Looking at the passionate Gardantsei on the stage, and the Dzungar people who were constantly gathering together and their emotions were also rising, a young officer who seemed to be an attendant next to Cherrekh also said excitedly: "The Seris people say that 'the mourning soldiers will win', and the Seris people themselves did not expect that they would force the Dzungars to this step." ”

Cherrekh frowned and said, "Rumyantsev, you are very optimistic about this decisive battle?" ”

Rumyantsev, who was born into a noble general and was awarded the rank of captain at the age of sixteen, was not an attendant to Cherrekh, but acted as an observer of the Far Eastern Military District of the Cossack Committee[1] with the "Dzungar Regiment", which was subordinate to the Far Eastern Military District, which consisted of four Cossack cavalry regiments under the Siberian Cossack Military District.

The "Far Eastern Military District" was newly formed after Russia lost the city of Erkou and the strongholds around the North Sea in 1740, and commanded the military forces in the direction of Eastern Siberia to deal with the aggressive offensive launched by the Chinese in the Far East. In addition to the original 15,000 men in Siberia, nearly 10,000 people in the other five rifle regiments were transferred from Europe as a standing army, which is also the largest force that Russia can put into the Far East at present.

Rumyantsev's cheeks were still full of high spirits: "Your Excellency the Special Envoy, aren't you optimistic about this decisive battle?" ”

Cherrekh did not answer directly, his eyes turned to Galdan Tsering on the stage, he shook his head and said: "The Dzungar Khan King did not have the courage to fight to the death at all, in fact, his pride and ambition had been exhausted when he persuaded and oppressed the tribes of the Khanate to send troops. The Dzungar was able to assemble an army of 70,000 to fight the Seris head-on, which was an unprecedented victory for the successive khanates, and as for the victory over the Seris...... If the opponent was the former Qing Kingdom, maybe there was that possibility, but their opponent was Seris, who had defeated Spain on land. Defeated Seris of Britain at sea. ”

He continued to say in a disdainful tone: "The outcome of this decisive battle is not really important, the tactics adopted by the Seris here are the same as the ones we used against Dzungaria before, the real strength comes from the fortress line, not the field corps. The defeat of the field corps is nothing. It would be good to bring in new troops, as long as this fortress line is there, the strength will be restored quickly. And the sparsely populated Dzungars not only gain nothing, but it will take ten or twenty years for the lost warriors to be replenished, but will the Seris give the Dzungars such a long time? ”

"The Dzungar Khan King also understands this truth, if he really has the courage to fight the Seris to the end, he should attack the Luntai City in front of him with all his might. Even if there is a loss, the Seris have lost Luntai City, and it will take at least a year or two to recover the situation. But what was he going to do? He asked us Russia to make a series of cooperation, hoping to weaken the main force of Seris who rushed to support, and not to fight Luntai City...... Even if he had the confidence to win this decisive battle, the ultimate goal was only to be able to bow to Emperor Seris with dignity and obtain the emperor's mercy. ”

Rumyantsev frowned and said, "Your Excellency the Special Envoy." I see that you have lost not only the city of Earlmouth, but also your courage and self-confidence. The Seris are indeed an adversary to be reckoned with, but the Battle of Haynuk City proved it. They are only on the same level as the Dzungars. Now the Dzungars are pregnant with ...... With the determination to fight on their backs, and the help of our brave Cossack cavalry, no matter how cautious, should not be pessimistic about the prospects of this decisive battle. ”

In an instant, the scene of the battle of Fort Cyjen flashed in Cherrekh's mind again, pessimistic? The wave of red clothes made him feel not pessimistic, but hopeless. If Russia had encountered the Seris Red Coats in the Northern War, it would have been impossible to win. …,

Cherrekh, who was supposed to be the most vocal in advocating confrontation with Seris to the end, has now become a dove who advocates shrinking the East and making peace with Seris.

Cherrekh said bitterly: "I am not pessimistic about this decisive battle. I have a sober judgment of the situation in the East, Captain, since you have come from St. Petersburg, you should also understand that Her Majesty has no hope of seizing this land, and is even worried about whether or not Central Siberia can be saved. ”

Rumyantsev, who was too young, felt that his dignity as a Russian had been violated. His face turned red and he said: "Russia will not stop!" It doesn't matter if it's the West, the South or the East! You should be ashamed of your words! ”

Cherrekh shook his head, and was about to instruct the seventeen-year-old captain's observer, when another majestic voice sounded: "Cherrekh is right, the situation in the east is not optimistic. ”

A fierce figure appeared, and the two of them bowed and stroked their chests at the same time, "General Yefu Qiuxin!" ”

The big man in a fur cloak and almost as tall as a giant bear nodded in return, and continued to comment: "Siberia, Altay and Dzungaria are not Russia's main battlefields, and it is impossible for Russia to invest troops above the group army here. The real enemy of Russia is in the West, in the South. Two years ago, we reluctantly signed the Belgrade Peace Treaty with Ottoman Turkey, and we still have not seized access to the Black Sea. Right now, we are still inseparable from Sweden, Poland's troubles are not over, and Europe is the battlefield for us, Russia. ”

"If you compare Russia with Seris, there are striking similarities. Cyris sees this place as we Russia look at Finland, we don't want Sweden to occupy Finland and choke us, and Cyris also doesn't want this place to be out of their rule, according to the history of the Cyris, this is the territory they owned a thousand years ago. ”

"In Central Asia, we were in constant conflict with the Kazakhs and the two khanates of Bukhara and Khiva, not to mention the Ottoman Turks in Western Asia. The East has nothing to do with the strategic interests of our Russia, we cannot give our full strength here, and Seris is different. What were the consequences of fighting for a secondary area with the all-out Seris, Britain's defeat in India has been amply illustrated. ”

The deep and rational analysis of the commander of the Dzungar regiment, Yevtyushin, was extremely incommensurate with his size and temperament, and as one of the leaders of the Don Cossacks, he was transferred from afar to lead this corps with the Siberian Cossacks as the main body, and in the eyes of the officers and men of the regiment, he was already a pure Russian.

"General......

Rumyantsev was still unconvinced, but was interrupted by a wave of Yevtyushin.

"But what does this have to do with us?"

As soon as the Cossack general changed his words, both Rumyantsev and Cherrekh froze.

"We are not thousands of versts away. A noble lord who looks at the map and points at it! We, the Dzungar regiments, are here to show the strength of Russia! I, Yevtyushin, came here to lead the Cossacks to another victory! As a soldier, there is only the enemy ahead! There is only victory in my heart! What the big picture. Politics should not be our concern! ”

Yefu Tyuxin looked at Luntai City in the distance, at this time he really looked like a human bear who chose people to devour, his thick beard fluttered as he spoke, revealing his cold tooth sockets, and he looked at Cherrekh with disdain: "The Dzungars can fail, and even the Russians can fail." The Cossacks were invincible! ”

One sentence made Cherrekh and Rumyantsev have extremely complicated feelings at the same time, Cossacks are Cossacks after all......

It doesn't matter with Dzungaria, or even with Russia, this decisive battle is the stage for the Cossacks after all. Yevtyukhin thought so, as a member of the Russian upper echelon and a leader of the Cossacks, he subconsciously obeyed the side of the Cossacks in the face of war. …,

The four Cossack cavalry regiments he led were the first large Russian regiments to be assembled in the East, the Serisians...... It will surely become a paving stone for him to lead the Cossacks to supreme glory.

Cherrekh kindly reminded: "General. Not to mention that the Seris infantry is not inferior to the level of Europa powers in terms of equipment and tactics, our Russian standing army is a lot worse, and Seris's cavalry is not a strong opponent to deal with. ”

Ye Fu Qiuxin grinned: "Cavalry? You mean the Tatar cavalry who changed into the uniform of Seris? ”

Cherrech said: "In the battle of Fort Juyan before. Seris's cavalry showed ......"

Yevtyukhin interrupted Cherrekh with a wave of his hand: "Your Excellency, you can do a good job of liaising with the Dzungars, your previous efforts have shown that you are more suitable for this kind of work. ”

Cherrekh smiled bitterly and shut up, he was a loser after all, and any description of the strength of Seris would be counterproductive, let alone to say to a Cossack general that the Cossacks were not the strongest cavalry of this era?

The simple Rumyantsev threw away his previous little depression, raised his eyebrows and said: "The Dzungars are lucky, there are Cossacks." Seris will cry for the defeat of this decisive battle! ”

Galdan Tseling is also leading thousands of people who have gathered to chant together: "Victory! Victory! ”

Even if the balance of power between the two sides does not change fundamentally as a result of this decisive battle, victory is victory after all. After the Battle of Yindingsi last year, not only did Russia change its tough posture, but also resolutely sent elite Cossack cavalry to join hands, and even the surrounding Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and other subordinate tribes were much more honest, which created conditions for Dzungaria to assemble an army that had never been before.

Russians. To be precise, the Cossacks' confidence gave another shot in the arm to Galdantse Zero and Da Zeling, and the Swede Renat's assurances also made the prospects for a decisive battle between the two more optimistic.

"Bao Qin is the arrow in the hands of the Great Khan, and swear in the name of God that it will be invincible, and the Seris will be reduced to ashes in the fierce artillery fire!"

In this decisive battle, Renat commanded as many as 300 artillery pieces, although they were all bronze artillery, but after Renat's improvement in the gun carriages, they all had considerable mobility, enough to compete with the powerful artillery of Seris.

Compared with the history of another plane, the Dzungar at this time has developed by leaps and bounds in the number, performance and manufacturing technology of artillery, and the territory of Galdantse is less than a corner of the land, with a population of about one million, and it is equipped with almost half of the artillery of the whole of Russia. It's not that Gardance has such courage, but he was forced out by Yinghua.

In fact, his artillery unit also has a great deal of water, nearly half of the artillery was hurriedly cast in the past two years, most of them are light guns smaller than the European twelve-pounder guns, and because of the shortage of gunpowder and iron, the ability to sustain combat is seriously insufficient.

However, for Galdan Tseling, as long as it can meet the needs of this decisive battle, it is easy to say anything if he wins, and if he loses, Dzungaria has no future, so why do you care about artillery.

In the perception of the Swedish artillery officer Renat, there was no concept of failure. The ratio of 70,000 people and 300 artillery pieces is also a first-class strong army in Europe in this era, and generally speaking, Europe is only three artillery pieces per 1,000 people.

I heard that the army of the Seris is only 30,000 people, even if it is as much as 50,000, how can it be impossible to surpass the artillery in his hands in terms of artillery, as for the use of artillery technology, the Seris people can be stronger than him who has experienced the Great Northern War? Dzungaria, with the support of this powerful artillery, how could it fail!?

On the second day, the army advanced to a distance of twenty miles from Luntai City and began to formally set up camp, and Renate also began to organize artillery teams.

On February 20, the 23rd year of the Holy Dao, 80,000 quasi-Russian allied troops surrounded Luntai City, and the decisive battle in the Western Regions officially began. Although the high-ranking leaders such as Galdan Tseling and Da Celing, Yevtyushin and Cherrekh had their own thoughts about the battle, when the artillery unit under the command of Renat fired the first shell at Luntai City, the anxiety about the prospects, the panic of the decisive battle, and the doubts about their own choice dissipated in that thunder.

No matter what the future holds, the victory in this decisive battle is really graspable. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to (.) to vote for recommendation, monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation. )