Chapter 1194: To Fight or Not to Fight

The Tsarist Russia Imperial Palace.

The news of Ushakov's defeat had already reached the ears of Peter the Great.

Ushakov was severely wounded, and the Pacific Fleet had been almost completely wiped out...

A crushing defeat that bordered on humiliation.

Now, it was not just a matter of losing a battle; the Joseon fleet had already blockaded Petropavlovsk, and all Tsarist Russia ships in the vicinity had been seized or sunk by the Joseon military, which meant they no longer had any usable naval power in the Far East.

What was even more infuriating was that, at this time, the Joseon naval commander actually sent people to demand war reparations from them!

Too bullying!

Suddenly, public opinion within the country was in an uproar.

Many of their citizens did not even know what Joseon was; the people of Tsarist Russia found it truly hard to accept that they had been so crudely harmed by this tiny, insignificant country.

At this moment.

The Tsarist Russia parliament was already in a state of chaos.

Peter the Great's fury could naturally be imagined.

They were the powerful Tsarist Russia!

Furthermore...

He had invested heavily in the Tsarist Russia navy! It could be said that Peter had a paranoid pursuit of the navy throughout his life.

He had always believed that in the future world order, the navy would be the most important thing of all!

Of course.

As history progressed, people realized that Peter's idea was entirely correct.

Of course, Peter would no longer be able to verify his own idea...

Because at this moment, he was nearly being angered to death!

Ushakov!

The so-called guardian deity of the Eastern Orthodox Church!

Is this it?

What he lamented was not just Ushakov, but also the powerful navy he had created at such a massive cost!

"Your Majesty, this is a national humiliation. I believe we should mobilize the Baltic Fleet, travel far to the Okhotsk Sea, and annihilate these arrogant fools!"

The Councilors could no longer endure it.

What on earth was going on!

They, who had repeatedly ground the powerful Ottoman Empire into the dirt, were actually being threatened by a small, weak Joseon!

Excessive!

"Your Majesty, send the troops!"

The ministers argued back and forth, making Peter's ears ache.

This time, their Tsarist Russia had indeed been slapped hard in the face by Joseon.

Not Longyan, but Joseon!

This was the most shameful thing of all!

But even if it was shameful, what could they do? Really dispatch the Baltic Fleet across the oceans to attack the Joseon fleet?

Although the Baltic Fleet was strong and had the confidence to defeat the Joseon fleet, Longyan would not sit idly by; if Longyan were to join forces with Joseon, whether they could win was truly hard to say.

Furthermore, although the Far East was the strategic focus of Tsarist Russia, their foundation lay in Europe.

The Baltic Fleet was an important component force for defending their European territories.

They had just won the Northern War, and the defeated Sweden and Ottoman had been harboring grudges against them; once the strength of the Baltic Fleet was weakened, no one could say for sure if Sweden would gather those European countries to take advantage of the situation.

The Baltic Sea must never be lost, so the fleet could not be moved.

This time, they could only swallow their broken teeth along with the blood.

However, although they had suffered a loss, it was not a total defeat; Tsarist Russia also had its stance, which was: no money, but if you want to fight, we will oblige.

Li Shunyi would certainly not attack the barren land of Siberia; no money meant no money, and having achieved his tactical objectives, he was ready to return to his country.

Tsarist Russia had lost face in the Far East, and as a major power, they had to regain it elsewhere.

This place was the Western Regions.

Although Ushakov had lost the battle,

in the Western Regions, Rumyantsev's battle record was still acceptable.

As long as they could take Yanqi in one go, the Western Regions would be within Tsarist Russia's grasp!

The Councilors naturally had all sorts of ideas.

Fortunately...

In Tsarist Russia, at present, Peter the Great still had the final say!

"Trash! All of you are a bunch of trash!"

Although Peter was already old, he had not yet lost his reason.

Use the Baltic navy to make a huge detour to fight in the Far East?

Are you crazy!

National humiliation?

That's right, this is a national humiliation!

But if he were to do that, it would no longer be a national humiliation!

It would be a national tragedy!

"All of you, shut up!"

Peter could not be bothered to listen to these people making a racket here.

Even Ushakov was defeated...

If this bunch of losers were sent up, wouldn't it be even more miserable?

He coldly swept his gaze around the room, and only then did the whole place quiet down.

No one dared to speak.

They knew Peter's temper.

He was a man of decisive action.

"The Far East..."

"Abandon it for now!"

Although Tsar Peter was helpless, he could only issue such an order.

Soon, the Tsar's order reached Rumyantsev, and along with the order came the previous rewards.

Rumyantsev did not fear fighting, but to fight, one needed sufficient supplies.

Seeing the pitifully small amount of supplies, he knew that most of these things must have been swallowed by Menshikov.

He very much wanted to report this matter, but he knew that the channels for sending messages must all be controlled by Menshikov; even if he wrote a letter, it would be in vain, and it would not be too late to settle accounts with him after a triumphant return.

Peter ordered that within one month, there must be major progress in the Western Regions war, which gave Rumyantsev a headache.

He always had a bad premonition in his heart...

Because before Ushakov was defeated, he had received the exact same order.

One month...

The Far East could not be taken in a month.

Could the Western Regions be taken?

Seeking quick success and instant benefits would be the beginning of defeat.

Of course, Rumyantsev still intended to execute Peter's order.

Because he also knew that they had actually invaded Longyan territory now, and the longer they stayed on someone else's turf, the easier it was for something to go wrong.

The Northwest war situation could not be dragged out.

The next target for Tsarist Russia was Yanqi, but the Longyan people were holding firm and not coming out, using Scorched Earth, so they didn't even have a single chance; they couldn't possibly have an army of two hundred thousand storm Yanqi, right?

Even if they could take it, they would have to pay a huge price; at that time, they would have no strength to attack the next city, and it would even be difficult to hold Yanqi...

This had no meaning at all.

He had to think of a Method.

Now, the whole of Asia was filled with the smell of gunpowder.

Wars had broken out in many parts of Asia, and the one with the greatest influence was the conflict in the Suez region of West Asia.

This was the junction of three continents; controlling this place was equivalent to controlling the wealth of nearly half the world.

Britain would not let go, and of course, Longyan would not either.

The two sides had been in a standoff here for nearly a week.

Britain had originally thought that Longyan would launch a sneak attack, but after being tense for such a long time, the Longyan army had not made a single move.

Now, Hans and Luojinsi both felt that they had been overthinking it.

Their vigilance toward the war was increasingly relaxing, and this was the opportunity for Longyan.

The Dark Night Legion, which had been preparing for a week, was about to act.

The Dark Night Legion split into two routes, one route,

Infiltrated underwater from the front to directly raid their grain and fodder base;

While the other route landed along the coast of Egypt, waiting for an opportunity to attack the British Army's ammunition depot.

As long as the Dark Night Legion completed the mission, then Liu Zheng could order Nashadier to lead his main force to go head-to-head with the British army.

At this moment, a sense of weariness was spreading through the British army.

A continuous week of tension had left their spirits dazed.

They needed rest.

"Hey, hey, stop sleeping. If you're this groggy, if the Longyan people come, you won't even know how you died."

"Longyan people? Hmph, the Longyan people are all sleeping on the other side of the river; only we are here watching non-stop."

Two British sentries were chatting, completely unaware that not far from their side, a team of people had already crept up.

The British Army had weak defenses, but the Navy was different; although a full week had passed, having experienced the combat power of Longyan, they did not dare to underestimate Longyan and maintained the highest level of vigilance at all times.

Their sentries were very dense and reasonably deployed, blocking the only path for the Dark Night Legion to the ammunition depot; Jiang Xuan simply had no chance to infiltrate.

The southern line should be very smooth; if he, the leader of the Dark Night Legion, could not produce any results, he would really have no face to return to see Liu Zheng.

Since he had come all this way, he wanted to give Liu Zheng a big gift.

He had his eyes on Luojinsi.

Luojinsi had deployed so many sentries on the perimeter; presumably, his focus was all on the sentries. If he took him by surprise at this time and wiped out his lair, then the British Navy would have no commander.

Jiang Xuan did not hesitate and immediately changed his order, heading straight for the northern Egyptian port city—Yalishanda.

Things were indeed as Jiang Xuan had expected; although there were many perimeter sentries, the city defenses were truly quite poor. If he took them by surprise, taking a city gate should not be a problem.

Then, Jiang Xuan began to calculate.

Their appearance was too different from the locals here; trying to disguise themselves and sneak in was definitely impossible. Since that was the case, they could only wait for the cover of night to climb over the walls.

The soldiers of the Dark Night Legion were all specially trained; a ten-meter-high city wall was not a very difficult matter for them.