under Tang-style eaves, Russian four-wheeled carriages ran along Zhuque Street, and the shouts of market vendors mingled with Shandong dialects and Turkic languages.

Ten miles west of the city, nestled against the foothills of the Tianshan Mountains, stands a striking cluster of Russian-style buildings. Atop a towering brick watchtower, a flag embroidered with a double-headed eagle and a yellow dragon flutters in the wind. This is the Great Tang Military Academy, the only place in Central Asia where the Great Tang Dynasty was permitted to teach modern military knowledge.

At 5:30 a.m., the sharp sound of bugles broke the dawn. Five hundred cadets assembled in thirty seconds. They were dressed in Russian-style uniforms, but their leggings and cloth shoes were the old style of the Huai Army.

Dean of Academic Affairs Duan Qirui, holding a riding crop, swept his hawk-like gaze across every young face: "Today's morning exercise—a 10-kilometer cross-country run in full gear! The last fifty will not receive breakfast!"

At the front of the line, artillery instructor Wang Shizhen is inspecting the trainees' equipment. This tall, thin Shandong man is the strictest instructor in the academy and the only artillery expert who can hit a moving target at 3,000 meters away with a Russian-made 76mm field gun.

"Reporting, Commander!" a sentry suddenly ran up. "The convoy of the Russian advisory group has arrived."

Yuan Shikai, who had been promoted to major general after returning from the Taiping Rebellion and had even become the head of the Tang Dynasty Military Academy, put down his German-made binoculars and straightened the collar of his mink coat: "Let them wait on the reviewing stand." As the cadets began their cross-country run with rifles, Colonel Kovalevsky, the head of the Russian advisory group, looked at this "ragtag army" with disdain. But when he saw the cadets maintaining orderly formation as they crossed the sand dunes and heard them shouting resounding slogans in Chinese, the contempt on his face gradually turned into surprise.

“Director Yuan,” Kovalevsky said in broken Chinese, “your student is very special.”

Yuan Shikai smiled without saying a word. He knew what these young men, struggling and toiling in the fertile soil of the new Guanzhong Plain, meant—they were the future of the Tang Dynasty, and even more so, the sharp sword in his hand.

After the day's training concluded, Yuan Shikai's office doors and windows remained tightly shut. Seven people sat around an open map on a thick Persian carpet. Besides Yuan Shikai, Duan Qirui, and Wang Shizhen, four special guests were present: Cao Kun, commander of the 1st Battalion of the Imperial Guards Infantry; Wu Dingyuan, a staff officer from the Ministry of the Army; Wang Zhanyuan, commander of the 1st Battalion of the Imperial Guards Cavalry Division; and Tian Zhongyu, a military advisor to the military governor of Bukhara, who had secretly traveled from Bukhara.

"The Tsar has just issued a decree to the court," Yuan Shikai said in a low voice, sharing news he had just learned from his Russian advisor. "He requests that we send a volunteer cavalry division to the Caucasus front. I'm already planning to petition the Emperor to lead this volunteer cavalry division into battle! You should all volunteer as well!"

Cao Kun was taken aback: "Sir, are you going to take us to be cannon fodder for the Russians?"

“Of course not!” Yuan Shikai traced an arc on the map with his finger. “This is our opportunity.” His fingertip finally stopped at Bandar Abbas on the northern shore of the Persian Gulf: “The British only have two battalions stationed in Persia, the Russians only have one battalion there, and the British Indian Fleet is all focused on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's navy east of the Strait of Malacca. If our volunteer cavalry division can march south under the Russian flag…”

Duan Qirui was taken aback and stood up: "Go south to Persia? Lord Yuan, there's only desert between us and Persia!"

“It is precisely because it is a desert that the British are complacent,” Wang Shizhen calmly analyzed. “We can take the route through Herat and head south along the ancient Silk Road.”

Wu Dingyuan raised a crucial question: "What about supplies? The Tsar can't possibly give us that much military supplies."

Yuan Shikai opened a drawer and took out a stack of documents: "This is a secret agreement with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Persian Gulf Oil Company. They are willing to provide one million silver dollars of Heavenly Kingdom military expenses on the condition that we hand over the rights to explore and exploit oil in Persia to them."

A deathly silence fell over the room. Everyone knew what this meant—the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was an enemy of both Britain and Russia! Persia, on the other hand, was under the control of both Britain and Russia. The Tang Dynasty in Central Asia, though nominally neutral, was in reality supported by Russia.

This is tantamount to him taking Russian weapons, flying the Russian flag, accepting money from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and going to seize British and Russian territory—and doing it all by himself!

"The gamble is too big," Tanaka Yu muttered.

Yuan Shikai's gaze swept across everyone's faces: "If our Great Tang could truly remain neutral, that would be fine, but now we have to side with Britain and Russia! Side with Britain and Russia means opposing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Germany! The British navy is currently suffering repeated defeats in the Pacific due to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's navy, and as for the Russian army, who would believe they can defeat the Germans? Even if the Germans have over a hundred divisions bogged down in France, they still have enough spare capacity to crush the hundred divisions the Tsar has deployed on the Western Front! We cannot stand with Tsarist Russia; we must jump to the side of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. That's our only way out, and there's also profit to be made! Moreover," Yuan Shikai finally dropped his "trump card," "The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom supports me!"

Three days later, late at night, five tarpaulin-covered carriages quietly drove out of the west gate of the new Chang'an. Inside were fifty of the most elite students from the military academy, who would serve as the advance team to Bukhara—where the volunteer cavalry division would be fully formed.

Meanwhile, the Winter Palace received a reply from Li Hongzhang: "The Tang Dynasty's volunteer cavalry division has begun to be formed and will be able to cross the Caspian Sea and enter the Caucasus battlefield next spring." The Tsar approved the additional arms allocation order with satisfaction, completely unaware that these weapons and ammunition would be used in Persia.

Meanwhile, on the military academy's training grounds, the remaining students were practicing tactical maneuvers under the moonlight. Little did they know, they might become participants in one of the most daring military adventures in Central Asian history.

Duan Qirui stood by the window, watching the boys sweating profusely on the playground: "Lord Yuan, what if we fail?"

Yuan Shikai toyed with a Taiping Heavenly Kingdom silver coin: "We won't fail. The Qajar dynasty is already on its last legs. How could they be a match for our ten thousand or so Tang Dynasty warriors? Besides, we have the support of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!"

(End of this chapter)