"The scouts sent a message, confirming that Yekaterinburg surrendered to the Qing Dynasty!"
Beside Kutuzov, a young officer reported to him respectfully, his words full of anger.
The surrounding officers were also filled with indignation.
According to the tradition of Tsarist Russia, people like this who betray the country will be exiled to Siberia to dig potatoes!
Everyone started planning the marching route based on the simple map, but as they drew it, they realized something was wrong.
Kutuzov threw the pencil on the map, his face darkening.
"Damn it, we want to regain Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg is a hurdle we can't get around."
The plains here are too big for the army to hide their whereabouts.
If you want to copy the Qing Dynasty's retreat, it is currently impossible to achieve.
The next day, when Kutuzov just got up from bed, the Tsarist Russian army discovered a large group of enemy troops on the distant skyline.
Kutuzov raised his telescope and saw the cavalry troops marching slowly in the morning light. He immediately arranged for messengers to convey the order to change formations to the Tsarist Russian army.
"It's the cavalry of the Qing Dynasty. It seems that it should be dragoon cavalry. There are about 2,000 people!"
The generals around Kutuzov felt a little nervous when they heard the first half of the sentence, but after hearing the second half, they broke into cold sweat.
In Tsarist Russia, people's latest understanding of the Qing Dynasty comes from two battles, the well-disciplined musketeers and the small and broad-minded dragoons.
Whether it was musketeers or dragoons, the results they achieved put great pressure on the generals.
"What should I do?"
Everyone couldn't help but look at Kutuzov, who frowned and rubbed his gray beard.
The Dragoons were not the French Royal Order, and all were equipped with muskets that could be loaded on running horses.
Combining mobility and firepower, you can often take the initiative on the battlefield. If you can defeat them, they will always stick to you. If you cannot defeat infantry, you will not be able to catch up with them. This is what the generals are worried about.
Kutuzov had no good solution for the time being, but to let the army form a hollow square first.
30,000 people came to take up positions on the vast plains.
Because 30,000 people are not marching together, nor are they marching in the current fast and slow queue in the East, but the smallest unit is 200 people, like beads strung together.
When the order to form a hollow phalanx was given, the Tsarist Russian army, in units of 200 people, quickly dispersed to both sides and approached several assembly points again.
On the side of the plain close to the Qing Dynasty, dotted small phalanxes were quickly formed. These small phalanxes formed a long defensive belt.
Artillery is interspersed in the formation, and the open space between the square formations facilitates the transfer and concentration of artillery.
From any angle, you can see one or two field guns pointing straight ahead, leaving no defensive blind spots.
This is a big formation.
Duo Shan held up the telescope and raised the corners of his mouth.
In the past, Duoshan would not have dared to fight Kutuzov directly.
Duoshan has already seen that these 30,000 Tsarist Russian soldiers are the elite of Tsarist Russia.
Although they were not perfect in the process of changing formations, the discipline of the soldiers was indeed rare in Tsarist Russia. They were silent and close to each other.
"The military formation is so standardized that no one can see anything wrong with it, but the biggest weakness is the standard!"
Doshan put down his telescope and began to direct the dragoons to take action.
Still walking forward.
The entire battlefield was quiet. The Qing army made a small arc in front of Kutuzov as if on an outing, marched to the flank of Tsarist Russia and stopped.
"Are you going to attack? Attack quickly, I can't wait any longer."
Kutuzov observed the movements of the Qing army through the telescope, and could not conceal his excitement. He squinted his eyes and licked his lips.
As long as the Qing army rushes forward stupidly, Tsarist Russia will win.
Kutuzov looked forward to this.
However, the actions of the Qing army were different from what was expected.
They dismounted 800 meters away and took the... artillery pieces from the spare horses?
Kutuzov's eyes widened. The Qing army quickly formed an artillery position under his nose.
The trained war horses lay on the ground under orders, and the soldiers squatted aside to prevent accidents.
Less than five minutes later, Duoshan's long sword pointed directly at the Tsarist Russian army formation, and then slashed hard.
"Boom boom boom~"
More than a hundred ultra-light artillery roared, and projectiles of different sizes flew towards the Tsarist Russian soldiers.
In just an instant, Tsarist Russia's phalanx was hit in more than a dozen places, and even a larger projectile directly penetrated a small phalanx.
The Qing army reloaded quickly and was no longer limited to launching volleys.
Because of Duo Shan's unexpected discovery, these Tsarist Russians very consciously made up for the deficiencies in the phalanx, and the soldiers in the rear took the place of their dead teammates as if they were dead.
In order to ensure the density of firepower, the musketeers must be arranged densely, and the rear team must fill the vacancies of the front team.
This also ensures that the Qing artillery attack area will always be filled with the densest concentration of Tsarist Russian soldiers.
The artillery of the Qing army fought with great joy.
Kutuzov, on the other hand, broke out in a cold sweat. He directly ordered several phalanxes to press the Qing army, and mobilized the artillery in the formations to start concentrating in preparation for counterattack.
Three square formations pressed against the Qing army.
"Stop your guns and mount your horses!"
Duoshan waved his hand, and the messenger quickly delivered the order to the Qing army.
The Qing army's artillery ceased fire, and the soldiers quickly used heat-insulating gloves to move the artillery back to the saddle iron frame on the back of the horse.
In the end, the Qing army ran away before the Tsarist Russian phalanx even got close.
At this time, Kutuzov thought that this cavalry was just a transport team of the Qing Dynasty transporting artillery. It got lost and bumped into his own team, then fired a round of artillery and ran away.
However, Kutuzov was ready to ignore this group and allow the army to move towards Ekaterinaburg.
This group of Qing soldiers made a small circle and came back from the other side.
Approach, dismount, set up cannon, bombard...
Familiar recipes, familiar operations, the Qing army's movements were smooth and smooth, and they completed a classic flying artillery tactic.
But the Tsarist Russian musketeers could only be beaten passively.
Kutuzov's teeth were almost broken. After driving away the Qing army again, he ordered more than 3,000 musketeers in the rear to stop the attack and closely monitor this strange group of Qing troops.
After Duoshan saw Tsarist Russia's actions, he led the Qing army to wait with a strange smile on his face.
When conceiving the flying artillery tactics, Duoshan had thought of this situation and also conducted war games.
Duoshan came to the conclusion that in the face of flying artillery, on the plains, if there is not a powerful dragoon, then he will only be passively beaten.
Duoshan waited for a while, and after confirming that Kutuzov was at a certain distance from the Tsarist Russian soldiers who had broken off the rear, the Qing army began to attack.
More than 2,000 dragoons attacked more than 3,000 Tsarist Russian soldiers. It seemed that they were at a numerical disadvantage.
However, Doshan's dragoons have cannons, and shelling before attacking is a good tradition of the Qing army.
As expected, more than 3,000 Tsarist Russian soldiers without Kutuzov in charge were bombarded. They soon suffered heavy casualties and their formation was in chaos.
The Qing army left a few soldiers to guard the horses carrying artillery, while other soldiers mounted the horses and began harvesting on the battlefield.
Soon, Kutuzov discovered.
That group of strange dragoons who can shoot cannons are sticking together again...
