Rostov is an ancient city located at the eastern end of the Sea of Azov, one of the oldest cities in Russia, with a history dating back to 862 in the Western calendar. In the 10th century, Rostov was one of the centers of Rostov-on-Don-Suzdal. In the 11th - early 13th centuries it entered the principality of Vladimir-Suzdal. Since the beginning of the XII century it has been called Bolshaya Rostov-on-Don. In 1207-1474 it was the center of the Principality of Rostov. There are hundreds of cultural monuments with a history of more than 500 years.

This is one of Russia's most important cities in the south, and Rostov is located southwest of Tsaritsyn, near eastern Ukraine, after all, it is located on the eastern coastline of the Sea of Azov.

After Chen Han's army entered the Caucasus, a large number of Russians were driven away by Chen Han's army, and many officials and nobles also fled here. So much so that Rostov, a 'big city' with 50,000 or 60,000 inhabitants, was overcrowded, and many decent officials and nobles could not find a house suitable for their status to live in, and had no choice but to live in hostels.

But thanks to the invisible tacit understanding of the Chinese and the Ottomans, and also to the heroic Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Russian Armed Forces in Rostov-on-Don, counting those urgently recruited militias are less than 5,000 people. And the vast majority were untrained peasants and city policemen, with only remnants of less than a thousand soldiers and Cossacks. If the Ottomans crossed the Crimean Peninsula and entered the Sea of Azov from the western coast of the Black Sea, the Russian armed forces in Rostov would be vulnerable!

So thanks to the tacit understanding between the Chinese and the Ottomans, the Ottomans, in addition to fighting on the Crimean Peninsula, fought in the Ukrainian region on the west coast of the Black Sea, and the east coast of the Black Sea - that is, the Kingdom of Persia and many small principalities in the Caucasus, as well as the Caucasus of Russia, were all defaulted by the Ottomans to China's sphere of influence. Of course, after the outbreak of the Battle of the Crimea, part of the naval ships of the Black Sea Fleet were stationed in the Kerch Strait, the entrance to the Sea of Azov, which was also an important factor in the stability of Rostov.

The forces of the Russian Caucasus Military District have been exhausted, and the forces in the Vladikavkaz fortress are the main forces of Russia in the Caucasus. The rest is a rabble like Rostov-on-Don, which cannot even organize a big war of 10,000 people. Because when the commander deploys the troops, they themselves become confused.

Petrovich, the governor of the Russian Caucasus province, fled to Rostov, where he survived a cold winter. Then the snow melted, the earth rejuvenated, and spring arrived. Alexander led his army to the east, and Barclay's army reached the Black Sea.

Petrovich thought that he didn't need to worry anymore, that the darkness had passed, and the light would come. God knows how excited and uplifted he was after seeing the 8000 Cossack cavalry led by Platov; God knows how secure he was when he learned that the command of Colonel-General Mikhail Andreyich Mirolladovich was located in Donetsk [the eastern Ukrainian city] not far from Rostov-on-Don. At that moment, he was extremely determined that Russia would survive this crisis.

But Petrovich had not even received good news from Platov, and news from hell flew through Rostov - an Ottoman fleet broke into the Sea of Azov, and they forced their way through the Kerch Strait.

And the part of the Black Sea Fleet warships that were originally stationed in the Kerch Strait was requisitioned to the Crimean Peninsula [Crimean Peninsula] half a month ago.

The Ottoman navy, which had not shown its head for half a year, took advantage of this loophole, and they had already destroyed Kerch and attacked Gonichsk......

This news is nothing short of a nightmare for the Russian military and civilians in Rostov-on-Don.

In particular, it was rumored that the Ottomans had gone on a killing spree in Kerch and Gnichsk, and that the two cities had been completely reduced to ruins after the Ottomans left, and corpses could be seen everywhere. This exacerbates Rostov-on-Don's fears even more!

As soon as the morning dawned today, there were more civilians leaving the city, and those who could leave had basically left the city, and no one wanted to stay here to be slaughtered by the Ottomans, and the rest were those who had no way to leave, especially the officials of the tsarist government and their families. In order to show the determination of the tsarist government to hold on to Rostov-on-Don, and also to reassure the people, infantry general Mikhail Andreych Mirolladovich, deputy commander-in-chief of the Russian Southern Route Army and commander of the Third Army in Donetsk [only about 100 kilometers from Rostov], has already given Petrovich a death order, and no official of the tsarist government is allowed to leave his post without authorization, and those who leave their posts without permission will be regarded as deserters and will be shot immediately, without even having to go through a military court.

In the face of such panic and death threats, not many people can remain calm. Some panicked officials of the tsarist government finally chose to flee, but they did not dare to leave from the main road, nor did they dare to leave openly, but disguised themselves as civilians and refugees, disguised as civilian refugees, and fled from the highway with their family and property. But now that checkpoints have been set up on the roads, the fleeing Tsarist officials will be shot on the spot by the army and their bodies will be hung on the side of the road as a warning to those who are lucky.

"Smack!"

Another crisp shot rang out, and then another official of the tsarist government who had left his post without permission was shot dead by soldiers of the army loyal to His Majesty the Tsar, and his body was thrown on the side of the road like a tattered sack, and the property was savagely dragged away by the soldiers.

Petrovich had little grasp of holding Rostov, he did not doubt the patriotic fervor of Russia, but he was extremely short of weapons.

Don't look at the Russian armed forces in Rostov there are four or five thousand people, but among these four or five thousand people, more than six or so are still smoothbore guns, and there are twenty or thirty artillery pieces, but there are only two hexagonal guns.

In such a situation, if he could still have the confidence to hold Rostov under the attack of the Ottomans, Petrovich would not be a high-ranking civilian official, but a famous general in the Russian army.

Therefore, he strictly carried out Miroladovich's orders and was meticulous. This is to hope that after he loses Rostov in the future, Miroladovich will be able to say a few more good words for him in front of Alexander I for the sake of his obedience.

At the same time, the weeping family members were taken away, and there were different accounts as to what would happen to them, with some saying that these people would also be shot by the army, while others said that the army would only shoot men, and that women would be 'put to good use'. Without the support of a well-established matrilineal family, they would most likely have used their snow-white flesh to serve the officers and soldiers loyal to the Tsar.

After the gunshots, a sturdy-looking wagon drove from west to east, loaded with many loaded soldiers, but no one knew what was in the wooden box that the soldiers had covered with their bodies.

The carriage was pulled by four heavy pack horses.

A lieutenant officer at the front of the carriage glanced at the recently fallen body not far away, stretched out his head to look at the families of the officers who were being escorted away by the soldiers, and then retracted his head a few seconds later, his face disappointed.

The Ottomans had not yet seen the shadows, and the Russians in Rostov were already in disarray.

……

Tsaritsyn, the residence of Alexander I.

Just when Rostov was thoroughly nervous, news also reached the tsar in Tsaritsyn from the Sea of Azov.

For Russia, this news is absolutely bad news.

Does this mean that the Ottomans and the Chinese should join forces not only strategically, but also tactically?

The threat is much greater than the destruction of several cities.

If the Ottomans and the Chinese completely merged in the Caucasus, then no matter how strong the confidence of Alexander I and the courage of the Russian people were, I am afraid that they will not be able to stop the war from falling to the bottom of the abyss.

Tsaritsyn has become the most important city in eastern Russia, not only because of the arrival of the Tsar, but also because it is the lifeline of hundreds of thousands of Russian officers and soldiers on the front line, Alexander originally had only 3,000 guards, plus the remaining Russian troops in Tsaritsyn, it was not enough to defend the entire lower Volga along the way. This is more reliant on the Russian militia, even if most of the weapons in their hands are smoothbore guns.

Yes, with the start of the Great Patriotic War, in order to arm the army and the people as soon as possible, Alexander I distributed hundreds of thousands of smoothbore guns in stock to local governments and the people in large quantities.

This is true in the West, and it is also true in the East.

So there are quite a few militias in Russia, but the combat effectiveness is very scummy. The disparity in weapons made them lose too many points.

The seat of the Tsar's government, which is also the Tsar's current residence, is heavily guarded.

Countless dignitaries and dignitaries were waiting for Alexander I's reception, dukes and counts everywhere, and everyone was depressed, and many were talking to each other.

The importance of the Caucasus to Russia needs no words to be overstated, and the previous crisis seems to have been resolved with the arrival of Platov. The Vladi-Caucasian fortress was surrounded by the Chinese for half a year, but it was still in the hands of the Russian army.

The whole situation is tilting in Russia's favor, although the real big picture still depends on Astrakhan.

But now, the Ottomans have stabbed sideways, and the signs of their alliance with the Chinese are clear, and this is a huge crisis, which has once again raised the crisis of 'losing the Caucasus' in the hearts of countless Russians. Even some contacted Astrakhan from the Caucasus.

Protov is not too far from Tsaritsyn. The Ottomans only need to land 10,000 or 20,000 men to deeply threaten the Don and Volga rivers and threaten the security of Tsaritsyn. At that time, on the battlefield of Astrakhan, how could the Russian army continue to fight?