Balkhash Lake, known as "Yibo Sea" in ancient China, is located in the ancient Western Regions.
In fact, it is not too rigorous to say the Western Regions. Lake Balkhash should be regarded as the central region of Asia, in Central Asia.
only.
Now Long Yan's territory has expanded here. In fact, in ancient times, this place also belonged to China. Later it became the territory of the Kazakh Khanate. With the confusing situation in Central Asia, the once glorious Kazakh Khanate has already
Just falling apart in the dust of history.
Later, Lake Balkhash belonged to the Kokand Khanate.
At this time, the Kokand Khanate was also divided among several Central Asian countries, and Lake Balkhash was naturally included in Long Yan's territory.
Lake Balkhash is the fourth longest lake in the world. Due to the lack of river inflow in the eastern part of the lake, a phenomenon of one lake with two waters, fresh and salty in the west and salty in the east, has been formed. On the north bank of the lake, there is the city of Balkhash, which is a very famous copper mining belt.
Balkhash is also a very important copper smelting center. Therefore, Balkhash is also an indispensable place in Liu Zheng's plan.
copper!
This metal is really important to Liu Zheng's technological development.
As the first industrial revolution slowly unfolds, the second industrial revolution may come in the near future, or even earlier. Copper, a metal, will soon become a scarce resource, and various electrical appliances and electricity utilization will
Inseparable from aluminum and copper.
So I don’t know if it was intentional by Tsarist Russia or if it was really just a coincidence.
It is quite intriguing that Peter the Great placed the main direction of his attack on Lake Balkhash.
But no matter what.
Balkhash cannot be lost.
Whether it's because of the copper mines or national sentiments. You must know that in the previous life, this place has always been the natural dividing line between China and Russia. But with a series of unequal treaties that followed, Lake Balkhash was officially separated from China.
.This is definitely a huge pain for Liu Zheng!
"Two hundred thousand..."
at this time.
The general who guards Balkhash is called Wang Feng, who is also a student in the first batch of Liangzhou Military Academy and is a classmate of Zou Sheng. However, Wang Feng is more than ten years older than Zou Sheng, so he is a late bloomer.
After hearing the number of enemy troops, Wang Feng's face began to look ugly.
He was sent by the Liangzhou Prefecture to take over the copper mine in Balkhash Lake, and there was still a lot of work to do. First, he needed to set up an administrative center here, and then he would work on a military base and logistics and transportation.
This time.
The Western Region Army he brought was only 30,000...
Thirty thousand...
But the other party has two hundred thousand!
A mighty 200,000-strong army was already stationed across the lake. Just seeing the camps through the telescope was enough to shock and despair people. Fortunately, Lake Balkhash is different from Sakhalin Island.
After all, Sakhalin Island was considered a terra incognita before, so just come up and start working directly. Lake Balkhash has always been a military center of the Kokand Khanate, and the fortifications used to protect the copper mines here are still very large.
Sound. Therefore, if Tsarist Russia wants to capture Balkhash, it must not use blitzkrieg, but must plan it slowly.
The situation here is even more complicated than on Sakhalin Island.
Long Yan had just taken this place back. Naturally, it was impossible for the local people from the Kokand Khanate to return to the Long Yan court so quickly. This was also an extremely complicated situation.
Looking at the 200,000-strong army on the opposite side, they have already begun to cut down the trees nearby, so that when everything is ready, they can build these timbers into pontoon bridges and then fight across the lake!
"Where are Putu's troops and horses?"
"What about support from East India? When will it arrive?"
"Where's Loulan?"
Wang Feng began to become a little anxious. In the past few days, he relied on these 30,000 troops and the defenses in front of Lake Balkhash to harass the Tsarist Russian troops... However, the effect was almost minimal.
There are too many of them.
"General, we are still on the way, so it shouldn't be that fast..."
"It will probably take seven days to get to the nearest Dawan..."