After the Tengda air battle, all the Russian airships were destroyed, and the morale of the Russian troops on the Tengda front line suddenly decreased greatly and the offensive weakened.

The 200,000 officers and men of the First Front Army of the Chinese Empire, relying on advanced weapons and equipment, stubbornly defended the front line of Tengda and Skovorodino and did not ask the Russian army to move forward.

Every day, each side poured tens of thousands of shells onto each other's positions, and the sound of artillery roared and the smoke of gunpowder filled the air.

Relying on the fortifications, the Chinese Emperor [***] used a large number of heavy machine gun bunkers as fire support points to build dense blockade lines, and when the weather was good, the airships of the Chinese Imperial Air Force would also be dispatched to assist in the defense. At the height of the Russian offensive, the casualties were as high as tens of thousands, and the blood flowed like rivers, and the defenders of the Chinese Empire, as the defenders, also suffered thousands of casualties. The Tengda front line has also been compared to the "Tengda meat grinder" by war correspondents on both sides and in various countries, which shows that the battle is extremely fierce.

The Russian army's right flank army was blocked on the Tengda front line and could not advance half a step, so it could only count on the left flank army to quickly detour to the rear of the Tengda flank and cut off the supply line of the Tengda defenders.

Several divisions of the Chinese Emperor [***] lured the attack on the left flank of the Russian Emperor [***] in accordance with the "Battle Plan No. 6". However, the initial battles showed that Plan No. 6 was executed badly. In Handega, the two army groups of the Tsarist Emperor [***] were overwhelmed in attacking the Lena River defense line, which was defended only by an integrated brigade and a reading regiment of the Chinese Empire.

Major General Song Ping, the commander of the Chinese Emperor [***], was very depressed, as the commander of the decoy unit that lured the Russian army, he used a brigade to defend the Lena River defense line that only a legion could hold, and he deliberately concentrated the main forces of the troops on the Lena River defense line in Handega, so that the Russian army had the opportunity to cross the river from other places, so as to create an opportunity for the Russian army to encircle Handega, and then he led the army to "retreat", "forced" to abandon Handega and lure the Russian army deeper.

However, the Russian commander's brain lacked a line, and Song Ping's deliberately relaxed defense line on the Lena River made the Russian army suspect fraud, so the Russian army did not cross the river from other places and made a detour, but set up artillery to attack from the front of Handega.

The Russian army attacked from the front, and Song Ping could not retreat directly, because then the Russian army would bite like a mad dog, which would be fatal to the retreating army.

As a last resort, Song Ping had no choice but to open his posture and fight against the Russian army. With the advanced preparations and strong combat effectiveness of the Chinese Emperor [***], he suddenly inflicted heavy losses on the attacking Russian army and made the enemy anxious.

After learning of the situation, the General Staff of the Chinese Empire gave Song Ping several orders to retreat to prevent it from affecting the overall situation. But Song Ping believes that retreating at this time will inevitably make the Russian army rush up like a mad dog, and the retreat is very dangerous.

As a result, the battle for the Lena River came to a stalemate.

For seven days, the Russian army failed to move forward.

General Psitin, commander of the Russian Left Wing Army Group, learned that the forward Russian army could be interspersed in a roundabout way but did not carry it out, but was blocked in the front, and immediately became furious and ordered the forward Russian army to cross the river from other sections of the Lena River.

On the afternoon of 18 May, the Russian army began to cross the lower reaches of the Lena River, 30 kilometers away from Handega. When Song Ping learned of his information, he immediately organized his troops to retreat. However, before retreating, Song Ping ordered his troops to carry out a counter-charge against the frontal Russian army. The Russian army did not expect that the Chinese Emperor [***] would carry out a counter-charge, and as a result, the forward troops inflicted heavy losses and were forced to retreat, so Song Ping had time to retreat and led his troops to quickly retreat from Handega to Elijikan.

The Russians occupied Handgar on 19 May, and the advance immediately pursued Alijikan, while the follow-up troops rested at Handgar.

On the 21st, the Russian advance approached Elijikan and exchanged fire with Song Ping's troops again. Unlike the previous Handega, there were no good fortifications in Eli Tikan, which was an easy place to attack and difficult to defend, Song Ping led his troops to retreat after blocking for a long time, and the Russian army then occupied Eli Tikan.

At this point, the Russian army has occupied the western side of the Zhugzhur Mountains, and if you break through the Orto Pass further, you will be able to enter the Khabarovsk Territory.

On the 24th, the Russian advance advanced to the Orto Pass and encountered Song Pingbu again.

According to the plan, Song Ping had to fight the Russian army here, otherwise easily losing this pass would make the Russian commander suspect fraud.

For the next three days, one of Song Ping's brigades fought fiercely with the Russian front. The Russian army dispatched three armies and took turns to fight. However, Song Ping's troops had no reinforcements, and after three days, more than half of the brigade and the reading regiment were killed or wounded, so Song Ping ordered the destruction of heavy weapons such as artillery and heavy machine guns, and the troops withdrew lightly. Before leaving, Song Ping also ordered the sappers to plant explosives on the pass. When the troops of a regiment of the Russian army rushed to the fortress, the demomans hiding in the shadows pressed the remote control button.

In the rumbling and violent explosions, the entire pass was completely blown up, and the mountains shook in an instant, and more than 3,000 people of a regiment of the Russian army were all buried in it.

The Russian army, having paid a great price, finally occupied the Otor Pass and opened the only access to the Khabarovsk Territory.

When Psitin learned of this news, he was overjoyed and hurriedly ordered nearly a million men and horses of his five armies to penetrate diagonally from the Otor Pass into the Khabarovsk Territory like a wielding sickle.

On 30 May, the 1st Army of the Russian left flank pointed directly at Okhotsk, the capital of the Khabarovsk Territory, where the defenders of the Chinese Empire had only one regiment.

On 1 June, when the advance of the Russian First Army arrived in Okhotsk, the Chinese Emperor [***] was about to collapse and "flee" by sea, and the Russian army immediately occupied Okhotsk.

After the recapture of the Khabarovsk Territory, the commander of the Russian Left Army Group, Psitin, was immediately triumphant and immediately reported the results of the battle to the Russian high command, saying that the Chinese emperor [***] was vulnerable.

On 2 June, the Russian high command sent a telegram back, demanding that Psitin immediately lead his troops south, make a detour to the rear flank of Tengda, cooperate with the Russian army on the right flank to take Tengda, and completely open up the main communication route into the Amur Oblast. Russian intelligence alerted Phutin to the possible presence of Chinese emperors[***] troops in Kamchatka and Pukqi oblasts in the far north, reminding him of the idea of guarding against a threat from the north.

However, Pu Xijing ignored it, believing that at this time the north of Kamchatka was still a bitter cold place covered by heavy snow, and it was impossible for the Chinese Emperor [***] to hoard troops in such bad weather, and even if there were garrisons, there would not be many troops.

Puxitin then left two divisions of troops to garrison Xinheyi, and the main forces of the other armies attacked south.

In the following days, the Russian army was invincible all the way, successively won the battles of Kokola and Ayang, and forced the main force of the Chinese emperor [***] to retreat to the line of Chumikan-Jieya River-Jieya Lake.

This line of defense is the last line of defense from the Khabarovsk Territory into the Amur Region, and it is also the flank and rear of Tengda and Skovorodino, and once it breaks through here, the Chinese Emperor [***] can only abandon Tengda and Skovorodino and retreat to the two fortresses of Boli and Vladivostok.

On 9 June, the vanguard of the First Army of the Tsarist Emperor [***] had advanced to a place only 15 miles away from Chumikan, and the main force of the Chinese Emperor [***] commanded by Duan Qirui and Liang Huadian built strong fortifications at Chumikan, built river and lake fortifications at Jieya River and Jieya Lake, mobilized 20 desilting boats to dredge the river, and transferred more than a dozen inland gunboats to go upriver from the Chumikan estuary to patrol the inland river until they entered Jieya Lake.

However, the Ministry of Defense of the Chinese Empire declared at a regular press conference that Duan Qirui and Liang Huadian were incompetent, so that they lost a series of battles and lost the entire Khabarovsk Territory.

The General Staff even criticized Duan Qirui and Liang Huadian, demanding that the two of them make meritorious contributions, be sure to hold their positions, and not allow the Russian army to take a step forward, otherwise the situation will be reversed and out of control.

The actions of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff were undoubtedly deliberate, and this move immediately caused jubilation in Russia, and the Russian side clamored that it must make the Chinese Empire look good and completely eliminate the main force of the Chinese Emperor in order to repay the hatred of the squeeze in the past six months.

For this reason, Tsar Nicholas II specially commended the commander of the Left Wing Army Group, Puxitin, and asked him to make persistent efforts to defeat the main force of the Chinese Emperor [***] on the south bank of the Jieya River as soon as possible, and to open up Tengda as soon as possible.

When Psuitin received the praise of the Tsar, he got even more carried away, and was so happy that he had no edge, and pressed all the main forces to the north bank of the Jieya River to prepare for Armageddon.

At the same time, the people of the Chinese Empire did not know the inside story, and after knowing that there were several defeats at the front, the people were panicked.

Duan Qirui and Liang Huadian had to bear the consequences of losing the battle, their homes were thrown eggs and stones by angry people, but the two had to be dumb and couldn't say anything, they just put their anger on the Russian army, and actively planned to annihilate the main force of the Russian army.

The topography of the Khabarovsk Territory is too simple, with the high Zhugzhur Mountains to the west and the Sea of Okhotsk to the east, and the Khabarovsk Territory is a narrow plain between the mountains and the sea. The passage of the Russian army to the south was cut off by the Jieya River, and the main force of the Chinese Emperor [***] intercepted it here, and sealed the bottom to a U-shaped pipe, and the Chinese Emperor [***] also secretly deployed 200,000 troops in Kamchatka California, north of the Khabarovsk Territory, and waited for the Russian army to take the bait before closing the U-shaped pocket.

The Russian commander Psuitin was too confident and underestimated of the enemy, coupled with the backward Russian intelligence system, so that from the moment Phutin led his army into the city of Okhotsk, he was destined to face the encirclement of the Chinese Emperor [***].

However, the arrogant Russian general did not realize the danger, and after conquering the Alto Pass, he did not rebuild the fortifications, and even garrisoned less than a brigade. Psuitin didn't care about his only way out, because he was so confident that he could break through the Jieya River, so he didn't think that he would be defeated and retreated.

On the other hand, the Chinese Emperor [***] already had a strategic advantage, and could immediately send troops from Kamchatka to recapture the Orto Pass. However, after Duan Qirui and Liang Huadian discussed, they believed that the total strength of the Russian army was more than 920,000 people, with a total of 55 divisions, and if they seized the Orto Pass at the beginning, I am afraid that the Russian army would fight back wildly. The 200,000 Imperial Chinese Army in Kamchatka may not be able to hold back the frenzied Russian army, and even if it does, it will pay a huge price.

Therefore, after discussing with Liang Huadian, Duan Qirui decided to suspend the sealing operation, but to fight the Russian army head-on on the Jieyahe-Chumikan defense line for a period of time, and wait until the Russian army overwhelmed the offensive of this defense line with all its main forces, and then implement the sealing operation. In that case, the Russian army will not be able to draw troops to the north, which can reduce the casualties of the Chinese Emperor [***] and encircle and annihilate the main force of the Russian army at the minimum cost.

Beginning on 15 June, the Russian army deployed 35 infantry divisions and concentrated more than 1,000 artillery pieces to launch an all-out attack on the defense line of the Chinese Emperor on the south bank of the Chumikan-Jieya River. At the same time, the Chinese Emperor [***] also invested 300,000 troops and more than 3,000 cannons to fight fiercely against the enemy on the south bank.

On the first day, the two sides invested a million troops in a fierce battle, and the battle line was more than 100 kilometers long.

A fierce artillery battle broke out between the two sides, and the artillery units of the Chinese Emperor [***] were well-trained, and tens of thousands of shells fell on the Russian positions on the north bank every minute. On the other hand, the number of live fire from the Russian artillery was too small, coupled with the insufficient number of artillery, only more than 2,000 shells per minute hit the south bank.

"Boom!"

In an instant, the cannon roared, the smoke of gunpowder was filled, the earthquake trembled, and the entire Jieya River suddenly boiled.

The artillery battle between the two sides was extremely fierce, the grass and trees were filled with sorrow, and the mountains were shaken away, and the battlefield covering an area of more than 300 square kilometers was suddenly full of flames, splashing earth and rocks, and swaying with smoke and flames for hundreds of meters, reaching straight into the sky, covering the sky.

The positions of both sides were almost ploughed over and over again by each other's shells, the earth turned to scorched earth, and the rivers to steam.

The first large-scale battle between the two sides became a white-hot battle, and the fierce fighting lasted for seven days and seven nights, until both sides were exhausted from the reserves.

The corpses were piling up, the blood was flowing like a river, the air was filled with heavy gunsmoke and the smell of corpses, and the cruelty of war was vividly highlighted at this moment.

As the attacking side, the Imperial Army of Tsarist Russia mobilized 700,000 people to launch hundreds of cluster charges, with more than 260,000 casualties and more than 120,000 casualties. As the defender, the Imperial Chinese Army mobilized 400,000 defensive positions, with more than 70,000 casualties, of which more than 20,000 were killed.

Compared with the previous terrifying ratio of 1:26 killed by the Chinese and Russian armies, the elite Transcaucasian Corps of the Russian army was dispatched in this operation, and the ratio of battle losses on both sides has been reduced to 1:4, and the ratio of casualties has dropped to 1:6.

Of course, as an attacker, it is understandable that the Russian army has suffered greater losses. However, as the defenders, the loss of the Chinese Emperor [***] made them see the real elite troops of the Russian army for the first time, and after this battle, the soldiers of the Chinese Emperor [***] no longer thought that the Russian army was vulnerable, but attached importance to the opponent in front of them.

After the tragic battle, both sides needed to adjust their troops, withdraw the wounded and labored soldiers in front of the battle to the rear line for rest and recuperation, and transfer their vital forces to rejoin the front-line combat sequence.

Beginning on 25 June, the Tsarist Left Army Group abandoned its all-out offensive and switched to a focused offensive.

Puxijing transferred the 170,000 troops of the Third Army to focus on attacking Chumikan, and Duan Qirui commanded more than 150,000 troops from the five armies of the Second Front Army to enter Chumikan City for defense.

Liang Huadian commanded more than 300,000 troops of the Third Front Army as the general reserve, ready to launch a full-scale counteroffensive at any time while the Russian army was exhausted.

At the same time, Xu Bangjie, commander of the Fifth Front, was resupplying at sea for the last time before the war in Magadan, Kamchatka, and the General Staff of the Chinese Empire transferred 50,000 Mongolian cavalry troops from the Fourth Mongolian Theater and escorted them to Magadan by the navy to land.

On 27 June, when the fierce fighting between the Chinese and Russian armies under the city of Chumikan again reached a stalemate, Xu Bangjie received an order from the General Staff Headquarters and began to implement a sealing operation.

Xu Bangjie mobilized the 88th Division and the 115th Division to raid the Alto Pass, and captured the place before dawn on the 29th, annihilating more than 8,000 defenders.

Xu Bangjie immediately ordered the 85th Division and the 115th Division to quickly build defensive positions to block Russian reinforcements that might come from the direction of Yakutsk.

At the same time, Xu Bangjie mobilized five armies with a total of more than 150,000 troops, plus 50,000 Mongolian cavalry troops to attack Okhotsk in three directions, and the Navy's Pacific Fleet dispatched 12 warships to carry out a fierce artillery bombardment of Okhotsk.

There was only one integrated division left in Okhotsk by Płitin, and more than 100,000 wounded and sick who had retired from the front. In the face of the Chinese Emperor's [***] sea and land attack, the fierce total of more than 200,000 living forces, the city of Okhotsk fell in less than half a day, and more than 100,000 wounded and sick Russian soldiers became prisoners of war.

Puxitin, who was supervising the battle on the front line, was taken aback when he learned that the Chinese Imperial Army had appeared in Okhotsk, at this time he did not know that Okhotsk had fallen so quickly, and thought that the hundreds of thousands of wounded and sick soldiers of the Russian army in Okhotsk could hold out for ten days and half a month. Puxitin judged that all the main forces of the Chinese Emperor [***] were on the south bank, and there were only 10,000 or 20,000 people attacking Okhotsk at most, so Puxitin did not give up the offensive against Chumikan, nor did he mobilize the main force to come to the rescue, but only sent the 17th Army back to Okhotsk for reinforcements.

This was undoubtedly a tactic to add fuel to, and after the capture of Okhotsk by the Fifth Front Army of the Chinese Empire, it quickly divided into two routes to move south.

On 4 July, the Eastern Route Army of the Fifth Front encountered the 17th Army of the Russian Army, and a fierce battle ensued between the two sides. The 17th Army is one of the ace armies of the Russian army, with strong combat power, but because of the lack of troops, it can no longer support it after resisting for a day, and is ready to retreat.

On 5 July, the Western Route Army of the Fifth Front Army learned that the Eastern Route Army was blocked, so it did not dare to rush south, and mobilized 30,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry to make a detour to the rear flank of the Russian army.

That night, the Russian 17th Army, which was on the way back, was suddenly attacked by the Mongol cavalry. The cavalry troops laid an ambush on the surrounding high grounds, and then the habitual surname of the steep slope quickly rushed into the Russian army, cutting it off more than 100 in an instant, the Russian army was in chaos, and the Chinese Emperor [***] infantry then launched a charge, dividing the small group of Russian troops in the retreat.

On the 6th of July, the Eastern Route Army, which followed behind, joined the battle, and by noon the next day, the Russian ace 17th Army was completely annihilated, and the commander of the army, the famous Russian general, Lieutenant General Promichel, was killed.

When Puxijing learned the news of the destruction of the Seventeenth Army, he was shocked, and then he realized how big a mistake he had made, but it was too late at this time.

The 200,000-strong army of the Fifth Front Army of the Chinese Empire cut off the retreat of the Russian army, and the Russian army faced the dangerous situation of being exposed to the enemy on its back.

Pusitin knew that he would definitely die, but he was very arrogant, and he was a backbone general of the few Russian troops who would rather fight to the last soldier than surrender.

As a result, Psusatin mobilized 100,000 wounded and sick troops from the front line, organized them into a death army, and ordered them to defend the Helling Ridge to the death, so as to gain time for the main force to capture Chumikan.

At the same time, Psuitin personally supervised the battle, mobilizing the most elite Russian troops to launch the fiercest offensive against the Chinese defenders in Chumikan.

Psuitin tried in vain to capture Chumikan, thinking that in this way he would be able to break through the encirclement.

However, Duan Qirui had expected this a long time ago. Therefore, Duan Qirui never removed the front-line soldiers in the battle of Chumikan City, and allowed more than half of the front-line soldiers to be killed or wounded or even disabled, and he did not order them to be put into the general reserve.

At this time, seeing that Pu Xijing was desperate, Duan Qirui immediately ordered to put in the general reserve to enter the Chumikan position to block the enemy. And Liang Huadian commanded 200,000 Chinese emperors in the middle of the Jieya River [***] to prepare for a counterattack.

In the early morning of July 7, the Chinese Emperor [***] launched a counteroffensive on all fronts. The 6th Army continued to fight fiercely with the Russian 1st Army on the Jieya River; The 5th Army of the Chinese Empire took the opportunity to cross the river from the lower reaches and fight the Russian 1st Army from the flank, and exchanged fire with the right flank of the Russian 2nd Army. The 4th and 9th armies of the Chinese Empire intercepted the reinforcements of the Russian 3rd and 4th armies, isolating the Russian 1st and 2nd armies.

On 8 July, at a critical moment, the three Marine Brigades of the Imperial Chinese Marine Corps quietly set out from Nikolaevsk (Temple Street) and landed at Ayang, where the Russian army was deeply defended, and seized the opportunity to climb into the gap between the Russian 1st Army and the 2nd Army from behind, separating the Russian 1st Army from the 2nd Army, and putting the main force of the Russian army in danger of being divided and encircled.

At the same time, the main force of the wounded Russian army, which was responsible for blocking the Fifth Front of the Chinese Empire at Herling, immediately ceased fire, laid down its arms, and announced its surrender after less than two hours of fighting.

Subsequently, the Fifth Front Army of the Chinese Empire quickly passed through the Her Ridge, cooperated with the Second Front Army and the Third Front Army, and the Marine Corps to encircle the main force of the Russian army from four directions, southeast, northwest and northwest.

At this time, the main force of the Russian army is no longer the main force, they have been divided into dozens of pieces, and it is a matter of time before they are surrounded and annihilated.

On the 10th of July, General Psutin, who had been unable to capture Chumikan for a long time, was in despair. Many of his subordinates were just as desperate, but they didn't want to die, so they turned to Psuetin to surrender. Pu Xijing shot one and then stood up for a dozen, and when he was embattled, he finally chose to commit suicide by swallowing a gun.

Subsequently, Puxitin's adjutant embezzled Puxitin's general seal and commander-in-chief's seal, and sent someone to send it to Duan Qirui in Chumikan City, announcing his surrender.

On 13 July, scattered battles ended one after another, and the 55 divisions of the Russian Left Army Group were completely annihilated.

In this battle, the two warring sides have invested 2 million troops, and the number of casualties is nearly 700,000. Among them, the Chinese Emperor [***] lost 200,000 people (including 91,400 killed); The Russian Emperor [***] lost 770,000 people, killed more than 560,000 people, lost more than 50,000 people, and captured the rest.

(To be continued)