Chapter 425: Shao Quanzhong is promoted to the most powerful vassal of Lucia

Chapter 425: Shao Quanzhong is promoted to the most powerful vassal of Lucia

Chapter 425: Shao Quanzhong Becomes the Most Powerful Clan in Lucia
To the east of Tbilisi is the Kura River Valley, with towering mountains on both sides.

To the north are the Greater Caucasus Mountains, to the south are the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, and along the Kura River a road leads eastward to Azerbaijan, which is the only route to Baku.

Two steam shovels, each pushing a large frame made of thick logs, more than ten meters long, were moving slowly along the road.

"Boom! Boom!"

After a few explosions, the logs were blown away and the broken wood hit the cab reinforced with steel plates, making a "clang clang" sound. A piece of broken wood even blocked the observation port.

The bulldozer stopped and reversed. The co-driver took a hammer and chisel and expertly chiseled open the observation hole. The engineer behind the vehicle came forward to clean up the broken wood. A dozen people shouted slogans and installed another wooden frame in front of the bulldozer.

Several bulldozers from the engineering battalion that once pushed barricades in Paris were turned into mine-clearing vehicles here.

The Huai Army knew how to lay mines, and so did the Ottomans. Yusup led his troops to flee Tbilisi, laying mines along the main road to prevent the Huai Army from pursuing him.

The mines you have buried can be cleared according to the recorded positions, but the enemy's mines cannot be cleared.

There are no magnetic mine detectors these days, and using the naked eye is quite unreliable. How do we clear mines?

Other armies used rollers pulled by cattle and horses to walk over mines, killing many of them and using them as rations. The Japanese pirates once forced farmers in the occupied areas to walk over mines with their bodies - the Japanese were certainly not human.

The Ottomans' mines were also made of TNT explosives. There were not as many as the Huai Army's, so they were only buried at intervals on the main roads, not on the riverside beaches or roadside gravel roads.

If the Huai Army marched lightly, they could catch up with the enemy from both sides.

But General Yusup was not a waste. The Ottoman Third Army dared to fight against the Russians and its combat effectiveness was acceptable. The Huai Army had no heavy artillery support and did not carry heavy weapons such as rapid-fire cannons and Maxim machine guns to pursue. Even if it could win, it would suffer heavy losses.

So - mine clearance is a must.

The Huai Army's mine-clearing method saved the effort, but it was not fast enough, and they were delayed in Tbilisi.

It would take some time to clear the endless mines, get out of the Kura River valley and into the great plains in the east.

This is the special situation of fighting in the Caucasus theater, there is only one main road.

The Huai Army's advantages all lie in mechanization and heavy firepower. If they want to destroy the Ottoman Third Army, they can only let steam tractor transport vehicles take the main road. It is simply wishful thinking for light infantry to cross the Caucasus Mountains.

Shao Quanzhong was anxious but had no temper. When the Ottomans joined the war, they sent the Third Army to attack the Russians, following the same route as Shao Quanzhong. They also attacked Eastern Armenia first, then Batumi, and then entered Azerbaijan along the Kura River through Georgia.

At the bend of the Kura River where the two armies had previously faced off, a pontoon bridge had been built by the engineering battalion, and steam transport vehicles were carefully driving across the bridge one by one.

The Tbilisi city area, which was reduced to scorched earth by artillery bombardment, is now densely populated with tents and has become the stationed place of the Huai Army.

Shao Quanzhong set up his headquarters at the Narikala Castle on the top of the mountain. The castle was severely damaged in the great earthquake of 1827 and had cracks everywhere. The engineering battalion was urgently repairing it.

Shao Quanzhong was in a bad mood as he listened to the sound of landmines blasting in the east. How long would it take to enter Azerbaijan and take over Baku? Half of the world's oil...

"Report! The engineering battalion has repaired the telegraph line."

Ahem, the telegraph line in Tbilisi was damaged by the artillery bombardment of the Huai Army. After half a day of repair, it was finally repaired. The problem is that Tbilisi was attacked very quickly. It has only been three days, and it is estimated that there will be no new information.

"Shao, your father called you back, congratulations, you've been promoted."

Um, I'm already the Prince of Rui, there's no way I can get promoted without becoming an emperor? Oh, it was Lucia's father-in-law who promoted me.

Alexander II was very pleased when he received a telegram from his daughter Maria in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

Wow, my son-in-law is really good. He started from the most vulnerable back of the Ottoman Empire and reached Yerevan in 17 days, cutting off the retreat of the Ottomans who invaded Russia.

Now it's done. There's no need to worry about the Caucasus region. I can transfer all the troops on the southern front to the main battlefield on the western front.

Alexander II was in a good mood after hearing his daughter's account of the Ma family in Armenia. Except for Baku, which still made some money, all those shabby places in the Caucasus were money-losing places.

Since my wealthy son-in-law is willing to invest in the development, let him do it.

"Wherever my son-in-law's troops go, the Ottomans are defeated, and I have nothing to worry about. I appoint my son-in-law as the commander-in-chief of the Russian Caucasus Theater, commanding the two divisions guarding Baku. I hope my son-in-law will continue to work hard and annihilate the enemy's Third Army. I will not hesitate to reward him."

"I intend to hand over Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan to my son-in-law, but I have to guarantee that these territories, like the Grand Duchy of Crimea, belong to the Romanov family and cannot be handed over to outsiders. What do you think?" Shao Quanzhong patted the back of his head and rolled his eyes. "Maria, call your father back and thank you for your care. I am willing to sacrifice my life for the Romanov family. I am willing to send a telegram to the world and publicly guarantee that these three places will always be the territory of the Romanov family."

…………

In St. Petersburg, at the Winter Palace, Alexander II received a call back from Shao Quanzhong. He was thinking with his hands behind his back when the guard came to report, "Mendeleev urgently wants to see you."

Mendeleev stumbled into Alexander II's study, "Your Majesty, great joy!"

"what's up?"

"I just received two telegrams from the Qing Dynasty. This one is from Xu Shou, a Qing chemist, and this one is from Nobel."

Alexander II took it and looked at it. They were all chemical formulas without any explanation. Xu Shou's only had a molecular formula, while Nobel's had more, including ratios.

"Is this a technical exchange between you and Qing scientists?"

"Yes, I met them both when I was visiting Xiaoxiangya Academy of Sciences and giving lectures at Hailing University. They sent these two telegrams to me in the name of technical exchange."

"But, Xu Shou's is the yellow explosive TNT that we have been looking for. Nobel's is even more surprising, and will allow us to make smokeless gunpowder!"

Mendeleev, since he created the periodic table of chemical elements, has been promoted to the director of the Chemistry Department of St. Petersburg University. He is a foreign academician of the Xiaoxiangya Academy of Sciences, so it is normal for him to communicate with his peers.

The problem was that the Tsar had appointed him as the leader of the high explosives research team, which was working on high explosives technology. With the arrival of these two telegrams, the team could be disbanded. Moreover, they had unexpectedly gained smokeless gunpowder.

Alexander II nodded, understanding that this was a token of his son-in-law's loyalty. He knew what high explosives and smokeless gunpowder meant to Lucia, and no longer had any doubts in his heart.

"Professor, you will be responsible for leading the technical staff to supervise the production of these two types of gunpowder in large quantities in our arsenal immediately to equip the Lucia army."

"I will reward you with the title of Director of the Lucia Empire's Bureau of Weights and Measures. Go down."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Who says scientists are aloof? Mendeleev left happily after becoming a high-ranking official in Russia.

Alexander II immediately ordered, "Recall Vladimir Alexandrovich and the 200,000-man Caucasus Front he organized to reinforce the Western Front, and leave the Southern Front to Shao."

Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich is Maria's third brother. He is now in Volgograd and has mobilized an army of 200,000 to push back the Ottomans from the Caucasus.

If Shao Quanzhong had not come and liberated the serfs, the Russians, whose national strength was growing rapidly, would eventually be able to defeat the overambitious Ottomans in the Caucasus and even push back, but it would take at least two or three years to do so.

This will tie down a large number of elite Russian troops and affect the main operations on the Western Front. This is also the contribution of the weak Ottoman Empire to the Allies.

"Come here, draft an edict and announce the reward for Shao!"

…………

On the afternoon of July 20, the 13th year of the Tongzhi reign, Shao Quanzhong received a telegram of reward from Alexander II, which was sent to the whole world, at the Narikala Castle in Tbilisi.

"Promote the Grand Duke of Crimea and Duke of Almaty Shao Quanzhong to the rank of special prince. Hand over Georgia, Eastern Armenia, and Northern Azerbaijan to Shao Quanzhong for rule."

"Establish the United Kingdom of Crimea, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Shao Quanzhong will be the king of the United Kingdom, acting as a buffer for Russia and taking full responsibility for the empire's southern defense."

"Prince Shao is obliged to invest more than 50 million rubles in the territory within ten years and is responsible for building a railway connecting the three Caucasus countries to Volgograd. He must also ensure that the United Kingdom will always be under the rule of the Romanov family."

"If something unexpected happens, this decree will automatically become invalid. I hereby order."

Historically, Russia has conferred a total of 41 special princes, and Shao Quanzhong is the 42nd.

Shao Quanzhong was the most powerful official in the Qing Dynasty, directly controlling five provinces including Guangdong, Guangxi, Liangjiang and Jiangsu.

Now he has also become a prince in Russia, with the full title of "King of the United Kingdom of Crimea, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and Duke of Almaty". He controls five duchies and has become the most powerful vassal in Russia.

(End of this chapter)