PS: I'm sorry, I forgot to change the title carelessly, it should be (six).

Irkutsk, General Headquarters of the Far Eastern Military District of the Russian Army.

Commander-in-Chief Linevich frowned, and stood in front of the map for a long time, staring at the situation of both the enemy and the enemy. Every time his gaze swept over the area between Ulan-Ude and Daxing'an Mountain, he paused slightly, and the expression on his face became more and more solemn.

It has been a few days since the battle was launched, and it stands to reason that the initiative is in the hands of the Russian army. Although the eastward breakthrough did not go well, the roundabout attack of an entire division was met head-on, and the frontal positions were also attacked and lost. But in general, everything is still under control.

Originally, it was too naïve to expect to seize a comprehensive advantage as soon as it came up, and it would be naïve to expect the Chinese side to be negligent, and it was normal to be met with fierce resistance or even counterattack. As long as the Ulan-Ude line is not lost, there are no worrying changes in the entire campaign plan.

As for the defense, Commander-in-Chief Linievich is very confident.

Over the years, in the course of China's successive battles with other countries, various new weapons and tactics have emerged rapidly, and have been actively absorbed and studied by the armies of various countries. For example, the Ulan-Ude defense line, the battlefield of the Russian army deployed along the Selenga River, is in accordance with the newly learned method, using the summer and autumn to desperately dig out multi-layer trenches up to hundreds of kilometers long, with barbed wire, plus water-cooled heavy machine guns, and the deployment of direct-fire artillery at different levels, forming a staggered and integrated defense system.

The Russian army itself has done many simulated attacks and found that even with three times the strength of the attack, it is difficult to break through such a fortification with an alarming density of firepower. The Chinese invented all this, but they had to do it themselves.

Linievich is full of confidence. Even if the Chinese army in the direction of the Daxingan Mountains crushed the attacking troops with artillery. But it is not possible to destroy the frontal line of defense in the same way.

He was worried. The well-planned southward attack has begun, the cavalry units have crossed the defensive line and entered the Mongolian plateau, but there are still no latest changes in the Ulan-Ude battlefield, which is very inconsistent with the style of the Chinese.

What are they waiting for?

After thinking for a long time, Linevich turned around and asked: "Can anyone tell me what the enemy on the Eastern Front is doing?" Why haven't I seen the latest report from there? ”

An operations staff officer hurriedly pulled out a telegram from the pile of information and carefully presented it: "Report to the commander-in-chief." According to the information sent back by Lieutenant General Zasulich on the Eastern Front, it seems that the enemy forces in front of Ulan-Ude are preparing a new offensive, but the details are still unclear. ”

"Ready to attack? Well, that's good news. ”

Linievich's brow finally relaxed a little, nodded slightly, and waved: "Tell Lieutenant General Zasulich that you can't wait for the Chinese to attack unilaterally, and you must try to launch some active attacks to attract their forces as much as possible and create favorable conditions for the success of the southbound corps." ”

"Yes! This informs them. ”

Although knowing that this is nothing more than a bunch of nonsense. The staff officers still prepared a serious telegram and issued it. In a word. There is no one in the entire headquarters who is passive and slacking off at work, and everyone is conscientiously completing the task. As for the outcome, that's not something they need to think about.

Linievich didn't seem to notice that his men were responding to the story, or rather, he was used to such a working atmosphere, and he had little to criticize and blame for the virtues of the officers below. The entire Russian Army is this virtue from top to bottom, even the royal family and the State Duma are like a bird, who can you count on?

The only thing he cared about was trying to win a decent fight. Not to mention the exaggerated long-term goal of recovering more than one million square kilometers in the Far East, it is very satisfying to be able to strike at the Chinese Army hard at least once and add a little color to its medal of glory.

Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief is still very confident. In his mind, it took him half a year to build a narrow line of defense, and then he attacked the west by surprise, and it should be as easy as finding out for things to win.

Satisfied, he made a decision on the battlefield on the Eastern Front, and he returned to his senses to fight southward, and his brows twisted up a pimple again.

The Orlov cavalry corps had successfully crossed the line into the hinterland of the plateau, and now a full six hours have passed. Even at the slowest pace, they should have launched their first sabotage operation. If you have any results, you should send them back by telegram as soon as possible. But why, there has been no response?

Just as he was thinking about it, he suddenly heard a combat staff officer exclaim: "Oops! The 1st Army failed to break through the enemy lines, and their coordination with the cavalry corps was cut off! ”

"What?! What's going on?! ”

Commander-in-Chief Rinnevich was taken aback, walked over and snatched the telegram, read it carefully, slapped it on the table angrily, and scolded: "A group of pigs! The stupidest pigs are more capable than they are! Obviously, the cavalry corps has opened a gap, and they just need to follow up, but they can't even do this thing?! ”

Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief is really angry!

The cavalry corps cooperated with the infantry, which was an important tactic that was interlinked. According to the plan, if the Orlov cavalry unit made a breakthrough, and the elite First Army of Starkelburg followed closely behind and crossed the Chinese line together, it would be able to successfully converge into a well-coordinated and powerful offensive fist. With the mobility of the cavalry, coupled with the steady and steady attack of the infantry, it was enough to advance to Kulen one after another under the enemy's surprise.

Once the Russian army occupies Kulen and controls the surrounding strategic points, the Russian Empire will be able to burn the war into Chinese territory for a long time. When the time comes, the Mongolian traitors who are bent on Tsarist Russia can easily build a bridgehead for a long-term confrontation with China.

In this way, by changing the defensive position to both offensive and defensive, Yenevich will be able to gain the initiative for the first time since the start of the war. Both public and private, are wonderful results.

With such a well-designed plan, he actually dropped the chain at a critical moment, how did Lieutenant General Starkelburg do it!

Linevich angrily ordered: "Go, send a telegram to the First Army, I don't care what they think, in short, we must break through the enemy's defense line before this evening." The heavy artillery that had been transported over was also reinforced. At all costs. The task must be completed. ”

He couldn't help but be in a hurry. Once the infantry and cavalry are out of touch. Lone cavalry struggled to find enough supplies in the snow and ice. If they fail the attack, or become entangled by the defenders of the Kulen side, within two nights thousands of Cossack cavalry will freeze to death!

Taking advantage of the heavy snow to launch an attack is not only a surprise, but also a great risk. Now it's good, only the risk remains!

The staff officers scrupulously followed the orders and sent telegrams, and the rest was about how to plan the battle. They couldn't have come up with better advice.

The British observers could not help frowning, they found that the so-called staff force of the Russians was really incompetent. The Supreme Commander's command of front-line operations seems to be strict, but in fact, those guys in front of him seriously lack subjective initiative and have no ability to adapt to changes. Can this battle be changed in a hurry?

Silently making a note in my heart, the British are becoming less and less optimistic about the situation.

Kyakhta, on the front line of the Sino-Russian war, Lieutenant General Starkelburg, commander of the First Army of the Russian Army in Siberia, glanced at the command telegram and threw it on the ground like garbage. He snorted angrily: "I know to urge and urge!" How do they know how difficult the situation is for us?! Damn it. Didn't you say that the Chinese defenders had only one division? Why did I see a density of artillery fire almost equivalent to that of a military district? Also, where did they get so many soldiers? That's definitely more than 10,000 people! ”

In this era, the military establishment of various countries is secret, and China is particularly unclear, because the information compiled by various intelligence channels is different from that of other countries.

The Russians can only push themselves and others, judging by their own infantry standards, a Chinese division should be between 7,000 and 9,000 people. Its artillery is equipped with or is more ferocious, and the number is not so outrageous.

Based on this, when forming a southward attack force, in order to ensure the success rate, the Russian army made very adequate preparations. The Orlov Cavalry Corps was a breakthrough force, equivalent to at least two Mongolian cavalry divisions of the enemy, enough to suppress the possible presence of mobile interception forces at the front.

It was followed by the First Siberian Army, with two divisions and military headquarters combined with nearly 20,000 men and more than 70 artillery pieces. In addition, there are also artillery pieces of the local confrontation troops, plus the heavy artillery attached to the Far East Army, adding up to more than 100 guns, aimed at the battlefield dozens of kilometers wide, and the density is simply terrifying.

With such firepower exceeding the defenders by three times, it would be unreasonable not to break through easily.

Lieutenant General Starkelburg thought so and did so. The cavalry breakthrough was no different from the plan, but their infantry was blocked by the dead and could not advance an inch, what was the matter?

All because of the sudden heavy artillery fire!

Just when the First Army was thinking about following the Orlov cavalry corps to cross the defensive line, the Chinese 112th Division, which was huddled in Kyakhta, suddenly burst out with firepower that was several times more powerful than before!

The Russian infantry regiment, which had just seized several commanding heights, was shattered by heavy artillery shells falling from the sky, and suffered heavy casualties!

It was a long-range firepower far beyond their expectations, coming from the mountains on both sides, spanning at least a dozen kilometers in the air, and accurately landing in the positions that originally belonged to the Chinese defenders.

The most odious thing is that a large amount of explosives were buried under the abandoned positions, and after being triggered by the shells, a violent explosion occurred that almost destroyed the entire mountain! The soldiers who were shouting "Ula" were annihilated in droves!

At the same time, the Russian infantry advancing on the frontal position was also covered by a frightening number of artillery fire - what an overwhelming and terrifying scene! It is not an exaggeration at all, and it can even be seen with the naked eye that the shells in the sky are falling in droves. There were at least hundreds of explosions in a series of explosions, covering an area measured in square kilometers!

Lieutenant General Starkelburg watched as thousands of soldiers who had already entered the center line were overwhelmed by the explosion in an instant. The hundreds of fierce explosions and fireworks were almost connected into a piece without dead ends, causing a dark cloud of fireworks to rise violently from the ground, like a sudden fog enveloping everyone.

It lasted for twenty minutes before the artillery fire slowly stretched outward. The area that had been bombed before was already riddled with holes, and I couldn't count how many craters there were. Thousands of heroic elite soldiers spread across the land, and the number of casualties was incalculable for a while!

The 1st Siberian Army was stunned!

After a moment of consternation, Stackerburg hurriedly sent men and horses to force on both flanks in a roundabout way, trying to find a breakthrough from the flank and rear of the battlefield, and find out the artillery positions hidden there - he already knew that the Chinese artillery had a long enough range, so he did not mix with the infantry, but set up a separate position and commanded it remotely.

As long as the Chinese artillery is defeated, he is confident that he will continue to break through with the remaining infantry and complete the combat mission.

But reality gave him a resounding slap in the face!

Not long after the two roundabout attacking troops rushed out, they were smashed down by a fierce bombardment, and the explosion was completely defeated! Even the position, which had been determined to have no defenders, could not get close, and was beaten to a pulp, and retreated in panic.

Subsequently, they were surprised to find that a large number of defenders were constantly emerging from those positions, and the density of artillery fire was not weaker than that of the entire First Army!

The Russians are directly in a circle!

They are an army, 20,000 people, more than 100 cannons! It's just that you can't fight with the front, Nima is just a flank guard force, and the firepower is not weaker than the front, how much power is stuffed here! What about a good teacher?

That's why Lieutenant General Starkelberg saw the urging telegram, such a madness.

He didn't know how perverted the Chinese army was in terms of strength.

In terms of numbers, there are 17,000 people in one division! Three infantry regiments, one cavalry regiment, one artillery regiment, this is standard. The artillery regiment has 1 battalion of 122 howitzers (18 guns), 1 battalion of 152 howitzers (18 guns) reinforced (or 130 cannons), 1 battalion of 160-mm heavy mortars (18 guns), 1 battalion of 85 cannons (18 guns).

At least 72 cannons, in terms of number, they can catch up with a Russian army, and the range, accuracy, and firepower are even more comprehensive. Not to mention mobility and flexibility, not a thing of the times.

Not to mention these, just an infantry regiment, which has 45 suppressed artillery pieces (mainly 82 morals, 100 morals, 75mm mountains/artillery); 81 pieces of anti-armor weapons (including 40 fire, 82 none, 105 none). The 60 forced carried by the mobile unit does not count.

The Russian infantry does not even have light machine guns, and what can they do if they hit their heads into such a defensive position by fire? It's not a miserable word that can be described.

The Chinese Army, which inherited the world's artilleryism, hated to equip its artillery to the extent that every soldier was in the early 20th century in the second plane, and belonged to the super hedgehog who met whoever was unlucky!

The 1st Siberian Army crashed headlong into such an iron plate, but did not know it. At the urging of Linievic, they had to grit their teeth and launch an all-out attack again, and at this time they also realized that something was wrong. It is very likely that the other party deliberately let the cavalry corps in, so as to divide the encirclement and break each one, and their southward battle plan is very likely to go bankrupt! (To be continued.) )