When Ao Bai and Yue Le planned to treason and surrender to the enemy, it was already August 24, the 24th year of Hongxing's reign, which was late September in the Western calendar. It is still the Little Ice Age, and the temperature on both sides of the Heilongjiang and Shilka Rivers is very low, even below freezing at night.
However, there was finally no snowfall or ice cover yet, and the Songhua River-Heilongjiang-Shilka River line still maintained a certain degree of navigation capability, which could at least allow the Heilongjiang Navy's inland fleet, which Ao Bai had worked hard to manage for more than 20 years, to pass through.
The so-called inland fleet is actually a small inland fleet used to support the army in operations in the upper reaches of Heilongjiang, the Ergun River, and the Shilka River. They are all equipped with light sand boats suitable for navigation in shallow inland rivers, and there are about a hundred of them. If they are all dispatched, they can load tens of thousands of stones of supplies at a time, or several thousand people of the "Rakshasa Army" and enough supplies to sustain them in the areas along the Ergun and Shilka Rivers for several months, as well as 12 Heavy firearms like short-barreled field cannons were transported to Nerchinsk City!
In the past ten or twenty years, Ao Bai has been able to secure his position as the Protector of Heilongjiang, and he can also keep the Rakshasa people on the defensive and not dare to invade south. In addition to relying on the powerful "Rakshasa Army", he relies on this Neijiang fleet.
With this fleet, he could transport the army to Nerchinsk City when the Songhua River-Heilongjiang-Shilka River was not blocked by ice, and he could also carry a sufficient number of siege artillery.
The Rakshasa Kingdom can only maintain 1,000 troops in Nerchinsk City, usually only a few hundred. With such a small force, there is no way it can withstand thousands of "Rakshasa troops" carrying cannons. Moreover, Obai's "Rakshasa Army" was trained with the help of Spanish military advisers. There are also many white mercenaries among them. Their tactical level is almost comparable to that of the serious Rakshasa "Santa Claus Soldiers". The Yakutsk Governor's Mansion The Cossacks under his command were no match at all.
Because time was tight, there was no room for Obai and Yue Le to prepare slowly.
So the two people quickly pretended to pass on the king's orders, first brought the "Rakshasa Army" jointly organized by the two Protectorate's Palaces with their families (the excuse was that they would build a city in Nerchinsk for a long time), and transferred them from near Huining (Harbin) to Jacques Sa City (located at the confluence of the Shilka River and the Heilongjiang River); then they ordered the river fleets stationed along the Heilongjiang River to carry as much food and grass as possible and gather them in Yaksa; then the two of them took their trusted soldiers and The family members arrived at Yaksa City in late September of the 24th year of Hongxing...and on September 22nd of that year, they launched a westward expedition and marched toward Nerchinsk City by land and water!
While the army was marching westward, Obai and Yue Le also sent envoys to Yakutsk - the purpose was to let the Rakshasa people not be afraid, we are not here to attack you, but to surrender to you!
The deployment of troops and the assembly of fleets in the past month were almost all done in public. In order to cover up the true purpose of treason and surrender to the enemy, Obai and Yue Le not only reported to the court that Nerchinsk's Rakshasa army had invaded. There were signs of Rakshasa's invasion, so they wanted to take a preemptive strike and spread the news of Rakshasa's invasion everywhere in Heilongjiang and Andong... For a time, both sides of Heilongjiang were shrouded in the sudden cloud of war.
Moreover, the report that the Ming army was about to launch a large-scale attack was also brought to the city of Yakutsk by the patriotic businessmen of the Rakshasa Kingdom and placed on the desk of Governor Alexander Petrovich Stroganov.
When Alexander, who was born in the Stroganov family (the family was ordered to conquer Siberia and opened up a vast territory for the Rakshasa Kingdom), received this report, he was in the office entertaining Lev, who had just arrived from Moscow. Count Naryshkin...this man is incredible, he is Tsar Alexei's new uncle!
Because the Tsar had just married his sister Natalia Kirillovna (the biological mother of Peter I) as a house filler, so he was sent to Siberia as an inspector - in fact, he was just getting a lot of money!
In front of this young and handsome aristocratic young man from the west, Alexander, who was in his fifties and had been the governor of Yakutsk for eight years, actually showed a horrified expression.
"Governor," said Count Naryshkin, who was a very perceptive man, "what terrible thing has happened?"
"The Chinese have provoked a war!" Alexander Stroganov said, "They have assembled thousands of people and a fleet and are preparing to attack Nerchinsk City in a large scale!"
"So what?" The young earl did not realize the seriousness of the problem. "We have been at war with the Chinese for many years, and there is no winner yet? And we still have the advantage!"
Although there was no formal declaration of war between the Ming Dynasty and the Rakshasa Kingdom, the military conflicts between the two sides began as early as when the Ming Dynasty absorbed the Zhungeer tribe as vassals. On and off, there is no time to stop. Especially after the Sengge conquered the Hezhong area, the Rakshasa Kingdom was almost in a formal state of war with the Ming Dynasty because it joined the anti-Zungar Alliance.
On the eastern front, the city of Nerchinsk under the jurisdiction of the Yakutsk Governor-General's Palace was also broken several times by the Ming army. Of course, soon after the Ming army broke through the city, Alexander Stroganov would personally lead the army to "defeat" the invading area and regain the lost ground...
Because it always receives good news from Yakutsk, Moscow has always believed that the situation in Eastern Siberia is acceptable and that Governor Stroganov can fight well.
But Alexander Stroganov himself knows it well. How did his victories come about?
Those victories were only due to the conflict between the Chinese governor of Heilongjiang, "Obaiski" (the pseudonym used by Obai when he pretended to be a Rakshasa, and later the Rakshasa people also called him this) and their court, and they were unwilling to send troops from the direction of Heilongjiang. Cooperation, and the city of Nerchinsk was too desolate for the Chinese court, so after several defeats of Nerchinsk, they set fire to the city and left, leaving Alexander to gain some credit for nothing.
But this time the situation was different, "Obasky" moved! This shows that the Chinese emperor has given him enough benefits, so this time the Yakutsk Governor-General immediately said that he was going to have real trouble...
While Alexander was talking to Count Naryshkin, one of his adjutants, Andropov, a young nobleman from Kazan, walked in excitedly and brought Alexander a stack of letters.
"What's the matter?" Alexander asked, "Peter, what good news have you brought me?"
"Yes, Mr. Governor," Peter Andropov nodded. "The great news is that Obasky's envoy arrived at Petrov Fortress and brought his personal letter."
"A letter of surrender?" Alexander asked.
"No, he is planning to surrender to His Majesty the Tsar. He said in the letter that he was being persecuted by Nanjing, so he wanted to bring his followers to surrender to us."
"What?" Count Naryshkin showed a surprised expression, "That's great!"
"This is a conspiracy!" Alexander was very sure. "They don't believe in God, so they like to use conspiracies, but they can't deceive me... because I have seen this."
He pointed to a thick book on his desk.
Count Naryshkin picked up the book and took a look at it. It was printed in Latin and the title was "The Legend of Three Countries".
"This is a book dedicated to Chinese-style conspiracy!" Alexander said. "I have read it many times, so I know very well what Obaisky wants to do! He wants to fake a surrender!"
"Perhaps not?" said Count Naryshkin.
"That would be even more troublesome!" Alexander shook his head.
"Then what should we do?" asked the Count. "Should we just stay in Yakutsk and do nothing?"
"Of course not," Alexander took a deep breath, "We have to go to Nerchinsk City... If we really can't defend it, we have to set up defenses on Lake Baikal!"
