On May 31, 1855, the second "Petropavlovsk Siege" officially started. The comparison of the military strength of the two sides is as follows:

The Anglo-French coalition warships have 29 warships - including 6 steam warships and 4 small steamships owned by Sanjiang Yangxing's vassal merchants, while the Lucian navy does not even have a warship;

In terms of number, the Anglo-French coalition had nearly 7,000 soldiers, while the governor of Eastern Siberia in Russia only had more than 4,000 soldiers.

Although the strength of the sailors ashore was greatly reduced, the opponent's strength was even more watered down, so the battle showed a one-sided situation from the beginning.

Through the captured prisoners, the coalition forces learned why their opponents were so weak:

It turns out that after many weakenings, especially last year's attack, Lucia was at the end of its rope in the Far East, and serious internal divisions had occurred.

In fact, Lucia's strength in the North Pacific was not good to begin with. It was only through the Wulong River that it supplied a thousand soldiers to Kamchatka last year, so it could barely support it - but because of the White Lord's blockage, the large supply down the river

It only took place once and then ended in vain.

At that time, the Rusians had not considered a full-scale retreat. Muravyov, the governor of Eastern Siberia, believed that "the only way is to carry out strategic contraction, completely abandon Petropavlovsk, and withdraw to Okhotsk."

However, due to two failures - the destruction of the stronghold at the mouth of the Wulong River in 1852, and the failure of the large supply of Wulong River in 1854, especially the latter, his prestige was damaged a lot, so a powerful figure came forward to challenge him.

, this person is the special envoy Pujiating.

Pujiatin was sent to Fuso from Europa, and he brought four warships with him, which far exceeded the Okhotsk District Fleet in strength - the District Fleet was originally inferior in strength and was split into two due to the Alaska Gold Rush.

, so Pujiatin was able to intervene in naval affairs and became the actual fleet controller by relying on his strength and his deep experience in the Russian Navy.

Although Pujiatin did not deny that the large supply of Wulong River might have been done by the British, he still believed that "Kamchatka is remote and it is impossible for the British to attack in large numbers" - the long distance led to inconvenient communication, and the Russians in the Far East could only

Knowing that he and Yingfo had declared war, but not knowing the specific situation, Pujiatin seriously underestimated the risks involved.

At the same time, the people of Lu were unwilling to leave, and this sentiment also affected Pujiating.

Everyone is living a good life in Kamchatka. It is easy to say that it is easy to say that we have to abandon our family and property, but this person's loss is real. Who will compensate him? The Governor-General of Eastern Siberia has no money, so he has to bear the pain.

In addition, it is very troublesome to arrange a large-scale evacuation. Who leaves first and who leaves last. In addition, Okhotsk is a small town with a few thousand people. Where will food and accommodation be provided? Should we continue to retreat? But now the Wulong River waterway is not safe. Is it safe for everyone?

Can we still go north along the wilderness and high mountains?

Therefore, in the eyes of everyone, there is no difference between retreating to Okhotsk and holding on to Kamchatka - in fact, the difference is quite big. At least if you are defeated in Okhotsk, you can flee, but in Petropavlovsk

Surrounded by mountains on all sides, you can't escape even if you run.

In this dispute, Pujiatin's side had the upper hand - considering that the Lucians had few merchant ships and not many fishing boats in the Far East, they had to rely on naval warships to retreat, so they firmly controlled the naval forces.

Pujiatin has a great say.

It is his responsibility to defend the territory. As the governor of Eastern Siberia, Muravyov actually did not want to retreat without a fight. In addition, the recent supply failure in the Wulong River also caused him to lose some self-confidence, so he finally backed down.

The Rusians decided to hold on to Kamchatka.

However, facts proved that Muravyov's vision was much stronger than that of Pudatin - from August to October 1854, the Anglo-French coalition indeed attacked the Kamchatka Peninsula.

After struggling hard and paying a large ransom fee, the enemy finally left.

But I didn't expect that a greater disaster would come after the war.

At that time, the Anglo-French coalition forces smoothly wiped out all the important Russian ports in the Far East, including Petropavlovsk, Okhotsk, Ayan, Nikolayevsk and Novomalinsk.

What's even more frightening is that the Lucian navy led by Pujiatin was also wiped out, and most of the merchant ships and fishing boats sank to the bottom of the sea.

Because the coalition forces blocked Avacha Bay at that time, Muravyov knew nothing about this. English Admiral Plath did not leak this information to his opponents because of strategic considerations, that is, because he was afraid that the Lu people would jump over the wall.

Therefore, until November when Petropavlovsk was blocked by ice, Governor Muravyov did not wait for the navy to turn around, and he also received a message from Novomalinsk.

Bad news came.

When the coalition forces attacked this place, a fish slipped through the net - the captain of a merchant ship suddenly became interested in going out to sea to fish, and he escaped the disaster.

As a result, before the ice broke out, the captain came to report the loss of most of the merchant ships.

At that time, the Lucians were in an uproar. The naval force had not appeared for a long time, and most of the merchant ships were lost. Many warehouses were reduced to ashes in the previous offensive and defensive battles. Now that winter is coming, there is a serious shortage of supplies. It seems that the outside world cannot count on it either.

What should we do now?

Difficulties showed his true nature, and Governor Muravyov immediately adopted iron-blooded measures to place all houses, food, medicines and supplies under the direct control of the Governor's Palace, and adopted a strict distribution system.

However, materials are indeed tight, and the distribution system can only ensure that there is no waste but cannot increase the total amount. Therefore, Petropavlovsk has been miserable this winter:

The first to bear the brunt were the local indigenous people - due to years of strict governance, the Koryak and Chukchi people were originally small in number, and they were completely extinct in this disaster.

The next to suffer were the Cossacks.

Due to lack of food, the Cossack cavalry horses were forced to eat on the table.

Unlike the natives, the Cossacks had weapons, so the Lucians had many fierce conflicts with them. Both sides suffered heavy casualties - there were not enough houses, scarce medicines, food shortages, and insufficient supplies to keep out the cold.

Most of the injured did not survive this cold winter.

In addition, as the situation further deteriorated, Rusian civilians and businessmen did not escape the disaster - rebels looted everywhere and violent incidents continued to occur. In order to ensure the loyalty of his subordinates, Governor Muraviyov only focused on protecting the soldiers.

Military families and businessmen with aristocratic backgrounds, so in this winter, Petropavlovsk became a living hell on earth.

When spring arrived, the Rusians were actually on the verge of collapse - the organization was chaotic, laws were ineffective, and they only wanted to use force. Muravyov relied entirely on high pressure to maintain the situation.

Therefore, when the five "North Pacific and China Sea Exploration and Expedition Team" warships arrived in Kamchatka in mid-May, they saw an extremely tragic scene - Rusians dressed in rags, groups of

When looking for food in the wild, sometimes a few voles can trigger a fierce battle.

Moreover, after learning that the Mi fleet had a large amount of supplies, the two sides almost broke out in a fight, but it was Governor Muravyov who used military law to suppress the situation that was about to break out.

At that time, Admiral Rogers of the Mi navy was preparing to evacuate immediately, but Muravyov spent a lot of money and prepared to hire a Mi ship to transport the people away. The ticket cost ten US dollars per person, plus the transportation of ordnance and other valuables, the total amount

Reaching an astonishing amount of one hundred thousand US dollars!

Money moved people's hearts, and after selling the supplies on the ship for a high price of thirty thousand US dollars, Rogers agreed to the Lucian's request.

But the Lucians had lost their organization at this time, because several more firefights occurred in the order of evacuation, so when the British Xiangjiang Squadron arrived on May 20, the first transport had not yet begun!

After receiving this information, the two English admirals, Plass and Stalin, decided to launch an attack immediately. Although Petropavlovsk is surrounded by mountains and access is basically by sea, if Muravyov sees that the situation is not good,

, decisively led hundreds of people and fled with the gold, which would have resulted in the loss of both people and money.

As soon as the battle began, the Lucians turned to the wind and surrendered.

The Mi people brought a lot of supplies, but they were a drop in the bucket, and they were tightly controlled by the Governor's Mansion. Everyone was still starving. And the other side claimed to be able to provide enough food, so what are you waiting for? They couldn't defeat it anyway.

We'll have enough food for a few days before we talk about it - later, we'll talk about the future later, now the most important thing is to survive.

Governor Muravyov claimed to have more than 4,000 soldiers. In fact, many of them were civilians before and were forced to take up arms just to make ends meet and find support.

In fact, in the first siege of Petropavlovsk last year, Rusia suffered nearly a thousand casualties, half of whom were the elite standing army. Last winter, the Cossack cavalry and the governor's palace completely turned their backs.

, so at this time Muravyov only had more than 700 well-trained soldiers.

Normally, there is no problem. After all, Muravyov holds superior troops and is the governor of Eastern Siberia with long-established authority. But when this large army pressed the border, the internal gaps were completely exposed. Three days later,

Four thousand soldiers fell apart.

The losses of the coalition forces were minimal - most of the Lucians surrendered when they saw that the situation was not going well.

After that, the coalition forces began to besiege the final place of the Lu people.

The latter fortress is a group of fortifications built around the Governor's Palace.

After five days of fierce fighting, the surrendered Cossacks were the first to bravely invade the Governor's Palace, so Muravyov ordered the fire to be set on fire with the enemy. However, people were panic-stricken at this time, and the attendant responsible for lighting the fire was beaten to death from behind by his companions.

, the Governor's Mansion fell in this way.

However, what regretted the senior leadership of the coalition forces was that Muravyov, the governor of Irkutsk and Eastern Siberia in Rusia, who ordered to be captured alive, was hit by a stray bullet during the battle and died immediately.

It is said that Muravyov shouted when he was dying, "The empire's dream of the Far East should not be shattered like this! The Amur River is the east wing of the empire's take-off, and it should be seized in my hands! St. Andrew's flag, you should always -

—”

All coalition commanders who heard these last words felt sorry for Muravyov.

Of course, the regret quickly dissipated. The coalition forces found a large amount of gold from the Governor's Mansion, plus the gold they had snatched from rice ships. According to Little John's estimation, the total amount was nearly 130,000 gold ounces - about four tons.

, worth up to about half a million pounds!

Around this huge sum of money, the upper echelons of the coalition launched a fight, which was even more intense than the previous battles!

According to Little John's later description, the two English admirals first worked together to subdue the French admiral - after all, among the total 25 warships, the French only had one warship, the Constantine, and they had no soldiers.

Not hard.

In the end, the Buddha only received 17,000 pounds.

And Little John of Sanjiang Yang Company received fifteen thousand pounds - he provided four small steam warships and a merchant ship, and the cost of supplying the Lord Bai was also included in the accounts of Sanjiang Yang Company.

Of course, privately, Little John received a lot of compensation - he was an Englishman after all, but publicly his share was less than that of the French.

Because Sanjiang Yang Company provided a large amount of supplies and made a great contribution, Captain France was speechless because he was blocked.

As for the remaining gold, worth about 468,000 pounds, Little John didn't know how it was divided. However, Admiral Plath of the Pacific Squadron and Admiral Stalin of the Hong Kong Squadron were beaming all day long, and they must have enjoyed dividing the spoils.

One stroke!

After the money is divided, it’s time to break up:

On June 13, Admiral Plath took his warship to Alaska, where the gold was produced, and France's Constantine also went with him - he probably didn't catch enough gold and wanted to find an opportunity.

Make some money.

The British Xiangjiang Squadron, led by Admiral Steilen, went to attack the port of Okhotsk - the gold probably won't be harvested, but it would be good to fire a few cannons to gain some military exploits.
To be continued...