This night, Dokhturov did not sleep at all in the town of Tara, he had been paying attention to the front line of the fierce battle, and he had been nervously following the news in the rear.

Turinsk is already like this, both the Chinese and the Russians put all their strength on this chess game, but they are only hors d'oeuvres, and each other's main forces are still hidden in the rear of this battlefield.

Dokhturov was now afraid of suddenly receiving news that he had lost contact with His Majesty Alexander in the rear, and that there was an additional Chinese blocking force among them, in which case Dokhturov would need to switch from offensive to defensive.

Although leaving the main road of Tulinsk, the Russian army was indeed able to make a detour and continue its march towards Astrakhan. But the country roads and untended fields are even more muddy and difficult to navigate.

No matter how muddy a road is, it is better than a country road, and this is something that every Russian knows. Russia is not as rich as China, not only has it built a number of wide national highways that crisscross east and west, north and south, and it has completely communicated between cities, but also built solid rammed earth roads in the countryside.

It is said that even in the southern part of China, where the rainfall is the heaviest, heavy horse-drawn carriages can also run briskly on the country roads in the summer when the rain is the heaviest. Unlike Russia, from Moscow to St. Petersburg, there is not a single road that can withstand the erosion of the spring thaw.

But these are not reasons for Dokhturov to take lightly.

The Chinese drove out the Russians here on a large scale, and now Dokhturov does not know anything about the movements of the main Chinese forces. Who can guarantee that they will not penetrate from the muddy right bank of the Volga or the countryside southwest of Turinsk to their backs?

Dokhturov anxiously waited for the dawn to come.

If it goes well, he will be able to hear from Admiral Bagration at five o'clock in the morning, which is also evidence of the smooth communication between the Russian army and the front and back.

Dokhturov circled around the command over and over again, his face expressionless, exuding an inexplicable aura all over his body.

All the orders had been given, and a third of the soldiers were on guard, but when the battle began, he could not compose himself. He paced up and down the room, sometimes sitting down at a table covered with maps. His brain was spinning rapidly, speculating as much as possible about the possible actions of the Chinese.

Headquarters, villages, and huge barracks of the Russian army were silent everywhere. In the evening, Dokhturov sent his adjutants to inspect the troops and check the entry of the troops into positions. Around the campfire, the soldiers were talking quietly or eating. Many fellow villagers gathered to discuss how to get survivors to relay their last words to their loved ones. Some of the soldiers who were close to each other gathered together and whispered goodbye. Many soldiers were wiping their weapons or gazing thoughtfully at the deep spring night sky.

Then the battle began.

Dokhturov very much hopes that the Russian army will make a breakthrough this night, so that they can knock on the door of Astrakhan!

Hundreds of Russian artillery pieces began to attack the positions in Tulinsk, and the Wehrmacht artillery immediately returned fire.

The sound of the cannon alarmed Pan Chang, and he calmly walked out of the room, stepped on his small jujube red horse, and walked towards the command post of the central main position. Standing on a watchtower, he looked in the opposite direction, along the avenue above Tulinsk, the Russian troops with torches were dotted like fire snakes of different sizes swimming in a winding way.

In the darkness of the night, the guns flickered. Fierce gunfire continued to be heard from the battlefield. The two armies are in full swing.

Two hours later, the Russian army began to attack the positions, not only the main positions, but also the left and right flank positions There was a white-knuckle battle.

At half past four in the morning, Pan Chang received the latest battle report from the left flank, and he had a preliminary judgment in his heart - the Sanqiu position was afraid that it was about to be lost.

Sure enough, two hours later, a regiment of Russian troops quietly approached the south side of the Sanqiu position under the cover of morning fog and suddenly launched an attack. The Wehrmacht, who were guarding there, put up stubborn resistance. But while the Russian army was attacking the left flank line from the south, Dokhturov also sent another team to attack the Sanqiu position on the front.

The Sanqiu position was not the main position, it was just a forward stronghold of the real second-line position on the left flank, and Pan Chang only placed a reinforced battalion guard there. Because it was attacked by the Russian army from both sides, although the Wehrmacht fought back hard, and half of the 800 officers and soldiers were killed, they still could not withstand the attack of the Russian army, and had to retreat to the next line of defense.

The morning fog was the last cover for the Russians, and Dokhturov received news from Bagration after dawn, and then he scattered a large number of scouts around the perimeter - and even sent troops across the Volga to reconnoitre, and after ensuring that there was indeed no other large force of Chinese within twenty miles of the perimeter, Dokhturov's only hope was to make a breakthrough on the battlefield of Tulinsk.

The morning fog is the last cover for the Russian army and their last hope.

When the white fog clears and the golden sun rises in the sky, the price paid by the Russian army if it wants to attack again will be extremely tragic.

Before the village of Meligino, the Russian army launched an attack at night, just because they attacked Meligino a little, the Chinese could also tilt a lot of firepower there, and the fierce battle overnight caused the loss of 4,000 Russian troops, what a big price.

The Chinese have a strong firepower reserve, their rockets are endless, relying on the waterways of the Volga, their transport capacity is much stronger than that of the Russian army, so in the daytime, when the power of rockets can be maximized, how many people will die to rush to the Chinese's positions.

Time passed little by little in Dokhturov's thoughts.

The sun finally bloomed its own ten thousand rays of light, and the golden sunlight pierced the white mist like long needles made of gold.

The gunfire on the battlefield ceased, leaving only the painful wails of the wounded soldiers.

A team waving a white flag, dressed in white, with a red cross symbol on it, walked out of the Russian position. Chen Han didn't fire a single shot, and watched as this army carried the wounded Russian wounded back to their positions one by one.

This is the military doctor of the Europeans. The red cross is used as a symbol for medical staff, corresponding to the green gourd on the Chinese side. Yes, the symbol of Chinese medical care is a cyan gourd, which symbolizes traditional Chinese medicine.

Chen Ming's original idea was to push Shennong, and Shennong tasted a hundred herbs and came out of traditional Chinese medicine. But a question arises, what symbol does Shennong use to represent it? You can't embroider two Chinese characters or embroider a portrait, right? So, just choose the gourd. In the Chinese medicine shop, every household will hang a gourd mark, which is still a gourd. As for the color of the gourd, compared to yellow, Chen Ming prefers cyan. Yellow symbolizes the earth, while cyan symbolizes life.

Pan Chang was gathering the troops scattered at night at this time, and yesterday, Chen Han's casualties were not less than 3,000 people, and together with the losses in the battle of Meligino, Turinsk had been reduced by 5,000 people.

Many battalions were thrown into chaos on the battlefield, and some officers could have 50 or 60 people under their command, but those who were the original veterans probably did not even have 30 people.

In the dark night, the troops fought hand-to-hand with the Russian army several times, and they were chaotic when they fought.

Pan Chang's subordinates only had a total of less than 15,000 people, and now they had already lost more than a third. Although Pan Chang knew that he could use the ferry to go to the other side of the Volga, or even go back to Astrakhan by boat, his task here was to weigh the combat effectiveness and fighting passion of the main force of the Russian army, and it would be great if he could slow down the pace of the Russian army as much as possible.

And Pan Chang knew that just across the Volga River, there had always been a Wehrmacht hidden there. But the role of this unit is only to respond to Pan Chang, not to attack the Russian army through loopholes.

Turinsk was not the final decisive ground set by Wei Baocheng, Astrakhan was the place where the two armies decided the victory, and Dokhturov's worries were unnecessary.

Because the further east this battle goes, the longer the front is stretched, the greater the disadvantage of the Russian army - their supply transportation is a big problem that cannot be solved in the short term.

Without two or three months, the Russian army will not be able to dredge the Volga at all.

If Alexander I had really had the courage, he should have stopped his army at Tsaritsyn and cultivated for a while, and at the same time sent men to dredge the Volga, and then the waterways were launched, and the mud in the spring had passed, and then the eastward march to Astrakhan with great fanfare.

Although for such a long time, the Vladikavk fortress is likely to be lost, and the Astrakhan fortress will be greatly strengthened and repaired in the hands of Chen Han, and the Russian army will face great trouble, but this can at least ensure the smooth supply of the Russian army and the recovery of the soldiers' energy.

Don't look at the Russian army's fighting spirit now, but you can also know with your toes that their current physical strength must be below the horizontal line.

It has been more than half a year since the war with Napoleon began last year. They have been fighting and marching for such a long time, and even the Iron Army will feel tired.

But Alexander I clearly did not think so. Rather than stopping at Tsaritsyn, he would rather reclaim Astrakhan in one fell swoop.

As long as Astrakhan is taken back, even if Guryev and the Urals are lost, then it is acceptable to him.

Perhaps, the power of the spirit can really make the Russian army burst out with stronger and more durable combat effectiveness and endurance than in normal times. Who knows.

Alexander I wanted 'one blow', and the generals of the Russian army also wanted one blow.

And now the Russian army is in tiny Tulinsk, on a battlefield without concrete permanent fortifications, they have paid almost twice as many casualties as Chen Han's army, but they have only knocked out a corner of the defender's left flank.