Chapter 422: Rich in the Far East with Distant Relatives

On July 17, the 13th year of the Tongzhi reign, the Huai Army Expeditionary Force, through the Desert Storm blitzkrieg, reached the Armenian capital of Yerevan on just 17 days after landing in Basra, and successfully joined forces with the Northern Army of the Grand Duchy of Crimea.

The whole journey was basically a march. The Ottoman Empire had already recruited 500,000 soldiers, which was the limit. The 500,000 soldiers were distributed on the Thracian front, the Gallipoli front, the North Azerbaijan front, the Syrian front, and the Jordanian front.

The rest of the area was empty. Originally, there was a makeshift Sixth Army blocking the Mesopotamian Plain, but the Huai Army bypassed it by taking the desert.

The invincible Huai Army mechanized forces stabbed the weak belly of the Ottoman Empire with one knife. This is called butchering an ox, using the thin layer to penetrate the thick layer, and they marched straight into the heartland of the Ottoman Empire where there were no soldiers.

Shao Quanzhong had originally left the Gan Army to garrison Baghdad to prevent the enemy's Sixth Army from counterattacking. Then the enemy's Sixth Army, with 40,000 troops, inexplicably disbanded.

The rich Mesopotamian plain has now become the Huai Army's iron logistics base after being reviewed by more than 130 working groups of 100 people from the Anhui New Army.

The soldiers of the Sixth Corps of the Ottoman Empire became militiamen to defend their own land after returning home and became loyal supporters of the Huai Army.

The sky is high and the clouds are light, the autumn breeze is refreshing, and Mount Ararat in the south behind me rises high into the clouds, with its peak covered with snow.

The mechanized troops of the Guangxi New Army, the Guangdong New Army, the Jiangsu Heavy Artillery Division, and the Third Division and First Brigade of the Guards Brigade slowly entered the city of Yerevan.

Xu Bangdao, the major general and division commander of the Chu army who had arrived earlier, took two quick steps and saluted Shao Quanzhong, "Please enter the city, Marshal!"

With the armored vehicles of the Guards Brigade leading the way, Shao Quanzhong, Grant, and Emery followed Xu Bangdao into the city on horseback.

Yerevan is located in a small basin surrounded by mountains. The surrounding mountains are rich in granite and marble, so the houses in this capital of Armenia are all made of various beautifully shaped stones. There are many churches in the city, which is in sharp contrast to the surrounding religious countries with white turbans.

I won't go into detail about the origins of these churches. Shao Quanzhong didn't want to stay here for long, he just wanted to quickly formulate the next battle plan and recapture Baku as soon as possible.

Huh? Something's wrong.

The roadside was filled with Chu army armored vehicles to maintain order to prevent any public security chaos from occurring when Shao Quanzhong entered the city, which would embarrass Xu Bangdao.

But behind the armored vehicles, almost all of the city’s 30,000 residents and 15,000 war refugees came out, holding a welcoming flag in their hands, which turned out to be the Yellow Dragon Flag of the Qing Dynasty.

Then, a group of white-skinned, brown-eyed Armenian foreigners shouted in unison in stiff Chinese, "Long live the Qing Dynasty! Long live Marshal Shao!"

Shao Quanzhong frowned, "Jian Nong, did you arrange this? No, it's very bad. Why do you have to do this kind of useless formality? Armenia was Russian territory before the war, and I will return it to my father-in-law Alexander II after I conquer it."

"This is a shabby place surrounded by mountains. It's far away from the Qing Dynasty. Is it possible for the Qing Dynasty to take this enclave? How will Maria behind me feel about you doing this?"

Xu Bangdao was full of questions, feeling extremely wronged. "Marshal, this really wasn't arranged by me! I arrived two days earlier than you and only expelled more than a thousand Ottoman security forces here. How could I have the time to arrange this?"

No, you didn't arrange it. How could this place, which has nothing to do with the Qing Dynasty, know what the Yellow Dragon Banner looks like? How could it know that my last name is Shao?
The town hall here is in Islamic style. Armenia was ceded to Russia by Persia in 1828, but the city still retains many relics of Persian rule.

Shao Quanzhong led the General Staff to move into the City Hall. He was still confused and was about to attend the combat meeting chaired by Grant. Maria came in with a strange look on her face. "The representative of the city's resistance army, Korlian Mamikonian, wants to see you."

Rebels? Whose army are they rebelling against? Has Xu Bangdao not yet eliminated the Turkish forces in the city? However, since they are here to ask for a meeting, not to protest, it seems that they are from our side. "Let them in!"

Shao Quanzhong was stunned when the person came in. It was obvious that this person was a native Armenian, with black hair, brown eyes, and white skin, but the way he was dressed -

The visitor was wearing a long gown and a jacket that didn't fit in with the style. As soon as he entered the room, he flicked his sleeves left and right, bowed on one leg, and performed the Manchu etiquette to Shao Quanzhong, "Your servant Korliang Mamikonyan pays respect to Prince Heshuo Rui."

Damn, this Chinese has a strong Beijing accent. Where did such a foreign slave come from in my Qing Dynasty?

"Hurry up, Ma--what was that? You have become a naturalized citizen of the Qing Dynasty? Are you one of the foreign experts? Then you don't have to kowtow to me, we can just shake hands."

The foreigner stood up and said, "I dare not. I am a Chinese citizen. Of course I have to show respect when I meet my country's prince. My Ma family has led Armenia to live in isolation overseas for more than a thousand years. The Chinese soldiers have finally fought here. From now on, we don't have to be ruled by the barbarians anymore. Please, Prince Rui, accept us, the more than one million Chinese survivors."

What the hell is this? Shao Quanzhong stood up and walked around the horse. How can you be a Chinese citizen?

I understand your desire to build relationships with me, seeing how powerful my army is, but this lie is too outrageous. "Your Highness, you can just call me Maerliang. Our Ma family ancestor is Ma Kang, a descendant of General Fubo of the Han Dynasty. After the Shu Kingdom was destroyed, our ancestors were unwilling to submit to the Wei Kingdom and moved west to Persia, where they gathered and founded a nation, which is how the Armenian ethnic group began."

Um, there is such a thing? How come I didn't know about it? There is no such passage in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Ahem, not only is it not in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is also not in the Records of the Three Kingdoms. There is no record of it in Chinese history books, so it is not certain whether this is true.

However, this is what is written in Armenian history books. No one knows whether the ancestors of the Ma family were really descendants of Ma Kang, or whether they were just using the powerful Eastern dynasty to scare the Persian rulers at the time so as not to be bullied.

Anyway, no matter whether others believe it or not, the Armenians themselves believe it.

As the direct descendant of the Ma family, Maer Liang took the initiative to hire a man from the capital as his housekeeper because of the words passed down by his ancestors. He learned Chinese and the clothes of the Qing Dynasty from the Orientals. Fortunately, he did not shave his tail like a rat...

Shao Quanzhong finally understood who organized today's entry ceremony. It turned out to be you, kid. "It seems that you, Lao Ma, have a lot of influence in Armenia."

Maerliang raised his head proudly, "Of course, without the Ma family, there would be no Armenia. The Ma family came first, and then the Armenian nation. After more than a thousand years of development, most of the more than one million people in Armenia are related to the Ma family."

"So what do you want from me?"

"Some time ago, our place was occupied by the Ottomans. They wanted to recruit soldiers here. I organized a resistance army of 1,500 people with the people in the city and drove away their recruiting team."

"The Ottomans are in a hurry to fight the Russian army and have no energy to care about us. But I heard that they are planning to massacre us Armenians who refuse to obey once the ceasefire is reached."

"So now that you are here, you must not give up this land. We are willing to submit to the Qing Dynasty and become its subjects."

This is a puzzling matter. How can the Qing Dynasty have the ability to manage such a distant place? There is not even an outlet to the sea here. Once the war ends, there is Russia to the north, the Ottoman Empire to the south, and Persia to the east. If someone comes to attack, will my army fly over?

Shao Quanzhong rolled his eyes and said, "You see, the Qing Dynasty is too far away from here. There are no Qing people in the surrounding lands. Even if I forcibly cede them, they will not accept the rule of the Qing Dynasty."

"The guerrillas will continue to invade, which will be a huge problem. The Qing Dynasty cannot take their territory."

"Let's put it this way. After the war, you will still belong to Russia. I will ask my father-in-law, Alexander II, to merge you into my Grand Duchy of Crimea. Although you have not joined the Qing Dynasty, you will be under my jurisdiction. Then, we will discuss the matter of merging with the Qing Dynasty later."

Maer Liang nodded knowingly, "I understand, I understand. If you become the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, we will be under your jurisdiction. Isn't that the same as belonging to the Qing Dynasty? That's it."

"But you must make us belong to the Grand Duchy of Crimea. We don't want to join Russia anymore."

Shao Quanzhong understood now. In Russia, in the Caucasus region, except for Baku, which is rich because of its oil production, other places are poor and the people do not live a good life.

The Crimean Principality is now very wealthy. The Wen Group has built railways and made investments as promised. Shao Quanzhong has invested tens of millions of silver in the small Crimean Principality, which is now one of the richest regions under Russia.

So this old Ma, he doesn't necessarily think he is a descendant of the Chinese. He recognizes me as the boss, which is obviously targeting my wallet - it's all about money.

Do you think if I were extremely poor, would he take the initiative to seek refuge with his people? This is what they call - the rich have distant relatives in the Far East.

Shao Quanzhong really fell for it. You see, he spent money to buy Alaska, but now it seems that it is a complete loss-making deal, and it will take a long time to get his money back. This is the Chinese people's obsession with "soil".

Maerliang left happily. Well, the Yellow Dragon Flag was not made in vain, this time we have copied it. With Shao Quanzhong's big head and big legs, Armenia will be prosperous and everyone will be rich.

Shao Quanzhong soon heard the huge cheers of more than 40,000 people in the city, and suddenly felt that he had suffered a great loss. Tens of millions of silver were to be spent again, and his title of Shao the Big Head was confirmed.

Maria came over with a smile, "I will ask the emperor for your instructions and explain the situation here to him, and put Armenia under your jurisdiction."

"Hehe, if this impoverished border area becomes prosperous through your hands, won't it still be Lucia's territory? There is no need for Lucia to invest, and there is no need to worry about being occupied by other countries. Father will laugh in his dreams."

"By the way, Shao, we have arrived in Armenia and finally got through the telegram again. This is the latest international news."

(End of this chapter)

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