Chapter 226 Luring the wolf into the house
Chapter 226 Luring the wolf into the house
It takes 26,000 miles to travel east from Afghanistan, across the Vietnam Sea, to reach the three inches of yellow mud land of our Qing Dynasty.
The King of England can definitely be called a handsome and dashing Chinese son, who came to this vast land of South America with all his heart to occupy a large territory and rebuild the paradise on earth. Because of the small number of soldiers, he has considered forming a native white vassal army.
However, the combat effectiveness of the vassal army is questionable, and it is difficult for them to be loyal. They can only serve as cannon fodder and can provide limited help.
The names of his former comrades suddenly rang in his ears, making Chen Cheng dazed. Why did they come to South America?
A ragged, skinny Taiping general walked into the King of England's tent. When he saw the King of England, he suddenly stood still, tears streaming down his eyes uncontrollably.
After a long time, the visitor suddenly knelt down and burst into tears. "The King of England is indeed not dead. It is really the blessing of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother that we, the wandering survivors of the Kingdom of Heaven, finally have someone to rely on."
Chen Cheng's face was gentle. "Chen Yucheng did not die for the Heavenly Kingdom. He no longer exists in the world. I am now Chen Cheng, the head of the Cuban mercenaries. But I am now able to rebuild the Heavenly Kingdom in South America. Tell me how you got here?"
"King of England, this was done by Zuo Ni, the pseudo-Governor of Zhejiang Province of the Tartars, and the French. Zuo Ni killed the remaining troops of our Taiping Army, but he also faced the problem of insufficient food and wages for his men. Before that, he colluded with the French and established the Changjie Army. After we, the remaining troops of King Kang, were forced into a difficult situation, we were sold as slaves to the French by Zuo Ni. The French then sold us to Peru and landed in Callao. Our group of people were sold to the small town of Iquique to dig saltpeter. We suffered a lot and could not bear the treatment of slaves. My subordinates led the people to resist. Seeing that the Peruvian government troops were coming to suppress us, we crossed the trails of the Andes Mountains, passed through Bolivia, and fled to Argentina..."
It turns out that these comrades who had come to South America with so much difficulty were sold by the French, just like the indentured slaves in Cuba. The French were really worthless, but it seemed that they had helped me a lot.
"The conditions on the slave ships were very poor. More than 100,000 of us were sold, and only 40,000 to 50,000 survived to reach South America. On the Maria Luce, the ship I was on, two-thirds of the people were thrown into the sea because of illness or starvation..."
"Well, now that you are here, you are all noble citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let's work together on this vast Pampas to create a new foundation for the Kingdom of Heaven. Come on, make hot soup and oatmeal for the new brothers, and eat meat in two days so that their bodies can recover. Logistics should prepare new uniforms and guns for them. We will have 5,000 new brothers in the future."
"King, I won't rest. I'm going to take a few people to find other brothers who were sold to South America. Some of them went to mine saltpeter like us, and some went to the Chincha Islands to dig guano. I want to bring them all to the King."
"Okay, I'll send two battalions of brothers to go with you to meet the brothers there. If small countries like Peru, Chile, and Bolivia dare to stop us, fuck them and destroy them at the same time."
Well, two battalions may not be able to destroy a small country, but the small country definitely won’t dare to provoke it.
…………
Ili Province, Dihua Prefecture, Fukang County.
This place is only ninety miles away from Dihua, but Shao Quanzhong's main force in the western expedition was stopped here.
The chief leader of the bandits in Ili Province was called Tuodelin, and his lair was in Dihua.
However, Tuodelin was a reluctant leader. Rebels from all over Ili Province started their own uprisings, and Tuodelin was just the largest group among them, so he was elected as the leader.
Tuodelin did not have the prestige that Ma Hualong had among the rioters. After the rebels succeeded, they attacked each other because of factional differences. Tuodelin was unable to suppress them, and more rebels died at the hands of their own people than those suppressed by the Qing army.
When Bai Yanhu fled here from the inland, Tuodelin immediately discovered that he was a talented person.
Although Bai Yanhu has been on the run, his record is not bad at all. He severely damaged Duolong'a's expeditionary force in Shaanxi, forcing Duolong'a to stop in Shaanxi and unable to suppress the bandits in Gansu.
Bai Yanhu fought again and again despite repeated defeats. The grass on the graves of the bandits who rebelled with him are now three feet tall, but he is the only one who is safe. This shows that he is smart.
Tuodelin, who was sidelined by his subordinates, simply handed over the command of resisting the Huai Army's attack on the eastern battlefield to Bai Yanhu, and took his personal soldiers to Yili to inspect and stabilize the rear.
Bai Yanhu was indeed a capable man. After escaping back to Turpan from Hami, he immediately realized that the enemy was likely to avoid the fortress group from Dabashancheng to Turpan and attack Dihua directly from the north.
He had a deep understanding of the combat effectiveness of the Huai Army. He weighed the strength of the tens of thousands of bandits under his control and knew that they could not defeat the Huai Army anyway. The bandit forces in Yili Province must be destroyed. However, Bai Yanhu was concerned about his own wealth and glory. It didn't matter whether the bandit forces were destroyed or not. How could I gain an advantage through this war?
He immediately sent people to ask for help from the foreign ethnic group Yakub Beg in the south, using humble words and generous gifts, recognizing Yakub Beg as his father, and requesting support from the people of Kokand - a typical traitor who invited a wolf into the house, but he did not consider himself a Chinese.
Bai Yanhu knew that Dihua and Yili would definitely be recovered by the Huai Army, and even the first-line fortresses of Dabashancheng and Turpan could not stop the Huai Army, but these two places could not be given up and must be fought.
Anyway, the bandits are not afraid of death, so let them continue to cause trouble to the Huai Army and consume their manpower and morale. I trade space for time, keep running south, and make the Huai Army's supply line longer and longer. There will always be a day when they can't stand it.
Even if all the bandits are dead, as long as the Huai Army stops fighting, I can run to the Kokand Taijun and still live a good life.
Originally, Todelin and Yakub Beg were fighting each other for territory. When the Huai Army arrived, the two forces quickly merged under the manipulation of Bai Yanhu.
It’s no wonder that Bai Yanhu did not recognize a foreign father in vain. Yakub Beg personally led an army of 20,000 from Jiyan City of Kokand State Security to attack Korla, and the vanguard of 3,000 people had already captured Turpan and Toksun south of Dabancheng.
Just when he was worrying about how to break through the fortress group between Turpan and Dabashan City, Bai Yanhu actually wanted to surrender to him and asked him to lead his troops into the fortress group.
You are truly a good servant of my Lord Kokand, and you deserve a reward.
Yakub Beg simply married his daughter to Bai Yanhu, becoming Bai Yanhu's real father-in-law. Then he sent his chief steward Aydelhuli with 3,000 vanguards to urgently support Dabancheng.
He led an army of 20,000 to Toksun, and at the same time mobilized 40,000 local bandits and servants from the rear to station in the fortress group, preparing to fight a decisive battle with the Huai Army for the control of Ili Province.
Yakub Beg had never suffered from the Huai Army and was not afraid of it at all. He was not an ordinary small-town Central Asian warlord, but was backed by the British.
The rifles equipped by his men were the same as those of the Huai Army, which were breech-loading rifles modified from Enfield P1853 rifles, and he also had Armstrong cannons.
The Russians were attacking Kokand and had occupied Tashkent last year. In order to stop the Russians from infiltrating Central Asia, the British armed the Kokand people to fight against the Russians.
Yakub Beg's troops were all trained by British officers and were all British minions. Who was afraid of whom?
For some reason, all the British instructors have withdrawn recently.
But it doesn’t matter. My soldiers are all trained and equipped. Even without British butchers, I won’t eat woolly sheep.
Yakub Beg immediately sent his nephew Sayyid to Istanbul to ask the Ottoman Empire to send a corps of military officers to help command his men.
The famous generals who graduated from the Ottoman regular military academy and participated in the Crimean War are about to come to serve me, Yakub Beg. Would they be afraid of your Huai Army?
The British no longer supported Yakub Beg, but instead supported Shao Quanzhong, a more powerful younger brother, so that they could better challenge the Russian hegemony in Central Asia.
But before Shao Quanzhong's western expedition, the Kokand people had already been armed, but Shao Quanzhong had to deal with it himself.
Shao Quanzhong didn't know that before he could deal with the Russians, he would have to face a modern army also armed by the British.
In this vast Ili Province, a fatal duel between two British minions is about to take place.
(End of this chapter)