The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 837 Third Rome also had a Praetorian Guard election system

Paul I disliked the Winter Palace because it always reminded him of his mother, who disliked him and was strict with him to the point of abuse.

Catherine II was one of the greatest tsars of the Rus' nation, and it was under her rule that the Tsarist Rus' Empire began its march towards becoming a world-class power.

But for Paul I, she was definitely not a good mother.

Therefore, Paul I rarely lived in the Winter Palace, but mostly resided in the Mikhailov Palace complex, which he continuously improved, and the Kazan Cathedral annex, which he oversaw the construction of.

This Tsar was very special in the Rus' Empire because he often came up with ideas to try to change the empire, and these ideas were often very imaginative.

For example, in the last two years, Paul I actually wanted to restore the medieval knightly order system, turn all the nobles of the Tsarist Rus' Empire into knights, rebuild the strict hierarchical system and numerous rules, ensure their absolute loyalty to the Tsar, and evolve the Tsarist Rus' Empire into a fully centralized empire.

It's not impossible to accomplish, but it requires a highly prestigious and capable ruler, such as Emperor Wu of Han or Kang Youwei, or at least someone of the caliber of Guo Rong or Gao Huan.

But Paul I was far superior to people of average or above-average talent, such as Emperor Wen of Song (Liu Yilong) and Emperor Xianzong of Ming (Zhu Jianshen). He simply did not have the ability to accomplish what was a great undertaking for the Salar Empire and the Rus' people.

The only means Paul I could use was to heavily reward noble generals who met his standards, such as Kutuzov and Fyodor Rostopchin, the policymaker who sided with France.

Those who fail to meet his requirements will be severely punished.

Even here, there are still no major problems, as the monarch still has the power to reward and punish his subjects.

Paul I went too far. Only a dozen or so nobles and generals met his standards, while he punished seven marshals and more than three hundred generals.

Although a large portion of these marshals and generals were long-serving officials of his mother, Catherine II, and did not wield much real power, even if only one-fifth of them did have real power, it was still too many.

The power struggles in the Salo court were directly inherited from the Mongol Empire and were known for their cruelty and bloodshed. Paul I's actions were essentially digging his own grave.

1804, April 6.

Heavy rain began to fall in St. Petersburg, further straining the already tight supply of daily necessities due to rumors and unscrupulous merchants.

Inside the Mikhailov Palace, in the room of the guards, Count Peter Ludwig Palen, Governor-General of St. Petersburg, Privy Council advisor Zubov, General Yashville, a Georgian officer on duty at the Mikhailov Palace, and General Ben Nigsen, who was from Hanover but served the Tsarist Russian Empire, were gathered together for a feast.

They drank a large amount of Cuban gold rum, a rare commodity in the Rus' Empire which had no overseas colonies, so the men drank very heavily and became quite drunk.

After they had drunk their fill, General Ben Nigsen of Hanover went out and brought in a man dressed as a captain of the Russian Imperial Guard.

This man was none other than John Olivier, the trusted secretary of Lord Charles Whitworth, the former English ambassador to the Tsarist Rus' Empire, who left office last year.

The secretary didn't hesitate; with a loud thud, he slammed a large bag of pounds sterling directly linked to gold onto the table.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here is the final payment, a total of 15,000 pounds. After tonight, no, right now, it belongs to you."

The strategy of the British Empire in bribing people is always so simple and straightforward. It doesn't require any complicated or sophisticated operations. The British ambassador to the Tsarist Empire directly offered a huge sum of 35,000 pounds, equivalent to about 120,000 silver dollars, as a reward for assassinating the Tsar.

At that time, the Tsarist Rus' Empire was still very poor, and many assets were not monetized, so 35,000 pounds was an astronomical figure.

Several greedy Russians looked at each other, and without anyone knowing who took the initiative, they all reached out and stuffed handfuls of pounds into their pockets.

Nikolai Zubov then downed the glass of gold rum in one gulp, picked up the dagger hanging on the wall, and went out to Paul I's bedroom, with the others following him.

The heavy rain at night reduced the number of guards in Mikhailov Palace. Even the few who were dutiful did not question or stop General Yashvill and Nikolai Zubov when they saw that it was them.

It wasn't until they reached Paul I's bedchamber that a squad of guards came to stop them, but they never expected that people like General Jasherville and Count Palen, the governor of St. Petersburg, would rebel.

Only when Nikolai Zubov suddenly lunged forward and stabbed the leading captain in the heart did the others realize that something terrible had happened.

Caught off guard, more than a dozen Rakshasa guards were taken down in less than a minute, while Zubov and the others rushed into the palace.

Upon hearing the commotion outside, Paul I, who had lived under immense pressure since childhood, immediately thought of a coup.

However, Zubov and his men arrived too quickly, and Paul I had no time to find a place to hide. He could only hide behind the curtains, so he was quickly found.

Count Palen, the governor of St. Petersburg, presented Paul I with a draft abdication edict that had been prepared long ago. Paul I, of course, refused, struggling to break free of control.

At this moment, Nikolai Zubov, who was already extremely dissatisfied with Paul I for harming his family's interests, suddenly drew his dagger and stabbed Paul I in the thigh.

Paul I screamed in agony, bleeding profusely. Under the immense threat of death, he dared not struggle any longer and could only sign the abdication decree, pleading with Count Palen and Nikolai Zubov, among others, to spare his life.

But this was a palace coup, and there was no room for leniency. When Paul I finally signed the abdication edict, Count Palen, the governor of St. Petersburg, picked up the gilded snuff bottle on the table and smashed it heavily on Paul I's head, immediately knocking the Tsar unconscious.

General Jászville then took out a rope he had prepared and strangled Paul I to death in his chair.

That night, the royal physician James Hawley signed a document confirming that Paul I had died of a stroke, while Zubov and others sent word to Crown Prince Alexander Pavlovich to come to the palace.

The following day, Crown Prince Alexander officially became the new Tsar of the Rus' Empire and decided to hold a coronation ceremony fifteen days later, becoming Alexander I.

Alexander I tacitly approved of all regicides, and although he did not publicly announce that Paul I died of a stroke, none of the regicides were punished.

No one in the entire Rus' Empire made any inappropriate remarks about the death of Paul I, as if Paul I was destined to die in this way.

Alexander I's first order after ascending the throne was to appease Kutuzov, Paul I's biggest supporter and the commander of 60,000 troops stationed in Tsaritsyn, telling him that he still trusted him and that he should not leave the city to fight the Khitan army.

The second order was to abolish almost all the decrees signed by Paul I, returning everything in the Rus' Empire to the era of Catherine II.

This order immediately received the support of all the Rus' nobles and even the entire Rus' Empire.

Because during his short seven-year reign, Paul I promulgated more than 2,500 laws, which is roughly 30 laws per month.

The regulations covered all aspects, from the uniforms and etiquette of nobles and civil servants of the Tsarist Rus' Empire, to even the movements of dance, which were all prescribed and would be punished if violated.

This left the already culturally underdeveloped Tsarist Rus' Empire bewildered, making the abolition of these countless, detailed laws imperative.

Of course, the most important thing that Alexander I abolished was the bizarre reforms that Paul I made to the serf system, which immediately earned him the loyalty of the vast majority of the Rus' nobles.

When the news reached the Don Plain, Mo Gongling remained quite calm. He looked at the generals behind him and said with a smile, "The Russians are really patient. They've waited until now to make a move against such a reckless Tsar."

"Cough cough cough!" His words made Wang Tingzhen, the military commander, cough involuntarily. Mo Gongling then realized that it was better for him, as a subject, not to say such things.

So Mo Gongling immediately changed the subject, "I think the situation on the Don River is about to undergo a huge change. Inform the fifteen commanders below that I need them to immediately assemble at least four thousand five hundred Cossack cavalry."

Let Alexander, the new Tsar, see that he can't think he can make it impossible for us to stay on the Don Plain with just a decree.

In the past few months, the Yu army has entered the Don River Plain, and they haven't just been busy burning, killing, and looting.

The Tsar and nobles exploited the Don Plain so ruthlessly that the populace was practically a closed cesspool, ready to ignite at the slightest spark.

Although language barriers, different customs, and a lack of mutual understanding between the two sides, coupled with blood feuds and a lack of political support within the army, making it impossible to implement traditional Chinese land redistribution like in the Great Yu Dynasty, it was still possible to win over some people with money, land, and titles.

Han Zaibai, who had rendered great service in the Karajye Salt Desert, now had twenty or thirty Cossack cavalrymen under his command.

These Cossack cavalrymen were mostly from the lower classes, or even serfs, so their fighting ability was really average.

Because combat experience and martial arts skills also need to be guaranteed and passed down. If you can't even get enough to eat, don't even talk about horsemanship and archery.

But everyone understood that the role of these Cossack cavalrymen who followed Da Yu was not in combat power, but in their familiarity with the surrounding environment, making them very qualified guides.

The moment Han Zaibai received Mo Gongling's order, he was overjoyed, because he could finally command the Cossacks who had surrendered to him with relative peace of mind.

A bundle of black bread, two salted fish, a small packet of animal fat, a bottle of Jinsha River liquor produced in Bukhara (Xi'an Prefecture) in the Yellow River Basin, and a silver coin.

Han Zaibai handed these to one of his most trusted Cossack cavalrymen, "Grigori, take these home and call all your relatives over. Tell them that His Majesty the Great Emperor of the East has bestowed his rewards."

Every man who fights for the Great Emperor of the East receives this reward every month.

Let them think it through: do they want to remain loyal to the Tsar, where they might go hungry, or do they want to be loyal to the Great Emperor, who will bring them freedom and wealth?

"Furthermore," Han Zaibai patted Grigori on the shoulder, "I only need two hundred warriors in total!"

"I am willing to give everything for His Majesty the Emperor!" The small, scrawny Slavic man, who looked almost like a monkey, swallowed hard, banging his head on the ground repeatedly, before happily going off to recruit his friends and relatives.

Fifteen days later, the Da Yu army began to move towards Tsaritsyn (Stalingrad), while the Don nobles also began to organize large numbers of cavalry, attempting to penetrate into the core area of ​​Da Yu cavalry activity.

But without exception, all their actions failed.

Because in those fifteen days, through months of planning, the Great Yu mobilized more than 8,000 Cossack cavalrymen and their families of 30,000 to 40,000 people from the territory of the Tsarist Rus' Empire, far exceeding the initial estimate.

With these collaborators whom the Don nobles could not distinguish, and with the two sides' combat strengths being on completely different levels, even if the Don nobles formed a large cavalry group, they could not drive out the Yu cavalry unless the regular Salo army in Tsaritsyn dared to come out and cooperate with them.

When the news reached St. Petersburg, Alexander I, who had barely slept a wink since ascending the throne, finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"The Khitans are telling us that even if the Don nobles regain their mobilization and fighting power, they still have ways to fight back, unless I disregard the safety of Charitzin," Yalishan murmured.

“Your Majesty, we cannot continue to allow the Khitans to roam the Don River plain; it will greatly undermine our rule,” Speransky, a trusted advisor, said to Alexander I.

It's no secret that the people of the Salo Empire are living in poverty, but no one should actually expose it.

In the past, the people of the Don River region had never experienced a good life, and no one would believe it when others told them how wealthy the Khitans were. But now, with tens of thousands of Khitan cavalrymen showing their own side of the story, no one could help but believe it.

"Draw troops!" Alexander I said through gritted teeth. "Have Alexei draw 30,000 elite troops from the Danube Legion and the Southern Legion. They must reach the Don River within a month and a half and be placed under the command of General Kutuzov."

Baron Aleksey Andreevich Alakeyev, a confidant of Alexander I, had just been dispatched to the western coast of the Black Sea to control the elite Russian troops there.

The Danube Army and the Southern Army were the main forces in the war between the Tsarist Rus' Empire and the Ottoman Empire.

With the area west of Kiev now on the verge of unrest, they were the only army that Alexander I could still spare.

Speransky understood why the Tsar had to grit his teeth and issue such an order: with the elite troops of the Danube and Southern Legions being transferred away, the situation in the Principality of Modavia and the Principality of Wallachia, which had already been half-annexed, would certainly change.

Although these two principalities hoped to be liberated by the Tsar, they certainly did not want to be firmly controlled by him.

Given the current situation, their desire for independence and autonomy, and their wish to remain a vassal rather than be swallowed up, will grow infinitely and become uncontrollable.

But there was no other way; we had to do it.

At the end of July, Baron Alakyev completed his mission more than ten days ahead of schedule, and 30,000 elite troops from the Danube Legion and the Southern Legion arrived on the Don River plain.

With these reinforcements, Kutuzov was finally able to vent his anger at being beaten down by Da Yu.

In early August, the Russian army in Chalijin took the initiative to leave the city, making it appear as if they intended to intercept Mogongling's 30,000 cavalry north of Chalijin.

At this time, Kutuzov could mobilize 30,000 mobile troops selected from Tsaritsyn, 30,000 brought by Baron Arakoev, and more than 80,000 militia from the Don River and the surrounding areas of the Sea of ​​Azov, totaling 140,000 men.

Mo Gongling was also prepared. He ordered Dong Jinfeng, who had not yet been deployed, to lead 10,000 infantrymen to blockade a small town called Gornekrybalei, north of Tsaritsyn (Stalingrad).

Although the battlefield situation appeared to be that the Russian army of 160,000 was dealing with the Yu army of 48,000, Kutuzov remained very cautious.

The loss of tens of thousands of people in the Great Yu Dynasty can only be described as a heavy loss, but if the Tsarist Rus Empire suffers a crushing defeat, the trouble will be much greater.

Therefore, Kutuzov used the numerical advantage of his cavalry to continuously squeeze the operational space of Mogongleng's troops, while trying his best to send 40,000 men north to attack Dong Jinfeng's troops.

The battle lasted until mid-August. After fifteen days of intense fighting, Kutuzov suffered more than 6,000 casualties, but still failed to capture the town of Gornykrybalei.

On the contrary, during the retreat, Mogonglen routed the pursuing Russian cavalry, and Baron Alakyeev lost three thousand cavalry and more than ten thousand Don River militia, losing the courage to continue the pursuit.

Lady Kutuzzo, being shrewd and experienced, retreated after learning the news and continued to hide inside the city of Tsaritsyn.

Mogonglen deliberately lingered in the town of Gornekrybalei, feigning vulnerability to lure Kutuzov out to attack, but Kutuzov was not fooled at all.

Left with no other option, Mo Gongling returned to his camp on the east bank of the Volga River, and the two sides continued their standoff, but this was destined to be short-lived.

Both sides were exhausted. The Tsarist Rus' Empire had witnessed the power of the Great Yu, and the Great Yu was also tormented by the supply line that was more than 2,300 to 2,400 kilometers long, starting from Bukhara.

And when all other battles had stalled, Astrakhan, which had not yet fallen, became the most crucial link in the chain.

If the Great Yu could take over this place, the negotiations would be much more secure. Once they had something in their hands, they wouldn't give it up. With Astrakhan, this excellent seaside castle, the Great Yu would have a solid foundation to establish itself on the northern shore of the Caspian Sea.

For the Tsarist Rus' Empire, as long as Astrakhan is not lost before the Great Yu cannot hold out, there is still hope for negotiation regarding this important fortress.

However, the Tsar's hopes were soon dashed.

After retreating to the east bank of the Volga, Mogonglen ordered his men to load the bodies of the Russian soldiers who had died in Gornekrebalei onto boats and float them downstream.

The 20,000 defenders of Astrakhan, who had been holding out for over a year, were exhausted and suffering greatly. Upon seeing the corpses and flags, they assumed that Tsaritsyn had also fallen and, under the leadership of Major General Mikhail Barclay, surrendered.

Thus, this battle, which was extremely difficult for both the Tsarist Rus' Empire and the Chinese Empire, can be considered to have come to an end.

China's expeditions covered tens of thousands of miles, possessing power but unable to project it, like fighting in a quagmire.

With troubles on two fronts and its European territory teetering on the brink of collapse, the Tsarist Rus' Empire, despite still having hundreds of thousands of troops, dared not fight again after witnessing the fighting prowess of the Great Yu army.

All that's needed is a middleman before negotiations can begin.

(End of this chapter)