The Tsarist Russians called the Ukrainian region the Black Soil Plain. The black soil here is fertile and oily, and good harvests can be obtained without using much fertilizer.
This is the main producer of wheat in Tsarist Russia. Half of the bread on the tables of Tsarist Russians comes from Ukraine.
The coastal lowlands of the Black Sea in the lower reaches of the Dnieper River are the main wheat-producing areas in Ukraine.
There are no big cities here. Tsarist Russia calls the people here country people.
Because the manor owners here are very wealthy, they show off their wealth everywhere after entering the city.
This made the nobles in the city very unhappy, so they called these people countrymen.
In fact, in the coastal lowland areas, the economy was dominated by manor-serfdom.
This place is mainly based on agriculture, so it is also the base camp of serfdom in Tsarist Russia.
All the people employed in the manors were serfs, so the cost of food production in Tsarist Russia was much lower than in other countries.
This made Tsarist Russia the current major grain exporter in Europe.
Although their serfs did not have enough to eat, this did not delay the manor owners from exporting food.
It is precisely because of this that all of these manor owners are wealthy.
The places where they lived were built like castles. But the serfs who farmed the fields were hungry, cold, and didn't have enough to eat. Even the places they lived in were low wooden houses and thatched houses.
A scene you can often see here is a castle-like building painted white.
A high wall separates it from the endless farmland outside.
There are some low and dilapidated houses scattered among the farmland.
Some serfs dressed in the same rags were working in the fields. Although they were white, their skin was tanned.
Some children with yellow hair, thin bodies and dirty faces squatted in the fields and played in the mud.
Seeing this kind of scene, if you are a stranger, you will definitely suspect that these people have wheat growing in their fields. The fields here are obviously very wide, and the wheat is growing very well.
But why are these people living in such poverty?
Where did all the food they produced go?
In the manor on the other side, the manor owners' daily routine was to attend various parties.
Their villa is often brightly lit, and the party tables are filled with all kinds of food. Plump roast goose, neatly cut ham, carefully baked bread, wine from France...
They never walk when they travel, they always travel in a carriage. The carriage will drive directly to the gate of the villa, and as long as they cross the threshold, they can get on the carriage.
They don't want to touch their feet with mud for fear of soiling their high heels.
They hate the dirty and sticky black soil, but their food, clothing, housing and transportation all come from it.
All the grain produced by the serfs ended up in their hands. They turned the grain into rubles for themselves to squander.
"Liu, thank you very much for calling us this time. I think we can make a fortune this time." Best stood next to Liu Qingnan with a flattering smile on his face.
Although he was very friendly to Liu Qingnan in the past, he still had some pride.
However, the smile on his face was obviously a bit flattering at this time.
There is no way, he is the commander of a mercenary army. As long as he can help his subordinates make money, then their subordinates will regard him as their ancestor. Only in this way can his position be stable.
If he can't get money, he may be fired by his subordinates at any time.
Now they have just captured a manor. The land around this manor is hundreds of thousands of acres. This is a huge manor.
The villas in the manor are surrounded by thick walls. When the coalition forces attacked here, there were more than a thousand private soldiers in the manor.
When these private soldiers saw so many regular troops attacking the manor, these people were so frightened that their legs weakened.
However, they still resisted under the organization of the manor steward.
After the Prussian artillery blasted open the gate and the wall, Liu Qingnan's men rushed into the wall. They only put up a little resistance and dispersed.
After the coalition forces took over the villa, they immediately began to clean up the place.
The three-story villa is filled with a variety of precious works of art, including sculptures from Italy, Spanish oil paintings, and cultural relics from the Eastern Roman Empire.
The most important thing was that a large amount of gold rubles was found in the warehouse.
Gold coins are easy to talk about, but these artworks, cultural relics, furniture made of precious wood, and mercenaries cannot deal with them.
So at this time Best was trying to please Liu Qingnan intentionally or unintentionally, because these things had to be appraised by the people brought by Liu Qingnan.
Then they will be divided equally together with the gold and silver. Of course, Best hopes to raise the valuation of these things.
"General Best, take a look, this is the distribution list of this manor." For this task, Liu Qingnan specially mobilized a professional team from China. Some of these people have worked in pawn shops, and some have
I did it in a foreign company.
Some of them are art appraisers invited from Europe. Most of the things here are from the West, and those from China cannot understand them.
"Oh, no, no, why do the women of the manor owner count towards us? Do they also count against the money?" Best glanced at the list and said, the price on the list is quite fair. In this case, it is okay to mark the price lower.
Excusable.
"Oh, Mr. Best, I didn't expect you to be so detailed. You can ask your soldiers to find out about this matter. Someone is interested in the manor owner's wife and wants to take her back to have a child. You can get the money from him.
It will be deducted from your salary." Liu Qingnan said with a smile.
He knew that Best wouldn't care about this. Best said to him seriously just now that he was just joking.
"Okay, I'll go back and break his third leg. It'll be an embarrassment to us Prussians." Best pretended to sneer.
"Where should we go next? Liu, we have been here for two days. I think the Tsarist Russians around us must have noticed us.
"Let's go here!" Liu Qingnan pointed to a small Russian city on the map.
"It seems to be occupied by revolting serfs. What are we doing there?" Best was a little confused.
Intelligence was shared between both sides, and Best knew that two thousand Tsarist Russian troops were besieging an armed serf force there.
Because this serf armed force has occupied this small town, the Tsarist Russian army has surrounded the place and is preparing to wipe out this rebel army. It seems that there are important figures in this rebel army.
Aren't they going to that place now to break into the muzzle of the Tsarist Russian army?
"General Best, there are only two thousand Tsarist Russian troops, will you take it to heart? Besides, the Tsarist Russians didn't expect us to go to that place."
"The most important thing is that someone is willing to pay 100,000 gold rubles for us to do this. I don't know if you are interested." Liu Qingnan said meaningfully.
Based on their current combat strength of 10,000 coalition troops, it would indeed not be difficult to kill 2,000 Tsarist Russian Army troops on the plains.
However, if you fight directly with the Tsarist Russian army, the risk will inevitably be higher. It may cause siege by other Tsarist Russian armies.
"I'll do it, of course I'll do it. With such a good condition, I'm much more generous than the British guys." When Best heard the amount of the commission, he agreed without saying a word.
Nonsense, with such conditions, not to mention two thousand Tsarist Russian troops, even five thousand Tsarist Russian troops, he would dare to take this job.
"Liu, you are really awesome. It makes me worry less when I do business with you. To be honest, I am embarrassed to take half of the profit." Best said with a smile.
"Well, in order not to embarrass you, let's split it six to four, me six and you four, how about that?"
"Oh, Liu, just pretend that I didn't say it. Do you Chinese like to be polite when you talk? I was being polite to you just now. Didn't you hear it?" Best was embarrassed by what Liu Qingnan said.
.
"Well, I always thought that you Prussians like to be straightforward. It's all my fault for leading you astray." Liu Qingnan also said jokingly.
Recently, he and General Best were as good as friends. When they had nothing to do, they would plan together how to mess up this fertile black land and how to get more powerful people.
They are like two robbers, no, you can say they are two robbers.
"By the way, this price is no problem. I mean, can they afford so much money?" Best asked with some doubt. He did not believe that a serf rebel army could afford so much money.
"Don't worry, Lao Bei, if they don't pay, we will kill them." Liu Qingnan said.
"In addition, Lao Bei, you may not know that this serf uprising is not simple. There has never been such a large-scale uprising in the history of Tsarist Russia. I think there are people behind them." Liu Qingnan said pretending to be mysterious.
"Liu, let's not get too involved with those people. They are also patriots of Tsarist Russia, and they might sell us all out in the end." Best seemed to have guessed who Liu Qingnan was referring to.
He himself is a European, and the relationship between Prussia and Tsarist Russia is relatively deep, so when it comes to the history of Tsarist Russia, Best knows more clearly.
"Thank you, Mr. Best, I understand. This time we go to help these people not just for money. I think if we can help these people and let them grow bigger, then we will definitely have more time. In this way we will
Then you can do more business." Liu Qingnan continued to explain.
"Well, General Liu, you have considered it very comprehensively, but before we go there, we need to send more scouts to have a look." Although Best is a mercenary general with money in his eyes, in fact he is still very cautious.
of Prussians.
When the two of them were conducting together, Best would often remind Liu Qingnan of some details.
During this period of cooperation, Liu Qingnan really learned a lot.
The next action plan has been finalized. There is nothing more to say. The entire manor has almost been evacuated. Now that the army is preparing to withdraw, this place will become a paradise for serfs.
They couldn't even enter the gate of the manor before. They could only watch from a distance outside, imagining the paradise-like scene inside.
Now the entire coastal lowlands are in chaos. The foreign coalition forces and the rebel Tsarist Russian army are fighting together.
The original order has been broken. The chaos has given many numb serfs hope of turning around.
After the coalition forces of Liu Qingnan and Best captured the manor, they took out a lot of the least valuable grain and distributed it to the serfs in the manor, and hired young people among them to help carry the supplies to the ships at the seaside.
This move was thanked by the local serfs.
Moreover, Liu Qingnan and Best made an agreement to restrain their soldiers not to attack these serfs.
This made the serfs in these manors the beneficiaries of this incident.
Originally, to carry these supplies onto the ship, they would have to have at least several thousand troops.
Now that he has hired local serfs, Liu Qingnan only needs to send a company to escort them.
After resting for a night in the manor, Liu Qingnan watched the convoy transporting the seized supplies leave.
Then he and Best left the manor with the army.
As soon as the army left, those serfs who were still outside the manor all rushed into the manor owner's villa.
They seemed eager to see what the inside of the villa looked like.
Maybe many of them will sleep in this villa tonight.
The fat country man who owned the manor was hanging on a high pole.
His eyes almost bulged out. He seemed to be trying hard to see his manor clearly.
This was not done by the coalition forces, it was the angry serfs who hung him on this wooden pole.
His wife survived because she was spotted by a Prussian soldier.
A plump crow flapped its black wings and landed on the head of the manor owner.
It first pooped on the head of the manor owner, as if it wanted to embellish its delicious meal. Then it pecked out an eyeball and swallowed it in a few times.
As if it still wasn't satisfied, the crow pecked at another eyeball.
…
A dozen steam transport ships of several thousand tons are parked here on the shore of the Black Sea.
This is not a port of Tsarist Russia, and the coalition forces did not choose a port of Tsarist Russia because there are basically fortress defenses there.
Fortunately, there are no mountains on the shores of the Black Sea, and they are basically alluvial plains.
Therefore, as long as a simple dock is built on the shore and the landing craft is used to transfer the supplies, the supplies can still be loaded onto the ship.
Fortunately, none of the seized items were large. It was relatively easy to transport them.
"Be careful. The oil paper wrapped in this kind of oil paper is all oil paintings. Don't damage them. They are going to be sent to the museum."
The captain stood on the boat and shouted loudly to his sailors.
This fleet has been parked here for many days. They don't seem to be worried about their safety.
Now there is no Tsarist Russian ship visible on the Black Sea. All Tsarist Russian ships have been sunk by the coalition fleet.
As long as Tsarist Russia's army does not arrive, this fleet will be completely safe.
The captain was obviously very knowledgeable. He looked at a few things in person and knew that these things were of great value. Even the furniture was made of high-quality wood.
This time the coalition forces came ashore and it looked like they had gained a lot. The old ship owner used to be a pirate under Bao Youzhi. Because he was too old to join the navy, he could only work as a captain on a transport ship.
At this time, his nature was aroused, and he was envious of those on the shore.
Dong Shuheng is really not greedy for Tsarist Russia's three melons and two dates. His purpose is very simple, which is to weaken Tsarist Russia.
Once the ruling balance between Tsarist Russia and the serfs formed by manor owners was broken, it would inevitably be in a state of turmoil for a long time.
Although Tsarist Russia may be broken and reestablished in the end, at least they will not be able to relax for a long time. This is Dong Shuheng's purpose.
Saint Petersburg.
Alexander II was furious when he received the news that the coalition forces had invaded the Ukrainian lowlands.
"Bandits, these are a group of bandits. Where is our army? Why don't we go and suppress these bandits?" In the spacious Tsar's office, Alexander II roared loudly to a group of army generals below.
Only Marshal Vorontsov, the most senior, stood up tremblingly and said: "Your Majesty, our troops are either stationed in Crimea, or they are encircling and suppressing the rebellious serfs. Moreover, these small coalition forces have avoided
Major cities only looted rural areas, and they were erratic. Now Ukraine is in a mess and the news is poor, which makes it impossible for us to start."
At this time, the coalition forces' infiltration attacks into the interior areas of Ukraine really caught the Tsarist Russian army by surprise.
"Deploy cavalry from Moscow to encircle and suppress them. I won't be able to catch them even without cavalry." Alexander II said through gritted teeth.
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