Chapter 510: Oops, Russia has invaded Canada! (Please vote, please subscribe)

Coast of Chichagof Island, Alaska.

On the beach, fifty-five captured Cossacks were tied to wooden stakes driven deep into the sand, and the rising tide had already reached their knees.

Dozens of rescued Aleut women stood not far away, watching the Cossacks who were about to be drowned by the sea water numbly. A girl of eleven or twelve years old, with single eyelids and dozens of freckles on her white cheeks, held the statue of Hong Xiuquan and muttered something. She was the Aleut girl wrapped in the military flag by Wang Tieniu.

A company of Taiping troops formed a skirmish line on the beach, with their bayonets pointed at the Cossacks tied to wooden stakes.

“You damn pagans, you can’t treat us like this, we are prisoners of war and we have surrendered. For God’s sake, you can’t kill us.” A Russian captain let out a dying wail.

He is Dmitri Popov from the Don River, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army on Chichagov Island. Yesterday, he was the “local tsar” of this island of more than 5,000 square kilometers, ruling all the Tlingit Indian tribes on the island, and “owning” hundreds of “male and female serfs” captured from the Aleutian Islands. But now, he is tied to a wooden stake on the beach, waiting for the cold sea water to cover his head, pour into his chest, and send him to hell – he can’t even make a deathbed confession to seek God’s salvation!

The bang of a gunshot startled the Cossack who was wailing and crying. He immediately stopped shouting and looked in fear at the smoking revolver in Yu Dabao’s hand.

“Brother Heaven taught us benevolence!” Yu Dabao spoke in stiff Russian, his voice loud enough for all the captives to hear, “But you have committed all kinds of evil and even defiled the holy image of the Heavenly King. According to the law, you should be punished by drowning. Now, let Father Heaven decide whether you deserve to die!”

After saying this, Yu Dabao waved to the soldiers around him and said, “Let’s go back to the city and have a drink!”

“Go back to the city and drink!”

The soldiers cheered, put their guns on their backs, and held high a flag that read “The Great Wall Will Never Fall” as they headed toward the wooden fort. Wang Tieniu, leaning on a wooden stick, was also standing by the beach. When he saw Yu Dabao leading the soldiers away, he waved to the Aleut women who were being dragged to the beach to watch the water torture, and shouted in stiff Russian, “Women, follow us. There’s bread and meat!”

Then he nodded heavily at the Aleut girl who had been wrapped in the military flag, and limped towards the wooden fort with dozens of Aleut women. Only the girl holding the statue of Hong Xiuquan stood still.

When everyone entered the wooden fort, the girl actually pulled out a dagger and walked towards Dmitri Popov step by step. The once arrogant “local tsar” was now almost overwhelmed by fear and could not even make a sound to call for help. He just looked at the dagger in the girl’s hand and cried. He thought about how he had defiled that girl.
However, the girl did not stab Popov’s chest with the dagger of revenge, but cut the rope that bound him. In Popov’s astonished eyes, the girl said to him in Russian: “Jesus’ brother told me in a dream that he wants you to go to the British territory. There are two whaling ships at the southern dock, with cannons, gunpowder, muskets and whale harpoons on them!”

After saying that, she stuffed the dagger into Popov’s hand and ran towards the wooden fort without looking back. Popov was left standing in the cold sea water that had already reached above his thighs, holding the dagger in his hand.

The moment the wooden door closed, the Aleutian girl’s back was heavily pressed against the pine wall. She looked through the observation hole at Popov stumbling on the beach, her slender fingers pinching into the frame of the icon. In the painting, Hong Xiuquan’s crown shone with a faint golden lacquer in the twilight, echoing the lights of a British steam troop transport gradually disappearing in the sea in the distance.

“Is everything arranged?” Yu Dabao put a revolver that he had just cleaned back into the deerskin holster. A yellowed map was spread out on the wooden table in front of him. Wang Tieniu sat down by the fire. The flickering flames made the bandage on his leg amber. “Everything has been arranged. A total of fifty Russian smoothbore rifles, four barrels of black powder, two whaling cannons and twenty grapeshot that can be loaded into the whaling cannons were placed on the two small whaling ships. In addition, the fresh water and food on the ship are enough for them to hold out until Fort Victoria.”

When the tide flooded over the third stake, Popov finally untied all the captives. These soaking wet Cossacks rushed to a dock in the south like frightened reindeer, knocking over the seal skins drying along the way. When they found the rainbow flag of the British Hudson Bay Company hanging on the bow, some hesitated and stopped.

Now that Russia and Britain are at war, a group of Cossacks are driving two whaling ships of the British Hudson’s Bay Company into the port of the British Victoria Colony. What are they doing?

“Idiot! Do you want to wait for the Chinese to catch up?” Popov waved his dagger and cut the rope. “Hurry up and get on the boat. Let’s leave here and go to Fort Victoria.”

Soon, the two whalers drifted downstream toward the Chatham Strait in the twilight.
In the cowhide tent, under the dim light, Zuo Zongtang’s finger passed outside the Russian defense position marked on the map, and finally landed on a bay beside the Hump Mountain north of the Petropavlovsk Fortress: “Can your ship enter there?”

His words were translated into English by the interpreter. Vice Admiral Collins on the opposite side hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, “Yes, although it is a bit dangerous, it can still be done. The entrance to Avacha Bay is quite wide, and the Russians’ old-fashioned cannons cannot effectively block it. If my steamship passes through at night, there will be no problem. But… Marquis, what do you want to do?” Facing the question of the British Vice Admiral, Zuo Zongtang just smiled softly: “I want to build a winter camp at the foot of Camel Hump Mountain, and also build a port in the bay under Camel Hump Mountain that can accommodate steamships!”

“What?” French Rear Admiral Genouy was surprised. “Marquis, are you already thinking about wintering? But it’s only May now!”

Zuo Zongtang looked up at the two sailors in front of him and sneered: “As long as the winter camp on Camel Hill is repaired, the Russian army in the Petropavlovsk Fortress will be wiped out sooner or later. How much food can they store? Half a year? A year? I will sit on Camel Hill and wait for them to starve to death! If they don’t want to die, they must come out and fight me before I repair the winter camp on Camel Hill! By then, their bastions will be of no use!”

He smiled and asked, “Generals, what is my plan?”

Ten days later, Petropavlovsk Fortress, Signal Hill Command Headquarters.

Muravyov put down the brass telescope, and the warmth from the tube on the stove was fleeting. Vice Admiral Putyatin was hesitant to speak: “Governor, the Chinese are building a winter camp and a port. Once their camp is built, we will face a real protracted war.”

Vasily Zavoyko, the army commander of the fortress, continued Vice Admiral Putyatin’s words: “A protracted war is not in our favor. The British and French have control of the sea, and the Chinese can obtain a large amount of supplies from North Korea and Japan, and their own manpower is almost unlimited! The only ones we can rely on are the 12 Russian warriors in the fortress, and they only have months of rations.”

Muravyov’s face was livid. Four thousand bayonets and 12 months of rations were the maximum force he could put in the Petropavlovsk Fortress. Originally, with the solid fortress and the harsh winter of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Russian army could hold out until the British and French left on their own.

But he never expected that the Qing Dynasty, which had been secretly allied with Russia, would undergo a drastic change, to the point that Zuo Zongtang, a Qing general stationed in Vladivostok, defected and became a marquis of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom then stood together with Britain and France, shipped more than 10,000 well-trained troops to the Kamchatka Peninsula by sea, and prepared for a protracted war.

If Zuo Zongtang really wanted to hold out, the Petropavlovsk Fortress would definitely fall within a year unless the Russian army took immediate action and launched an attack before Zuo Zongtang completed his winter camp, fighting a decisive battle!

He suddenly looked up at the sky covered with dark clouds and muttered, “The weather tonight must be very suitable for a night attack, right?”

“Yes!” Vice Admiral Putyatin said, “There is no moonlight tonight, and it may rain, which is the best time for a night attack!”

Major General Zavoyko clenched his fists tightly: “Governor, my Cossacks can’t wait! Their scimitars are eager to drink the blood of the Chinese.”

“Notify the Cossack warriors.” The Governor pulled open the collar of his woolen uniform, the firelight dancing in his pupils, “Gather in two hours and raid the Hump Mountain construction site under the cover of night.” He grabbed a vodka and took a sip, “Tell the boys that the Tsar’s reinforcements have arrived in Okhotsk!”

Suddenly, there was a dull thunder outside the window, as if a 32-pound siege artillery was roaring, and cold raindrops fluttered and fell on the double-headed eagle flag hanging high on the fortress’s flagpole.

In the Signal Hill Fortress, cheers of “Ura! Ura!” resounded through the sky.

Colony of Victoria, North America.

“Russians! The Russians are coming!” The panicked shouts and the sound of gunfire suddenly broke the tranquility of the small colonial town. On the dock of the harbor, the rainbow flags on the two Hudson Bay Company whaling ships were suddenly replaced with the Tsar’s double-headed eagle flag. Then, the Cossacks holding 1845-style smoothbore muskets with bayonets shouted the slogan “Ura, Ura” and rushed into the town like evil spirits, killing anyone they saw!

Two hours later, the British town of Victoria Fort became the territory of His Majesty the Tsar!
(End of this chapter)