The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 831 Does being a hero require sacrifice?
Tbilisi, Georgia.

At this time, the unified Georgian kingdom, after being completely destroyed by Timur the Lame around 1386, fell into division.

Part of western Georgia was controlled by the Ottoman Turks, while the remaining main part of eastern Georgia split into two kingships and three principalities.

The two kingdoms are the Kingdom of Imereti and the United Kingdom of Kartli-Kakhti.

The three principalities are the Principality of Abkhazia, the Principality of Guria, and the Principality of Mingrelia.

Among the three principalities of these two kings, Abkhazia, Guria, and Mingrelia had no flat lands for more than three miles. If the three principalities of Dayu were combined, their population might not even be as large as that of a medium-sized county, so they had little influence.

The Kingdom of Imeredi was similar, with limited land and a poor population, but historically known for its wine and gold.

However, at this time, its wine had little market and the cost of gold mining was too high to be converted into wealth, so it was currently just surviving in the mountains and hills.

The only power with any influence in Georgia was the United Kingdom of Kartli-Kakhti, but this kingdom had long been controlled by the Tsarist Rus' Empire.

The Tsar controlled the United Kingdom through the Treaty of Georgian, taking away the most important diplomatic and military powers. The successive Tsars of the United Kingdom had to be officially recognized by the Tsar of St. Petersburg before they could ascend the throne.

Historically, as early as 1801, Tsar Paul I announced the termination of the Treaty of Georgia, directly abolishing the newly enthroned Tsar David XII of the United Kingdom and completely annexing the United Kingdom.

However, in this timeline, the Great Yu Dynasty increased the strength of the Tsarist Rus' Empire, causing it to not dare to completely annex the United Kingdom.

Therefore, David XII remained on the throne in Tbilisi, unilaterally assuming the role of Caesar of the United Kingdom of Kartli-Kahti.

Southwest of Tbilisi, the Palace of King David.

This was originally the palace of King David XI (1569-1578), but this king had a bad reputation because he converted to Islam in Georgia, where Orthodox Christianity was the prevailing religion, in order to secure his throne. After he was overthrown, the palace became a place to receive distinguished guests.

Inside the palace, members of the delegation dispatched by Gui Han, the commander of the Southern Route Army, were secretly discussing their next move.

The reason for sending a delegation instead of directly sending troops was that Gui Han was busy dealing with the various Khanates of Azerbaijan and the Armenian nobles who came to pay their respects.

Secondly, although the Tsarist Rus' Empire was deeply rooted in Georgia, many of Georgia's old noble families did not want to lose everything and still harbored rebellious intentions.

If the Great Yu directly sends troops, it will simply push all these nobles to the Russian side, thus increasing the number of enemies.

Therefore, the best approach would be to send envoys to assess the situation. If they could incite resentment among the Georgian nobility towards the Tsarist Rus' Empire, that would be ideal.

"Although Count Rochagudovich dared not send his entire army to the Caucasus region, Karl Fedorovich Norin, the head of the Rochagudovich Caucasus Supervisory Bureau, sent General Lazarev with two thousand men."

The arrival of these Rakshasa armies greatly strengthened King David XII's confidence, and he once again refused our delegation's request for an audience today.

Deng Tingzhen, a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the 21st year of Guangzhong (1796) and the chief envoy of the mission, was from Yingtian Prefecture, Nanjing. He frowned, clearly indicating that the mission was in a very passive position at this moment.

"The Caucasus Inspection Bureau of this Russian country is actually the retired emperor sent to the Caucasus by the Tsar of St. Petersburg."

Norin is as cunning as a fox, and his methods are ever-changing. Now that his men have arrived, King David XII naturally dares not meet with us again.

"Yes, we Han Chinese started developing our presence here too late. Nowadays, most of the members of the royal family of Ge Kingdom were trained by the Rakshasa Empire."

Even King David XII studied in St. Petersburg and served as the colonel commander of the Preobrazhensky Guards. From culture to faith, he was practically Russian. How could we possibly change his mind?

The delegation members also sighed, realizing that it was naturally difficult for outsiders like Dayu, who had only been there for a few years, to shake up the decades-old layout of the Rakshasa Kingdom in the Caucasus.

“It is indeed difficult to change King David XII’s mind, but are we just going to give up and slink back?” Ge Chengsheng, the military attaché of the delegation and a native of Shanyin County, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, said somewhat unwillingly.

"What else can we do but give up?" The rest of the delegation didn't want to give up either, but they really had very little room for maneuver.

"The Russians have been rooted here for decades and have two thousand soldiers stationed here. We only have a little over a hundred people. Although the main army is in Azerbaijan, it is impossible for them to arrive immediately."

With neither inside help nor outside support, this mission is unlikely to achieve anything!

This is true. The Tsarist Russian Empire had deeply penetrated the Georgian royal family over the past few decades. At this time alone, there were two very famous Russian noble generals who came from the Georgian royal family.

Prince Tsityanov, later known as the Conqueror of the Caucasus, was a Lieutenant General.

Prince Balagedian, General Pyotr Ivanovich, who made immortal contributions during Napoleon's invasion of Russia.

These talented generals from Georgian royal families were willing to serve the Tsarist Rus' Empire, and even willing to destroy their own ancestral temples to strengthen the Tsarist Rus' Empire. This shows the extent of the Rus' Empire's control over Georgia.

But Ge Chengsheng was still unwilling to give up. He thought for a moment and said, "King David XII's stepmother, Queen Dowager Daleyan Dadiani, and her sons are not willing to give up power."

They also have considerable influence among the Georgian nobility; perhaps we can get them to support us.

This Queen Mother of the United Kingdom is no ordinary woman. She is very shrewd and resourceful, and she is also incredibly fertile, having given birth to a total of twenty-one children, thirteen of whom reached adulthood. Her fertility and energy are terrifying!
With so many children marrying into various families, and being from the ducal family of the Mingrelia Duchy herself, this Queen Mother was indeed very influential.

"It's too late. The Rakshasa army has already sealed off the Queen Mother's Daleyan Palace. We can't get in at all and can't contact the Queen Mother."

General Lazarev of Russia had been stationed in Georgia for five or six years, and he had people all over him, so he would not have been negligent in not sealing off the Daleyan Palace.

This won't work, that won't work, the members of the delegation were all discouraged and sighed deeply, while the chief envoy Deng Tingzhen hesitated and stopped speaking.

Just then, a young voice rang out. It was Ge Yunfei, the fourteen-year-old son of Lieutenant Colonel Ge Chengsheng, the military attaché of the delegation, standing tall with his hand on his sword.

“My uncles are all pillars of the nation and henchmen of the emperor. At this critical moment, why can’t we follow the example of Ban Dingyuan?”

Ge Yunfei spoke with conviction, his young face gleaming in the candlelight, “General Rossilazarev has just arrived and is not yet wary of us. Of his two thousand soldiers, only one thousand are inside the city, and the other one thousand are in the camp outside the city.”

Moreover, the men who sealed off Daleyan Palace numbered only about two hundred, while we have two hundred elite soldiers. We could easily launch a night raid on Daleyan Palace and rescue Queen Mother Daleyan and Prince Yulong.

Then, in their name, they issued a decree to expel the Russians, saying that as long as they held out until the main army arrived, their mission would be accomplished!

Everyone in the room was shocked. As Deng Tingzhen looked at Ge Yunfei, he couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, "Truly, heroes emerge from among the young! We are all adults here, yet we are not as good as this young man!"

In reality, it's not that no one could have thought of imitating Ban Dingyuan's story; at least, it wasn't that not everyone thought of it.

Many people have thought of this, but doing so is extremely dangerous, and some people simply don't want to put themselves in danger.

Therefore, Deng Tingzhen immediately stepped in to block the way out, calling Ge Yunfei's speech a heroic act. In this way, he blocked the way out for many people who were unwilling to take such a risk.

Now that things have been said, who would dare say no? If word got out, they'd be finished and could just go home and eat their father's rice.

"However, I believe that attacking the Avala Palace, where King Ge resides, is worse than attacking the Dalleyan Palace."

General Lazarev, a Russian general, was also in the palace. He killed them all, cutting off the Tbilisi nobles' escape route and forcing them to help us.

Deng Tingzhen had already decided on the target of the attack, which shows that he had thought a lot about it, but he just didn't say it out loud.

"No, Lord Deng, we should attack Darleyan Palace first." Since his son had already exposed the matter, the father, Ge Chengsheng, naturally had to step forward and take responsibility.

"Firstly, the Daleyan Palace only has two hundred or so Rakshasa soldiers, which we can easily take over."

Secondly, the Arava Palace is located on Mount Arava, a strategically important and difficult location to attack. If we could get Queen Dowager Daleyan to intervene, given her prestige, she would surely be able to force open the palace gates, greatly increasing our chances of success!

Deng Tingzhen paced back and forth for a moment, then clenched his right fist and slammed it into his palms. "Let's do it this way. First, attack the Daleyan Palace, then the Avala Palace."

After saying that, he looked at Ge Yunfei and said, "We need someone to go back and tell Commander Gui to immediately send troops to Tbilisi to guard against a Russian counterattack."

"Ge Yunfei, this task is assigned to you. Go down and choose five people to go back with you."

This is actually a benefit. The story of Ban Dingyuan still involves danger. If there were no danger, Ban Dingyuan would not have become famous for all time.

Ge Yunfei had just broken the deadlock with his words, which was tantamount to helping Deng Tingzhen. Seeing that he was so young, he intended to let him go back to a safe place.

Unexpectedly, Ge Yunfei's face immediately turned red after hearing this, and he looked at Deng Tingzhen anxiously and shouted:

"How can a real man back down in the face of battle? Besides, it was my suggestion. Does Lord Deng look down on me, Ge Yunfei, for being young and weak?"

I've practiced marksmanship since childhood; I can hit the bullseye every time within 100 meters, no less than any samurai!

Deng Tingzhen then truly looked at the young man with new respect. "Good, Ge Yunfei, you are not yet twenty, yet you have such ambition. Your future is limitless. Then you shall stay and fight alongside us to defeat the enemy!"

The Queen Mother's residence, D'Aryan Palace, is not far from King David XII's Avara Palace, except that one is at the foot of Avara Mountain and the other is halfway up the mountain.

Otherwise, General Roshalazarev wouldn't have only sent two hundred men to blockade the Dalyan Palace, because this small palace was so close that he could send troops to support it at any time should anything happen.

Three days later, calculating that the messenger should be arriving at Guihan's camp soon, the Tbilisi Da Yu delegation prepared to launch their attack.

As night deepened, Deng Tingzhen led 191 men, including the mission's cooks who were armed with revolvers and ox-tail knives, and stealthily approached the gates of Lei Yang Palace. Suddenly, they realized that their plan was not going to work.

Because the two palaces are so close together, if a battle breaks out and the guns start firing, the Avala Palace, located halfway up the mountain, will definitely be able to hear it.

If the Russian general Lazarev, who lives directly in the palace, forcibly takes over the palace's defenses, their chances of winning are slim when attacking a palace guarded by eight hundred men with less than two hundred men.

Moreover, Lazarev could also take King David XII hostage and order the hundreds of United Kingdom guards in the palace to participate in the defense, making it even more impossible to capture the city.

At this moment, Ge Yunfei stepped forward and pointed to the side of Daleyang Palace that was backed by the mountain, saying to Deng Tingzhen, "The palace walls here are low. I am young and agile, and I am willing to crawl over to avoid the sight of the Russian guards, and then use a grappling hook to climb over the city wall and enter the palace to persuade Queen Dowager Ge to open the palace gates."

Deng Tingzhen swallowed hard, then looked at Ge Chengsheng. Such a big matter, with a high probability of life-threatening danger, even though he was the superior, he still had to consult the other party's father.

“Father, you once had me read the Biography of Yue Fei and asked me which sentence I admired most. Do you remember my answer?” Ge Yunfei looked at his father, Ge Chengsheng.

Ge Chengsheng nodded, his gaze towards his son filled with complex emotions. "You said you liked the saying 'Civil officials do not love money, and military generals do not fear death' the most."

“That’s right, Father. For generations, the Ge family of Shanyin has practiced martial arts to make a living. Now that the Holy Emperor is in power, even the princes and grandsons of the emperor need to go to the frontier to serve the country. Are we martial artists more precious than them? Serving the country is our duty. Why should I hesitate to sacrifice myself!”

"Besides, for no other reason than for Brother Jie, driving away the Rakshasa soldiers today is something we must do, and we have no choice but to take the risk!"

The "Jiege'er" that Ge Yunfei mentioned was the eldest son of Mo Zhouzhao, the tenth prince of the emperor who was about to be enfeoffed in the Caucasus. The mother of this eldest son was Ge Yunfei's cousin.

Although Mo Zhouzhan was engaged to Marie, the daughter of Emperor Franz II of the Holy Roman Empire, he was nine years older than Marie and was also a prince of the Great Yu Dynasty, so he naturally couldn't just remain a monk and wait.

So he already had two concubines, but he hadn't given them any titles. He was waiting to formally marry the queen before bestowing titles upon them, as a way of giving face to the Holy Luo Empire. Ge Yunfei's cousin was one of these two concubines.

This is also why Mozibu gave Emperor Franz II of the Holy Roman Empire an interest-free loan of eight million silver dollars as a bride price.

Mo Zhouzhan married Mary of Shenluo, but he only superficially converted to Catholicism. Unlike Mo Gongze, who followed the Catholic rule of monogamy and the rule that the king could only have mistresses, he followed the rules of Dayu.

The Ge family of Shanyin moved from the prosperous Shaoxing to Anxi for this reason. They came to pave the way for Prince Mo Zhouzhi of Liao and were his true confidants.

Otherwise, no matter how talented Ge Yunfei was, he couldn't have appeared in the delegation at the age of fourteen.

After listening, Ge Chengsheng knew that what his son Ge Yunfei said was true; they had no choice. So he nodded with trembling hands, "My son is a hero, far superior to me. He will definitely complete the mission. Go!"

In the Daleyan Palace, Queen Dowager Daleyan Dadiani was discussing with her third son, Yulon Bagration, her fourth son, Vakhtang Iraklievich, and her tenth son, Alexander Bagration, their opposition to the annexation of the Karlit-Kakhti United Kingdom by the Tsarist Rus' Empire.

Historically, all three princes were staunch anti-Russians and caused considerable trouble for the Russians in the Caucasus region.

"Mother, why don't we fight our way out and go to the Khitan delegation? Let them help us take back Tbilisi."

Alexander Bagration, the youngest but most capable son, whose descendants later caused trouble for Russia in Dagestan during the Chechen Wars, said this.

Goodness, both groups have the same idea.

Queen Dowager Dalyan, seated in the main seat and wearing a small black Orthodox hat, who looked like a Slavic woman from afar, took a slow breath and asked, "My dear Alexander, how should we deal with the Rus' people in the palace?"

“Give them a reward, give them a good drink, and those poor bastards and drunkards will definitely fall for it,” said Alexander Bagration.

“Yes, give them plenty of pickles, potatoes, stew, unlimited black bread, and some honey cake, and I’m sure they’ll drink themselves to death,” the third son, Yulon Bagration, said excitedly.

After listening, Empress Dowager Wang had already made up her mind. Just as she was about to speak, she suddenly heard a noise at the door. The sentry she had placed at the door let out a suppressed scream, and then the door was pushed open.

The mother and her three sons, who were plotting something, were terrified. The three sons instinctively hid behind their mother like small animals encountering danger.

The queen then gently flicked her right hand, and a long dagger emerged from her wide robes into her equally wide sleeves.

Historically, this Queen Mother had always resisted being moved to St. Petersburg. In 1803, the Tsar ordered General Lazarev to forcibly take the Queen Mother there. Then, at the age of 66, the Queen Mother used this dagger to stab General Lazarev in the palace, causing him to bleed to death before he could even leave the palace.

However, the mother and her three children quickly calmed down, because what appeared in front of them was clearly a child with an East Asian face.
Queen Dowager Daryan almost thought she was seeing things due to mental confusion; she even rubbed her eyes.

"Khitan, translator, help you!" Ge Yunfei only spoke very basic Russian, uttering words one by one, but his meaning was very clear.

Queen Dowager Darleyan quickly summoned the translator, who was the same sentry who had been knocked down and handcuffed by Ge Yunfei outside the door.

The two sides have been dealing with each other for five or six years. There are a few translators in Georgia who can speak Chinese, and there are also quite a few people in the four provinces of Anxi who can speak Russian and Arabic.

"Why should I pledge allegiance to the Great Emperor of the East?" Queen Dowager Darleyan asked in a low voice.

"Because you have no choice. If you don't want to die inexplicably in St. Petersburg, you can only choose the Chinese Empire."

With King David XII, Tsar Paul I has no need for your opposition.

"So what should we do, and what can we get in return?"

"Accept the Liao King as the King of the entire Caucasus and pledge allegiance to him. Just do this, and all your power will be retained. All your property and taxes can be used for your own purposes and will no longer need to be handed over to the Tsar."

"Your Majesty the Great Emperor, the ruler of all the East is rich beyond measure and extremely generous. He has no need for your meager income; on the contrary, he will generously bestow many treasures upon you."

Ge Yunfei was not lying. The only requirement that Dayu had for the Caucasus region was to accept at least 200,000 Han Chinese immigrants.

Apart from that, as long as they remain loyal to the tenth prince, Liao Wang Mo Zhouzhao, everything will be fine.

The reason why the Great Yu wanted to take over the Caucasus region was to control the entire West Asia and Eastern Europe.

This land could threaten the Tsarist Rus' Empire to the north, intimidate the Middle East to the south, and not only fight the Ottoman Empire to the west, but also reinforce the new Rome of Mogonze via the Black Sea. Incidentally, it could also keep Persia in disarray to the east.

In such a wonderful place, for the sake of this strategy, it wouldn't be a problem to give the two or three million people in the Caucasus some benefits, or even to make an exception and let them be considered as Orientals.

Queen Dowager D'Alejan was a clever woman. It could be said that, historically, if it weren't for the Tsarist Russian Empire's overwhelming power, this woman would have been the Empress Lü of the Caucasus, and she was extremely shrewd.

Therefore, she could certainly understand Da Yu's strategy, and since she had originally planned to seek help from the Da Yu delegation, the two sides quickly reached an agreement after a brief conversation.

Queen Dowager Daleyan and her group did not want to die, and the Great Yu delegation did not want to return empty-handed; therefore, it was imperative for them to unite!
"Are you a nobleman, young Khitan warrior?" Queen Dowager Daleyan suddenly asked.

Ge Yunfei nodded subconsciously. His cousin would be a concubine of the King of Liao in the future, and his grandfather had made great contributions in the great battle to recover Hangzhou in Dayu and had the title of General of the State, so he could indeed be considered a nobleman.

With a whoosh, Queen Dowager Darleyan lifted a sleepy little girl, who looked to be only eight or nine years old, from the bed behind her.

"This is my granddaughter, Elena, a young Khitan warrior. Would you be willing to marry her?" Queen Dowager Daleyan stared intently at Ge Yunfei.

"If you're willing, we can form an alliance right away!"

What the hell!

Ge Yunfei, who was imitating the heroic deeds for the first time, was stunned. This, this history book did not say that being a great hero required sacrificing oneself at any time.

Moreover, at this time, the status of Han people had risen dramatically, and Ge Yunfei was quite unwilling to marry a Western barbarian woman, not even the granddaughter of the Queen Mother.

Queen Dowager Darleyan stared at Ge Yunfei, testing his sincerity. This shrewd and calculating Empress Lü of the Caucasus knew very well that some people could indeed be young heroes, even more capable than adults in many ways.

But even the most outstanding young hero is still a young man, and he cannot suddenly mature in matters such as relationships and marriage.

Because this thing is related to physiology, if your physiology is not mature, it's hard for you to be open-minded about this aspect.

So if Ge Yunfei agreed immediately, it would probably mean the Khitans didn't take them seriously. But if he looked hesitant, it would strongly suggest that the Khitans were serious.

After a mental struggle, Ge Yunfei finally nodded, "Okay, after it's done, I'll become your grandson-in-law!"

(End of this chapter)