There is an island with an area of 15 square kilometers on the sea 150 kilometers south of Vladivostok. The Russians call it "Askold Island" and the Chinese call it "Qingdao". You can overlook the sea from the three peaks on the island, and the island is also an important coordinate for ships passing by.
In 1855, British Admiral Samuel, who visited here, called the island "Terminal Island". The Russians first named it "Lighthouse Island" and later changed its name to "Askold Island".
It is worth mentioning that "Askold" is the name of a new warship shipped from St. Petersburg in 1857. This warship once carried Admiral Putyattin to China to sign the "Treaty of Tianjin" with the Qing government, and later carried Muraviev to invade the Far East.
At first, this was just a place where the Chinese collected kelp, but when someone discovered gold here in 1867, it became a gold mining treasure. Chinese gold prospectors flocked to the island, and shipping activities between the island and the mainland became unprecedentedly popular. But during the summer when the gold rush began, the Russians had no idea.
Until a Russian warship unexpectedly visits the island and conflict breaks out.
Atolin, the commander of the Aleut ship, was returning to port after a routine inspection at sea. Passing by Askold Island, which he had to pass every time he sailed, he suddenly wanted to go to the island to check it out. When he and 15 sailors landed on the island with loaded weapons, they finally discovered the secret of the Chinese.
In front of him, there was an open-air gold mining camp hidden in the mountain col. At that time, there were more than 500 Chinese gold miners in the gold mine. They were doing intense gold washing work, but the size of the camp could accommodate a thousand There is nothing wrong with people.
Etolin immediately confiscated 5 pounds of gold sand (1 Russian pound is equal to 409.5 grams) and ordered the Chinese to permanently stop this gold mining activity that he considered illegal. However, as soon as he left the island with his ship, gold mining started again. .
Etolin immediately reported to his superiors after returning to Hong Kong. Two days later, he landed on the island again with 18 soldiers, 6 gunners and a mountain cannon, and searched the entire island. When he saw that these Chinese people dared to take his orders as fart, he immediately drove away all the Chinese troops in anger. golden man. Since then, regular Russian patrols have appeared on the island, and there have been more Russian patrols along the mainland coast to cut off the connection between the mainland and the island.
After that, the Chinese could not get close to the gold mining treasure land, but the Russian army often reported incidents of its soldiers being secretly attacked and beaten by Chinese survivors. Obviously, the Chinese were retaliating. It can be seen that the Chinese did not recognize the rule of the Russians at that time, and still recognized the government in Beijing in their hearts. If General Jilin ordered them to ban gold mining, I am afraid these people would only complain, not Dare to take even the slightest revenge.
After more than half a year, since no major incidents occurred, the patrol on Askold Island was cancelled. But when Etolin sailed the Aleut ship to the island again in April 1868, he was shocked to see a busy gold mining scene that was exactly the same as the last time. Hundreds of Chinese gold diggers were busy.
At this time, Etolin was completely angry. These damn Chinese were addicted to stealing the Tsar's gold. He immediately landed on the island with 20 soldiers. When the Chinese saw them, they turned around and ran towards the mountain. The Russian army was in He was in hot pursuit.
After a while, they caught a gold digger, but at this moment a gunshot was heard on the mountain, and a Russian soldier fell to the ground and died. The sound of gunfire was like a horn of attack. Hundreds of Chinese rushed down from the mountain and surrounded the unprepared Russian army.
When Etolin saw hundreds of Chinese people rushing over from all over the mountains and plains, he was frightened and immediately ordered to retreat. Those Chinese people only had a few shotguns, and most of them were armed with sticks and stones, and they were not subject to strict military control. Training, so the offense is very messy. However, the more than 20 soldiers under Aitorin were all elite veterans, and the muskets and pistols in their hands were also the latest models. They fought and retreated without suffering much loss.
The angry Aitorin boarded the ship and ordered the warships to fire bombs. The Chinese gold miners who were caught off guard were killed in pieces, and the casualties were countless. After the war, statistics showed that three soldiers were killed in Aitorin, and the rest were slightly injured. However, some of the rifles and pistols were stolen by the Chinese.
Etolin, who returned to Vladivostok, tore off the mask of warmth. He finally realized that these Chinese people might not be able to accept the rule of the Tsar in their lifetime. The tender governance methods had no effect at all. He began to prepare for the war to gather a large number of Cossacks from the Far East. Veteran, and activated a batch of inventory of arms. He wanted to kill more than a thousand Chinese in Qingdao in one go.
Unfortunately, just when he had prepared two battalions of soldiers and corresponding supplies, several consecutive heavy fogs delayed his attack plan. It was not until widespread snowfall in the Far East after the Beginning of Autumn that he had the opportunity to lead his troops to attack Qingdao. And there is destiny in the world. At the moment when his fleet was launched, the Guanzhou fleet led by Long Ye gradually approached the coast of the Far East.
It snows in August. The famous saying of Cen Shen in the Tang Dynasty is not nonsense. In August every year on the Mongolian prairie, it is when the Central Plains people eat grape mooncakes during the Reunion Festival. People there have already ushered in the first Snow.
The Far East is more remote and bitterly cold than the so-called Hu Di. People here in August can no longer live without cotton-padded jackets. Qingdao just received a first snowfall a few days ago. The mountains and fields are covered with snow. It looks very beautiful, but in The people living here are miserable.
In a secluded bay on the south side of the island, there is a faint shadow of a large ship disappearing in the mist in the distance, and there are more than a dozen shabby small sampans on the sea rowing desperately to the shore. The small boats are piled with various things. All kinds of goods.
Someone on the shore shouted in a low voice, "Wang Gui... what good things did he get in exchange for the gold this time? Do you have any foreign guns? This time his grandma also scored one shot from me, otherwise I will fight you three times and six holes..."
"Shit, Ding Si, just blow it. Do you dare to touch a hair of your Grandpa Wang? Are you envious of this Western gun in my hand? I fought for it with my life. I didn't shoot down the old man with one shot." You have achieved great results, but you still want to touch something good? Just go ahead and dream..."
The people on the boat and on the shore were all old acquaintances. A few words of curse were actually common spoken language. After the wooden boat docked, Wang Gui threw the cable to the shore. Ding Si and dozens of others worked hard to pull the rope full of goods. The boat was pulled ashore.
Wang Gui jumped off the boat and said, "What a benevolence! What a benevolence and righteousness! Boss Xiang is indeed a big businessman at sea. The Prussian Mauser gun originally cost four taels of gold sand for one shot, but I heard that we don't have enough gold sand. Old Maozi They want to sneak attack on us again, and they actually buy one and get one free. Two taels of gold sand are exchanged for a rod, and gunpowder marbles are also given for purchase..."
"Really?" The crowd suddenly roared with excitement. This boss Xiang had a relationship with Wang Gui and others from Qingdao during the Chinese New Year last year. At that time, he said he could get the best foreign guns. This group of people I still didn’t believe it, but in the end I didn’t expect that there were really big ships coming here regularly to sell arms, and they sold all the good stuff that people had never seen before.
