The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 914 The Burning of Moscow

August 12, 1814, the 39th year of the Guangzhong reign of the Great Yu Dynasty in China, the 19th year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty, the 27th day of the sixth lunar month.

The largest battle since the start of hostilities between Yu and Russia is now taking place, and it is being fought with great ferocity.

The phrase "fortify the walls and clear the fields" sounds nice, but it requires a very strong heart to endure, because whether it's fortifying the walls or clearing the fields, you have to smash your own things first.

In reality, it's very difficult for anyone to remain indifferent to seeing their family's centuries-old accumulation being smashed to pieces in a short period of time.

Tsar Alexander I could not bear this; when he heard that Kutuzov planned to burn down Moscow in October, the Tsar almost fainted.

Subsequently, a fierce power struggle erupted within the Russian court.

Don't laugh. Do you think that when facing a formidable enemy, we should be united in our hatred of the enemy and fight as a whole nation?

Yes, there are indeed many such cases that have been extensively documented in history. But it is precisely because they are few that they are so prominently featured in historical records.

A more common scenario is that the greater the enemy, the more intense the internal struggles.

With a formidable enemy looming and the internal pie shrinking, vested interest groups, in order to minimize their own losses, will engage in even fiercer struggles to seize the benefits of others for themselves.

Because of the imminent threat, many people attribute this predicament to the problems of those who were in power before, believing that only their own strategies can save the country.

The idea is good, but unfortunately, too many people have this idea, thinking that they are the truth and the savior.

Furthermore, with a formidable enemy at hand, there are countless reasons and opportunities to strike at political opponents, and the process is far simpler than in peacetime.

Few people can resist the temptation to join forces with their family's political enemies of decades or even centuries.

Even if you can resist the urge, it will be difficult to convince those who follow you.

Because you don't know if your political enemies will choose to stand together with you at this time, instead of taking the opportunity to get rid of you.

Therefore, when Tsar Alexander I expressed strong dissatisfaction with Kutuzov, his political enemies, who had long anticipated Kutuzov's discontent, swarmed in.

They didn't care about the state of the Tsarist Rus' Empire; they just started fighting each other like madmen.

The final result was that, at a critical moment in the war, Kutuzov was directly relieved of his military post and expelled from the palace.

Kutuzov's large army corps, which he had assembled for this war, was disbanded and replaced by a new army corps personally formed by the Tsar.

Of course, Kutuzov's plan to burn Moscow, which would stretch the supply lines of the Yu army to 3,000 kilometers, and then harass the Volga River with guerrilla warfare along the way to cut off the Yu army's supply lines, was also abandoned.

Alexander I personally participated in the planning and chose Nizhny Novgorod as the site for the decisive battle against the Yu army's invasion of Russia.

Of course, Alexander I's distrust of Kutuzov did not develop overnight; rather, the problem lay at its root.

His grandmother, Empress Catherine II, had intended to pass the throne directly to Alexander I, but this decision was ultimately reversed due to the obstruction of the young officers who controlled the Imperial Guard at the time.

Kutuzov was one of the leaders of these young officers.

This is a deep grudge. If it weren't for the frequent wars in recent years that required Kutuzov to fight for the country, Alexander I would have killed Kutuzov long ago.

Historically, it was pretty much the same. In 1813, when Napoleon was forced to withdraw his troops from Russia, Alexander I immediately ordered that the Russian army not rest and to fight day and night all the way to France, without giving them any rest time at all.

Ultimately, Kutuzov was forced to work non-stop while ill and died of exhaustion on the battlefield.

It is said that Paul I and Alexander I were truly father and son, sharing the same ruthlessness and pettiness.

Paul I once drove Suvorov to his death from depression because Suvorov was a confidant of Catherine II.

Alexander I also chose to work Kutuzov to death because Kutuzov was a confidant of Paul I.

In 1814, Kutuzov was still alive and kicking, lamenting Russia's future in his St. Petersburg country estate, thanks in large part to the Yu army's conquest of Russia.

This is somewhat of a hellish joke.

Nizhny Novgorod is located at the confluence of the Volga and Oka rivers. It has a large population, but it was not originally a key military city within the Rus' Empire. However, it became very important during the Rus' War.

Because the Volga River turns north at Nizhny Novgorod, while the road to Moscow runs west.

In other words, the Volga River water transport relied upon by the Da Yu army in its campaign against Russia ended here, and the remaining 420 kilometers westward to Moscow could only be transported by horse-drawn carriages.

Alexander I was quite capable. Given the extent to which the Russian army relied on water transport, Nizhny Novgorod was the perfect logistical supply depot. Without capturing Nizhny Novgorod, the attack on Moscow would be nothing but empty talk.

Unfortunately, Alexander I recognized the importance of Nizhny Novgorod but failed to see the weakness of Tsarist Russia.

Kutuzov's scorched-earth policy and his plan to burn Moscow down were because the Russian army couldn't defeat the Russian conquest army!
If the Russian army could win, even if the gap in military equipment and combat power was not that large, wouldn't it be better to fight a decisive battle at Tsaritsyn (Stalingrad)?
At least Tsaritsyn is surrounded by bastions and fortifications, which is not as good as Nizhny Novgorod, which is just a transportation hub.
Alexander's problem was that he couldn't see this clearly, or rather, he was unwilling to admit it.

The Volga River makes a V-shaped bend at Nizhny Novgorod, an area that includes four large and medium-sized cities.

Nizhny Novgorod is on the left-hand stroke of the character "几".

The character "几" with a horizontal stroke here is Bor City.

The vertical hook here represents the two parallel cities of Idrica and Tayozhne.

In order to win this war, Tsar Alexander I mobilized five large armies with the full strength of the nation.

The Balkan Corps, consisting of 70,000 men, was reorganized from the original Kutuzov Corps. To appease the troops, the Tsar appointed General Mikhail Barclay, Kutuzov's deputy, as its commander.

The St. Petersburg Army Corps, led by Field Marshal Hans Karl von Dibich, had a strength of 30,000 men.

Marshal Constantine Pavlovich led the Constantine Guard, which numbered 50,000 men.

General Arakochiev led the Ukrainian Legion, which numbered 37,000 men, but included a large number of militia.

Lieutenant General Nikolai Kamensky led the Volga Corps, which had a strength of 20,000 men.

Tsar Alexander I personally led the central army, including the Imperial Guard, with a total strength of 120,000 men.

In addition, there are militias from nearby cities, numbering around 30,000 to 40,000.

In other words, the total number of troops that could be mobilized in Nizhny Novgorod certainly exceeded 350,000. As for the exact number, given the corrupt and rigid military system of the Tsarist Rus' Empire, even the Tsar himself did not know.

Meanwhile, on the Da Yu expeditionary force against Russia, Mo Gongling personally led the central army of 70,000, Chen Jinchuan led the northern assault force of 40,000, Mo Chongjun (Michel Ney) led 30,000 cavalry, and Dong Jinfeng led 15,000 to guard the army's supply and logistics camp.

The total strength is around 150,000, which seems to be less than half the size of the Russian army, but they are mostly combat soldiers, and civilian laborers are not included.

On August 12, the battle began in Bor, a city marked by a horizontal line. Once the Russian expeditionary force captured Bor, they could freely choose their targets from either the left or right.

The Russian army stationed its 70,000-strong Balkan Legion here. Bor is located to the north, backed by mountains and facing water. The forest on the left side has been completely cleared, leaving no view. An attack from here would inevitably be met with concentrated artillery bombardment.

But there's no way around it; this is a hurdle we have to overcome.

Under Chen Jinchuan's command, the two sides fought here from August 12th to August 17th. During the five days, the Russian army was unable to advance and did not capture much of the outer positions.

But that's exactly what Chen Jinchuan wanted to achieve.

In the early morning of August 18, seeing that the Russian army had been sufficiently lulled into a false sense of security, Chen Jinchuan selected 8 elite troops, commanded by the valiant general Yang Fang, including the most valiant colonels such as Han Zaibai, Wang Xipeng, Ge Yunfei, Chen Yutang, Dong Guangjia, and Xiang Rong, and they made their way towards Bor City under cover of darkness.

It was pitch black. The raiding troops had stones in their mouths to prevent making any noise, and those behind held onto the clothes of those in front, relying entirely on their senses to feel their way forward.

After reaching the outer perimeter of the Russian army's positions, they used the firelight of the Russian army to determine the direction of the attack. Yang Fang then selected three hundred elite soldiers from the attack team, who were only armed with long daggers and revolvers, to sneak up on the sentries.

At this time, the Russian army was quite exhausted after five days of bloody fighting. Most importantly, the Balkan army guarding Bor had already been traumatized by the defeat at the hands of the Great Yu.

They were the main force of the Russian army commanded by Kutuzov, and after experiencing the two major battles of Kirova and Tsaritsyn, they were well aware of the fighting power of the Yu army in its campaign against Russia.

Moreover, as the defeated, especially after their commander Kutuzov fell out of favor with the Tsar, the entire army was filled with fear and unease, and harbored a lot of resentment.

Therefore, when the battle cries rang out and Yang Fang's army stormed into the city and began to slaughter, many soldiers did not resist but chose to flee immediately.

Whether they win or lose, they gain nothing, so why risk their lives?

The chaos within the Russian army in the city only ceased when General Mikhail Barclay personally intervened to stabilize morale.

Although Admiral Barclay could not clearly see what exactly happened, he keenly realized from the intensity of the firefight that it was a surprise attack.

So he quickly ordered the artillery to bombard the area outside the city to cut off the advance of the Yu troops. He also ordered all Russian troops inside the city to return to their camps, or if they didn't have camps, to go inside. Anyone who ran around the city was to be executed as an enemy soldier.

Finally, he dispatched his elite personal guards to intercept and search for the Russian troops entering the city. The command was flawless; without the scattered troops running amok, the encirclement and suppression within the city became clear, and soldiers in nearby barracks outside the city also began to assemble, blocking the movements of the Yu army that had sneaked into the city.

But General Mikhail Barclay soon sensed something was wrong. He did manage to clear the scene quickly by locking the ordinary soldiers in the barracks, but his 6,000 elite guards were no match for Yang Fang's troops, who were armed with two revolvers each.

Moreover, the early morning shelling did indeed halt the advance of the Dayu troops, but it also clearly exposed the Russian artillery positions.

"Have the artillery units move; the Khitans' counter-battery fire is coming." General Barclay, of course, knew how powerful the Yu artillery was, so after firing five rounds, he ordered the Russian artillery to move to a different position.

Both sides were racing for speed.

However, the Great Yu was much faster, because Guan Tianpei, who commanded the northern artillery, had long anticipated that the Russian army might use artillery to blockade them if they had no other choice.

So, just one or two minutes after General Mikhail Barclay gave the order, the whistling of artillery shells filled the air, followed by orange-red explosions over the Russian artillery.

The Dayu counter-battery used a firing method of 70% new-style shrapnel shells and 30% solid shot. First, shrapnel shells were used to kill fast-moving people, and then solid shot shells were used to destroy slow-moving artillery.

In particular, the shrapnel shells were a kind of advanced technology of the Dayu artillery. They were filled with steel balls and steel arrowheads and would usually explode 30 meters overhead, specifically designed to kill artillerymen.

This thing is even more deadly than using solid shot to counter artillery. The burst of steel balls and steel arrowheads can cause massive casualties to artillery units, which are now highly skilled, and can render the enemy unable to use their artillery effectively. In actual combat, this has proven to be much more effective than simply destroying artillery.

Three consecutive rounds of counter-battery fire hit the Russian artillery positions with remarkable accuracy, killing and wounding hundreds on the spot.

Of the 207 artillery pieces in the Russian army, more than 40 were destroyed on the spot, and the rest dared not stay in place and could only retreat in a sorry state.

General Barclay could almost hear the shrill screams of steel balls flying everywhere. He pulled a pistol from his office and led his guard company out. The general wanted to personally command the troops and annihilate the Khitan army in the city as soon as possible.

Without the threat of artillery, Chen Jinchuan immediately ordered his prepared troops to launch a full-scale attack on Bor City.

More importantly, the Russian troops inside the city were unable to wipe out Yang Fang's forces, resulting in numerous loopholes in the defenses.

At 3 p.m., 25-year-old Ge Yunfei, along with Dong Guangjia, Xiang Rong, and more than 200 others, accidentally stumbled upon the new Russian artillery position and immediately began a bloody rampage.

This resulted in even greater losses. In just half an hour, more than 400 artillerymen were killed. Xiang Rong took the opportunity to use signal flares to guide the artillery outside the city to fire. In the end, before the Russian army could recapture the artillery, at least 100 cannons were completely destroyed.

This immediately put the already demoralized Russian Balkan Legion in Bor City under heavy fire, and the loss of artillery support made them unable to hold out.

At 4 p.m., Chen Jinchuan personally took to the field and defeated two Russian reinforcements on the left side of Bor City, beginning to cut off the rear of the Russian forces surrounding Bor City.

Seeing that there was no way to turn the tide, General Mikhail Barclay chose to retreat in order to avoid his army being surrounded and to avoid being captured by the Yu army again.

When the Russian army withdrew across the Oka River at night, although they avoided being surrounded, they suffered more than 7,000 casualties, lost more than half of their heavy weapons, and their morale plummeted.

This made Alexander I a little insecure, and he began to believe Kutuzov's words that the Khitan army's fighting strength was definitely superior to that of the French army.

After capturing Bor, Mogonglen immediately deployed Michel Ney's cavalry to the north, making a gesture that would cut off the Russian army's retreat.

On the one hand, they harassed the Russian army's logistics and supplies, and on the other hand, they intimidated Alexander I.

Mo Gongling was well aware of one thing: most people do not have the ability to command an army of three or four hundred thousand and make it as easy as their own arm. Many people do not even have the courage to remain calm and fearless on the battlefield.

Putting aside others, even a wise ruler like his cousin, the Crown Prince, couldn't command an army of hundreds of thousands while maintaining complete composure.

Mo Gongling didn't believe that Tsar Alexander I had the courage and means to do so.

This move had a remarkable effect.

Alexander I was indeed frightened. No matter how others tried to persuade him or prove to him that this cavalry could not cut off the retreat of hundreds of thousands of people, Alexander refused to let his most elite cavalry cross the Volga River to fight against the Yu army that was attacking Idlicha.

On August 22, Russian troops and the Russian army led by Da Yu engaged in a bloody battle around the city of Idlicha. The most important high points outside the city changed hands four times in a single day.

Under the intense bombardment of artillery from both sides, a regiment of over a thousand men would be forced to withdraw from the battlefield within half an hour due to heavy casualties.

To defend their homeland, the Russian army did fight desperately, enduring five days of bloody battle and suffering tens of thousands of casualties, yet they managed to hold on.

However, with the appearance of the Great Yu's steam-powered gunboats on the Volga and Oka rivers, the battle began to turn one-sided.

Mo Gongling even put Zhuge Liang's hand-cranked machine gun on the gunboat, using its continuous firepower to inflict heavy casualties on the Russian army.

The Russian army had no ships and could only fight against these inland steam gunboats, which meant that positions near the riverbank could not be held once attacked, and once lost, they could not be regained, becoming the last straw that broke their backs.

On the afternoon of the 22nd, before Alexander I in Nizhny Novgorod on the other side of the river could give the order, the Russian troops began to spontaneously flee their positions.

It started with a few people, then dozens, and eventually escalated into a mass desertion of hundreds or even thousands. The officers could not stop it, and even Alexander I's shouts from the riverbank could not stop it.

On August 23, this rout finally affected the entire army, with 8 Russian troops in the cities of Idlitsa and Tayozhny all fleeing.

They rushed to use all sorts of tools to cross the river, and some who had no tools simply stripped naked and swam across.

On the afternoon of the 23rd, the Russian army intensified its offensive, and the Russian army completely collapsed. The pontoon bridge was crushed due to exceeding its load-bearing capacity, and the ships capsized in the struggle. Tens of thousands drowned, more than those killed on the front lines.

All of this could have been avoided, but Alexander I, who had taken command of the army, was unwilling to admit defeat. He always felt that the Russian army could hold out on the other side of the river, and made no plans or arrangements for retreat, which resulted in the tragedy.

By the 25th, the Russian army had tallied its losses. Of the 150,000 troops under Idlitsa and Tayozhne, only slightly more than 90,000 had crossed the river. At least 25,000 had drowned in the river, and most of their supplies had been lost.

On the 28th, Alexander I still wanted to put up a stubborn resistance, so Mogongling launched a barrage of cannon fire.

He mobilized more than 400 artillery pieces of various calibers from the entire army, and fired more than 10,000 shells into Nizhny Novgorod in three hours, directly setting this once prosperous commercial city ablaze.

Alexander I fled in panic amidst the flames, and the 270,000 to 280,000 Russian troops scattered and each sought their own escape route.

At this moment, Michel Ney's 30,000 cavalry, who had been prepared, seized the opportunity to attack. The Russian army also crossed the Volga River to pursue them. The Russian army ran all the way to the city of Vladimir, 200 kilometers away, before shaking off their pursuers.

Upon arrival here and taking stock, it was found that of the 350,000 Russian troops who had gone to Nizhny Novgorod, less than 100,000 had returned.

While a large portion of them may have scattered or broken away on their own, the number of dead and wounded on the battlefield must have been at least forty to fifty thousand.

At this point, Tsar Alexander I had no choice but to send his brother, Grand Duke Constantine, to personally invite Kutuzov, promising that he would also hand over command of his own Tsarist guards to Kutuzov.

On September 15, the vanguard of the expeditionary force arrived near the city of Vladimir, but the number of troops was small, with Michel Ney leading only a little over 9 men.

There was no other way; the supply lines were too long, and the Volga River was no longer available. Before the Nizhny Novgorod outpost was established, the army simply couldn't get across.

Michel Ney made a tentative strike and immediately received a resolute response. He immediately realized that this was because several thousand of the most elite guards of Tsarist Russia, including the Obrahmins Group and the St. Petersburg Guards Battalion, had not yet been defeated.

Therefore, Michel Ney decisively chose to surround them without attacking, waiting for their morale to collapse.

On September 20, Tsar Alexander I, unable to withstand the threat of death, broke his promise once again. Ignoring the advice of his generals, he left with more than 9 elite guards, including the Obrahminsky Group, and the city of Vladimir immediately fell into disarray.

On October 3, Chen Jinchuan arrived with another 10 men and took over full command. The Da Yu army then launched a fierce attack on Vladimir.

On October 6, Vladimir fell, and the Russian army of 70,000 collapsed again, with casualties exceeding 20,000.

On October 22, the vanguard of the expeditionary force of 4,000 men approached the outskirts of Moscow. However, the 200-kilometer journey was difficult, as almost all the villages along the way had been burned down, and there was hardly a local in sight.

Aside from the military rations they carried, the vanguards had difficulty finding any food to eat.

In early November, Chen Jinchuan, who had been reinforced again, left 10,000 men to garrison Vladimir and led 20,000 infantry and cavalry toward Moscow.

On November 21, Chen Jinchuan's troops arrived at the outskirts of Moscow, but they did not launch an attack immediately because, according to the prisoners, the city of Moscow was full of firewood and many houses had been coated with kerosene.

Chen Jinchuan immediately ordered the artillery to fire incendiary shells into the city, which indeed caused a huge fire, much larger than a normal fire.

Seeing this situation, Chen Jinchuan simply retreated to the city of Khossos, east of Moscow, to begin building fortifications, adopting a posture of holding out.

Kutuzov, who had only been in Moscow for less than a month, could only sigh in resignation.

"The Khitans are waiting for us to burn down Moscow ourselves. They want to see Moscow burn down and know that we will not surrender before they leave."

On November 24, in order to prevent the Russian army from reaching Moscow and having enough rooms for shelter from the cold, enough heating supplies, and enough food, Kutuzov ordered the Russian army to set fire to Moscow, which was already piled with firewood and kerosene.

In an instant, the entire city of Moscow was engulfed in flames. Within three days, the fire completely consumed the city, which at that time occupied only one-tenth of its present size and had a population of only 240,000 to 250,000.

The towering flames illuminated the sky, and it was impossible to predict when they would be extinguished.

"Retreat, retreat to Vladimir for the winter. Our war is basically over." Chen Jinchuan insisted on watching Moscow burn to the ground before announcing the withdrawal.

Over two years, the army marched nearly 3,000 kilometers into the Rus' Empire, killing and wounding more than 150,000 Russian soldiers, but still could not completely destroy the country. What remained was indeed beyond their control.

(End of this chapter)