Ulanqab City, the first gate for the Russians to enter Zhili, only blocked tens of thousands of Russian Cossack cavalry and a large number of servants. In the face of this hastily deployed defense line of the Beiyang Army, the Russian avant-garde cavalry was bleeding under the defense line composed of machine guns and rapid-fire guns. After several feints and reconnaissance, the Russian officers came to the conclusion that if they wanted to break through the defense line in Beiyang, then they needed a large number of artillery units and enough cannon fodder, the former to suppress and destroy the opponent's positions. The latter, on the other hand, uses a vast number of soldiers to drive or eliminate the opponent's defenses from the complex trench system with blood and lives. So they are waiting, waiting for cheaper cannon fodder and more support!

Although neither the "gray cattle" in the eyes of the nobility nor the Cossack cavalry as full-time mercenaries. Although they are cheap enough, they are still not enough in bloody trench warfare and street fighting. So the Russians needed cheaper cannon fodder, and these cannon fodder were the Mongol private soldiers who were coerced by the princes of Outer Mongolia. The Russians are more than willing to exchange these people for bullets and shells in the North Seas! The artillery reinforcements were mostly M1897 Type 75 Ghanaian rapid-fire guns and some Russian-made mortars. These things are relatively easy to carry. What is even more tragic is that the number of new rapid-fire guns is also seriously insufficient, and there are more 47 and 57 small guns.

Although heavy artillery was scarce, the Russians were confident in their attack. In addition to the fact that they found that the heavy artillery in the Beiyang was also scarce, the biggest reliance was the tactics of light artillery accompanied by infantry assault developed by the Russian army. In this set of theories, the Russians have a contemptuous attitude towards those heavy artillery over 75. Except that these weapons are expensive to build and consume. They believed that it would be best to push a large number of light artillery to a distance where they could shoot at close range, destroy the enemy's pillboxes with fire density, and then break through the enemy's defensive line with a large number of infantry. (Nowhere was this more evident than in World War 1.) At the beginning of World War I, the Russian army had more than 7,000 artillery pieces, but less than 100 heavy artillery pieces. And in the 2 wars, the Soviet artillery doctrine was also strong in the amount of transmission, not in distance, and this artillery was supported by mortars and medium-caliber guns. ）

Moreover, absorbing the lessons of the Qing and Japanese sides in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russians also equipped as many machine guns as possible. Although the number of machine guns of the Russians due to distance and transportation problems is still not comparable to that of the Beiyang Nie Shicheng Division. But it's much stronger than the Japanese back then. And in order to cope with the battle for trenches, the Russians were massively armed with pistols. There are also large magazines for Mosin Nagant to improve the duration of fire. (The Germans used a 20-round Mauser rifle in World War I, but the actual effect was greatly reduced due to the difficulty of locking.) At the same time, the Russians tried to increase the number of their mortars. Although mortars were better, the Russians themselves relied on weapons with simple and durable structures, so they did not equip them with a large number of new mortars and grenadiers like the Beiyang. Instead, a relatively primitive mortar was used. This kind of comparison is heavy. The Lord who had difficulty in launching and had a short range caused a lot of trouble to the Russians in a future war, of course, this is a later story, and I will not mention it now.

As the defender, although the Beiyang Army under Zhili was hastily deployed at the beginning, when the Russians chose to strengthen the defense, the defending Beiyang Army was also supported by an elite force of about 12,000 people from a division led by Nie Shicheng. In addition to the regular army, there were also several thousand Mongols concentrated here because of the strong walls. These people will serve as back-up and logistician.

Thanks to the horse teams brought by the Mongolian tribes after the fortified walls were cleared. The logistical situation of Nie Shicheng's division has been greatly improved. Even the heavy 105 howitzer could arrive with ammunition. And these long-range suppression guns played a rather important role in future battles. Of course, thanks to the support of these horse teams. The Assault Tiger Task Force finally arrived in Ulanqab with a pile of its own scraps.

The entire Ulanqab defense line was divided into three parts, which were extremely covered by the outer ring fortification group, the city fortification group and the artillery group located behind the two. Because the city of Ulanqab is too small. Therefore, in order to avoid those precious 105 long-range artillery being suppressed, Nie Shicheng specially set up heavy artillery positions in the flanks and rear, and at the same time used to cover his supply lines and rear routes, after all, the total number of the Russian army and its servant army was more than twice that of the Beiyang defenders. And most of them are cavalry, so Nie Shicheng needs to expand the defensive area as much as possible to prevent the opponent from outflanking and detouring.

Nie Shicheng knew very well that the frontline positions of the hastily constructed large-depth trench system were actually very fragile, and the front-line positions actually existed to consume the other side. Since it is attrition, then the battle for the trench will be inevitable. Fighting with the tall Russians with bayonets is obviously a matter of disadvantage. So before coming, Nie Shicheng specially purchased a large number of combat pistols, which are called box cannons and are incredibly powerful in close combat. But Nie Shicheng may feel that it is still not enough, so after many times of soft grinding and hard foaming, this Beiyang veteran actually got a newly developed melee weapon from Xu Jie, known as the submachine gun of the battlefield broom!

This is still the product of Xu Jie's plagiarism. And the object of plagiarism is the first mass-equipped submachine gun MP18 in the world! (Historically, the Italians were armed with a 16-pound double-barreled light machine gun in 1915.) It is believed that this was the first submachine gun. Of course, it's weird. Although after crossing over, Xu Jie made a barge gun as a melee weapon, but after all, the Mauser pistol is the foundation of the pistol. And the design is somewhat complicated. In the case of continuous fire, it is easy to cause the wear and tear of the gunshot. And the rate of fire is also on the slow side. Add to the question of cost. As a result, this kind of thing can only be used as a transition, and not as a real workhorse on the battlefield. For this reason, MP18 was born. Of course, in this dimension this submachine gun is called the Type 99 submachine gun. 0.815 meters in length, 5.33kg in weight (with 32 rounds of spiral drums). With a rate of fire of 400 rounds per minute, this weapon is the king of melee combat! Of course, in order to increase the lethality of this weapon, Xu Jie gave up the original high muzzle velocity but low lethality of the Belum 9 bullet. After all, in the face of tall Russian soldiers, if the stopping effect is weak, it will not be useful!

Originally, Xu Jie planned to match the submachine gun according to the ratio of 10 to 1 in the German infantry in World War 1. But the reality is cruel, at the beginning of the battlefield, Xu Jie only had less than 600 submachine guns in his hands. And what Nie Shicheng can get is even rarer. There are only 150 sticks. It's basically a two-to-three-stick connection. With such a low ratio, Nie Shicheng had to cherish these hard-won "bullet sprayers" and the submachine gunners who held them. To this end, each company of Nie Shicheng set up a five-person combat group with one submachine gun shooter as the mainstay.

One of the submachine gun shooters was carrying a Type 99 submachine gun. At the same time, he wears a pair of stamped lobster armor (like the second half of the lobster, with layers of thin steel plates stacked on top of each other's torso. Inside there is an inner lining to keep out fragmented shrapnel. This item became one of the equipment attached to the French Heavy during World War I. This thing certainly can't carry rifle bullets at close range, but it's enough for a pistol. After all, the Russians are not stupid, and when they enter the trenches, they will most likely use pistols, not rifles, which are not easy to use in the trenches. The remaining one will be an ammunition hand and a secondary shooter. Taking into account the problem of the rate of fire of the submachine gun and the replacement of wounded soldiers. It would be necessary to have a secondary shooter for each submachine gun. The remaining three were armed with rifles and offensive grenades to provide cover. It is used to deal with hand-to-hand combat and other unexpected situations. All three men were armed with pistols in addition to one rifle each. After this arrow will be the rest of the squad.

While increasing the number of melee weapons such as submachine guns, the Beiyang Army also increased the number of curved weapons such as grenadiers and mortars. There are also not many heavy artillery on the Beiyang side, so in order to increase the density of firepower, it is also necessary to rely on these medium and close range weapons. However, because of Xu Jie, the traverser, the artillery fire of the Beiyang Army emphasizes multi-layer interception firepower, paying attention to blocking the opponent's reinforcements and suppressing the follow-up troops. And in order to achieve this purpose, Nie Shicheng's division was equipped with 120 heavy mortars in the first batch. With a total weight of 350kg and a barrel length of 1.9 meters, this high-explosive weapon has become the most powerful weapon of Nie Shicheng's department except for the 105 howitzer. And if you just count the projection, the firepower of this heavy mortar is much higher than that of the 105 howitzer! If it weren't for the fact that the firing range was somewhat close, only 3500 meters. This weapon can be used to suppress the opponent's 75 rapid-fire cannons!

Of course, in order to protect these precious weapons, Nie Shicheng specially designed well-protected gun nests for these artillery, and arranged several dark bunkers to protect them, and even the communication trenches were relatively independent, and the entire artillery position was relatively backward, arranged between the 2nd line position and the 3rd line position. In order to prevent a breakthrough. Nie Shicheng also equipped each running group with a special cart. For transporting ammunition and rapid transfer.

On August 28, 1899, more than half a month after the Russian Far East Fleet collapsed in the eastern Pacific, the first army battle between Beiyang and Russia also kicked off on the vast Inner Mongolia Plateau. In the morning light, the Russians were ready, and they advanced all kinds of artillery into the artillery nest that was ready to be realized. All Russian units involved in the offensive dismounted and fought as infantry. The tall horse is not only a target in front of mines and trenches, but also a target. They moved to the front line along the communication trenches dug in advance, and then prepared to attack. The prelude to the first large-scale land battle of 1899 is slowly begins!

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