Two companies of the 23rd Division of the Russian Army used the vegetation on the field as cover to approach the central position of the expeditionary army later, but they were hit by the artillery of the expeditionary army, and the three hundred men of the two companies were forced to retreat without even having a chance to fire a shot, and the two company commanders who led the team were killed and wounded.

Then the battalion commander personally led his troops to charge, and under the cover of superior artillery fire behind them, the Russian troops in the second attack broke through to the central forward position. Liu Xian mobilized troops to counterattack, and the small position became a complete flesh and blood slaughterhouse.

The position is too small for more troops to be put in on either side, and if the army is too dense, it is easy to be killed by concentrated enemy artillery fire. So it's like a refueling war on both sides, you put a company and a squadron of me into it.

But in general, the casualties of the Russian army in an offensive posture were much greater than those of the expeditionary army.

The front-line commander of the Russian army did not want to kill or wound one or two battalions because of one forward formation, so he decisively threw in two battalions of troops and outflanked the central forward position in two parts.

It took more than two hours for the full three and a half battalion heads to take the forward position of the expeditionary army in the central battlefield, which made Kaufman feel the tenacious fighting spirit of the expeditionary army at once.

Subsequently, with the Russian army's attack on the main position of the central front, sixty or seventy artillery pieces on both sides of China and Russia launched a stormy artillery battle. Although the artillery of the expeditionary army was at a disadvantage, but by taking the opportunity of arriving a few days earlier, Liu Xian had already built a cement fortress in the central main position, and the number of twenty artillery pieces was less than half of that of the Russian army, but it never stopped counterattacking in the fierce artillery bombardment of the Russian army. In the end, an artillery position of the Russian army stretched forward was caught by the artillery of the expeditionary army, and the artillery of a company was reimbursed by the bombardment of twenty cannons.

The smoke of gunfire almost completely enveloped the village of Tourak. In a white-knuckle battle, every fight between the two sides ends in a white-knuckle battle.

The blood of the expeditionary army, the blood of the Russian army, stained the land red.

The battle lasted until noon, and from a distance, the battlefield was covered with smoke and dust. A large number of soldiers wriggled around the battlefield, and at times neat columns could be seen, and soon they became phalanxes; From time to time, you can see groups of soldiers in disarray, wolves retreating, the dead and wounded falling to the ground one by one, and the horses that have lost their masters are mourning and neighing.

Every once in a while, new columns and phalanxes entered the battlefield, and they were not really new forces, but mostly regrouped after retreating from the battlefield.

The flow of people is like a tide, rising and falling, back and forth. The defeated team was retreating, and new teams were replenished, with salvos, artillery bombardments, hand-to-hand battles, then they were routed or lost heavily and had to retreat, and then a fierce and fierce artillery battle ensued.

Armed with breeched guns and Mini rifles, two units that had fallen behind the forefront of the military changes of the times, engaged in a head-on battle on the Ili River that was in no way inferior to the war in Europe.

The roar of the cannon spread more than ten miles away, and even the air trembled slightly. Huge echoes echo in the fields and reverberate on the surface of the river. The Kazakhs, Kokands, and Ili natives who had been recruited by the troops on both sides to work as coolies listened restlessly to the faint sound of artillery in the distance, knowing that the outcome of this battle would determine the fate of their people.

If the Russians win, Russia's power and sight will be completely shifted to Xinjiang, thus receiving irresolvable contradictions with the Qing Empire. [Although Russia has taken such a big advantage from China in modern history, it is also a strange thing that China and Russia have never broken out in a large-scale war alone. Then Russia's 'conquest' of Central Asia is likely to be delayed. This is not a good thing for China, but it is good for the three khanates of Kokand, Bukhara, and Khiva, and even for Kazakhstan, which has submitted to the wings of the double-headed eagle.

But if the Qing army wins, unless Russia wants to fight a full-scale war with the Qing Empire, it should use diplomatic means in private. And after this chapter is revealed, the Russians will definitely not fight Xinjiang again, at least not in the short term. All they can do is work in Central Asia.

Kaufman was sitting at the command post looking calm and silent, but in fact he was very unhappy in his heart. It's hard to believe that the war could be fought as much as it is now. Compared with his imagination, the tenacity of the Qing army is too much.

Before, he had imagined Liu Xian and the Qing army well enough, especially Liu Xian's opponent. But now it turns out that Liu Xianam's cleverness has not been shown enough, but the resilience and bravery of the Qing army are completely comparable to that of Russian soldiers.

Now he can only pray that this state of bravery will not last long. Although in the heat of battle it was often the Russians who were on the offensive and retreated.

On the other side of the battlefield, Liu Xian sat calmly on the big chair in the military tent, looking at the map on the table, his expression was calm and calm.

Although there was a fierce contest between the two armies on the battlefield, although the people in command on both sides understood that the calm and composure of Kaufman and Liu Xian on the surface was just a disguise to hide their inner tension and a disguise to calm people's hearts.

On the battlefield of Toulek, the two sides unexpectedly fought an evenly matched, and neither could give the other a fatal blow by surprise. The anxiety of the war made everyone on both sides know that even if a little force is withdrawn from any place to maneuver, their side will be weakened, and the result will either be defeated by the main force before the 'maneuver' is successful, or the failure of the 'maneuver' will lead to irreparable disaster.

Therefore, even if the battlefield on the right flank was still quiet, Kaufman only drew two infantry companies from there, and never drew any more troops. On the contrary, the commander there was asked to strictly patrol the Bucharin River and not slack off.

Kaufman knew that only by breaking through the left flank of the expeditionary army could he mobilize the expeditionary army or simply outflank it, and turn the entire expeditionary army to the Bucharin River, and then encircle and annihilate it by the river in one fell swoop. In this way, the nine cities of Ili and even the whole of Xinjiang will be ripe fruits, and they can be taken within reach.

But in order to achieve this goal, in addition to the little preparations made on the right flank of the expeditionary army, it is now necessary to storm the left flank of the expeditionary army with a large number of troops. But in this way, his strength in the central battlefield will be greatly weakened. His opponent is not a fool, and when he realizes that something is wrong, he will have to change his form offensively and defensively.

The Qing army opposite him is not an army that has always been passive and defensive, they are fierce beasts that have devoured 5,000 Russian troops in two bites, and they may turn into a counteroffensive at any time. In addition to a whole regiment of the 23rd Division and two Cossack cavalry regiments, his own strength consisted only of the guard units of the command and four infantry battalions. Don't look at Kaufman's attack so happily now, he has no troops at hand.

Kaufman had underestimated the strength of the expeditionary army, and now after a morning of fighting, he felt that the fighting force on the other side was no weaker than his own side. In fact, the military strength of the 5,000 cavalry of the expeditionary army is indeed only a small part of the Russian army, and the limited gap between the two sides cannot form a huge or overwhelming advantage for one side.

Kaufman did not dare to lightly transfer the forces of the central position to the left flank of the expeditionary army, that would be too risky. Even with two Cossack cavalry regiments in hand, no matter what bad things happened, they could still hold the position, and Kaufman did not dare to take risks.

This is not an immediate battle.

It's been noon, and there is still no sign of a deflection of victory or defeat. The soldiers of the two armies repeatedly rushed and fought for a long time, and only God knows when the battle will end.

Liu Xian, who is self-aware, has no intention of deploying troops to fight a surprise attack. It was difficult for his cavalry to defeat the Cossack cavalry of 2,000 men in a head-on confrontation. Therefore, he just wants to stand up to the position, fight a defensive war, and consume the strength and morale of the Russian army as much as possible.

"Bang Bang Bang-"

"Boom-boom-"

Gunfire crackled and artillery roared. The fighting in the central position continued, and rows of Russian soldiers and soldiers of the expeditionary army fell to the ground, and the cruel war cost them their lives.

"Ulla-Ulla-"

In the fierce gunfire, the Russian army launched another attack on the left flank, and the shouts of the soldiers were still loud. Then he fought with the white blade, and in the splashed blood, he was annihilated. R1152