At about 8 o'clock in the morning of May 12, the mist in the area of the Mongolian Plateau Trading City had just dissipated, and the fog left a little frost on the grass tips hanging on the steppe. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Today is a good day, the sky is cloudless, the sky is windless, the sun is shining in the sky, it is definitely a warm day.

Suddenly, the calm treetops moved with a roar, and in an open grassland, a small airship was slowly moving away from the mooring tower, the engine roared to drive the wooden propeller, the propeller speed was getting faster and faster, and the slowly rising airship, while rising and gliding, after flying forward for hundreds of meters, finally jumped into the blue sky.

The silver-white airship body is printed with the eye-catching sun and moon emblem, which is the identification band of the airship, in fact, it is also the symbol of the Northeast Army now, after the airship takes off, it quickly climbs to an altitude of six or seven hundred meters and flies towards the north.

In this war, the airship seems to have become the symbol of the Northeast Army, although many years ago, such as Germany, Britain, France and even Russia have made all kinds of airships, but the use of airships is unique to China, compared to China, the backward airship technology of various countries makes it impossible for their airships to be as widely used in various military things including bombing, personnel transportation and military reconnaissance like China.

At the outbreak of the Sino-Russian War, the Northeast Army had only seventeen airships, but now, three months after the outbreak of the war, the Northeast Army has built up one of the largest in the world. An air force consisting of sixty-three airships of various sizes. It is widely used in a wide variety of military operations. Even the "Canglong III" giant airships, the Northeast Army has increased from the initial three to the current 20, it can be said that under the impetus of the war, the Northeast Army's airship units are developing rapidly every day.

However, compared with the huge "Canglong III", for the troops, what they prefer is the "motor boat", that is, the military airship modified on the basis of the "VIP boat", which is smaller in size than the large airship. It is more widely used, it can not only carry 800 kg of bombs to bomb the enemy, but also can carry out personnel transportation and reconnaissance operations, which can be said to be the all-rounder of the Northeast Army.

For troops, the most popular use of motor boats is reconnaissance, when the airship is flying at low speed, the scouts in the cabin can use binoculars to observe ground targets while marking enemy subordinates on the map. Of course. Performing reconnaissance missions does not mean that they are unarmed, if necessary. Scouts can even operate machine guns, to be precise, 37 mm Maxim cannons, to carry out "shelling" of targets on the ground, and although the power of 400-gram shells cannot be compared with heavy shells, they can still bring "considerable effect" in a short period of time by firing hundreds of shells with the power of grenades.

It is precisely because of its wide range of uses, flexible use, and even the need to rely on well-equipped airship fields that the "motorized boat" will become the airship with the largest number of equipment in the world and is widely used on the battlefield.

There is nothing in the world more desirable than flying freely like a bird in the blue sky, in fact, almost everyone has had the dream of flying into the blue sky when they were young, and in the northeast, there are hundreds of young officers who have realized this human dream, and only these airships can fly like birds in the air.

Li Yuanpeng is one of them, he is the brain of the "bird", Xu Zhilin is also one of them, he is the eye of the "bird"!

The brain and the eyes are what these aerial scouts jokingly call themselves, the brain is the airshipman, and the eyes are the scout. Watching the buildings on the ground and the forest constantly pass by from sight, this feeling is everyone's dream, for Li Yuanpeng and Xu Zhilin, although they have been flying for two months, every time they fly, they will still be immersed in this fantasy.

Standing in the back seat, operating the telescope, while observing, Xu Zhilin smiled while marking the target.

"There doesn't seem to be any movement on Lao Maozi's side!"

As he spoke, he did not forget to put on the map, and compared it with the past reconnaissance, aerial reconnaissance does not need to provide accurate maps, but it can provide some general information. Just like now, they have penetrated nearly a hundred kilometers into Russian territory, but they have not found a large force of Russian troops.

"What is the straight-line distance in the air from Kulen to Buying and Selling City?"

With a cigar in his mouth, Li Yuanpeng asked rhetorically, he was not worried that the cigar smoke would ignite the hydrogen in the airship's air bag, because hydrogen was far lighter than air, and even if it leaked, it would not enter the cabin, and it was safe to smoke in the cabin, which was not only the result of the experiment, but also the experience gained by the crew's brave attempts (1).

"It's at least 200 kilometers, it's at least 450 kilometers to Ulan-Ude, and if you take into account the terrain and many other problems, it's 1,000 miles away!"

Staring at the green grasslands and forests on the ground, Li Yuanpeng shrugged his shoulders with a sigh and said.

"How to ensure the logistical supply of hundreds of thousands of troops? There is no problem with one or two divisions, but if there are ten or twenty divisions, then the problem will be big......"

After this exclamation, Li Yuanpeng glanced at the city on the ground, the Ulan-Ude located on the bank of the delta.

"So, for the Russians, it is enough for them to put down three divisions in Ulan-Ude, a thousand miles...... Whether it is an infantry marching on foot or an infantry, they will be tired and half dead! When the time comes, they just have to wait and relax! ”

But anyone with a little military knowledge knows how long it takes to march a thousand miles on foot, and they also know that such a long distance means extreme exhaustion for soldiers, and of course, the more important point is - logistics! How to ensure the logistical supply of the army is the most important issue of all issues, and it was because of the logistics that Napoleon was destroyed back then.

"Don't say that Kuropatkin's Russians will feel relieved, even us, I'm afraid I didn't expect ......"

What didn't you think of?

At this moment, Xu Zhilin suddenly pointed to the shore of Lake Baikal and said.

"Look. What's there? ”

Took the telescope from Xu Zhilin's hand. Through the telescope, Li Yuanpeng can see on the shore of Lake Baikal. A ferry is leaning against the pier, and several trains are parked on the pier.

"It's a train ferry!"

After discovering this situation, Li Yuanpeng immediately drove the airship in the direction of the ferry terminal, and he even deliberately lowered the flight altitude to check the situation at the ferry terminal, and the Russians on the ground seemed to have spotted them, but they seemed to have adapted to the existence of the airship, and the people on the pier did not panic. It seems that they know that this is just a reconnaissance airship.

"When did the Russians fix the ferry terminal?"

"More important for rail ferries...... Let's go back and report the news to the headquarters! ”

Although the pilots claim to be the brains, on the reconnaissance plane, the scouts with binoculars are the real brains, and they decide where the "bird" flies and when it will return.

The Russian officer at the ferry pier couldn't help but shake his head and sigh as he looked at the airship that appeared overhead, and then suddenly left after a few minutes. Anyone understands that for China, which has airships. For the military, the battlefield seems to be completely open and transparent to them.

Just like now, the reason why the Chinese airships continue to bomb the railway construction sites around Baikal is precisely because they control the sky, so they will unscrupulously carry out attacks to block the construction of the railway.

"They're gone!"

Looking at the airship in the air, Levihill walked out of the shelter, with some sweat on his forehead, as a railway engineer, he spent three months to build the dock railway from Ulan-Ude to Lakeside, so that he did not expect to be discovered by the Chinese in the first use,

"They're gone, but they'll be back soon!"

Colonel Nikolaev sighed helplessly, he looked at the train that was leaving the dock, and did not know whether to talk to himself or to Levich.

"For airships, we don't have anything at all now, I think maybe we can use machine guns to shoot into the air to block airships, but, God knows, we have a poor number of machine guns, and General Kuropatkin also needs machine guns to block the attack of the Chinese in the Shikal River!"

Now for Russia, the battle on the Shikle River is undoubtedly the most important, where hundreds of thousands of troops are desperately trying to block the Chinese attack.

"If they build a defensive line on the bank of the river, I think the Shikal River will be able to block the Chinese attack!"

Because he had explored the railway line there, Levihill knew very well how wide the river was, and it was a river nearly a verst wide, with a maximum depth of more than a dozen meters. And now it's spring, and it's the time when the river is at its widest and the current is at its sharpest.

"It should be able to hold there, the only railway bridge has been blown up, I have heard that on the banks of the river, there are dense trenches everywhere, and at every Russian foot there is a Russian soldier with a rifle guarding it, and several attempts to attack Chinese have been thwarted......"

Referring to the current war, Colonel Nikolaev finally regained a trace of self-confidence, and it seems that the battle on the banks of the Shikal River has finally allowed Russia to regain face, and it is no longer the same as in the past, which is always constantly defeated.

Even in Petersburg there were rumors that victory would soon come, and it seemed that the previous defeat, in addition to the surprise attacks of the Chinese, was more important because of winter - well, in winter, it was not convenient for the army to launch a large-scale offensive. Now that spring is coming, everything will come to an end, as long as the Chinese attack is thwarted at the Shikhal River.

"......"

Suddenly, Colonel Nikolaev's words Levishir felt a sense of foreboding in his heart.

"If the Chinese can't break through the Shikhale River, will they break through our defenses from other areas? After all......"

After all, Siberia is too vast, and in addition to Trans-Baikal, there are other regions bordering China, maybe he is just a railway engineer, not a soldier, but he knows that if he encounters insurmountable geographical obstacles, then the best option is to modify the route, and now that the Chinese are stopped at the Shikhal River, will they choose to attack from elsewhere?

"For example, from Mongolia. If they call from Mongolia, it's only ...... away."

Before Levishir could finish speaking, Colonel Nikolaev burst out laughing.

"My friend, believe me, the Chinese are not so stupid,"

When he spoke, Colonel Nikolaev appeared extremely confident, and this self-confidence came from the recognition of his own strength.

"Don't forget that in Ulan-Ude we have three divisions of almost 50,000 troops guarding it, and in Irkutsk we have two more divisions, ready to come with reinforcements from Lake Baikal......"

Five divisions, this is the only strength of the Russian army east of the Ural Mountains west of Trans-Baikal, nearly 100,000 Russian troops seem to be not very strong, but in fact, in the eyes of Colonel Nikolaev and others, it is enough to repel any enemy, and even only one division is needed.

"We have five divisions, but what about the Chinese? If they have sent twenty divisions, what have they? Logistics, Chinese will not solve the logistical problem at all, unless they are prepared to cross the Mongolian plateau by means of wagons and on foot, as was the case with twenty divisions in Napoleonic times......"

"But don't forget, they have a railway in Mongolia, and that railway is just over 300 versts from the border!"

"It can be far from Ulan-Ude! My friend! ”

In the face of Levihill's rebuttal, Senior Colonel Nikolaev said in a determined tone.

"Perhaps, Chinese will mobilize a few divisions to attack here from the Mongols, but after leaving the railway at Kulun, they will need to walk for more than fifteen days on foot, even if they want to ...... by water."

Senior Colonel Nikolaev confidently glanced to the south, and then continued.

"Well, it is true that they can transport troops by water, but that will take longer, and, before the Selenga River entered Russia, those rivers could only be navigated by wooden platoons, which made no sense to the army at all, unless they installed steam engines for the platoons, otherwise ......"

At this time, Colonel Nikolaev's tone was extremely firm, even the most ignorant officers knew very well that the current war was not a war of the Napoleonic era, the consumption of the army was no longer guaranteed by carriages, and the Chinese wanted to defeat the defenders of Ulan-Ude, at least they needed to invest more than 100,000 troops, they may have so many troops, but the question is, are they capable of guaranteeing the logistical supply of these troops?

"It's all empty talk!" (To be continued.) )