On the bank of the Heilongjiang River, under the city of Aihui, the Beiyang Army opened up a position to carry out a fierce attack on the enemy defending the city.

Because the east and west directions were too close to the river, the Russian gunboats on the river were too much of a threat to the attacking forces, so the Beiyang Army chose to attack the city in the direction of Nancheng.

The 2nd Brigade and 3rd Regiment of the 1st Town of the Beiyang Army were responsible for fighting the vanguard, and the two artillery regiments had a total of 108 artillery pieces to cover their artillery fire. Powerful artillery fire concentrated on the main gate of the southern city, 72 80 infantry guns and 36 heavy howitzers, so that the Russian infantry fire on the head of the city and in the city gate hole was completely suppressed.

Knock knock!

The rumbling sound of cannons was deafening, and the moment the hot cannonballs slammed into the city walls with a piercing whistling sound, dust flew and flints flew away.

In the face of powerful artillery fire, the Russian army could only hide under the wall hole cover, breathing dust and gunsmoke, and gasping for a long time.

Zasulic also concentrated most of his forces in the direction of Nancheng, but in the Battle of Songhua River, his Dongman detachment lost all its heavy weapons. In the face of the heavy weapons attack of the Beiyang Army, the Russian army had almost no power to fight back.

However, Zasulic could still resist against the strong walls of Aihun City, knowing that reinforcements would arrive soon.

"Hold on! Reinforcements will soon arrive! ”

"Take out the courage of the Imperial Army, we must not let the yellow race be defeated, it will be a lifetime of shame!"

……

Zasulich led a propaganda team and used tin horns rolled into iron sheets to constantly cheer up his soldiers, but now they could not compare with the Beiyang Army outside the city in terms of equipment and numbers, so only the will of the soldiers was left to use.

General Kuroberkin exonerated him from death, but he was asked to take him to court-martial. Zasulic had no choice but to bite the bullet.

At this moment, a 40-mm shell weighing 150 kg whistled and hit the wall above the anti-artillery hole where Zasulich was. The violent explosion instantly destroyed the city wall at a quarter of its height, and a huge wave of air instantly swept more than a dozen propaganda soldiers out of the air, and the shock wave was wrapped in gravel and dirt while Zasulich and several officers were buried.

After the explosion, nearby Russian soldiers hurriedly picked up the earth and rocks and got Zasulich out of it.

"Damn it!"

After a violent cough, Zasulic spat out a mouth full of dirt and was very embarrassed.

"What kind of infantry cannon is this? It's so powerful? ”

Zasulic was buried alive, and the other dozen propagandists were swept away by the air wave more than ten meters away, such powerful artillery fire is generally fortress fire, and it is the first time he has seen it in infantry combat. Of course, during the previous battle of the Songhua River, he was blown unconscious and did not find this problem.

"General, this is their 150mm heavy gun!"

"How is that possible? How can a 150 heavy gun have such a great power, and its rate of fire is almost three rounds a minute, how can there be such a large-caliber rapid-fire gun among infantry artillery? ”

Zasulich was not convinced, and an adjutant next to him said: "General, this is indeed a 150-mm heavy howitzer, the latest infantry rapid-fire gun from the German Krupp factory. The Germans had already developed to the point of changing the 240-mm gun to a ship-based rapid-fire gun, and I heard that the German Army was already developing a 210-mm rapid-fire gun for infantry. The Beiyang Army is equipped with all German army equipment, and their 80 infantry guns can only blow up one crater because they use cannon shells, but this 150 caliber heavy gun uses grenades, which are designed to cause large-scale damage with shock waves. ”

Zasulic looked at the adjutant in surprise and asked, "How do you know?" ”

The adjutant replied: "After Commander Kurbertkin returned from participating in the Yongping Autumn Festival of the Qing Empire, he issued a set of documents on the equipment of the Beiyang Army, and I saw it from there!" ”

Zasuric said: "How did I not know? ”

The adjutant suddenly smiled bitterly and said, "You have a lot of opportunities, I'm afraid you haven't seen this document!" ”

Zasulic naturally didn't take it for granted, he didn't take the Qing army seriously at all. Therefore, he didn't even read the document on the strength of the Beiyang Army. It is precisely because of his light enemy that he became one of the main factors in the defeat of the Battle of Songhua River.

At this moment, Zasulic regretted a little, if he was not so conceited, if he had taken a look at the equipment configuration of the Beiyang Army, maybe he would not have become such a fiasco.

From time to time, shells fell nearby, and the power of the explosion was like an earthquake every time. Gravel and sand continued to fall from the city, falling on the Russian soldiers huddled in the corners. They were covered in dirt, and the white bandages on their bodies had turned brown from a mixture of blood and dirt.

There were constantly Russian soldiers who were swept away by huge air waves, and in the deafening explosions, they could still be heard struggling before they died, and the heart-rending screams pierced Zasulich's heart.

"I'm the one who hurt you!"

Zasurich's heart was like a knife, his Dongman detachment of more than 30,000 people, and the strength of the two divisions was now less than 2,000 people.

Those are all soldiers brought out by him, as the so-called one general is incompetent and exhausts the three armies.

"The enemy's artillery fire is beginning to extend!"

After hearing this report, Zasulic immediately judged that the Beiyang Army was ready to launch an infantry attack, so he immediately gave the order.

"Get into position right now!"

At the sound of an order, the Russian soldiers hiding in the blind area of the shelling suddenly stood up, and quickly climbed to the top of the city under the leadership of the officer and entered their respective defense areas.

"Prepare for battle!" Zasulic commanded as he ascended the city with his troops.

The Russian soldiers mounted the few Maxim heavy machine guns on the city, which were their only heavy weapons. Other Russian soldiers hid behind the women's wall, using rifles to fend off the enemy.

Lieutenant General Zasulich took out a telescope to observe the situation outside the city, and saw that in the frontal area of about 400 meters long and about 500 meters deep, there were soldiers of the Beiyang Army wearing dark blue military uniforms.

However, Zasulic found that the obvious difference from the European and American combat formations was that the Beiyang Army did not advance in a linear formation, but each soldier was about five or six meters apart from each other, and the positions between them were staggered, so that each soldier could have the opportunity to shoot in front when he was advancing.

In addition, the soldiers of the Beiyang Army all bent over and bowed down one by one, and marched forward in broken steps, which was very different from the European Army's upright stride. And when they march, they do not walk in a straight line, but make an "S" maneuver in an "S" shape at a lateral distance of two or three meters around them.

These marches amazed Zasulich, who quickly discovered them with his military qualities. The soldiers of the Beiyang Army who launched an attack in a straggler state did not affect the firepower output, but also minimized their own losses, which was simply a military revolution compared to the linear combat formation of the armies of European and American countries.

"There are indeed some doorways!"

Zasulic could not help but sigh that his contemptuous Qing Emperor[***] was now reborn and stood on the shoulders of giants who had developed a more advanced military revolution on the basis of the German Army.

In the middle of his thoughts, the Russian army had already opened fire.

Bang Bang Bang!

The Russian army can't wait, they are nervous by a series of indiscriminate bombardment, regardless of the enemy is still outside the effective firing distance to start shooting, and even the usual training has forgotten, at the moment they just pull the bolt and load the bullet, and then they don't know if they are aiming at the target and shoot.

Their heads have been blown up to varying degrees of concussion.

After the Russian army fired for more than ten minutes, they did not see a few people fighting.

Zasulic suddenly realized that the attack seemed to be widespread, but in fact the enemy was attacking in a skirmish line, and the number of people did not exceed one company. Moreover, to Zasulich's puzzlement, the opponent's impact speed was like that of a snail. After moving for a long time, it was less than a hundred meters away, and it was still one hundred and fifty meters away from the city wall.

"What do they mean by that? Don't you dare to attack the city? ”

Zasulic looked at the adjutant, who shook his head, not knowing why.

Just as Zasulich was suspicious, he saw a flickering fire in the distance, followed by a thunderous sound of cannonballs, and rows of cannonballs with a long whistling sound.

Zasulich suddenly understood that the Beiyang Army on the opposite side was small in number, and if he did not approach and charge, he was actually just inducing all the Russian troops to ascend to the top of the city, because then the artillery fire of the Beiyang Army could hit the Russian army.

"We've been fooled! Get out of here! ”

However, it was too late at this point. The stairway behind the city wall is very narrow, and two people have to walk slowly when they go down side by side, and if they go fast, they will fall down due to collision. There are also very few stairways, only two. And the Russian army stayed in a row at the head of the city when fighting, and there were reserves at the end of the stairway to block it.

Zasulich suddenly ordered to retreat, which immediately caused confusion among the Russian soldiers, who had become frightened birds. However, this is not the deadliest. Because when the cannon sounds, the shells are over their heads in a few seconds.

Boom Boom!

Huge explosions rang out on the walls of Manila City, and in an instant, the mountains shook and the sky collapsed. The masonry and earth on the city wall were shattered by the huge force of the explosion, and the huge explosion wave and shock wave were wrapped in the surrounding Russian soldiers and flew into the air to a height of dozens of meters, and then fell inside and outside the city wall in the form of parabola and free fall. One moment it was still a complete body, and the next second only the residual value of the broken arm remained. The scattered debris mercilessly harvested the fragile lives around them, and in the screams, the dead were happier than the living.

The women's wall can block bullets, but not cannonballs. Before the Russian soldiers could react, they were hit by artillery fire, and the area around each bullet impact point instantly became a hell on earth, swallowing up fresh lives one by one.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The artillery of the Beiyang Army frantically poured shells on the Russian soldiers on the city wall, they knew that this trick could only be used once, and it would not work next time, so Duan Qirui issued an order for three rounds of rapid fire, and it was necessary to kill and injure as much of the enemy's living force as possible in this artillery bombardment.

In an instant, a sea of smoke and fire fell inside and outside the walls of Aihui South City, and the cruelty of the war reached its peak at this moment.

Zasulic was immediately escorted into the anti-artillery hole by the adjutant, and although he was embarrassed, he saved his life.

A bloody wave of air surged in, and a bloody severed hand fell in front of Zasulich.

Zasulic stood in a safe position and looked at the severed hand of the unknown soldier, and endured the violent tumbling in his abdomen.

"Damn it!"

Looking up at the cruel scene in front of him, whenever he saw the soldiers of his country being blown up and the soldiers in the sea of fire wailing all over the field, his heart twitched.

The Russian soldiers who did not have time to walk the ladder had to choose to jump down by themselves, most of them were killed and injured by falls, and some were engulfed by the rising flames when they jumped into the air.

More than 1,000 Russian soldiers who landed on the top of the city to fight were killed and wounded in the blink of an eye, and the reserves under the city also suffered heavy casualties in the chaos.

In this round of shelling, the Beiyang Army once again destroyed half of the combat effectiveness of the remaining East Manchurian detachment.