The early morning of May 26, 1872, came earlier than in the south, and Qiqihar was closer to the Arctic Circle than most of China, and at such a latitude, it was impossible for the sun to shine on the head. The sun is moving closer to the horizon, rising in the east and setting in the west. It's the beginning of summer, and there are only a few hours left in the night.

In the morning light, on the defensive position intertwined with barbed wire, the thick muzzle of the cannon slowly rose, adjusting the optimal angle. The observation balloon in the air with a long rope also reached the predetermined altitude, and the observer held a telescope to look at the besieged city of Qiqihar.

Four howitzers of 200 mm caliber have been delivered to the front line, and today is the time for such heavy artillery to show its might. For the transportation of these four 200 guns, the troops used special carts. The infantry was not yet ready to go into battle at this time, and they had to destroy the Russian fortresses one by one before it was their turn to siege the city. It was expected that this process would take several days, and a large number of infantry wanted to get close to see the excitement when there was no combat mission. However, the commanders drove the infantry to a distant place, the terrain of Qiqihar was flat, and the artillery was in camouflage positions, so everyone did not even have a chance to watch from a distance, which made the comrades feel very unhappy.

Even if the siege artillery was to play the leading role, the configuration of each unit was not pulled down. The troops were not sure of the level of the Russians' artillery, and everyone was only worried about one thing, that is, Maozi's artillery was dense enough and fierce enough. Nearly half of the "casualties" in the siege warfare exercises of the Liberation Army were caused by artillery. In the actual battle of the Liberation Army, the artillery really showed the demeanor of the king of war. The various units have long been prepared, and this war is not as good as before, because the supply of artillery shells is not very sufficient because of transportation. Moreover, the Russians are not the weak soldiers of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the Russians are surrounded and killed here, trapped and fighting, and the battle will never be easy.

At seven o'clock in the morning, Chinese heavy artillery began firing. Hearing the roar of the heavy artillery, the first feeling of the infantry was that the sound of the cannon was far from being as loud as they thought. Compared with the crisp small-caliber artillery, the sound of the heavy artillery was a little more muffled, somewhat like a faint thunderclap coming from the sky. And after the shell landed, everyone clearly felt a clear tremor coming from under their feet. Then a violent explosion was heard. It's hard to describe the sensation with hearing, and the impact felt by the body is far stronger than the explosion heard by the ears. The more sensitive warrior felt as if an electric current was being transmitted rapidly along his skin, and his chest was faintly stuffy.

The third shot was hit, and the shells finally hit the fortress of the Russians. You can see that the lower part of the Russian wooden and stone fortress bursts out of a cloud of stone slag and a flower. As soon as there were cheers, the inside of the fortress exploded violently, and the tall fortress exploded from the inside. Smoke and flames erupted from inside every perforation and small window. The fortress exploded from the inside like papier-mâché, and the upper half of the fortress lost its support, and after shaking for a while, it gradually stabilized. Just when everyone thought the fortress was holding up, the upper half collapsed entirely.

The troops, who watched the results of the shelling from afar, watched all this happening in amazement, and waited for a long time after the Russian fortress finally collapsed to the ground, raising a large cloud of smoke and dust. The sky-shattering cheers only rang out on the Chinese front. The artillerymen were naturally extremely fishy, and the army was particularly excited. As long as you don't have to personally use your flesh and blood against the enemy's strong fortresses, who has the Chinese Army been afraid of?

In one day, 200 guns had destroyed nine Russian fortresses, and the Russians had lost more than half of the work they had worked so for two years. In addition to the two forts on the other side of the river, only the three forts on the edge of the city close to Qiqihar are still alive. Anyone can see that it is impossible for these three fortresses to see the sun the day after tomorrow.

The long days were very beneficial for the defense of the attacking side, and the Chinese defensive positions did not need to hold their breath for seven or eight hours at all, four or five hours were enough.

The long days were very unfavorable for the defenders, and Russia had only four or five hours of respite, and soon a new cruel day was about to come. The commander of the Qiqihar garrison felt that he had made a great mistake, that is, he should not have put these many people in the beautiful city of Qiqihar.

Russian supplies in the Far East are largely by sea, and last year the Chinese navy swept along the coast like mad dogs outside of the freezing period. Russia lost several hundred ships, and strongholds along the Pacific coast were swept away. This has led directly to a situation of scarcity of supplies.

Of course, the Russians did not have no way back to Europe, their strongholds were distributed along the roads. But the warm city of Qiqihar was much better than the land north of the Great Khing'an Mountains, and the strongholds along the coast began to retreat, and instead of retreating to the west, they gathered near Qiqihar.

The serfdom of the Russians was also soon used in the East, and the Russians hunted themselves and enslaved the subordinates of the Heilongjiang general to farm the land and pay for grain. It's also easy to settle down in Qiqihar. The Russians thought that China would attack tentatively, and then attack on a large scale after failure. This is just a chance for the Russians to choose to retreat if they find that there is really no way to win against the Chinese in the future. However, the Chinese actually sent more than 100,000 troops to besiege Qiqihar, and the Russians' wishful thinking was completely ruined. Seeing that the fortress did not even have a chance to exert its might was reduced to ruins, the commander of the Russian army was also about to go crazy.

After consultation, the Russian army made a decision. Since the fortress is unreliable, the Russian army can only rely on its own land warfare to solve the problem. The next day, the Russian army took the initiative and engaged in a head-on decisive battle with the Chinese army. As long as the Chinese army is routed head-on, everything is not a problem.

On May 27, the Chinese army was delighted to find that the Russian army had actually attacked. The artillery first stabilized the position, the infantry formed a phalanx, and the cavalry pressed the formation behind. Very standard European military formations. From the time of Napoleon, such military formations had already begun to be finalized. After all, the times have progressed, and it is estimated that the Russian army in front of us is probably at the level of the Russian army that entered Paris in 1815.

Whether the Russians have changed or not, the Chinese have changed dramatically. When the Russians appeared on the battlefield with their flags unfurled, they were not able to meet the Chinese troops on the other side. All that caught the eyes of these Russians was the barbed wire. Behind the barbed wire, a small slope of earth was built with earth. In addition, there is the shadowy Chinese military camp in the distance. There was no sign of any Chinese running in the barracks at all, as if there was no one outside the entire city.

The Chinese must be in the opposite corner somewhere, they are now hiding like cowards, but as soon as the Russian army attacks, these Chinese have to appear.

Next to the military flag was the flag of the Orthodox Church, and the priests began to do prayers. The soldiers knelt down on one leg and raised two fingers, or three fingers. This kind of move, which could easily lead to infighting, no one cares about it at this time. After a lengthy prayer ceremony, the Russian army finally stood up and made a cross on his chest. Some pious soldiers even went to kiss the horns of the priest's robes. Consciously blessed by God, the Russian army finally began to attack with confidence.

Inside the trenches, the Chinese soldiers waited for a long time, and they could not help but whisper.

"Are those men with axes going to cut the barbed wire?"

"What's that long pole with a hook for?"

"Wouldn't it be convenient to cut the barbed wire straight?"

"Didn't we teach how to cut with a vice?"

"The Russians are militarily backward, they don't understand this at all."

"Backward like this, they are primitives, right?"

"What a primitive! It was only after the change of outfit that our troops did not train to line up for shooting. If you want to say that, we have also been primitives! ”

"Didn't the teachers say that everyone has been a primitive person?"

"Phew! You continue to be primitive. I'm not a primitive! ”

……

"The battle is about to begin! Don't even speak! ”

With the orders of the commanders at all levels, the troops were quiet again. By this time, the Russian army had begun to approach the Chinese positions with a relatively regular phalanx.

The Russian soldiers also saw some subtle movements, after all, the Chinese troops are not afraid of death. According to the regulations, until the commander gives an order, everyone in the troops must hide in the trenches and not show their heads. But without the brutal baptism of war, everyone does not know the meaning of this order. Everyone's hearts were as uncomfortable as cat scratches, and some soldiers couldn't help but lie on the edge of the trenches and peek. Those grass-green military hats stood out on the edge of the trenches in the black earth.

Having discovered the enemy, the Russian troops slightly adjusted their direction and moved towards the moving trenches.

The concealed observation post quickly reported the situation to the company commander on the position, and the company commander angrily whispered: "Pass them one by one, and no one can show their heads again." The squad leader, the deputy squad leader, and the head of the combat group all gave me a good idea of the comrades. ”

After finishing speaking, the company commander ran to the observation port with a skillful military movement, and the Russian army did not stop at all, but continued to advance. "Ancestors are on board!" The company commander from Sichuan scolded in his heart. No matter how annoyed he was in his heart, the company commander who had been trained several times didn't dare to really scold out. He thought that after this battle was over, he would definitely criticize these guys severely. I have trained many times in the training subjects, but when I really get to the battlefield, everyone still can't help it!

Just thinking about it, the sound of artillery came from the Russian artillery position opposite. It sounds a bit like a 12-pounder smoothbore gun, which has not been used by the Liberation Army for many years, and even the cast-iron three-inch rifled gun has been decommissioned. The troops are now armed with field and mountain guns, with a unified caliber of 75 mm. Of course, it is not unheard of such weapons in the troops, and there have been physical and demonstrative shooting of such weapons during training. But this purpose is only to let everyone know how to deal with such an enemy when encountered.

The company commander from Sichuan still thought that this weapon could be used at that time, but it was really backward. But now when he heard the enemy's cannons, he couldn't help but shudder. No matter how backward the artillery is, if it is hit by a cannonball fired by this artillery, the flesh and blood of human beings cannot resist it in any way.

The Russian army seems to have determined the direction of the offensive breakthrough, although the density of the shelling by the Chinese artillery is very different, the Russian army still uses the 12-pounder gun at hand to start firing in the direction where the Chinese army has been found.