Speaking of which, the current situation within the Russian Empire is indeed a bit subtle, especially in how to treat the East Coast people.

Russians are not fools, not deaf and blind people. In fact, they can be called well-informed in Ukraine. Even in Western Ukraine controlled by the Ottoman Empire, there are a large number of informants. Many of these informants are even Cossack officers. They are either bribed by Russia and secretly loyal to the Tsar; or are bribed by Gatman Samoylovich of the East Ukraine, aiming to establish a unified Ukrainian Cossack country; or they are simply opposed to the Ottoman Turks out of Orthodox religious sentiment. In short, there are too many "two-faced people" there, and everything in Ukraine is actually not a secret to the Russians, including the actions of the East Coast people who have been deeply involved in it.

The Russians now have definite evidence that the loan of the East Coast Republic of China on the Crimean Peninsula Haji Port has become the base camp for the Black Sea anti-Russian activities. A large number of soldiers, intelligence elements and bankers are active here to give advice to the Ottoman Empire, help the Crimean Khanate improve its strength, and do everything possible to prevent the Russian Empire from taking over the entire Ukraine, and then drinking the Black Sea.

Moscow was once very confused. They did not understand why the people on the East Coast were so unfriendly to them and had to try their best to create obstacles. Are they also interested in Ukraine, which is thousands of miles away? This is really crazy. Their territory is far away in the New South Continent, thousands of miles away. Why do they think they can obtain land on the northern coast of the Black Sea?

Later, with the further deepening of exchanges between the East and Russia, as well as the description of the scholars' return, Russians gradually understood why the East Coast people were so persistent in interfering in the situation in Ukraine: it was not all for their own interests! For the trade interests in the Black Sea!

Of course, what Russian scholars or officials learned were not accurate, or just some superficial. They naively thought that the East Coast people invested a lot in the Black Sea trade and built three major trade routes, including the Dnieper, the Don and the Danube, which made great profits every year and greatly enhanced the country's influence. Therefore, they were very uneasy about Ukraine's occupation by the Russian Empire.

Therefore, Moscow had several communications with the East Coast people on this to appease the "anxious emotions" of the East Coast people. They were even willing to sign an agreement endorsed by the Tsar himself with the East Coast Republic to ensure that the interests of the East Coast Republic of China in the Sanhe trade were not damaged. Not only were they not damaged, the Russians were also willing to carry out in-depth cooperation with the East Coast, making these trades bigger and stronger, and sharing profits between the two sides.

However, what embarrasses the Russians is that their proposals have been treated coldly with the East Coast people without exception. The diplomatic officials on the East Coast have no interest in the grand trade concept they have proposed, and basically only maintain superficial politeness. They insist that Ukraine must be "free" and "open" and that the Ukrainian Cossack emirates must maintain their independence and be supervised by all parties.

There is no doubt that these conditions are unacceptable to the Russian Empire. The Russian Empire, which claims to be the successor of the Eastern Roman Empire, is determined to win Ukraine, because this is the national strategy they have been working hard for many years and the recovery of the Baltic estuary. It is the highest pursuit of the tsars and the political correctness of the All-Russian gentry conference. If you are embarrassed with Russia in this regard, it will obviously be hostile to them. From this perspective, can the diplomatic relations between the East and Russia be better? It is impossible!

So now you can see that the East Coast people closed some commercial institutions in Moscow and Arkhangelsk, withdrew their investment from joint ventures such as the Arkhangelsk Gun Factory and the Xiaoxing Shipyard, and interrupted military exchanges between the two countries. Cultural and commercial exchanges have also been greatly affected by this. Basically, it is certain that the relationship between the two countries has been regressed for more than ten years.

The above are all things that happened two years ago and last year (1686). The Russians were very angry, but because Moscow was in fierce political struggle at that time, they did not attack the East Coast people in large numbers. But no matter what, these actions of the East Coast people actually embarrassed the Russians. They always felt that the Russian Empire was good enough to the East Coast and gave all the treatment of super-nationals. Of course, they selectively forgot such as arbitrarily confiscating goods from East Coast merchants, arbitrarily raising tariff rates, favoring their own merchants in trade disputes, forcing East Coast technicians to become naturalized in Russia, but in the end they ended up like this. The East Coast people were really hateful and unreasonable!

However, even though I was very angry, there was still no definite constitution in Moscow to deal with relations with the East. Even though more and more people advocate tough on the East, there are still many people calling for calm treatment. Therefore, this is the "subtle situation" we talked about before. Russians are actually still unwilling to give up the East Coast, a trading partner that can provide a large number of high-quality goods at preferential prices, even if the relationship between the two countries is approaching freezing point.

Of course everyone knows that as the Russian Empire invaded Ukraine and the Crimean Khanate closer, tough voices towards the East will definitely occupy the mainstream. And once the East Coast people officially take actions that are unfavorable to Russia, both the palace and the Duma will inevitably make the only choice, that is, to completely sever diplomatic relations with the East Coast!

Just a month ago (May), the regent Princess Sophia's lover, Duke Golitzen, known as the No. 1 beauty in Moscow, was officially named the commander of the army, replacing the experienced veteran Romodanovsky, and led 100,000 Russian troops to a place close to the Crimean Khanate. The war was about to break out.

In this battle, the Russian army will dispatch about 100,000 people, and there will be 50,000 East Ukrainian Cossacks to assist, with a total of 150,000 troops. This momentum is overwhelming, and it seems that it will soon be able to break the enemy and drink horses and black seas. However, there are also military-proficient people in the Russian Empire pointing out that the mobilization of the army is very hasty, especially the various materials required for the large army to fight have not been raised, which will have a negative impact on the morale of the army.

In addition, Romodanovsky, a veteran who had been dismissed and returned to China as the former minister of the imperial court, also complained, believing that the new Golitzen did not understand military affairs at all and would bring the Russian army into the ditch. The veteran general who was a senior nobleman did not give Golitzen and Sofia the adulterers, and accused Sofia of not using the 100,000 imperial army as a tool for her political struggle. When materials, intelligence and diplomatic preparations were so insufficient, he would likely encounter a crisis of failure. Therefore, he strongly opposed this military operation.

"Once the 100,000 troops are wiped out, the entire south will become extremely empty, and a large number of Tatars will pour into the provinces to plunder next spring, which is unacceptable." Duke Romodanovsky said at the Duma Conference.

Unfortunately, he has now lost the right to decide. Golitzen, a scholar and flatterer who is proficient in multilingualism, is the commander of the army. He has received the order from Princess Sofia, intending to raise an army as soon as possible, and take Samoylovich's 50,000 Cossacks to the Crimean Khanate with an unstoppable momentum, and must push the front to the Sea of ​​Azov or the Black Sea.

The movements of the 150,000 troops cannot be hidden from anyone! When the information of the flowing water reached the Crimean Khanate, Grey Khan issued a second assembly order, which ordered the lords from all over the country to quickly lead their troops to follow, travel eastward, and set up the golden tent on the green plain on the north coast of the Azov Sea, preparing to fight the Russians to the death.

The Khan also brought the 30,000 new troops who had spent a lot of money to train. This army was equipped with rifles and artillery imported from the east coast, and its combat methods also broke through the traditional grassland stalemate and had more elements of modern infantry combat. It was a powerful brigade of the Crimean Khanate and the trump card in this battle with the Russian army.

It is also necessary to mention that the East Coast Republic of China also sent a "Black Sea Detachment" (manipated by Lieutenant Colonel Mao Jun) with the Army Portuguese garrison as the main body, with a total force of about 5,500 people, including 3,000 "volunteer troops" temporarily recruited in Portugal and Italy.

According to the plan, they would not directly participate in the war with the Russians. They would go to the Pilekop Fortress near the Tatar trenches and station there to defend so that the Crimean Khanate could transfer the elite troops here to the east and fight with the Russians on the grasslands.

There is no doubt that this arrangement made Lieutenant Colonel Mao Jun a little unacceptable, but it was also the result of his quarrel with Special Envoy Gao Wengang. Gao strongly opposed Mao Jun to bring these more than 5,000 people into the center of the battlefield, because he believed that if the battle failed and the entire Crimean army was defeated, it would be possible that the troops would be crushed to pieces. After all, the battlefield where the 200,000 to 300,000 troops were fighting, and these thousands of people were just a small army. Maybe they would become cannon fodder in a few days and be consumed. This would greatly affect the interfering ability of the people on the east coast in the Mediterranean area, which Gao Wengang was more afraid of.

From another secret perspective, Gao is a civil servant after all, and he still has a little fantasy about restoring his relationship with Russia. Little did he know that after the East Coast people transported large arms to the Crimean Khanate and helped them train many officers, would you still expect the Russians to give you a good face? It's impossible!

However, Gao Wengang is so stubborn. He insisted on not fighting head-on with Russia, as if he would not have done so, the two countries would not have officially broken up. Mao Jun was very dissatisfied with this. He was more warlike at heart. He wanted to gain military merits and was very eager to fight head-on with the Russians. However, considering that he would continue to work with Gao Wengang in the future, it was not good for the two sides to have a falling out, so he finally pinched his nose and agreed to go to the Tatar trenches to guard the fortress. However, he also left a secret door for himself and obtained Gao Wengang's consent, that is, if the war situation in the Crimean Khanate was unfavorable and needed assistance, he would take these more than 5,000 people to the battlefield and act on the camera.

To put it bluntly, when the Crimean Khanate was defeated, he would find a way to help them block it and gather more troops as much as possible. The most important thing is that Grey Khan himself had to run back safely, otherwise the situation would probably become uncontrollable. After all, the Russians gathered a large scale this time, and no one dared to say that they could win the other side firmly, so they could only take one step and look at it.

In mid-June 1687, a part of the Russian army crossed the border between Eastern Ukraine and the Crimean Khanate and entered its northeastern region. The Crimean Khanate responded quickly, and the main force began to travel east along the coastline and headed towards the direction where the Russian army was located. At the same time, the Ottoman fleet of the Kafa Port, who received the news, was dispatched as soon as possible, and a large number of transport ships were loaded with food, medicines, weapons and ammunition set sail, crossing the entire Azov Sea, and heading towards the Azov Port, which was located near the mouth of the Don River.

This fleet is not large in size and has weak combat power. However, because the Russians do not have the connection with a powerful fleet (I heard that they built warships in the upper reaches of the Don River, but this will obviously be far from completed), they can sail unimpededly across the Sea of ​​Azov, providing supplies to a total of more than 90,000 troops (nearly 70,000 Crimean Khanate troops, more than 10,000 Western Ukrainian Cossacks, and more than 10,000 defenders in Port Azov). The efficiency is much higher than the poor logistics system of the Russians.

After carefully analyzing the situation, Lieutenant Colonel Mao Jun judged that the main force of the Russian army should have gone to the Port of Azov, rather than the attack on the northern coast of the Black Sea and Western Ukraine that he had been worried about. It seems that compared to the fertile Black Sea shore, they want to open up the estuary of the Don River, so the Azov Fortress, which lies near the estuary and communicates with the Azov Sea and the Don River, is very dazzling. Considering the strong city defense and a large number of defenders of Azov Fortress, the Russian army almost rushed over, intending to take the city in one battle.

"This is a bad strategy formulated by a typical military-informed person!" Mao Jun's evaluation of the Russian commander-in-chief Duke Golizen was very low. He could not imagine that in the past few years of the Battle of Vienna, how could there be someone who had such a lack of memory and wanted to gather more than 100,000 troops under a strong city? Is the Turks' lesson not profound enough and painful enough? More than 100,000 troops were defeated by the internal and external war under the city of Vienna, and then chased by someone, and lost a large area of ​​land. Golizen is a scholar who is well-versed in history and has read many foreign books and documents. Why did he turn a blind eye to this classic war example?
Chapter completed!