The eighteenth year of Chongzhen is approaching winter, and many places along the Black Sea coast have not yet frozen, and the camp where Xiao Xuan's team is located will also be ready to set off soon. Looking at the vast sea, even Chen Xin and the others who came with the new guard battalion sighed at Shao. The importance of this area is indicated by the fact that the vast inland areas with very different climates within a range of thousands of miles are closely linked by relatively convenient transportation through the internal waters and oceans of the Black Sea to Gibraltar.

Xiao Xuan also remembered some of the things that this area experienced in the future, first the long-term war between Ottoman Turkey and Russian Poland for the southern shore of Ukraine, and then the Crimean War in modern times. During World War I, Lenin ceded large swaths of territory in the Brest Pact, but still did not relinquish control of Crimea. Later, the area eventually became an effective outpost of Russian control.

Thinking of this, Xiao Xuan said: "In the next few years or so, we will build fortresses and fortifications in a new sense according to future-oriented standards, which can stand the test of time at most, and effectively develop rail transportation, so as to truly connect this place with the area in the middle of the river." After the river reaches the inland area, there are conditions and new track construction will be strengthened. As long as we can secure this transportation artery to the mainland, we will have the ability to influence the entire world island or the whole world at a minimum... ”

When chatting with Huang Dou and others who can really speak, Xiao Xuan also expressed some of his views on world history, and on the whole, the preemption and rise of Western civilization is largely inevitable and not accidental. The open geopolitical environment makes it easier for a variety of knowledge, cultures and technologies to influence the place, and vice versa. The early demand for sea navigation in good conditions will promote the development of the spirit of seeking truth from facts and philosophical logic at an early stage, and even the pursuit of some simple scientific enlightenment, not to mention the competition formed in the environment of open and civilized competition. If it weren't for some technical shortcomings that led to the late development of the forest areas around the European continent, I am afraid that the path from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment would have been embarked on much earlier. Strategically, as Brzezinski or Huntington, based on the civilization of the old energy age, argues, the East is a vast periphery of civilization that does not have the potential to challenge the entire West. Unless, in union with the Russian civilization or one of the *** civilizations. The fundamental reason for this is, of course, the huge shortage of resources in some industrial fields. It is precisely this shortcoming that may have greatly increased the labor burden of the whole of modern East Asia.

Thinking of these, Xiao Xuan felt more and more that some regimes in the Middle East could not stay. In the long run: the main spheres of influence on land can easily be solidified by factors such as nuclear weapons. "Russia becoming China's Canada" is difficult to imagine even in the 21st century. Therefore, effective control of those places that are not first-line civilized becomes crucial.

If the Far East and the West are two superpowers with equal powers, it will be difficult for China to influence many places such as West Africa and Latin America through its maritime power. However, within the radius of the hidden bomb and the new generation of long-range combat aircraft, the impact on the Persian Gulf and even the Indian Ocean coast and even Australia is much easier...

Just as Xiao Xuan was thinking about these questions, the children who were still in the sky in the night sky and were vigilant, and who were using precious twenty-fold binoculars to investigate, suddenly someone noticed some strange light on the sea. Therefore, at this time, it is very responsible to pass the message out of the night sky through rapid casting and rapid communication.

The officers and men of the Xinxin Guards Battalion, who had some experience in night patrols and confrontations, said: "I don't know if it was a false alarm, but it is certain that it may be a precursor to the possibility of the enemy launching an attack at night... ”

Hearing this, Xiao Xuan didn't hesitate anything: "Let the teams prepare for battle!" ”

In fact, since this expedition, the army has been resting in shifts at night and deploying defenses according to the requirements of the operation. During the time that the southern coast of southern Russia was stationed, a five- or six-mile line of defense against the sea and land was gradually formed, and a somewhat fortified stronghold was formed in accordance with the requirements of ordinary marching and combat fortifications.

The artillery in the independent artillery battalion first opened tentative fire at a distance that seemed to be closer to the point of light, and twelve rockets weighing about 100 pounds flew in succession in the direction of the target in the night sky, and there was a violent explosion at the estimated distance.

The light brought by more than a dozen catties of black powder and some other raw materials could not be compared with the flares of later generations, but even so, in front of telescopes equipped with artillery and reconnaissance personnel of much better quality than in the past, many ships approaching on the sea in the dark night were still exposed at this time. And what shocked people is that it is likely that the scale and number are not small.

More than 300 shells were fired in three rounds of continuous fire, and although the hit rate was not accurate in such a dark night, the enemy ships were far from being as solid as many ocean-going ships that had been encountered, and at least more than 20 of them were hit, and they were burned.

Seeing that the effect of the artillery bombardment did not seem to be ideal, Xiao Xuan ordered the artillery to prepare for concealment and even close fire. It is clear that it would be unwise for an adversary of this magnitude to waste ammunition in the dark.

However, the cessation of the artillery fire of the new pro-guard battalion group did not mean that the opponent's artillery fire stopped, and the Ottoman Turkish sea ships, which had been equipped with several thousand large and small guns in this battle, began to bombard one after another after the sea ships of nearly 1,000 or so approached the coast, and the fierce artillery fire lasted for half an hour. The 2,000 small guns put into battle fired nearly 100,000 rounds of various shells, and although the power of these artillery shells was not very large, many of them could also fire a few pounds of shells at a distance of about five or six miles, and the extraordinary trebuchet could be compared. Even an ordinary field battle is difficult to construct a truly effective defense. However, these days of operation still make the station not far from the coast form a relatively solid defense, most of the trenches have built an underground tunnel system and even a much better double-layer cover, even if it is effectively hit by a solid bullet, in most cases, it is difficult to cause actual damage because the projectile fired by the opponent is not powerful enough.

(End of chapter)