On the southern defense line of the Great China Empire, the regiment to which Commander Tie Zhenwu belongs is responsible for defending the most critical areas of the defense line.
He had just been accompanying Commander Yu and Chief of Staff Fu to inspect the army when he received a report from his subordinates that more than 40,000 Russian troops were breaking out to the south.
The number of enemies their regiment faced was at least 10,000.
These Russian troops looked very elite, and a small number of them carried spears and were responsible for protecting them.
Most of them were Russian musketeers. They held muskets and charged towards the defense line in a sparse formation.
Tie Zhenwu had learned about the situation of the Russian army. The previous tactics used by the Russian infantry were to line up and shoot in extremely dense formations.
After the Russian army learned the lesson of mortar shelling, the formation was no longer dense.
It can also be seen clearly from this point that the Russian generals did not rest on their laurels, but adjusted the formation of the army according to the battlefield situation.
Captain Tie Zhenwu saw that the enemy had rushed over.
He shouted loudly: "Each company is only allowed to fire one machine gun now, and I will ask for artillery support.
We need to bring the enemy closer to fight, but don't hit too hard to scare the enemy into other directions. "
As the regiment with the strongest firepower in the entire army, their regiment had to hold back and attack at the beginning of the war.
Otherwise, the Russian army will inevitably break through the defense areas of other regiments.
Tie Zhenwu looked up at the sky. There were at least eight airships in the sky observing the situation on the battlefield.
Under the gondola of the airship, two big lights, red and green, were flashing continuously to convey the signal of their observation.
On the rear artillery regiment's position, the school launch balloon has also taken off.
After the artillery bombardment, the school fire balloon reported the shooting results, and the artillery adjusted the cannon's firing points in time.
They projected all the artillery shells where the Russian troops were most concentrated.
The 120mm Army field artillery fired one shot at the Russian army within a radius of 30 meters. The Russian troops were injured by shrapnel and shock waves and lost their combat effectiveness.
Captain Tie Zhenwu raised his head just to see the information transmitted by the airship.
The airship located not far above his head transmitted information to the battlefield through the lighting system.
Behind the Russian infantry, there were still 10,000 cavalry lingering.
Captain Tie Zhenwu immediately shared the good news with everyone in the group.
"Machine gunner, save your ammunition for me. Leave at least three bullet chains of ammunition to deal with the cavalry attack."
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Yu Tianyou and Fu Xiucheng observed the situation on the battlefield.
A fast horse ran towards the military headquarters. This was the signal soldier sent by Commander Han Shuliang.
After listening to Han Shuliang's report, Fu Xiucheng said happily: "Han Shuliang was very dissatisfied with the fight, but the Russian army attacking the western defense line was the weakest.
Han Shuliang's guess was correct. This was the cannon fodder unit of the Russian army. Its main purpose was to hold back the troops on the western defense line.
Han Shuliang has now broken down the Russian army's will to resist, and they clashed with the defense lines to encircle and suppress the Russian army.
The Russian army's will to resist was very weak and they chose to surrender once they were surrounded.
However, the number of people is large, and troops cannot be spared to support other directions for a while. "
Yu Tianyou nodded, this is something worth being happy about.
He proved that the strength of the Fourth Army far exceeded the strength of the Russian army, and it only needed to wait for time to eat the surrounded Russian army.
No matter which direction defeats the opponent first and deploys troops to support other directions, it will inevitably be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
Several more horses ran towards the military headquarters, and they quickly learned about the situation on other lines of defense.
Yu Tianyou, commander of the army, said happily: "The eastern defense line is also very stable, and the strength of this Russian army is much weaker than the western defense line.
The Russian generals also knew that they could not choose to break through from the east.
If the third division were not responsible for the rooms in the southeast and southeast, the east defense line would be able to deal with the enemy far faster than the west defense line. "
Chief of Staff Fu Xiucheng's fat, round face was already filled with smiles.
"Commander Yu, it seems that the Russian army's main attack direction is north and south.
Fleeing to the north, he probably wanted to meet up with the Russian army in Siberia.
Escape to the south, probably because we were attracted by the opening we made. It seems that the strategy I devised was successful.
Division Commander Ji Feiyang cooperated with the 6th Cavalry Division to deal with the Russian army in the north. It seemed that the north was as stable as Mount Tai. "
Commander Yu Tianyou pointed at the battlefield in front of him and said confidently: "Nothing will happen on the southern battlefield. The regiment led by Tie Zhenwu is the trump card of our Fourth Army.
In addition to the artillery regiment of the 3rd Division, half of the artillery is on the southern defense line. The heavy firepower of the four defense lines is the strongest here.
If nothing can be done, Hong Han's second division will immediately come to support. "
"It is indeed the case, the situation is favorable to our army." Chief of Staff Fu Xiucheng agreed, "The news from the airship indicates that the Russian elite cavalry should be trying to break through from the southern defense line.
We want to inform Commander Tie Zhenwu that we cannot underestimate the enemy because of the previous victories and must fight today's battle perfectly. "
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Count Vladimir Sergeyev looked at the falling serf soldiers in front.
The serf soldiers he dispatched were already the elite of the Russian army. They were at least one-year veterans and were proficient in using matchlock guns.
But the range of the matchlock gun is too close. Before they can get close to the defense line of the Dahua Empire, they will be killed by the Dahua Empire with guns and artillery.
Even on such a cruel battlefield, some serf soldiers rushed through the fire blockade and entered the trenches to fight with the enemy.
They were quickly killed by the enemy with short muskets, but this also caused some confusion among the enemy.
Count Vladimir Sergeyev did not believe that the prowess of the Russian army was inferior to that of the enemy.
They were suppressed and beaten by the enemy troops, but the firearms in their hands were inferior to those of others.
Count Vladimir Sergeyev holds a captured blunderbuss, a firearm called a pistol in the Chinese Empire.
If the Russian army could be equipped with such firearms, even slightly inferior firearms.
Count Vladimir Sergeyev was also confident of a chance encounter with the enemy.
Now that weapons are inferior to humans, he can only use human lives to consume the enemy troops and wait for an opportunity to break out.
Ivan Niksky quietly walked up to Count Vladimir Sergeyev and whispered a few words.
Count Vladimir Sergeyev's expression changed. The news from all sides was very unfavorable to the Russian army.
The Russian troops coming from the east and west directions were already giving him an ultimatum. They would surrender if they persisted for a while.
As abandoned sons, these generals have done their best to be benevolent and righteous.
Count Vladimir Sergeyev knew that there could be no further delay.
He must launch a final general attack before collapse in other directions.
Otherwise, when the enemy forces free up their hands to encircle and suppress them with all their strength, he will not have the confidence to lead his troops out.
Count Vladimir Sergeyev ordered a general offensive.
The exciting military music sounded, and all the elite Russian cavalry were ready to charge.
The serfs launched an attack on the entire defense line, and Count Vladimir Sergeyev led the cavalry to concentrate on attacking the sparsest enemy defenders in the southern line of defense.
As cannon fodder, the serf soldiers responsible for tearing apart the enemy's defense line also launched a general attack on the enemy's defense line under the urging of the officers and supervisory teams.
"Ula! Ula! Ula!"
The Russian army held up match ropes, shouted slogans, and charged towards the enemy's defense line.
Their formation was relatively loose, but artillery shells exploded on the military formation from time to time.
Karnisky charged with a musket. He heard the whistling of the shells and immediately rolled into the crater next to him.
He lay shivering in the crater and soon felt a huge tremor on the ground.
After the shell exploded, he crawled out of the crater and saw the misery of friendly troops not far away.
The center point of the explosion was a large crater, and there were some broken limbs and broken arms around the crater.
On the periphery of the crater, there was a Russian soldier lying on the ground bleeding from his orifices, but there were not many scars on his body. He was directly shocked to death by the cannon.
In the outer areas of the crater, people were lying on the ground wailing. They were all injured by flying shrapnel.
Many of them had their arms or thighs cut off, or were shot in the chest and abdomen, and there was basically no chance of survival.
Kaniskey saw the supervising team in the rear and was already pointing his gun at him and shouting.
If he didn't charge, he would be killed by the supervising team.
We can only bite the bullet and charge towards the enemy's position with a gun.
He felt that the enemy had entered the range of the matchlock gun and was half-crouching on the ground ready to fire.
Suddenly Kaniskey heard a rhythmic clicking sound.
He felt a sharp pain and immediately lost consciousness.
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Commander Tie Zhenwu saw that the Russian army was overwhelming all the troops and launched a general attack on his position.
He had previously ordered the guards to keep an eye on the airship in the sky.
Now the guards are also reporting the news, and the airship has sent intelligence that the cavalry behind the Russian infantry are ready to launch an attack.
The direction provided by the Russian army to attack was the area defended by their regiment.
Commander Tie Zhenwu loudly ordered: "There is no need to hide all machine guns, just fire with all your strength."
At this moment, Hong Han, commander of the 2nd Cavalry Division, led some officers over.
He said politely: "Captain Iron, I see that your military strength here is not sufficient.
Our second division can assist your regiment in defending this area. "
Commander Tie Zhenwu declined politely: "Commander Hong, I personally hope to get the support of the 2nd Cavalry Division.
But our regiment is a model regiment established by the General Staff Department and is now testing new tactics.
If our regiment cannot hold on, I will invite the 2nd Cavalry Division to assist. "
When Hong Han saw the little regiment leader in front of him, in order to refuse his request, he actually moved the staff out.
There has been news in the court that the cavalry divisions will be split into major cavalry regiments and merged into each army, leaving only a few elite cavalry divisions.
This time it was a joint operation between the Cavalry Division and the Fourth Army. Even for the sake of future development, he did not want to conflict with the Fourth Army.
Hong Han responded lukewarmly: "I want to take a look at the new tactics."
He originally wanted to go find Yu Tianyou and Fu Xiucheng, but he was not ready to leave now. He wanted to see what was so special about this group.
As a machine gunner, Li Dayan kept stroking the water-cooled heavy machine gun in front of him.
As a veteran, he knew the evolution of machine guns.
The army previously used hand-cranked multi-barreled machine guns, and later changed to automatic geared multi-barreled machine guns.
Because of the brake gear multi-barreled machine gun, the commonly known name is Gatling machine gun. Due to the unstable gear structure, it was quickly eliminated by the water-cooled heavy machine gun.
The water-cooled heavy machine gun also has a strange common name called the Maxim heavy machine gun. Many people do not understand the meaning of this name.
The water-cooled heavy machine gun, veteran Li Dayan believes that it is already a very mature firearm, with a fast rate of fire, a long range, and great power.
Li Dayan saw a large number of Russian troops rushing to the front of the formation, and soon the company commander's voice sounded.
"Fire all machine guns at me. We must not let the enemy troops rush over."
Li Dayan immediately asked his deputy to organize the bullet chain, and he was ready to shoot.
The deputy's role is to organize the ammunition chain and add water to the water tank of the water-cooled heavy machine gun. Once Li Dayan is sacrificed, the deputy will take over the position of the main shooter.
Li Dayan glanced at the ammunition belt, which was made of canvas and contained bullets.
The bullet needs to enter the pop-up window parallel, which requires the assistance of a deputy.
Li Dayan had made all preparations before shooting.
He waited until the company commander shouted to fire, and then immediately pulled the trigger of the water-cooled heavy machine gun.
Li Da looked at the enemy troops in front of him. He pulled the trigger and swept across. He quickly released his finger and pulled the trigger again.
The water-cooled heavy machine gun can fire continuously, but as a veteran, he knows the method of breakpoint shooting to harvest enemy lives faster.
This shooting method can also save the life of the barrel.
The water-cooled heavy machine gun fires too fast. Even if water is used as coolant, the barrel will turn red and become useless after being fired for a long time.
The rifling inside the barrel was smoothed, and the water-cooled heavy machine gun lost its accuracy.
The entire position was filled with the sound of machine gun fire.
The jet of bullets seemed to be like metal whips, sweeping towards the Russian position.
The charging Russian soldiers fell down in pieces like wheat cut by a sickle.
When Tie Zhenwu saw this scene, his eyes widened.
Their usual training scale is not large, but this is the first time for a large number of heavy machine guns to be used in actual combat.
Tie Zhenwu didn't expect that a weapon like a heavy machine gun would achieve more sharp results than a cannon.
Most of the more than 6,000 Russian infantrymen who charged were wiped out by them as soon as the battle began, and the remaining enemy troops fled towards both sides of the line.
Most of the results were achieved with artillery and heavy machine guns, of which heavy machine guns accounted for most of the enemy troops killed.
Tie Zhenwu also saw the elite Russian cavalry charging towards the position.
These elite cavalry rushed towards the position at extremely fast speeds.
They have figured out the rules of artillery bombing.
The cavalry stretched their distances to avoid artillery bombardment.
Shouting hurrah, they rushed towards what they thought was a weak position.
The cavalry had already launched a full charge. When they saw the infantry in front falling in pieces, it was impossible to change direction.
The rattling sound of heavy machine guns resounded throughout the battlefield.
Many Russian cavalrymen wear light armor, but they have no protective effect against heavy machine gun bullets that can penetrate thin steel plates.
The cavalry did run fast, but they couldn't avoid bullets.
The Russian cavalry, like the Russian army, were all equal in front of the heavy machine guns. They also seemed to fall in pieces like wheat cut by a sickle.
None of the Russian cavalry rushed to the position, leaving more than 5,000 corpses behind.
Their fanatical expression finally subsided, and the fear brought by the heavy machine gun took over their brains.
The Russian cavalry gave up and continued to charge, and withdrew from the battlefield on both sides of the position. Waiting for their fate, they could only be captured or killed by the Royal Army of China.
Hong Han, the commander of the Second Cavalry Division, opened his mouth for a long time without closing it.
He was shocked by the situation on the battlefield. Tie Zhenwu's regiment had less than 4,000 people.
They faced 10,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry charging into the formation. With the powerful power of heavy machine guns, they easily defended the position.
Hong Han could see that the strength of the Russian elite cavalry was not much worse than their cavalry division except for the difference in weapons.
Even if the Second Cavalry Division was asked to charge into the formation, Hong Han did not have the confidence to rush through the defense line defended by heavy machine guns.
He said in shock: "This is the end of the cavalry battle."
Hong Han didn't understand why the court didn't want to see the cavalry.
Now seeing the power of concentrated use of heavy machine guns, he realized that the cavalry had absolutely no room to play in the face of such weapons.
(End of chapter)
