C977 Gold Island

On the surface of the sea 150 kilometers south of the Haishenwai lies an island of 15 square kilometers. Russia calls it "Ascot" and China calls it "Qingdao". From the three peaks of the island you can see out to sea, and the boats are important coordinates of the island.

In 1855, the visiting British Navy general, Samuel, called the island the "terminal island." The Russians initially named it Beacon Island, but later changed it to Ascot Island.

It is worth mentioning that "Ascold" was the name of a new type of warship that came out of St. Petersburg in 1857. The warship had travelled to China with Admiral Putiyatin to sign the Treaty of Tianjin with the Qing Government, and had later invaded the Far East with Muraviov.

At first, this was only a place where the Chinese collected kelp, but when gold was found here in 1867, it became a treasure trove of gold. China's gold diggers have flocked, and shipping between the island and the mainland has become more popular than ever. But during the summer that the gold rush had begun, the Russians had no idea.

Until an unexpected visit to the island by a Russia warship, the conflict broke out.

, the commander of the Aleut Fleet, was returning to the port after a routine visit to the sea. As he passed this island, which she passed every time she set out on a voyage, he had a sudden desire to inspect it. When he and 15 sailors loaded up on the island, they finally discovered the secret of the Chinese.

In front of him was an open-air gold mining camp hidden in the cove. At that time, there were more than 500 Chinese gold mining workers, who were carrying out intensive gold sand washing, but judging from the size of the camp, it would not be a problem even if there were a thousand people.

Ai Tuolin immediately seized five pounds (1 pound = 409.5 grams) of gold sand and ordered the Chinese to stop the gold mining he thought was illegal, but as soon as he left the island, the gold mining began again.

After Ai Tuolin returned to the port, he immediately reported it to his superiors. Two days later, he returned to the island with eighteen soldiers, six gunners, and a mountain cannon. He searched the entire island, and when he saw that the Chinese had dared to fart about his orders, he was furious and drove out all the Chinese gold miners. Since then, regular Russian Army patrols appeared on this island, and Russian Army patrolling along the mainland as well. They were used to cut off the connection between the continent and the islands.

After that, the Chinese could not get close to the treasure trove, but the Russian Army often reported soldiers being sneakily attacked and beaten up by the Chinese survivors. Obviously, the Chinese were retaliating, and it could be seen that at that time, the Chinese did not recognize the rule of the Russian, but in their hearts, they still recognized the government in Beijing. If it was General Jilin who ordered them to stop collecting gold, then these people would probably complain, but not dare to retaliate in the slightest.

More than half a year later, without any major incident, the patrols on Ascold Island were cancelled. But when Ai Tuolin arrived at the island again in April 1868, he was shocked to see hundreds of Chinese gold diggers busily searching for gold, just like the last time.

This time, Ai Tuolin was completely furious. Was this group of damned Chinese addicted to stealing the Tsar's gold? He brought 20 soldiers and immediately went to the island. When the Chinese saw them, they turned around and ran up the mountain.

Not long after, they caught a gold digger, but just at that moment, a gunshot came from the mountain and a Russian Army soldier fell to the ground dead. The gunshot was like the horn of attack, hundreds of Chinese people rushed down from the mountains, surrounding Russian Army who was caught off guard.

When Ai Tuolin saw the hundreds of Chinese rushing over from the mountains, he was so shocked that he immediately ordered them to retreat. Those Chinese only had a few hunting rifles, most of them were armed with wooden sticks and stones, and they did not receive any strict military training. On the other hand, the 20 odd soldiers under Ai Tuolin's command were all elite veterans, and were holding guns and pistols of the latest type.

The furious Ai Tuolin ordered the warships to start firing after he boarded the ship. The Chinese Gold Collectors who were caught off guard died in the explosion, and the number of casualties was beyond count. After the battle, Ai Tuolin lost a total of three soldiers, the rest were lightly injured, but a portion of the rifles and pistols were taken by the Chinese.

Returning to the Haishenwai, Ai Tuolin tore off his mask of gentleness. He finally realized that these Chinese would probably never be able to accept the rule of the Tsar in their entire lives, and the methods to govern their emotions and emotions were completely useless. He began to prepare for the war, gathering a large number of Cossack veterans from the Far East Region.

Unfortunately, just when he had prepared two battalions of soldiers and their corresponding supplies, a few consecutive rounds of fog delayed his attack plans. It was only when snow started falling in the Far East after autumn did he finally have the chance to lead his team to attack the Qingdao, but it was a foregone conclusion that the moment his fleet started, the Ship Closure fleet led by the Dragon Lord had already gradually approached the eastern coast.

The snow was falling in August, and the famous saying of the Tang Dynasty Ceng Geng was not nonsense. Every August on the Mongolian Great Prairie, when the people of the Central Plains would have their grapes and mooncakes for the Lunar New Year, the first snow had already started to fall.

The Far East Region was even more remote than the so-called Hu Dian. It was even more bitter and cold here … … In the past eight months, people couldn't leave their cotton-padded jackets, but the Qingdao had welcomed the first snow a few days ago. It was covered with mountains and fields of silver, and although it looked very beautiful, people living here were suffering unspeakably.

On the south side of the island, there was a secluded bay. In the distance, the shadow of a large ship could be faintly seen disappearing in the fog, while on the surface of the sea, there were over ten broken boats desperately paddling towards the shore.

Someone on the shore shouted, "Wang Gui!" What did he get in exchange for gold this time? Was there a Gun? "This time, his grandma also scored one on me, otherwise, I'll go with you three blades and six holes …"

"Bullshit, Ding Si, why don't you brag, how dare you touch a single hair of your Grandpa Wang? Jealous of the Western fast gun in my hand? That was something that I fought with my life, it wasn't as good as taking down old setae with a single shot, you still want to touch something good? "Dream on …"

The people on the boat and the ones on the shore were all old acquaintances, so scolding them was just a catchphrase. After the wooden boat docked, Wang Gui threw the rope on the shore, allowing Ding Si and the rest to pull the boat full of goods ashore.

Wang Gui jumped off the boat and said, "Ah, righteous!" So benevolent! Originally, we wanted four taels of gold for one spear, but we heard that we no longer had enough of that golden sand, and now the old setae wants to ambush us. He actually bought one and exchanged two taels of gold for one, and also bought some gunpowder bullets … "

"Really?" At that time, he said that he could get the best Gun, but this group of people did not believe him at all. In the end, they did not expect that there would be a large ocean ship that would come here regularly to sell firearms, and what they were selling were things that they had never seen before.