Dominate the Country

"Read the newspaper, read the newspaper. A special commentator article in the "Zhongyuan Daily" said that the situation on the battlefield in Astrakhan suddenly changed, and 100,000 Russian troops were tightly surrounded by our coalition army..."

"Read the newspaper, read the newspaper, the Caspian Sea Fleet decided the outcome in one battle - it defeated the Russian Caspian Fleet and cut off the Russian army's waterway. The Russian army is already trapped in a jar and is completely surrounded by our land and sea army on the left bank of the Volga River..."

...

"The army is gathering, and the final annihilation battle is about to start..."

"The prince came to the northwest in person and arrived in Lanzhou yesterday. It is expected to reach the front line within ten days..."

"Foreign media reported that Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Tsarist Russia has gathered 100,000 troops in Kazan and is about to reinforce Astrakhan..."

...

Time has always been so graceful, and it does not change its pace because of anything.

Half a month passed quickly in the negotiations between Chen Ming's special envoy and the bigwigs in the business community, just like the irreversible water of the Yangtze River flowing eastward. And when the whole negotiation came to an end, when Chen Ming was satisfied with what he had gained, what would they use to quickly divert the attention and discussion of the people?

The Northwest War, which was not taken seriously by both parties in the previous negotiations, became the best substitute.

And in this short period of time, the situation in Astrakhan did change decisively - Chen Han's Caspian Sea Fleet defeated the Russian Caspian Fleet at the mouth of the Volga River. As a result, the remnants of the Russian army in New Astrakhan were completely surrounded by the National Defense Forces. The Russian army had made several assaults, but they were just sending themselves to death.

The Russian army's transportation is now cut off. As long as the Chinese side continues to besiege for a long time, the surrender of Bo Goying and Cornwallis in the original time and space will inevitably come. As long as the fence is tied tightly, the remaining Russian army is like fish on the chopping board, and can be slaughtered by the National Defense Forces!

Moreover, in the war in the Caucasus region, after Platov's Cossacks were blocked by the National Defense Army and the full-scale counterattack of the countries led by Persia, the transportation tension and chaos brought to Chen Han were quickly eliminated.

More importantly, after mobilizing a large number of troops from the National Defense Army, Platov concentrated 5,000 Cossacks to attack the Vladikavkaz Fortress, intending to solve the National Defense Army outside the fortress with internal and external forces. As a result, the two Russian armies inside and outside were both hit by the resolute defense of Chen Han's troops outside the fortress, and the situation of the Russian army suddenly became bad.

The "change" of the Sino-Russian war quickly alarmed the whole of China.

Many people's eyes were once again fixed on Astrakhan, and they also began to pay attention to Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich.

Although the 100,000 Russian reinforcements were just a piece of false news, many ordinary people and many foreigners in China did not know. Anyway, whether it was the Russian reinforcements in Kazan or the brutal tug-of-war at the mouth of the Volga River, they all caught the eyes of thousands of people.

The national propaganda agencies that have been fully mobilized are extremely powerful. Their biggest task now is to eliminate the impact of the military martial law in the two important cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Although this impact cannot be easily eliminated in this way.

But this "trend" set off by the domestic press first incited foreign journalists. Of course, they don't know whether Grand Duke Constantine has really assembled a large army in Kazan to rescue the Volga River.

Is the time for the Chinese to get such information too tight?

But they still sent urgent communications to their own country, and at the same time, they went deep into the northwest, praising China's vastness, richness and strength in an exaggerated tone. At the same time, they interviewed the people, vendors, wealthy businessmen, wealthy people, and even wealthy people. They interviewed soldiers and officers, and they also interviewed Russian prisoners of war and people from all walks of life.

I don't know how many strange manuscripts are published in hundreds or thousands of large and small newspapers in China every day. These foreign journalists will also send their manuscripts back to their country. Sending them to Chinese newspapers is just for them to seek extra income.

Anyway, a large proportion of these articles written from the perspectives and opinions of foreigners praise China's invincibility, which really tickles the Chinese people. With the hard work of Chen Han's local media workers, the influence of the Sino-Russian War has indeed been greatly expanded in the shortest time.

So far in the war, the number of local soldiers sacrificed by Chen Han has exceeded 20,000. Including the people of the Seven Khanates, this number can be expanded to 50,000, and the casualties have exceeded 100,000.

It can be said that if it were limited to the 200,000 troops at the beginning of the war, the National Defense Army would have lost its combat effectiveness. However, despite such a large number of casualties, the number of soldiers captured by Chen Han was only 200 to 300, and many of them were captured by the Russian army after the attacking troops withdrew after being injured. After all, most of Chen Han's large-scale attacks occurred at night, and visibility was very low. Some were directly knocked unconscious, and then they were prisoners when they woke up.

But nearly half of the 100,000-strong army [pure National Defense Army] were killed or wounded, and there were only 200 to 300 prisoners of war. What is this concept?

The Russians were not sensitive to the number of prisoners of war at first. They finally captured the prisoners, and they were very ostentatious and exposed to everyone. The number was not kept secret at all, and some things had been leaked, whether it was the captured Russian soldiers or the summary of the news in the newspapers and letters confiscated from the Russian soldiers, all showed this number.

As for the people of the Seven Khanates, the number of prisoners has exceeded 1,500, even reaching 2,000.

These news were first leaked by the "Military Newspaper" during this wave of enthusiasm, and then the fighting will and courage of the Chinese National Defense Army were clearly shown in the eyes of the whole country.

Because this is really encouraging, and at the same time, the status of the National Defense Army in Chen Han has also become higher.

However, compared with the number of soldiers captured by Chen Han, the Russian army has actually captured a lot of soldiers so far, and the total number has exceeded 20,000. This is much higher than the number of soldiers captured by Chen Han.

But if we make a more detailed distinction, most of the 20,000 Russian prisoners of war were captured before Bagration led his troops to the Eastern Front.

Although the latter was completely dead, the former surrendered with more than 6,000 Russian soldiers alone, and a certain number of young and strong Russians, who were also treated as prisoners of war. That is to say, among these 20,000 people, a considerable part of them are Russian civilian resistance forces, that is, militias.

And the number of Russian troops brought by Bagration is really not much, just two. The Russians are really fighting hard this time, very brave.

But foreign reporters don’t know, and the people of Chen Han don’t need to know too much. Chen Ming only used prisoners of war to make Russia lose face.

…

Yili, the rear base of the Sino-Russian battlefield, a city where hundreds of domestic and foreign media gather. Every day, every hour, every street, you can see reporters wandering around with press cards. Many of them are foreigners with blue eyes and big noses, who look no different from the old Russians.

The Dove Nest in Yili can be said to be the busiest place in the entire Yili City, even busier and more lively than the Prince’s Residence in Yili.

Chen Ding was officially enfeoffed as the prince by Chen Ming a month ago, which is obviously Chen Ming’s support for the Li family. Then Chen Ding was kicked out of Nanjing by his father before he had worn the title of the crown prince for a few days, and he came to the northwest for sightseeing.

Now he is no longer in Yili, but the brigade's support and guard troops are still in Yili.

There are so many reporters in Yili City who want to send news to their own newspapers, and the busyness and tension of the Dove Nest can be imagined.

Some reporters even settled down next to the Dove Nest.

This is the second time that Yili City has gathered so many domestic and foreign media since the last Sino-Russian War.

Around the Dove Nest in Yili, two coffee shops that had never appeared in the entire Xinjiang before, which were born due to the sudden increase in foreigners in Yili, have long become local restaurants, but within a week, these two restaurants have changed from old-fashioned Xinjiang restaurants back to coffee shops. This is specially prepared for those foreign reporters. Of course, it can also be said that it is specially made to make money from those foreign reporters.

Just like the last time Yili was lively, the number of these foreigners was not large, but their consumption power was really strong. And some Chinese reporters also drink coffee.

Albin Durmaz, a Swede, and Jimmy Martin, a China correspondent for the British Daily News, came to Yili again.

They have lived in China for 20 to 30 years. Both Durmaz and Jimmy Martin had brought their families to China long ago.

Although Jimmy Martin was a little reluctant at the beginning, he lived a very free and easy life in China. As a veteran foreign correspondent of the Daily News, Martin worked diligently and provided the newspaper with many big news in China in a timely manner. The salary and subsidies given by the Daily News were not cheap. Even if a considerable part of his income was sent directly to his family in London, the remaining part and the extra money he earned in China were enough for him to buy a property in the suburbs of Shanghai and buy a white slave to serve him daily.

He could even replace the female slave regularly. How free and easy was this life? For this reason, he ignored the possibility that his wife in London would cuckold him.

But in the end, he brought his wife and children to China. Because it was proven that his wife and children loved him. Martin refused once, Martin refused a second time, Martin refused a third time, he could refuse a fourth time, a fifth time..., but he couldn't refuse all the time.

And Durmaz, a Swede, took the initiative to bring his wife, children and parents to China because of the chaos in Sweden.

Compared with life in Sweden, life in China is much more stable.

These are two foreigners conquered by China.