Regardless of whether the war between Ming Dynasty and Russia will last for hundreds of years.
At least for now, tens of thousands of troops from both sides have launched a fierce pursuit in the Mobei Prairie and Gobi.
After Chen Dewang decided to divide his troops.
Sure enough, the Russian army immediately turned around and headed north, preparing to fight a brigade of the Ming army who stayed behind.
Concentrate your forces and attack the opponent's partial divisions.
This is the military manual of any country and the basic principle of war.
When the Russian army began to turn around.
Their traces are no longer hidden!
However, Chen Dewang's main force is thousands of miles away from them.
Even if the horse is outrun, it will take at least three days to catch up.
Three days.
The 5,000 soldiers of Chen Liansheng's right brigade of the former army needed to hold down the 20,000 Russian troops for at least three days - with the density of firepower of the Ming army, if a mere 20,000 Russian troops were to attack by force, it would be impossible to bleed them dry. The Ming army's position was shaken.
But if they want to run.
The five thousand Ming army couldn't surround them.
Under the sky.
The gray Gobi desert and the dark green prairie grasses are intertwined, as if the two worlds collided randomly, forming a sparse intersection zone at the edge.
The vast expanse of grassland.
The wind blows on the grass.
No cattle or sheep were seen.
There is only the whistling wind.
It seems that the whole world is threatened by this wilderness.
"Master Brigadier! Twenty thousand Russian troops are stationed thirty miles away now! If nothing unexpected happens, our main force is thousands of miles away. I'm afraid we won't be able to reach the battlefield in a while!"
Fan Baoyi said, standing next to Chen Liansheng.
And the other side.
Fukang'an was also sitting on the horse. As one of the left-behind officials, Fukang'an had rich experience in fighting and seemed to want to make progress, so he had a lot of exchanges with Chen Liansheng during this period.
"If nothing unexpected happens, the Rakshasa ghosts will launch an attack tonight, probably in the early morning. They will sneak in under the cover of night. They have many soldiers and can launch attacks at very close range with the help of the cover of pasture!!" Fu Kang'an analyzed.
"This is a tough battle. Five thousand against twenty thousand, so let your subordinates seize the time to rest, tie up the barbed wire, and build the camp tighter. If they want to die, then so be it!" Chen Liansheng sneered. said.
"Is that the military stronghold of the Ming Army?"
Those who were holding telescopes to observe the defensive positions of the right brigade of the former army were Crown Prince Paul of the Russian Empire, Army General Repnin, and Army Lieutenant General Mikhail.
Mikhail is now being reused again.
His previous warnings are no longer seen as "cowardly".
In addition, it makes sense that this army general, who can be said to know the Ming army's combat methods best among the entire Russian army, is being reused again.
"That's a barbed wire fence. With the barbed wire fence, trenches, various bombardment cannons, and rifled guns, the defensive position formed like this cannot be broken through even if our troops are doubled! The opponent can easily use rifled weapons from two to three hundred steps away. The gun fires with precision!"
After seeing the Ming army on the opposite side pull up barbed wire and dig trenches.
Mikhail said, shaking his head.
"Then what should we do now?" Crown Prince Paul frowned.
Admiral Repnin also had a look of doubt on his face.
"Can't break through even twice as many fences? It looks like it's just two layers of thin barbed wire, and it will break when the war horse rushes into it!" Repnin said with a hint of doubt in his tone.
Mikhail looked at Admiral Repnin.
Before I saw with my own eyes the mountain of corpses and sea of blood in front of the barbed wire fence.
He had the same idea.
"General, do you plan to let your soldiers spend their lives to prove it?" Mikhail said coldly, "We only have 20,000 soldiers. If they are used up here, the entire Siberia will belong to the Chinese."
"I once saw with my own eyes on the battlefield in Manchuria. Tens of thousands of cavalry broke through two barbed wire fences, and the price paid was almost tens of thousands of casualties! And even if we broke through, so what? We still have to face five thousand rifles. The gunfire faced a large number of mortars, howitzers, and Ming army grenades."
Mikhail shook his head and said.
"So, we don't have much confidence in attacking such a camp, and we can't bleed here!"
"Then what should we do?" Crown Prince Paul frowned.
"Return to Irkutsk!" Mikhail said.
"Go back? Just go back like this?" The Crown Prince looked unwilling.
"That's right, just go back!" Mikhail said, "Isn't the purpose of the Chinese taking the initiative to divide their troops so that we can attack their partial divisions? The reason why they did this must be to eliminate the 20,000 troops we have. Yes, so we can’t let them succeed. If I were the commander of the Ming army, I would never just watch the 20,000-strong army shrink back to the castle complex in Irkutsk!!"
"They will definitely give chase!" Repnin said.
"And if you are chasing, you can't carry these things." Mikhail pointed to the barbed wire fences!
"Luring the enemy?" Crown Prince Paul thought thoughtfully.
"That's right! Let's leave tonight!"
Fukangan miscalculated again.
When he was the commander-in-chief of the Qing army, he often made miscalculations.
Now this time the opponent has become the Russian army.
He also miscalculated.
The Russians did not want to bite the Ming army's wire formation at all.
so.
The sentinel reported back the next day.
When the Russian army thirty miles away had already gone to the empty position of the stronghold.
Chen Liansheng's expression changed drastically.
He almost jumped out of his seat.
"What? Gone? Where did he go!?"
"Judging from the traces, it went north, maybe... maybe back to Irkutsk!!"
"Damn it, the Rakshasa ghost wants to run away!" Chen Liansheng was ready to make the Russians bleed into rivers in front of his prepared position.
As a result, they ran away immediately!
This caught Chen Liansheng a little off guard - this is normal, the generals of the Ming army relied on their superior equipment to bully the Qing army.
I have never fought against such a real opponent with rich combat experience.
In terms of war experience and flexibility of military command, they cannot be compared with veteran generals like Repnin and Mikhail who have participated in many Russian-Turkish wars and wars in Western Europe.
Chen Liansheng paced back and forth a few steps.
"The Rakshasa ghost is returning to Irkutsk! It wants to use the bastion in Irkutsk to fight against our army! If this is the case, this battle will probably last a year or two!"
Chen Liansheng took a deep breath.
Now he has a decision to make.
pursue
Or let the Russian army return.
If they were to pursue a pursuit, they would pursue 20,000 Russian troops with 5,000 troops and horses, but they would not be able to carry much baggage and heavy artillery.
It’s really a bit of an adventure!
But what young generals like Chen Liansheng lack most is the spirit of adventure.
It didn't take him long to make his decision.
"Send the order to the entire army! Start pursuing immediately!"
Chen Liansheng said loudly.
"Even if the horse runs to death! We must catch up with these Rakshasa ghosts!!!"
"The Chinese are giving chase!"
Mikhail had a smile on his face after receiving the news.
"It seems that our opponent's commander is not very cautious. We may be able to win a big victory!"
"Where to wait for them?" Repnin spread out a map in his hand.
"Right here!" Mikhail pointed to the Selenga River on the map, a location on the border between China and Russia.
"Chakhthu"
Repnin looked here.
"This place is rich in water and grass. We can rest here for one or two days and disperse the horses to rest on the pasture. If the Chinese are chasing us, their horses may not be able to fight immediately!"
Mikhail said.
"On the grassland...the Chinese cannot fight on horseback. What else do we have to fear?"
(End of chapter)
