Chapter 937

While the soldiers were busy setting up camp, Zhu Sansi decided to stir up some trouble.

This Vasily was a pawn for him to destroy the Russians’ psychological defenses, so he pushed these Russian captives to the riverbank.

At the same time, he had the accompanying translator draft a letter that combined extortion and persuasion to surrender, and had Guda shoot it onto the island with his bow and arrow.

“Heh heh, a little appetizer before the main course,” Gao Yingfeng licked his lips excitedly.

Guda smiled. After preparing, he drew his bow and aimed an arrow, shooting the letter into Albazin City.

On the opposite bank, upon seeing the Great Yu Empire’s action, Barov immediately had bows and arrows brought to him. Vasily was his son, and he had been wondering why they had completely lost contact during this period.

He hadn’t expected Vasily to become a Great Yu Empire captive, which immediately made him panic.

Gubat also recognized Vasily. He looked at Barov, a hint of mockery in his eyes. He understood Barov very well; this man was extremely vindictive.

This time, the Great Yu Empire captured his son. He would surely hate the Great Yu Empire, because he had always held great expectations for Vasily. If the news of Vasily’s capture spread back home, he would certainly be ridiculed by other nobles and never be able to hold his head high again.

“Commander Barov.”

A Russian soldier handed an arrow to Barov.

Tearing open the letter eagerly, Barov read, “Russian invaders, you are ordered to withdraw from Albazin within three days and return to your St. Petersburg, otherwise we will use force to show you the consequences of invading the Great Yu Empire. At the same time, you must compensate for all the damage caused to the Great Yu Empire since your invasion, otherwise we will execute these captives in front of you as a warning!”

“Bastards! Bastards! Bastards! These lowly yellow-skinned pigs! I will kill them! Kill them!”

Barov, like a madman, tore the letter to shreds. He was about to order the artillerymen to open fire on the Great Yu Empire soldiers on the opposite bank when he suddenly saw another Great Yu Empire army unit approaching from the forest towards that side.

Immediately, the Great Yu Empire army, which had originally been only one thousand strong, turned into two thousand men.

And this made Barov retract the order he was about to give.

Albazin City had 2,300 soldiers and twenty-six cannons, more than enough to deal with one thousand men. However, with another thousand men arriving, it was no longer so easy.

Forcibly suppressing the anger in his heart, Barov regained the composure of a commander. He said to the orderly, “Immediately send two men. One will go to Nerchinsk for reinforcements, and the other to Yakutsk for relief. This Great Yu Empire army seems to be well-prepared, and more soldiers might arrive later.”

“Yes, Commander Barov.” Saluting, the orderly turned and left.

Then he had someone bring him a pen and paper, and likewise used a bow and arrow to send a reply across the river.

“We are willing to withdraw, but we need fifteen days to do so. There are many supplies in the city that need to be transported. But before that, please return our captives.”

The translator relayed the contents of the letter to Zhu Sansi.

“Cunning fox.” Zhu Sansi scoffed at Barov’s suggestion.

Gao Yingfeng said disdainfully, “Calling them foxes is praising them too much. We should call them bears instead.”

“Hahaha…”

The soldiers burst into laughter.

Zhu Sansi then said seriously, “Their being fearless of cold like bears and possessing their strength, combined with the cunning and slyness of foxes, is truly dangerous. So, do not underestimate them just because their firearms are slightly more advanced. For many years to come, they might always be our enemies.”

The soldiers’ expressions immediately turned serious. The continuous victories in domestic warfare had indeed made them somewhat overconfident. After being reprimanded by Zhu Sansi, they all calmed down.

After a dignified sweep of the generals and soldiers, Zhu Sansi threw Barov’s reply into the river. He then had Guda send out a second letter.

“Since there are so many supplies in the city, they can serve as compensation for your invasion of the Great Yu Empire. My patience is limited. From now on, if you do not take concrete action, I will hand your people over to the Daur. They will be very happy to kill one of your enemies every half an hour.”

On the opposite bank, Barov quickly received the reply. His face grew paler. Looking at the dying Vasily on the riverbank, he finally said, “Send all the gold and silver in the city to the opposite bank.”

“With all due respect, Commander Barov, what we should do now is withdraw from Albazin and gather more soldiers to deal with them. There aren’t only this many Russian troops in the snowfield. If I can return, I can bring some cavalry for the Commander.” Gubat advised. He didn’t want to die here with these Russians.

Barov roared angrily, “That’s because it’s not your son on the opposite bank, and Albazin isn’t your city! If you want to leave, leave now! Just make sure your cavalry gets here quickly!”

Gubat was only too happy to oblige. He turned and descended the city wall, following the orderly.

And at this point, the third Great Yu Empire army crossed the forest and entered Albazin City’s line of sight. Barov’s heart grew increasingly anxious.

In his opinion, the most important thing now was to get his son back.

He urged, “Are you deaf?! Quickly! Quickly!”

The soldiers dared not delay. They all loaded the gold and silver from the city onto small boats. These items were originally in Barov’s private treasury, supposedly prepared by Barov to curry favor with the Empress.

On the opposite side of the river, Zhu Sansi watched with satisfaction as the Russian soldiers loaded boxes onto the boats one by one.

Before setting off, he understood that this arduous expedition would inevitably incur huge costs. And for a general, being able to minimize military expenditures was also a sign of capability.

Soon, two Russian soldiers rowed a small boat laden with gold and silver to the riverbank.

Zhu Sansi and Gao Yingfeng exchanged glances. They were somewhat surprised. They hadn’t expected the commander of Albazin to agree so readily.

Thinking of this, the two conceived the same idea: there must be important figures among this batch of captives.

After the boxes were carried ashore, Zhu Sansi opened and inspected each one. Inside were gold, silver, gold and silver artifacts, as well as pearls and gemstones.

And while he was inspecting, two more small boats rowed over.

Zhu Sansi nodded in satisfaction. This time, Barov had truly given his all to save these captives.

After successively receiving three batches of supplies, Zhu Sansi returned the captives as promised. He didn’t care about the captives’ identities, because those who could come here were inevitably marginal figures of Tsarist Russia.

Moreover, once war broke out, Albazin would be reduced to ashes.

While they were counting the spoils of war, the captives returned to Albazin with the small boat. Immediately after, a letter, carried by an arrow, landed at Zhu Sansi’s feet.

Barov, having shed his previous humble demeanor, cursed in the letter, “You Great Yu Empire pigs, I will cut off your heads and use them as bedpans!”

Zhu Sansi sneered. He said softly, “Courtesy demands reciprocity. Have the artillery send them three hundred shells as a return gift.”