Two days later, Zeng Laojiu finally retreated to "Huo Qubing" Fort with his team.

Perhaps it was really the God of War’s blessing that we happened to meet another brigade delivering supplies.

Relying on Huo Qubing's fort, Zeng Laojiu finally drove away this group of Tsarist Russians.

Only then did he discover that the number of hunters in Tsarist Russia actually exceeded a thousand.

Such a large number of people is definitely not normal, and there must be people from Tsarist Russian officials behind it.

This time, a brigade led by Zeng Laojiu lost half its men, and many of them fell into the swamp.

Of course, the Tsarist Russians did not gain much either; they also suffered heavy losses.

Here in Xianbelia, the biggest problem is always the harsh environment. When you go out to fight, you must be prepared for non-combat attrition.

However, Zeng Laojiu still had to report such an abnormal situation.

After experiencing this loss, he will not explore westward for a while.

It is important to consolidate the string of fortresses along the middle line first.

The defensive strength of each fortress should be increased. It should no longer be so easy to give the enemy opportunities to defeat each one.

Holy Castle City, Royal Arsenal. King Alexander II in military uniform is inspecting the work here.

Tsarist Russia also developed its own breech-loading rifles and rear cannons. The Crimean War allowed them to fully learn the lesson of backward weapons.

What the Tsar came to see today was not these, but a sharp weapon that caused serious injuries to them in the East. Tens of thousands of Tsarist Russian soldiers shed blood in front of this deadly weapon.

This is a gun made of multiple tubes.

"Your Majesty, the demonstration is ready." Piotr Nowakworski, the head of the arsenal, said.

"Okay, let's go." Under the tight protection of the guards, Alexander II walked towards the testing site.

In a position made of sandbags in the experimental field, there was a firearm composed of seven thick pipes.

The appearance looks similar to the revolving machine gun of the Renaissance Army, but it is larger.

This rotary machine gun made by Tsarist Russia uses 12mm black powder copper-cased bullets. The caliber of the bullets is larger than that of ordinary breech-loading rifles today.

There is a solid bracket underneath it, so there is basically no need to consider recoil.

The magazine above the machine gun is like an oak barrel attached to the machine gun.

This gun fully demonstrates the simple and crude approach of the Tsarist Russians.

The demonstration began with several soldiers kneeling behind and on both sides of the machine gun.

One of them started to shake the handle. As the handle turned, a mechanical clicking sound came from the machine gun position.

The barrel of the gun randomly rotated, and fire began to emit from the muzzle.

A barrage of bullets was fired at a group of goats five hundred meters away.

A large number of blood holes instantly appeared on the white sheepskin, and some goats were even torn into two pieces by the huge bullets.

"Bah bang bang..." Alexander II took the lead in applauding.

The demonstration ended smoothly without any jamming. Factory director Piotr Nowakworski wiped his sweat silently in his heart.

The only problem with this gun is that it jams easily because of its delicate mechanical transmission.

And its rate of fire is very fast, and gunpowder residue is often adsorbed to the transmission device, causing it to jam.

Their solution was to make the gun bigger.

In this case, the parts inside will also become larger accordingly, making it less likely to get stuck and making it easier to clean.

After inspecting the arsenal, Alexander II returned to the palace under the escort of guards.

Recently, the number of guards around him has increased a lot, and multiple carriages have to be arranged to escort him when he travels.

This is because at the beginning of the year, Alexander II was assassinated.

Since he signed the Serf Emancipation Act, he has been under great pressure and feels that domestic conflicts should be alleviated.

His prestige should be greatly improved.

But the reality was not what he expected.

According to the decree of Alexander II, the personal dependence relationship between serfs and landowners was lifted, and they had the freedom to marry, move and receive education.

Then he also redistributed the land.

The landowners retained two-thirds and the serfs received one-third.

In the end, the serfs discovered that two-thirds of the land owned by the landlord was the best land, and one-third of the land allocated to them was the worst land.

There was still so little land given to so many serfs that it was not enough for them to cultivate.

What's more important is that serfs must compensate the landlord for their land, which means they must pay for it themselves.

This compensation must be paid by the serfs themselves.

The serfs naturally had no money in their hands, so they could only owe the money.

Then, looking back, they didn't have enough land, so they had no choice but to continue renting land from landlords.

These landowners suddenly became creditors. And these serfs sadly found that they could not repay their debts to the landowners.

Only then did the knowledgeable people in Tsarist Russia realize that internal problems could not be solved by relying on the Tsar.

So some of them stubbornly believed that the Tsar must be eliminated.

Just like the French did, only in that way can Tsarist Russia become stronger.

Those were the people who carried out the previous assassination of Alexander II.

Alexander II didn't realize this yet, he thought he had done a great thing.

Except that the lives of serfs have not been substantially improved.

The situation in Tsarist Russia is indeed much better than it was at the end of the war.

First of all, in terms of the external environment, the Great Empire and France successively offered him olive branches.

Borrowings from the two countries allowed Tsarist Russia to make up for its financial deficit.

Trade between Tsarist Russia and Western Europe has gradually recovered. Britain and France seem to be less concerned about Tsarist Russia.

With the outbreak of the Prussian-Danish War, Europe's attention was drawn to it.

The voices for uniting with Tsarist Russia to suppress the rise of Prussia are getting louder and louder.

The diplomatic environment in Tsarist Russia has never been better.

Over the past year, Tsarist Russia has developed its own breech-loading guns and breech-loading artillery.

Not only that, using loans from Britain and France, Tsarist Russia also transformed its own warships into steam power.

Everything seems to be getting better...

In the tsar's office in the Royal Palace of the Holy Castle, Alexander II was reviewing documents. He had changed into casual clothes.

Behind his desk is a huge portrait painted for him by a famous painter.

On the right side of the portrait is a map of Tsarist Russia and surrounding areas.

The area east of the Inesei River is dyed with a light red background.

Alexander II often stopped in front of this map.

On the left side of the portrait is a sculpture of a double-headed eagle, which is the totem of Tsarist Russia. However, one of the heads of this eagle is damaged.

It is said that His Majesty the Tsar knocked it down and broke it when he was angry. The palace steward was about to replace it, but Alexander II stopped him.

He hoped that every time he met with imperial officials, they would be able to see the red map behind him and the damaged double-headed eagle sculpture.

Alexander II was a very diligent Tsar. He spent about two-thirds of his day in the office reviewing documents or doing various inspections or inspection activities.

He is always energetic and has clear ideas. Under his leadership, the entire officialdom of St. Petersburg seems to have become more efficient.

"Your Majesty, Foreign Minister Gorchakov is here." the waiter reported.

"Let him come in directly." Alexander II replied without thinking. His eyes were always fixed on the document in his hand.

After a while, Gorchakov came in.

In the past two years, Gorchakov has been highly regarded by the new tsar.

He took over the mess of Tsarist Russia's diplomacy when it was at its lowest point.

It took two years to successfully change the isolated state of Tsarist Russia.

Of course, there are also influences from changes in the external environment. But Gorchakov can always seize these opportunities. This is his talent.

"Your Majesty!" Gorchakov saluted respectfully.

"Foreign Minister, is there any latest news?" The Tsar stopped what he was doing and glanced at Gorchakov.

The foreign minister has always satisfied him, and he understands Europa diplomacy as well as his own lover.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Gorchakov straightened up and, at the Tsar's signal, sat on a chair in front of him where he was doing his work.
To be continued...