Chapter 936

The biting cold wind made Zhu Sansi’s face flush red. He raised his leg and kicked Gao Yingfeng’s backside.

“The railway is the Railway Department’s business! War is the army’s business! If Albazin can’t be taken, or if the casualties are too heavy, I’ll see how I deal with you!”

Gao Yingfeng let out an “Ouch” and grinned, “I’m just grumbling, grumbling. It’s really boring dealing with forests and snow all the time.”

Seeing Zhu Sansi’s long face, Gao Yingfeng then chuckled mischievously.

Seeing Gao Yingfeng behave, Zhu Sansi lightly snorted. He surveyed the Tsarist Russian stronghold, his heart filled with mixed emotions. He wasn’t angry at Gao Yingfeng just now. Rather, he was angry at some ideas that had poisoned the common people of the Great Yu Empire for thousands of years, leading to a lack of aggression from both rulers and common people, and a preference for internal strife. Although New Confucianism was now correcting the chaos, this deeply ingrained inertia of thought could not be changed overnight.

In contrast, Tsarist Russia, a European country thousands of li away, could extend its sphere of influence to Asia. British and French warships could roam the Asian oceans. The internal reasons for this were enough to make him ponder.

However, the only thing worth celebrating was that the Emperor back then seemed to be completely an exception. Precisely because of his influence, the Great Yu Empire managed to achieve its current great accomplishments in just ten short years.

Thinking of this, a surge of passion welled up in his heart. What an honor it was to follow such an Emperor.

As he was contemplating, Gao Yingfeng had already selected a group of soldiers. These remaining soldiers would be responsible for operating this stronghold in the snowfield. In the future, they would also manage the Daur people and other tribes in this area.

Having dealt with the occupied stronghold, Zhu Sansi and Gao Yingfeng led a thousand soldiers further north along the mountain path. In over twenty days, they successively captured five strongholds and annihilated over three hundred Tsarist Russian soldiers along the way.

On the twenty-fourth day, after a arduous journey of climbing snowy mountains, traversing forests, and treading through accumulated snow, they finally arrived at Albazin City.

“Albazin, finally… finally we’ve arrived.” At the foot of Albazin City, Gao Yingfeng was so excited he almost shed tears. This nearly month-long trek had been too difficult.

If the soldiers hadn’t been trained and resolute, they would probably have all run off along the way.

Zhu Sansi also let out a heavy sigh of relief. The most difficult part of this march was the transportation of artillery and ammunition. Due to the rugged terrain, it slowed down their marching speed.

However, amidst their joy, they now faced another problem: how to attack Albazin.

Because Albazin City was actually built on an island in the middle of the river, the Amur River divided here, flowed around the island, and then reunited.

And the city on the island in the middle of the river was Albazin City.

“This is our Daur people’s city! These bandits took our land and massacred our tribesmen in the city!” Guda’s eyes were bloodshot. He wished he could charge onto the island now.

“Now that we’re here, none of these murderers can escape,” Zhu Sansi picked up his telescope and looked towards Albazin City.

At this time, the Tsarist Russian soldiers inside the city had clearly spotted them. The soldiers in the city immediately rushed towards their side of the city wall. At the same time, he also saw cannons on the city wall.

“Division Commander, it’s probably fifty meters from the riverbank to Albazin City. We need to build some rafts first,” Gao Yingfeng said after observing.

Zhu Sansi put down his telescope. It had to be said that this Albazin City was well-chosen. It was effective for dealing with tribes like the Daur people, who were still in the cold weapon era.

However, for the Great Yu Empire, which possessed artillery and firearm technology, these fifty meters were no problem at all.

“I don’t think so. You see, the river is already covered with a thick layer of ice. In a few more days, the center of the river will probably be completely frozen over. At that time, the river will no longer be an obstacle. Besides, the others who attacked the strongholds haven’t returned yet. There are at least two thousand Tsarist Russian soldiers in the city. All in all, now is not the best time for an attack,” Zhu Sansi analyzed.

All along the way, the increasingly cold weather made him extremely irritable, but now he suddenly felt a bit fortunate.

Guda was somewhat surprised. He had just wanted to remind Zhu Sansi of this, but he hadn’t expected this general to have already thought of it. So he added, “That’s right. At this time, the river should be freezing over. Previously, the Tsarist Russians also captured Albazin when the river was frozen.”

Zhu Sansi nodded slightly. This further confirmed his judgment.

Gao Yingfeng shouted, “Establish camp here. We’ll attack the city after the main force reunites.”

“Yes.”

The soldiers responded and quickly began to set up camp.

At the same time, a Tsarist Russian general inside Albazin City was also observing the Great Yu Empire army opposite. His name was Barov, and he was the commander dispatched from Yakutsk to occupy Albazin.

Albazin and its surrounding strongholds were under his command.

“Damn it! Who are these people?” Barov put down his monocular telescope and asked roughly.

“Looking at their skin color, they should be Great Yu Empire people.” A middle-aged man stood beside Barov.

The middle-aged man had a rugged face, with yellow skin and black eyes.

“Gubat, these are the Great Yu Empire people who beat your Golden Tent Khanate until they ran crying,” Barov suddenly laughed heartlessly, which made Gubat’s face turn grim, even somewhat angry.

If not for the defeat in Guandong which greatly weakened the Golden Tent Khanate, and Dolgor’s madness due to losing his sons, they would not have pledged allegiance to Tsarist Russia and offered the title of Great Khan to the Tsarina of Tsarist Russia. After all, she was a woman.

Barov saw that Gubat was somewhat displeased. He then laughed and patted Gubat’s shoulder. He understood that offending the Golden Tent Khanate people was unwise. After all, this nomadic tribe had just recently submitted to Tsarist Russia, and they needed the Golden Tent Khanate to help them expand their territory and defend Tsarist Russia’s achievements in the Far East.

“That was just a joke,” Barov said reassuringly. “Since they are the Great Yu Empire army, this time I will personally defeat them for you.”

“Thank you for your kindness, but the Great Yu Empire’s soldiers are not as easy to deal with as the Daur people,” Gubat reminded him.

A subtle contempt flashed in Barov’s eyes. The Cossacks were easily conquered by them. In his opinion, this Golden Tent Khanate was even inferior to the Cossacks. So he had always looked down on the Golden Tent Khanate’s combat effectiveness.

“For us Russians, there is no enemy we cannot conquer. You just need to watch this battle,” Barov said confidently.

No sooner had he spoken than a commotion suddenly arose on the opposite bank. Over thirty Russian soldiers were pushed to the riverbank. He immediately recognized one of them at a glance.

“Vasily!” Barov was greatly alarmed.

The novel has already been fully translated up to the final chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair