The quasi-Russian coalition forces not only surrounded Luntai City and continued to fire artillery bombardments, but also continued to test with small forces in the first two days, hoping to find out the weak points of the city's defenses.

If there is really a way to capture Luntai City at no cost, Galdan Ce Zero will definitely wake up from his dream with a smile from his dream.

It is a pity that with the original Luntai ancient city as the basis and the experience of Juyan Fort as a reference, the new Luntai City is like a huge cog lying flat on this land, the fortress and the fortress wall of the eight-sided fortress rely on each other, supplemented by two layers of outer moats, and the open ground near the fort wall is also divided into fragments by layers of barbed wire, which can not accommodate the impact of the infantry swarming ants. Over the course of three days, more than 200 corpses lay outside the trenches 10 to 20 zhang away under Luntai City, which became a vivid portrayal of various failures.

Renate persuaded Gardantze to make a further test with artillery, saying that it was a temptation, but Renate was full of thoughts about blasting open a few gaps.

As a result, dozens of artillery pieces were pushed to a place two miles away from Luntai City, no longer demonstrative shooting, but artillery fire. On the 25th, the cannon roared incessantly.

"It's so good, looking at this movement, the food is very fragrant......"

On the outpost in the city, Wei Zhenhua, who had changed to the day shift to serve as an observation post on the battlefield, was snoring and drinking radish and mutton soup, and he no longer felt nauseated. Luntai City was constantly hit by shells, but the fort on the fort wall was not to be outdone, and although the artillery fire in return was not as dense as the enemy's, it constantly raised puffs of smoke and dust on the enemy's artillery positions. From a distance, he saw that one of the enemy's cannons was torn apart and flying into the sky, enough for him to swallow several mouthfuls of food.

"Kun is about ten zhang to the left! Repeat! Kun is left ......"

Wang Louguan was still busy, holding a telescope to observe the effect of the artillery bombardment, and on the other hand, he used a walk-around to communicate with the communication soldiers in the audience. This was a part-time job for the buglemen, providing observations for artillery firing. The battlefield was filled with gunsmoke, and the artillerymen themselves could not see the effect of the shelling clearly, and their buglers were on a platform twenty feet high. The situation within a few miles is clear. A veteran like Wang Louguan can even tell how much the shelling in which direction has been missed.

The communication soldiers got the news and hurriedly rushed to the Kunwei Fort, and it didn't take long. The three twelve-pound guns on the fort fired continuously, and the advancing artillery position of Dzungaria seemed to be scraped by an invisible iron plow, splashing messy dust, and the messy debris was even more mixed with spraying, seeing a wheel flying into the air, Wei Zhenhua scraped the rice jar, cursing the fat chef for giving him too little food.

There are also cannons in Luntai City. Not only on the fort wall, but also on the high platform under the lampstand was also an artillery position. But at this time, the situation was obviously not critical enough to require the four twenty-pound guns here to speak, and the twenty-four twelve-pound guns on the fort wall were enough to deal with it. As for the four-pound cannons and flying cannons that covered the walls of the fort, they were used against the infantry.

"Damn! Why is the Cyris' luck so good!? ”

A continuous stream of shells fell on the artillery positions, bouncing on the hard ground in winter, smashing human bodies, artillery wagons and even artillery to pieces. Renate was so angry that he threw down his fluffy hat, saying that it was luck, but his eyes were on the tower in the city. I thought that the Seris people couldn't have such high artillery skills, so they could use the sentries in the high places to correct the shelling......

The ensuing shelling was more accurate, with the loss of six guns in less than two hours. Renate finally confirmed that it was not God who was looking after the Seris, but that the tower was indeed directing the Seris artillerys.

Renat asked Gardanze to push the artillery position forward another half distance, and if he destroyed the tower, the city would be half in his possession.

However, Galdan Tseling categorically vetoed it, and instead gave the order for the artillery to retreat, he did not want to waste his precious artillery, and even gunpowder shells, on Luntai City. …,

Renate depressed accepted the order, as the Russians say. The Dzungars already have a subconscious fear of the fortified city of the Seris. Even if they had attacked the ancient city and Turpan that had not yet been renovated, the losses made the Dzungar people feel painful. And no more than twenty shells and gunpowder per cannon made Renate himself cherish every shelling.

In just one day, the artillery of Dzungaria withered, but Luntai City continued to fire artillery, bombarding any enemy force with more than 100 men in the firing range. As a frontier fortress facing the hinterland of Dzungaria. The defenders of Luntai City only had two battalions, plus no more than 3,000 artillery members, but the artillery that could be equipped was close to the total artillery of the three divisions, and the ammunition in reserve was more than enough to supply the needs of an army in a general battle.

The fortress line tactics are matched with the elite mobile main force, and under this tactic, the Dzungars are facing a strategic dilemma, which is also the source of the pessimistic sentiment of the previous Galdantse Zero and Da Celing, defeating the mobile main force, and the fortress line. Now he can only comfort himself by feints to attack Luntai, attract the other party to come to help in a hurry, hit his laborers, and win a battle.

Of course, the 80,000-strong army will not sit and wait here, and while besieging Luntai City, Dzungaria has also divided a small force to test to the north and east. The Han people built fort lines in both directions, and Wu Ya has put most of his energy on building roads and forts since the defeat of Yinding Temple last year, with a large or small fortress every forty or fifty miles.

Galdan Tse Ling is also known for his strategy, he didn't think that he had to fight a decisive battle under Luntai City, showing up in Luntai City was just to mobilize the main force of the Han people to go south, and his real intention was to find an opportunity to annihilate him halfway. And these small fortresses are the key nodes that hinder the realization of this strategy, and when destroyed, they can cover their own actions.

Unexpectedly, the small fortress is only relative to Luntai City, in the north of Luntai City thirty-six miles, the east forty miles of the two fortresses are also fortresses, although one size smaller, but still stationed hundreds of officers and soldiers, and equipped with several artillery, the tower towering in the center of the fortress is also the same as the tower of Luntai City, guiding the artillery to accurately disperse the Dzungars who tried to attack the city.

To capture these fortresses, it is not possible to do it with hundreds or even thousands of people, at least it is necessary to mobilize an army of 10,000 people, but with such a division of troops, what if it is raided by Han reinforcements?

From February 25 to March 1, Galdan Tse was hesitating whether to fight or not, which one, or both? By 2 March, he had finally made up his mind to force down a fort to the north with 10,000 troops and 30 guns. Paved a sufficiently spacious rear depth for the later interception of the main force of the Han Chinese.

But as soon as the troops set off, a large number of Anglo-Chinese reinforcements appeared in the east, which surprised Gardanze, who came so quickly!?

"The battle flag is a lizard that crawls vertically......"

The Sentinel reciprocated. Da Celing closed his eyes in pain: "This is the Long Xiang Army, they should have been in Mobei, even if they only brought two headquarters divisions, we would face an army of 40,000 to 50,000, not 30,000 ......"

Gal Dance cheered himself up and said, "Didn't we count the main force of the Han people as 50,000 before? It's not a big deal, it's better for this new force to appear now than when we were halfway through the battle with the Yulin Army. ”

Then he laughed, "And that's not all. It's a great opportunity to split up! ”

The large army, which was about to turn to the north, was pulled back, and the Dzungars urgently mobilized and prepared to march east to face off against the reinforcements that had suddenly appeared in the east.

Sixty miles east of Luntai City, in front of a fortress, the army rolled up billowing smoke and dust, and was marching westward. The Long Xiang army was under control, and Lieutenant General Fang Tangheng stepped on the battlements of the fortress. He was waiting for the staff officer to finish translating the signal. Seeing the flying dragon flag in the army, he was also full of ambition in his heart. From Mobei to the Western Regions, the exploits of the Long Xiang Army have been able to catch up with the Yulin Army. He left the Eagle Yang Army far behind, what a wise decision it was to jump from the Eagle Yang Army in the first place. …,

Of course, Fang Tang Heng didn't know that the Junggar Sentinel Rider described the Dragon Banner's flying dragon banner as "a lizard crawling vertically." ”

Just as he was in a reverie, the staff officer came to report: "The Yulin Army has reached 260 miles north of Luntai City!" ”

Fang Tangheng shrugged his shoulders and said, "This old Peng, he is two hundred miles slower than us......

The staff officer didn't speak, but said in his stomach, Fang Dutong is good at everything, but he always likes to belittle Peng Dutong...... The Yulin army is far away in the Altay area, and the distance is 1,200 miles. In ten days, the whole army rushed nearly 1,000 miles, and this speed was almost like flying. The Longxiang army was distributed in a number of fortresses from Balikun to Turpan, and they were assembled in Turpan at the sound of an order, and it was only 300 miles to get here.

But then again, who can Fang Tangheng, who is already a lieutenant general, compare with, currently in the armies of the Western Regions. There is only the rank of lieutenant general who also leads an army alone, only the Yulin Army is under the command of Peng Shihan, and even Wang Tanghe is promoted to the chief of the cavalry of the Commander-in-Chief, not only in charge of the dragoon army, but also in charge of the training affairs of all the battalions and above the battalion of the Anglo-Chinese armies, and the dragoon army is handed over to the command of Major General Chen Songyue.

However, considering that the Longxiang army had pulled out the troops scattered in various fortresses within ten days, organized them into an army, and rushed here, it was not an easy thing to do, which was greatly unexpected by the Dzungars, and the staff officers were also full of pride.

Speaking of which, Demon Wu is ruthless enough......

After the defeat of Yinding Temple last year, Wu Ya not only transferred the Longxiang army, but also made major adjustments to the military in the Western Regions. The original three-way people were all overthrown, and the general-level structure was completely pulled over. In addition to the Yue Chao Longshengjie army at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, the remaining Longxiang army, Shenwu army, and Tianwei army were all dismantled into the fortress line, and the servant army was equipped one by one to ensure the safety of the fortress line, and the fortress line was extended step by step, leaving only the two armies of Yulin and Dragoon as the main mobile force, and they were also attached to the Altay area, forming a situation of standing high in the north, containing the Russians, and monitoring the Dzungars.

If the Dzungars attacked the fortress line on a large scale, there would be the Yulin Dragoon Army in the north to deal with it, and the Dragon Cavalry Army, which was also divided into battalion wings and subordinate to the east.

Stuffing elite field troops into the fortress and stuffing them to the brim is a bit of a luxury, but this is only a temporary measure. According to Wu Ya's plan, after the Altay fortress line is formed, the army will be forced to Hainuk (Ili) again, and at that time, with its back to the fortress line, the Dzungars will no longer have the slightest loophole to exploit, and the overall situation of the Western Regions can be determined in a battle.

The Dzungar people also realized this, and they took the initiative to come to the door before Wu Ya made a move, but they were a little wrong, and the mobile forces in Wu Ya's hands also included the Long Xiang army.

If the problem of overwork and death of the logistics department is not considered, Wu Ya can even draw out at least two more divisions and upgrade the Longxiang Army to a large army with four divisions. But...... In the Western Regions, logistics comes first, and Wu Ya also has to bow to the shopkeepers of the logistics department.

After stepping on Peng Shihan, Fang Tangheng said with satisfaction: "Stop advancing for the time being, and rely on the front fortress to start a defense." ”

Two divisions, 15,000 elite red-clothed, relying on the fortress defense, when the news reached the Junggar army that was about to leave, Galdan Ce Ling and Da Ce Ling came back to their senses as soon as possible: "The main force of the Han people in the north is also about to arrive!" ”

Within a few days, the Dzungar army, which had been overwhelmed by many orders, and even the Russians complained that before the battle began, they were about to be in chaos......

On March 3, after receiving the news that an outpost of the Han army had been discovered a hundred miles to the north, Galdan Tseling calmed down.

The ambush was no longer possible, and he was flanked instead......

Forget it, isn't this the decisive battle of your dreams? I should be glad that I came so quickly.

Galdanzer finally cheered up, no matter what kind of plan he had, he couldn't finally decide on the battlefield.

"Decisive battle! Dzungars, show your courage! Give up everything for victory! Immortal Heaven is on our side! ”

Galdan Tseling issued a call for the end of the road, and Da Celing, with the leaders of all the Dzungar tribes, also mustered up twelve points of courage and calmly faced the fate of Dzungaria.

On 4 March, the Dzungar army retreated 20 miles to the west, vacating the predetermined decisive battlefield.

Looking out over the vast expanse of the wilderness, Cherrech said, "This is really an ideal place to bury bones." ”

On 5 March, the battle flags of the British and Chinese armies fluttered high, far away from the Khan banner of Dzungaria and the battle flag of the Cossacks...... ）