"Can't we discuss it again? Mr. Alexei, we can give a lot to Mongolia! Haven't you always wanted it? As long as we have money, we can allow them autonomy and even independence."

"Also, San Sheng, everything you have always wanted to do in San Sheng can be done now, as long as we pay according to the agreed contract."

"If it doesn't work out, where else do you want to go? Everything can be discussed, everything can be discussed."

It is hard to imagine that this pleading tone came from the mouth of the former regent of the Qing Empire, Prince Chun Zaifeng.

The content in Chinese is even more unsightly. Among other things, the Mongolian Plateau has always been the front line of competition between Tsarist Russia and the Qing Empire.

For more than a hundred years, the Qing Empire has always taken the initiative strategically. The reason is that starting from Mongolia, it can easily cut off the connection between the east and the west of Tsarist Russia.

Tsarist Russia's ability to control land in Asia is very weak due to the existence of permafrost. Even now, it is very difficult to carry out infrastructure construction on permafrost.

Starting from the northwest corner of the Qing Empire, although the supply line is still very long, the conditions are much better than those of Tsarist Russia and can support the army's transit. The battle line will be pushed directly to Novosibirsk.

Past Novosibirsk is Ekaterina, and further west is the Ural Mountains.

And Zaifeng, in his words, actually expressed the idea of ​​selling at a low price.

"I'm very sorry, Your Excellency, Prince." Alexei was very moved, but he could not change the Russian Emperor's will.

The Balkan coalition forces have already started a war with the Ottoman Empire. In the past two weeks, the Ottoman Empire has made rapid progress due to the lack of deployment of troops.

But by the third week, a division from the Ottoman Empire that had just left the front arrived at the front line and easily defeated a Montenegrin division, and the situation began to take a turn for the worse.

The Ottoman Empire continued to increase its troops, the battle lines began to change repeatedly, and the war entered the stage of a war of attrition.

If it were just attrition, the Balkan coalition forces would not be afraid of the Ottomans, who had just experienced the front line. However, the enemies of the Balkans were not only the Ottoman Empire.

Behind them was the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had increasingly serious domestic conflicts and was in urgent need of an outlet. At the same time, it had longed for the Balkans!

"The Russian Empire will maintain a neutral attitude in this incident. This is the decision of our Emperor. Your proposal is very tempting. I can only report it to His Majesty the Emperor of our country. Whether it can succeed depends on His Majesty the Emperor's wishes."

Kexie shook his head regretfully.

The main force of the Balkan coalition is Yugoslavs, who are inherently pro-Russian. If this war ends with the victory of the Balkan coalition, then the Slavs may gain an outlet to the sea.

Even if it is not an outlet directly belonging to the Russian Empire, as long as it can bypass the Turkish Strait, the strategic significance is extremely important.

Just like Nanhua wants to build a railway from Haifa to the Persian Gulf.

Helping the Balkan coalition win has become the highest priority for the Tsar and his government. It is extremely uneconomical to waste a lot of energy on the Far East.

After Alexey left, Zaifeng smashed the table like a deflated rubber ball.

When the Qing Empire showed its decline, the Americans fled immediately and only supported them verbally.

Now the Russian Empire, under the will of the Tsar, has set its sights on the Balkans.

Except for Japan, no one continues to support the Qing Empire!

The Qing Empire's finances have dried up and are unable to continue the war, and Japan has no money and will not contribute.

In fact, if the sunk costs were not too high, Japan would have withdrawn its troops.

At present, Japan is actively contacting Sun Zaizhi, hoping that Sun Zaizhi will recognize all the treaties signed by Japan and the Qing Empire - on the condition of withdrawing its troops.

If Sun Zaizhi had not rejected the proposal in a strong tone, the Japanese gamblers would have had a psychological attack and the remaining 3rd and 7th Divisions would have withdrawn.

…………

Time passed by mid-March, and the revolutionary army finally pushed the front to the north.

Zheng Lei gathered various large-caliber artillery pieces together and formed a heavy artillery brigade to support this battle.

The heavy artillery brigade has two artillery regiments, namely the original 152mm field artillery regiment of the Second Guards Division and the heavy 152mm cannon regiment produced in Sanzhen with a range of 16 kilometers.

The latter is powerful, but with a marching weight of more than ten tons, it can only be used for sieges or positional warfare, or it can also be used as coastal defense artillery.

On March 15, Zheng Lei used a heavy 152mm cannon to bombard the earthen forts and city walls outside Xuzhou City from a long distance.

"The city walls of Xuzhou are high and deep, and the strategic location is important. This is a vicious battle!" Huang Zhengfang observed the effects of the shelling.

The prototype of the 152mm heavy cannon is a coastal defense gun, so it can be used for sieges without any problem.

The earthen fort was built during the Changmao Rebellion and was unable to resist modern heavy firepower.

Even according to the standards of decades ago, the 152 heavy cannon was classified according to the weight of the shells, and the 152 heavy cannon was a heavy cannon of 120 pounds.

The earthen fort can only resist the red cannon in Changmao's hands at most.

Huang Zhengfang, the earth fort, was not worried. Even if it was a city wall, if it couldn't be brought down by one shot, then a few more shots would be needed.

What he worries about is urban warfare, that is, street fighting.

The material reserves are insufficient, the firepower density is not enough, and prohibited weapons cannot be used - after all, this is our own place.

"Don't just think about us, give full consideration to the overall situation." Zheng Lei saw his worries.

"Overall situation?" Huang Zhengfang moved his head.

"Our firepower is far greater than that of the other party, and it is more difficult for the other party to replenish supplies than us."

"In terms of morale, although we did not directly experience defeat, retreating without a fight is still considered a defeated army, and morale is not much higher."

"The most important thing is that most of the Qing Empire has changed hands. When the building is about to collapse, more people will consider how to protect themselves instead of sinking with this broken ship."

"We will continue the bombardment for two hours, order the soldiers to eat, wait until two o'clock in the afternoon, and take advantage of the good weather to conduct a tentative attack."

"Let...the Third Light Infantry Division come forward."

Zheng Lei looked at the time, it was two minutes to twelve o'clock, which was a good time.

"Yes!" Huang Zhengfang suddenly received so much complicated information that he couldn't react and subconsciously carried out the order.

…

By two o'clock in the afternoon, the Xuzhou city wall was already in tatters. The wall actually only lasted for half an hour before it was broken.

The artillery that lost its target began to bombard targets in the city. The prefect's office, warehouses, barracks, etc. were baptized by shells again and again, and they were in tatters.

"kill!"

The sources of the Third Light Infantry Division are relatively complex, including Jiangnan New Army, revolutionary youth, recruits recruited in Jinling and Shanghai, etc.

Some people retained some habits, such as shouting when charging.

After the infantry attack began, the shelling stopped, so that the Beiyang Army was unable to react in time. Just as they climbed up the ruins of the wall, they ran head-on into the rushing Revolutionary Army soldiers.

The scattered Beiyang Army was unable to organize an effective defense, and the 3rd Light Infantry Division easily rushed into the city.

"According to intelligence, there are two Beiyang divisions and two Japanese divisions in the city, a total of four divisions."

"If they want to occupy Xuzhou City and defend the streets, they will cause us a lot of trouble."

"I apply to use ignition in urban areas..."

"Report! The 3rd Light Infantry Division is fighting fiercely with most of the enemy in the city. It is attacked by enemy artillery. The attack is blocked. Request artillery support."

Huang Zhengfang's words were hurriedly interrupted by the communications soldier.

"Order the Third Infantry Division to establish a position on the spot, and the artillery observers will set off immediately." Zheng Lei said immediately.

"Yes!" The communications soldier saluted and left immediately.

"What we are engaged in is a war for political power, not for land or voice." Zheng Lei said a word to Huang Zhengfang and left.

Huang Zhengfang opened his mouth, but finally said nothing.

…

"What's going on?" Hu Weijie was lying behind a collapsed city wall, looking at the dwarf opposite.

"I don't know. It seems that there was internal strife, so luring the enemy failed." Li Dahai, commander of the first battalion, has been at the forefront and is confused about what just happened.

They received the order to stop the attack and establish a position. Li Dahai led a battalion to cover Hu Weijie in building a position.

Their opponent was the Japanese-Youth coalition. Seeing that the revolutionary army had stopped attacking, they subconsciously counterattacked, but were repulsed by Li Dahai.

The position was almost built, and Li Dahai was able to withdraw, so he thought of instigating the enemy.

On the surface, Li Dahai "quietly" withdrew, but secretly, heavy machine guns had been set up on both wings, waiting for the enemy to rush up.

The Japanese were the first to be fooled and rushed forward with bayonets drawn, followed closely by some of the Beiyang troops.

Machine guns on both wings fired a burst, leaving more than a hundred corpses behind, and the Japanese-Young coalition troops hurried back.

Just when Li Dahai was really ready to leave, gunshots came from the opposite side. Li Dahai thought that the other side was determined to attack again, but he found that the enemy had not come out at all.

"Ignore him, let's withdraw first. The bombardment will come soon. If we don't withdraw, we might be in trouble." Hu Weijie thought for a while, the chance was good, but he couldn't confirm whether it was a trap or not.

The coordinates have already been reported, so there is no need for him to gamble, and it would be very dangerous to change it at this time.

During the war, everything can be said to be chaotic and busy. It is very dangerous to change the bombardment coordinates at this time.

Because you don't know whether the coordinates have been assigned. If they attack before you have time and the shells fall, it will be dangerous.

"Commander, white flag!" Li Dahai pointed to the direction of the Japanese-Youth coalition forces and pointed out a white flag.

"Brothers on the other side, stop fighting! We have killed little Japan, but we also want to revolution!" A voice appeared behind the white flag.

The two sides are less than 100 meters apart and can communicate normally.

"Want to surrender? Throw away your weapons and come here." Hu Weijie shouted and looked at his watch again.
To be continued...