Chapter 3345 Chapter 3347 [Asia-Europe Railway]
October is coming soon. The cold wind is howling and the snow is all over the sky. It is so cold that it makes people feel chilly.
Fortunately, Xiang Nan and others had made preparations in advance. They set up a fire pit in the house and burned a bundle of firewood to keep them warm for a whole day. In comparison, European fireplaces are far less warm.
During this period, Rumyantsev, the general of the Rakshasa Kingdom, packed up his remaining troops and prepared to take advantage of the severe winter and the inconvenience for Xiang Nan's army to travel to capture Kegong Palace in one fell swoop.
On the same day, after hearing the news that the Kremlin had fallen and Queen Elizabeth I had surrendered to the Qing army, France and Prussia took the opportunity to attack the Rakshasa army, causing chaos among the Rakshasa army. They abandoned their helmets and armor and suffered casualties.
At the critical moment, Rumyantsev, who was the division commander at the time, was effective and led the Rakshasa army to break out of the encirclement and finally saved more than 100,000 people.
After these more than 100,000 people returned to the Rakshasa Kingdom, they were stationed in Kiev, where they received secret help from some Rakshasa Kingdom nobles and the governor of the state capital, and obtained food and some equipment.
However, because the population of Kiev is only 300,000, it cannot support the consumption of an army of 100,000. In addition, military pay had not been paid for several months, so there were a large number of deserters.
In winter, when Rumyantsev was preparing to take advantage of the harsh winter to counterattack, his men had less than 60,000 men left, and more than half of them had fled. But he still led his army to set off with indomitable determination.
But Xiang Nan had already been wary of their actions. After all, those birds in the sky were not flying in vain. Before the invention of airplanes, these reconnaissance birds were simply bugs in war.
They fly high, see far, and fly fast, and a large-scale march cannot escape their eyes. Xiang Nan has them, it's like playing "Warcraft" with a plug-in to clear the fog of war.
As soon as Rumyantsev's army set off, he had already received the news. How could such a battle be fought?
He then mobilized his troops and set up an ambush at the pass where Rumyantsev's army must pass. When Rumyantsev's army arrived at the encirclement, guns and artillery fired. Tens of thousands of Rakshasa troops were all defeated, and in the end less than a thousand people survived.
After the news came out, not only the governors of the Rakshasa Kingdom were frightened, but also England, France, Prussia and other countries were afraid of it.
They were worried that if Xiang Nan sent his troops south, they might not be able to take the lead.
Because the Qing Dynasty has opened its ports and allowed foreign businessmen to do business twenty years ago, countries such as England and France still have a certain understanding of the Qing Dynasty.
I know that it has developed very rapidly in recent years, especially in the past few years, and has successively defeated the Netherlands, Spain, etc., and has become the largest overlord in East Asia.
Especially their firearms are very powerful, and they even have giant steel ships floating on the sea. Now Xiang Nan has conquered the Rakshasa Kingdom and has unified Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia and many other regions.
It can be said that the Qing Dynasty today is an out-and-out superpower, even worse than the Mongolian country back then. The history of Mongolian cavalry sweeping across Europe and Asia hundreds of years ago is still fresh in their memories.
Therefore, France, England, Prussia, Poland and other countries all submitted letters of credence to Xiang Nan, recognizing Xiang Nan's rule over the Rakshasa Kingdom, and also hoped to conclude a peace treaty with Xiang Nan to ensure that there would be no war between the two parties.
After consideration, Xiang Nan agreed to sign a peace treaty.
After all, this time the Qing Dynasty annexed the Rakshasa Kingdom and expanded its territory, more than doubling its territory.
However, he also knows that the so-called peace agreement, if both parties are sincere, is an unbreakable vow. If both parties are not sincere, it will be too hard to wipe their butts with.
Xiang Nan knew that England, France, Prussia, etc. were all ambitious and hypocritical masters. The reason for signing a contract with him now was just because he was afraid that he would take advantage of the war between the two sides to send out troops to fight for the fishermen's profits. , so we temporarily entered into a contract with him to stabilize him. Once they end the war and regain their strength, they may soon become ruthless. So Xiang Nan doesn't have high hopes for them. They would not foolishly think that they could be restrained by just a piece of paper.
…
The long winter has finally passed.
In April, the construction of the railway from the Rakshasa Kingdom to the Western Regions began.
Xiang Nan hired a large number of serfs for this purpose and worked overtime, regardless of the cost. When the railway was opened to traffic, it was when he led his army to sweep across Europe.
In order to save time, the railway from Rakshasa Kingdom to the Western Region was divided into multiple sections and constructed at both ends at the same time.
For example, the Kremlin leads to Kazan, Kazan leads to Yekaterinburg, Yekaterinburg leads to Omsk, Omsk leads to Astana, Astana leads to Almaty…
In order to ensure that the railway was repaired as soon as possible, Xiang Nan mobilized nearly one million people and had a budget of up to 200 million taels of silver.
Fortunately, he annexed Japan before, and now he has annexed the Rakshasa Kingdom and captured a lot of money, so even though the cost was huge, he could still afford it.
Even so, repairing the railway cannot be done instantly. It is estimated that it will not take seven or eight years to complete it.
For this reason, Xiang Nan was not idle either. He and Agui went north and west, one after another, to conquer the governors of various states who were unwilling to be loyal and violated the rule of law.
Last year, Xiang Nan bribed many governors and asked them to choose to be loyal to him.
However, there is a difference between superficial compliance and true thoughts. Xiang Nan must be truly loyal, and not a group of people who are obedient and secretive.
Therefore, it must be conquered, and it must be thoroughly conquered.
Xiang Nan went all the way north to St. Petersburg, took the Kola Peninsula into his pocket, and went all the way to Scandinavia to annex the Kingdom of Sweden.
The Kingdom of Sweden was originally a super powerful empire from the 17th century to the early 18th century. Its territory included what is now Sweden, Finland, Karelia, Ingria, Estonia, Livonia, and Western Pomerania. region, the city of Wismar, the Diocese of Bremen-Velden, Livonia and Riga and many other regions.
But unfortunately, in 1700, Denmark, Poland and the Rakshasa Kingdom jointly launched an attack on the Swedish Empire. Although Sweden was very capable at the beginning and defeated Denmark, Poland, and the Rakshasa Kingdom successively.
But King Carl XII of Sweden was dazzled by the victory and actually launched a counterattack against the Rakshasa Kingdom in winter. As a result, the troops were unable to withstand the severe cold and suffered heavy losses.
In 1709, the 20,000-strong army of the Kingdom of Sweden was defeated by the 45,000-strong army of the Rakshasa Kingdom in the Battle of Poltava. More than 10,000 people were killed and more than 4,000 were captured. King Carl XII of Sweden had to flee in panic with only more than 1,000 remaining soldiers.
After this disastrous defeat, Sweden was devastated and gradually lost its status as a Nordic superpower. Even Denmark and Poland, which it had defeated before, dared to attack it.
Its territory was also lost piece by piece, when Xiangnan invaded Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, and accepted the surrender letter from King Adolf Frederik. From then on, there was no more Swedish kingdom.
(End of this chapter)