The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 900 The Former Emperor and the Confucian School
Kutuzov guessed wrong about everything else, but he clearly saw that the Great Yu did not have enough troops to surround them.

At this time, the difficulty of the Great Yu's conquest of the Rus' Empire was actually the same as that of the Han Dynasty's conquest of the Xiongnu in the northern desert, the Tang Dynasty's attack on Hezhong, and the Song Dynasty's attack on Annam.

Both countries possess overwhelming national strength, but they cannot deploy troops and supplies.

Mo Gongling knew, of course, that the Rus' people were likely to escape that night, so he had launched a full-scale attack during the day as well.

But this is not the era of cold weapons, nor the era of mature firearms, but the early era of firearms.

If there were a generational gap in the era of cold weapons, it would be like bronze swords versus Tang dynasty broadswords, or Spring and Autumn period leather armor versus infantry armor. I'd just go in and unleash my Musou attack.

If it were an era of advanced firearms, then at least tanks and jet aircraft would be able to use flintlock muskets, allowing for a near-perfect victory.

It is precisely in this era that the generation gap has indeed emerged, but it is not so large that we can ignore the other side.

As the battle raged into the evening, the Russian army fought desperately to hold them off, but the outnumbered Russian forces were still unable to capture the entire Dongzhen, only managing to take the outer positions.

That night, unwilling to give up, Mo Gongling continued to recruit volunteers to launch attacks on the Russian troops in Dongzhen, hoping to find a weakness in the darkness and defeat the Russian army.

But at four in the morning, a violent explosion from the Russian positions shattered Mogongling's hopes.

Looking at the mushroom cloud rising in the distance and feeling the ground trembling beneath his feet, Mo Gongling immediately gave the order for the cavalry to bypass Dongzhen and pursue them, while the main infantry force attacked Nancun.

Kutuzov paid a heavy price to avoid total annihilation.

He piled up all the artillery and gunpowder that the Russian army couldn't take with them in the eastern town, and then set it on fire.

The violent explosion not only created a world of flames five or six hundred meters wide, but also caused heavy casualties among the more than one hundred Sendai guerrillas who were on orders to harass the Russian army.

Two hours later, as dawn broke, Mo Chongjun led the Left Dragon Cavalry Independent Hussar Brigade of the Imperial Guard, capturing Lieutenant General Louis Langron's five thousand cavalrymen who were responsible for covering the rear.

During the fierce chase, Louis Langron's troops were scattered. Wearing a lobster tail helmet, he was stabbed more than a dozen times and covered in blood.

Before his death, Louis Langron looked at the commander in front of him, who was named Mo Chongjun but was actually blond and red-faced and clearly European, with his eyes filled with doubt.

"Are you a member of Princess Charlotte's guard? But I've heard that none of the officers in the guard have ever become Lieutenant General Seris?"

Mo Chongjun casually weighed the black Zhenwu Emperor's helmet in his hand, then stepped forward with his sword.

"You are not a Russian, but a Frenchman in exile?"
Then you should know someone. My father was a count of the Seres Empire. He was also French and was once called Pierre Ney.

More than thirty years ago, he accompanied Archduke Heinrich Reinstein I of Bessarabia on his journey to the East.

Indeed, the lieutenant general of the Imperial Guards, who was highly regarded by the commander-in-chief, was none other than Marshal Michel Ney of France in history.

Ney was also the only French marshal in this timeline to go to Dayu, and he went there very early.

His father, Pierre Ney, followed Ryanstein to the East when he was two years old.

When he was ten years old, his father Pierre had become a colonel in the Da Yu cavalry and brought him, his mother, and his brother to Da Yu, where they never left.

Fifteen years ago, Pierre Ney was granted the title of Count and requested to obtain the royal surname. Mo Zibu agreed and included them in the Ryukyu royal family that had been granted the royal surname, allowing them to use the Ryukyu royal family's generational names.

Therefore, Michel Ney, now known as Mo Chongjun, is not only a lieutenant general of the Imperial Guards, but also considered a member of the marginal royal family.

“It was a truly great decision. It gave you a status and honor that you could never have imagined in France,” Louis Langron said with deep envy.

Mo Chongjun smiled faintly, but he was very pleased with himself.

Before the French Revolution, military ranks of lieutenant and above required noble status. Of course, it didn't require one to be a nobleman, but rather that one possessed noble status.

That is, if you go back three generations in your family, and you have a noble ancestor, even if he or she was a minor nobleman, then it's acceptable.

But the Ney family is different. If they were in France, let alone the current heir to a count, becoming a general would be out of reach.

Michel Ney, of course, did not know that he would become a marshal and prince of the French Empire in history, so he had no reason to regret it.

However, even the status of marshal or prince cannot compare with that of a count in the Seris Empire.

Because the French Empire was unstable, this title would have to be passed down only if a world war was won; it might have been a little better if it belonged to the Bourbon dynasty.

“There aren’t many left who won’t submit to that fake Frenchman from Corsica.” Mo Chongjun (Michel Ney) waved his hand. “Give this general a bandage, and we’ll continue the pursuit.”

An hour later, Ney's Left Raptor Guards Hussars caught up with the retreating Russian army again.

Westerners were still somewhat lacking in hussar tactics and wolf pack tactics.

Historically, Eastern cavalry fell far behind, mainly due to a comprehensive lag in horse breeding, weaponry, tactics, and especially morale. However, in Dayu, all of these aspects have been caught up.

The cavalry of the Left Dragon Cavalry were mainly composed of people from various tribes in southern and northern Mongolia, supplemented by the original Manchu bannermen who were stationed in Anxi and some Japanese dwarfs.

In Dayu, Han Chinese cavalry were generally cuirassiers and dragoons.

The Han Chinese preferred the heavy armored charge, the cavalry, who could switch between dismounting to snipe and mounting to charge, and who could perfectly coordinate with the infantry to fight positional battles in critical moments, making them a multi-purpose force.

Furthermore, the people from the southern and northern deserts and the five provinces of the East are generally short in stature, but very muscular and possess a bloodthirsty spirit, making them well-suited for cavalrymen who are capable of both long and short-distance raids.

Under Nei's command, Zuo Longxiang's hussars first broke into smaller units and continuously cut through the retreating Russian army.

If they saw a small number of people, they would rush up and hack them with their sabers. If the Russian troops formed a battle formation, they would either flank them or rush to the front to harass them.

Even more terrifying is that if they discover that a large group of infantry has lost the protection of cavalry, they will be summoned by specially made signal flares and regroup to launch a concentrated attack on the infantry.

Kutuzov was anxious. The Russian army had suffered heavy losses and retreated in a panic. The quality of the officers and soldiers was already so-so. They were about to reach Tsaritsyn, and each unit was only concerned with their own survival. Information was extremely chaotic, and many units could no longer be commanded.

If this harassment and delay continued, and the main force of the Khitans arrived, it would be dangerous. In desperation, Kutuzov had no choice but to send his trusted confidants with his personal guards to deploy an interception.

This commander's personal guard, named the Kutuzov Musketeers Regiment, was one of the very few retreating Russian troops that still carried artillery and enough gunpowder.

Seeing the Russian army's choice, Ney hesitated for a moment before deciding to annihilate this elite Russian infantry force of more than three thousand men.

He didn't even intend to take down this Russian army unit himself; instead, he waited for the infantry to arrive before launching an attack.

They have a stronghold on the mountain and more than a dozen cannons. If his five or six thousand cavalry charge in, they might be able to win, but the casualties will be significant. There's no need to suffer such losses.

Two hours later, Kutuzov, who had retreated to the outer fortress of Tsaritsyn, sighed deeply, with tears seemingly glistening in his eyes.

The third Roman double eagle flag of the blocking position can no longer be seen.

The four thousand musketeer guards under Shuangying were his family, friends and relatives from his hometown, and his old subordinates who had followed him for many years.

End of March 1811.

As a prelude to the Battle of Charitzin, the Battle of Kirova ended. Compared to the previous one, which was also the first Yu-E battle, the Great Yu began to show an overwhelming advantage in all aspects, supported by its national strength.

Kutuzov's command in this battle was sound, and the Russian troops performed admirably; in fact, many units could be described as brave. However, faced with the superior weaponry of the Da Yu forces, the Russian army was overwhelmed and ultimately suffered a crushing defeat.

In early April, the battle report reached Crown Prince Da Laosen in Westsea City (Astrahn).

In this battle, the Russian army deployed 200,000 troops, while the Da Yu army actually reached the battlefield with nearly 110,000.

In this battle involving 310,000 troops, the Russian army suffered over 28,000 casualties, more than 40,000 were captured, and lost at least 200 artillery pieces.

Many of the Guards-titled armies were wiped out as a whole, such as the 3rd Guards Lancer Brigade and the Pavlovsky Guards Infantry Brigade.

On the Dayu side, there were over 3,500 casualties, roughly an eight-to-one exchange ratio with the Russian army, and over 700 missing (or possibly captured), which can be considered a remarkable victory.

"Beautiful, absolutely beautiful! I must petition His Majesty for credit for all the soldiers of the Central Route Army!" The usually composed Crown Prince, Da Laosen, was beaming with joy.

"If we can continue fighting at this exchange ratio, the Rakshasa Kingdom will soon run out of manpower."

The surrounding civil officials from the Eastern Palace cheered, and Tao Shu, the assistant minister of the Anxi Envoy Office, seized the opportunity to say:

"Now that we have dealt a heavy blow to the Russians, let's launch a full-scale war. Let the Xia, Liang, and Liao vassals take action on the western coast of the Black Sea, forcing the Russian Black Sea fleet to come out for a decisive battle."

"The time is ripe!" Boss Sen nodded in agreement. "Send a letter to Mo Gongling. Within three months, I want him to take over Chalijin. Then I will go to Chalijin to oversee the operation and watch him accomplish an unprecedented feat!"

After the laughter subsided, the leader, Sen, pulled aside his close advisors, including Tao Shu, Wang Guoyuan, Wang Yinzhi, and Tang Jinzhao, to discuss the matter, saying, "The Rakshasa Kingdom is a vast country with a territory spanning thousands of miles and a population of thirty to forty million. We certainly cannot swallow it whole."

So, will the previously agreed-upon appeasement policy be implemented?

With such a clever leader as Sen, and with his shrewd and capable civil and military officials, it was natural that he wouldn't devise an absurd plan to annex the Ross Empire.

So, Da Laosen's plan was to spread the word after severely beating the Russian army that Da Yu would only punish the treacherous Tsar and his close ministers, and would not intend to exterminate the nobles of the Rus' Empire.

They don't even need to submit to the Great Yu; as long as they don't obstruct the Great Yu from punishing the Tsar's treachery, the Great Yu will not attack them.

This was intended to divide the Rus' Empire and reduce the resistance of the Rus' nobles and commoners.

But the civil officials looked at each other and soon shook their heads in unison.

Ten years ago, or even five years ago, they would have definitely agreed.

Because at that time, Confucianism had not been able to conquer and educate barbarians for hundreds of years, but now they had quickly made up for the missing lessons.

As a leading candidate for future Grand Secretary, Tao Shu, who holds the highest official rank, stood up and said, "The barbarians fear power but do not cherish virtue. Although this saying is a thousand years old, it can still be considered a wise and insightful observation."

The Russians have been hurt, but they are not afraid. If we appease them too early, it will only strengthen their belief that we cannot penetrate too far into their country.

Moreover, in recent years, in order to develop, many people in the four provinces of Anxi and Liaodong have been conscripted to fight against the Russians in the west and the Persians in the south. Their hearts have long been wild, and many people firmly believe in the Han and Tang dynasties.

They haven't gained much yet, and if we try to appease them now, they'll definitely be dissatisfied, which will be detrimental to future battles.
Therefore, I suggest that we launch another fierce attack and abandon any appeasement tactics until our troops reach Moscow.

The Han and Tang dynasty ideology that Tao Shu mentioned is actually the ideology of Han supremacy, which has a large following in Anxi.

There was no other way, because Anxi's two provinces, Hezhong and Beiting, which later became part of Central Asia, were basically stabilized through killing and colonization.

During this process, at least two million people from the three Khanates of Transoxiana died in the war.

This number actually ranks only after the Spanish invasion of South America and the historical westward expansion of the United States, and is even more devastating than the Armenian extermination by Turkey.

Such a fierce struggle naturally requires a matching theory to provide psychological support.

The subsequent attacks by the troops of the four provinces of Anxi on the Western Yuz on the northern shore of the Caspian Sea and the scattered Persians all required a logically consistent theory.

Therefore, in the entire Dayu region, Anxi is an area with an extremely high concentration of Han Chinese.

Here, the Han-centric theories such as "do not leave worries for future generations, restore the glory of the Han and Tang dynasties, rebuild the Buddhist kingdom of a thousand miles, and avenge the hatred of ten generations" (referring to revenge for the Anxi Army and the Li family regime of Khotan during the Tang Dynasty) have a very broad mass base.

Even the powerful Sen had to comply with this public opinion and could not appease the Russians before the Han Chinese were well-fed.

However, after receiving orders from Boss Sen to capture Chalijin within three months, Mo Gongling did not immediately begin the attack.

Instead, they stabilized their main camp in the eastern town (Kirova), and then sent out a large number of engineers and laborers to clear the obstacles in the middle of the Volga River.

Zhuge Liang's crossbow machine gun is indeed powerful, but it is slow to move and consumes a lot of resources, making it not the best choice for open field battles. It is better suited for defending cities.

Most importantly, this thing is too reliant on logistics. With a rate of fire of around 150-350 rounds per minute and the use of copper-cased ammunition, the supply requirements for one machine gun are higher than those for a company of soldiers.

At this time, it was somewhat ahead of its time for Mo Zibu to bring out machine guns.

Because at that time, productivity was not high enough to fire bullets freely, and the level of steel smelting and hardware manufacturing had not kept up, machine gun bullets were very difficult to replenish.

Therefore, after witnessing the power of the hand-cranked machine gun, Mo Gongling's first priority was to ensure logistical support. Only with logistical support could there be combat effectiveness, and only then could the technological advantage of the Great Yu's weapons be better utilized.

Over the past eight years, the Rus' people have "stored" quite a few good things in the Volga River, and have also built several simple dams upstream.

Kutuzov sent out gunboats weighing tens of tons to continuously raid the Da Yu army, and when he had no other choice, he would open the sluice gates to release water to buy time.

Therefore, under Mo Gongling's step-by-step plan of first clearing the river and then attacking Chalijin, the Dayu army took a month and a half, until June, to clear the river and then continue to go upstream.

Fortunately, Boss Sen was able to keep his composure and didn't lose face by demanding that Mo Gongling complete the task on time, even though he had made a promise to complete it in three months.

Instead, he went to the front lines in person and, while hosting a banquet for the entire army, publicly admitted that he had been presumptuous. He also reassured the officers that he supported the strategy of steady progress.

This finally put many generals at ease, who were afraid of being blamed by the crown prince. The impetuous and anxious mentality in the army began to disappear, replaced by confidence in victory and a calm and steady advance.

Meanwhile, Mo Gongze and Li Xingtai on the western shore of the Black Sea received orders from Crown Prince Da Laosen to destroy the Ross Black Sea Fleet.

After discussing it, the two men decided that the French army would not attack Belgrade and Transylvania for the time being, so they could take the opportunity to force the Ross Black Sea Fleet to come out and fight on land.

So they secretly drew troops from both places to form an army of 40,000 men, and under the cover of the navy, they once again entered what would later become Moldova.

They then not only crossed the Dniester River, but also adopted a posture of attacking Odessa and Kherson to the east, cutting off the Crimean Peninsula.

Gui Han and Huang Renyong, commanders of the Western Route Army in the Russian Expedition, also received orders to continuously bombard Rostov and to send 15,000 infantry and cavalry southward, making it appear as if they were about to cross the Kerch Strait.

The Kerch Strait, the site of the Crimean Bridge which was repeatedly bombed during the Russo-Ukrainian War, is the only passage from the Black Sea into the Sea of ​​Azov.

If the Kerch Strait were blocked, the Russian Black Sea Fleet would lose its greatest purpose in this battle: supporting Rostov and holding the lower Don River.

Therefore, by mid-June, Tsar Alexander I could no longer sit still.

He ordered the Minister of the Navy, Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, and Admiral Pavel Vasilyevich Chichagov to lead the Black Sea Fleet to sea, annihilate the Great Black Sea Fleet, and reinforce Rostov and Odessa.

(End of this chapter)