Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 487 The Battle of Usolye ([-])
When the Northern Navy launched a general offensive on the western front, the two regiments responsible for attacking the "Fort Zaimka" on the eastern front also began to dispatch.

Five large flat-bottomed boats flowing down the river from Usolye, each equipped with a 75mm gun, cooperated with the mortars of the ground forces of the Northern Navy, and launched continuous shelling on the Russian defense line two kilometers away.Gunpowder smoke filled the Angara River, and high-explosive bombs of different calibers rained down on the Russian fortress. Where they landed, bricks, stones, tiles and trees flew all over the sky, causing heavy damage to nearby buildings and personnel.

In desperation, the Russian army had to order the cannons and unicorn cannons on the salient forts and multi-faceted forts to fire back. However, the poor range of the smoothbore guns could not hit the gunboats of the Northern Navy.Unless the officers dared to move the cannons forward against the bombing of the Northern Navy, the more than 100 cannons could only be fired empty.The sound of the rumbling guns was deafening. Unlike the buzzing whistling of solid bullets, the shells of the Beihai Navy whistled like sharp whistles, and every sound made the Russian troops inside and outside the fort tremble.

boom!boom!When two 75mm shells landed among several cannons, they immediately overturned an ammunition cart and the horses pulling the cart. Burnt pieces of wood and rags were scattered all over the place. Flying around in the explosion, the horses carrying the spare gun carriages behind them were bloody and bloody, and let out a long and shrill howl.

The biggest threat to the North Navy's gunboats were the seven-pound howitzers mounted on the turrets. They fired at an elevation angle of almost 20 degrees, and the most recent shot fell directly at a distance of more than 100 meters in front of the first gunboat.

The cavalry and infantry of the Russian army tried to get close to the river bank to fight back, so the machine guns on the flat-bottomed boats began to spit out flames, and there were even a few rocket launchers carried by the North Navy, firing the rockets with white smoke one after another. Entering the crowd of cavalry, the Russian cavalry who exploded turned their backs on their backs.

There were gunshots and people shouting everywhere. Zhou Heichuang, commander of the Second Battalion of the Third Regiment, led his orderlies to a fort that had just been conquered. It's a kilometer away.

"A battleground in front of Jiuli Mountain~~The shepherd boy picked up old knives and guns. The wind blows the water of the Wujiang River~~It's like Yu Ji is not the overlord."

At this time, the sun in the sky was already shining brightly, and the slanted light shone on Monk Zhou's face. He hummed the aria from "Six Happiness at the Mountain Gate" vaguely, and put his hand on his forehead to look at Russia in the distance. However, billowing gunpowder smoke obscured everything on the opposite side, and the explosion of shells and the fire of Russian artillery flashed from time to time.

Neither advancing nor retreating improved or changed the miserable situation of the Russian army.Thousands of people were running around in the hail of bullets, but as soon as these people left the space where the shells and bullets flew across, the officers stationed in the rear immediately sent a team to force them to obey discipline, and then sent them to the front where the artillery was in full swing .But out of fear of death, the infantry soon lost discipline, and the originally neat formation soon became chaotic.

At 470:140 in the morning, Lu Shoushan led a regiment of soldiers to board the ship on the wharf of Usoliye. Their task was to go up the Angara River and occupy Bratsko-Osz, [-] kilometers away. Trozhnoye village, and then marched [-] kilometers northeast to conquer the fortress Ilimsk on the north bank of the Ilim River, block the transportation route to Yakutsk, and force the Tsarist Russian stronghold east of the Lena River to surrender.

Don't say that the Ural Mountains are the boundary. The entire Sakhalin region east of the Lena River alone has an area of ​​more than 300 million square kilometers, which exceeds the territory of Argentina in another time and space.Not to mention that the area east of the Yenisei River is larger than China under the Manchu Qing rule.

However, the Sakhalin region in this year was only a paradise for fur traders, and it was a bitter hell for other settlers.Even though Beihai Town has millions of residents under its rule, few dare to settle here.And if Zhao Xin didn't bring the seeds and cultivation methods of cold-resistant crops from another time and space, no crops could grow!
Since ancient times, it has never been crops and land that dared to attract adventurers to places with harsh environments, but gold and gems.The problem is that although the Sakhalin region is extremely rich in gold and diamond resources, there are very few veins suitable for open pit mining.

Regardless of the fact that the mineral and timber resources on this land can strongly support the construction of an industrialized country in the future, don't even think about it before the railroad tracks extend here.In another time and space, the Sakhalin region was not really developed until the 50s.

In Zhao Xin's view, if we want to occupy and hold this land and let it belong to the territory of China forever, it will be difficult to become a fait accompli in less than 50 years.For such a large piece of land and the income brought in through the fur trade, he estimated that the tsars of all dynasties from now on would fight to the death with the Northern Navy.

The Russian troops retreating hastily retreated to the village of Cheremhovo, and the violent damage caused by the artillery of the Northern Navy gradually stopped.More than a dozen kilometers to the east, the fall of Zaimka Fortress has also entered the countdown.

In order to cooperate with the retreat, Rumyantsev ordered the four regiments stationed in the village of Cheremhovo to be in charge of the rear, ordering them to stop the pursuing Northern Navy at all costs, and at the same time let the other regiment pile up all the baggage that could not be transported away in the future. On the post road, prepare to use fire to stop the pursuit of the Northern Navy.

At this time, the Russian army had lost more than one-third of its personnel due to casualties and lagging behind. The wounded inside and outside the entire village of Cheremhovo could be seen everywhere, and the houses were lying on the ground inside and outside.However, the army doctors with a few militiamen could not treat so many wounded at all. These people were either missing arms or legs, or were knocked unconscious by the North Navy's artillery.

At [-] o'clock in the morning, when Zhao Xin received a notification from the front that the village of Mikhailovka had been captured by the Northern Navy, he ordered the attacking troops in front to stop advancing, rest on the spot, and build simple fortifications.Then the artillerymen of the two regiments were ordered to set off immediately in light clothes, and under the escort of the first battalion of the Northern Navy Cavalry, they took a carriage to the village of Mikhailovka.

And under the strict protection of the guards, he gathered around the artillery position in a concealed manner, and then set off with the guard battalion.

Although the North Navy artillerymen sitting in the carriage were exhausted, they were still in a state of excitement.It's fun, it's so fun!The cannonball casings fired this morning have piled up into a hill, enough to blow with my wife and children for a lifetime when I go back.Others, however, were puzzled by the current move.

"Squad leader, what do you think we are doing? Could it be that we are all going to be infantry and charge?"

Facing the questions from his subordinates, Li Yansheng was also at a loss.But the carriages were driving fast, and he didn't have a chance to ask the company commander.Suddenly, he heard deafening roars coming from behind, and even the carriage under him began to tremble.

Li Yansheng and the other artillerymen turned their heads curiously, and saw about [-] grass-green "monsters" with flat fronts galloping not far behind them.

"Armored vehicle?!" Li Yansheng was stunned for a moment, and it took him a while to remember its name.He has seen this thing in the barracks, and he has visited it once, but he has never seen what it looks like when it is driven.What surprised him was that it ran faster than a war horse.

24 armored vehicles drove side by side on the endless field, forming a green steel torrent. The wide tracks rolled up billows of smoke and dust, which made the hundreds of artillerymen and escorting cavalry on the carriages burst into cheers. .

"Squad leader, this is too imposing! With this, no red-haired ghost can escape!"

"Yes! Really domineering!" When Li Yansheng was admiring admiration, he accidentally caught a glimpse of the roof hatch of an armored vehicle in the third row being opened, and then a man wearing a green helmet emerged from it, rushing forward. Looking at themselves, these people waved their hands.

Because the distance was too far, and the convoy was driving faster than himself, Li Yansheng only saw the side face of that person, which seemed familiar to him, as if he had seen it somewhere before, but he couldn't remember it for a while.

In fact, that person was none other than the boss of Beihai Navy, Zhao Xin.

Outsiders are impressed by the galloping armored vehicles. In fact, the environment inside the vehicle is really not good. Not to mention the loud noise, the bumps are also very severe. Without a helmet, it is guaranteed to be bloody.

More than 20 armored vehicles may seem like a lot, but in fact they can hold more than 200 people.Don't look at this thing, you can get it in two or three months after mastering the driving, but once the track is broken, it will be more difficult to repair.

There is no need for the enemy to bomb with cannons. Once the speed of the car is too fast, as long as you brake quickly, the track may fall off.This is why Zhao Xin didn't dare to use it for battlefield pursuit.

At the same time, in the city of Irkutsk, which is more than 80 kilometers away from the Usoliye battlefield, whether it is the businessmen of the five major families, the monks in the church in the city, or even every settler who came here from the far west, Many people stayed up all night, anxiously waiting for the news from the battlefield ahead.

During the two years of Beihai's rule, everything seemed to be calm, and Zhao Xin provided a large amount of tea and rhubarb, which also made the city's economy more prosperous.But all Cossacks and Russians know that these Chinese do not believe in God, and they are not the same as themselves!

Although the soldiers of the Beihai Navy and the security police in the city would also go to the monastery, they went to check the number of monks, and the purpose was to check whether there were any spies harboring the enemy in the church.

Even those new immigrants with oriental faces never went to church once, but often went to worship in a ancestral hall they built themselves.According to a private message circulating in the city, those new immigrants were strictly told by the security police that they were absolutely not allowed to go to church, and those who violated it would be exiled to even more desolate and remote places.

How could they not believe in God?We must know that only when a person is loyal to God can he be honest; only when he believes in God can he get the guidance of life.To the confused individual, God is the Morning Star; to the corrupted soul, God is the Savior.There has never been an eternal country and army in the world, only God is eternal.

But those Chinese who call themselves "Seresians" actually say "there has never been a savior in this world", which is simply blasphemy!
But for another group of people in the city, their hearts are contradictory.Since Beihai Town established a public medical institution in Irkutsk, those who were once said to be "God's punishment for the ungodly" by the monks are often easily cured by those wearing white coats.The bloodletting therapy most commonly used by monks was once discovered by doctors in Beihai Town, and they directly denounced those monks as killing people.

What's the point?Are these people actually sent by God to save themselves?

At this time, a strong Don horse carried a knight in a cloak. After showing his pass to the checkpoint at the intersection, he drove all the way, and soon came to the three-story building on the embankment of the Angara River. In front of the white building.

Before the horse stopped, the man in the cloak jumped off the horse, threw the reins into the hands of the servant at the door, and said anxiously, "Alyoshka, where is the master?"

"In the study, hurry up, Denisov, he's been waiting for news from you since dark."

Denisov did not go through the main entrance, but pushed in through a small door on the left under the steps.This is the kitchen. He first asked the cook for a drink, and then walked up the stairs to the study on the second floor.

He tried his best to calm down his breathing, and knocked on the door when he was less panting.

"Come in."

Denisov gently opened the door, and then saw Sibyakov, the owner of the house.

"Why did you come back?" Sibyakov's face was a little ugly. At this time, another door in the study was opened, and Sibyakov's wife and son also walked in.

"Denisov, how is Zaduneski's troops fighting?" It was Sibyakov who spoke. "Victor of the Danube".

"Unfortunately, our army lost very badly." Denisov's lips began to tremble, and he described in detail what he heard and saw in the village of Sosnovka. "The cannons of the Siris are too fierce. I have never seen such an artillery attack. I think the commander-in-chief's defeat is not light. It is estimated that more than 1 people will be killed."

The three members of the Sibyakov family showed shock, and kept crossing their chests. "God! Lord of heaven, save them and bless them!"

After a while, old Sibyakov saw that Denisov hesitated to speak, and asked, "What else?"

"When I was in the village, I heard several Beihai soldiers mentioned a place name, and they were all excited when they said it."

"Where is it?"

"Yenisesk."

Old Sibyakov's mouth slowly opened, almost enough to stuff a duck egg into it. The shock in his heart at this moment was even incomparable to the avalanche in the Sayan Mountains and the earthquake in the Baikal Mountains.

"Father, what's wrong with you?"

"Denisov!" Old Sibyakov ignored his son at all, and hurriedly said to his personal servant: "You hurry up and take the path to Uginsk, and inform the garrison there! It's too late! "

(End of this chapter)