Saint Petersburg.
The Tsar held the report in his hand and could not help but curse.
"Traitors! Cowards! Worthless trash!"
He had just received a letter from the Governor-General of the Caucasus. Major General Buzkov had originally been meant to lead a Cossack brigade and an artillery battery along the old route by the Syr Darya, crossing the desert to attack the Kokand Khanate.
Yet while crossing the desert, Major General Buzkov had suddenly rebelled with a handful of trusted followers. After slaughtering those in the ranks who opposed him, he had surrendered to the Kokand Khanate.
In fact, the Russians had never ceased their explorations of the three Central Asian khanates. The Kokand Khanate controlled the Fergana Valley and was famed for its silk and cotton; the Emirate of Bukhara had been a vital trade hub in Central Asia since ancient Persia; while the Khiva Khanate was the strongest, entrenched in the oases along the lower Amu Darya.
Since the age of Peter the Great, Russia had wanted to incorporate these lands into its territory, opening a road to India and fulfilling its dream of gaining an outlet to the sea.
Such a large-scale defection by the Russian regular army had utterly disgraced Nicholas I. More humiliating still, he had only just commended Major General Buzkov before his departure for the Kokand Khanate, declaring in his official commendation that the man was exceptionally loyal and brave.
Nesselrode, the organizer of this expedition, wiped the sweat from his brow and said, "Your Majesty, Major General Buzkov may have had some unavoidable hardship."
Nicholas I turned back with a cold laugh.
"What hardship? One that made him slaughter my soldiers and hand my army over to those natives?"
"Your Majesty, we have reason to suspect that the British are deeply involved