The Russians set the fire really hard.
Even though the Northern Marine Corps was more than 20 kilometers away from the fire site, it was already autumn, when the weather was dry and the vegetation was withering. The fire burned very quickly due to the wind, and in less than an hour, two fires were formed in the north and south. Kilometers of fire wall, advancing at a speed of several kilometers per hour. If it had been a little later, Zhao Xin would have had no choice but to take everyone and escape to the other side of the Angara River.
Following Zhao Xin's order, thousands of Northern Navy troops took urgent action. They first cleared a circular isolation zone more than 100 meters wide and two kilometers long outside the camp; then they frantically dug trenches inside the isolation zone. Through several water pumps that Zhao Xin brought out, water was diverted from two wells in the village into the ditch.
Liu Sheng also received the news, and immediately ordered the troops on the west bank of the Angara River and the north bank of the Belaya River to retreat to the other side of the river.
In an open space in the village of Mikhailovka, several small diesel generators and water pump motors roared, and dozens of engineering lights illuminated the inside and outside of the village as if it were daytime. While everyone was busy and nervous, Zhao Xin sent cavalry to report the progress of the fire to the headquarters at any time.
At this time, an Oroqen soldier approached his company commander and said that just clearing the firebreak might not be enough. He had heard the old people in the village say before that when encountering such a fire, one should fight fire with fire.
"The wind is blowing from the northwest now, wouldn't you burn yourself if you light a fire? Such a wide isolation zone is enough!" The company commander was from Henan and had never seen a grassland fire.
"Company Commander, I'm afraid that's not possible. The withered grass is very light and can float far away when blown by the wind. It can't be stopped at all!"
After hearing the soldier's explanation, the company commander immediately took him to report to the regiment leader Chen Jishan. Not long after, Zhao Xin also found out. After listening to the soldier's explanation, he understood immediately, and immediately ordered the soldier to lead people to light a fire from a position more than 300 meters away from the outside of the fire break zone. As a result, the fire break zone became more than 400 meters wide.
At almost nine o'clock in the evening, the fire finally came over. As far as the eye can see, the empty wilderness seems to have been doused with gasoline, and the flames are coming in an instant. Thanks to the Oroqen soldier's idea, the line of fire stopped more than 400 meters away from the village of Mikhailovka, and then swept along the north and south sides of the fire break zone.
"It's done! It's really done!" Zhao Xin looked at the prairie fire outside the village with some annoyance, saying that he was grateful that he had "enjoyed" Napoleon's treatment in advance.
The fire burned for several days, turning the alluvial plain between the Belaya and Angara rivers into a scorched earth. Although it had a certain impact on the military operations of the Northern Navy, it made the newly arrived immigrants secretly happy that they didn't even need to hoe the grass now. Before the weather turns cold, we'll plow the ground right away, so we can start planting crops next spring.
In the early morning of August 30, the Northern Navy set out from the village of Mikhailovka. More than 20 armored vehicles were responsible for opening the road. At the same time, the cavalry battalion sent out sentries to conduct reconnaissance. When they arrived at the village of Cheremhovo, they found that the center and sides of the road were piled with charred material debris, which was discharged for a distance of one kilometer. Fortunately, an armored vehicle cleared the way and knocked away the obstacles, clearing a path for the following troops.
In the eighteenth century, the army could only march dozens of miles a day at most. No matter how good the road conditions were, fifty miles was still the limit. The remaining tens of thousands of Russian troops were defeated, and their speed could not be increased. In order to allow tens of thousands of people to retreat to the west bank of the Oka River, Rumyantsev arranged a blocking position at Kutulik.
The problem is that the Russian military can never correctly estimate the strength of the Northern Navy. If the infantry and cavalry were to cover a distance of fifty kilometers, it would take at least two days. But for an armored vehicle traveling at a speed of fifty kilometers per hour, would that matter? Even if we drive slowly, it will still take two or three hours.
At 10 o'clock in the morning, when the large Russian army in Kutulik Village was still preparing to set off, the scouts came to report that the enemy was catching up!
However, when the Russian officers and soldiers who hurriedly organized their defense saw twenty-four green monsters lined up in a row, roaring and heading towards them, one can imagine the shock and fear in the hearts of the Russian soldiers.
It is only the end of the 18th century, and the British industrial revolution has just begun. Watt's two-way steam engine has only been around for ten years. Its main use is the textile industry. The entire steam age has just begun to emerge.
The general in charge of the rear of the Russian army is Lieutenant General Ivan Vasilyevich Gudovich. This person is not only the commander of the corps, but also the governor of Ryazan Province and Tambov in the Tsarist Russian Empire. He also serves as the infantry and infantry officer of the Russian Army. Inspector of Cavalry.
By the way, Prince Bagration, who died gloriously in the Russo-French War in another time and space, was serving as an infantry captain under him at this time.
Lieutenant General Gudovic, who came to the front line after hearing the news, led his officers to a temporary fort. When they held up their binoculars and saw more than twenty green monsters approaching in the distance, they were all in awe. Face shocked.
"Gentlemen, can anyone tell me what the Chinese have come up with this time?"
Regarding Lieutenant General Gudovich's question, a middle-aged officer who had been to England and seen a steam engine hesitated: "Your Excellency, based on the intelligence from the scouts, I think it may be a mechanically driven device. "
"Maybe there is a group of people behind pushing it forward." The speaker was a cavalry colonel.
"No, the scouts said there were only cavalry behind those monsters, they didn't see infantry."
"Oh? Then Vasilyevich, how can you destroy it? This thing makes the soldiers below panic, and they must stop their advance!"
While the officers were talking, the North Korean navy's armored vehicle stopped 700 meters away from the Russian defense line.
"God, they have stopped! Why are they wasting time there?" Lieutenant General Gudovich turned to the artillery captain and said: "Hey, captain, fire a cannon to test the enemy's strength."
"The gunners are at their posts!" an officer issued the command. After a moment, the gunners quickly loaded the shells and raised the muzzle slightly.
There was a lot of knowledge involved in shooting solid bullets in the era of smoothbore guns. For example, if the muzzle elevation exceeds 12 degrees, it will not be able to bounce up after landing, but will fall directly into the ground. Therefore, even if the enemy is still far away from where the solid bullet first lands, the gunner will still fire at a small elevation angle of no more than two to three degrees. The purpose is to hope that the solid bullet can land on the ground for the first or second time. Hit the target after bouncing up.
"No. 1, release!" the captain issued the command.
The artillerymen on the No. 1 battery position quickly jumped away, and the six-pound field cannon made a deafening roar. A nearly three-kilogram solid bullet flew over the heads of the Russian officers and soldiers under the fort, making a buzzing roar.
The "pound" used by European artillery in this era refers to the "artillery pound", which is a completely different concept from the "trade pound" in business. For Russia, the so-called "artillery pound" refers to the weight of a solid cast iron ball with a diameter of 50.79 mm; an artillery pound is 487~488 grams, while a trade pound is 408.98 grams.
The Russian army's artillery fire was quite accurate. The nearly three kilogram solid projectile flew 600 yards, bounced on the ground, and then hit the front right corner of the front of an armored vehicle with huge kinetic energy. There was a loud, echoing sound.
"Hit!"
"Ula~ha~ha!"
The soldiers on the Russian position all looked up and up since the cannon opened fire. When they saw the fort hit the enemy, they immediately cheered. At this time, the sun peeked out from the clouds. The sound of the cannons and the dazzling sunlight merged together, giving the thousands of Russian troops present the illusion of being inspired.
But what happened a few minutes later left the Russian generals on the fort stunned. I saw the green-skinned monster hit by the solid bullet move slowly twice, and at the same time, the flat round box with a long tube on it began to rotate slightly. Lieutenant General Gudovich, who was holding a telescope to observe, instinctively felt something bad, and he immediately shouted: "The artillery continues to fire!"
In fact, the hit rate of the Russian army's first shot was purely pie-in-the-sky. At a distance of 700 yards, the field cannon had a hit rate of only 40%, so the second shot failed to hit anything.
However, during this period, all North Navy armored vehicles also completed shooting and aiming.
Suddenly, the 30mm machine gun on the hit armored vehicle let out a roaring roar. The tracer bullets mixed in the shells turned the armored vehicle into a monster spitting out tongues of fire. The front edge of the fort where Lieutenant General Gudovic was located immediately began to fire continuously. Smoke and dust rose from the explosion.
Just as the faces of the Russian troops under the fort turned green and white, the other twenty-three armored vehicles also began to spit out tongues of fire. This time, the Russian frontline troops were suddenly killed and wounded. The armored vehicles in the wilderness roared loudly when they opened fire, almost covering up the explosions on the position and the screams of those who were shot.
Twenty-four armored vehicles and twenty-four rapid-fire cannons, like twenty-four huge scythes, caused a bloody storm on the Russian position.
"Oh God! That's the devil! The devil from hell!"
"We're done! Run!"
The Russian troops in the rear were frightened when they saw the continuous fire and explosions at the front, and the limbs of men and horses were flying. Then the tight formation became disorganized, and tens of thousands of people began to flee.
When the 30mm rapid-fire gun fires continuously, the minimum rate of fire is 200 rounds per minute, and each vehicle has 500 rounds of ammunition, so the shelling of the North Navy armored vehicles only lasted for one minute and then stopped. However, in just this minute, it caused huge damage to the Russian frontline troops. The forts at the forefront were all blown up, and the bodies of the dead were packed up and down the forts.
Forty-nine-year-old Lieutenant General Gudovich was blinded in one eye by shrapnel. Fortunately, his deputies dragged him off the fort despite the shelling, then helped him onto the screaming and neighing horse, and scrambled to escape in panic. And escape.
After seeing that the Russian army had begun to rout across the board, Zhao Xin, who was sitting in the armored vehicle, opened the top cover, leaned out half of his body, waved his hand in an arrogant manner, and ordered all vehicles to move forward, while using the walkie-talkie to notify the rear. The troops followed.
Although the Russian infantry can escape very fast, is it possible that the armored vehicles and cavalry can escape as fast as they can?
When the 1st Cavalry Battalion, located 200 meters behind the armored vehicle, received the order to attack, Battalion Commander Samu Suxin said that he had finally waited for this day! He drew his sharp saber, turned around and shouted loudly to his men: "Cavalry battalion, attack!"
So, the five hundred cavalrymen marched forward quickly in platoons. After bypassing the armored convoy, they formed an arrow. After walking more than 200 meters at a brisk pace, they immediately started running. accelerate.
Don’t be misled by movies and TV shows. It’s nearly a kilometer away before a madman makes his horse accelerate and charge!
The war horse's speed is about 5.2 to 6.5 kilometers per hour when using the slow step, 12 to 15 kilometers per hour when using the trot, and 18 to 24 kilometers per hour when running. The cavalry can reach speeds of more than 30 kilometers per hour when advancing on foot, but this high speed cannot be maintained for long because it will cause the horses to tire quickly and their speed will drop sharply. Therefore, the cavalry usually marches at a brisk pace to meet the enemy, and then changes to a charging step. Basically, it can run up to three kilometers, and then it must slow down, otherwise the horse will be exhausted.
Samusu led a cavalry battalion and fought all the way to Kutulik village five kilometers away. During the attack, if the Russian cavalry organized a counterattack, they would stop their horses and shoot with rifles from a long distance. Then they would start to kill the remaining Russian cavalry with pistols or chop with sabers. By the end, they were all exhausted. But mentally he was very excited. The five hundred of them alone blocked the retreat of more than four thousand Russian troops.
Zhao Xin led 24 armored vehicles in hot pursuit. After the rapid-fire artillery shells were exhausted, he used the vehicle-mounted machine guns to kill the Russian soldiers, leaving the fields strewn with corpses and rivers of blood. By 12 noon, the armored convoy had advanced 10 kilometers north of the village of Kutulik. When the infantrymen from behind arrived panting, people inside and outside the village of Kutulik were full of people who had given up their escape. The Russian army, after an afternoon count, found that the number of prisoners was as high as more than 18,000; in addition, many broken soldiers fled into the dense forests on both sides of the post road.
For the armored convoy that achieved such great results, the price was that the tracks of two vehicles were broken, including the one that was hit by a solid bullet. The broken armored vehicle cannot be repaired at present, so we can only wait for Zhao Xin to bring it back to Beihai Town for Zhao Liang and the others to repair it. So the few guard battalion armored soldiers who had been excited for just two days had no choice but to return to their profession as infantry in despair.
On the Russian side, Rumyantsev, who set off early in the morning, was shocked when he learned that Gudovich's troops had collapsed across the board. At this time, the leading troops of the Russian army had already marched to a position 30 kilometers northwest of the village of Kuturik, and there were no settlements on the 80-kilometer road from Kuturik to Zima, only a few previously built logistics supply buildings. stand.
The overcrowded marching ranks were densely packed, shoulder to shoulder, bayonets hanging from each other. Under the military hats, there are frightened and tired faces of the soldiers.
Suddenly, a cavalry officer shouted: "What's going on? Why are there still a group of sheep! Get out of the way!... Make a way! Damn it! I'm going to chop it with my saber!" Next, he really He pulled out his saber from its scabbard and swung it at the sheep beneath him.
"Master! Sir! No, please! These sheep are my only property." A settler who had fled from Kutulik village pulled the reins of the officer's horse and begged. The surrounding soldiers looked blank, and no one cared about these bad things at this moment.
Rumyantsev turned over and dismounted, standing blankly, his chubby body leaning tightly against a big tree, with a bitter look on his face. And the officers under him were all confused and had no idea how to deal with the current chaotic situation.
After learning that the pursuing Northern Navy once again stopped in Kuturik to collect prisoners of war, the commander-in-chief ordered everyone to speed up and make sure to reach Zima early the next morning.
However, at around eight o'clock in the evening, the Cossack cavalry in charge of reconnaissance came back and reported a piece of news that made everyone feel desperate. A group of enemies who came out of nowhere had captured Zima, numbering about two thousand people.
Rumyantsev finally panicked. He knew that he had been caught in the enemy's attack. If this were in the area west of the Ural Mountains, the Russian army would have many options for its retreat route. But this is Eastern Siberia, and there is only one postal route at your feet from Moscow to Irkutsk.
After experiencing these two rapid defeats, Rumyantsev knew that he was facing an extremely formidable opponent. The courage of the Russian army and his carefully planned strategy were incomparable in the face of the opponent's various strange and powerful weapons. So powerless.
"The enemy has opened his pockets and is waiting for us to crash into him." Rumyantsev was silent for a moment and asked the generals present: "Gentlemen, do you have any good ideas?"
No one answered, and the tent was lifeless. Others were either smoking with their heads down or in a daze.
"Okay," the sixty-five-year-old commander-in-chief touched his graying temples, shook his head helplessly, and said with a wry smile: "Then let the fighting stop. Next, let's find out how to end this war with dignity. "
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Set a small goal first, such as remembering in 1 second: Shukeju
