Chapter 1188: The Attitude of the Li Dynasty

The battle on Kuye Island continues.

The Tsarist Russia Army, dazed and confused by the cannonballs, had completely lost any thought of counterattacking.

Now, there was only one word in their minds: escape.

The Tsarist Russia Army had come from a long way, far from their homes.

They had been living on the sea near this Kuye Island for so long.

This bunch of polar bears could hardly stand drifting on the Pacific Ocean every day...

And with the added feeling of homesickness...

They had long since lost the will to fight!

Now that they had fallen into the trap of the Longyan, facing the indiscriminate shelling and the sky-filling rain of arrows from the Longyan, this group of polar bears naturally became a group of sick cats.

Escape!

No matter how Ushakov roared, for them, there was only one word: escape!

And their rout only further increased the fighting spirit of the Longyan Soldiers; everyone had been holding their breath while shooting these Russians, and now, seeing the enemy rout, they were even more bloodthirsty.

"Charge! Kill these sons of bitches, avenge our brothers!"

"Charge! Avenge our brothers."

After a burst of battle cries, the Longyan soldiers charged into the enemy formation.

Like tigers entering a flock of sheep, wherever the Longyan army went, blood splattered and wails rose everywhere.

In the eyes of the Tsarist Russia Army, there was only one word: escape, and in the eyes of the Longyan army, there was only one word: kill!

In their eyes were the companions who had been blown to pieces by artillery fire;

In their eyes were the bodies of those who had been tortured by the Plague and died with hatred.

Kill, only by killing all these red-haired beasts could they eliminate the hatred in their hearts!

For close-quarters combat, the Longyan soldiers had long been equipped with Refined Steel Weaponry and Equipment from Liangzhou, so even though they were at a disadvantage in physique, they were still fearless; they had the upper hand in morale alone, and once they started fighting, they simply trampled these Russians underfoot and ravaged them mercilessly.

"Puchi!"

"Bang!"

"Crack!"

The sounds of various close-quarters skirmishes rang out.

Followed by the incomprehensible wailing and despair of the Tsarist Russia soldiers.

As long as there is war, especially a great battle involving tens of thousands or over a hundred thousand, in the end, it cannot escape close-quarters combat. This is equivalent to the Bayonet fighting in Modern Warfare.

The purpose of war is to crush the enemy.

Not only to crush the enemy's formation but also to crush the enemy's will.

Otherwise, this would not be a general offensive...

The meaning of a general offensive is to completely annihilate them.

Thus, Bayonet fighting became the final decisive battle.

The Longyan army came with fury.

But the Tsarist Russia Army came with panic.

The scene of the Bayonet fighting naturally showed who was superior.

At the same time, the Tsarist Russia fleet also approached the shore.

The Longyan army's Cannon had all been moved to the center of the island, and the shore of Kuye Island had no heavy defensive weapons.

The Tsarist Russia Army docked at the shore without paying any price, and the Coastal Defense Force led by Niu Chaofeng was also prepared for battle.

However, what surprised Niu Chaofeng was that although the Tsarist Russia Army had reached the shore, they did not land.

Now, Niu Chaofeng was a bit confused; could it be that they did not intend to save their companions?

"General, why aren't they coming down?" a subordinate asked in surprise.

"It would be better if they didn't come down; that way, your life would be guaranteed. Don't let your guard down; the Tsarist Russia Army might be brewing some evil plan, so be careful."

Niu Chaofeng frowned and reminded them.

It was now early morning, and the sky was slowly brightening; although there was daylight, the water vapor on the island was too heavy, causing thick fog to appear on the island. Originally, he could confirm the position of his own soldiers through the Telescope by the firelight, but once the fog rose, everything in sight was white.

Ushakov was anxious; now, he had no idea what the situation on the island was, and a strong sense of unease arose in his heart.

He felt that he could no longer be so passive.

The sound of gunfire on the island gradually thinned, which meant that the Longyan had already begun hand-to-hand combat.

Hand-to-hand combat, this kind of close-quarters fighting, was actually more advantageous for these strong and sturdy Slavic people, but the ambushed Tsarist Russia soldiers had already lost their morale; close-quarters combat relies on the courage to not fear death, and without morale, they could only be slaughtered.

Although he was very worried that the soldiers under his command would be affected by the low spirits of the defeated army, there were, after all, tens of thousands of lives on the island; if he just abandoned them on the island, when he returned, Peter the Great would not let him off easily.

This cannot go on!

If this continues, even if they withdraw their troops, they will have to pay a huge price.

The Longyan are too ruthless!

They want to end the war on Kuye Island in a single battle!

Everything came so unexpectedly.

Everything came with such thunderous force.

Ushakov took a deep breath, trying to calm his emotions.

He knew that as the commander-in-chief, if he panicked at this time, the army would truly be finished.

He must preserve his effective strength to the maximum extent!

Only then...

Could he save his reputation, keep his position, and even ask for reinforcements from Russia to continue this war in the Far East, so as to wash away today's humiliation...

"All troops, take heed: except for the necessary soldiers to remain on the vessels, everyone else is to disembark with me and provide support from the perimeter."

Ushakov gave the order decisively.

"Yes!"

After the various commanders responded, they each led their teams to take action.

Over fifty thousand people began to land in an orderly fashion; seeing the vast, mighty crowd descending from the ships, Niu Chaofeng and his men also grew tense.

"General, they are here."

"Prepare, greet them with cannonballs."

"Yes!"

……

The battlefield was intense, and the parliament of Joseon was arguing just as fiercely.

Joseon was, of course, aware that such a fierce war had broken out in the Northeast of Longyan.

Now that the battle between Longyan and Tsarist Russia had reached a stalemate, it was time for Joseon to take a stand.

Although Li Tun was the King of Joseon, with the constitutional monarchy of the Joseon dynasty, Li Tun as king existed in name only.

Li Tun had already distanced himself from the imperial court; although he no longer held his former power of life and death, he was quite content now.

Although the Joseon dynasty could not be called wealthy and strong, after the reforms of Li Xuanya, the entire country presented a scene of prosperity, the market became increasingly active, and the people's happiness continued to rise.

Not only in terms of people's livelihood, but in military strength, the Joseon dynasty had also made significant progress.

Because Li Xuanya personally had a good relationship with Longyan, Liangzhou also gifted Li Xuanya a batch of new equipment.

Li Xuanya ordered Joseon craftsmen to mass-produce imitations, and by now, the basic equipment of the Joseon dynasty had been replaced.

Beyond just basic strength equipment, Liu Zheng also sold two hundred Red Barbarian Cannons to the Joseon dynasty at prices far below market value.

Furthermore, Liu Zheng also gifted them some of Longyan's large Warships.

Although their national strength still could not compare to a great power like Longyan, they now had no problem dealing with Wa.

It could be said that the current Joseon dynasty already showed signs of a revival.

Looking at Wa on the other side... it was now a miserable sight.

The troops of the Nanyang King began to plunder the wealth of Wa... this had nothing to do with humanitarianism; this was the consequence of defeat.

Wa should pay the war reparations—otherwise, who would compensate for what the Nanyang Army spent

on fighting the war?

Defeat is defeat.

If you are defeated, you must stand at attention and take the beating.

Moreover, Nanyang would absolutely not give Wa a chance to rise from the ashes again; they could only plunder all of their wealth and begin the colonization of Wa.

Of course, Wa also paid a lot of war reparations to the Joseon side. This directly caused the overall economy of Wa to fall into the abyss.

By comparison...

The current Joseon dynasty was already much happier.

Sure enough...

Following Liu Zheng means having meat to eat!

And now, the issue the parliament was arguing about was whether or not they should get involved in the war between Longyan and Tsarist Russia, and even if they did, how they should go about it.

The war was taking place in Northeast Asia, and as one of the four countries of Northeast Asia, the Joseon dynasty absolutely could not stay out of it.

Li Xuanya felt that they were a vassal state of Longyan and had received much grace from Longyan; when Longyan was invaded by foreign enemies, they should stand up and share part of the pressure for Longyan.

Li Xuanya's proposal received the support of her followers, but the Southerner Party and the Westerner Party had different opinions.

When Liu Zheng was in the Joseon dynasty, he was relatively close to the Southern Faction, so the Southerner Party also felt they should intervene, but they could not fight in the name of a Longyan vassal state; they believed they should go to mediate as an objective third country.

As for the Westerner Party, their relationship with Liu Zheng was not that good, and they believed they should not get involved at all.

The Westerner Party believed that the Joseon dynasty had just recovered from the aggression of Wa and needed peaceful development at this time; if they really sent troops, no matter what capacity they acted in, as long as they intervened in the war, it would certainly arouse the dissatisfaction of the Tsarist Russia side.

Tsarist Russia was a superpower; compared to a country like Tsarist Russia, their Joseon dynasty was simply a tiny speck of land. If the Russian Army were to settle scores with them after the war, they could not bear the consequences.

And besides...

Just going by the current development speed of the Joseon dynasty...

Who doesn't have a bit of ambition?

Why must the Joseon dynasty always rely on the breath of Longyan?

If they were to develop...

Perhaps they would even be Longyan's greatest enemy!

After all...

They are the strongest in the universe!

A group of people argued endlessly, and no one could convince anyone else.

There was no Method; mutual buck-passing and low efficiency were the shortcomings of the constitutional parliamentary system.

Li Xuanya had a headache.

She was very worried that the Longyan Northeast would fall into the hands of Tsarist Russia.

On one hand, it was naturally due to her emotional connection with Liu Zheng; secondly, she was also considering the Joseon dynasty.

Whether it was Longyan or Tsarist Russia, both were unreachable behemoths to the Joseon dynasty, but the difference lay in the styles of these two countries.

Longyan advocated peace and emphasized mutual benefit, but Tsarist Russia was different; Tsarist Russia possessed a strong ideology of great-power chauvinism. Once they occupied the Outer Northeast and bordered the Joseon dynasty, the best case would be directly imposing their ideology onto the Joseon dynasty; in the worst case, they might just directly occupy and colonize them.